Self-study
My blind review scores are amazing and keep going up each PT, but my timed scores are stuck in an awful range I'm struggling to break out of. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED I'm crashing out ughh
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My blind review scores are amazing and keep going up each PT, but my timed scores are stuck in an awful range I'm struggling to break out of. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED I'm crashing out ughh
13 comments
Hi! I average -9 in LR sections but can get up to -3 in BR. I just did a drill and got 40% right and then 100% in BR. This is really good news! It means that we're understanding the logic, the skills is there-- most likely small things need improvement. Right now I'm going to experiment, because I tend to be stuck between 2 options and have a tendency to pick the wrong one. Why? Idk. How can I know? By understanding how I think. How can I understand how I think? I'm going to write it out.
This is a new thing I am trying out, plus studying with other people and a tutor. It is VERY frustrating, but the good thing is that there is evidence of capability (we got the questions right!) now it's diagnosing the real problem (time stress? not sleeping well? low performance with perceived pressure? not reading all the answers thoroughly?) I have written elsewhere that the LSAT is a logic puzzle challenge AND an emotional regulation challenge. Maybe researching how high performance athletes remain focused under stress?
Good luck!
@sol_chan I struggle with this issue when it comes to RC, and timing is a big part of it but I feel like there's something more I'm missing. Honestly drilling is not helping like I wish it would
@Ssss sounds like you feel lost because you’re having trouble diagnosing the problem. Does being timed reduce your performance on ALL tasks or just RC?
If your performance is affected by having a timer only when you do RC, then I think it’s not the timer itself. I’d also keep an open mind when it comes to improvements. Sometimes our expectations drown out the progress we’re making.
I studied one entire month and only got a 2 point increase in my PT. I was crestfallen. But I advanced in other ways. I think reducing the pressure of the expectation of what “good improvement” means could be helpful.
@sol_chan Timing also effects my LR, but definitely not as much as RC. I think it's because when I do RC I spend a lot of time just reading the passage and trying to understand it, and I have less time to do each question. I also tend to take too long on the first couple RC passages and have barely any time left for the last ones. I don't know how to go about fixing this
@Ssss I'd recommend reading hard texts outside of RC. I studied Philosophy, so RC is my most comfortable test section. There are exercises specifically for RC as well, such as learning how to divide the text into mini sections "Paragraph 1 is about A's perspective" so you know where to search when needing specific info. I haven't given much thought to RC because I find it familiar to my past work in philosophy, so I am unsure what else could help specifically.
I'm also pondering this. Mikey posted this on another post w/ this question and I found it helpful.
there's also a 7sage podcast on the topic that made me feel better. 🤞 just trying to trust the process and stay patient. Easier said than done!
@kellymarie Thank you!!!! These were helpful!
@kellymarie lol thanks kelly you saved me some clicks. also genuinely did not know about that podcast episode and it's very good! turns out bailey and henry are good at their jobs. WHO KNEW?!?
I don't have any advice since I'm dealing with the same issues. But just wanted you to know you're not alone. I have been drilling non-stop and I do feel like that has help me a little with improving. I've still got two more months of that and I'm hoping during that time I'll be able to my scores up to at least close to my BR scores.
@APBookninja I wish you the best of luck! We got this
@Ssss Thank you! Same to you.
it really depends on where you are missing questions at but my advice is to really try to time down your first few questions even if you just work on the first six completing by a certain time, it will one boost your confidence and two give you more time nearing the end but really more details is needed. Also for me so often the mental stuff is thing like i need to feel somewhat grateful to be doing the exam otherwise im mentally dragging my feet which slows me down
@ttagada this is good advice thank you its just been really hard closing that gap between timed and br. i struggle with RC a lot more too especially under timed conditions. ive been consistently practicing but its just frustrating