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Covered the CC fully last month & got into PTs this month; considering that my exam target is April, I've only taken exams in the 70s and 80s series. I've noticed that I tend to miss a lot of LR questions despite feeling like my fundamentals are solid post the CC. There's been good improvement in RC and LG [-4 and -5 respectively, with the potential to go -2 if I cut out the silly mistakes] since I started, but I really need help with LR questions on the newer exams which are [IMO] tougher than the ones discussed in the CC.
Comments
Have you ran your analytics to see if there are question types you miss more than others? That's a good starting place
oh man, is it true that the LR questions on the newer exams are tougher? This might change my study plan a bit...
How did you improve on RC?
I have heard they are "looser" and more dense language in both the stimulus and answer choices. I've seen people say they were -4 LR until the 80's when they went -9. I've also heard lots of people and prep professionals say it's not a big deal. Those struggling had other issues that are being exposed now.
Guess I'll find out soon enough.
LR just takes time. You will need to see tons of questions to really solidify your understanding. BR questions to 100% certainty before moving on, be sure you know why right answers are right, and just as importantly, why wrong answers are wrong. FWIW, I do not feel the newer tests are harder, I have taken most of the 80's and wrote October and November, and I have found LR to be fairly typical in all of those.
Diligently blind reviewing is HUGE. LR is an interesting section because the stimulus/ans types repeat a lot so I recommend looking for patterns in the stimulus and answer choices. Another important resource for me was Ellen Cassidy's book called "Loophole". The book provides an easier way to think about LR and helped me improve.
Random side note: If you get the chance, I'm very curious about your approach to newer RC. I've gotten -6 on old RC passages but these newer ones are really hurting my score. Did you notice this shift? What helped you?
Good luck!
Hi!
1. I do tend to BR diligently but the wording of the ACs on the newer questions honestly throws me off. Simply can't get the harder ones right, though on BR I do get a few correct. I don't have access to Loophole and can't really get it in time; do you have oher suggestions?
2. As for RC, I think I may have been a bit presumptuous with my comment. I struggled occasionally on the harder passages but by and large JY's memory method is what I use. If you don't mind me saying, I recommend doing PT79 - that one gave me an insanely hard time on RC [it was notorious for difficult passages]. We can chat about it over DMs too!
Those struggling had other issues that are being exposed now.
This is probably true; I've long had issues with NA/Flaw and drilled them a fair bit and I;m seeing improvements. MSS & MBT continue to be issues for me; I think a big part of the problem is that I don't trust myself when it comes to ACs I know to be true instinctively.
Hi!
I've found the newer questions to be more difficult personally; could you tell me how you improved you score? I take BR seriously and I'm honest with myself about question types I'm weaker at, but going through the CC doesn't help anymore because the newer questions are just on a different level.
Just curious how long do you blind review for when you first started? I ask b/c I thought I was crazy spending over 12-15 hours with each PT. It would take me 3-4 hours each section to TRULY work through.
@LSATIndia Do you BR on your own or do you have a study buddy? Going over things (especially having to explain your thinking) to someone else forces your understanding to another level. It could even be your cat/dog/imaginary friend, anyone who will listen.
Speaking of BR, be careful that you are not trying to retake the entire test, but that you are using it an an opportunity to review the questions about which you were unsure (flag ones that gave you trouble, and review only those questions). This conserves the significant mental energy that is required for this test. You definitely should not be spending 12+ hours on one test, that could cause some serious burnout. You will start to see (in time) that you are flagging the questions you miss, allowing you to figure out what you don't know, which is the first step to figuring out those tougher questions. It is really exposure: the more questions you see, the more you can recognize that they all the same, regardless of more convoluted wording. You'll start to see the forest for the trees.
Lastly, taking breaks from studying to give your brain a chance to absorb and process the information is hugely important. I hope that helps. Good luck!
Like others have said, LR takes time. I recommend you look at your 7Sage analytics of your prep tests. Then, you should DRILL like crazy. I can't stress how important daily drilling is.
How do you guys drill LR questions? Do you guys drill questions that you've solved before (but will likely not remember them), or do you drill pristine sets? (Would ideally like to save them for full PTs)...
And how often do you drill individual sections vs. take entire PTs?
So I've covered the CC and done a bunch of question from the problem sets; for a lot of the questions I know the answers. How do I get past this?
How does your blind review compare to the timed assessment?