Question regarding timing... Need Help.

Artak Mamikonyan

Hey guys, so I had been struggling with finishing sections on time until I saw one of JY's videos of one of his students doing an entire LR section. I saw her reading the stimuli and if it didn't make sense at first, she would waste no time, circle it, and move on to the next question. This strategy has been great for me. I skip ones i don't know now and come back to them during "round 2" once I finish answering all the questions. My problem is that every time i take a PT, i usually struggle either finishing RC on time or LG on time... The time usually ends and i have 2-3 questions i don't get to finish answering. SO my question is, what do you guys do to improve your timing on those sections? Is skipping recommended on RC and LG? I'd love to hear back from you guys. Thanks.

tanes256

@"Artak Mamikonyan" RC is a tough one so I'll leave this one to the gurus. For me, I've determined that I'm trying to understand too much of the passage, thus taking too much time reading, rather than focusing on the structure. For LG, what is your average? I was always told that timing issues really boil down to not understanding and comprehending the fundamentals, especially if running out of time is the norm. There are PT that have curveball games and running out of time is understandable, but if you usually run out of time on every PT it's probably a lack somewhere in the fundamentals. Check your analytics to see if you can determine a pattern of game types that are giving you an issue then return to the curriculum and rewatch the videos. After you're comfortable drill that game type using the Fool Proof Method. Also, are you still losing points on the questions attempted after skipping questions, or are all your lost points due to the questions you skipped?

CalPoliSci

For RC, try to read for structure rather than the fine details. You don't know what the questions will ask, so you might be wasting time on purposely confusing parts. Just ask yourself as you read, "Why is the author reading this? What is this parts relation to the purpose of the paragraph, the purpose of the passage as a whole?" This is so you have an idea where to reference when a question is asked. For example, a question might ask "Which of the following can be inferred?" and you get a bunch of answer choices. Answer choice A discusses X, and you remember that X was discussed somewhere in the middle of paragraph 2. You can quickly reference that line to see if it's true (and if you remember from memory, even better).

I also saw my speed rise quickly by honing on my eliminating wrong answer choices. It's very easy to get stuck trying to confirm the right answer, but when you are quickly eliminating because you know an answer is wrong, that gives you much better odds and less time spent on wrong answers. Hope this helps!

Cant Get Right

Reading is so tough to work on, and it's made more complicated by the fact that different people respond to drastically different methods. Definitely develop a concise and consistent notation strategy. Nicole has a great one which I modified for my own needs, so that would be worth looking up I think. Beyond that, you've just got to drill and get comfortable with working through it. Definitely use skipping strategy.

LG is an entirely different matter. That's just a matter of putting in the work. Foolproof every game and then foolproof them again. My system was to foolproof a section one day, then the same section again the next day, then again the next week, then again the next month. Using this system, I worked through basically every game from 1 - 36. Now, I'm using a modified, abbreviated version of that system to work through everything else from 37 - 78. No reason you can't be going -0 with ten minutes to spare. I've actually worked through entire sections twice and then still had a minute or two left over. LG is totally conquerable, you've just got to pay your dues.

Artak Mamikonyan

@tanes256 my average is around 19/23. I mean, I definitely make some errors without the time issue but for the most part, the ones I get wrong are because I don't finish on time. Also, as far as reading comp, what do you mean by focus on the structure? I'm averaging around 20 out of 27 and a lot of the time, it's because I do really well on the first three passages and then catch myself realizing i only have like five minutes to do the last one, which messes up my entire score on the section because I'm forced to rush on the last passage.

Artak Mamikonyan

@CalPoliSci Thanks for the input! I actually am going to try to use the approach of eliminating the wrong answers more often on RC because i realized i do sometimes spend too much time trying to confirm the right answer. I'm going to give that a shot next time. What do you think about skipping questions on RC and then coming back to them once i finish the entire section?

Artak Mamikonyan

@"Cant Get Right" Where can i find her strategy? I'll definitely look it up. For me, it's just a matter of being faster because I always do really well on the first three passages and then find myself with five minutes left to rush through the fourth one, which is usually where i lose all the points. That's why I was wondering if skipping questions for RC is recommended.

CalPoliSci

@"Artak Mamikonyan" I haven't tried that strategy and maybe I should. I don't skip entirely because I worry that I'll get bogged down on passage 4 and won't have time to go back to skipped questions. What I do is make my best choice, and if I have time, go back to that question. But I won't skip entirely.

Cant Get Right

@"Artak Mamikonyan" , here's a link to Nicole's webinar on YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jO4puXXT_gU

I think everyone should develop their own system, but this is a good place to start to see what worked for a top scorer.

tanes256

@"Artak Mamikonyan" watch the RC webinar as well. It focused on the question types. I think your answer regarding reading for structure type was answered above but I would also recommend picking up The LSAT Trainer. It discusses reading structure really well. The RC webinar I mentioned above also discusses the question types just as the Trainer does. Understanding some of the question types presented in RL and having a strategy for each might help cut down on some of the time you're spending trying to confirm answers. It's around $40-$50. If price isn't an issue it's definitely worth the money. I also like Nicole's method. To me it's pretty much what the Trainer says plus added notations. It is beneficial but you'll probably tweak it to work the best with what you already have, and that's ok. I think that's pretty much what everybody does. For LG try runner a timer to see how long you're taking on certain games and maybe even certain question types within the game. You're spending too much time somewhere. It sounds like you could be more solid in some area.