Self-paced
Is there any benefit to turning it off? Does it "inflate" your BR score? I start my practice block this week, aiming for 1-2 PTs a week (I work full time and have 4-5 weekly dr/pt appointments so not too much time in a day). I want to maximize my BR benefit. My hesitation with keeping it on is that it points out questions that I did not flag and instead felt confident on, prompting me to review them only because it's recommended. I don't look at why it was flagged because if it says the question was incorrect, I know I can eliminate the answer choice without fully going through the logical reasoning. All this to say, does anyone have any thoughts on this/which was is more beneficial? I took the test in 2023 and scored a 160, but I did not do any BR in my very few PTs I took (only 3 highest being a 166). I'm aiming for 165-170 by September/October. Thanks in advance!
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5 comments
September/October are relatively far away that I would say it's not worth disregarding BR. If you are in a final grind with an explicit focus on working on timing and endurance, it's worth doing so you can focus on building those skills.
As someone who's working to move from the low/mid 160s (Nov - 160, Jan - 164, Aug - ?, Oct -?), I'm heavily focused on working out kinks that stand in my way from scoring ~ -14 to closer to -10 and hopefully less. We're at the point where the small things make a big difference and grinding out questions won't necessarily get you there or may not be the best usage of your time. BR is useful both in reinforcing "yeah. I had this Q down" in a similar manner it is for understanding why you chose the wrong AC.
At least for me, part of what I know I can benefit from and leverage better is time usage. If I can become just a bit faster on the first 15 questions, I have that much more time to help me slow down on the latter 10.
My situation is similar. I work full time, and my M-F schedule is 5 AM wakeup, gym, LSAT (1-2 hours a day), work, a little more LSAT if necessary. Avg PT score 171, trending 174
Based off what you said, you may be spending too much time taking questions and not enough time reviewing.
BR may seem redundant when it points out questions you felt good about, but the review is very critical. Generally, the questions you feel confident about can be reviewed/reanswered very quickly. However, through this process, you will see questions that you answered quickly but were wrong on (ie chose wrong, BRed wrong) and these are the questions you really need to focus on, as you missed it both under time control and without time control.
If helpful, I can give more detail on my full review process, which has been very helpful to me in continual score improvement.
@jdelbosco Props to you! This schedule is hard! I definitely need to focus more on quality (thorough review and understanding) rather than quantity (constant drilling), especially with my limited time schedule. I commute on the bus to work so I have 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. Then, gym/PT at 6:15, sit down to study at 7:30, usually going until 9:30 or 10 (thank god I haven't started my marathon training block).
I like your perspective on BR. It's definitely been pointing out my overconfidence/underconfidence errors where applicable. What would you say is the most important part of your review process/the most helpful?
@yagottahavefaith
Detail on my exact review process below, but here's the core idea: your goal is to answer every question correctly and under time during the actual test, since you're fighting the clock as much as the questions themselves. A recommended BR question almost always means you missed that goal somewhere, whether you got it wrong, weren't confident, or were just too slow, so being quick and accurate enough to leave yourself time to return to flagged questions and BR them live on test day is what actually converts extra time into points. Review exists to figure out why you missed the mark on a given question so you don't miss it for the same reason again, and while you won't hit this goal on every question, a 170 is achievable if you keep pursuing it.
1. Blind Review
Reanswer each question first. Why each category matters:
Incorrect: self-explanatory.
Flagged: you weren't confident on your first pass. Flagging and revisiting a few questions is fine, but each flag costs you time at the end that you may not have.
Changed answer: you landed on the right answer, but your first instinct was wrong. That's a gap to close, and it burns time.
Spent too long: right answer, but too slow. Needs to get faster.
Answered too quickly: rare, low value to review, but quick enough that it's not worth skipping.
2. After BR
I log question numbers by category (writing it down instead of clicking in and out of the section):
Wrong answer either timed or BR: marked with an x (1x means missed Q1). I read/watch the explanation, then write in the 7Sage notes thing why I got it wrong, what I missed, what confused me. I rarely revisit these notes, but writing them cements the lesson.
Over +30 seconds: marked with a T. I review as needed to figure out why it took too long, and leave a short note.
Flagged: quick pass only, I dig deeper on maybe 25% of these.
3. After the study session
I write down 1-2 recurring mistakes and reread the list before every session. This surfaces patterns you keep repeating, usually simple fixes that just need reinforcing.
Example: "With two close answers, proactively break each into pieces and test against the prompt/passage." I noticed I was picking the wrong one of two finalists because I skipped this step. Once I focused on it, that specific weakness improved.
Personally, I BR every question with the suggestions turned off. I know it doesn't help for detecting underconfidence/overconfidence errors, but I need to juice every question for all the wisdom I can get.