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Broke into 170s... Still missing the easiest LR Questions tho

ggoeklerggoekler Member

So... past two weeks got into the high 160s, Last PT hit a high of 172.

LR was once my strongest section, I’ve honed LR and RC to be more reliable and better scoring now however.

I’ve noticed some patterns reviewing recent LR Sections for me. The main being that I always seem to get incredibly stuck and destroyed by one of the easiest questions on the test according to the curve. I’ll get anywhere between -1 to -5 very variable. But invariably among the misses will be one of these questions.

I’ll find a few behaviors/patterns on these questions. They tend to be early, within the first 12 questions, as early as the 2nd or 3rd. It usually tends to be between two answer choices (usually one is the right one too). I end up spending too much time, crossing out all the other answers, flagging it and moving on to keep pace. On my 2nd round I return to it, then come back and still feel unsure about BR. Then when I get to the explanation JY kinda explains that the other answer choice is obviously bad and just scratches it out (lol I get it its a lot of answer choices on the test, but I’m dumb and dont get it, pls help me).

I can’t seem to find a rhyme or reason, they’re different question types etc. What could I be missing? Just more study?

For those curious, here’s a couple examples of the questions I’m talking about missing.

PT45 S1 Q2
PT70 S1 Q6
PT54 S2 Q2
PT61 S2 Q10

🙏🏼 thanks to anyone who has any words or advice in advance

Comments

  • Learned AstronomerLearned Astronomer Free Trial Member
    edited June 2021 145 karma

    I took a look at the questions you listed above. It's hard to identify patterns from just four questions. I would say that PT61 S2 Q10 is the trickiest question of the bunch. Two of the questions involve the natural sciences, while the other two involve conditional reasoning and formal logic. Would you say that you have a thorough understanding of these concepts?

    In identifying patterns, I suggest looking beyond question types. What are the arguments in these questions about? What are the skills involved in solving questions of these types? Do these questions contain complex argument structures or confusing language?

    When I was scoring in the high 160s, I was also getting some easier questions wrong every few sections. It wasn't unusual for me to get the most difficult questions in the section, but miss some of the easy or moderately difficult questions. I know how frustrating it can be when you get all of Q15 to Q25 correct, but Q2 and Q6 incorrect.

    There are some universally difficult questions in every section. They are the 5-star questions. But it is unlikely that your mistakes will be limited to these, or that you will necessarily find these to be the most challenging questions in the section. In most sections, I've been able to breeze through the first 10-15 questions. But there are also some sections in which I've stumbled in this range, flagging multiple questions in a row. I found that the easier questions that I struggled with were often the ones I did not quite understand.

    Remember that what is difficult for others might not be difficult for you, and what is difficult for you might not be difficult for others.

    I would not sweat this too much. Try to figure out what, if anything, these questions have in common beyond their question type. If you cannot identify any commonality, just continue doing questions and thoroughly reviewing them. You might also supplement J.Y.'s explanations with explanations from the PowerScore or Manhattan Prep forums. I think as I saw more and more LR questions, I stopped missing as many of these early ones.

  • ggoeklerggoekler Member
    30 karma

    @"Learned Astronomer" said:

    Remember that what is difficult for others might not be difficult for you, and what is difficult for you might not be difficult for others.

    Thanks, I think I just needed to hear this from outside my head. You’re right and I appreciate that you pointed out i can look up other explanations beyond 7sage. Since I started using it I hardly refer to anything else anymore, which is silly.

    I think you’re also correct regarding any sort of “patterns.” I’m focusing more on the curve I suppose than the overall score I’m getting.

  • Frenchy555Frenchy555 Live Member
    393 karma

    Take some unused LR sections and drill 1-10/1-15 with at or under a minute per question. I'm telling you it's magic.

  • tdwielandtdwieland Member
    2 karma

    @Frenchy said:
    Take some unused LR sections and drill 1-10/1-15 with at or under a minute per question. I'm telling you it's magic.

    Can you expand on that a little?

  • lsat_suslsat_sus Core Member
    1417 karma

    Yo - I don't have advice for you but just wanna wish you luck on your next official LSAT. 172 must've felt ecstatic fam!! GET DAT BOI

  • Frenchy555Frenchy555 Live Member
    edited June 2021 393 karma

    @tdwieland said:

    @Frenchy said:
    Take some unused LR sections and drill 1-10/1-15 with at or under a minute per question. I'm telling you it's magic.

    Can you expand on that a little?

    Definitely, they're called confidence drills. You just take any LR section and run through as many questions as you want limiting yourself to a minute or less for each. I started off focusing on 1-10 at or under 10 minutes and I just hit my personal best of -1 from 1-15 on PT84. I think they could help you out significantly. PM me if you need more info.

  • 438 karma

    Another suggestion to try: warm up before you take a section by doing 2-5 "easy" questions to get in the zone and avoid wasting time "warming up" on the first few questions of an actual section

  • Arete_SouthbayArete_Southbay Live Member
    360 karma

    If your missing it is not easy, consider using spaced repetition method

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