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Related Discussions
3 Likes
"Highlighter pen"
samantha.ashley92
Alum Member
What is this mystery thing that we are apparently allowed to use?
Edit: Ok so a normal highlighter. Wow. Thoughts on actually using one?
Comments
A highlighter.
@FixedDice I read somewhere a while ago that you're not allowed to use highlighters. Are you sure you're allowed to?
Highlighters are allowed. But most pro LSAT takers don't usually use them because you waste time switching from highlighters to pencils.
@akistotle fair enough! Thanks! So now I'm wondering why someone said you weren't allowed to bring a highlighter. I just took a look at some of the old discussions, and I guess I didn't have to ask this haha. Sorry.
Now that I have your attention...
(actually crying tears of death, but it's fine) I just took the LR sections of PT 60, and only improved my score from -22 diagnostic to -16. I got pretty much all of the "easiest" questions wrong and the "harder"/ "hardest" right. When I took the sections from PT 30, I got -3 on each section. Is this pretty normal, considering that PT 60 was written so long after the PTs in the 30s? Since I'm testing in September, should I be practicing ones in the 60s?
@keets993 and @"Leah M B" what are your thoughts on this?
Also, the actual LSAT is printed on thin, recycled (which is good!) paper, so using highlighter might ruin the paper on the other side.
You haven't been taking the full PTs, right? If that's the case, I would keep the PT60s for full PTs. Do you still have fresh PTs in the 50s that you can use for sections drills?
What is your BR score for the section? Did you get the "easiest" ones (1 star or 2 star?) wrong because you were overconfident and kind of rushing? If you make another thread about this, I can comment there! (since this is a highlighter thread
)
@akistotle so I actually had the intention of doing the whole PT, but didn't get to the RC (4th) section because I got so tired I couldn't focus anymore. That being said, I also haven't done a BR yet, though I did see that I got basically all of the easiest ones wrong and all of the hardest right haha. But thanks for the suggestion on drilling with the 50s and for pointing out the potential highlighter issue!
So should I reply here or are you making another thread to preserve the purity of this one?
@keets993 I think we’re done with actual highlighter talk lol
I think if I were you, I'd bounce around a little in the 50s and 60s for drilling since you're close to taking it. And take full PTs in the 70s. The questions (in my opinion) have gotten a little harder, mostly just more nuanced. So you'll want to be seeing some newer ones. Also, although you're early in your studying, I'd probably recommend a full PT once per week to build stamina. It is a brutal test. Start with 4 section PTs and add in a 5th a few weeks before the test.
Also, the difficulty on questions is a little bit subjective. I believe they are rated that way based on how many people get them wrong. So, it could be that there are just different concepts that you have trouble with from other people. Especially based on just 1 PT, I wouldn't put too much stock into getting the easy ones wrong and tough ones right. Could've been a quirky test.
Just a heads up...I used a retractable highlighter during an official write, and my proctor said that the clicking (only used when I highlighted) was distracting to the other test takers and told me that I could no longer use them for the duration of the exam. I thought that I would be saving time and the inconvenience of misplaced caps/ capping and uncapping, though test day proved differently. They are useful for me with some Parallel Method of Reasoning Questions and in RC, but are not at all necessary for a successful write.
@achen013 thanks for the heads up! I'm going to practice with a highlighter and see if that changes things at all for me. I tend to underline/circle the "right things" but then don't always notice them when I'm answering the questions. I'll BR and realize that I literally had the answer circled and just ignored it because the pencil and ink all just blended together.
@"samantha.ashley92" No prob. I personally like to use 2-3 colors to isolate information that may be dispersed throughout a paragraph, which groups together to save time...and perhaps will be useful for you as well, because it is easily to mindlessly underline and then overlook pertinent information, which a highlighter can save from. Or alternatively, box/circle/zig zag line marks under phrases if you'd rather.
@achen013 are you allowed to bring more than one? I would probably just use one along with a pencil so that my desk space is less cluttered.
LSAC uses the singular highlighter in their "Day of Test" page. I doubt most proctors would care, but probably not worth taking the risk.
