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Related Discussions
Struggling with the time constraint
ericauhunmwangho
Core Member
Hi guys Im just looking for some advice here on where to go next, Im registered for the January exam but im still struggling with my timed for RC and LR. I do fine untimed but times it almost seems s impossible. i had a breakdown earlier and was just crying because i have been studying for about 9 months now and I need to apply to this cycle. So I am under a significant amount of stress. Where do I go from here? I know I should keep practicing my section timed but should I do the timed sections separately? And for RC how should I continue with reading the passage in a more timely manner as well as answering the questions.
Basically how to get speed without sacrificing my accuracy? Also anyone know anything that helps boost confidence I feel as if this exam is beating me up every day.
Anyone please help me with advice or personal experience please I'm so desperate.
Comments
Timing is really hard as I also struggle with it as well. What has been helping me is to skip certain questions that just seem to be time-sink during the timed PTs. So when I'm PTing and its timed, I will skip some of the parallel method of reasoning or parallel flawed method of reasoning questions because some of them are incredibly long. If they are not very long, then I will attempt at them. For RC, I recommend reading for structure and writing small blurbs of what the main idea is of each para. In your mind, ask yourself "how does this para connect to the para that I just read?" I used to be horrible at RC but I am slowly improving and what has helped me was to spend more time upfront on the passage before heading to the questions. What I also do is I try to attempt to first do the passage that has the most amount of questions and the passage that I do last is the one that has the least amount of questions because if I run out of time in RC, at-least I know it was a passage that didn't have as many questions as the other passage.
This exam is rough and I really just try to take it a day at a time. Someone in this forum posted a while ago a book that she recommends called - "The Confidence Code." I've recently read it, its a light read and I found it to be helpful- maybe not specifically with the LSAT but in general! Celebrate your small victories and don't be too hard on yourself if you get something wrong- it is just an opportunity to learn from that mistake now as opposed to on the actual test! Good luck!!
Wow thank you so much, yes your right it's better now than on the exam. I appreciate your help and advice!!Good luck to you too!!!!
How many exams have you done? A lot of them? How many do you have left
Maybe some exercises with a gradual time decrease?
Theres alot that goes into timing issues.
Here are things that can slow you down:
Not having a set strategy for attacking the question type BEFORE you engage with the stimulus. You have to have a plan on how to attack every question type. This plan should tell you what to pay attention to in the stimulus and what you should do before you tackle the answer choices. If you are spending time coming up with a plan you will run into timing issues.
Leaving the stimulus before you fully comprehend what it has told you. Part of this is tied to your plan that I mentioned above. It is absoloutely critical that you fully comprehend the stimulus and what it is saying (and what it is not saying!) Before you attempt to read the answer choices. The answer choices are not your friend and if you are spending too much time trying to decide between two choices you did not read the stimulis well enough.
With RC
The most common hang up people have is they try to absorb too many details. The details are not going to get you the points. Focus on structure, and author's tone and viewpoints. You should be finished reading the passage within 2-4 minutes with a good understanding of its structure. If you need to go back and read only do so when prompted by a question.
Theres lots of good lsat tutors out there that could help you with the above!
I happen to think I'm one of them so hit me up and I'll gladly help you. I can help you come up with attack plans for LR and help you with your process so you are completing the sections in time. Timing is one of the difficulties of the test but it's not insurmountable!
A few tips that worked for me:
Don't take notes on RC. Instead, read the passage SLOWLY, so that you make sure you aren't skipping ahead without REALLY understanding what you just read. Keep connecting what you're reading to what you read earlier, and take brief 3 second pauses after each paragraph to bring back the ideas of earlier paragraphs. When I spent more time on the actual passage, though it sounds counter-intuitive, I ended up speeding through RC. Because most of the time is usually spent on the questions--especially when you then have to go back to the passage digging for material, sometimes going through way more times. The up front work really pays off. So I definitely recommend taking your time on the passage, and when you're practicing, its OK at first if you go over the 35 minutes. As you get better at spotting patterns you can bring that down, and you have enough time to do that if you do enough practice over the next month.
