Moving on without reading all answers on LR (and RC)

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• 1 Like

  Burden.of.Floof Core Member

  April 2021 1050 karma

  Definitely! @canihazJD talked to me about this the other week. Some question types are very conducive to this type of strategy, parallel reasoning being the obvious one.

  The question types that ask you to pick the answer choice that does something the most, however, aren't. Strengthening, Weakening, for example.

  I wonder if these could be delineated along the same lines as the powerful/provable spectrum from the Loophole? If it's provable from the stimulus, there may not be the need to read through all the ACs after you get to the right one.
• LOWERCASE EVERYTHING Member ⭐

  April 2021 edited April 2021 1952 karma

  as jy frequently says in his explanations videos, "you get 2 passes for each question."

  theoretically, in multiple choice exams, there are two (independently sufficient) ways of getting to the correct answer: 1. pick the right answer choice; 2. eliminate all the wrong answer choices

  doing both can mean an increased confidence in the choice that you select or a higher chance of getting the question correct.
  but it also costs more time.

  so ultimately, for me, i let my confidence levels decide my move.
  if it's an easier question, less convoluted, and i feel great about it, i sometimes would select an answer and just move on – without needing to confirm my answer by reading the rest of the answer choices to eliminate all the wrong choices. sometimes this happens on parallel reasoning questions or even on must-be-true formal logic questions.
  i do it so that i can bank in more time to spend it on more difficult questions later on in the section – because i know there are definitely questions where i'd need to utilize both "passes."

  why don't you do a few confidence level tests/practice, and see how you score?
  good luck!
• 3 Likes

  canihazJD Alum Member Sage ⭐

  April 2021 8491 karma

  A MC/MP question is an obvious top candidate for this, since if you don't know what the conclusion of the argument is, you have no business in the answer choices anyway.

  It's just strategy... if I pick out the SA in an argument then see exactly what I pre-phrased in AC B, it makes sense to pick it, flag, and move on. Similarly, if I confidently eliminate A-D, do I really need to "prove" E? We do the same thing all the time in LG, just much more comfortably because it is deductive reasoning, and there is no element of comparison.

  We are always trying to maximize our efficiency... when to move on. That can fall anywhere in the range between skipping a question on sight to confirming every AC with maximum certainty. A "pick and move" is just one example of this.
• Riddled Basins of Attention Member

  April 2021 114 karma

  I do this on parallel/parallel flaw questions.