Should we pay attention to "Target Times?"

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I've been grinding on RC for the longest time but I just can't ever seem to hit the supposed "Target Times" for each of the passages.

Sometimes I get 100% accuracy but I finish a passage in 9 minutes when the target time says 7 minutes. Or I finish an 8-question, really difficult science passage in 11 minutes but target time says 9 minutes.

Anyone else find that discouraging? Accuracy has gotten significantly higher but I just can't ever reach those target times listed out. It makes me wonder if I need to change my process up or something.

What do people think?

MissionLsat

Target times, are very important in general. But it may vary from one individual to another. There were many times when I was able to do a very difficult passage whose target time was 9 minutes in seven minutes and a passage which was supposed to be a very easy one in more than the stated target time. If you are not able to complete the whole section on time then either you make some changes in the process, like stop writing down the summaries, try to lower down the time you spend on highlighting important lines, etc. Also, if you still have a month or so and you are just missing 1 or 3 questions because of shortage of time and are getting close to a 100 percent accuracy on the rest of the questions, Then I would advise you to keep practising the same method. It is very likely that you would automatically improve your timing as your reading speed improves.

Slow is Fast

I think the target times are there to give you a general idea of the timeframe to solve the problem in. Every test-taker is different/has different levels of understanding, so I think it's ok not to hit the target times. I'd think of them as suggested guidelines, not prescribed targets.

On a related note, I actually had a similar question a few days ago about how the target times are calculated. I searched the forums and found this explanation from a 7Sage admin answering the forum post:
https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/25465

The system calculates your target time based on collected data from top scorers. However, if the target time is missing on some questions that is because the system doesn’t have enough data yet to generate a “target time”.

Target time for LR is the median duration for students who got the question correct. For LG/RC, it's the median time for students who got -2 or better on the game/passage. The target time for each question is different. Some might be more than what you actually spent and some less.

The post is just 9 months old, so I would guess the info still holds true... unless 7Sage has changed how they calculate this stuff. Hope it's helpful.

Jordan Johnson

@oychoi79 said:
I've been grinding on RC for the longest time but I just can't ever seem to hit the supposed "Target Times" for each of the passages.

Sometimes I get 100% accuracy but I finish a passage in 9 minutes when the target time says 7 minutes. Or I finish an 8-question, really difficult science passage in 11 minutes but target time says 9 minutes.

Anyone else find that discouraging? Accuracy has gotten significantly higher but I just can't ever reach those target times listed out. It makes me wonder if I need to change my process up or something.

What do people think?

I think @"Slow is Fast"'s post has some good information.

I'd also suggest that you should focus more on accuracy than speed. If it takes you two more minutes than you "should" -- but are getting 100% accuracy -- you're going to do better than someone that forces the target time but doesn't fully understand the material.

There was a post about it a while back where someone went into statistical probabilities, and showed that if you hit 90% of the questions with 100% accuracy, you're somehow better off than if you hit 100% of the questions with a 90% accuracy rate. It was an interesting read, and it's something I've kept in mind ever since.