Hopeful's advice is great. Depending on where you're scoring, you may need to be realistic about skipping tough questions. But it also might mean spending less time on easier ones--sometimes those were the real time drainers for me, because I was triple checking to make sure too many times, and you might just not have time for that if you want to get through the whole thing. Practice by NOT double checking and just circling the question, so you can double check if you have time later (or if not, during Blind Review).
After blind review, check your answer sheet and mark answers you got wrong -- write the Section and Question number on a separate paper, like S3Q14 --- and then go back and re-do those questions without knowing what the correct answer is. This is a supplement to blind review because usually the areas we need to improve the most are the ones we can't spot on our own. By not checking the answer first, you're forced to think as hard as you possibly can, to figure out why you picked the wrong answer, and try to figure out what the right answer actually is. If you succeed, that reasoning will be much more strongly implanted in your mind for future tests.
Read the economist or something similar as much as you can, or even listen to podcasts if you have commuting time that you can't read or spend on LSAT studying, and really FOCUS on trying to capture everything you are reading in your mind. Read it (or listen to the podcast) as if its an LSAT passage, as if you are about to be quizzed on it.
Try to find the reasoning flaws and assumptions in everything your friends, family, etc. say. This might piss them off, but hey, its worth it if it improves your score, and maybe they'll learn a thing or two as well. Don't just ID the flaw, but then explain to them why what they said was flawed. Or point out that they made X assumption in their reasoning. You have a month left--turn the entire world into the LSAT. It sounds a bit nuts but... it helps.
Do as much practice as you possibly can, and supplement it by going back to course videos on 7sage for topics you have trouble with (or using a book, working with a tutor, whatever works for you), and then practicing again, and then go back to the fundamentals again, etc. It can feel hopeless and draining but its the only way to do it.
As for motivation... I personally did virtually all of my studying in a month and a half, and scored a 179, so there's no underestimating what can be achieved in such time. And feel free to hit me up if I can be of any help!
My take on it, as someone who has had several breakdowns similar to what was described, is the following. (I will first say that not knowing what studying strategies you've employed during the past 9 months makes it harder to answer.)
The main thing is to make sure you're doing everything you can to attack and fix any area where you are lacking. Are your basics strong in all sections? Personally, regardless of my issues with time restraint, I studied the LSAT Trainer thoroughly, supplemented with some other resources, to a point where I feel pretty good about how I conceive of the material. So if your basics (e.g. what habits do you have when attacking a particular L.R. question) are not solid, that's something to consider fixing.
With regards to the time thing, my difficulty seems similar to yours. I have weak mental discipline, my mind obsesses over any random thing, but a 35 minute window requires sharp focus, and I tend to get a lot of anxiety from the pressure of time elapsing as well. To fix that, I forced myself to do timed sections over and over. That's it. It's like anything in life that freaks you out: once you've put yourself in that position a hundred times, your mind gets used to it a little bit.
Now for you, it's been 9 months, so I don't know whether you've tried that, and it hasn't worked. If that's the case, then I don't know. Try to figure out the roots of your struggles, and attack them.
It's hard to stay motivated when things suck, but all the motivation you need is in you brother. At some point, you thought "I am capable of getting X score on the LSAT" and then you set out to do it. Your motivation should be to prove yourself right.
Yes I would definitely recommend doing the timed sections separately IF you're really struggling with to get through a whole PT. That's what I was doing not too long ago.
There is one way you can build your self-confidence, it is by helping other people build their self-confidence. Tell the people around you how much you appreciate them, it is perfect timing because it is the holiday season, I suggest writing many people a note or on a card. Don't make things up, think about how you feel about them and tell them, everybody wants to feel appreciated. I promise you that it will make you feel better about yourself.
I wouldn't say alot I used to be very afraid of taking practice exams but on my current studying schedule I have like 6 more before the january exam!
I was thinking that but im currently struggling with the regular one mainly bc my mind scrambles I think ultimately I get time wrapped into certain questions!
I agree with a lot of what your saying, and most of the time I can finish a passage in 3-4 min, but I get hung up on questions.I read a forum that said if you get stuck on the RC questions you didn't understand it fully, which makes sense, but my struggle is being able to fully comprehend the passage in 3-4 min. Should I just keep doing passages over and over again? or is there a more effective way to this!!! And amazing, I am currently registered for January I took the exam once before, this past June and im applying for 2020 cycle so I'm under a decent amount of stress over this I could use all the help I can get, I would love to take you up on that!
