Advice Needed - Still have not mastered LG, September v. November

alleycat

I took the July test and scored a 166, which was my average. My goal for the LSAT is 168 or 169. I am signed up for the September test, but given that the test is only a few weeks away, I wonder if I should post-pone my retake until November. I am not sure that I will be able to meaningfully increase my score by either of those test dates, so I wonder if I might as well take September and apply as early as possible?

Second, I have still not mastered LG. I would say I usually get between -6 and -3. Sometimes I get -1 but most of the time something goes wrong. I think it is a combination of bad habits -- rushing in to the diagram or questions, or writing a rule incorrectly by accident -- but other times I simply make inferences too slowly.

There is no particular type of game that gives me trouble. I have been fool proofing games for 8 months or so and "feel" like I should be strong on the games by now, but that is not the case! I have been making a concerted effort lately to work on my habits (i.e., reread my rules to double check for errors). Still though, I am at a standstill. I feel very stuck and am not sure how to improve.

Any advice on either of these topics would be very much appreciated Thank you all

keets993

If LG is the only thing holding you back from your goal score, then maybe November might be better. It's still early enough in the cycle. It might be helpful to work with a tutor so that they can pinpoint your bad habits or fundamental issues with LG since you yourself are unsure. Do you tape yourself while doing PTs or sections? Perhaps that might be helpful in pinpointing where you run into trouble and why. Also, what is your BR of games like?

alleycat

BR of games is always -0. This is what I don't understand, because I feel that I understand the logic and the set-ups, but maybe I am giving myself too much credit. I think I struggle with splitting vs. not, and often make the wrong choice. I also think that for sections with a very hard game, I am not moving fast enough on the easier ones. These two issues, coupled with bad habits, is potentially why my timed score suffers. I try to reinforce inferences by re-doing the games over and over, coming back to them weeks later etc, but right as I feel confident about one LG section, I take another new section and usually still get -4 or -5. In other words, everything has to go "right" for me to get -0 or -1; it happens, but is not the norm. I don't tape myself but I will give that a try!! I am desperate at this point!

keets993

Well try to focus on getting -2 on LG first instead of -0. See what happens when you try to slow down and take your time instead of feeling like you have to ruuuuushh through the easy games because you might be making careless mistakes (like misreading a rule). These things happen but what matters is how you deal with them. Do you start panicking? Or calmly look through, try to pinpoint the details, and adjust accordingly (or even skip?) Remember that the questions in easy games are worth the same amount as the questions in the hard games. So try focusing on your accuracy instead of rushing through. If you can be confident about 20 questions that you do and unsure about the last 2 or 3 because you rushed (be sure to still bubble a guess in) it will probably be better for your score than rushing through. Of course if you get questions wrong from those 20 questions that you were confident about then you need to address those overconfidence errors.

I think LG is the trickiest because its the most inconsistent. People can be making mistakes in the section (incorrecly reading rules; missing inferences; making wrong inferences) and still only be punished like half the time. You might miss one question from a game because you missed something or miss 3-4 questions because of it. You need to examine more thoroughly what happened in the good secitons as well as the bad. Were your habits perhaps the same and the LSAT was just kind to you that time and didn't punish you as badly? Just a thought. Video can help provide you with empirical data to back up or counter any hypotheses you have regarding the fluctuation. It also helps to examine what exactly you mean by "everything going right" to get you that -1 and maybe by identifiying it, you'll be more likely to replicate it.

alleycat

Hm, that is a really good point re: making the same error but only being punished for it in some games. I think you are right that I have to do some real analysis about what went wrong or right in my previous sections. I’ll definitely try videos as well. Thank you so much!