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Finding correct answers during BR but not while timed

Bianca1234-1Bianca1234-1 Alum Member
in Logical Reasoning 69 karma

Lately I've been noticing that when practicing LR, I'll almost always find the correct answer while doing BR but I still get 2-4 wrong a section while under timed conditions. Most of the time it won't even take too long to notice my mistake. Am I supposed to assume that this is a timing issue rather than a misunderstanding of the material? Should I be focusing on my timing and test strategy? If anyone has an insight into this please let me know. Thank you.

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  • BinghamtonDaveBinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌
    8716 karma

    Yes, this more than likely signals an issue with timing rather than a fundamental misunderstanding of the material. Many people have had to close this gap between understanding a question during review and coming up short in that understanding during timed sections/exams. This is a fundamental and much discussed issue for success on the LSAT. I have two general pieces of advice: 1. What you carry over from your review is the key to getting questions correct in the future. Keep up the review and dig deep into why the answer choice is credited and why the others are wrong. Make sure you are labeling premise and conclusion, spelling out possible assumptions and following referential phrasing. The goal of focusing on all of these aspects of the problem is to gain insight and confidence for future problems: thus helping to master the timing aspect of the exam.
    2. This forum is replete with examples of people in the very same position as you. Check out a few of those older threads, there are some true gems of advice on many of those threads.

    David

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    edited August 2018 1777 karma

    I do the same thing! My practice sections go really well (for me that's like -3 or -4 haha) and my PT sections go -6 or -8. I think that I'm just rushing too much out of fear that I will run out of time. Are you running out of time or rushing to finish on time?

  • Bianca1234-1Bianca1234-1 Alum Member
    69 karma

    @"samantha.ashley92" said:
    I do the same thing! My practice sections go really well (for me that's like -3 or -4 haha) and my PT sections go -6 or -8. I think that I'm just rushing too much out of fear that I will run out of time. Are you running out of time or rushing to finish on time?

    Yes I oftentimes either finish right one time without looking over everything I wanted to or about a minute or two late if i'm just doing a section. I think that's what happens to me as well, or I get caught up on some earlier questions which waste too much time.

  • Bianca1234-1Bianca1234-1 Alum Member
    69 karma

    @BinghamtonDave said:
    Yes, this more than likely signals an issue with timing rather than a fundamental misunderstanding of the material. Many people have had to close this gap between understanding a question during review and coming up short in that understanding during timed sections/exams. This is a fundamental and much discussed issue for success on the LSAT. I have two general pieces of advice: 1. What you carry over from your review is the key to getting questions correct in the future. Keep up the review and dig deep into why the answer choice is credited and why the others are wrong. Make sure you are labeling premise and conclusion, spelling out possible assumptions and following referential phrasing. The goal of focusing on all of these aspects of the problem is to gain insight and confidence for future problems: thus helping to master the timing aspect of the exam.
    2. This forum is replete with examples of people in the very same position as you. Check out a few of those older threads, there are some true gems of advice on many of those threads.

    David

    Thank you, I'll definitely do some research into it!

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    1777 karma

    Are you employing skipping strategies?

  • Bianca1234-1Bianca1234-1 Alum Member
    69 karma

    @"samantha.ashley92" said:
    Are you employing skipping strategies?

    Right now I only skip PMR or PFMR. I guess I don't skip more because I'm not always sure how much time I should give per question in the first half vs the second half when they are more difficult.

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    edited August 2018 1777 karma

    @KLGMK550 the newer LSATs don't really have a harder half and an easier half. From what I've read, that 10 in 10 rule is also pretty obsolete. But if I can't get down to a 50/50 shot with the answer choices, I skip it and come back to it. There's no need to spend 2+ min on a question when you're not done with the section yet. If I can't understand the question or an answer choice, I'll skip the question altogether. The more you drill, the more you will find out what works for you. Those parallel questions can be huge time sinks, so skipping them is a good idea. The good news is, you can improve your speed on the question types that you are already good at. When you start to feel confident in a few question types, you can fly through them in 30 seconds to a minute. Those extra seconds really add up, giving you time to finish the section and even go back to those more difficult questions.

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