30 mins per section

Ballon d'OrBallon d'Or Alum Member
in General 61 karma
Hey guys,

I'm about to start taking sections with only 30 minutes instead of 35 to give myself more time pressure because
I found that 35 minutes feels a lot shorter during the test day. Has anyone tried doing this? If yes, what benefits
have you gained?
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Comments

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    edited August 2016 23929 karma
    @"Ballon d'Or"

    Hey,

    I personally have not started PT'ing yet so I have no experience with this. I will say that many top scorers used this strategy to mitigate any test day timing issues. Additionally, I think it is common for top scorers to implement this so they have time to go back and check answers and do ones they skipped without having to worry too much about rushing.

    I personally know of some people who eventually got so good they were finishing in 25-27 minutes for LG and having time to go back over every question. That may be a little extreme, but it certainly helped them chase the -0 we all love so much. Also, I should not that they didn't start off there, but started shaving time off and worked up to finishing this efficiently.

  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma
    That's a good strategy but don't become too obsessed with it! The 7sage proctor app allows you to choose a limit of up to 28 mins per section so give that app a go if you haven't already :)
  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma
    @montaha.rizeq said:
    The 7sage proctor app allows you to choose a limit of up to 28 mins per section so give that app a go if you haven't already :)
    I didn't know that! I'm learning something from this too. Yay! :D
  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma
    Haha yup...it seems intimidating but I find it works well especially for logic games.
  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma
    Thank you @montaha.rizeq Nice! I just checked it out and never realized you could adjust it like everything else. Very nice feature.
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27860 karma
    I kind of do this in my head, but have not tried actually reducing my time. With LR and LG, I really want to finish my first run through in 25. That leaves me plenty of time to dive into anything I skipped, double check anything I wasn’t 100% on, and often times to reconfirm everything else. I really feel like my untimed drills were actually a really important element of getting me to that level. Instead of upping the time pressure, I really like to remove it. It seems paradoxical, but that really helped. The very first time I did it it was amazing. I was really struggling with time on LR and when I removed the time pressure, I actually finished the section in 30. I was just moving at a steady pace, but not worrying about time. I realized the pressure was causing me to panic and actually waste a lot of time. By combining these drills with recording my sections and identifying the exact moments where I was wasting all that time, I was able to get it down to where I wanted it. Maybe try both and see what works. Let us know how the 30 minute sections go.
  • runiggyrunruniggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    2481 karma
    I'm implementing this as we speak. I also found that the pressure on test day makes 35 minutes seem shorter - I never struggled with timing during PT's, but I did during June's administration. Because you know the stakes are high during the real thing, I believe there's a tendency to linger just a few extra seconds on each question "just to make sure" instead of moving right along like you would in a PT. Those few extra seconds add up to a few extra minutes per section, and for me that was enough to push me to go uncomfortably fast toward the end of the section (I started reading passage 4 after the 5 minute warning, for example).
    So for September I'm practicing with faster timing - I'm trying for 28 minutes on retakes and 30 minutes on the few "fresh" tests I have left (they are all in the 20's).
    I'm hoping that by doing this for several months I'll reset my internal pace to something that would leave enough "breathing" room for test day, nerves and all.
  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma
    @"Alex Divine" said:
    Thank you
    Welcome! hope you make good use out of it :D
  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma
    @runiggyrun said:
    I'm implementing this as we speak
    But...you're a sage lol. Why are you retaking if you don't mind my asking?
  • MrSamIamMrSamIam Inactive ⭐
    2086 karma
    Plenty of members here begin to utilize this method once they realize that they are doing a particular section 1) Accurately and 2) Under the 35 minute time limit.
    If I'm not mistaken, the greatest benefit to using this method is, come test day, 35 minutes will feel like a ton of time.
  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma
    @MrSamIam said:
    If I'm not mistaken, the greatest benefit to using this method is, come test day, 35 minutes will feel like a ton of time.
    For sure! Ah that sounds so wonderful...
  • runiggyrunruniggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    2481 karma
    @montaha.rizeq said:
    But...you're a sage lol. Why are you retaking if you don't mind my asking?
    I don't mind at all - sometimes I ask myself that. I'm aiming for HLS and I have an international GPA, so I'd like to be at least at their median for the LSAT - I'm sure I can woo the AdCom with my scintillating personality, my breathtaking achievements and my outstanding diversity, but I'd rather have the numbers :-)
    And I also secretly like the LSAT - After nearly a year it's become like an intellectual hobby and I look forward to my daily LG practice and my weekly PT's.
  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma
    @runiggyrun said:
    I'm sure I can woo the AdCom with my scintillating personality, my breathtaking achievements and my outstanding diversity, but I'd rather have the numbers :-)
    And I also secretly like the LSAT - After nearly a year it's become like an intellectual hobby and I look forward to my daily LG practice and my weekly PT's.
    Lol, this is pretty cool! I'm sure you'll do really well (again)! looking forward to hearing about your HLS acceptance :)
  • Ballon d'OrBallon d'Or Alum Member
    61 karma
    @"Cant Get Right" said:
    I was really struggling with time on LR and when I removed the time pressure, I actually finished the section in 30.
    @"Cant Get Right" Were you still timing yourself with a timer when you actually removed the time pressure? I am interested in your drill method because when I cut my section time to 30, I find myself rushing and missing some questions that I should be getting correct.
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    edited August 2016 27860 karma
    @"Ballon d'Or" instead of a timer I used a stopwatch. So I was still keeping track of my time, I just removed the countdown.
  • hlsat180hlsat180 Free Trial Member
    edited August 2016 362 karma
    I think your question indicates a wrong approach.

    The reason why? IMHO the "30min rule" (or whatever pace you set) is more a diagnostic result rather than any magic technique in preparation. High scorers will finish in 30min naturally with high accuracy; simply replicating the 30min will not improve your score without parallel improvements in accuracy. So the real key is to maintain awareness of both pace and accuracy - both are necessary - in order to identify and fix between the two the relative weakness.

    What's the fix? Given that questions tend to get progressively harder, and that both accuracy and pace are necessary, I recommend starting with 10Qs in 10min with 100% accuracy, then progressing to 15Qs in 15min with 100% accuracy, and so on, until you reach whatever your goal is. It's about building up rather than setting some arbitrary benchmark.
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