Does speed come with time/experience?

Lolo1996

Hey all

So, on my most recent PT, which was PTC, I scored a 155 on the test and a 165 on the BR (which I am very happy about). I have only recently restarted doing tests after the julyexam (where I scored 154). This is my second test I did (scored 155 on PT 40 lol - did not finish the BR yet, planning to redo the test from scratch).

I am VERY happy with my BR score, its the first time i scored 160+! I guess drilling in the LR was a good idea.

I am just a bit worried about my speed, since I am slow and having trouble finishing in the allocated time. My RC was also at like 40-50%, and 90% in my BR (but it took 3x my allocated time).

I wanted to know how long (how many PTs?) it took before you started to score what you would BR at? I am hoping to be prepared by september, if not then, then october. I would be very satisfied with a score of 165 though!

I have also been studying for 3 months or so

drbrown2

I never got my timed score up to my BR score, but the gap started closing as my timing issues were resolved and once I foolproofed LG. The number of PTs isn’t as important as the quality of your BR. If you BR really in depth and note which question types your reasoning is consistently off, your BR score and your timed score will both begin going up.

I began my prep worrying about my PT scores and not BRing that well. The key for me was when I stopped caring about the timed score and only focused on maximizing my BR score. Once I had that mindset switch I had less pressure on me during the timed PT, and I was able to break through the last scoring plateau.

dillonritchi

Tbh, for me my BR was almost always poor lol but I was able to vastly improve. My Br was bad because I would cheat a bit, meaning I would always check my score and my sections before I BR so I know what I am looking for and sometimes even peep at the answer sheet. But I still went from a 152 in May to a 160 in July, and now I am scoring in the high 160s, so I think the most important thing is to just do as many PTs as you can and try to do BR as best as you can and speed will come with time. Conditional logic, LG board game set ups and inferences are now a literally breeze for me but at the beginning they were quite difficult. I think I only achieved this through practice and I think you can too.
Edit: keep in mind that I also studied full time for two months and did 3 PTs a week with looking at lessons in my off time. I also was off and on studying for the past year.

AudaciousRed

In depth study. When you can predict what the question is about to ask, you can see the holes or gaps in the logic, the answers are so much easier in LR. This comes with practice, yes, but also in sitting with questions you've missed and studying them intensely until you really understand it inside and out. Practice begins showing you that most of the questions, and even some reading sections, all have patterns in them. Different questions, the same patterns over and over again. Sometimes, you'll come across a question that you swear you've answered before because it looks just like another question you've seen. In LG games, this is especially so. The layouts are often the same, just with a few tweaked details. Foolproofing and watching videos over and over again helps you see it.
It's practice, yes. But also in depth study on what you get wrong. If you understand the questions and know exactly how to go about them (or see the traps right away) your speed increases.

Lolo1996

Thank you @drbrown2

I am going to be focusing on improving and maximizing my BR score from now on!

Thanks @dillonritchi

I admittedly sometimes peak to see where I went wrong. Sometimes I get an ansr wrong and i dont even realize it because I read the question wrong, but when i look at it a second time it becomes quite evident.

Thank you @AudaciousRed

I am really doing and indepth BR with all my questions, and taking notes on the questions I get wrong.

T.Burton

Note: Scored 170 on the June LSAT.

I agree with all the above posters. If you want to increase your speed without sacrificing accuracy, you must first focus on accuracy and proficiency, i.e., an in-depth blind review and post-blind-review.

As you are fluctuating in the mid 150s and low 160s, speed should definitely be secondary to accuracy.

In my personal experience, I experienced a boost in speed when I (1) Made sure I stuck to the time limits when taking PTs, which I didn’t do in my very early PTs. After being under time pressure, I learned to find the key phrases (especially in LR) much faster and give secondary importance to the rest. (2) Fully recognize that every wrong answer is wrong for a clear, definable, accurate reason. Perhaps you won’t find the right answer and eliminate all the wrong ones during the PT but during the blind review and the post-blind review you need to concretely see why every wrong answer is wrong as well as why the right answer is right.

RC is the area where speed can fluctuate the most, and it seems to be the area where you’re having the most trouble. Personally, I don’t use any notations as I’ve found they bring little value, take up a lot of time, and give me an excuse to forget what I’ve read.

These are my tips for RC speed:
1) Visualization is key to understanding. If you aren’t making vivid pictures in your brain, it’s going to be tough to remember what you’ve read in detail, and detail is key.

2) Ensure that you understand every sentence you read. If you start reading without understanding or get lost in thought, backtrack and read again.

3) I would practice trying to recall the structure and key ideas of the passage immediately after you’ve read it.

4) Finally, never forget that the RC text holds all the answers.