Cannot see any improvement, Need some advice

Comments

• 2 Likes

  JusticeLaw Member

  November 2020 194 karma

  My advice and I am no expert, but it takes time. It's a process. Review the lessons and try again. This is not an overnight cram test.
• 3 Likes

  canihazJD Alum Member Sage ⭐

  November 2020 8313 karma

  Hard to give specific advice without more info, but I would consider 5 months still early... especially at just a couple hours a day. The test is learnable, but we all learn differently which is what makes it such a grind. I would suggest concentrating on just one set of materials... maybe invest on doing the CC completely with full BR, in depth review afterwards, and explanation writing for all the problem sets. I would also suggest dropping the weekly PTs... maybe even any timed work altogether. Sub-150 indicates need for focus on foundational concepts, so timing yourself is not helping right now. Becoming more comfortable with the material will lead to less anxiety and more speed.
• 5 Likes

  lilpingling Member ⭐

  November 2020 638 karma

  I would agree @canihazJD (not stalking you, I swear. We're just online at the same time) on the timing. The best thing I ever did for myself was to print out an entire test and go through it one section at a time, analyzing each question until I felt I got it right- then BR. Some questions took me 20 minutes apiece, but once I went through it at an excruciatingly slow pace and made sure I really understood what I was reading and why I was choosing specific answers, I was finally able to narrow down my issues and understand what I needed to look for to get questions right. My biggest issue was that I just hadn't quite grasped what questions required what type of answers. Once I started hitting my target score, I would take 15 minutes off the clock, then test at that time until I got back to my target. I did this over and over and over, section by section, until I got down to regular time. I highly recommend the process. My theory was this: I'll never get questions right under timed conditions if I can't first get them right untimed.
• madebysu98 Core Member

  November 2020 edited November 2020 39 karma

  Hello, thank you for all of kind and engaging comments and ideas! Your words help me a lot to review my study routine. And yes, it sounds correct that I was too rushing with inadequate foundation base. Since today, I've moved back to foundation and basic skill part and planning to move to timed exercise after I got solid base, as @canihazJD and @lilpingling suggested. Again, thanks for all the helps you gave to me. These helps me a lot to stay engaged and keep up with study.
• 2 Likes

  sschch97 Core Member

  November 2020 92 karma

  I would also recommend doing a little of each type of section (RC/LG/LR) a day, or just two types a day! I found that when I first started studying I only did LR for a week and then switched to LG the next and by that third week, my LR skills were depleting again because I stepped away from it too long. I truly believe this is an exam of habit, so if you keep the material fresh in your mind you will potentially see more growth!
  Also, mixing it up with like Logic Games amidst LR or RC is a nice break for the brain sometimes so you don't get too burnt out looking at the same material for a week!
• 1 Like

  r.alexander Core Member

  November 2020 28 karma

  Yea I think doing them more together rather than separate will help. You need to stay sharp on all of your skills. I would be doing great in a particular section then if I left it for a while to study something else I realized I wasn't as strong. So I would do LR maybe one day and RC/ LG the next. For LR I really liked elements of the Loophole. One thing that I did which showed major improvements in a short period of time is printing out an LR section without the answers and just paraphrasing or summarizing from memory. So I would look read the stimulus then cover it and summarize it. I did a full LR section each day for about 5 days and I went from missing 10-12 to missing 6-4. I would also really analyze what areas and why you are getting things wrong. Is it you are not understanding the question or just getting nervous? I have also implemented breathing and relaxation techniques as well but that's just me! Loophole also suggests getting a wrong answer journal which I found to be helpful for LR.
• 1 Like

  canihazJD Alum Member Sage ⭐

  November 2020 edited November 2020 8313 karma

  @lilpingling said:
  I'll never get questions right under timed conditions if I can't first get them right untimed.

  Even though @lilpingling is stalking me, this is solid advice. If you can't do it slow, you won't be able to do it fast. There's a military saying that's fittingly made its way into LSAT prep among many other applications, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". I first heard it in jumpmaster school, which requires you to be able to do a safety inspection of a set of paratroopers rigged up in combat gear and parachutes, under time, in a specific sequence, while calling out exact nomenclature of purposely hidden deficiencies. It's a blur of physical and mental activity, which you learn by drilling painstakingly slow, step by step. You have to go slow and do it right before anything else. The shooting analogy I like to use is that you can't miss fast enough to win. You can't race the clock doing a question type you don't understand yet... you will never be able to do that fast enough to score well. All that to say again, don't worry about timing.
• 1 Like

  BeMoreChill99 Member

  November 2020 44 karma

  Thank you so much for posting this! I have literally been going through the same thing. the responses here are so helpful