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1 Like
Timing Increase Help
aguirreliz92
Alum Member
Hey all! I am slowly improving my PT scores and although I have become better at LR sections, I can't get passed completing 18 questions which is negatively affecting my score potential. Any advice on how I can study to improve and make faster times on each question? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks
Comments
Practice problem sets and time yourself and then BR.
The fact you're missing only 7-8 also tells me you need an effective skipping strategy. I was ta that point when I found a way to skip and give myself extra time for the harder/longer questions.
It might not seem like it, but skipping 3-4-5 questions to give yourself time for the "low hanging fruit" took me down from missing 7 to around 3/4 per section.
Check out the webinar and theory behind skipping. It took a long time for me to become accustomed to not just seeing it as "giving up." Or the fact skipping seemed so counter intuitive.
Yeah I agree with what @"Alex Divine" said. Work on a good skipping strategy and don't get harmed by that psychological aspect of the LSAT.
There are certain question types, that by definition, take longer to solve than other types. For example, parallel reasoning questions take an incredibly long time to solve at first. When you are relatively new these questions are solved by mapping/diagramming each answer choice, and then comparing to the original. These can easily take 2-3 minutes even for "simple" questions. These would be a good example of what to skip. Figure out which questions you are weak on and maybe prioritize skipping those, so that you can get to questions you are more comfortable with. At first timing isn't a huge issue. Maybe confidence is an issue as well. If you find yourself doubting your answer choice and then going back and forth between 2 answers, you are losing a lot of time. Sometimes you have to be confident in your reasoning, mark it down to review if you have time, and then move on. Same goes for question prompts that you don't understand. If you can't wrap your head around the passage after 2 reads, move on. Mark it for review and come back later.
Thank you for the advice guys! I think you guys are 100% correct and I needed some reaffirmation that I was stuck in my standardized testing mode where i must answer every question from #1-28 in order. Cant say how much I love our community and how involved everyone else!
i dont like the skipping advice, i mean, lets say you want a 168 you need to get max 4-5 wrong if you skip 2 that leaves you with little room for failure, i gotten faster by timing my self and then timing how much longer i needed, marking the questions that took me long and going back to those and figuring out why they took so long, parallel questions are the ones i leave for the very end i can now to the test in under 40, put practice makes perfect, and remember slow is smooth and smooth is fast, the more you do the faster youll get.
I agree that at the end of your study you shouldn't be skipping. For now though, during PT's. It's better to skip the tough/timely ones and move on. As you BR and drill more you should be speeding things up and hopefully at the end you can get through a section with 5 minutes to spare. But that won't happen overnight, so we have to build stamina up until we get there.
I read somewhere that you should time yourself while doing PT's. This way you can watch the video playback and actually watch how long certain problems take you to finish. If you see you take 3-4 minutes on a certain parallel problem, next time I would say skip the parallel and move on, and compare your timing outcomes. Just a thought
I HATE parallel
Hahaha I think they're relatively easy in untimed scenarios and BR. The answer is literally starring back at you if you diagram everything. With that being said, I find I end up diagramming incorrectly if I try to rush through them which leads to an incorrect answer (since they always make the wrong answers seem "correct" if you flip one of the conditionals).
I've been skipping them and coming back at the end, but I'm working on speeding the process up by focusing on diagramming in my head just by recognition of the indicator words. It's definitely a sluggish process.
When skipping and scoring at higher levels, it is important to note that you are not skipping a question with the idea of "Ok, I'm skipping and not coming back to this question, therefore, this point is lost."
You are skipping because there is still other points you must grab in a time efficient manner. The main goal of this test is to garner as many points as possible. The idea of skipping at higher levels is that you are banking time so you can return to the curve breakers and spend a reasonable amount of time parsing the argument. Also, you will be able to better grasp the question after your second read.
When you run into curve breaker(s), skip, and return to it after you have scored all the other points.
Webinars to watch:
Timing and levels of certainty
https://7sage.com/webinar/timing-and-levels-of-certainty/
Skipping webinar: JY is actually a participant in this one.
https://7sage.com/webinar/skip-it/
Everyone in this thread should check this out
Sweet, thanks for the links man. I've seen the skip-it one but not the uncertainty one. I definitely recommend them! They should be watched by everyone beginning their lsat studies because skipping effectively is a huge benefit if you start doing it right off the bat.
@Mellow_Z yeah i do the same, my last PT wasnt bad tho i left my parallel for last and still managed to do them, i try to diagram the questionstem and the answers in my mind
Skipping strategy is tricky.
Here's a strategy that seems to be working for me. Perhaps give it a shot.
*Right when I start the timer/start an LR section, with a highlighter (Your allowed to use those on test day.), I mark the numbers of questions with easy question types I know (like main point, assumption, the basic labeling questions).
*I scan through the whole section before I even begin, typically that gives me about 15 questions to work with that I'm confident with. Takes about minute for me to find those 15 questions and do the process. I work those first (the low hanging fruit questions). With time left, I try to locate the questions that require less reading but I have a little more confidence with.
*After that, I approach whatever else I have time for. if I have to guess, I guess D for anything under question 20 and E for anything in the last 5 question range.
With this strategy I've seen really good gains! I'm at -6 to -8 an lr section. I'm still a couple months out from my test (June test taker); I am Fool proofing everyday. I hope to be in -4 to -3 range by june. Listening to the skip it! skipping strategies panel, they advised you can skip like 3 questions and still score perfect on the test. The test makers intentionally draw type A perfectionist into time sinker questions.
Goodluck with your studies!