Focusing on a semi-specific question type

[bstampfl]

Hi all,

I find myself getting stuck on a certain type of question in LR. I'm hovering around the 170-172 and want to make a jump into the mid-170s, and this question type is one I need to master to make the leap.

The question type can be seen in PT41 S1 Q21, PT43 S2 Q7, PT43 S3 Q9, and PT43 S3 Q24. They are MBT/MSS (or Must Be False) Qs with stimuli that contain conditional logic and oftentimes formal logic (Some, Most, etc.).

I generally either get these questions wrong (after sinking 4 min into them, sadly), or I get them right after 2-3 min of agonizing. I want to make it clear that I feel I have a pretty good understanding of formal logic (the Bible was very helpful); I just seem to get mixed up and overwhelmed on these questions and many times mess up when trying to set up the stimulus chain.

Can anyone offer advice on focusing my study/practice as I try to master these? Whether it is specific strategies or specific problem sets I could complete, I'd love to hear advice on how I can improve.

Thank you in advance! I really appreciate it.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi bstampfl!

Congrats on your great practice test scores! Formal Logic questions can definitely be tough--even if you understand how to diagram Formal Logic statements, sometimes the way they are described within stimuli can be extra confusing. The best thing to do is to keep practicing so that you become more comfortable and confident with them. So it's great you're keeping track of which questions in which PTs are giving you trouble. Keep coming back to these questions and trying them again to see how you improve. Practice and repetition will help you go into these questions feeling less overwhelmed.

If you haven't already, make sure to check out our advice for how to best review your practice tests to make sure that you're learning what you need to from them:
https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-be ... ice-tests/

Since you have a very specific type of question that you need to work on, you might also consider getting a couple hours of tutoring so you can work one-on-one with an instructor who can help you identify the issues you're having and figure out what to do to get those few extra points.

You might also want to consider that the real problem standing between you and a few extra points in the 170s is not actually this specific (and fairly rare) question type. You say that sometimes you end up spending 4+ minutes on these questions...does that mean you run out of time on later questions? It might be that the best strategy for you is to actually skip these questions and come back to them if you have time, to make sure that you have time to pick up points on later questions. You can miss a couple questions and still get a 180. So you don't necessarily need to get these specific types of questions right to get a 175+. A tutor might also be useful for helping you pinpoint exactly which areas are going to be the most helpful in making score gains.

Hope this helps! Good luck getting that 175+!

Best,
Kelsey