Taking the Jan LSAT...Timing is still an issue

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• 1 Like

  MissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐

  December 2018 3256 karma

  Honestly it sucks but the key to getting faster is really just practicing, especially with logic games. The more you foolproof the faster you'll get, it just takes a lot of time to get to the point where you're "fast." For RC, my best advice is to never reread a sentence when you first go through the password. If you don't know what a word means, don't worry about it. A lot of things become clear in context of the passage and stopping to try to figure them out wastes time. Depending on what your goal score is, you may want to postpone
• 1 Like

  aleland13 Alum Member

  December 2018 158 karma

  What’s helped with my timing was reviewing the LSAT Trainer’s final chapters on timing. For example, for logic games, I memorized the following numbers: 8/16/25, meaning when the clock hits 8 minutes I move on from game 1, move on from game 2 at 16 and move on from game 3 at 25. This has been super helpful in helping me make sure I stay on track. I also skip rule substitution questions bc they’re just a huge time suck for me - I usually just guess on this question and come back at the end if I have time.

  For RC, I move on from the passage/questions after 8ish minutes. If I can’t eliminate more than 1 answer choice for a question I’ll skip it, move to the next one in the passage, and come back to my skipped question after I’ve done all the other questions for THAT PASSAGE. I’ve found that a lot of the times the other questions will help me understand the passage/previous questions better and I’m able to get the skipped question right.

  For LR the biggest thing has been building my confidence in my choice for the right answer. A lot of the time I’ll get a gut feeling that an answer is right compared to another answer but I can’t quite figure out why. In that case, I trust my gut and choose the answer that I feel is right and circle/star the question to come back to at the end if there’s time.

  TL;DR: 1. set timing benchmarks for yourself and MOVE ON when you hit them. 2. Trust your gut instinct and move on from questions and 3. Figure out what questions make sense for YOU to skip.
• 1 Like

  keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  December 2018 6050 karma

  Do you videotape yourself and then watch the footage back after a PT/timed section? That might help pinpoint which questions you're spending too much time on so that you can be more cognizant the next time you're doing a PT/timed section.
• 1 Like

  Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 169 karma

  @MissChanandler said:
  Honestly it sucks but the key to getting faster is really just practicing, especially with logic games. The more you foolproof the faster you'll get, it just takes a lot of time to get to the point where you're "fast." For RC, my best advice is to never reread a sentence when you first go through the password. If you don't know what a word means, don't worry about it. A lot of things become clear in context of the passage and stopping to try to figure them out wastes time. Depending on what your goal score is, you may want to postpone

  This actually really helps. Part of my frustration, I have to admit, comes from people around me naysaying the process I've chosen. But in good news, I finished the blind review for my most recent exam (the one that triggered this post), scored and it's somehow still the same score as the last PT I took? Which is the highest timed score I've gotten (so that's happened...twice in a row)? I'm really quite confused, but also kind of excited. Maybe this is the PT before the big jump. When I start thinking that the highest timed score I've gotten is still based on a poor performance, given what I know I'm capable of in an objective sense?
• Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 169 karma

  @aleland13 said:
  What’s helped with my timing was reviewing the LSAT Trainer’s final chapters on timing. For example, for logic games, I memorized the following numbers: 8/16/25, meaning when the clock hits 8 minutes I move on from game 1, move on from game 2 at 16 and move on from game 3 at 25. This has been super helpful in helping me make sure I stay on track. I also skip rule substitution questions bc they’re just a huge time suck for me - I usually just guess on this question and come back at the end if I have time.

  For RC, I move on from the passage/questions after 8ish minutes. If I can’t eliminate more than 1 answer choice for a question I’ll skip it, move to the next one in the passage, and come back to my skipped question after I’ve done all the other questions for THAT PASSAGE. I’ve found that a lot of the times the other questions will help me understand the passage/previous questions better and I’m able to get the skipped question right.

  For LR the biggest thing has been building my confidence in my choice for the right answer. A lot of the time I’ll get a gut feeling that an answer is right compared to another answer but I can’t quite figure out why. In that case, I trust my gut and choose the answer that I feel is right and circle/star the question to come back to at the end if there’s time.

  TL;DR: 1. set timing benchmarks for yourself and MOVE ON when you hit them. 2. Trust your gut instinct and move on from questions and 3. Figure out what questions make sense for YOU to skip.

  This whole thing is gold. I just wanted you to know that. I'm planning on reading the timing chapter(s) today (and the second parts of the RC and LR), so I'm excited to see how that will effect my next PT!
  Thank you so much!
• Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 169 karma

  @keets993 said:
  Do you videotape yourself and then watch the footage back after a PT/timed section? That might help pinpoint which questions you're spending too much time on so that you can be more cognizant the next time you're doing a PT/timed section.

