Self-study
Hi, I just started learning for the LSAT just a week ago and took a diagnostic test. I got a 147 which is a little discouraging, but I'm staying focused and motivated. I intend to score in the high 170s.
I noticed that my main problem was speed and comprehension. The pressure of the timer really gets to me and makes it harder to focus on what I'm reading. I've faced this problem in many tests in the past. I know I can up my base score to at least the low 150s just by fixing this timing problem and no additional LSAT prep.
All the words jumble together and stop meaning anything, then I panic about wasting time, lose my train of thought and the cycle begins again. In the end I completely missed 4-6 questions in each section alone just because of timing. I'm considering applying for accommodation when the time comes, but I want to plan for worst case scenario.
Here are the things I'm planning to do:
Timed drills every other day, with less time than on the official LSAT
I ask Chat GPT to generate boring, and difficult to read passages every day, then answer questions on them to increase my general reading compression skills. (I usually avoid AI so if anyone has recommendations that replace Chat GPT please let me know)
Start doing regular daily activities - like cooking breakfast, getting ready, etc. - with timers. My thought process is that If I get used to timing things in general it will eventually feel like less pressure?
That's all I've got. Does any one have any tips on how to work faster? And how to get rid of that timer/test anxiety?
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5 comments
That's a great diagnostic score! Remember, diagnostic scores don't dictate much, so I would not let it hold too much weight! Plenty of people go from 140s to 170s!
I had a similar issue with timing (I have ADHD but decided not to apply for accommodations), and this is how I improved speed:
Untimed LR sections. Counterintuitive, but it will make you faster in the long run.
Once you have sufficiently grasped the material, do a timed LR section but only answer the first 15 questions in 35 minutes. Aim to get 15/15 correct. Once you get 15/15 correct, then move on to doing the first 16 questions in 35 minutes. Keep doing this until you can do the 25 questions within 35 minutes. If you are missing -5 from timing, then you are essentially answering 20/25 questions within the 35 minutes. Don't forget to blind review the remaining questions after the 35 minutes, you don't want to waste them!
ChatGPT is a great resource, but if you don't like it, then you can read newspapers, literary journals, academic papers. It's really good practice to summarize in a sentence or two after you finished reading a passage or a chapter. You can time yourself reading if you'd like, but it may be distracting and pull away from your focus.
A lot of people who score in the high 170s end up finishing each section early (but not all, so don't believe that you necessarily have to reach this point). Whenever I get frustrated with timing, I just tell myself it's because I don't know the content well enough. And truly, as someone who couldn't finish a section in time, it does get faster once you are more familiar with the material. You won't need to diagram as much, and you'll learn to ignore red herrings and trap answers. That doesn't mean I don't struggle with timing now, but you learn to work within the parameters.
I'm not sure about timing regular daily activities, but I like to do crosswords and play chess, both of which are timed. It's a low pressure way of honing my attention. I also limit my screentime to increase my attention span, and picked up hobbies that require a lot of patience, like knitting. This probably won't work for everyone, but these helped me as someone with ADHD.
I hear you that you're frustrated with timing, but considering you just began studying I think you're in a great spot! Don't be discouraged just yet, timing will come naturally.
There seems to be a few notions of "timing" embedded in your answer. There are certainly time allocation strategies you can experiment with. What works for me, for LR specifically, is to do questions 4-17, then 1-3, and then 18 onwards. I do this because often they will start the exam with a wordy, hard to parse question to discourage you. Usually, 4-17 is pretty straightforward and so you build up a time buffer and feel like you're ahead. Chances are you may at first get a couple wrong 18-25/26 and so they're the least valuable per minute to allocate. For RC I like to spend a lot of time really understanding the passage, buzz through the questions, and then go back to check for support at the end. It's all personal preference, but it takes experimenting to find an approach that works consistently for you.
How efficiently you use your time per question, unfortunately, does boil down to practice. You seem intelligent, and you may be smart enough to brute force the answers with plenty of time, but it takes practice to hone your approach for each question type. Consider testing a plumber of 40 years against a homeowner by giving each a broken sink. Sure, if you're an adept homeowner you could probably figure it out. Chances are the plumber is going to do it better and faster. Does the homeowner need to work on their time management skills, or their plumbing skills?
If you just want to get to low 150s then don't attempt each question focus on getting the first 18 (it could be a slightly higher or lower number i can't remember off my head) correct. However in general you are too early in your journey to be worrying about speed imo