Difficulty executing LR in timed conditions

youbbyun

hey all,

so i'm having a real tough time bridging this gap btw my BR score and timed score. i'm BRing 175ish (granted, I BR/review every question but pay the most attention/effort to the questions I circle) but my timed score is in the low 160s.

One trouble I have in particular is executing timed LR sections.

For LR, it often happens that questions don't "click" under timed conditions. For example, in one timed LR section I did today, I skipped a SA question because I couldn't find the gap/didn't know how to map out the logic of the question due to the convoluted grammar.

I skipped it, and even when I went back to it, I still couldn't get it.

Then after I finished the test, I went back to the question for BR, and after thinking about that question for like 4 minutes, I finally saw the gap and successfully map out the logic.

agh so frustrating that i wasn't able to do this under timed conditions.

any advice or suggestions? many thanks.

NotMyName

With a high BR score, I have to believe that this is a matter of familiarity and not an underlying fundamental gap in knowledge. I liked to keep a binder of any questions I got wrong or had troublesome difficulty on; the binder got pretty thick lol. I reviewed the binder for 15 minutes each day and I think that helped me internalize LR skills like recognizing cookie cutters, bridging gaps, recognizing classic wrong ACs, etc.

youbbyun

@NotMyName thanks!

AshleighK

Following!!! I have a solid BR score but the timed score is awful. Have you tried confidence drills and a skipping strategy? I'm in the early works of figuring it out but I think at this point that's the best thing to try out.

Are you also getting anxious with the fact the clock is ticking or do you have this internal desire to answer all questions because seeing empty bubbles gives you anxiety??

keets993

I'm in a similar situtation, I've found that slowing down has helped me a lot (especially for LR and LG). I used to skip like crazy to meet "15 in 15" but I was just unsure about every question and didn't really have the proper time to go back and be confident in anything. Now...I probably reach question 23 with 5 minutes left, at which point i'm pretttyy sure about most of the questions and I give myself those 5 minutes to either do the last 2-3 (which aren't always super difficult) or I just go back and bank whatever easy points I can.

Also, the fact that it took you 4 minutes in BR to figure out probably means its a fundamental issue rather than just timing. As in, you might not have been able to get it timed anyway. When you get tripped up by grammar, try to break down the underlying logic or argument structure. I've found that helpful. Even just something like "okay so this is putting forth a recommendation...which is...oh okay so we need to find something that support this" and then that generally allows you to eliminate 2-3 answer choices. At which point if you're stuck between two, briefly glance at stimulus again to see if you can eliminate one with even 50% condfidence, if not cut your losses pick one and move on.

keets993

@NotMyName I've seen that strategy recommended a lot, but I am curious, are you testing to see if your reasoning has improved by revisiting or just constantly reinforcing the right reasoning to make sure you don't make similar types of mistakes again?

NotMyName

@keets993 more so the latter. It’s a little like foolproofing... by seeing the same question again and again, I was better prepared to recognize the underlying structure when it appeared in new clothes.

keets993

@NotMyName sweet thanks! Hahaha i like that phrasing, "recognize the underlying structure when it appeared in new clothes."