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13 Likes
-5 to -0 almost overnight
fmihalic2
Free Trial Member
Hey all,
I had scored a -5 on every single LR section for about 15 sections while I reviewed each section the following day.
Then, about a week ago I realized that I know the material, I just need to read with more intensity and put forth maximum effort in order to make the necessary connections between the premises and conclusion(s). Since this decision, I have scored -0, -0, and -1. I have answered all questions quicker and with certainty.
I've heard of people having a few defining moments in their prep where they take the step from 90% percentile to 99th%.
Is this normal?
Comments
A lot of times I will come back from a break and score much higher much more consistently than I was before I took my break. A break can be a couple days or a couple weeks, or anywhere in between.
I actually didn't look at much LSAT material in the 3-4 days leading up to the test. I looked at some completed games the night before, did 3 games that I enjoy, and did an untimed section the morning of the test. I was hoping my fresh eyes would do better than my exhausted ones.
Hm, that's interesting I think my case may be a "working smart" case rather than working hard. The only thing that I've changed is how I'm reading. I guess I'm reading faster but I'm actively thinking about the consequences of each sentence, premise, and conclusion. It has made even the most difficult questions very, very conquerable. In fact, the incorrect answer choices now seem almost incoherent since they are so unrelated and/or irrelevant. If I only get it down to two answer choices, I'm able to find the fault in the wrong answer choice with ease or realize why choice x is superior.
It's funny you bring up games. I feel that I'm on the cusp with them too. I'm pretty strong now, but the hardest ones of all time can leave me stumped. But with each day I'm getting more clever in my approach and have more control over new games.
first, I just want to say congrats! I don't think that improvement overnight is normal, haha. It's really wonderful though. I felt I went from -8 to maybe -4/-5 relatively fast after having a eureka moment with LR. I think it was similar to yours in I began reading differently and actively eliminating choices rather than trying to always find the right one.
@"Alex Divine" Thanks! That's why I shared, maybe if someone out there is wondering why they're making careless mistakes, this is probably why.
Each part of the test is related with conditionality and just the way you read everything so it makes sense that this change with LR has helped both games and RC a lot.
I love hearing stories like this. I think a lot of people have that experience with LG -- fewer with LR, though jumps like that definitely do just "click" at some point.
Crazily enough, I had a similar thing with RC before I hit the harder sections in 60+. Literally I went from averaging -5 to -7 to -0 to -2 overnight. Sadly once RC hit the fan in the later practice tests, I lost a lot of that gain. Even still, best feeling ever.
I honestly couldn't believe it when I arrived at question 26 and all of them were correct...so I did it again and went 25/25! It was just effort and being honest whether or not you are really giving your best. You're taking the time to read the stimulus, might as well get it all.
@LSATiscoming thanks for the comment! Why did you lose the RC gain? Although some those RC questions on the newer tests are a bit ridiculous...
I love LR. So I've worked at it A TON. Almost obsessively. Another thing, I have a special battle with the clock. I know that either the clock will own me or I will own the clock. I choose to own the clock. I've done the last two LR problems in 1 minute and got both of them right because I refuse to panic. I think we can all do that! It's easy.
This is my goal. To master LR. Were you drilling LR by sections?
Congrats on your success.
@tams2018 If that's your goal, I would master conditionality to the point you can do it in your sleep and learn to detect causality with ease. Those were the two most important aspects for me to improving LR.
About a month ago I was just drilling specific question types every day. That helped a lot. Once I finished CC, I immediately started doing simulated sections. In my opinion, once you start doing full LR sections, you learn so much about the test. I can sense when a difficult question is coming, when I get that tricky question it's easy to point out which choices are wrong because they're just tricks...could be true in a must be true...etc.
Just keep at it. If you master LR, I bet your games performance will go through the roof too.
Great job, first of all!
Something like this happened to me in LR, as well, where I began to read with more intention and speed. I gained almost overnight 5 minutes per section, on average and a score increase on top of it.
I'm very prone to make stupid mistakes on the test, since I can get pretty lazy when reading. Even in LG, I often miss 1 or 2 just because of a misread. But just going in with the very serious intention of not making any mistakes has worked wonders for me. It sounds crazy, but that extra focus is what it took for me to get the score I wanted.
@danielznelson It sounds like we were in a pretty similar situation. I was very, very prone to making "focus" errors in LR and LG. Especially LG, I would mis-read a rule or something and would get like 3 wrong because of it and just be so infuriated that I vowed to never let it happen again. Now I read the rules 2 times at the beginning to take sure I have them right and two times after I diagram to memorize and it works perfectly.
My focus errors have practically disappeared and my score has increased from what I'll call Cornell/ Georgetown territory to HYS territory...that's probably the best way to put it since the exact number may vary a point or two from test to test. I started looking at the test like a fight of sorts. I'm a competitor, always have been, so it helped a lot. I have too much pride to let 101 little tiny multiple choice questions beat me down. Can't do it, won't do it. If all I have to do is battle words on a page for a few hours to potentially do 'the impossible'...I can do that. We can all do that. This test is more a battle of will than intelligence.
Congrats! This is something that hurt me on LR and continues to plague me in RC. Considering you results, I'm gonna try it there. It seems to work well!
Focus errors?
Thank you! This is very comprehensive advice. Additional thanks for starting this thread.
My pleasure 7sage fam.