To diagram or not to diagram in LR

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• 3 Likes

  drbrown2 Alum Member

  May 2019 2227 karma

  J.Y. talks in some of his live recordings of his fresh takes about doing a "shallow dip" and then a "deep dive" for some parallel questions and others that are heavy on conditional logic. I only diagram when a question has conditional language that is very quick to diagram, or if I need extra help understanding. If I choose not to diagram, I try to get to the right answer through process of elimination first. If I am unsure then I'll diagram it out and try to confirm the correct answer. For parallel flaw questions, I try to identify the flaw in the argument first and foremost and would only diagram if I was stuck between 2 answers.

  Don't assume mapping out language is a waste of time. Some questions that you should be a diagram are easy but long. Do the work and make up the time on the easy short questions. Easy questions don't necessarily mean they should be quick, just like hard questions aren't necessarily questions that take a long time.
• 1 Like

  FoolProofFun Alum Member

  May 2019 122 karma

  I don't think there is any set or correct way to figure this out. You have to develop an intuitive sense of what is appropriate given all the factors. Sometimes, you're going to be wrong, but if you're quick in diagramming, you should figure out pretty quickly whether or not you really need to do it. Just takes practice
• gabes900-1 Member

  June 2019 855 karma

  I try to map in my head. If I can’t, I diagram the conditionals out. I don’t know what the best strategy for this is. It seems to benefit me when I try to answer the question without physically diagramming the conditionals. And once I get down to two ACs I know are potentially right, I quickly diagram them to see which is correct.
• gabes900-1 Member

  June 2019 855 karma

  I am trying to get comfortable with doing most conditional logic in my mind for the easier questions that don’t have too advanced conditional logic presented. However, for the tougher 5-star MBT questions, I just write it all out and try to solve it once I have time to attempt the question.
• 2 Likes

  EveryCookCanGovern Alum Member

  June 2019 edited June 2019 401 karma

  If I really need to diagram for an LR question I skip it and then diagram on the second round. Pick the low hanging fruit first and then invest what time you have left into what needs to be diagrammed. These are almost always Parallel Reasoning/Parallel Flaw, and the highly convoluted 'word salad' Sufficient Assumptions which generally show up as later questions. For the former two I don't even bother reading these questions on the first round and just skip them instantaneously, on top of this is the fact that the length of reading each answer choice with these two is generally about as long as a one question stimulus for most other questions. It's not worth reading the equivalent of 6 question stimuli (5 ACs + the stim) only to cross them all out and realize you have no idea what the flaw is.
• BlindReviewer Alum Member

  June 2019 855 karma

  I agree with @LSATscrub -- that's generally the same for me as well. But sometimes, when I know the question isn't that bad (pretty transparent translations) but for some reason my brain is refusing to draw out the relationships, I just write it out during the first round as well. This is pretty helpful for when four choices are "could be true" and one is "must be false" because then you can just check them up with your chain. I think it's more a matter of if you feel like diagramming will be efficient during a first round (knowing you can easily translate and get it). If you're pretty lost, then second round is best (same goes for any other type of question).
• 1 Like

  Jane_lsat Free Trial Member

  June 2019 152 karma

  @drbrown2 @FoolProofFun @"Mage of Reason" @LSATscrub @BlindReviewer Thank you all for nice tips! I took the June test, but I am contemplating a retake in September, so these tips might come in handy later.
• gabes900-1 Member

  June 2019 855 karma

  @Jane_lsat You're welcome. I am taking it in September as well. I am fool-proofing all LGs from 1-35 at the moment. Still a ways away, but the grind is real...Good luck!