Prephrasing

[Wounded_Bear]

Hi Powerscore fam,

I have been studying the Bibles and the Workbooks for about a year now on and off. My question in this post is on the topic of prephrasing in LR.

I think one of the issues I am having is not giving enough importance to prephrasing. I don't have an issue prephrasing causal arguments with, for example, Strengthen and Weaken questions. I have memorized the various ways for both q types. However, when the stimulus does not contain a causal conclusion, I have trouble prephrasing. More precisely, my prephrase becomes quite foggy and I head on over to the ACs. In this instance, I feel like I am kind of at the mercy of the ACs (ie I am much more passive rather than active).
My questions:
Am I overestimating the power of prehrasing? What could I do to improve my ability to prephrase? If one is good at prephrasing, does one usually develop two or more prephrases?

Thank you!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Wounded Bear

Prephrasing is the key skill for logical reasoning. I would say it's use can't really be overestimated. It improves speed and accuracy. I've been doing this work for over a decade, and when I do an LR section, I still prephrase.

I think prephrasing is misunderstood as a skill though. When we prephrase, we aren't necessarily looking for what the correct answer should say. We are looking for what the correct answer should DO. It sounds like that's what you do naturally for questions with causation. That's great! Build on that. With causation you probably are doing things like finding/eliminating an alternate cause.

You need to expand that skill and process to other types of arguments. Ultimately, all help/hurt family questions with arguments ask you to address the gap in the argument. Once you've looked at the argument, you'll want to identify that gap between the premises and the conclusion. That's where you'll focus your work. Look at the question stem, and ask what it wants you to do. Are you weakening the stimulus? Make that gap wider. Strengthening? Fill in that gap.

My big recommendation on prephrasing is to work on it in practice by actually writing it out. Obviously, don't do this in a timed exercise. But while you are working on the skill, you can write out your prephrase, try to find the correct answer, and analyze how your prephrase helped. You can also note what could have made your prephrase better. Note that you aren't trying to see if you prephrase was the exact answer. You want to see if your prephrase helped you to find the correct answer.

Ultimately, the more you practice prephrasing, the easier it will become.

Keep up the good work! You'll get there.

[Wounded_Bear]

Hi Wounded Bear

Prephrasing is the key skill for logical reasoning. I would say it's use can't really be overestimated. It improves speed and accuracy. I've been doing this work for over a decade, and when I do an LR section, I still prephrase.

I think prephrasing is misunderstood as a skill though. When we prephrase, we aren't necessarily looking for what the correct answer should say. We are looking for what the correct answer should DO. It sounds like that's what you do naturally for questions with causation. That's great! Build on that. With causation you probably are doing things like finding/eliminating an alternate cause.

You need to expand that skill and process to other types of arguments. Ultimately, all help/hurt family questions with arguments ask you to address the gap in the argument. Once you've looked at the argument, you'll want to identify that gap between the premises and the conclusion. That's where you'll focus your work. Look at the question stem, and ask what it wants you to do. Are you weakening the stimulus? Make that gap wider. Strengthening? Fill in that gap.

My big recommendation on prephrasing is to work on it in practice by actually writing it out. Obviously, don't do this in a timed exercise. But while you are working on the skill, you can write out your prephrase, try to find the correct answer, and analyze how your prephrase helped. You can also note what could have made your prephrase better. Note that you aren't trying to see if you prephrase was the exact answer. You want to see if your prephrase helped you to find the correct answer.

Ultimately, the more you practice prephrasing, the easier it will become.

Keep up the good work! You'll get there.

That was extremely helpful. I will practice that. Thank you!!