How do I improve speed for LR?

addison101220

Hi! What are strategies for improving speed with logical reasoning? When I start timed sessions, I become anxious and often have to reread, but when I take my time I'm usually able to get the answer correct. Anyone else have this problem? Does this just go away after doing tons of practice questions? Thanks! #plshelp

Matt Sorr

Yes, speed certainly comes as you get more comfortable with the way the LSAT is written and the things questions typically expect you to pay attention to. Additionally, it's normal to feel anxious at the start of timed sections and, as a result, possibly perform worse than you perform when you're practicing untimed/feel like there's no pressure. I've found that, though this feeling may never totally go away, it gets much better as you do more timed sections. Eventually, you get used to the timer, you get a sense of what pace you need to be going to complete a section on time, you see good results that encourage you and build your confidence, etc.

As for specific strategies to speed up in LR, I've found that really pushing myself to move quickly through the first 15 questions has helped a lot. Typically, the first 10 questions are the easiest, questions 11-15 are easier with some medium-difficulty questions sprinkled in, and questions 16-25/26 are more difficult. While there are certainly some exceptions to this rule, as you'll occasionally see one or two difficult questions put towards the front of the section, LR sections have always followed the trend of starting easier and ending harder. It's been like that since the very first released prep test. Therefore, I've found that trying to get through the first 15 questions quickly usually gives me valuable time to spend on the last 10 questions. Just as an example, you could try to complete the first 15 questions in ~15 minutes, which would give you ~2 minutes for each of the last 10 questions.

To be clear, I don't think it's advisable to always force yourself to finish the first 15 in 15 minutes. That's just an arbitrary time goal I came up with. Some sections have harder 1st halves than others, and 15 minutes isn't enough time to accurately complete the first 15 questions. Just trying to generally move quickly through the first 15 has helped me a bunch with speed, however. My thought process is this: hard questions are hard. There's no way around that. Inevitably, some of the questions between 16 and 25/26 in any LR section are going to be tough. No matter how good you are at the test, you'll still have to spend some time thinking to figure out certain questions. Therefore, instead of trying to speed through those tougher questions, just accept that they're tough and try to give yourself more time to complete them. Sure, speeding through the first 15 questions is a bit of a gamble, as you may accidentally make a mistake and miss a relatively easy question, but, in my opinion, that's a totally worthwhile tradeoff to make sure I've got extra time for those tougher questions.

A drill I've seen recommended to practice this method is taking the first 10 or 15 questions in an LR section and doing them as quickly as possible. Seriously. Force yourself to go about as quick as you can. It may not feel comfortable, but there's a chance you'll be surprised by how accurate you are. If you're missing a bunch then slow down a bit, but see how quickly you can go through the first 10 or 15 questions in a few LR sections without sacrificing accuracy. Once you figure out your general "sweet spot," you can start implementing the timing strategy on PTs. I found that just doing the first 10 or 15 questions from some LR sections super quickly and repeatedly seeing myself doing well was a huge confidence booster. It gave me faith in the strategy which, when approaching every section of the test, is super important.

Sorry for the long-winded response but I wanted to make sure to thoroughly convey my thoughts! This isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, of course, so if it doesn't work for you then definitely seek out other strategies!

addison101220

@"Matt Sorr" said:
Yes, speed certainly comes as you get more comfortable with the way the LSAT is written and the things questions typically expect you to pay attention to. Additionally, it's normal to feel anxious at the start of timed sections and, as a result, possibly perform worse than you perform when you're practicing untimed/feel like there's no pressure. I've found that, though this feeling may never totally go away, it gets much better as you do more timed sections. Eventually, you get used to the timer, you get a sense of what pace you need to be going to complete a section on time, you see good results that encourage you and build your confidence, etc.

As for specific strategies to speed up in LR, I've found that really pushing myself to move quickly through the first 15 questions has helped a lot. Typically, the first 10 questions are the easiest, questions 11-15 are easier with some medium-difficulty questions sprinkled in, and questions 16-25/26 are more difficult. While there are certainly some exceptions to this rule, as you'll occasionally see one or two difficult questions put towards the front of the section, LR sections have always followed the trend of starting easier and ending harder. It's been like that since the very first released prep test. Therefore, I've found that trying to get through the first 15 questions quickly usually gives me valuable time to spend on the last 10 questions. Just as an example, you could try to complete the first 15 questions in ~15 minutes, which would give you ~2 minutes for each of the last 10 questions.

To be clear, I don't think it's advisable to always force yourself to finish the first 15 in 15 minutes. That's just an arbitrary time goal I came up with. Some sections have harder 1st halves than others, and 15 minutes isn't enough time to accurately complete the first 15 questions. Just trying to generally move quickly through the first 15 has helped me a bunch with speed, however. My thought process is this: hard questions are hard. There's no way around that. Inevitably, some of the questions between 16 and 25/26 in any LR section are going to be tough. No matter how good you are at the test, you'll still have to spend some time thinking to figure out certain questions. Therefore, instead of trying to speed through those tougher questions, just accept that they're tough and try to give yourself more time to complete them. Sure, speeding through the first 15 questions is a bit of a gamble, as you may accidentally make a mistake and miss a relatively easy question, but, in my opinion, that's a totally worthwhile tradeoff to make sure I've got extra time for those tougher questions.

A drill I've seen recommended to practice this method is taking the first 10 or 15 questions in an LR section and doing them as quickly as possible. Seriously. Force yourself to go about as quick as you can. It may not feel comfortable, but there's a chance you'll be surprised by how accurate you are. If you're missing a bunch then slow down a bit, but see how quickly you can go through the first 10 or 15 questions in a few LR sections without sacrificing accuracy. Once you figure out your general "sweet spot," you can start implementing the timing strategy on PTs. I found that just doing the first 10 or 15 questions from some LR sections super quickly and repeatedly seeing myself doing well was a huge confidence booster. It gave me faith in the strategy which, when approaching every section of the test, is super important.

Sorry for the long-winded response but I wanted to make sure to thoroughly convey my thoughts! This isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, of course, so if it doesn't work for you then definitely seek out other strategies!

Thank you so much for the in-depth response! This is extremely helpful. (: