Timed Score VS Blind Review Score LR - How to close the gap

H.al1997

Hey guys!!

So when I take LR sections timed I get around a 10/26. But when I complete it BR with no constraints I am able to score like a 20. Does anyone know how to improve timed???

kkole444

hello this is an age old question that has many parts and if any one of the parts has a kink in the line it will/can cause your timed score to be considerably lower than the BR score. So if I am understanding your post correctly you are getting 16 questions incorrect under timed conditions? Are you not getting to all the questions or just missing that?
If that is the case then I would suggest stop PTing and go back to the CC or make problem sets of the questions you struggle with most. That aside, you will want to make sure that you have a skipping/timing plan in place for taking the exam. Many individuals for LR that score 170+ like for a minimum to do the first 10 questions in under 10 minutes and even push that to 15 in 11-12. Also when they come to a question that gives them trouble they will skip the questions and move on. This allows them to get the low hanging fruit and lets them come back to the challenging question with a fresh mind and less pressure to get to all the questions.
Another thing that can hurt the timed score is how solid the fundamentals are and being able to knock out wrong answer choices fast. One way that you can increase the accuracy and speed is finding the gap in the argument fast, and then depending on the style question think of ways that the whole in the argument can be fixed in accordance to the question type and this partly goes back to how good your fundamentals are. Are you able to spot the premise conclusion with near certainty in every argument? When you can do that can you spot the error being made? Are you aware of the common wrong answer choices? Do you sit on a few questions for too long? These are all things that can throw off the timed from the BR. Once the fundamentals are there the rest will follow. I use to have a large BR gap as well this was because I could think of the fundamentals under unlimited time but I did not 'know' them we enough to call upon them under timed conditions.

yunonsie

I think it's possible that you're rushing yourself under timed conditions. I know it's fast, but it doesn't matter how quickly you answer the question if you don't understand the stimulus/question/ or answer choices properly. Over time, patterns will show themselves so it becomes easier to see how a question "fits together." Maybe try a section, untimed, but as quickly as you possibly can while feeling 100% confident in your answer. When you review, look at how much time you've spent on every single question. Ask yourself, what did I spend time thinking about that ultimately wasn't important in answering the question? Be really honest with yourself here. Actively focus on following each step in the process for that specific question, and note down when/why/how you got side tracked if you did.

sarakimmel

Agreed with @kkole444 , I would not spend time on PTs at present. You can think of it this way: if you answer 15 LR questions on a test, but you know you got those right, and then bubble in answers to the rest of the section, you will still come away with more points than if you try to answer all the questions, rush and miss points you would have otherwise gotten. So even if you never improved on timing, you would still improve your score. Even when you are doing sections untimed, you will be able to see how long you spent on each question, which can be helpful to developing a skipping strategy, which I would practice even without time (builds good habits). If MSS or parallel flaw questions, for example, are taking you 2-3+ minutes, flag and save those for the end of the section as soon as you recognize that question type.
When you are working on timing, you can think of the 10 questions in 10 minutes or 15 questions in 15 minutes rule as a NET 10 or 15, meaning you have answered that many correctly, but allow for skipping, so not necessarily questions 1-10 or 1-15. I hope this makes sense. Always feel free to reach out if anything isn't clear!

H.al1997

@kkole444 @yunonsie @sarakimmel I wasn't really taking any PTs, I just finished CC and timed started to take LR sections just to get used the questions being different and to be able to switch between question types. I noticed that the my understanding and method approach to questions is great but because of time I try to be fast in applying each method for each question type in order to try to answer as many questions as possible. I do spend too much time on some questions (like it takes me longer to apply my method approach for assumption questions for instance). 95% of the time I am able to confidently identify premise and conclusion, its the odd 1 or 2 questions were I don't find it.

D.F.W. Aficionado

Man, having seen a post you made about LR in the C.C. over 4 years ago, and still coming back here with the same issue is really scaring me. I'm three months in to studying & IDEK what I'd do in your situation in terms of staying motivated.

For the amount of money you must have dumped into 7Sage, maybe it's time to get in touch with a Tutor for help? It sounds like your weakness is VERY deeply ingrained into your methodology & way of thinking, to the point where you need someone else to have a really good look at what you're doing (more than what can be done over messages on 7sage forum).

Best of luck! Loophole by Ellen Cassidy is another resource you might wanna try for L.R. but seriously recommend you get someone in to pinpoint your issue for you.

WinningHere

Go slower and get more accurate even if you do not answer every question in the section. If you go slower and answer only 15 but get them all correct, then you will have increased your score!