How to improve LR

[mgandini]

Hello everyone,

I read the Manhattan LR book a few months ago and have been doing practice problems ever since. I just started to practice consistently and was wondering if there is a secret to mastering this section. Is it all about repetition and reviewing/analyzing missed problems, or is it more than that? Any help would be appreciated!

-Michael

[rinagoldfield]

Hi Michael,

Sadly, there’s no big LR secret.

The best way to approach the LR section is to master the fundamentals (such as argument cores and conditional logic) and then to PRACTICE.

It sounds like you’ve gotten off to a great start by going through our strategy guide.

When you practice, take time to really go over problems that you struggle with. Write out explanations for yourself that detail where you went wrong. Maybe do a couple of hours of private tutoring to go over problem types you struggle with. TIME YOURSELF on problems. You get the idea.

Best of luck!

Rina

[chike_eze]

Hello everyone,

I read the Manhattan LR book a few months ago and have been doing practice problems ever since. I just started to practice consistently and was wondering if there is a secret to mastering this section. Is it all about repetition and reviewing/analyzing missed problems, or is it more than that? Any help would be appreciated!

-Michael

I think studying for the LSAT (at least in my opinion) is organized chaos. Maybe 80% of it fits a predictable pattern which is systematically learned over time (or for some -- it comes naturally). However, the really difficult Logic games, or LR questions require some combination of common sense and multiple fundamental LSAT skills.

A smart LSAT instructor once said, "Don't worry about the really difficult question just yet... get faster (while maintaining accuracy) on easier questions so you can have more time to spend on the difficult ones!" -- like the "Rattle Snake" question or the "Dioxins downstream..." question or the "Zones" game (which some people found easy -- not me though...)

When you get close to taking the LSAT, you should then shift to strategizing on how to maximize your score. This may include skipping difficult questions -- e.g., attempting 4 easy-to-medium questions in 6 minutes, instead of spending 4.5 minutes on a difficult question (and still getting it wrong -- Grrrhhh).

So -- I'm afraid there are no easy answers. You'll have to figure out what works best for you. Good luck!!