LR not improving anymore

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• 3 Likes

  AudaciousRed Alum Member

  September 2019 2689 karma

  LR is definitely a section where you need to drill it over and over. Over time, you start seeing the patterns used in trap answers. You don't have to read faster; your goal should be to be able to answer faster. And that only comes with drilling, practice, and studying the problems in depth to recognize which answers are right and which answers are wrong and knowing why they are that way. Also, you need a good skipping strategy. If you run into an LR question that you know is going to be a time sink for you, skip it and come back to it later.
  Good luck on your test! Mid to high 160's is pretty awesome. Are you going T-14 or bust?
• akitagogo Alum Member

  September 2019 89 karma

  @AudaciousRed said:
  LR is definitely a section where you need to drill it over and over. Over time, you start seeing the patterns used in trap answers. You don't have to read faster; your goal should be to be able to answer faster. And that only comes with drilling, practice, and studying the problems in depth to recognize which answers are right and which answers are wrong and knowing why they are that way. Also, you need a good skipping strategy. If you run into an LR question that you know is going to be a time sink for you, skip it and come back to it later.
  Good luck on your test! Mid to high 160's is pretty awesome. Are you going T-14 or bust?

  Thanks for sharing your thoughts @AudaciousRed! Yes the work I want to do leaves me no option but to go T-14. I agree with you, and I feel like I was just able to spot the pattern and trap answers after the 20 PTs I've done. I also started skipping questions in the last PT, and find it very helpful. Do you think it's better to drill the LR sections in PTs, or by question-type? I don't have a fixed number of Q types that I always get wrong. Thanks for your insight!
• 4 Likes

  mzthaidumpling Alum Member

  September 2019 edited September 2019 83 karma

  What types of questions do you miss? Drill the types of the questions you get wrong only. They may be the ones that come up most often as well, so it will help tenfold. I was also stuck around the -4/-5 in the mid 160s until I started slowing down on the PTs. Initially, I did tons of PTs (30-40) and even kept a scrapbook of wrong answers, but rarely looked back on them, which was really a progress killer. I thought I reviewed things in depth already and no way it's this hard to do better or that I'm not smart enough because I've tried so hard so I tried something new lol.

  I reviewed in Trainer and other books for the type of question I get wrong and take notes as well as do the drills for that type of question again. Then, I applied the way they teach why wrong answers are wrong to the problem I missed. (Shell Game, Opposite Answer, etc). That way, it forces me to see patterns of wrong answers. Remember, the flaws are recycled over and over again and nothing is new. Knowing your job for that question type is key. The more consistent language you can use for wrong answers, the better eg. "addresses the premise and conclusion but not between them, defender answer, rogue element, opposite answer, mistaken reversal, etc, too extreme, etc."

  What helped me the most was doing the same LR questions that I missed from one LR section and reviewed them again the next few days. I took notes of why the answer is right, and why each answer is wrong on day 1, and reviewed them throughout the week by reading the notes again/looking them up online. If you want to do more than that, I would suggest doing 5 sections max and then review them in rotation throughout the week. I know that with the test coming up soon, doing more PTs seem like a good idea, but I have found that doing the same ones are more helpful because the next one is going to utilize the same tricks anyway. The reason for this is that it takes time for things to sink in, so going over a problem for one hour in one day might not make you understand it more, but when it is gone over for more days in the week (which takes only a couple of minutes a day!), a lot of times I have a lightbulb moment and don't think the same way that I did initially. Even if I don't truly get it 100%, some kind of intuitive sense is developed going forward when I see the same type of again because the wrong answers sound very similar. I also think there is a limit to how "in depth" you can understand a particular question. Usually being 80% sure is more than enough. What's more helpful and developing an intuitive feel for LSAT tricks. Take notes of any "insights" you discover on the way and review them regularly. It may not be that you don't understand a particular question fully, since you've done many questions, but that you don't understand in the way that LSAT wants you to that can be applied all across the board. I also get creative sometimes and do videos of me explaining an question, explain it to someone else, see comments for the questions. As long as I practice the same question every day for a couple of minutes.

  My problem areas have become my best question types and go by the quickest! Slowing down and reviewing 5 LR sections for me has been way more helpful than doing 30 LR sections. I think if you slow down and review the question type you miss, you'll improve at least 1-2 more points in a week because you'll move faster and be able to tackle the ones during the end of the test better/have more time to go over the ones you've skipped! The difference between a mid 160s scorer and 170 is timing, which will surely follow. The misreading is intentional by LSAT writers. So once you see their misread tricks, you won't miss them again. :-)

  PS. for most types questions (if it can be anticipated by type), it pays off to go slower on reading the stimulus and think of flaws to the argument, before reading the ACs. (Flaw, Assumptions..and ESPECIALLY parallel towards the end!)

  Now I'm around -2/-3 and right at 168-170 in 2 weeks so you can definitely see it soon :-)
• akitagogo Alum Member

  September 2019 89 karma

  @mzthaidumpling said:
  What types of questions do you miss? Drill the types of the questions you get wrong only. They may be the ones that come up most often as well, so it will help tenfold. I was also stuck around the -4/-5 in the mid 160s until I started slowing down on the PTs. Initially, I did tons of PTs (30-40) and even kept a scrapbook of wrong answers, but rarely looked back on them, which was really a progress killer. I thought I reviewed things in depth already and no way it's this hard to do better or that I'm not smart enough because I've tried so hard so I tried something new lol.

