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Related Discussions
LR progress declining
_iamnw96
Alum Member
Hi:
Hope everyone’s studies are going well. I’m hitting a low in confidence and motivation. I was drilling sections (PT 30s and 50s) for a good two months and felt like I was starting to understand LR a little better. I wasn’t scoring crazy high in the sections, however, it was considerably higher than what I started with. (-3/5 at my best) I’ve been redoing the questions I did wrong in addition to reviewing them with JY’s video explanations. I usually get over 20 correct when I do BR. Timing has always been an issue for me.
However, in the last week, I’ve moved onto the newest PTs: PT 70s and 80s (skipping around) and I’ve noticed a huge plunge in my LR and even RC sections (which were never that low). My LG is fine which at least I can hold on to that...
My LSAT is June 3. I’m trying not to succumb to pressure and stress but it’s very disheartening to see my progress dip so low a month before the exam.
Does anyone have any LR studying tips? I have roughly four weeks left until my exam. I was thinking of drilling question types I’m weak on.
All as any input is welcome, thank you and good luck everyone!
-N
Comments
I’ve heard anecdotally that the LR and RC in the newer tests are harder and LG is easier. I also saw on the forum somewhere that someone said “not necessarily harder”, but somewhat different. So maybe you just need to get used to the newer tests. You still have a good few weeks to prepare
Good luck!
As I'm prepping for June, I think the difference between the older and newer tests is really only possible to "feel" or notice when you're just blasting through timed sections in one "era" for a while and then switch to the newer tests (70+). Because you get really used to the tricks and structure of the questions in, say, the 50s, so when you get to the 70s it's a lot clearer that, for example, they tack on modifiers to conditional statements so you can't be careless when skimming through answer choices, or the parallel reasoning questions have the same subject matter in all answer choices. So I don't think it's necessarily harder, but they have definitely adapted to what test takers probably know!
As for improvement, I think this might help: try doing timed sections with a little less time (try to do it in 30-32 minutes) because that'll expose where your thought process isn't fast enough. Then it's likely the questions you not only get wrong but have trouble getting through fast that are worth digging into when it comes to question types. It wasn't until I did a lot of sections that I realized I just didn't really have a method for strengthening questions. I would just kind of figure out the premise and conclusion and then just look for something. So I dug into strengthening questions to see how they're made, and how they're similar/different.
Anyway, I'm still struggling to reach my goal in LR, but I think these things really helped!
Same thing happened to me during the jump from old to new tests in my LR and RC sections. I think its that these sections in the newer test are just a lot different at first. Was thinking of making a post trying to outline and further analyze these differences. The key for me has been full PTs and my scores have gotten back up to where they were originally on the older test. Wouldn't worry too much. You should expect to see your scores get back to where they were within plenty of time for June 3rd as you adjust and keep taking PTs
Perhaps you are getting used to the slight tweaks in the language. I would recommend you slowly BR one of the tests in the 80's and identify exactly what tripped you up in the language. If you keep practicing and using the same test-taking strategies that got you far in the past, you should be back to speed soon.
@Lawster9 @BlindReviewer @SeanyB42 Thank you guys for taking the time to give me your input - it is so appreciated! I wish you all great motivation and luck.
@btownsquee Okay, I will try that. Thanks so much!
The logic hasn't changed since the inception so the language must have gotten to you.
Take all those questions you missed. Review the grammar lessons of the CC and then analyze what went wrong. Was there a modifier that you mistook for the subject? A detail that you though was a predicate? This goes for the passage AND the answer choices.
Really tear these questions apart. Once you see where your errors, you will be able to correct them and lookout for them in your next PT.
Agree with the others here. I think a lot of people have that dip when transitioning from older tests to newer ones. And I personally don't think they are harder, but just a little different. I think in LR, the newer tests tend to have more nuanced answer choices. Like they will have 2 or 3 ACs that are saying basically the same thing but have just slightly different language to it. So you can't just select the first AC that mostly fits what you thought the answer was going to be, but make sure that there's not another similar AC that is better. I think that's what helped me during the transition - making sure I at least glanced over all the ACs. I got very confident in the earlier tests to where I would select the AC that seemed right without reading all of them. But those little nuances exposed my weakness there - that I was rushing instead of being thorough. Once I got back into the habit of reading every AC, I started to adapt to the newer questions more and was able to speed back up again.
