LR question

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• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  July 2015 8021 karma

  Always read the whole thing. You used to be able to get away with reading one on early PTs, but they changed it up, so always better safe than sorry.
• 1 Like

  c.janson35 Free Trial Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  July 2015 2398 karma

  Yea, definitely read the whole thing. The risk/reward of not reading both statements isn't worth it. By saving 15-20 seconds you are sacrificing the context that may be necessary to fully understanding the second author's response.
• gs556 Member Inactive Sage

  July 2015 568 karma

  My take:
  
  I know 7sage instructs to read the stems first, but that is one area where I didn't follow the curriculum. I always liked to read and understand the argument before I read the question stem. I felt like reading the question stem first would bias the way I read the argument and I preferred not to do so.
  
  Using that strategy I went -1 on all LR on test day.
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  July 2015 8021 karma

  @gs556 said:
  I know 7sage instructs to read the stems first, but that is one area where I didn't follow the curriculum. I always liked to read and understand the argument before I read the question stem. I felt like reading the question stem first would bias the way I read the argument and I preferred not to do so.
  

  Interesting strategy, I think despite that fact that Mike Kim also says to read the stem first, so much of his emphasis on reading for argument/reasoning structure could actually point someone in this direction since understanding the argument and/or the flaw therein is so crucial to every question even though you can cheat this a bit in certain scenarios if you're lucky. Great food for thought.
• Aiesha G. Alum Member

  July 2015 edited July 2015 199 karma

  Ok thanks a bunch! I was reading the entire argument for those types of questions anyway so I won't even think about not doing so. I agree that it does bias the way that you read the argument if you read the question stem first. However, the bias is appropriate since you are only trying to perform a specific task and reading the stem allows you to zero in on that task. I can care less about reading in a biased manner if it allows me to get that question correct. Lol. But to each his own. Your method certainly isn't wrong, I just perform better when given "direction" as opposed to not having any.
• 1 Like

  gs556 Member Inactive Sage

  July 2015 568 karma

  The notion of a "specific task" is an illusion. It's all logic and reasoning. At least that's the way I approached LR. It helped me grasp it better, rather than trying to identify a "trick" for solving all the different "tasks."
  
  Plus, I was often able to anticipate what sort of question stem I was going to get just by reading and understanding the argument.
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  July 2015 8021 karma

  There is no spoon...