How often do you actually diagram per LR section?

Comments

• Q.E.D Alum Member

  November 2016 556 karma

  I've only done a handful of PTs but I'm noticing they tend to have an easier and a harder LR section. Schematizing seems more useful in the latter. Sometimes I'll do it, sometimes not. Prob an average of 1 time per section. The formal aspect is less challenging than the word tricks. Multiple answers may look valid until you scrutinize the nouns or adjectives used in the argument.
  
  Good luck.
• 1 Like

  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  November 2016 23929 karma

  @"◊ Q.E.D. ◊" said:
  I've only done a handful of PTs but I'm noticing they tend to have an easier and a harder LR section. Schematizing seems more useful in the latter. Sometimes I'll do it, sometimes not. Prob an average of 1 time per section. The formal aspect is less challenging than the word tricks. Multiple answers may look valid until you scrutinize the nouns or adjectives used in the argument.
  
  Good luck.
  

  Same. Maybe 1-2 times per section. If I get a tricky MBT, I'll usually skip it and diagram if I have time.
  
  I also agree with QED that sometimes multiple answers can looked credited until you scrutinize the language used.
• 1 Like

  Tinyosi1 Alum Member

  November 2016 235 karma

  I very rarely diagram in LR; the only question types I really use it on are MBT and parallel reasoning, but for PR it is only if I have trouble immediately finding the correct answer.
• orangebeer Alum Member

  November 2016 216 karma

  Thank you guys.
  Because I remember JY did many diagramming in sufficient assumpition family questions, I thought everyone does like what he does.
  But maybe its not necessary?
• Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  November 2016 27900 karma

  @orangebeer said:
  Because I remember JY did many diagramming in sufficient assumpition family questions, I thought everyone does like what he does.
  But maybe its not necessary?
  

  Yeah, I'd be surprised to see JY diagram much at all on the actual test. JY is diagraming in the videos because he needs to break down and reconstruct his though process in a way that we can understand. The videos don't represent at all what he'd actually do on the real thing.
• 1 Like

  jjwang120 Member

  November 2016 edited November 2016 98 karma

  This is actually helpful to read. I think I've developed a bad habit of diagramming almost for every LR. And I noticed it often gets in the way of real understanding/wastes time. It's become a not so useful crutch and bad habit for me
• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  November 2016 23929 karma

  @jjwang120 said:
  This is actually helpful to read. I think I've developed a bad habit of diagramming almost for every LR. And I noticed it often gets in the way of real understanding/wastes time. It's become a not so useful crutch and bad habit for me
  

  Absolutely a bad habit. I recommend returning to the lessons on conditional statements and indicators, and reviewing lawgic lessons and the question types you are typically diagramming a bunch for. I think you're exactly right when you say it is getting in the way of your understanding and wasting time. Furthermore, I think you'll find under timed pressure, you won't be able to diagram a whole lot.
  
  I am confident that if you spend the time learning the underlying lawgic and strategies for solving the question types better, you'll find you don't actually need to diagram so much.
  
  
• 3 Likes

  alexroark5 Alum Member Inactive ⭐

  November 2016 812 karma

  Diagramming varies per person. Some people are able to hold more in their heads confidently than others. Certain questions types generally require diagramming more often than others (sufficient assumption questions vs. main point questions). The best thing to do is to understand your limitations and diagram when it is necessary depending on how much you can handle in your head without making errors. No matter how often you have to diagram, it is wise for everyone to get as fast and as comfortable with diagramming as possible.
  
• Tinyosi1 Alum Member

  November 2016 235 karma

  In regards to reading every answer choice: I would say I read every answer choice 85-90% of the time. I do this because I want to make sure any correct option I did pick was not wrong due to me overlooking something. However, there are exceptions:
  
  1. I have "guessed" the answer. This is common in MBT and Assumption questions. Sometimes I will give the others a cursory glance, but if I can guess the answer I am usually comfortable moving on.
  
  2. In Parallel Reasoning/Parallel Flaw questions, I usually read all of the answers but bail the instant it gets wrong. I consider PR questions very straight forward; the correct answer will always be a complete mirror. If the stimulus says something like "A is B and B is C..." the moment an answer starts "X isn't Y" I feel comfortable stopping there. This is especially good because answer choices in these questions are all the size of a single stimulus.
  