@"samantha.ashley92" I have not heard of any issues bringing multiple, and wouldn't anticipate that would be an issue. Just as you would multiple pencils...there's no limit. People will even bring 3 watches...one for each section...without an issue. Where your clear ziploc is checked will not be in the same room as the proctor. The people who check the bag typically just ensure that whatever is in your bag is approved.
Also FY...Before testing, however, some emails from law schools listed advil as something to include in your bag on test day...the back checkers at my testing site would dispose of any medicaiton if it wasn't a prescription.
A single highlighter may suffice for your needs, especially if you get stuck with a tiny desk depending on your testing site.
I started using the highlighter mainly during my BR's. I would use it to highlight the conclusions in all the LR questions, so that over time, I would subconsciously start to recognize the structure of the individual LR questions as I go through the section.
I never bothered to use the highlighter during my test, probably because of all the posts in forums that advise against a highlighter for time reasons.
However, after 2-3 months of getting 169 on 5 practice tests in a row, I decided to switch up my strategies and one of the things I did was to use a highlighter during the RC section. Once I switched up my strategy, I ended up getting on a 172 on the next practice test I took (the highest I've ever gotten). Which was also a great confidence boost because it was the final practice test I took before the July LSAT.
The highlighter worked for me because it helped me engage with the text more and focus. So even though a lot of people advise against it, it's important to see what works for you. Thankfully, I decided to go against this advice last minute, and increased my confident and accuracy with the LSAT.
During the July LSAT, I ended up using the highlighter for the RC and LR sections (and I've never used the highlighter for LR sections when I took practice tests). I don't think I wasted that much time using the highlighter because I kept the cap off during the sections. Also the time I did probably waste from switching from pencil to highlighter and vice versa is nothing compared to the time I would have lost from re-reading text if I had not used the highlighter to keep myself engaged. I also ended up using yellow and orange highlighters for the RC - the yellow for my initial passage read, and then the orange for when I was doing the questions and the questions mentioned a specific part/word/phrase in the text.
So I say, experiment and find out what works best for you!
@swatowski0 that's a great improvement just from highlighting! I just finished taking the RC section of PT 65 and got 11 questions worse than my diagnostic. I literally don't understand how I went from -4 on my diagnostic to -15, especially when I typically get -1 on each practice passage. I'm just... dumbfounded. Any suggestions?
Interesting. So there's a bunch of things. First of all, there are differences between 30s and 60s and later tests. The thing I've found is that LR is less rigid. By that I mean, the writers play around with the nature of support and reasonable assumptions. There are questions where the right answer choice requires a small assumption but compared to any of the other four wrong answers choices available, the assumption required is small. So it's the answer choice that 'most' weakens, strengthens, etc.
Maybe you got confident and cocky and then you forgot all the good habits that made you successful on 30s? For example, identifying the structure of the argument. It could also be the placement, I think they usually place some freebie 1 star questions in the 20-25 range but people are in such a panic they don't notice.
Try recording yourself and see if you can find any patterns. Also, did you BR? How was that? BR is more indicative of your potential as you know.
Again, it could be rush of time. Did you focus more on the process of notating than actually remembering the content /structure? I know that for RC when I first found notation strategies I tried following them but all I could do was think was of how I was supposed to notate instead of focusing on structure.
Did you spent more time reading the passage or just rush through questions? Did you spend too long on the first two or three and then rush? There's a lot of stuff that could account for this variation, I really recommend filming yourself. How was BR?
I know 60s and up RC is different because there's more emphasis on inference than just explicitly stated. In the past RC would just ask for explicitly stated, now they ask "what can we infer from the part at line 15?"
Lastly, it could be that your diagnostic was on the higher part of your range (so like up to 3 points), there's just not enough data yet to specifically pin point the errors/causes. It could of course be the psychological aspect of wanting to do well, feeling like you're screwed so it doesn't matter anyway, etc. That's why BR scores are so important!
Let me know if you have follow up questions or pm me. I hope I addressed everything and made sense
@keets993 Thank you so much for all of that! I'm actually BRing today. I'm guessing my timing was off for RC, but I somehow would up with a lot of extra time on one of the LR sections. That's how I knew I didn't do well lol. Is there a way to learn how to do these different types of questions other than listening to video explanations? I'm guessing not. But what do you use to film yourself?
