Weird LR Roadblock and general advice

Marco Antonio

Hello 7sagers! This is my first time posting on the forum so bear with me. I am currently working on some PTs and my max is 160, but for the past few exams I exams I have gotten 154, 156, 157, 159, 156 with BRs between 165-169 on each. I was hoping to take the test in September, but I will probably cancel my score if I do and take it in December instead. I analytics are as follows: at best I get from -4 to -7 on RC (which I'm really proud of b/c RC was my worst section at the ve). On LG -8 on literally every single PT I have taken. On LR I'm usually -8 to -6 per section. Here's the annoying part and what I mainly want advice on: the questions I miss for LR are evenly distributed. So I'll miss two between 1-10 three or four between 11-20 (and often they're in a row) and only one or two between 20-26. I'm not sure what the cause is. I think I'm overconfident on the easy ones and not confident enough in the middle. Has anyone else experienced this? How do I overcome this

Also: I have decided that over the next 2 weeks I am solely going to work on foolproofing games. If I can manage to get between -0--3 on games -4 on RC and, then hammer out my problems on LR I feel confident in my ability to get a 168+ by December.

Thanks for listening y'all let me know what you think. Good luck to all of you taking it in September

TheDeterminedC

So first off, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I have currently have a 162 and I am BRing in the 170 range. Maybe I am not in the place to give you perfect advice, but I can say that what I am doing is producing solid uphill gains.

I want to touch on the fact that you're planning on canceling your September score. Why even go to test day if your intention is to cancel? I hate to be cynical, as I don't know you yet, but I yearn for the day that you will walk into test day feeling like this test will be the highest score you have ever had. If this is not your mindset going in, I think it would be best to study you ass off until you feel this way.

As for studying, fool proofing LG is a great area to get started on. I do think that this will take time, but putting all effort only into LG seems a bit much (I tried this myself--no bueno). If you foolproof two sections a day, on top of doing some LR, you should be on the right track. Doing two games a day isn't overkill and it would get you fool proofed to PT 40 in 20 days. This is a solid goal to have and, at least for me, I have now brought down my ~9 to a ~3 average in LG. From every timed PT you take after the first 40 just foolproof during BR. It seems like fool proofing is too good to be true, but the 7sage method really works.

Now for LR. I have been focusing on doing timed sections with my friend and that has been amazing. Take the timed sections and BR like crazy; really focus on BR as it truly is the crux of learning. The mentality you should have is trying to fit questions you are answering into the cookie cutter question you have seen before. This outlook has helped me tremendously and it is one I never previously took the time to fully understand. Also, if you miss a question on BR, take this question and absolutely rip it into pieces to figure out not only why and how you got it wrong, but why the certain AC is right. BR is a personal magnifying glass that exposes exactly what you don't understand. Turn that specific problem of not being able to understand a question and turn it into something you wish the LSAT will give you again; precisely because you will have studied it enough to know you will get it right, no matter how much they try and dress up the question to make it look different.

I cannot say enough how valuable BR is. Really take the time to lay out the premise conclusion structure and figure out exactly what is being asked in the question stem. This process is exactly what should be your focus if you are missing some of the first 10 or so questions. Typical to the 40-50 PTs, the first 10 have generally simple argument structures. I feel that if you BR the structure of them in great detail, it will actually translate into you doing this quicker under timed conditions. Another possibility is something you said yourself--confidence. Maybe it would be worth while to slow down on those first 10 and take an extra 10-15 seconds to really understand what is being asked. Don't let the "10 questions in 10 mins" pressure you into answering a question underconfident with a shady understanding of the question---timing will eventually come.

Another topic I would like to touch on is skipping questions. Ever since I read @"Alex Divine"'s comments on skipping questions, I have had a huge jump in LR scores. If you haven't tried it already, skipping questions allows you to keep your rhythm of answering questions. If you come to question that just stumps you, move on and don't let this effect your confidence. Come back to it when you have a feeling that all the easy questions are done with. This strategy might be able to help with your problem of missing a few questions in a row.

Ultimately, for myself at least, I think there are thousands of topics and specifics I don't know about the LSAT. But each and every PT/BR session exposes maybe 15 to 20 of those weaknesses. If I can focus on learning from each one of these and make sure they don't happen again, then it would be only a matter of time before an increase in score is inevitable.

Sorry this is so long but I feel your pain and I am in this with you. Best of luck, friend.

Cant Get Right

Great advice from @TheDeterminedC .

I'm not sure the distribution of where your errors are falling in the section is necessarily a meaningful correlation. Look deeper. What about each specific question made you miss it? You likely need to lock down some fundamentals, learn to recognize certain issues of language, and develop a more effective pacing strategy. If you're planning to take in September, focus on things that you can reasonably hope to accomplish in the timeframe. I think pacing is maybe the most manageable hurdle. @TheDeterminedC mentioned skipping, and that's going to be the most important component to your pacing right now. So I'd work on that: It's more psychological than anything else, so you really just have to start out by forcing it. Beyond that, look for patterns of errors in BR. There will be trends, and if you can identify the biggest, most ubiquitous ones, you may can chip away at a few more points by correcting your understanding on those. That with fool proofing a few games a day should make for a busy and productive next couple of weeks. Good luck!

Marco Antonio

Thanks a lot to both of you for taking the time to read this and give me advice. I think you're right about foolproofing games. Doing two or three a day and no more is probably the best advice. On top of that I'm going to do some LR sections and mess around with skipping. I don't think I have been BRing LR sections seriously enough and I think it will really help me lock down the fundamentals. I am seriously considering just skipping September. Thanks you all. I'll post an update soon.