June 2010 LSAT Section 1 Question 21

Each of the candidates in this year's mayoral election is a small-business owner. Most small-business owners are comp...

nizhoni on November 1, 2019

Is there another technique

Diagramming always works and it is so clear but it also take a lot of time (more than 1.5 mins), is there any other technique you could use besides diagramming to get the right answer? Do you just diagram so frequently that it becomes second nature and as you read you mentally diagram, then hold that in your head as you read through the answer choices and diagram those in your head as well? Is the only way to tackle these problems to diagram until you develop an innate sense?

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Skylar on November 3, 2019

@nizhoni The more you practice, the faster you should be able to diagram and the less you should feel that you need to do so. Eventually, you should become familiar enough with the patterns of logic used on the LSAT that you can follow along mentally on some questions in which diagramming would be unnecessary. Until this point, your best approach is to continue diagramming and to take a step back when reviewing to ensure that you understand the patterns of logic used in the passage and in each answer question. Parallel reasoning questions that require diagramming can be time traps when placed a few questions from the end of an LR section. If you're pressed for time and you know that these types of questions require extra time for you, you should evaluate whether you feel skipping one of these would allow you to answer more questions.

Best of luck with your continued studying and let us know how we can help!