Silly Question

briannatatyana

Is it recommended to read questions aloud when studying for the LSAT? It's easier for me to study that way, but I try not to because when it comes to test day I know I can't speak out to disrupt other students. Does this make sense? How do others study and what's recommended? It's challenging for me to break down the context of questions in my head.

sarahblair

Since it isn't allowed on the actual test, I personally wouldn't practice that way and get used to it. You could try using paper to assist with breaking down the context of the questions in your head? This is a time sink on the actual exam but still it's technically allowed whereas reading aloud isn't. Maybe try it and see if you could ween off of reading out loud and then try weening off of writing altogether. You'll get more used to working through questions in your head with practice. Hope this helps!

brennac.ics

I did this for a long time! Then of course I also found out I can’t speak on test day (honestly doesn’t make sense to me especially with the online format). But one thing that has kind of replaced that for me is going over the words and like following them with my cursor to make sure that I’m actually reading and absorbing every single word. I realized that the reason I read the questions out loud was to force myself to read slower and catch every word, but following the sentence with my computer cursor has the same effect for me. Granted, on blind review, I usually read some of them out loud and realize the meaning is different, but that’s only on like two maybe three questions across the whole test max and I’ve been scoring well on PTs. Hope this helps!

sarahblair

@"brennac.ics" said:
I did this for a long time! Then of course I also found out I can’t speak on test day (honestly doesn’t make sense to me especially with the online format). But one thing that has kind of replaced that for me is going over the words and like following them with my cursor to make sure that I’m actually reading and absorbing every single word. I realized that the reason I read the questions out loud was to force myself to read slower and catch every word, but following the sentence with my computer cursor has the same effect for me. Granted, on blind review, I usually read some of them out loud and realize the meaning is different, but that’s only on like two maybe three questions across the whole test max and I’ve been scoring well on PTs. Hope this helps!

I think it's a bit ridiculous they care about reading aloud too. I guess it's because they're afraid students may record themselves reading the exam aloud and share the recording since the flex is done over a period of a few days and many times within an individual day. Still, kind of a stretch imo.

andrew.rsn

@sarahblair I think another reason why they don't allow reading aloud, is because they're trying their best to mimic pre-covid testing conditions. In a live test space obviously you wouldn't be allowed to read aloud, so in that sense I can understand why they wouldn't allow it now. And definitely for security reasons like you mentioned.

@briannatatyana, one thing that helps me is to essentially silently read aloud, so form the words with my mouth without actually making any sound. This is supposed to be okay to do, though I've heard some proctors have called test takers out for this.