For working on timing, I'd suggest trying the "25 in 25" method. In LR, the difficulty of questions does jump around a bit, but typically the first 10 are all pretty easy, and it generally gets harder as you go. So I started by trying to answer the first 10 questions in 10 minutes. Then once you get the hang of that (without compromising your accuracy), try for 15 in 15. Then 20 in 20. I personally never got to 25 in 25, but I did end up frequently having maybe 5 minutes or so extra at the end that I could go back and review a few questions (so that's more like 25 in 30 haha). It helps to make sure that you're not spending too much time on easier questions. Maybe try some confidence drills too.
If you haven't watched this webinar yet, I highly highly highly recommend it: https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/
Josh does a great job breaking down how to study for each phase from beginning studying to reaching your goal. It's super helpful and gives some good advice on drills to try.
OH and I also meant to say - the biggest thing you can do for yourself right now is to make sure you don't burn out!!! Don't try to overcome this by studying more hours than you can handle. Now is actually a great time for you to step away and take 2 or 3 days off from the LSAT. Seriously. Go watch a movie, read some magazines, spend time with your pet, whatever it is that helps you relax and forget about the LSAT for a couple of days. You'll come back refreshed and able to process things a little better. And the last week, or maybe even 2, before the exam, don't push yourself and study extra. You should start slowly studying less. Especially the final week before the test. There's very little you can do in a week that will result in significant gains. That week is best spent on gentle, easy studying and for fewer hours than normal. And I recommend not touching any LSAT stuff the day before the test. Just take that day to relax and unwind. The best thing you can do for yourself is to go into the test feeling relaxed, rested, and refreshed.
Best thing you can do is use the next two weeks to learn how to skip properly. I find that once you can go 25 in 25 or close, you have enough time to review about 5 questions. And unless youre shooting for a perfect score you really only need to get about 3 out of those 5 right so it makes LR super manageable.
Hey!
I’m in a similar situation. I was going -3 to -5 in individual sections on LR in the 30s-50s and feeling quite confident, then I took my first PTs 65, 69, 73 and saw big dips. I was pretty disappointed, but I thought something like that could happen because well, LSACs gotta adapt. If all the tests were the exact same formula then the later generations would have a leg up because they can just game the test
Anyway, I’m in somewhat of a quandary here. I agree with everyone who said there’s no use rushing the process and keep taking PT after PT hoping to see a spike. The only way is to do a deep dive and tear the questions apart in thorough review.
BUT.. how do you actually drill this? Do you go back to the 50s to drill (but doesn’t that defeat the purpose because old test old format?)
@tams2018 Yes that is great advice. I've been trying really hard to really understand why I got the questions I got wrong. And like you said, a lot of it has to do with nuances in language (i.e. "typical shopper" is not the same as "typical shopper who buys milk" - two very different populations - lol that was just in a question I reviewed). Thanks for the tip!"
@"Leah M B" Thanks so much for taking the time out to respond to me and for all of your tips! I'll try the 25 in 25 method although I probably won't get there at this point but I'm trying to just focus on my own progress and not think about what others can do and what I can't. I really need to be told to take a break sometimes because I feel like I put myself into overdrive without even knowing it. I'm sure many of us on here act in the same way.
@"Pride Only Hurts" Yep! Skipping has been a skill I've been working on. Although I get kind of nervous because I'm kinda always like "what if I'm skipping one that I can actually get right?!" Anyway...I will keep the skipping method in mind.
@Mike_Ross I took PTs 84, 71, 73 (I'm skipping around) last week (in that order) and got very low scores compared to what I have been scoring. However, I just took PT 75 and got the score that I've typically been getting! So definitely don't get yourself down on this. Like everyone else said, if you know the logic, you just need to get used to the nuances in language. The only way to do that is to go through as many of the recent PTs as you can in an appropiate time. I've been doing a PT every other day; on the days I don't PT, I review heavily on the Logical Reasoning (My LG is like consistently 20/23 lol so there's not much I can do there and I've been kinda putting RC on the back burner since I've never had too much problems with RC). Reviewing actually takes me the most time so those days feel quite productive. Wishing you luck!
When people describe there LR ability in terms of (-5/-6) does this refer to the number wrong per individual LR section or the number wrong for LR in total?