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Tommy Wallach
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Should I use LSAT LR questions to supplement my study for GMAT CR?
This is an issue that comes up with a lot of my students, particularly those who are already doing pretty well, or think they have "exhausted" the OG materials and are looking for new, challenging stuff.
The short answer to the question is: probably not.
The defense of the LSAT LR questions is that they are quite tough, and there's a ton of them out there! Think of all the magic study material you'll have access to. 80 tests worth! Two sections per test! 25-ish questions per section. That's 4000 questions. Wow!
Unfortunately, there are some major problems:
1) There are question types on the LSAT that aren't on the GMAT. Now, you could argue that expanding your range is never a bad thing, in case you get thrown a curveball on the GMAT, but the truth is it's a waste of time to work on your skills for question types that you're never going to see.
2) Even in the question types that are common to both types, the presentation is slightly different. The best example of this is in Assumption questions. The LSAT differentiates pretty seriously between necessary assumptions and sufficient assumptions (if you don't know what that means...that's cool), and the questions are often much more based on LOGIC than CRITICAL THINKING (you'd think this would be obvious, given that the LSAT section is called "Logical Reasoning" and the GMAT section is called "Critical Reasoning," but nothing is obvious in the world of test prep). So if you spent a few weeks studying the LSAT and suddenly walked into a GMAT, you'd be surprised by how different the questions looked.
Now, the only caveat to this is that it is possible to be good at multiple tests, and there's a certain amount of skill in terms of flexibility conferred by those who DO master multiple tests. But for the average person simply seeking to score as well on the GMAT as possible, I'll always recommend another trip through the OG (however much you THINK you have it memorized) rather than an adventure through the wacky world of LSAT Logical Reasoning.
Good luck!
-t
This is an issue that comes up with a lot of my students, particularly those who are already doing pretty well, or think they have "exhausted" the OG materials and are looking for new, challenging stuff.
The short answer to the question is: probably not.
The defense of the LSAT LR questions is that they are quite tough, and there's a ton of them out there! Think of all the magic study material you'll have access to. 80 tests worth! Two sections per test! 25-ish questions per section. That's 4000 questions. Wow!
Unfortunately, there are some major problems:
1) There are question types on the LSAT that aren't on the GMAT. Now, you could argue that expanding your range is never a bad thing, in case you get thrown a curveball on the GMAT, but the truth is it's a waste of time to work on your skills for question types that you're never going to see.
2) Even in the question types that are common to both types, the presentation is slightly different. The best example of this is in Assumption questions. The LSAT differentiates pretty seriously between necessary assumptions and sufficient assumptions (if you don't know what that means...that's cool), and the questions are often much more based on LOGIC than CRITICAL THINKING (you'd think this would be obvious, given that the LSAT section is called "Logical Reasoning" and the GMAT section is called "Critical Reasoning," but nothing is obvious in the world of test prep). So if you spent a few weeks studying the LSAT and suddenly walked into a GMAT, you'd be surprised by how different the questions looked.
Now, the only caveat to this is that it is possible to be good at multiple tests, and there's a certain amount of skill in terms of flexibility conferred by those who DO master multiple tests. But for the average person simply seeking to score as well on the GMAT as possible, I'll always recommend another trip through the OG (however much you THINK you have it memorized) rather than an adventure through the wacky world of LSAT Logical Reasoning.
Good luck!
-t
Tommy Wallach, Company Expert
ManhattanGMAT
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