Making Inferences more quickly

Gia_Henry

Hello,

I started/purchased the 7Sage Starter on May 31, 2015. That was actually the first day I started studying for the LSAT (I haven't used any other materials, and I've gone through about 75% of the Core curriculum). In order to get into the law school I want to go to, I need to score around a 155 because my GPA is 3.66. Anything above a 155 would be icing on the cake. I have really been working on the logical reasoning, and I am comfortable with where I am with those. The timed tests I take show me only missing around 7 or 8 (I score a lot better without the time restraints). However, on the Logic Games (which I really just started focusing on in the last week and a half or so), it takes me 45 minutes to an hour to get through all of the questions in a section because I'm really slow at seeing the inferences. My improvement has come in that I'm now able to look at a game and immediately see what kind of game it is (85% of the time), what kind of board to draw, where the pieces fit in, etc. The first time I take a test, I miss around half of the questions, but again, it takes me 45 minutes to an hour to get through them. When I blind review, I can get that down -3 to -6.

My question is, with me being at 7 weeks of studying, does this sound on track? I am signed up to take the October LSAT. Do you have any tips or suggestions on how I can learn to make inferences quicker? Will that just come with practice? I'm spending 4 to 6 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week studying.. so I'm committed and would love any suggestions anyone may have. Also, for the RC... I read really slow. Any advice on how to get faster? In a timed RC section, I only get through about half of the questions. On my first timed LSAT, which I took about a month ago to see where I was, I scored a pathetic 138. (When I don't have time restrictions, I can add about 20 points to that).

Thank you, in advance! I just gotta say... I'm so grateful I stumbled upon 7Sage. I'm quite certain it has saved my ass!!!!
(PS: I'm living on student loans, so I don't have the dough for a lot of extra stuff... so any suggestions you make about buying extra (like the LSAT Trainer vs. the Powerscore Bibles), please list them in most valuable to least).

c.janson35

Well, you've said that you've been studying for 7 weeks, but have only been focusing on logic games for a week and a half, so any judgment you make about your progress in logic games has to be made taking this into account. Speed making inferences will increase as you spend more time practicing making inferences (I.E. doing logic games, even ones you have already done and especially ones you have already done, over and over until you are comfortable with the thought processes that enabled you to make inferences).

Because lists are so enticing, though:

1. Always ask yourself if rules with common variables combine together to produce any inferences. Most often, the more rules that are placed on a variable, the more restricted that variable is.

2. In sequencing games, always note which variables are followers and leaders. This can especially be fruitful on questions like "which one of the following people cannot give the 3rd speech?".

3. In in/out games, an awareness of the limitations on the number of people that can go in each group is a recurring inference that must be made.

4. Know when rules trigger and when they become irrelevant. This is huge, and it requires a high-level understanding of conditional logic. Once you achieve this proficiency though, it will pay huge dividends for you in games that involve conditional logic chains.

5. Note which variables are random.

6. If a question gives you an additional condition about a particular variable. Incorporate it into your rules list/diagram near the question and ask yourself: 1. What do we know about this? and 2. Who is left? These questions together should force you to consider the interaction of rules that create inferences.


If I think of anymore tips that may be beneficial, I'll add them here. But the biggest and most important tip is practice. Practice a game multiple times, watch JY's video on the game multiple times. Stop the video if you don't understand the thought process behind a inference, and when you do, articulate the thought process underlying the inference out loud or in writing. This will help you realize the recurring inferences and patterns that are key to mastering LG.

As for RC, check out the advice in this thread!

http://7sage.com/forums/discussion/3278/how-to-improve-reading-speed-on-rc#latest

Your feeling that you need to increase reading speed is not an unusual one. I remember the first diagnostic I ever took I only finished 2.5 passages. I left the testing room feeling completely demoralized and dejected because of my **obvious** reading speed ineptitude. I sat in the parking lot for nearly an hour after the test finished reading the darkest corners of LSAT message boards (don't do this) and every "how-to increase reading speed guide" I could find on google (don't do this either: reading about reading is so unnecessarily hipster-meta). I downloaded a couple reading speed apps and thought I was a failure at life because I sub-vocalized, clearly a cardinal sin.

Now, I don't remember the last time I didn't finish a RC section, and I never did do anything to reduce sub-vocalization or increase my WPM. The only thing that's changed is that I've done soooo many RC passages since my diagnostic. So all that worrying about reading speed was for nothing, really. Just practice! RC and LG and LR. Practice.

Pacifico

For LG, take a look at this strategy guide I made and hit me up with any questions: http://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737/logic-games-attack-strategy

I used that methodology until I got down to -0 to -3 for a full section and that success has carried over to my PTs.

October might be a little tight but if you can lock up your LG and do okay everywhere else then a 155 shouldn't be too hard. I would take a week or two to really hit up LG hard, but still do a bit of LR/RC work so you don't get rusty there.

As far as reading slowly, most people that seem to read slowly are focusing too much on understanding every word as opposed to understanding the paragraphs and passage as a whole. To paraphrase Mike Kim, concentrate on the forest, not on the trees.

If you pick up anything else, just get the LSAT Trainer. It will help you in every section and likely give you some new perspectives that might click with your brain's particular mindset.

nye8870

"hipster-meta"...love it !!

Gia_Henry

Thank you so much! Your advice is helpful. I'm def gonna work on stressing less and focusing more, especially on my reading speed. I'll buy some pt, and the trainer, and just keep practicing.

Pacifico, I do make copies of the games and redo them. I try it on my own before watching the video, watch the video, then do it again. I put a copy away and revisit it either later in the week or early in the next week. When I do this, I always remember every single inference, but I wasn't thinking about the time it took me to do it. I'm going to do them all again, but time myself to see if I'm not only remembering the inferences and steps, etc., but how long it is taking me to complete them. I suppose if I keep doing it long enough, I'll just see it more quickly.

Yes... please let me know if you or anyone has any more suggestions for me. I'm going to keep at it!!!!

Thank you, again!

Pacifico

Always time yourself, first with a stopwatch and unlimited time, then later with a timer.

lpadr009

IME, the more you do, the quicker you'll see the inferences. The quicker you will see a lot of things actually

Pacifico

Exactly correct, that's the point of fool proofing style approaches, and why you can get better from seeing how games are done and then trying them over and over.

c.janson35

Great advice @lpadr009! This also applies to the other sections as well. The more you do, the more familiar you become, the faster you'll go.

Gia_Henry

Thank you, all! I have gotten much better than where I was when I wrote this post originally. Still much left to do. Took a few days off. Celebrated my son's 18th birthday, and he leaves for basic training in a few days. My focus needs more focus! lol