Just 3-5 more minutes :( and I can go -0 LG

louis2014louis2014 Alum Member
edited January 2016 in General 190 karma
Hello,

I have been having this problem for some months now. I can't finish 4 games. I finish three games and won't have more than 3 minutes on my fourth game. I don't go in sequence. I usually tackle the sequencing ones or the ones that seem easier first.

I have done all the games until PT39. I've done many of them multiple times as well. But I don't seem to be able to break this wall. I usually finish two games within 12 minutes.

I noticed that grouping questions drain a lot of my time. Should I just practise this type of questions more?

Please, I very appreciate your input,

Comments

  • LSATislandLSATisland Free Trial Inactive Sage
    edited January 2016 1878 karma
    Hi @louis2014

    First, the negative: your time lagging is likely more than you suspect. (Your title says 3-5 minutes. You have 3 minutes remaining, and 8.75 on average per game, so 5.75 minutes would be the time you might think you need, but this is likely longer for the reason that follows.) This is because the 4 LGs will typically not be a 8.75 minute game (35 minutes divided by the 4 games) -- 1 LG will usually be some what easy and be shorter than 8.75 minutes, and another will usually be harder and be longer than 8.75 minutes. Therefore, if you are leaving the hardest game for last, you might need more time for the entire section than you suspect. A good way to find out would be to just continue the last game and time yourself and see how many minutes you go over the 35: that number will be the time you need to reduce.

    The good news is you seem to know the particular games that you find difficult. So, yes, focusing on those grouping games would be a good idea. Good luck!
  • louis2014louis2014 Alum Member
    190 karma
    Thank you very much. Do you suggest on keep doing these games even if I feel that I memorizing them (foolproof method)?

    The thing is, I've been at this stage for some months now!
  • mimimimimimimimi Free Trial Member
    368 karma
    I think you need to set a target for G1 and G2. I am usually -0 on games and here is my breakdown:
    G1: 4 min
    G2: 6 min
    G3: depends
    G4: 10 min

    But I often have 4 minutes left to check my work (4-5 questions) so you can add 1-2 minutes to each game. Also note that this timeline works for later/modern LSAT in which I discovered a distinctive pattern in terms of their difficulties. If G1 is unbelievably easy.. brace yourself for hell in G3...
  • LSATislandLSATisland Free Trial Inactive Sage
    1878 karma
    Don't repeat the LG via memorization, but go through the steps and mechanics for finding the answers. Try analyzing the features as you are doing this, i.e. note the limited groups and possibilities, play around with even hypothetical scenarios, see what game pieces are triggered with different scenarios.

    Some grouping games will have one major tension that is at play in many questions. Try to find such tensions/rules and then analyze it fully, even perhaps writing out an explanation of the tension and the consequent limited possibilities (similar to the benefit of writing out explanations for LR).
  • louis2014louis2014 Alum Member
    190 karma
    Hello
    @mimimimi thank you. I like your idea, but would you skip the game if you didn't finish it?

    @LSATisland thank you very much. True, but I see most of the time is spent up front trying to digest the rules. So if I know the game well, then that setup wouldn't take that much time. Once I setup the game and familiarize myself with the rules, the questions go by really fast. For example, I did PT66 today. I finished first second and fourth game then I was left for 5 minutes for the third game. By the time I finished the setup and learning the rules, the time was over. I couldn't finish more than 2 questions. Even though the questions were flying by.
  • AlejandroAlejandro Member Inactive ⭐
    2424 karma
    Try to get faster at the easier games too. These should only take you 5 minutes to do
  • mimimimimimimimi Free Trial Member
    368 karma
    @louis2014

    I rarely, rarely skipped a game halfway through. It hurts confidence and I have this bad habit of dwelling on skipped questions. I would however spend 30 secs and determine if the game is worth skipping from the start. You will see some in the 70's that are there to freak you out and destroy your confidence. Do them last.

    Also, my personal experience about games in general - for each game, Q1 is there to test if you read every line, but Q2 is really there for you to check if you have gasped relationships in the game. If you spend over 1 min on Q2 you are probably missing something simple but important. This is the question where I am usually able to recover from misread/misunderstandings early on and make adjustments. It also helps to save some time too!
  • LSATKingsmanLSATKingsman Alum Member
    1024 karma
    G1 in 4 mins? That is wishful thinking on test day. for me at least
  • mimimimimimimimi Free Trial Member
    368 karma
    @LSATKingsman it's a target time for practice. I set no target for test day because I will get really nervous.
  • louis2014louis2014 Alum Member
    190 karma
    @mimimimi , is there a situation where you say, oh, let me jump to the questions right away before trying to internalize the rules? I usually take some time to understand the rules, decide whether I should split or not, and try to make some hypothetical examples on how the rules will interact. Afterwards I start doing the game. With this, I usually spend at least 3 minutes. The questions sometimes flyby. But sometimes I regret spending this set up time because the questions wouldn't really need it.

