How much time does BR take / what section specific strategies do you have ?

pritisharmapritisharma Alum Member
in General 477 karma
for LR /LG and RC. I think I am not doing the BR as thoroughly as it should be done (not taking the time to eliminate all wrong answers etc ) My goal is to reach as close to perfect score in BR. Looking for more ideas on how to get there. Currently my BR strategy is do the test again without time pressure. Which may be fine for LG I think but maybe there are more section specific BR strategies I could use.

Comments

  • rockytoralrockytoral Alum Member
    149 karma
    Pritisharma,

    Have you watched the 7sage video Jy has on how to BR? You should be circling the questions you are unsure about as you're taking the test and have a clean copy of the test to revisit those specific questions.

    What I have found that has brought my score up about 20 points is when I BR for LR even if in my mind I can quickly brush over and know why an answer choice is wrong I still write out an explanation for each answer choice. By doing this you subconsciously get accustomed to what the questions are looking for and trains you to always be on the look out for those trap answer choices. When you actually miss question in LR I find it best to first identify what type of question type it is, and identify the components of the argument (premise/conclusion/principle) and then follow through with explanations for each answer choice.

    As far as games I completely redo the game and if I still miss questions after BR I watch the video and print out about 5 clean copies of the game and PRACTICE until I don't get any wrong.

    Reading comprehension may be the hardest (for me) to BR but usually I take apart every paragraph, identify the main points in each and then revisit the questions.

    Hope this was helpful! Best of luck!
  • pritisharmapritisharma Alum Member
    477 karma
    thanks @rockytoral , when you say write down explanation for each answer choice : do you mean something like : A is wrong because ..... B is wrong because .....?
  • BruiserWoodsBruiserWoods Member Inactive ⭐
    edited January 2016 1706 karma
    @pritisharma I also write out why each choice is wrong:
    Ex:

    A. irrelevant
    B. oldest trick in the book (as in like "all force users are jedi")
    C. same as A
    D. trap answer choice
    E. Correct (sometimes I don't put why it's correct if I have a solid understanding of why every other one is NOT correct)

    So you don't have to do some elaborate thing, just the gist. Every now and then I'll write what WOULD have made it correct. Like say the AC says "B->A," I'll say "oldest trick in the book; would work if A->B. . ."
  • GSU HopefulGSU Hopeful Core
    1644 karma
    @pritisharma Everyone above has pretty much summed it up. I would add one thing: BR takes as long as it takes. I'm not being an asshole, just stating a fact. You've put in the time by taking the test and reviewing it. Don't short change yourself by rushing through BR. Get a reward from it. Learn everything possible from each test you take. At no other time in this process will the learning you get from BR be rivaled by any other phase. Give it every bit of your attention that you can.

    In the early stages of this process, I can see the argument of BRing the entire test. As you progress, I would like to see you BR only the questions you circle in LR and RC. I advocate this for three reasons. First, by BRing less questions, you won't feel as rushed to get through since you have less to do. This will translate into you being able to spend more energy mentally on the questions you don't understand. Second, I don't see it being an efficient use of time to go over questions that you already understand and answered correctly. In this game, time is precious and any of it spent in a less than efficient way will never be available to us again... ever. Lastly, and perhaps the most important reason for only BRing the questions you circled is to shed light on your confidence errors. As JY points out in the beginning, one of the most dangerous aspects of LSAT study is not knowing what you don't know. Confidence errors (answering questions incorrectly that you just knew were correct) will bring this out in it entirety. If you BR the entire test every time, I find it hard to believe that you are shoring up weaknesses in confidence. If you answer a question with 100% confidence that the wrong answers are wrong and the correct answer is correct but it results in a miss, then you are wrong in the reasoning thought process for that question. You need to know this up front and shatter that reasoning on the spot. I find it hard, at least personally speaking, to accomplish this when BRing the entire test.

    As always, you have to do what is best for you and what works for you. Best of luck and don't hesitate to ask questions if need be.
  • pritisharmapritisharma Alum Member
    477 karma
    Thanks !! I think I should BR the circled questions only. Should certainly make for better ROI at this point.
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