Does anybody go too fast? How to slow down?

dudejay25

7sage has helped me so much with content, but there seems to be one issue I can't find discussed anywhere: does anybody have timing problems and go TOO FAST? In order to get better with the LSAT, I took my practice tests untimed until I started scoring 90% or better. Since then, I have started timing myself. I have noticed that for logical reasoning and reading comprehension, I am finishing sections with anywhere from 10-15 minutes left! My accuracy is not bad, usually 3-4 wrong in each section, but when I go back and check my work, I realize many of my mistakes were stupid. No matter how hard I try to slow down, I still finish these 2 sections (games take me the full time) early. Any tips on how to really slow down and take the full time? Has this happened to anyone else before? Thanks again to the whole community for your help throughout this process.

Cant Get Right

That's actually really great timing. Use that extra time to go back through and confirm all your answers!

dudejay25

The problem I have with using that time to go back and check my work is that the LSAT loves to play with one's confidence. We all know that feeling of thinking we got the answer 100% right, only to go "no way!" when seeing what we chose was wrong. Thats why I suspect my accuracy would go up if I found a way to slow down and choose the best answer from the start.

Alex

Sometimes when I am in the zone I end up on question 15 of an LR section and realize only like 13 minutes has passed. What I do is just circle ones I am not 100% sure of and as @"Cant Get Right" says use the extra time to go back and check answers and do ones I've skipped.

I mean if you're only missing 3-4 per section I don't think your speed is killing your accuracy unless you are finding that you are just making careless mistakes.... If that is the case then make sure you are taking enough time to read and absorb the stimulus, question, and answer choices. If you are doing those things and understand what you have read and what is being asked of you then I think you are on the right path.

danielznelson

BR and really nail down the errors you're making. For a while, I was actually writing and tabulating my mistakes so as to see when, where, and how often I was making mistakes. I think you should be proud of the time you have, especially if you fell you aren't rushing. Everyone is going to make dumb mistakes, whether one has a lot of time or not. Rather than forcing your time down, used the aforementioned advice to allow you to catch mistakes more efficiently. You'll get a good feel for what's wrong in a section; when you have plenty of time to go back, not much can stop you from getting -0.

Lsatbreakingnews

Beast

tanes256

I've got 99 problems but this ain't one! @dudejay25 I would so add this 100th problem. Kudos to you! I have no recommendations unfortunately. As stated above, I think the only way to address your concern is to circle those that you aren't 100% on the first go through. With the time remaining go back to only those and confirm. Do a few PT this way and see how things go. If you see that you're still missing an unacceptable amount for you, then maybe try to go back through as many as you can with the time remaining and confirm. I know it's tough second guessing because I always end up changing my correct answers to wrong answers. At some point you'd think I'd just say go with my first choice, huh? Guess it's just the Taurus in me! LOL

Navas de Tolosa

Perhaps I have an unpopular opinion. Going too fast hurt me. I can finish a section in 20 min, but I'll get 3-4 wrong. If I take 30 min, I'll get 0 to 1 wrong. You're probably missing the tougher curvebreaker questions because you're going so fast that you're missing the nuances in the harder questions. To slow myself down, I take a deep breath everytime I turn the page. 3-5 minutes at the end of each section should be enough time to go back to the ones you were unsure of. Remember, you don't get extra points on the LSAT for finishing early. If you're already hitting your target score, however, you can just ignore me.

Sprinkles

@Euthyphro said:
Beast

Pretty much.

Nanchito-1-1

That's actually not bad at all. I think you're on to something. @"Cant Get Right" once told me to be reckless and find out what I hit and miss. See if you can find a pattern with what you're missing and exploit that. Whatever you're doing it seems like it's working.