  My honest answer though is that you should ideally get to a point where you feel so confident you do not need to read the other choices.
• orangebeer Alum Member

  November 2016 216 karma

  Thanks guys,

  @Tinyosi1 said:
  My honest answer though is that you should ideally get to a point where you feel so confident you do not need to read the other choices.
  

  Does this apply to LG and RC as well?
  If you are confident with an answer choice or if you found a word used in an answer choice is not right, do you just move on?
• Tinyosi1 Alum Member

  November 2016 235 karma

  In LG conventional wisdom seems to indicate that if an answer choice is correct then you should move on and only ensure that the others are wrong with extra time. In many of JY's explanation videos you will hear him say things like "And since this is the right answer you just move on" or "If this were an actual test you would move on, but since this is practice lets check the others...".
  
  If I am wrong, someone PLEASE correct me, but everything I've seen seems to indicate that wrong choices should only be proofed with extra time.
  
  Keep in mind though that with some question types, such as "Complete and Accurate List" questions it might be best to read all answers because if A, B, C and D can fit into a slot an answer choice of "A, B, and C" is wrong. LG to me is the most unique in regards to your question because it is the section with the most "obvious" correctness to the answers. All questions in all sections have only one right answer, but LG is a bit more mathematical to me; if you completely understand the fundamentals and the game you should have full confidence in your answers.
  
  As for RC, yes there are times I move on because of a word. One good example would be "Which describes the function of X paragraph". If the paragraph doesn't list anything, and one answer choice begins "It lists..." why continue with it? Sure, if you get stuck you might want to revisit it, but to me a red flag like that indicates to just move on and see what else is there first.
• orangebeer Alum Member

  November 2016 216 karma

  For LG, actually reading choices help me bc I found sometimes I miss a sub-game board and miss some inferences and sometimes I even mis-represent rules. But maybe this may be an indicator I'm not mature on LG?
  For RC, the answer choices become so long on modern LSAT so I tend to skip once I see a word that feels not right...such as "disaprovement" when the question asks about author's attitude but in the passsage they actually approve it...especially on those long AC (4-5 sentences) I just don't want to read all of them...no enough time if I do so. I was not sure this is OK or I should skim even if I don't have time...
  @Tinyosi1
• Tinyosi1 Alum Member

  November 2016 235 karma

  @orangebeer said:
  For LG, actually reading choices help me bc I found sometimes I miss a sub-game board and miss some inferences and sometimes I even mis-represent rules. But maybe this may be an indicator I'm not mature on LG?
  

  My personal opinion on this: Finding out you are misrepresenting rules mid-game is a clear indication you haven't matured, as you put it, in LG. It is good that you have been saved by skimming at certain times, but that is a pretty shaky/risky plan. Don't beat yourself up over it, but definitely try to improve on this. Practice LG and Lawgic until you can confidently represent rules and diagram effectively. The other things, such as inferences and sub-game boards, will also come along with mastery.

  @orangebeer said:
  For RC, the answer choices become so long on modern LSAT so I tend to skip once I see a word that feels not right...such as "disaprovement" when the question asks about author's attitude but in the passsage they actually approve it...especially on those long AC (4-5 sentences) I just don't want to read all of them...no enough time if I do so. I was not sure this is OK or I should skim even if I don't have time..
  

  So you are asking me if it is okay to skip these choices? If you are confident an answer is wrong, and it turns out you are right in practice, then I say yes. I bail when it becomes clear to me a choice is wrong, I don't wait. However, if when you do this that answer choice turns out to be correct that is an issue. If that happens, you need to work on your evaluation of the language of the passage and text. Some AC that are wrong may not be so obvious, but if a question has 2-3 blatantly wrong choices it is nice to not waste time on them.
• LSATtruth. Alum Member

  November 2016 175 karma

  I only find it necessary to diagram must be true questions.
• Stevie C Alum Member

  November 2016 645 karma

  between 0 and 3 times per section