How to be better at LR

[rameday]

Hello,

So one issue I have been struggling with, with regards to logical reasoning is understanding thoroughly what the stimulus is telling me. Sometimes I find that I have to read the stimulus multiple times just to grasp what is going on. One of the things I really struggle with, with respect to logical resigning is is being an engaged reader and noticing nuance and subtleties in the stimulus. Logical reasoning is definitely the section I find the most challenging and it is the section where I feel the least confident. I discovered the pre-phrasing drill that powerscore blogged about and I am currently working through that right now because I think my pre-phrasing could use a bit of work for the logical reasoning.

Anyway I guess my question was how does one go about becoming a more engaged reader and better at reading closely and understanding the language of the stimulus when tackling the logical reasoning section? I am currently listening to lesson 1 module and they talk about understanding shifts is subtleties and verbiage and noticing these in the stimuli is something I can't seem to grasp.

A

[Ron Gore]

Hi Rameday,

You ask:

how does one go about becoming a more engaged reader and better at reading closely and understanding the language of the stimulus when tackling the logical reasoning section?

That's a great question. Part of my response is practice and intention. The very fact that you are thinking about needing to be a more active reader will help you to focus more closely on the language of the stimulus. And the more that you read with the intention of reading closely, the easier it will become.

But more specifically, think about the purpose of your active reading in the Logical Reasoning section. Your goal is to be prepared to develop a prephrase and find the correct answer choice as quickly as possible. In addition to Jon Denning's fantastic prephrase drill you mentioned, one of the best things you can do is learn to completely reverse engineer each Logical Reasoning question you take. I know that I've mentioned reverse engineering in a prior response to one of your questions, but that repetition merely reflects the absolute importance of the process.

An example of reverse engineering would be to take a question, whether you got it right or you got it wrong, and review the correct answer choice. Knowing the content of the correct answer choice, go back up to the stimulus and look for the words or connections that could have provided you with the optimal prephrase to find that answer choice. Then, take each of the incorrect answer choices and ask yourself why Law Services thought you would find that answer choice to be attractive.

By doing this, you will start to see how Law Services constructs its questions and lays traps for the unwary. Since the only tool they have to do this is language, what you'll be doing is learning to identify how they use language to accomplish their objective. While at first their techniques appear nebulous, I liken the process to a Where's Waldo picture. At first, you have a hard time finding Waldo. But, once you know where he is, you can't help but see him. It's also like the guy in the gorilla suit in the Invisible Gorilla experiment.

Take your time and build a knowledge base of how Law Services has constructed questions in the past, how they craft attractive answer choices, and what the correct answer choice for each type of question tends to look like. With this kind of nuanced practice, you will develop your ability to notice the word choice and shifts in language Law Services uses in the Logical Reasoning section.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Ron