Self-paced
Hi everyone! I'm hitting a wall on LR. For some reason I keep missing questions in the 15-20 range of the section, usually getting 3-4 wrong in a row during that stretch. There isn't necessarily a pattern in the type of question im getting wrong just their placement in the test. The frustrating part is that on blind review, I get them all right. Anyone have tips for pushing through this kind of patch?
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4 comments
The way I interact with LR questions (regardless of difficulty) is to take stimulus sentence by sentence and parse out extraneous language (essentially trimming down the the stim to its bare parts so I understand what is being said)
On the higher end, where usually get longer and more difficult, I look for conclusions first then the evidence around it to form the complete thought of what is being told to me. Then, I figure out what's naturally incredulous about the stim. Could be that it makes a bad point on its face, that it's missing something, etc. Only after all of this do I then check the question type. It requires taking things slower, but it works for me.
The reason I advocate this approach for your LR block is because your BR indicates that you are understanding, to an extent, what is being asked. The problem is timed conditions messing with your approach in the later half. By naturally taking things slow and engaging with the questions in timed conditions, you can better set yourself up for success then simply speeding through.
+1 to Phoebe's comment, and I wanna add that I encourage dramatic, YOLO experimentation in general and in situations like yours.
You think it's really their placement in the section and not other factors? Start doing them first. If your hypothesis is right, that should solve the problem (or kick the can down the road to whichever questions to get to 15th-20th).
Hell, maybe save Qs 1-5 to do 15th-20th so that portion of the section is when you're doing the easiest ones.
Really my advice is to take these things both seriously and lightly. Be agile and creative in the responses you're willing to try.
I'd take another look at your timing strategy! As the later questions like these are typically more difficult, we want to make sure we're allotting enough time. Getting the first 15 questions in 15 minutes is one touch point that's helpful.
I'd also take a look at how/why you're getting them wrong! Are you misreading? Making goofy mistakes? Or is it a question you genuinely struggled with? Even if you're getting them on BR, if you were 100% solid on those question types, you'd be getting them right the first go around.
I hope that helps, and good luck!
Slow down and take your time. It’s better to get one of those right and to guess on the other 3 than to get all 4 wrong. Work on accuracy before speed.