Intuition versus Mechanical Logic in Logical Reasoning

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• 1 Like

  drbrown2 Alum Member

  May 2019 2227 karma

  I think it depends on the difficulty and question type. Mapping everything out on the mechanical stimuli that are heavy with conditional statements doesn't take as long as reading the stimulus repeatedly trying to understand in your mind's eye what answer choice you're looking for. Some easier questions have conditional statements that are easy to follow along with and mapping is slower. If you're drilling/reviewing it is probably good to map everything so you have that skill when you need it, and under timed conditions it really depends on what you're comfortable with and how much time is left in the section.
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  DivineRaze Alum Member

  May 2019 edited May 2019 550 karma

  @Briana-170-by-October I usually get 0 wrong on LR and -2 on really bad days. I would definitely say go with your intuition, I never map anything out and I run through the questions fairly quickly just using my intuition that has developed from the CC. I try to stay super confident in my answer choices and not second guess myself, and I usually get it right. There has been one or two parallel reasoning questions that I just quickly mapped out to save time but I usually don't map anything.
  One thing I would like to add is that when i'm reading a stimulus, I try to pay attention to whats background, whats the conclusion and the reasoning given for the argument reaching that conclusion. Basically, depending on the question stem, and after reading the stimulus, I usually know what the right answer is directly, or what the right answer should look like and I start hunting.
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  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  May 2019 23929 karma

  That depends on your intuition!

  I often find that most people’s intuitions with logic are poorly aligned with the correct logic. And it’s all too easy to make small errors or mis-translate something in your head.

  If you’re just starting out, I would map things out. The practice of doing so is helpful to building up your skills and intuitions.

  As you master it and it becomes second nature, I do think intuition can be the way to go. For easier/medium questions I definitely got to a point where I wasn’t diagramming anything out. However, as soon as I had any doubt, I would get my pencil moving and jot down the logic. The more you practice, the faster you’ll become at it.