How to improve from timed score to BR?

adrianaisabel

Hi all,

I'm taking the January exam and am currently scoring between -5 and -7 on logic games during the timed test, but usually get down to -1 or -2 in BR. Does anyone have any advice for getting closer to the BR numbers on test day? I usually get the game board/inferences down okay, but I just can't seem to visualize it all in my head. I do so well on BR because I literally write out each scenario to make sure it's the right solution, which obviously takes way more time than I have timed lol. Any strategies or study suggestions are much appreciated. Thank you!

Flex King

For me the only way was to drill drill drill and know how to set up and answer every game. You are on the right track and keep in mind LG is the easiest to improve over a short time frame

FindingSage

What I found was different for me timed versus BR , was that under time I tended to want to make a basic game board and then rush into the game. To improve, during BR I did not allow myself to brute force anything or to draw out sub game boards for every question. Instead, I looked at the game all over again and tried to find a rule to split on to create worlds. Personally, I like games where I am looking at 2-4 worlds. I don't think it will be realistic for me to be drawing out more than 4 or 5 timed so even during BR I try to set up the game as I feel like I should have ( making worlds) and then go through the questions. There are many games where once I have the worlds created I don't have to write anything else on my paper at all because I can see the hypotheticals in the worlds I have created. At the point you are at now, I would not recommend trying to hold a lot in your head but rather take more time up front, split as many games as you are able to under time- you will find the questions go by much faster. If splitting is a newer skill for you, use BR like I did to practice splitting games and solving them that way. If you are getting more than a rare -1 in BR doing this you need to do the games again, watch JY's videos and repeat until you are able to do the game without missing any and with confidence. As you keep repeating this process you will start to see that your timed scored will start looking more in line with your BR score and even when you are doing BR you will be able to tackle games without brute force.

swanganie

Hey Adriana, good luck on your grind to the Jan exam. I'm sure you can improve in LG over the next few weeks. Seconding what the above commenters said. What worked for me was a combination of 7Sage fool-proofing and LSAT Trainer LG methods. I improved speed and accuracy by:

• redoing over and over again the same game or similar types that gave me issues. Each time, I'd press myself to solve them faster and draw less during the problems (aka doing more upfront as @FindingSage suggests). If I could solve the set in 9min on a timed run, 7min on a BR, then I'd try to do it in 5-6min or less during fool-proofing.

• and redoing the same games with different initial board setups (doing more/less upfront) or going into different depths initial inferences. Sometimes we just don't make the perfect game setups/inferences upfront and have to roll with it under time. Personally this pushed me to learn to adapt during the problems themselves and also find a sweet spot that I liked where I could confidently move from initial setup to the problems.

The point for me was to solve them as quickly as possible and have time to go back to fix/win back points on any problems that gave me trouble.