Strategy on Tough Wordings / Structure

[SerenaW274]

What is your strategy on tough questions? In particular, I'm not talking about eliminating answer choices, but questions that you keep rereading and cannot seem to get the point/argument core. Situations in which wording is foggy and you cannot understand the point the author is making,

For me, I read some questions and my mind gets stuck in the minutiae and can't seem to get a grasp of it. What do you do at that point?
Do you start underlining? Rearrange the structure? Look for key words?

What are some tips that can help me break out of my fog?

[ohthatpatrick]

TIP 1: Move on! If this isn't the last question in the section, go do something more doable. A point is a point. Don't let a really hard question mess up your pacing.

TIP 2: Make sure you are solid on argument keywords, since we can often use those to find the Argument Core, even when we don't understand the actual ideas.

CONC - thus, therefore, hence, so, consequently, conclude, clearly, this shows that
PREM - (F.A.B.S) for, after all, because since

PIVOT - but, yet, however (this means we've passed the background/counterpoint and NOW we're hearing the author's argument)

TIP 3: If it's abstract, make it concrete. If some ethicist is saying "lying morally impermissible when the projected benefits of uttering a mistruth are insignificant", then think: "If I was going to lie about how much I paid for this coffee just so my friend wouldn't make fun of me, that's a pretty insignificant benefit. According to this rule, I should not commit this lie."

TIP 4: If it's dense, break it into bite size pieces. Sometimes the grammatical subject of the sentence is already a mouthful/mindful: "Systems of governance in which a small group of leaders exercise near total control over most military and economic decisions often find that ....."

Stop, and convert that first long-noun into something simpler: "A dictatorship / an oligarchy / a monarchy, often finds that ...."

TIP 5: Stop for 15-30 seconds, look at the ceiling or close your eyes, breathe and relax. Sometimes, we just need a second to regroup. People are always scared to take this sort of mental break while the clock is running, but if it allows you to reset your attention it's worth it.

[SerenaW274]

Tip #3 and #4 are exactly what I was trying to describe and conquer! I already tried using these on former questions that stumped me and it definitely worked. Making the abstract concrete helped me see clearer and combining that with breaking the argument to smaller pieces was a game changer.

Thanks so much!