How do you improve your timing and score

bluelilly9009

I've been studying for the LSATs for a little over 3 months now and I'm barely averaging over 150 and my timing for logic games still sucks. I'm taking the LSAT flex in April and I'm beginning to panic. It feels like I'm yet to reach that learning curve and honestly, I'm tired and discouraged. Any advice on how to get better at this?

daliaglomeli

A lot of us here have been through that and this is my perspective on the matter, to be taken with a grain of salt. Short answer is that there is no easy way to improve timing. You have to drill and diligently blind review to get a score increase. Even if you "know the LSAT material" you need to be able to be fluent enough to where it doesn't hurt your brain to answer a question and you can immediately think of a prephrase.

-Beginning to score in the 150's means that you are grasping LSAT fundamentals which is great. At this point I recommend reinforcing those fundamentals (esp if you still get scores in the 140's).

-Then, try to improve further by diversifying your material. For example, try doing different types of timed games, passages, and LR questions. This could be bringing down your score if you always expect a linear game for instance and then get an exam that doesn't have one.

-After that, focus on time. Try to find patterns and ways that the exam questions repeat, you will find that the exam is very consistent in many ways.

Again, drilling, diligently blind reviewing, finding patterns, and practicing timing has been the key in getting me out the low 150's. Also 100% recommend The Loophole by Ellen Cassidy for LR. Best of luck!

yang9999

for me, the critical thing that someone told me was that in order to go fast, you have to be accurate first (i was stuck in the 150s for a while until a few well-placed BR tests allowed me to start breaking into the mid-high 160s within a two month period. my own score journey so far can be plotted as a step function). So I would say, focus on accuracy in the early stages of prep (and don't overdo PT taking), especially with the BR process. As your accuracy increases, you will build up more knowledge on how to attack problems more efficiently+confidently, and the timing should feel more natural. Definitely resist the urge to check answers immediately, as that defeats the purpose of getting better at the LSAT (I love the BR process for this reason)