  I reviewed in Trainer and other books for the type of question I get wrong and take notes as well as do the drills for that type of question again. Then, I applied the way they teach why wrong answers are wrong to the problem I missed. (Shell Game, Opposite Answer, etc). That way, it forces me to see patterns of wrong answers. Remember, the flaws are recycled over and over again and nothing is new. Knowing your job for that question type is key. The more consistent language you can use for wrong answers, the better eg. "addresses the premise and conclusion but not between them, defender answer, rogue element, opposite answer, mistaken reversal, etc, too extreme, etc."

  What helped me the most was doing the same LR questions that I missed from one LR section and reviewed them again the next few days. I took notes of why the answer is right, and why each answer is wrong on day 1, and reviewed them throughout the week by reading the notes again/looking them up online. If you want to do more than that, I would suggest doing 5 sections max and then review them in rotation throughout the week. I know that with the test coming up soon, doing more PTs seem like a good idea, but I have found that doing the same ones are more helpful because the next one is going to utilize the same tricks anyway. The reason for this is that it takes time for things to sink in, so going over a problem for one hour in one day might not make you understand it more, but when it is gone over for more days in the week (which takes only a couple of minutes a day!), a lot of times I have a lightbulb moment and don't think the same way that I did initially. Even if I don't truly get it 100%, some kind of intuitive sense is developed going forward when I see the same type of again because the wrong answers sound very similar. I also think there is a limit to how "in depth" you can understand a particular question. Usually being 80% sure is more than enough. What's more helpful and developing an intuitive feel for LSAT tricks. Take notes of any "insights" you discover on the way and review them regularly. It may not be that you don't understand a particular question fully, since you've done many questions, but that you don't understand in the way that LSAT wants you to that can be applied all across the board. I also get creative sometimes and do videos of me explaining an question, explain it to someone else, see comments for the questions. As long as I practice the same question every day for a couple of minutes.

  My problem areas have become my best question types and go by the quickest! Slowing down and reviewing 5 LR sections for me has been way more helpful than doing 30 LR sections. I think if you slow down and review the question type you miss, you'll improve at least 1-2 more points in a week because you'll move faster and be able to tackle the ones during the end of the test better/have more time to go over the ones you've skipped! The difference between a mid 160s scorer and 170 is timing, which will surely follow. The misreading is intentional by LSAT writers. So once you see their misread tricks, you won't miss them again. :-)

  PS. for most types questions (if it can be anticipated by type), it pays off to go slower on reading the stimulus and think of flaws to the argument, before reading the ACs. (Flaw, Assumptions..and ESPECIALLY parallel towards the end!)

  Now I'm around -2/-3 and right at 168-170 in 2 weeks so you can definitely see it soon :-)

  Much appreciated @mzthaidumpling! I also started going back to the PTs that I did from the beginning, and realized I didn't know how to do BR back then, so reviewing the ones I got wrong is definitely necessary. However I don't have a specific set of question types that I always get wrong... I don't think my making mistakes has to do with question types; it's either not understanding what the question is asking/not identifying the flaw, or mis-reading.
  Thanks for providing your methods for reviewing, I'll try it out for nextstep reviews. You are spot-on on the same mistakes I made, that going too fast on PTs can be progress killer. I hope it's not too late for me, and hope you finally get the score you have been working for. )
• 2 Likes

  mzthaidumpling Alum Member

  September 2019 edited September 2019 83 karma

  @akitagogo
  On day 1 of BR, I watch JY's video until I see my mistake. For most difficult questions, if I don't fully get it after 20 minutes or so, I just leave it be and return again the next day for a few minutes or within the same day. A lot of times, something just clicks at random times. Sometimes, you can't force something to make sense in one sitting. I spent a lot of time contesting the right answer because I didn't agree. As long as the first review was "in depth" (I think one hour to two hours max is enough for one section with -6 and more than that isn't necessary), then the next few days in only takes a few minutes/seconds for it to click.

  Usually misreading or not understanding the question can seem like just a careless mistake on your end, but it's well intentioned by LSAT writers. My problem was not misplacing a modifier and not knowing exactly what it was referring to. So, study the type in which you made the mistake. Then, you will know that for MSS, they tend to switch up the subject, use words that change the frequency, most, some, etc. whereas in other types, they don't do that. Once you study a few questions in depth, you'll see the pattern.

  Know the types that you can anticipate flaw BEFORE you go to AC. For example, for flaw and weakening types, you should identify the flaw in the stimulus BEFORE reading the AC, and in especially parallel (not strengthening or SA). When you know their tricks for the question type, you know what words to pay attention to. this will reduce the misreads by a lot because attractive wrong answers do not describe the flaw that you identified in your head and it will cut the amount of time substantially.

  I also suggest when BRing, to know the tricks of the wrong answers to the question type, and note them according: opposite answer, game shell, mistaken reversal, out of scope, effect happens without the case, third factor introduced, etc. in a way that transfers to another similar question of that type because LSAT uses the same tricks again and again within the same type. Even the structure in ways that they get you to misread is often repeated. (first sentence when it says most, likely, etc.) If the notes are too detailed or only helps that one particular question, then it necessarily help another question. Look for structure.

  I would suggest suggest drilling in MSS if you want to be very adept at not misreading because they utilize the most convoluted language in my opinion. Studying causation, correlation type questions "studies show fat increases as cholesterol.." type questions will also help with that because the misreading will be in the same spots.

  Another would be weakening/flaw types because you can anticipate the wrong answers.