Skipping Q's?

[cd1010]

Hi! I just watched the Time Management/Pacing Video in Lesson 11. I've been studying for a couple of months, and I'm now moving on to thinking about timing/pacing.

One of the things Dave briefly mentioned was that he was not a big fan of skipping questions. Could you clarify? I've seen other LSAT programs where the advice is to actually be ok with hyper skipping, so as not to sink time, and then go back to the question with a fresh mind. There's three situations that I'm wondering about:

1) I read a stimulus and I feel like I have no idea what was discussed/I have sort of a conceptual block with the stimulus--- I usually end up skipping. An example of this when I read a stimulus that I didn't quite understand and see a flaw question, and wasn't even able to identify the flaw. Basically, I get freaked out when I'm not able to prephrase.

2) I read a stimulus and go through each AC but wasn't able to cross anything out, or ended up crossing out everything. Basically, I have no losers and contenders ---- I don't redo the question right then and there, but I skip it instead.

3) I'm sorting through contenders, and I'm really stuck with 2 --- This is where finding that nexus of accuracy and speed really gets me. As I practice concepts, this happens less, but it still happens. Should I just go ahead and select one and flag for review?

Thanks!

[cd1010]

Hi! Just wanted to follow-up regarding this. Thank you!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi cd1010!

As you may know, a reason against skipping is that it can result in wasted time. That is ultimately something that you'll have to make decision on the fly about, and it's possible that in some situations skipping could end up saving you time. I also definitely understand the feeling of reading a stimulus and not understanding it, or a prephrase not coming to you after reading it. I also know the feeling of reading the answer choices and eliminating all of them or none of them. It's possible that coming back to a question with fresh eyes could make it easier or more likely that you'll come to understand it.

However, it's also possible that you'd get that type of understanding by rereading the stimulus. If you just address the question when you come to it, then that might mean reading the stimulus a couple times. However, if you read the stimulus once and then don't answer the question but rather come back to it, that might mean you're reading the same stimulus two or three times, costing time.

In short, I think your best plan is what you mention about selecting one and flagging the question for review. Hopefully some of the tricks and strategies you're learning will be useful in making certain answers stand out, at least enough to justify choosing one. If you do that, it's still possible that you'll have ample time to go back to review the question if needed, but you'll at least have addressed it to the best of your ability the first time through.