Timed v. Untimed

Bagelinthemorning-2-1-1

Hi all,

I am retaking the LSAT and I was wondering whether to do untimed full-length tests first before timing myself. What have your experiences been? How did you structure your study time after covering the basics.

Thanks!

taschasp

Hey there,

I think in particular for LR, it's usually best to do timed tests when you've gotten through the basics, and then give yourself as much time as you need during BR -- so that way, you're getting both timed and untimed practice. It's okay if you're not able to get through everything in time at first, but it's good to still set the clock and practice that way so that you can start to scale up to the time limit.

When I studied, I'd actually keep going over 35 minutes, but I'd make a note of where I hit the time limit mark -- so the rest of the questions I'd count as part of my BR score. I'd pay attention to where I drew that line and work towards having fewer and fewer questions left until I was able to get through the whole section in time (and eventually, with a lot of extra time left).

I think in RC, even though it's good to time it, that doesn't mean you should rush: you can start with being okay with going over 35 minutes, at first training yourself to read more carefully even if it takes a bit more time (i.e. erring at first on the side of reading too much), and then figuring out what you need to cut out. Sometimes, that ends up being more effective than just cramming everything into 35 minutes every time. But if you go the time-extension route, you have to be very disciplined about bringing the time down fairly soon.

taschasp

But I will say that this is often a contentious question and I personally think there is no straight-up right answer. A lot of people will say that you should never go over 35 minutes, and doing so is effectively a complete waste of your time. I personally found that going over the 35 minutes but making a differentiation between what I did in the 35 minutes and what I did after, and gradually getting better at both of those halves (aka trying to increase both regular and BR scores) was the most effective way to work on timing and understanding at the same time. But, that might not be the best strategy for everyone!

Climb_to_170

Instead of untimed full sections, I would suggest doing timed single sections to develop your timing strategies for each section before doing a full timed test. For the most part, doing a full Blind Review is the same as doing a untimed full test but you are also still able to develop the timing strategies you will need to improve your score. Furthermore, I would save as many 60+ PTs as possible and only do them timed. These 30 PTs are vital because they will provide the most realistic test day experience.

Bagelinthemorning-2-1-1

Thank you both!

The comments were very helpful.