Okay thank you, thank you , thank you so so much. First off I would also love to take you up on that offer of help!And secondly thank you for of this advice I am 100% incorporating all of this. For reassuring me on the remaining time left I sometimes feel as if there is never enough time and you have given me a confidence kick I need to fully utilize my time left. If you don't mind I would love if you can give me feedback on my study schedule and habits, and if you have any advice or think maybe I should be doing less or more of something please feel free to let me know.I also work so Im not entirely free for the week.
Currently
Day 1: Timed PT
-BR RC
-BR LG (Fool proof method)
- read flaw flashcards before bed
Day 2: BR both LR sections
-make a list of questions, circled, incorrect
-go over weak areas
Day 3: finish going over weak areas
-practice lg (fool proof) for the ones I still not confident in
-practice rc passage 1 or 2 passages (depending on how much studying I do)
and i repeat this, granted most occasions its stretches out to 4 mostly 5 days depending on my work schedule and because blind review is a long and tedious process.
But I want to make sure I am maximizing my improvement and efficiency with my remaining time.
So if you can lmk what you think!!! Or anyone else for that matter!
I definitely hear you on the easier questions, I get hung up on reassuring myself one too many times. Also when you say keep practicing and supplementing with videos, when i am practicing my weak areas, I do problem sets? Would you suggest this method or anything else.
-With my time I aiming for studying 6-8 hrs a day give or take, any thoughts more time?? I am ready to go in, I need need to do well and succeed and I just have to make use with the time I have now!
I actually was so afraid of timed PTs and sections I would never do them, I used to pause the proctor and just cry out of my anxiety,but I am now forcing myself to do the timed because I have no option, I feel as if this will help. Facing my fears is the only way! I also used LSAT trainer it really helped me with much better outlook on what each qt needs me to do!!! Thanks for the motivation, I will def make that a new mantra of mine hahah!!!! thank you!!!
This is really thoughtful, and I will definitely make an effort to do this thank you!!! Happy Holidays! I APPRECIATE your advice
When I started studying, getting through all 4 RC passages seemed impossible. I was consistently missing 7 - 11 per RC section and I knew I needed to improve efficiency. I tried learning speed-reading techniques, reading the first sentence of each paragraph before going back and reading the whole passage, and several annotation strategies - none of which were very effective methods for me.
What did work was to think of each paragraph kind of like it was its own LR stimulus. In the same way I learned to translate LR questions I would make a simple mental summary after each paragraph telling myself what its point was as well as its role within the passage. I would make these summaries very simple to remember, like this: "P1, background, two perspectives on law," "P2, perspective 1 support," "P3, perspective 2 support," P4, author supports third perspective."
Understanding an RC passage in this way is what will get you the points far better than attempting to memorize all the information contained. Why? Because you'll tend to retain enough for the broad questions while having a mental map outlining where to quickly locate specific information. I found this is the only thing that sped up my RC time and improved my scores to a -2 average. Warning: learning to do this was frustrating at first because it goes against the way most of us have been reading all our lives. However, with diligence, the payoff should be worth your efforts.
Hope this helps.
This sounds more effective, similar to the memory method, I think this is what I will be doing considering that wha I have been doing hasn't been working!!! Thank you sm and I also commented on your other post!!!
I would say go watch JYs videos of RC passages. When I watch his videos it clues me into what hes paying attention to and made me start paying attention to those things too.
During my initial read through I try to make a mental map of the structure of the passage. Namely I figure out what each paragraph says (in general and non specific terms) and also the role it plays in the passage and how it relates to the other parts of the passage. I also try to predict what will come next.
On my 2nd read through during blind review I start looking for clues in the passage that would have predicted what was to come (maybe it's the author's choice of word, or tone) as well as getting a more detailed specific appreciation of the structure of the passage. I will also pay attention to the questions and ask myself how did my understanding of the structure of this passage help me answer this? You will find that understanding structures often helps you eliminate wrong answer choices as well as points you to the portion of the passage you may want to reread if you cannot answer the question without a reread.
