Can't break 17 on LR

dlstudy1

I am struggling to get more than 17 right on LR consistently. I reviewed all the LR curriculum but I'm still unable to break the 17 right during timed sections. I have noticed a few trends. During timed LR I am usually getting the first 10 correct in about ~12 minutes. I usually run out of time and don't get to 3-4 questions so I blind guess on these. Of the 3-4 it's very unlikely that I get one of them right by chance. During BR I am usually able to get 3-4 correct out of the 3-4 I skipped.

My BR is usually around ~20-21 and ideally I would be scoring as close to ~21 as humanly possible! Any advice?

Also, I'm practicing from tests 1-20 right now out of paranoia. I do not want to "waste" the good/more recent exams. Is this legit reasoning or is it smart to "save" the more recent exams for full practice test practicing purposes?

dlstudy1

Also, I'm practicing from tests 1-20 right now out of paranoia. I do not want to "waste" the good/more recent exams. Is this legit reasoning or is it smart to "save" the more recent exams for full practice test practicing purposes?

Thanks!

Achen165

I’m also having this problem, noticing I’m missing the “harder” and “hardest” questions. Working from earlier tests is perfectly fine, I think. I ended up having to work backwards.

Also struggling to find a solution. I have a wrong answer journal, I write my own explanations first paraphrasing stimulus, then all of the answer choices, my justification for the wrong one, why my justification is wrong, why I overlooked the correct answer why it’s correct. Then I have a separate log where I put insights on what I errors or assumptions I have made, the tracks and tricks in the answer choices. Then I watch videos to see if my rationale aligns with JY’s and I also read the Kaplan explanations. I also write a reflection on how the section went and what points I reasonably could have or should have gotten.

I know that I need to get the more conquerable ones down in less time, to save time so I don’t end up skipping 3-4, and can hit more questions. Reviewing all attempted questions to improve my confidence, working on pacing. I notice there are at least a few questions I spend far too long on...some correct, I review those especially to see what made me take so long, and the most frustrating ones I spent a long time on and got wrong anyway. I employ a skipping method where if the stimulus doesn’t click for me upon first read, I flag and move on.

I’m sorry I don’t have any advice for you specifically because it’s hard to pinpoint what you can do to improve, but trying new methods if you haven’t already done so to dig deeper is the only way. Only you know why you picked the wrong answer or why you ran out of time. 7Sage has a great analytics system to help take some of that confusion out of the guessing game. I do have to note though, as well as I know about myself, your BR scores indicate your potential and level of insight into the exam is strong. If you can align your thoughts to be like the test makers and explain things, you have a great springboard for progress. I think that it takes time to translate to hurried discernments for varied scenarios. I was told that BR with a partner helps, feel free to DM if interested maybe we could go through a couple of sections together.

dlstudy1

Thanks for your thought out response @achen013

I have been keeping my old attempts and looking back at the questions I missed, randomly but not strategically per say. Maybe I will try spending 30-45 minutes at the beginning of every study session to review some of my old missed questions. I like the idea of keeping a log. I tried this in the past during the beginning of my LSAT journey but I didn't find much use from it. Perhaps it was because I was still unclear with the fundamentals at the time. I know I can score 20-22 on LR since I've done it before but only a handful of times. My average, unfortunately is 17. I would really like to break into the 20s consistently to feel safer in this whole process.

Achen165

Reviewing old mistakes or reattempting ones you got wrong in the past is great! You need to know if the insights you gained stuck or not and for that I reconsult my error log for old questions I cycle back to. Maybe you could make that practice more strategic. Some say less is more and thorough review is critical to getting and maintaining an increase. It’s just as if not more important than practice.

I am encountering the same exact thing. I have -3,-4 a handful of times untimed and it’s so frustrating when I get -8 a bunch of times thereafter. Sometimes also it’s because there were ones you were shaky on, narrowed down to two potential corrects and picked right but there was still some insights to be picked up on there, meaning your -4 could have easily been a -8 because of not being solid on the nature of certain answer choices.

My goal is also to hit at least 20 points consistently but it has been sooo frustrating! Keep at it. Stay solid on your review. The more insights you gain into how you think and behave and implement them on future sections is all a frustrating albeit necessary process. The insight log for me has been where I’ve gained the most clarity. Having something general you can take away and apply to future questions with the same structure (abstract of stimulus) and answer choice shells (the manipulation tactics).

Trusttheprocess

Hey,

First of all you are in great shape... especially if you are PTing from 1-20 and scoring 17.

My personal journey - started out with 12, then moved to 15 to 16 and now my score is really fluctuating from 19-23. My main issue right now is reading errors or over confidence mistakes... just silly shit that is costing me points.

however, in the world of the LSAT - the turtle wins the race LOL.

17 to me means that your knowledge is good but can still improve. I dont know how you BR - but thats the main thing in LR personally. The LSAT has not changed much. What the writers have done is gotten a better job at hiding their patterns. Secondly, what type of questions are you getting wrong?

I usually divide LR into two categories:

Hunt Questions - where my work upfront on the stimulus should prepare me well enough to SEARCH for the right AC and not fall into LSAT traps. For me these questions have a lot to do with structure and logic. These question types are: MP, MOR, PMOR, PF, SA, PSA, MBT/MBF, POI, etc. If at anytime I get these questions wrong - then I will sit down and figure out where my mistake was .... did I miss diagram something, was my work up front wrong. The reason being why I keep these type of questions in this category is b/c my work up front is meant for me to "not fall for LSAT traps". Also, these are the questions that I look for after my section is scored. If I get anything wrong - I drill them because these are the points I can count on each section, eyes closed - does not matter if its a 5star question or not. If you tally these questions up in a section - it will probably come up to around 14 of them on average.

The other set of questions I call them "relax and enjoy the car ride questions". These questions I do keep a good consciousness of logic & strcuture. however, its my reading skills - i.e. calling out the author on their poor reasoning, etc. - that is going to do me the trick. in this group of questions - i usually have NA, W, S, Flaw, MSS, etc. In a live section, sometimes pressure and my misreading will get me these wrong. However, this is where my BR in these questions come in key. The LSAT leaves cookie crumbs behind in these type of questions - because I think their MOR in these question types are quite limited. The quicker you are able to notice and slow down on these questions on a live run and not get pressured ... I think you can easily score (on a bad day) score 6 out of the remaining 12 questions left on a section.

but to be honest - everyone has their own learning curve....
my personal 2 cents is concentrate as much as you can on your BR.....
Your BR is the biggest indiciator of where your thinking lies and where the LSAT writers thinking is. that gap is what you want to identify and work on to push your score from 17 to the mid 20s in a section.

just my 2 cents...
DM if you need any other advice
and enjoy the journey