Request for any and all time saving tips

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• 1 Like

  keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  July 2018 6050 karma

  If your BR is 178, I don't think anyone is going to suggest fundamentals Although, just to be sure, does that include over-confidence errors or exclude them?

  What's your section breakdown? Quick tips....I guess depending on what works for you, RC notation? I personally, focus on low-res summaries and don't employ any intricate notation strategies but I do circle or underline things like topic sentences or if I see any word choice that indicates author's opinion. I think notation strategies are tricky, for me personally, because any time I try to guess what the writers will ask me about, I get more focused on the leaves instead of the forest.

  I have a similar issue with a gap b/w BR and actual, and so far what's really helped is filming myself. So I can see where I'm messing up on time and also confident drills. If you're BR-ing in the 170s then you clearly know your material, you just have to get better at doing at timed. Do confident drills where you just go with your gut instead of trying to reason to yourself why specific answer choices are wong.

  Also, we're just going to have to get better used to timing. Do timed drills, one where you just have a timer running (not set to 35) and see how long it takes you to get comfortably get through a section. Also do more timed sections of 35 minutes, perhaps instead of doing a full time test, you can do a timed section per day and BR it and see if that makes an impact on your score. I know that I sometimes start panicking during the test because if one section doesn't go well it feels like it can ruin your entire score.

  For LR...diagram or make sure you're notating. Whether it's marking up referential phrasing, identifying conclusion, premise, find out what works for you. I usually write beside my stimulus 'whole vs part' or something if I identify a flaw/gap in the argument and want to remind myself. Other quick strategies could include...depending on where you want to score, chose like 5 LR questions you're just not even going to attempt. Whether it's a specific question type (NA) or just ones where you read the stimulus and go "nope" and then double-circle the question so you know not to attempt them. Instead, focusing on accuracy and getting 100% of those you attempt.

  Hope those help!
• 1 Like

  keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  July 2018 6050 karma

  Also, be sure you're reading the rules about 4 times. Once, just in general. Second, to diagram. Third, to double-check. Fourth, to do the "acceptable situation" question. Sometimes, I leave the acceptable situation for last because I notice something while I'm doing the questions (and because I have a better handle on the rules).
• keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  July 2018 6050 karma

  Last one but someone from the study group suggested this, where you follow each word using your pencil. That makes you focus more and less likely to misread words. Of course also be sure to circle key words in question stem like 'agree', 'strengthen' etc. Sometimes I write 'NA' beside a qstem as a reminder to myself.
• 1 Like

  lchaath1 Alum Member

  July 2018 37 karma

  I was just going to post something similar. I am wondering if anyone has advice on skipping questions too. I am always too stubborn and want to answer before moving on, and I know it is hurting my score.