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Related Discussions
Huge gap in BR and Actual Score
Victoria14
Alum Member
Hey everybody,
It just wouldn't be a week if I didn't ask a million questions. So yesterday I did prep test 54 and scored 154 flat out. I knew it was going to be a low score (rough day) but I was committed. It didn't bother me that much because I normally am around 158 and the big tank was in LG when I hit a game that my brain just could not compute to save my life. I decided to post pone my BR to today after I got some much needed sleep. My BR was 173. My highest score what so ever to date.
Now here comes the question, how do I close that 20 point gap because I would LOVE to do that. Any tips? Advice? Is drilling the way? The questions I missed in LR and RC I saw the answer almost right away for 80% of the stuff I got wrong. I could easily tell my brain had been general MUSH yesterday. I was considering doing some drilling tomorrow on the major question types I got wrong and doing a PT on Sunday. Is that a good idea?
Help your favorite-always-posting lsat kid out.
Love, Victoria
Comments
This to me sounds like it's time that's killing you. You don't BR into the 170's without a solid understanding of the test. What's happening is speed, especially in LR. I would focus on doing things like the 25 in 25 that they talk about here all the time. Getting use to skipping problems that are really hard, and then coming back to them and getting really really use to full timed sections. Drilling is ALWAYS useful, I'm sure the sages and masters still drill. However understanding the question is like 80% of the battle. Doing it in a short amount of time is the remaining 20%.
Think about recording a section and seeing where you are getting hung up the longest. This will help identify time sink type questions that eat away your time.
Also give a confidence drill a shot. Do a time LR section where if the AC seems easy, or you prephrase and answer and it's there, pick it and move on. Don't linger. See how you do at the end. It can show you where you are wasting time. If you lack confidence. Even if you have a weak spot in your LR.
This is how I'd start to approach it!
It's time that is screwing you, just like LSATcantwin mentioned.
I had a gap similar to yours (high 150's, low 160's) and then during BR I could go as high as like a 178. The timer was stressing me out, but thankfully I eventually got over this hurdle. I think it was also the bigger idea of just taking a full PT with timing that always screwed me up.
this may not be what you want to hear, and it def wasn't my cup of tea, but what got me through that timer pressure was to just keep practicing lots of timed stuff. eventually, the timer will just be another thing that you get accustomed to, just like the test itself. something else I used to do was look at my watch (or 7sage clock when I used to use it since its on the proctor thing) a bunch of times during the test. after I stopped looking at it a bunch, I knew I was being timed, but it began to feel just like un-timed drilling but at a bit of a faster pace. say for an LR section, I look at it once when I hit around question 10-12, just to see how long it took me to get through most of the easier ones and be confident that I banked some time for harder ones. then I don't look at it until the end of the section, in which I usually have time to go back and revisit stuff and usually within the last 5 mins I start to look at it more, but not in a stressful way because you can still rack up a bunch of points in those last few minutes if you're efficient.
generally, I know it is VERY hard to do, but try to ignore the timing aspect as much as possible while still realizing you're on a limited amount of time. sounds weird, but this helped me a lot to close my timed score and BR score gap. I'm not getting 178's now, but I am getting high 160's and low 170's so it seemed to work for me!
I'm going to try the 25 in 25 today and maybe even a confidence drill! I'm not sure about recording myself, i'm not quite sure how to even set that up but i'll try any way. I think I absolutely lack confidence and the moment the timer starts I feel a general "OMG" the entire time outside of logic games. Games I feel very cool and confident the majority of the time. For today i'm going to drill some question types that bugged me in that last test and then start doing some experimental sections to practice time.
It's incredibly comforting to know that you experienced this too and you got over it. It's really stressing me out that i'm getting this stuff but my panic over the time is screwing my score. I'm going to try to incorporate drills for specific question types/sections and then do timed sections every day with a pt 2 times a week.
I was the same way. If I had infinite time, I could easily BR 178+ - it's the time pressure that kills you!
Something that helped me was approaching LR and RC like J.Y. does in his explanation videos. Like read an AC very suspiciously, and be VERY SUSPICIOUS OF EVERY WORD***, and once you see a bad word eliminate immediately and move on. Don't think about it. Just move on.
Like for example if you had a stimulus with the conclusion "The Land Party succeeded in the 1935 election because it tailored to the wishes of rural and semi-rural residents..."
And the question asked, which one of the following strengthens the argument?
AC #1: "The Land Party failed to court urban voters in years prior to 1935."
^URBAN?! URBAN!??!?!?!? URBAN!?!@?#@!?#!@?# WHO CARES ABOUT URBAN VOTERS???? ELIMINATE!
When you go back and BR, you can use a more nuanced approach to figure out all the reasons an answer is wrong, but under time constraints you use easy ways to eliminate things.
RC is similar, especially with absolute language and just general fact testing. I often find myself just thinking "Wtf is this AC even trying to say...?"
