Improving Speed

agrant18

Hi everybody! I am new to the 7sage community and I am finding that I am waaaay too slow at these questions! Is that the case with anyone else? On the problem sets I set a fifteen minute timer, and I often have one or two questions left when it goes off! That is pretty bad because that means that I am spending over a minute on each question and probably suggests that I should skip. In general, I think the problem may be choosing my answer choice because I narrow down to two answer choices and then I get stuck deliberating them for only God knows how long! Does anyone have any tips on improving speed other than taking practice tests over time?

ENTJ

Review the "Blind Review Method" at the beginning of the syllabus. Also, don't worry too much about the speed at first; get the logic and reasoning down first. The speed will come naturally as you practice more and more.

mvallani8

I agree with Simpaticonx.

I used to be HORRIBLE when I first started timing myself considering I'm not the fastest reader. My suggestion (and this worked very well for me) is to do a few full length tests untimed. Focus on hitting 100% accuracy and then time yourself once you're comfortable with the questions.

marryam_k

I'm on my fourth timed prep test and I can usually only get to question 20 on LR and I always end up missing Reading Comp questions too. It sucks, I always end up with a Blind Review score that is significantly higher because of this. Is this just something everyone went through at the beginning? If anyone else has any tips for improving speed it would be much appreciated! Is it just something that gets better as you do more prep tests?

zhenders

There are lots of methods out there, but for me, the trick that worked -- at least with LR -- was shooting to get through the first 10 questions in 10 minutes, and once you have that mastered, the first 15 in 15 minutes. While these early questions are definitely not all "give always" (especially 12-15), 1-12 usually rely on more direct application of logic, and don't seek to "trick" you to the same extent as later questions do. This is not a rule by any means, but if you look at the PT scorer for the PTs you've already done, you'll note that the vast majority of low-difficulty questions are in these deliver Q's.

I you can complete 15 in 15, it gives you 20 minutes for the last 10 or 11 -- which for me is enough of a cushion to get done with everything and have review/bubble time.

LSATisland

Don't agonize about time, especially if you're still beginning. The speed mainly comes from familiarity and experience. In my opinion, the best way to get faster is to do more LSATs, absorbing the patterns into your thinking. The more integrated and instinctual the thought process, the quicker you will be.

That's why un-timed LSAT is helpful too. Allowing yourself to dwell on questions without time pressure enables you to incorporate it into your thinking. You'll just start recognizing things quicker.

I've praised the importance of repetition in this forum before. But I think it's true, and bears repeating (slight pun intended).

bijan

I am pretty new here as well. One thing that helps with speed that 7sage really helped me with was the grammar. Well just knowing what words usually indicate a premise vs. what usually introduces a content change....really helps move you along. Also ignoring the jargon and technical context helps as well.

Madpanda

Honestly it took me awhile to know how to adapt to the speed, here is what I did.. and I hope it helps. (I am still implementing this.. and it helps me)

Buy a 180 Watch with lines on every 8min 45sec mark.

LR: 6Q in 1st 8:45, 12Q 2nd 8:45 18Q 3rd 8:45 and 24 4th 8:45. The first 6 usually goes by 5 minutes.. so I use the extra 2-3 minutes to make up on the harder questions later on.

LG and RC Each 8:45, easy ones make up for harder ones

Hope this made sense.

agrant18

Thank you everyone! As many of you have said I do agree that time is the best improvement! I will keep working at it! Good luck.