Tips on being Mechanical in the Moment

stepharizona

I have to admit I am pretty frustrated and I thought Id reach out to see if there were any tips you guys had that worked well for being really mechanical in the moment, especially in LR.

I had to take some time off, and am back at it for my 2nd take in Feb (yes I know I should wait for June, but I still want to go for this cycle). I was a 166 Ave, under performed in Oct as I had to stop studying for a few weeks before and had to take (long story).

The great thing is now, I can in timed review, score in the high 170s, its like a hybrid BR as its more going back to the question (if I have time left over this is true there as well) and I can get my circled questions right very quickly and usually only miss 1-2 but the last 4 tests I seem to be at -7 my first go through.

I've been told its a confidence issue, as I talk myself out of correct answers, but I thought I would ask this group on their approach. Perhaps its something no one can answer, but when I seem to get into self doubt I dont process it with a mechanical approach. Anyone else experienced this? How did you get over that hurdle?

It not a lack of knowledge but as one of the Sages said, knowledge isn't enough. I guess I thought I would ask and maybe someone will share an experience or comment that will help it all "click".

I know as I do more PTs my timing will get faster leaving me more time to return to questions during the test, but Id rather get it the first go and not risk it.

DumbHollywoodActor

I'm in a similar spot. Question: how long does it take you to do the "easy" questions? I've been told that for high scorers, a certain number of questions need to be answered within 30 seconds. Just food for thought.

shizuokatwin379

For me, once I felt like I was doing decently well and felt I had a pretty good understanding of the concepts I started trying to never second guess myself and just go with my first instinct, especially on easier LR's. I find most of my misses came from over thinking. That strategy served me well.

Also, come test day, my main tip would be stay with whatever approach works. It is VERY easy to over think every question on the actual test because you think this is the REAL thing and I better make certain on every one. This can not only cause you to make the mistakes you're talking about, but also eats into valuable time and can throw your timing off. Last LSAT I was guilty of this the first section (LR), and my grade suffered for it. I would suggest make a point to replicate exactly what you did when practicing.

twssmith

Steph - you can do it!!!
Following is from a similar thread that Jonathon posted for someone struggling with a similar issue?

@"Jonathan Wang" said:
To some extent, you will always 'overthink' things because your nervousness will tend to make you conjure up wild speculation in an attempt to make sure you've covered all of your bases. If you think you have a good imagination now, I promise you that a 180 scorer will be able to identify many more imaginative loopholes and corner cases to exploit. Overthinking is not a problem in and of itself - it only becomes a problem when you can't distinguish good lines of reasoning from bad.

Paging @"Nicole Hopkins" and if she is not available - re-watch the beginning of her RC webinar and her attitude about tackling this test. She is a great motivator and full of energy especially as you are wearing down before Feb test. Please make sure not to burn-out.
You know what you know - do not let the test undermine your confidence!!!

Edited to add: Watch Nicole's BR video first!

stepharizona

@twssmith Agreed Nicole is awesome. My frustration isn't me wearing down in this case, absolutely a ramping up, I haven't studied in almost 2 months so can't be burn out. But I know when I seem to be spinning my wheels. It's an odd situation as I'm great at helping other people break through this but no avail for myself.

@DumbHollywoodActor I am at about 1:10 for easy questions, and no more than 1:50 on hard ones before I cut ship, but you are right. That is great advice, I have to get faster on those. I can finish an entire section in about 33min so then I can go back and fix the ones I became iffy on. BUT, youre right, if I can get faster on those by 20 sec a piece, I can can get down to 30 min, leaving 5 min for review, which would be enough to get back to the easy questions to get those shored up.

It really is a timing issue. I need to stop "thinking" on these and just become purely mechanical... if anyone has other tips these are helpful. Thanks!