Any timing/improving speed strategies?

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• 1 Like

  paulmv.benthem Alum Member

  July 2018 1032 karma

  Sorry to hear you’re getting frustrated. BR scores can feel bittersweet!

  Are you aware of what situations evoke the panic for you?

  I’m the majority of cases, the best way to handle the time pressure is to be REALLY strong in your fundamentals. Sometimes a good BR score can be deceptive because it makes us think that we have our fundamentals down. But if we want to move quickly through an LR section, those fundamentals need to become intuitive. Doing untimed drills, thorough BR, and various types of flash cards has been the most effective way for me to address this type of issue in my own prep.
• 1 Like

  Lucas Carter Alum Member ⭐

  July 2018 2798 karma

  @"paulmv.benthem" said:
  Sorry to hear you’re getting frustrated. BR scores can feel bittersweet!

  Are you aware of what situations evoke the panic for you?

  I’m the majority of cases, the best way to handle the time pressure is to be REALLY strong in your fundamentals. Sometimes a good BR score can be deceptive because it makes us think that we have our fundamentals down. But if we want to move quickly through an LR section, those fundamentals need to become intuitive. Doing untimed drills, thorough BR, and various types of flash cards has been the most effective way for me to address this type of issue in my own prep.

  This is a great way of putting it. I had similar struggles with timing when I first started timed sections and like anything in life, speed comes with confidence and accuracy. The more you continue to understand LR questions at a higher level, the faster you will go. The best way to develop this is to just practice. It was frustrating at first knowing I could go nearly perfect untimed but melted down when the clock was ticking. I found that filming myself and really analyzing my thought processes showed me where I did not feel confident and fully understand things and as a result falling into time sinks. The webinar on pre phrasing may help as well as anticipating answer choices makes you more engaged in the stimulus and better able to speed up through increased understanding.
• 1 Like

  Ohnoeshalpme Alum Member ⭐

  July 2018 edited July 2018 2531 karma

  @jkjohnson1991 said:
  I’m having a bit of trouble in LR. I find myself rushing and missing questions that I should not. My BR scores reflect that I know more than I am showing in my PT’s but I seem to go in a bit of a panic state at times and make dumb mistakes. I’ve tried the 15 in 15, but that doesn’t really seem to do it for me as the panic still arises with the ones I skip and go back to. I know understanding the stimulus and answer choices quickly are apart of doing well but there has to be a way to improve this right? Any suggestions will help as I am willing to try anything right now. Thank you all in advance.

  Panic is diminished by meditation, routine, exercise, diet and familiarity with the test and timing. Much of this test is a mastery of your mental state - a score in the right mindset can be up to 10 points of difference. I have heard countless stories of 174+ PT average test takers dropping to the mid 160's on test day. In their own routine and environment they were scoring in the 170's easily, yet, change the routine and change the environment and the entire system collapses. I believe that all these things listed above - meditation, routine, exercise, diet and familiarity - are the key to confidence and calmness during test taking.
• 1 Like

  jkjohnson1991 Alum Member

  July 2018 766 karma

  @"Lucas Carter"
  @Ohnoeshalpme
  @"paulmv.benthem"
  Thank you to everyone for the responses. Much appreciated and good to know this isn't unfamiliar to anyone and has been improved so there's hope lol.
  @"paulmv.benthem" Can you tell me everything that you have made flash cards for? I didn't make flash cards but I just folded a paper in half for the Group 1-4 translation exercises. I have those down pretty good. Everything that you made flash cards for, I would like to do the same. Thank you in advance.
• 1 Like

  jennybbbbb Alum Member

  July 2018 630 karma

  I have seen huge increases in my LR score once I stopped looking at my watch to see how much time has passed when doing a timed section. I noticed I was unnecessarily looking at the watch every 2-5 minutes, which was slowing me down drastically. I now try to complete the first 10 questions in under ten minutes and this allows me to go at my own "normal" pace. I sincerely believe this has helped me. Try it out especially if the ticking clock is freaking you out.

  Other than that, doing untimed drills on specific question types that you are struggling with may help as well. Like @"paulmv.benthem" mentioned, it's all about knowing the fundamentals. I would review the CC on any specific question types that are giving you trouble.