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How to Improve LR?
dhill2020
Alum Member
Hi everyone, my dream (like many others) is to attend Harvard Law School. With this in mind, I'm struggling with LR questions. I went through all the modules for LR, but I am still having trouble. Timing is not an issue for me. For people who excel in logic reasoning sections: please give me some tips/tell me what you did to really improve your score. I want to try my best at making this dream come true and would really, really appreciate some feedback. Thank you & good luck everyone!
Comments
The Loophole by Ellen Cassidy took me from an average of -7 per LR section to -1. I highly recommend it.
The Lsat Trainer is quite helpful
Also, speaking from someone who started usually around -6-9 per LR section to now 3-5 is that no question type is low yield. Make sure to practice every LR question type and understand them. See the logical gaps in the arguments, see the logic in the parallel reasoning, and understand how to weaken/strengthen a stimulus. These are skills like training for a sport that need to be cultivated as long as you are attentive to your mistakes and committed to practice you will get your numbers down.
I posted this in response to another forum post, and you might find it helpful:
A few months ago, I was scoring pretty well in LR (-0 to -3 a section). But sometimes, I would have a bad section, and I was often unhappy with my confidence level on questions I got right. I took a couple weeks to focus on how I read the stimulus. I would take questions one by one, read the stimulus, answer the question, and then go back and see what information I missed/what information I could have ignored. This helped me consistently read the stimulus better after a bunch of practice.
I like to think of the stimulus as a "puzzle". While you read, you should be trying to piece the argument together in the manner in which the author has. Not only will this allow you to be able to understand what the author is trying to do, but it will also help identify flaws.
In short, I think taking some time to focus on how you read (which is the most important thing on the LSAT) will help you make the next jump in LR. Let me know if you have any questions!
Hey!
LR used to be the section I struggled with the most! I've posted my story and tips in previous posts before but I find that for LR, the battle is won in the stimulus.
Frequently, (and this is anecdotal for myself and students I tutor), test takers freeze up in the stimulus and decide, "ok I'm not totally sure what's going on here but I'm going to go find something in the ACs" then when they get to the ACs, they start agonizing over several ACs, unsure which is right. The reason is they never invested the time to understand the stimulus.
Stimuli also tend to be dense and complex and the LSAT writers do this on purpose. The first thing you should do is develop the skill to simplify these texts and actively shorten them into bite-sized info you can comprehend. I learned this with the LOOPHOLE's translation drill. It proved to be the foundation of my LR success because thereafter, I started being able to identify the assumptions made, the gaps in the argument, the flaw, much quicker and more accurately. Then I was able to predict what type of AC would answer the question. I'd say to start with this.
Next is BR and Review. The gains ALWAYS come in BR and Review. They are so crucial. Take the time to type up what you thought the stimulus said under timed runs, what you believe it says now, what the problem is, and what you think you should be looking for. Then evaluate each AC, typing out your reasoning for why 4 are incorrect and why the AC you ultimately choose is correct. When you check the AC, you'll always have 2 outcomes:
1) If it was correct, check against your reasoning and reinforce your understanding
2) If it was incorrect, check against your reasoning and see what traps you fell for and THEN:
This is really important because it is so easy to just say, "oh ok.. yeah I guess I wouldve known that" but no that wasn't the case in TIMED and UNTIMED runs so how could you know you'll get better in the future without a deliberate strategy?
I also find that being VERY INTENTIONAL about why you're eliminating and selecting ACs helps tremendously because your goal in LR is to evaluate arguments and reasoning skills are the key to succeeding
I hope all this gives you pointers to guide your prep! feel free to PM anytime
Hey @Mike_Ross, I've got a couple quick question in regards to the LSAT Loophole book and the translation drills.
I've read through the whole book and have found it pretty helpful in looking at LR in a more intuitive way but my problem arises after I try to move on from the basic translation drill (BDT). I do the drills until they seem natural and I'm able to easily translate the stim to paper, however, once I move away from BDT and go to the advanced translation drills or just untimed sections it's hard for me to easily translate the stim and hold it in my head. Obviously, my assumption is that I still need to stick with BDT but I've been doing them for a long time and I wanted to see if you faced the same thing and had any tips?
Thanks in advance!
Hey! happy to help
I'm not sure what "BDT" is... but your question sounds like: "how do I hold the translated arguments in my head"
In the beginning it was exceedingly difficult. I almost gave up on it TBH! but I stuck with it. In a real LSAT take, you wouldn't be covering up the stimulus and looking away and trying to recall the simplified version, correct? no way! you'd be looking at the stimulus as you're working through it. So, that's what I'd recommend you to do.
What I do is read the stimulus, pause at the end of each clause/statement, and then translate. Then I'd do this for the next clause and do the same, and so on. At the end of the stim, i'll put it all together, and then I'll see the flaw. After having done so many of these, I eventually got very good at it, and eventually quicker, too. So, it's definitely a question of sustained practice over time!
feel free to reach out with any more questions!
@Mike_Ross Your description above sounds so exactly like what I was doing and how I have changed as a test taker using The Loophole. During a prep test I would halfway freeze but if say it was a weakening question I would identify the premise (s) and conclusion and then be like okay now I need to look for an answer choices that weakens the premise to conclusion. I would look at A and say no that isn't it. Look at B and say oh that weakens it and then onto C which would appear that it also weakened the answer.
Taking the test this way meant I was often down to a couple of answer choices. I was seldom 100% confident at just about any answer I choose and I scored all over the place!! Sometimes I would do very well and just miss a few and other times it would be closer to 10 questions wrong. In a section.
Finding The Loophole has really helped me take control. I have been slowly working on it over a couple months and seen a massive improvement in Prep Tests and timed sections! I am averaging -2 right now, but I often have sections where I go -0. I never thought that would happen. I also truly never though I would be able to predict the answer choice but I am happy to say I predict it a lot now. If I don't predict the exact answer I have pinpointed the gap in the stiumlus or the inference in must be true questions for example.
@"Madison Publius Hamilton", The June/ July LSAT study group is going to be doing translations for all of the stiumlus' in Prep Test 75. A good group of people will be writing out their translations and then sharing with the group. You are welcome to join us. Also, being able to translate in your head does become more automatic. Every Prep Test I take I translate out one or both LR sections. It is time consuming, and very slow. BUT it really does help increase your understanding and make things much more automatic!
Agreed!
@Mike_Ross Sorry, BDT meant basic translation drill lol. In regards to translating in my head, I think what you mentioned about reading the whole stimulus and then trying to translate is my problem. I'm not taking it part by part. I'll definitely try out this approach! Thanks!
@FindingSage Hey thanks for the invitation! I'm interested in participating in the group, could you give me more info?
Cool! Hope it works out!
@"Madison Publius Hamilton", here is the link to join: https://groupme.com/join_group/57415632/QdTu0vK9
We have been mostly reviewing Prep tests, sharing study tips. But there has been a lot of interest in doing translations as a group, so we are going to try to do the first LR section of PT 75 as a group and discuss next week.
@FindingSage is there more room in this group? If so, I'd definitely like to join!
@dhill2020 yes of course there is room! We would love for you to join us!