Pre-phrasing

[niketown3000]

Hello,

Quick question: Do you guys recommend pre-phrasing in your head or actually writing down briefly on the paper? What about ViewSTAMP?

[Steve Stein]

Good questions. It's great that you're working on prephrasing--it is definitely a habit worth developing. I would recommend that you start out writing down a note or two--that will help you to keep your prephrase in mind while looking for the right answer choice, and to assess the accuracy of your prephrase in retrospect.

I'd also recommend a few short-hand notes beside your reading passages--some of those can be complicated, and a quick ViewSTAMP breakdown can be very helpful.

In both cases, I'd recommend that when you start out, you take notes liberally--in retrospect, you'll be better able to assess whether your notes were: i) ideal, ii) inadequate, or iii) more expansive than you needed.

Let me know how you progress--thanks!

~Steve

[Dave Killoran]

Expanding on Steve's points--which I agree with--as you do more questions, you will begin to see whether your prephrases actually are accurate. At the point you begin to become pretty comfortable with it, stop writing down those notes and simply formulate them in your head. That will save time, and you will also have confidence because at that point you will have proven you can do it well.

Good luck!

[Jon Denning]

Figured I'd chime in here as well. We have a couple of longer discussions of prephrasing on our LSAT Blog:

Prephrasing I - http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-fun ... ng-part-i/

Prephrasing II - http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-fun ... g-part-ii/

Those might provide you with some further insights. Good luck!

Jon