Self-study
Hello,
I finished the curriculum and started to take real RC sections and smaller sections. I find that I’m wildly overconfident in how I thought it was going to go, often not really questioning whether I got more than 1 wrong per section but still usually ending up in 160 range with obviously more than one wrong. With Blind Review, I can normally get almost all of them right.
How do you bridge the gap to what you score in Blind Review? It just feels a bit useless since it’s pretty easy to come up with the answers after having considerably more time with the passage. It’s clearly nice to figure out where you went wrong but it’s hard to see how valuable it is just to revisit the passage again and have additional time.
Does anyone have tips or other resources they used to help bridge the gap/get things right on the first attempt? I’m probably 2 months into studying with a goal of low 170s in September and October dates.
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6 comments
Echoing what Phoebe said, a lot of time is lost re-reading. One way to limit this is to cover what you've already read with a sheet of paper during drills. This physically prevents you from re-reading and can give you more time to review!
Hi there! Most time is lost flipping back and forth between the passage and questions. We want to minimize the amount of time we spend doing that, or referring to the passage at all.
Take your time when you read the passage for the first time. But once you go to the questions, make a rule that you're not allowed to look back at the passage (questions that ask about a specific sentence or word are obviously the exception). You can use your low-res summaries, but that's it. Combine that with pre-phrasing your ideal answer before you even look at the ACS.
In the beginning, it will go very poorly! That's fine. You're training your brain to retain more information the first time around. Bit by bit, you'll improve, and get a lot faster.
@PhoebeHopp Great suggestion, thank you!
Try reading some non fiction books outside of LSAT studying. I think it has helped my ability to process complex information and makes the RC passages feel less daunting. I believe its helped my score increase and my understanding of RC concepts. It's also a good way to take a break from studying while still using your brain. Best of luck to you!
My suggestion is that you give yourself more time— enough that you feel like you don’t need to rush and can get the score you want. Then, slowly work your way back to 35 mins. I have this same problem, and it’s really that I’m rushing. The more comfortable you can get with the test, the less time will force you to move too quickly because you’ll be better at anticipating what info is relevant. Try not to use the time to check the passage more, just try to read slower and understand every sentence.
I’m also taking the September exam, and I’m currently giving myself 125% time on RC sections, and I’ll try to tick that down by about 5% each week over the next month or so.
@AndyBerry Great idea, thank you for the tip and good luck in September!