Do you guys get a little worried when you bubble the same letter 2-3 times in a row?

Ruby Soho

I really start to doubt my answers when I answer the same letter 2-3 times in a row.

For example, the answer to questions 5,6 & 7 turn out to be C....this makes me really nervous.

Anyone else? Any tips?

The_Rise

yeah i do , but gotta realize it means absolutely nothing.

James Dean

Yes, for all we know, it's probably intentional.

E.g. I once had a professor who had an entire test with the same answer choice just to mess with our heads- it actually worked as most of us switched our answers. lol

CJ Shin

omg that professor is evil..

chase62442

I think they do that on purpose to mess with you. just ignore it. the powerscore bible says the most lsat has ever done is four in a row, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did five just to screw with us

Gracelover

I get worried, but I try not to focus on it. Usually, it means that I got at least one question wrong, but if I don't have time to look at them again then I just move on. After all, even after a second look I might still get them wrong anyway, and I don't want to waste precious time that I could have better spent on other things

joegotbored-1

I guess I'm the oddball out in that I don't even notice it. The only time I notice it is when I've run out of time at the end of a section and draw a line through one letter for multiple questions (figure gotta get lucky at least once!).

Try really hard to have a short term memory for certain parts of the test. For example, from question to question (outside of LG and RC), forget everything you've done up to that question. Ignore the answer for the last question as it has no bearing on the answer for the next question. I agree with @Grace, @Chase, @James, and @ Lakers.

For serious, if you're thinking about previous questions, you're not focusing on the question in front of you. Just move on and if you have time at the end, then go back and double check. But, if you get the current one wrong because you're worried about getting a previous one wrong, then the LSAT writers win. Don't let them win!!

turnercm

@Jason and @ joegotbored absolutely - try not to look at it at all! and skip the super difficult questions/come back to them later because they are time sucks

Nilesh S

Yeah... That is right... give the question its due during the 1.5 odd minutes that you spend on it and then forget about it and move on... only come back if you have time...

elvislives

Just take a look at PT 60 - sometimes marking 4 in a row is a good thing Although, I admit, it does look odd. Once you realize that this has happened a couple times in previous LSATs your worries (or at least mine) seem to diminish. I still notice it, but as soon as that thought comes into my head, it passes as I dive into the next question.

psbrathwaite

I once had a professor that made ~20 questions the answer A in a row. I shit you not.

eucalyptus

Where do you guys get bubble sheets for practice tests?

dandandan

@angelovaradina
http://7sage.com/lesson/download-print-scantrons/

[Deleted User]

Just took a recently administered PT this morning. Had a lot of answer choices that repeated 2-3 times in a row as well as the infamous E D C B A or DCBA show up. I did really really well on the test with -1 lr -1 lg -2 lr so I think seeing a bunch of answer choices repeat or do that cascading thing is ok.


I think looking at overall answer distribution can help if you run out of time and have to guess. For example if you only selected A 2 times out of 26 questions, and you don't know the answer and you're out of time with 2-3 remaining, it may pay dividends to select A for them provided that your accuracy is up. A lot better than selecting D or something.

Alex

This always happens to me! Lol, I guess I'm not the only one, which is slightly comforting.

My advice would be to completely ignore the patterns of questions. I've have got 5 (D)s in a row and been like, WTF!? But they were all right. I was really tempted to switch my answers, but that is how the test will get you, by preying on your mentality.

So I think this sort of provides a perfect segue into something that I think is really important for success on the LSAT. Your mentality: Do don't let these middle mind tricks throw you off, because getting into a good flow is very important for doing well on anything. I think a reason why a lot of people don't do as well as they would like on this test is because they master the questions, but they don't practice mastering the mindset they need to go in and attack this test. If you feel like you've bombed a section (which is probably just nerves) then you need to forget about it and move on and attack the next section/question like nothing happened. The LSAC are trying to play with your head, don't let them! And even if you have seen 3 (B)s in a row, attack the next answer as it's own entity, it very might well be (B) as well

Now, if you start to see 6-7 letters in a row, maybe go back and check if you've misread something ; )

Accounts Playable

This sort of reminds me of one of my tax law professors in my masters. No matter what, the answer to question 10 on any exam was C, just so he could say (10 is C; Tennessee) while explaining it the next day. It didn't matter if it was the hardest or easiest question on exam; 10 was ALWAYS C. Whenever I took a PT, I always had a bias for checking C first on question 10...

Cant Get Right

Nice! I had a teacher give an all True True/False exam once, haha. It didn’t surprise me too much though. He’d told me a story about how in college he got a class to train a professor to stand in a specific spot. They’d get really responsive when he stood there, and they’d totally zone out if he moved. By the end of the semester, they’d trained him, haha. So I caught on to the test and turned it in confidently.

I’ve noticed there’s not a lot of AC/DC answer patterns which is always a little disappointing. And I think 5 is the max they’ve pulled on consecutive answer choices. It’s definitely disconcerting, but got to just ignore it and be confident in your abilities.

Accounts Playable

Really, the only pattern that I've noticed is that per section, there will roughly be the same amount of As, Bs, Cs, Ds,and Es (about 5ish each). Powerscore did a blog post about this, too:

https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/guessing.cfm

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/326362/Advanced-LSAT-Guessing-Strategy-Referring-To-Prior-Answers

The only time I ever got freaked out is if I had a section where I chose a disproportionate amount of one answer choice (like 10 As and only 1 D or something).

MrSamIam

Nope, never. Unless there are 10 "A" answer choices in a row, I just assume that the LSAC doesn't really put much effort into organizing correct answer choices in a specific pattern.

texvd1988

Oh, ye, I notice this all of the time. I used to be pretty suspicious about stuff like this, but I have noticed that the LSAT doesn't really care for trends. If I have three or four consecutive same letter answers, I let it go. Normally, your gut is right in these cases. I have rarely been punished for it. Don't put too much emphasis on this.

desire2learn

If I have time I will check to see how confident I am in all the answers if I get four in a row that are the same. I found it rare that they did four in a row (although it does exist) and I would often find if there was one I was wishy washy on that one was incorrect. I actually got several points on practice PTs this way. Overall though I would not spend a lot of time on this. The goal is to get good at answering the questions based on applied skills, not based on patterned guessing.

jaybee88

nope! i didnt nor do i recommend that anyone worry about repeat letters on their answer sheet.

the LSAT doesnt try to trick you with dumb shit like that lol

texvd1988

By the way, I think the max they give you is 4 in a row. I had a 5 in a row set yesterday and, sure enough, one out of the 5 was wrong. That's happened a couple of times.

burnyoubad69

Of course because if each event was an independent variable and on the basis of guessing randomly there would be a 1/125 chance. But you answers are not random and it means nothing. I swear when I did it I am typically right on all 3 and if not 2. Remember each question is an independent variable so after the first question is answered even if total guessing it's still only 1/5 the previous question has no bearing. Simple laws of probability

Be_of_good_cheer

I don't worry about it and let the chips fall where they may