Should I focus on Q 1-20 & guess on 21+

[hamsah]

Hi,

So I was told by a tutor I used, that questions 1-20 are the easiest and to focus on getting these right, then guess on 21+. I am a bit hesitant to take this advice, it makes sense but then I've come across some difficult ones in the first 20 where as in the last 5-6 of the LR section a couple were easier.

What are your takes on this? Sound advice or just something that may or may not work?

In NEED of a second opinion!!!

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Hamsah!

There is a bit more nuance to the question difficulty than what you were told. You can check out detailed analysis of the question difficulty as the section progesses on the following two pages: Individual Question Difficulty and Logical Reasoning Question-by-Question Difficulty

What you will find after reading these posts is that you are likely to find some question in the first 20 questions which we can call very difficult. Difficult questions do not only appear in the final five or six questions of a section, but also frequently appear in the mid- to late-teens.

So, while it is correct to expect questions 10 - 15 to be on average easier than questions 20 - 25, there will be a good amount of variation in individual question difficulty. Number 14 may be harder than number 24. If you are sure that you can only finish 20 questions in 35 minutes, be prepared to identify complicated or confusing arguments no matter what question number you are working on.

Additionally, there is a good chance that the final question will not be one of the most difficult. What this means is that if you have only a few minutes left for the final four questions, it is often a good strategy to complete the final question before number 22 or 23. This is not guaranteed however.

With all of that being said, I do generally agree with the advice that your tutor gave you. Since the first ten questions rarely include an extremely difficult question. You can gain points more easily by mastering these, instead of concentrating on numbers 15 to 25, so long as you remember that there will be variation in difficulty from question to question. That is a good strategy for a student who is less than confident in the Logical Reasoning.

As you improve on the Logical Reasoning, and if you have very high goals, you should focus on the more difficult questions as well. Let me know if you have any other questions about Logical Reasoning strategy, and good luck!