  I keep reading this as a suggestion, actually. I think I may do this. When one records themselves for this, is it just a flat lay shot of the desk you're testing at? How does it work?
  Thank you!
• 1 Like

  keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  December 2018 6050 karma

  So you should be able to the two sheets and what your hands are doing and clear enough so you can see if you're making markings, indicating support structure, eliminating ac, etc. I'd also recommend making a very detailed spreadsheet that contains the data you've gleamed by watching the video.
• 2 Likes

  Guillaume Alum Member

  December 2018 edited December 2018 652 karma

  @aleland13 said:
  What’s helped with my timing was reviewing the LSAT Trainer’s final chapters on timing. For example, for logic games, I memorized the following numbers: 8/16/25, meaning when the clock hits 8 minutes I move on from game 1, move on from game 2 at 16 and move on from game 3 at 25. This has been super helpful in helping me make sure I stay on track. I also skip rule substitution questions bc they’re just a huge time suck for me - I usually just guess on this question and come back at the end if I have time.

  For RC, I move on from the passage/questions after 8ish minutes. If I can’t eliminate more than 1 answer choice for a question I’ll skip it, move to the next one in the passage, and come back to my skipped question after I’ve done all the other questions for THAT PASSAGE. I’ve found that a lot of the times the other questions will help me understand the passage/previous questions better and I’m able to get the skipped question right.

  For LR the biggest thing has been building my confidence in my choice for the right answer. A lot of the time I’ll get a gut feeling that an answer is right compared to another answer but I can’t quite figure out why. In that case, I trust my gut and choose the answer that I feel is right and circle/star the question to come back to at the end if there’s time.

  TL;DR: 1. set timing benchmarks for yourself and MOVE ON when you hit them. 2. Trust your gut instinct and move on from questions and 3. Figure out what questions make sense for YOU to skip.

  I agree with this, see what works for you and set those as your time goals. Here's what my strategy is and it's helped me complete sections in time. Still need to work on accuracy, but that's another story lol.

  For LR I aim to go through the first 20 questions in 20 minutes (if there's a question I am not sure about I circle and come back later with the 15 minutes remaining).

  For RC I aim to get the first two passages in 15 minutes, then I skip the comparative passage and do it last. Comparative passages are the biggest time sink for me and where I get the most wrong anyway, so I do them last so that I can get the easier questions first.

  For LG I aim to get the first two games in 15 minutes. Psychologically it helps me stay calm knowing that I have 10 minutes left per game for the last two games.
• Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  December 2018 8392 karma

  There's definitely some good advice here. The one thing I want to convey though is that timing being a problem really means that you still have work to do on the fundamentals and understanding things. LG in particular is not just about going faster. You increase your speed because you increase your understanding. Making inferences and working through the questions needs to get to the point where it's almost a reflex. How much work have you done foolproofing? That really is, in my opinion, the best way to increase your ability on LG.

  Recording yourself also is a great tool so you can see how you are spending your time. I realized at some point that the rule substitution questions are a big time sink for me. So, I started skipping them. That automatically increased my LG score by about 2-3 questions. It was enough to give me time to do the final game. I later revised it to reading the rule sub question and choosing an answer if it jumped out at me on the first pass. If it didn't, then I moved on and would come back at the end if I have time.

  RC is really a beast. The only thing that helped me was playing around with my notations. I started out doing a good amount of underlining and circling. Later I switched to only writing a 2-3 word summary next to each paragraph. That saved me a lot of time and I found it actually helped improve my recall. If you haven't played around with how you notate things on RC, I'd try that.
• Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 169 karma

  @keets993 said:
  So you should be able to the two sheets and what your hands are doing and clear enough so you can see if you're making markings, indicating support structure, eliminating ac, etc. I'd also recommend making a very detailed spreadsheet that contains the data you've gleamed by watching the video.

  Gotcha! Thank you!
• Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 169 karma

  @Guillaume said:

  @aleland13 said:
  What’s helped with my timing was reviewing the LSAT Trainer’s final chapters on timing. For example, for logic games, I memorized the following numbers: 8/16/25, meaning when the clock hits 8 minutes I move on from game 1, move on from game 2 at 16 and move on from game 3 at 25. This has been super helpful in helping me make sure I stay on track. I also skip rule substitution questions bc they’re just a huge time suck for me - I usually just guess on this question and come back at the end if I have time.

  For RC, I move on from the passage/questions after 8ish minutes. If I can’t eliminate more than 1 answer choice for a question I’ll skip it, move to the next one in the passage, and come back to my skipped question after I’ve done all the other questions for THAT PASSAGE. I’ve found that a lot of the times the other questions will help me understand the passage/previous questions better and I’m able to get the skipped question right.

  For LR the biggest thing has been building my confidence in my choice for the right answer. A lot of the time I’ll get a gut feeling that an answer is right compared to another answer but I can’t quite figure out why. In that case, I trust my gut and choose the answer that I feel is right and circle/star the question to come back to at the end if there’s time.

  TL;DR: 1. set timing benchmarks for yourself and MOVE ON when you hit them. 2. Trust your gut instinct and move on from questions and 3. Figure out what questions make sense for YOU to skip.

  I agree with this, see what works for you and set those as your time goals. Here's what my strategy is and it's helped me complete sections in time. Still need to work on accuracy, but that's another story lol.

  For LR I aim to go through the first 20 questions in 20 minutes (if there's a question I am not sure about I circle and come back later with the 15 minutes remaining).

