Any suggestions for parallel reasoning??

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• 2 Likes

  Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  October 2017 27861 karma

  As your fundamentals solidify and you become increasingly comfortable, these questions will become much less intimidating. Just remember that you don't have to fully justify your answer. If you can get to a 50/50 in 60 seconds, that is great return on your time. Maybe you get it, maybe you miss it; but this is much preferred to spending 4 minutes to definitely get it right and then not finishing the section.

  As far as how to approach your attempt: Try to distill the argument to it's essential structural elements. On many of these, the stimulus is actually very simplistic. Two things will happen:

  If you can't create a concise summary, then your job is very easy here. Skip it, no questions asked. This isn't a weakness, it's a strategic decision that top scorers make all the time. People are really hesitant on this for some reason, but people need to get over it. If the only order Napoleon ever gave was "Charge!!!!!!!!!!!" he would probably be remembered, if at all, as something very different than one of the greatest military strategists of all time.

  If you can create a concise summary, just go through the ACs and pick the one that seems to work. Then leave it at that. It's fine if you miss it. I miss questions all the time, but what I don't do is agonize over it and compound my mistake by losing the time I need to avoid other, more preventable misses. Throwing time at these is putting out a fire with gasoline. Get in, get out, and get on with it.
• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  October 2017 23929 karma

  @sidwills1234 said:
  Does anyone have suggestions for how to approach parallel method of reasoning questions under time pressure? I feel like these questions in particular take up a lot of time during a timed LSAT. Any recommendations for how to approach these questions under time pressure?

  Agree with everything @"Cant Get Right" wrote above.

  I actually had trouble with these up until August. What helped me was doing tons of drilling for parallel reasoning. After doing a great deal of these, it became much easier for me to see the structure of the argument I was trying to match rather than have to rely on grammar/words, etc. While those things can be helpful, I think being able to see the argument structures is what helps me do these fast.
• 1 Like

  TheMikey Alum Member

  October 2017 4196 karma

  focus on the structure of the argument.

  I usually glance at conclusions first in the AC's and can typically eliminate 1 or even 2 AC's based off of conclusions not matching. idk if it's the best way but it's always worked for me and saves me a bit of time from having to read those 1 or 2 AC's fully.
• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  October 2017 23929 karma

  @TheMikey said:
  focus on the structure of the argument.

  I usually glance at conclusions first in the AC's and can typically eliminate 1 or even 2 AC's based off of conclusions not matching. idk if it's the best way but it's always worked for me and saves me a bit of time from having to read those 1 or 2 AC's fully.

  I actually think when I was starting my studies you helped me with these questions Mikey! haha

  OP, definitely check out the conclusions first to eliminate if you can.
• TheMikey Alum Member

  October 2017 4196 karma

  @"Alex Divine" said:

  @TheMikey said:
  focus on the structure of the argument.

  I usually glance at conclusions first in the AC's and can typically eliminate 1 or even 2 AC's based off of conclusions not matching. idk if it's the best way but it's always worked for me and saves me a bit of time from having to read those 1 or 2 AC's fully.

  I actually think when I was starting my studies you helped me with these questions Mikey! haha

  OP, definitely check out the conclusions first to eliminate if you can.

  haha yeah I remember!
• 1 Like

  hannah.robins Alum Member

  October 2017 27 karma

  I like the conclusion matching method - when you don't have time to diagram each answer, and you need to make an educated guess quickly, it can be helpful.
• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  October 2017 23929 karma

  @TheMikey said:

  @"Alex Divine" said:

  @TheMikey said:
  focus on the structure of the argument.

  I usually glance at conclusions first in the AC's and can typically eliminate 1 or even 2 AC's based off of conclusions not matching. idk if it's the best way but it's always worked for me and saves me a bit of time from having to read those 1 or 2 AC's fully.

  I actually think when I was starting my studies you helped me with these questions Mikey! haha

  OP, definitely check out the conclusions first to eliminate if you can.

  haha yeah I remember!

  https://media.giphy.com/media/3otPout3EFeaTjRxhS/giphy.gif
• 1 Like

  FerdaFresh Alum Member

  October 2017 561 karma

  Check out how Graeme Blake tackles parallel reasoning questions! He offers free explanations, used to work for 7Sage, and I'd say his specialty is teaching you the speed factor for LR.

  An example I rememeber off the cuff is he discarded 2/5 AC's by just skimming them for a couple seconds because the stimulus had exclusively conditional logic and they had existential quantifiers. Little tips and tricks like that can do wonders!
• Paul Caint Alum Member ⭐

  October 2017 3521 karma

  What everyone else said: Focus on structure, not content.