Improving Speed

cdarche27

Hi all, I've been studying on and off for the LSAT here and the biggest challenge I've run across is improving my speed. I do okay with accuracy on both LR and RC but can't seem to do it fast enough. Any tips? Thanks mucho!

BinghamtonDave

Many people consider this to be one of the hardest issues to overcome in prep. The (very) abridged answer is that speed comes with familiarization and familiarization comes with meaningful review of your weaknesses and understanding of the fundamentals of the exam. Very high level LSAT takers can rattle off the first 5-7 questions of an LR section within 6 minutes (sometimes less). They can do this because many questions are variations on older questions.

In short, get to know things that the exam does like the back of your hand. Get to know causality when you see it, a Sufficient/Necessary error, a premise-major premise/minor conclusion-main conclusion construction. All of this will aid in the development of speed.

Easier said than done, I know. I'm living through this as we speak. Speed will come at the behest of accuracy and accuracy will come at the behest of speed during this process to find a balance, but with the right work: you can make this happen.


Hope this helps
David

SherryS1

For LR, I have abandoned a degree of certainty for efficiency and it's gotten me some points back (credit goes to @"Cant Get Right" who brought it up in his BR group). I've forced myself to be OK with not reading every answer choice for every question. It's good for easier questions and for questions with cookie cutter structures such as SA, MP, or a clear cut MBT. Also, sometimes I move on with 90% certainty instead of wasting 30 more seconds to get me to 100%.

The other big key is skipping, as every high scorer will tell you. I'll leave it to someone else to speak to this one as it's an area I'm still working on .

RC is different for everyone. I started out strong but saw my score nose-dive when I started marking up the passage. Now, I just read and answer the questions. I don't write anything down. I do read actively using my pencil to trail the words.

I also generally don't look back at the passage unless I'm stuck or there's a line reference. Not "checking" has gotten easier with time because my familiarity with the test has increased and I recognize certain logical structures in the incorrect RC answers.

cdarche27

@SherryS1 and @BinghamtonDave Thank you guys! This helps a ton. I've definitely seen an improvement in speed through familiarity already. Any advice for conjuring the logic games? Those seem to kick my butt every time. Is the key to understanding the process and having a strong approach? Or something different.

Cant Get Right

@cdarche27 said:
Any advice for conjuring the logic games? Those seem to kick my butt every time. Is the key to understanding the process and having a strong approach? Or something different.

The key is very much to understand the process. This comes through experience which comes through doing Game after Game after Game, over and over and over again. Here's the unofficial definitive thread on that: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737

@SherryS1 said:
For LR, I have abandoned a degree of certainty for efficiency

@SherryS1 said:
sometimes I move on with 90% certainty instead of wasting 30 more seconds to get me to 100%.

And just to reinforce this, this is really important. You've got to know what you're getting for your time. Is 30 seconds worth an extra 10% certainty? Not while you've got unanswered questions that are at 0%. You get so much more return on that time by applying it towards a question where you can increase your certainty from 0%. Finish the test first. Then, if there's time, go back through and start picking up those extra 10% here and there.

cdarche27

Thank you guys. This helps a bunch.

twssmith

Such great advice! One thing I would add is to videotape yourself taking a section and analyze it to identify your time sinks and how long you are actually spending on each question:) @"Not Ralph Nader" mentions in his 25 point increase post how this type of analysis while working with @"Cant Get Right" was a major component of his score increase.
All the best:)