LG is just trusting your diagram is right, and in the later tests (65+) a rigorous application of the rules and refusal to be stumped. Not every LG question has a trick or hidden inference to it, sometimes ya just gotta brute-force it. It's better to brute-force an answer and get it in 2 minutes than to spend a minute trying to find a hidden inference only to realize you just gotta brute-force.
Hope this stuff helps lol
I don't have any helpful suggestions, just here to say ME TOO. It's definitely timing for me like everyone mentioned. I generally BR 173-178 but scoring between 160 and 165. I have yet to finish a LG section in time, but generally go -0 in BR. And I have a similar experience as you in LR, when I BR the answer seems obvious. I think I need to do more timing drills so also will keep an eye on any other advice here!
I'm in the same boat as you! I finally am up to 156 during timed, but I've been consistently BRing 168 (sometimes 167, but mostly 168,169) for 2 months at least. It's incredibly frustrating. I've seen the most improvement in proofing LG and drilling specific LR questions types. Still working on the RC part lol. Let me know if you find something that particularly works for you
I think recording yourself will tremendously help you.
I bought a gooseneck phone holder like this and started recording myself when I was stuck in your range (150s and BR score in 170s).
Footages should be clear (like below) so that you can see what you are doing under timed conditions:
http://imgur.com/oeLZAhh
What some people (including myself) do is to make a timing sheet of a PT like this:
https://imgur.com/YPQJDb9
By making this sheet, I came to know where I have to shave off time.
I was in the same place about a month ago. I scored a 158 timed and BR was in the low 170s.
After working on timing/skipping, drilling sections daily, paying attention to the analytics to know which question types I needed to improve, and taking about 10 PTs my actual timed score has improved to my initial BR score +/- a few points and my BR is upper 170s to 180.
Your BR score really is your potential score assuming that you blind review correctly, practice strategically (using the 7sage Analytics), and listen to JY.
I didn't spend too much time tracking the exact time for each section. I just wrote in the notes if I didn't finish a question or section then tried to figure out what took too long. Most of the time there was one type of question I needed to improve.
I have the same problem, a 20 point gap between my actual score and my blind review score, (According to the diagnostic). I am using the Starter Course and these tips are really helpful. Since I'm still going through the CC, I am going to wait until I finish it to work on speed and stamina. Thanks for bringing this problem up because I was too embarrassed to talk about it. My blind review score is 149. I am going to need all the advice I can get once I finish the rest of the CC.
@joyrider8 thanks for sharing your improvements. For your daily section drill how did you balance the three sections? For the past week I've been drilling LR sections daily, but it takes me so long to BR that I sometimes am too tired to fit in LG and RC. I'm trying to figure out how to best balance all three.
@akistotle that's a great spreadsheet! I'm going to change mine to include a few extra columns.
Do you think that you could be circling too many questions for blind review?
Between PTs I use 7sage analytics to figure out which sections/question types to drill. The analytics help me to focus on areas to improve instead of spending time on things I already know.
For example, the analytics showed that NA questions needed work. I used the question bank to drill only NA questions some days until I finished every one from PT 1-40. Analytics also helped me to realize that I was spending too much time on games since I was getting those questions right.
You might also want to consider working on stamina and taking a break before BR. I take a break (for a few hours to a day) before I BR my drills and PTs. I usually BR the previous day's practice (drills, timed sections, or PT), take a short break to reenergize, and then start new drills.
If you're having difficulty doing LSAT practice for multiple hours, try getting into a routine or doing physical exercise before your study time to energize yourself. If you're studying after work, which I personally find difficult, give yourself a quick break and do something that energizes you before you start studying. For me a 30-minute walk with my dog does the trick.
I'm in the same boat! Keep the faith, though, Victoria. Since I've been taking more prep tests, the gap has been slowly closing... one... point... at... a... time.
any updates on this? I'm having a similar problem - scoring 158's in timed and 174 in untimed BR. It's so frustrating, especially this close to test day.
real question - how do i clip this to myself and not look weird at the lib?
I've done it once at the library. You will need an extension cord to charge your phone, and a table to clip the phone.
But you will look very, very weird.
lol
@akistotle Is your finger okay? I'm not quite sure it should bend like that
just kidding!
Haha! My finger is actually really bendy
Hey i just recorded myself in my starbucks and people were staring at me as if i were naked
Haha!
No update! I'm currently dealing with post Irma issues. Such as my testing center not confirming they can still host the test this weekend, my grandparents house flooded, water moccasins, and no power. Currently doing this message in the parking lot of a grocery store with free wifi! I'm going to try to test tomorrow and study some today. But right now, my family genuinely needs me. It's really bad - my grandparents have lost everything.
@Victoria14 Oh no! That sounds horrible and I'm sorry you're going through this. I hope everyone is otherwise safe and sound. You can replace things, but never people.
Best of luck, I have friends in Georgia who were somewhat affected but with you being right in the middle of the hits, this must be devastating. My thoughts are with you.
Hate to hear that V. I hope everyone is safe.