  For RC I aim to get the first two passages in 15 minutes, then I skip the comparative passage and do it last. Comparative passages are the biggest time sink for me and where I get the most wrong anyway, so I do them last so that I can get the easier questions first.

  For LG I aim to get the first two games in 15 minutes. Psychologically it helps me stay calm knowing that I have 10 minutes left per game for the last two games.

  This actually helps a lot! Thank you! I'll start experimenting with benchmarks to see what works!
• Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 edited December 2018 169 karma

  @"Leah M B" said:
  There's definitely some good advice here. The one thing I want to convey though is that timing being a problem really means that you still have work to do on the fundamentals and understanding things. LG in particular is not just about going faster. You increase your speed because you increase your understanding. Making inferences and working through the questions needs to get to the point where it's almost a reflex. How much work have you done foolproofing? That really is, in my opinion, the best way to increase your ability on LG.

  So this concerns me because I can't imagine what fundamentals I'm having issues with. That doesn't mean that they aren't there, I just don't know how to figure out what they are. Any advice on that? I actually put LG on the backburner while I tried to conquer RC so my foolproofing game has certainly suffered. Does this mean a high Blind Review score (99+ percentile) is not necessarily indicative of a mastery of the fundamentals then? I think understanding what my blind review score actually means/indicates may help here.

  Recording yourself also is a great tool so you can see how you are spending your time. I realized at some point that the rule substitution questions are a big time sink for me. So, I started skipping them. That automatically increased my LG score by about 2-3 questions. It was enough to give me time to do the final game. I later revised it to reading the rule sub question and choosing an answer if it jumped out at me on the first pass. If it didn't, then I moved on and would come back at the end if I have time.

  Yeah, I've definitely let my pride get the better of me re: these types of questions. I think I'll actually try skipping them for the next few PTs and see what happens.

  RC is really a beast. The only thing that helped me was playing around with my notations. I started out doing a good amount of underlining and circling. Later I switched to only writing a 2-3 word summary next to each paragraph. That saved me a lot of time and I found it actually helped improve my recall. If you haven't played around with how you notate things on RC, I'd try that.

  Curiously enough, this matches my journey with RC as well. That's pretty encouraging, so I'll keep trusting my process there.
• 1 Like

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  December 2018 8392 karma

  @Shrilaraune Re: the BR score, I haven’t really thought about it this way, but yes as far as LG goes, I think a super high or Perfect BR score doesn’t really indicate a whole lot. Most people can get perfect scores untimed on LG. What separates the high scorers is the process, I think. Getting all the answers right in 1 game but it takes you 20 minutes doesn’t necessarily mean you have the basics down. It’s a lot more about how you get there. Having an organized, clear system is key as well as knowing how and when to make inferences. For example, I think being able to go perfect in any basic one line sequencing game in around 5 minutes or less is one of the “fundamentals”. Knowing how and when to split game boards (and also when not to do it) is also super important. Knowing each of the common game types and how to approach them is key to being able to improvise for the miscellaneous games, in my opinion.

  I think it’s a little different for LR and RC. Having super high BR scores there is indeed indicative of having the fundamentals down and becomes more about knowing how to not second guess yourself, skipping strategies, etc. I just think LG is in its own category that way. The timing there only improves as you get better at knowing the basics of how to do the games. Those matter a lot more in how you do it, not just that you got the right answer.

  You’re on the right track though and I love both that you asked for helping here and absorbing all the things people are suggesting. Kudos to you on keeping an open mind and asking for help! You’re on the right path.
• Shrilaraune Alum Member

  December 2018 169 karma

  @"Leah M B" said:
  @Shrilaraune Re: the BR score, I haven’t really thought about it this way, but yes as far as LG goes, I think a super high or Perfect BR score doesn’t really indicate a whole lot. Most people can get perfect scores untimed on LG. What separates the high scorers is the process, I think. Getting all the answers right in 1 game but it takes you 20 minutes doesn’t necessarily mean you have the basics down. It’s a lot more about how you get there. Having an organized, clear system is key as well as knowing how and when to make inferences. For example, I think being able to go perfect in any basic one line sequencing game in around 5 minutes or less is one of the “fundamentals”. Knowing how and when to split game boards (and also when not to do it) is also super important. Knowing each of the common game types and how to approach them is key to being able to improvise for the miscellaneous games, in my opinion.

  This
  It never occurred to me, and I haven't read anywhere, that "the fundamentals" when it comes to LG includes knowing how and when to make inferences, timing on certain types of games or the right instincts re: when to split the board. I've been asking myself, and others who have taken the test, how I develop these skills, and they just keep saying "practice." I've never connected them to the fundamentals everyone on the forums keeps talking about. This completely changes the game for me! I have a solid system re: diagramming, I know how to approach the common game types and my instincts for inference making are okay (just okay because they aren't consistently high yet), but I've definitely been struggling with these other things (games like PT 69 game 1 took me forever and I still can't figure out why--super frustrating). Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me!

  You’re on the right track though and I love both that you asked for helping here and absorbing all the things people are suggesting. Kudos to you on keeping an open mind and asking for help! You’re on the right path.

  Thank you so much!