Self-study
I can LR drill all day until the cows come home. 100-75% accuracy on individual drills regardless of question type.
As soon as I start a section, my brain goes kaput. I average around -12 on LR. I literally do not know how I keep forgetting the lessons learned or put the whole picture together. Advice to overcome this issue?
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3 comments
Hello!
On top of all great words from others, I want to add one thing.
Since you mentioned that you keep forgetting the lessons learned, I would recommend solving the exact questions you did a week ago and see if you remember the takeaways from your wrong answer journal. It's okay if you memorize the correct AC, but do not choose them merely because you remember that it's a correct one. Instead, follow the exact process you would've done to tackle an LR question and recall WHY that was a correct AC.
For instance, let's say you're solving a question you got wrong last week. An example of the process would look like: 'This is a Strengthen question, okay, and I read the stimulus... I know that the last sent sentence is the conclusion. Let's look at the ACs... I think the correct AC was (C), but I don't clearly remember. Then let's look at (A). Ah, (A) is definitely incorrect because ... I think I chose (B) back then and got this question wrong. Why did I choose it? ... (C) strengthens the conclusion because it blocks an alternative explanation. Then let's see (D) and (E) to see why they're wrong.'
I hope that makes sense to you. If forgetting the lessons learned is your major problem, then let's internalize it by repeating the process. I hope this helps, and best of luck!
I agree with Phoebe! One more thing I would add is creating drill sets with an increasing variety of question types to get your mind used to switching between them. You could start out with 2 or 3 question types and once you get consistent there, start adding more.
Hi there! That's incredibly frustrating.
First, I'd look at the individual drills again! If you're getting 100% on a question type, you've obviously got that on lock. But 75% or even 80% shows that there's still room for improvement!
I'd also be curious to know how many questions you have in each drill. If you're doing 26 questions per drill on one question type, you're going to be getting into a groove: you settle into the process. If you're doing 12 questions per drill on one question type, you're going to get into a lull. I'd start mixing in some drills of mixed question types: start shorter (like 5-6), and see how that goes. If you're missing questions, revisit that question type. Rinse and repeat, making the drills a bit longer each time. Even if you're killing it on every question type, sitting down to do 26 mixed questions is a lot, and requires building specific stamina!
I hope that helps, and happy studying!