POE for high scorers

Hannah56

Hi,
Since I started practicing, I always made sure to use POE for each and every question. The reason behind this is, according to The LSAT Trainer, it is a necessary step for all high scorers. But I feel it's costing me valuable time. My question is, do you do POE for every LR question? or once you are confident with an answer you move on? especially for the first 10-15 questions?

Thanks,

Alex

@Hannah56 said:
Hi,
Since I started practicing, I always made sure to use POE for each and every question. The reason behind this is, according to The LSAT Trainer, it is a necessary step for all high scorers. But I feel it's costing me valuable time. My question is, do you do POE for every LR question? or once you are confident with an answer you move on? especially for the first 10-15 questions?

Thanks,

I try to make it a habit of at least putting eyes on all of the answer choices but I'd say whether or not I employ POE depends on the q-type and the difficulty level of the question. I definitely don't find reasons to eliminate each and every answer choice for easier questions or those like SA/MP, for example, where I can pre-phrase an answer and move on quicker.

I actually think always trying to confirm every answer by POE for every single question can cost a bit too much time.

TheMikey

Like alex said, it depends on the question. if it's a really tough one, I typically POE. If it's an easy/medium question then I typically scan the ACs and choose on then just scan them again to make sure I didn't miss anything

Cant Get Right

Yeah, I've run into this with students who've used Trainer as their primary material, and it's just not true. This strategy is great for getting you into the 160's, but generally very bad at getting you out. Don't think in terms of right/wrong, think in terms of probability. If using POE is going to bump you from 90% confidence to 95% confidence and it's going to take you 30 seconds, the return just isn't worth the time. If you're in the neighborhood of 90% confidence, you've got to be comfortable enough in your ability to move on. My LR average is -0.7, and it's not because I never make a mistake. At the end of my first pass, I'm usually at about -4/-5; the difference isn't that I never make a mistake. The difference is that by moving confidently and decisively once I hit the ACs, I bank 10+ minutes to review at the end. I make plenty of mistakes, and then I correct almost all of them. Once every 3 or 4 PTs, I'll miss a question I had really high confidence on and would have gotten right had I slowed down and applied POE. Small price to pay.

Hannah56

Thanks guys. your answers really helped. Today for the first time I will try the 25 in 25. I'm usually -7 in LR and it's because I run out of time for the last few questions. I BR the same sections with -1/-2 at most.

Alex

@Hannah56 said:
Thanks guys. your answers really helped. Today for the first time I will try the 25 in 25. I'm usually -7 in LR and it's because I run out of time for the last few questions. I BR the same sections with -1/-2 at most.

You might want to work your way up to 25 Qs in 25 mins. The only reason I say that is I sort of jumped right into trying that and my score dropped at first. I then was advised by a few sages/tutors to start with 15 in 15 first and then work my way up. In any case, I bet you'll figure it out and do just fine Good luck

Hannah56

@"Cant Get Right" I want to ask you how much improvements did your students see after abandoning POE for every question?

Hannah56

@"Alex Divine" Yea that's a good point. I'll do that, thanks!

Cant Get Right

@Hannah56 , it varies depending on how solid their fundamentals are. It can be really drastic. One student jumped from a consistent high 160's to a 178 on their first attempt. 175 following that and was a little disappointed, haha! That was a student who already really, really knew their stuff and just needed better execution. It's a great strategy for advanced students, and I especially recommend it for people who've plateaued in the mid to high 160's.

In addition to addressing pacing/timing/confidence issues, it also functions as an exercise to provide a stress test on the fundamentals. Weaknesses that were maybe slipping through the cracks really get exposed. Another student saw their score drop off drastically. That test pointed to a lot of weaknesses on the fundamentals, and this was really helpful. By identifying exactly why we chose the attractive wrong answers we did, we learned a lot of specific gaps in knowledge and ability that needed to be reinforced.

TheMikey

I think doing POE for every question takes way too much time. I usually only POE for really hard questions and for easier questions I'm confident on (or all that I'm confident on) I at least glance over the ACs just to make sure but don't read too much into them.

Sami

The strategy CGR is talking about is great to help you score closer to your blind review score and not have such a drastic gap. You are basically giving every question that you can get correct a fair shot. But you still need to increase your blind review score and thus understanding if you want to score higher. It's not sufficient but it can make a drastic difference.