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Tips for mitigating chronic mindless errors?

AnthonyScaliaAnthonyScalia Alum Member
edited June 2017 in Logic Games 330 karma

Hi everyone!

I'm currently a rising senior in college, and I intend to take the LSAT in September and begin law school in the fall of 2018.

I started my LSAT prep in late May, working almost exclusively with Logic Games for that duration. My timed scores have been consistently high for the past two weeks, but I almost inevitably miss a single question on each game. The missed question is almost always one of the easiest in the game, and my incorrect answer is always outside of the commonly selected wrong answers (according to the 7sage metrics.)

The situation is derived from a consistent pattern of mindless/silly mistakes, and I've struggled with this kind of thing since elementary school. Even using blind review, even after reading every word in a passage twice and out loud, I end up writing down a rule wrong, or bubbling in a letter different than the correct answer I just identified.

I know that the canned answer to this is to drill, and trust that over time I'll sharpen up and the necessary skills will develop. That said, I wanted to reach out and field any advice from others who may share a similar personal weakness. Even if focus/detail is your forte, I'd love to hear your stratagem and facilitate a discourse on how to remain keen, especially when practicing with time restriction.

Thanks!

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Comments

  • CinnamonTeaCinnamonTea Member
    550 karma

    Great question. I still have similar issues even after a year of studying, but what I've found helpful is implementing a system of checks and balances (against myself). So for example, when I am bubbling in answers after 2 pages, I literally reread the letters and numbers in my head one by one. It takes like 3 seconds per 2 pages, but could save me a few points if I misbubble, which in my mind is good "insurance".

    For logic games, I follow the LSAT Trainer method where after I copy down the rules, I look at my notations and saw to myself (internally) what those rules mean. I then see if that matches up with the actual rules.

    I guess the takeaway here is implementing a system of checks and balances where you are most likely to make mistakes. Of course this also would necessitate figuring out where you are most likely to make mistakes and thinking of a strategy similar to the ones mentioned above that would help with those mistakes, and then practicing that strategy until it becomes second nature.

  • BirdLaw818BirdLaw818 Free Trial Member
    553 karma

    I'm what you call a careless fool. I would make stupidddd mistakes on LG and overlook make/break words in all sections.

    With regards to LG, write
    Your rules, write contra positives, and keep drilling. Also verify your rules and then just underline it on the question to show u did. Verify your answer choice with the rules too as you answer questions (obvious).

    For LR and RC, you can be more careful by going back to those mindless mistakes and understanding why you glanced over it. At first it miss answers because of words like most,some,many,etc. this is because I didn't understand their significance.

    So some seemingly careless mistakes are either cause of just carelessness, others are from a lack of understanding. Address both and GL!

  • Zachary_PZachary_P Member
    edited June 2017 659 karma

    Yeah, good advice above. When it comes to LG specifically, be sure to understand the difference between when a question asks what must be true vs. what could be true. I find more often than not, when I make a "mindless" error in LG, it comes down to not fully distinguishing between the two in the rush of finishing the easier games faster.

    Another strategy I have implemented that has helped me drastically cut down on these types of errors in LG is a quick method of double-checking my work. When I draw out a sub-gamebaord for a certain question, after I have made all necessary inferences, I like to check my new sub-gameboard against the rules really quickly before I officially mark down my answer if I am even slightly uncertain; I'm talking anything below 100% confidence gets a quick double-check. Just run through each rule like you would for an acceptable situation question and make sure it checks out. For me, numbering the rules as I write them down on the page has helped me make this process a lot faster. It may take ~10 seconds or less, but the time spent doing this is well worth it if it means catching a silly mistake and saving yourself a whole point on the scale.

  • Freddy_DFreddy_D Core Member ⭐
    2983 karma

    I feel ya on this one. This would happen to me on the easier games where I would just check out mentally and go on auto-pilot and end up missing an easy question. The LSAT is a test of your reading ability, reasoning ability, and mental discipline (credit Mike Kim in the LSAT Trainer). When it came to the easier games/questions, I found that my mental discipline was a bit shoddy because I wanted to get on to the next game. So, I decided to implement a discount double-checking strategy where I would quickly (5-10 seconds max) go through the question one more time just to make sure I didn't make any mindless mistakes. It's worked out well for me so far.

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