Prephrasing right to correct answer

[fmihalic1477]

Hi all,

I've found myself in a good conundrum. About 4/5 times per section, I know what the answer is immediately after reading the question stem. This happens very often with Assumption, Agree/Disagree, and Main Conclusion statements.

I know that the Bible teaches to always read all 5 answers choice. That said, some of the questions are much more time consuming i.e. certain parallel reasoning questions, questions with a more dense stimulus etc.

On average, we have 1 minute and 25 seconds per questions. As mentioned above, about 4/5 times per section I find my self with the luxury of snagging a without-doubt correct answer in about 30 seconds or so.

An example of these questions would be :

Politician : Mike has good values and morals. Thus, he won't make a good presidents.

Answer : People with good values and morals don't make good presidents.

To my main point, is this a wise decision or should I take more caution? I feel that these questions are almost like gifts in a way and are very valuable to my overall LR score because they allow we to not feel rushed when I see a longer problem.

Thank you,

Frank

[AthenaDalton]

Hi Frank,

I'm happy to hear that you've mastered the art of prephrasing the correct answer!

You are absolutely right that some questions will take longer than others, especially parallel reasoning question types. Saving some time on the easier questions to spend on the tough questions is a good strategy.

However, I would caution against skipping reading all five answer choices.

The LSAT makers are tricky and know that students taking the test are rushed. So, it is very common for a tempting, almost-but-not-quite-correct answer to be listed as answer choice (D) when the correct answer is actually (E). I frequently see students trip up this way with opposite answers or shell game answers. In these cases, it would be pretty straightforward to catch yourself if you see two opposite answers that both popped out at you in your first read-through of the answers.

In any case, it should only take you a couple of additional seconds to read through all of the answer choices, even just briefly, to confirm that your initially selected answer choice is right.

Best of luck!

Athena Dalton

[fmihalic1477]

Thank you Athena.

I think that you're right

Frank