    I feel that my enemy is grouping. It is not like I don't know how to solve it, but my stupid brain doesn't seem to make the inferences as fast as sequencing. I now printed all grouping games and doing one by one (again).
  • mimimimimimimimi Free Trial Member
    edited January 2016 368 karma
    @louis2014
    I understand how you feel. I used to freeze at grouping games. And my advice for you is - if you are not sure whether or not you should split.. just split - because it looks like you do not have other strategies at the moment right? Sometimes during splitting game boards, I would think of some other clever ways to attack the problem and I just recollected myself and restarted from there.

    I think the key is knowing that the time you spend on splitting is not completely wasted :1) sometimes you can use one of the few game boards you have for next questions; 2) it is the time spent to understand the problem so it is not wasted. On the other hand, freezing is a waste of time. 3) splitting is working with hypothetical situations. 4) sometimes you don't have to split all the way - I don't do that even during the real test. You can work your sub-gameboards out in individual questions. If I didn't split, the reading, checking and setting things up took about 2 minutes. If I did split, it could take up to 4-5 minutes (They are usually G3 or G4 so I would not freak out over spending this much time in initial setup).

    Hope this helps! If you are short of 3-4 minutes, I really think it's a time management issue. It looks like you don't make mistakes on the questions that you do have the time to do. So I would suggest that you try to speed up on the ones that you are good at. 4 min for G1 may sound ridiculous now but this target helped me reaching -0.

    p.s. If G1 is not that easy, then I would re-adjust the time. The most recent test I took is 77 so I wrote this with that test on my mind.
  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    You can't rely on target times for games in the abstract because game 1 is not always the easiest and game 4 is not always the hardest. You need to read the setup, transcribe the pieces at a minimum, and transcribe the board if you see it. Then read the rules and transcribe them as you go, both on their own and on the master game board of you have one. Then spend a minute to see if there are any baseline inferences to be made. Then do the acceptable situation question and hopefully it might help you see how the dynamics are working in that game. Then before you blindly start splitting, quickly glance at the rest of the questions. Are they all general inference questions or are they all scenario based, or a mix of the two? If they are all general inference questions, you likely need at least something on your master game board and splitting might be helpful. If they are all scenario based then it is often better to just make the game boards they prescribe, especially when there would be more worlds than questions. When in doubt, try one scenario based question and see if you can pull out inferences and solve the question. If you can then you are learning more about the interaction of rules and elements. If you start spinning your wheels, try a basic split.

    When splitting, your goal should not always be to get completely solved game boards. Your goal should be to eliminate elements so in other words you turn a 6 element sequencing game into a 4 element sequencing game by using up 2 elements across your game boards. That makes your job much easier moving forward.

    If you're taking Jube I would keep fool proofing LG, use my attack strategy but with full sections instead of single games so that you can work on intrasection dynamics.

    Your biggest enemy in LG is panic and inertia. You have to keep momentum and confidence. That means keeping things fluid so you don't get stuck on one game. If you crush the first game and the second game confuses you, try to make a board and do the acceptable situation and then move on and come back later. Spinning your wheels is wasted time and you have no idea where the easiest game and the hardest game are so you need to see everything by the 20 minute mark if you are having issues early on so that you can make the right decisions when it comes to choosing to do certain questions over others.
  • louis2014louis2014 Alum Member
    190 karma
    Thank you @mimimimi and @Pacifico :) I need to see everything by the 20 minute mark. How? Do you suggest doing couple of questions from each game then come back to finish them later?

    Once I hit the 20 minute mark, even that I have 15 minutes, I start to panic. When I hit the 30 minutes, I just flip. Especially if I am not half way through my fourth game.

    I have been following your strategy for some months now. It works very well, especially at the beginning when I used to make mistakes. But now this timing problem is killing me.

    Thank you all
  • mimimimimimimimi Free Trial Member
    368 karma
    @louis2014
    Yes, that 5 minute mark - I started to panic and everything went blank. I would suggest that checking your watch less often as you discover your rhythm during the last stage of your practices.

    In order to find my rhythm I timed my reading, my setup, the split, the time I spent on EACH question, etc etc. If a questions took more than 1min I would mark it. If a question took more than 1'30" I would red flag it. I probably just spent too much time on this test...

    Getting to -0 is possible and you will get there!
  • louis2014louis2014 Alum Member
    190 karma
    Thank you very much. I will keep swimming :)
  • Nicole HopkinsNicole Hopkins Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    4344 karma
    @Pacifico said:
    When splitting, your goal should not always be to get completely solved game boards. Your goal should be to eliminate elements so in other words you turn a 6 element sequencing game into a 4 element sequencing game by using up 2 elements across your game boards.
    Such fact.
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