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Making silly reading mistakes

guitarnaraguitarnara Alum Member
in General 365 karma
I have been scoring in the high160s, and I took PT 76 today.
I felt very confident about my LG section. Honestly, I was expecting -0 or -1, which would've put in the 170s.
When I scored my test, I got -3. What a disappointment :( When I reviewed the questions, they were silly mistakes (Reading answer choices wrong due to the close margin between answer choices between B and C, comprehending Tuesday as Monday....)

From time to time, I also make silly mistakes in my LR and RC sections...
I would say that most of the questions I get wrong are ones that I circle, but, almost always, my "confidence" error questions are due to a variant of stupid mistakes.

I am aware that the core reason behind not being able to hit 170+ has more to do with my inability to get the "circled" questions right, but all lost points are equally detrimental to my score.

What could I be doing wrong?
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Comments

  • danielznelsondanielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    4181 karma
    I think it would be helpful to catalogue your mistakes by type. I started doing this and realized the dumb mistakes I was making and which ones more often than others. Be sure to write them down, not type them - advice you will often read on 7Sage - and doing this will help you catch and avoid these mistakes in the future.
  • danielznelsondanielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    4181 karma
    Also, it may be beneficial to circle quantifiers, particularly in LR. Even if you catch the quantifier the first time you read a stimulus, you may forget about it (or miss those in the ACs). Circling them helps you to work around the pitfalls using overall attractive arguments with underwhelming or altogether inaccurate quantifiers.
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27900 karma
    These kind of sound like rushing mistakes to me. Have you ever drilled using a stopwatch instead of a timer?
  • Ron SwansonRon Swanson Alum Member Inactive ⭐
    edited May 2016 1650 karma
    I have a similar problem sometimes. As some sages have told me, this can happen deep in your prep..you're used to the exam, understand the fundamentals, except sometimes you go through the motions and don't read as critically as the lsat demands.

    I've started slowing down when reading questions/ACs and trying to be methodical rather than fast. Maybe this could help cut down your mistakes too
  • guitarnaraguitarnara Alum Member
    365 karma
    @danielznelson I will definitely try the categorizing method ! @"Cant Get Right" I am using a chronograph, which is pretty much a stop watch. I do feel rushed sometimes though. @"Ron Swanson" Yes perhaps, I just need to slow down... I am going to try a couple more tests and try to focus on this
  • stepharizonastepharizona Alum Member
    3197 karma
    It also might be good to stop looking at these as "silly" and see them for what they are, which is serious errors that are costing you the 170s. I was recently given similar advice and it has really helped me stop looking at them as "whoops" to really treating them like I would any other reasoning error. Its all about focus.
  • BruiserWoodsBruiserWoods Member Inactive ⭐
    1706 karma
    what @stepharizona said
  • MrSamIamMrSamIam Inactive ⭐
    2086 karma
    Sounds like a timing issue. You're concerned about time, so you're speed reading, instead of efficiently reading.
    You probably saved yourself a good 10 seconds on those questions...but was it worth the -3 points?
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