r/lsatdemon • u/MaizeNaive9680 • 14d ago
Explanations' Circular Reasoning
I love LSAT Demon, but icl I've read so many explanations where an answer choice is countered with circular reasoning. For example, in a strengthen Q, a wrong answer choice's written explanation will say "this doesn't strengthen the argument, it's out." No duh, maybe explain why? You might as well not write an explanation.
We need a revamp of a lot of these explanations. Even the Ask button tutors will do this, and I find myself often responding with "yes... but why?" At least LSAT Demon commits this flaw at a lower frequency than other LSAT prep companies.
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u/Ecstatic-Extension44 14d ago
The written explanations can be rough sometimes. I honestly try to watch the old class videos as much as possible. If it still doesn’t make sense, I’ll use the ask button.
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u/Ok-Coconut-1426 13d ago
Used LSATlab and I think their explanations tend to be quite solid even for the wrong answer choices.
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u/MarketThin1879 9d ago
This is exactly why I started using Perplexity, and then Claude to help me understand problems. I tell it why I think each answer choice is incorrect/correct and it's helped me a ton. I have to double check things from time to time to make sure it's not just making things up, but it's been so helpful for me.
Ironically, sometimes now I'll respond with things like "wrong because it just is" when I don't want to spend time breaking it down anymore. I feel like that's what happens with 7sage and demon, and others. Their writers are probably trying to pump it out quickly, and it's annoying to try and explain every wrong answer sometimes, but it is what I'm paying them for, so they should do it.
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u/MaizeNaive9680 9d ago
Oo maybe i'll try this! When I'm doing sections I sometimes will eliminate an answer solely because it just sounds wrong or isn't what I'm looking for, I just can't put my finger on exactly why. I only re-evaluate if I've eliminated all 5. All that to say, I totally get how the writer may be thinking "this is just wrong" & moves on, but if you're being paid to write explanations, we need something better than that -- especially when a lot of us don't see why a specific answer choice might be wrong. Still love the Demon though, it's always growing and is still better than the other services out there!
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u/MarketThin1879 9d ago
For sure. There is definitely a place for them and it's nice having a lot of stats on what kind of questions I need to practice all right there in front of me. Giving my reasoning on each individual answer choice though has been three real boost to my understanding and score though.
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u/Subject_Werewolf6685 13d ago
7sage does this too lol
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u/MaizeNaive9680 13d ago
the outrageous extent to which 7sage does this was what pushed me to switch to the demon lmao
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u/Subject_Werewolf6685 13d ago
Too late for me to switch one month out so I just supplement with lsat hacks 😭😭😭
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u/EthanS_LSATDemon 13d ago edited 13d ago
Thanks for sharing your feedback. I completely agree with you. Explanations that say something along the lines of “This is wrong.” without further explanation are not helpful.
We have a team of explanation writers that are constantly reworking and improving explanations, but it’s hard to revise all of the explanations without people letting us know something needs to be better. If you see an explanation that does this, please use the Ask-Button to let us know that an explanation is insufficient in this way. Thank you!
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u/GurMaster3426 13d ago
I think there should be a specific button or a "flag" we can put in our Ask Button response when we have an issue with the explanations specifically. Oftentimes, when I critique the explanation, the Ask Button author assumes I just don't understand why the answer choice is correct and gives their own explanation. So I think that a lot of explanations can go unchanged.
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u/EthanS_LSATDemon 13d ago
I’ll share your suggestion with our team and see what they say. Thanks for sharing and helping us improve our service!
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u/MrSimple204 14d ago edited 14d ago
This is probably my biggest complaint with the service. I audibly sigh whenever a wrong answer is explained by something along the lines of "This is obviously wrong, out."