I would state timing comes from a gew things: mastery of knowledge, approach and ones evaluation skills. To be honest I did not believe in it until I got to the stage where I am today. I dont even look at the time in any of my sections ... unless its absolute necessary.
I use to worry about timing a lot - but when I did i would rush questions unneccessarily and get them wrong. remember in the LSAT every question is the same. i have seen some of my friends do solely 19 questions in LR and get all them right whereas others would attempt 26 and get 17 right lol.
moral of my advice - timing comes with better accuracy, sharpening of skills and improvement of reading techniques.
if u need ever any help - DM me
If you find you are taking a lot of time, it's probably because you don't fully understand the stimulus and/or the answer choices and have to re read to piece together the meaning in the stimulus and the ACs.
As someone who also has timing issues, I realized my understanding of certain words made me double or triple back because I did not fully comprehend what was said. I would suggest making flash cards of words that you see that keep popping up that you don't fully understand, for method of reasoning questions there will be a lot of the same general words used in the ACs that if you don't know the specific meaning to will cause you to spend more time.
Some words that I thought I knew the meaning to or didn't know at all were: "Analogy", "Subject Matter", "Characteristic", "Entirely", "Idiosyncratic", etc. Some are probably fairly obvious to others, but knowing what specific words means will help you in answering questions and speed up time!
When BRing, I'd ask my self do I actually know what this word means? Prehrapse the meaning of the word than I'd google the word like "Analogy LSAT meaning" to see if there's a specific meaning for this word on the LSAT. Than write it on a flash card and review it periodically.
Hope this helps.
It does help and I actually do this as well with specific meaning, especially the more common ones on the lsat! thank you!!!
Thank you, I am currently doing much more problem sets in my problem areas to improve my accuracy !, thank you!!!!
Okay, that makes a lot of sense, I am definitely going to try that in my blind review. Im doing much better in RC but I'm still not there yet i want to able to go into RC section feeling confident and not fearful of extremely hard passages.
I’m totally with you. Wrote in Oct, scoring 157 and registered for Jan. I seem to have few issues going through the tutorials, but the timed aspect of PTs destroys me! I am trying to follow the advice of skipping some questions. So, instead of rushing through 10 LR questions and getting 5 wrong/5 right, taking a bit longer on 7 (getting them right) and guessing on 3, hopefully getting 1 of those right.
Don't pannick.
Stay calm.
Say a prayer.
Drink a cup of coffee,and then put on your pullups.
Here is what I figured out from a few months of studying. At first I was missing around 10-12 on RC every time. I just didn't have the time to read the last passage. One time I decided I was going to get through reading all of the passages no matter what. So I rushed as fast as I can. I decided I wouldn't even care if I had no clue what the article said. I was going to finish and answer every question with at least a minute to spare. This really made a difference. The first test I did this, I only missed four. I went from missing 10-12 to missing 2-5 every time with that strategy. Eventually, you just read faster and comprehend more. But, you have to force yourself to read as fast as possible.
The ThinkingLSAT podcast has a mini-series going through the June 2007 RC and it's pretty informative.
@taschasp Your tips are really helpful. Thanks so much! Could you tell us more about how you studied over the month and a half? How many PTs did you do per week?
For the most part I was doing one about every other day, and then two every three days near the end. Prior to that month and a half I'd already gone through all the "fundamentals" so I was mostly just studying by doing PTs and reviewing them, using the method I mentioned in my third bullet point! But my approach was basically to critically analyze my performance after each test and think hard about what it would have taken to have answered every question correctly. So I kept doing that until I was actually answering (almost) all the questions correctly
@taschasp Thanks so much!
Hey guys so I have definitely have been taking into consideration a lot of the advice and I have improved with my timing for LR. However im still really struggling in RC I don't know what it is. I feel like it is hard for me to read for structure because I can't fully concentrate on the passage because I'm always thinking about reading for structure. But Idk if there is something else that is pulling me back!! please help!!1 I was beginning to feel very confident but a rough day of RC has brought me down! looking for any advice! thank you all!