Still having timing issues

CinnamonTea

Hi all,

I am many months into studying for the LSAT and still struggling with timing.

A bit about my particular situation: I have gone through the 7sage Core curriculum and other curriculums as well (Powerscore, Blueprint, Trainer). Because of going through so many curriculums I feel like my understanding of the material is decent and my blind review scores are at my target (high 160's/low 170's). I am taking one PT a week and blind reviewing. The rest of the time I am drilling by type or drilling by section.

My biggest timing issues are with Logic games. My question is this: What were the best strategies for you high scorers out there who got faster? (My particular area of need is logic games speed, but tips for speed in the other sections would help too.)

Thanks in advance!

BinghamtonDave

Great timing on LG has come for me with a deep understanding of the material. A deep understanding of the material has come for me with constant practice and refining of my approach. This has enabled me to be confident in my hunt for answer choices. When I know an answer is correct, I move on without hesitation. What assists immensely in this regard are the inferences that carry through games of similar types. Also, I refused to get bogged down in difficult/open ended questions on LG, this is where skipping strategies come into play and where previous work can be really helpful. Last, but not least, process of elimination should be used as a near last resort strategy.

The following example is one of the many things that the process of fool proofing games has solidified into a habit of my approach: With in and out games, we are often asked a question about what piece must be in. Experience has afforded me the understanding that if my previously drawn worlds do not adequately answer this question, I should first test the necessary elements of other pieces. For an illustrative example of this phenomena, please see: PT 20-Game 2. Question 12 can be answered by what is out from the first two questions. That is to say every wrong answer choice can be confidently eliminated by reference to questions 6 and 7.
Now if our work does not yield the information this easily, we should be strategic about what options we try first. PT 11 game 3 question 19 for example. The correct answer choice is the necessary element of rules 3 and 4. Experience with in and out games has enabled me to be strategic about answering the questions. I take a quick 5 second look at the questions to see if they are going to ask me what elements must be in. If they do, I start eliminating answer choices with each hypothetical I draw up, if this doesn't do the trick, I start testing the answer choices containing necessary elements first: these elements do the most damage when they are absent. Note: I haven't detected gravitational waves here with this approach to in and out games lol, there is nothing really groundbreaking here. It is just a strategy that has come with experience that has helped me with difficult questions. Others have noticed similar strategies before.

To speak about LG with confidence has not been an easy process and is no where near complete for me. It has taken me over 1,300 games to be able to really understand the process. I did not take a diagnostic, but wouldn't be surprised to have missed 21 or 20 on LG if I had. I am not exaggerating when I say that I was utterly clueless on LG when I started. The process of fool-proofing games, watching the videos on 7Sage and asking questions is what I credit my growth on LG to. I hope my experience with games aides in your personal growth on the section. Any further questions, do not hesitate to reach out.

David

cam

Exactly what @BinghamtonDave said. I had timing issues where I'd run way over on one or two games, and then have less than five minutes to complete the last game. I started to fool proof games and apply skipping strategies (99% of the time skip the rule substitution question). Getting a better grasp of which kind of setup to use paid dividends in saving time. Doing enough games to where you know which board to use after reading the setup was huge.

On the actual test day, I finished LG with a few minutes to spare. I didn't encounter a single game where I thought "How do I even set this up?".