What do you mean by different type of questions? @"samantha.ashley92"
I use my phone and one of those gooseneck holder things. I think if you have a selfie stick or tripod lying around those should be sufficient too.
Have you recently started studying? I studied for the LSAT for about 17 months and I also had extreme differences in RC scores during the first couple months of studying. The RC has incredible way of killing your confidence, like just as you said, you can get -4 at one point and then -15 on the next point. Personally, I gradually got better at RC with months of practice (there's no quick an easy way unfortunately).
Things I recommend from personal experiences.
1. Buy the 'PowerScore's LSAT Reading Comprehension Passage Type Training'. It has all the RC passages from 1-20 LSATs and they're organized based on type. This will help you get acquainted with the types of themes and how they are generally organized.
2. Do the RC passages timed. Doesn't matter if all 4 in 1sitting, or doing 1 RC passage in 8 minutes. After that, I would do a BR. I would put my answers on a separate sheet and then erase everything. I'd redo the passage and take my time. I would outline it, write out the purpose of each paragraph. When doing the questions, I'd try my best to pick the correct one but also be sure of why the rest are wrong. Then of course I'd check my answers. Through doing this regularly, you become more comfortable with reading the passages, since you'll realize that passage structures are repeated.
3. Another good exercise is recommended by 7Sage. Read the passage under timed conditions, and then from memory, write down the passage structure and what you can remember. This will help with remembering the info when you go to the questions.
3. Listen to LSAT Trainer online webinar about RC (on his website).
4. Remember that the answers are in the text. If you're stuck between two AC, go more general than specific.
5. Focus on the author. Why is the author saying this? What tone does the author employ? Does he agree with any viewpoints in the passage? If you take note of these things as you read the text, it will save you time with any questions that are about the author.
Although, by far, the most important thing is improving your speed in reading. However, I think this comes with practice and by not freaking out when you come across difficult text (which also comes from practice and doing many RC's).
These are just some general tips off the top of my head!
@swatowski0 thank you so much for taking the time to write out those tips!
@keets993 I mean the ones that you described as being "less rigid", and generally more confusing... like the correct answer choices are much less obvious, and not necessarily because they're supposed to be harder-level questions.
You can have a highlighter that has dual ends.
As far as “pros” not using them that’s not entirely true it’s a preference but agree don’t switch between pencil and highlighter just mark with the highlighter including questions and then bubble at page turn with pencil. 0 lost time due to highlighter pencil switching and you get the JY breathing break to boot.
Just make sure it’s a chisel tip highlighter.
After I started using a method from a 180 scorer my RC became much more reliable with a dual highlighter.
Not for everyone but for me (and others) it works, the highlighter doesn’t bleed through the test and doesn’t take more time (especially if you use the highlighter to go through the answer choices)!And actually can shave time due to the two colors if you use them systematically. One color thesis and author tone other details for sign posts. (Or whatever system works for you) .
@stepharizona thank you!! Plus, the passages are always on the left side, so if you don't highlight in the answer choices, you're only risking bleeding onto questions you've already done.
@"samantha.ashley92" I think you just have to be less hesitant to eliminate answers, and compare them against one another. Or if you're going to eliminate be sure to use that same standard all the way through, so if you eliminate B because you think one word is too strong then eliminate E for similar standards.
It's also about understangind support. I did this one question in the 50s that was MSS and the answer choice really sounded like a NA (and others felt that way too). It was the only answer choice supported but it was just interesting insight in a way, in terms of how, something that's supported can also provide support. So exposure is important but they're not exactly 'new' or 'different.' It's the same skill set, just a different variation of the more formulaic questions.
@keets993 that makes sense. Thanks! I'm going to focus on drilling in the 60s and PTs in the 70s, since I'm testing in September.
Drill 50s too! You don't wanna use up all new material, just in case. I'm saving quite a bit in case I take november
@keets993 that's true; I may also retake in November.
I found this notation strategy for RC helpful. I think my issue with using a highlighter is that you only get one (or two) colors. It's hard to differentiate the information when searching for a specific fact. Creating a consistent system will help you pin point dates, places, main points, etc. I got so used to using it on RC that I ended up adapting it to LR also.
@Giselle112 I love this! Thank you so much!!