I seriously want to give up... I can't improve LR at all... In fact, I've gotten worse at it

Comments

• 1 Like

  SentiusCalvinus Free Trial Member

  September 2013 2 karma

  I too would be interested in this answer. Having the same problem on tests 60+
• 15 Likes

  Eric Fu Free Trial Member

  September 2013 edited September 2013 73 karma

  I would call LR my favorite section (with an average of -3 out of 50+ total questions), but I wouldn't call myself an LSAT LR God because as we all know, when you're studying/taking the LSAT you know that God has already forsaken you. Now, everyone has his/her own particular issue(s) with LR and I don't know much of your personal situation, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. With that caveat, here are some of my thoughts:
  
  - Are you getting questions wrong because you are running out of time late in the section due to the generally harder questions in that region? If so, one of the more trendy tactics being discussed lately -- even on this forum -- is to trust your gut instinct on questions #1-10.
  
  - Are you running out of time in general and seem to get stuck on random questions spread throughout the section no matter its number? If so, you should adhere to JY's famous Coconut Tree analogy.
  
  - Maybe you are right on time or even have left over minutes when you're done, but still getting more than 3+ wrong per section. In that case, I would recommend slowing down and choosing your battles. Perhaps you should leave some of the later questions or harder questions blank, let those be wrong, and guarantee the ones you've done are done correctly.
  
  - General Tactic #1: Try to do the first 10 questions in 10min or less and work your way to 15 in 15 or 20 in 20. This will help save you a lot of time for those questions that just cannot be done in 1.5min (because these questions do indeed exist. They're called Time Traps or Curve Breakers). I personally take this tactic extremely seriously and rigorously keep track of time throughout all my PTs to adhere to this tactic. It REALLY helps, IMO.
  
  - General Tactic #2: If you're finishing sections with time left, try to devise a system of mini-Blind Reviewing within a section. When you're running through the questions the first time around, create a system of marking the questions you've had extreme trouble with, are super confused on, decided to skip, or were closely stuck between two answer choices. I personally use circles for confusing questions I believe I potentially will get wrong and a dashed line for questions I feel I've answered right, but want to come back later on to double check. After that, develop a method of prioritizing which ones to mini-BR. Some mini-BR from the hardest questions to the easiest (me). Others choose to mini-BR from the questions they just want to double check to questions they believe they will most likely get wrong even if they went back to it.
  
  Again, these thoughts are garnered from my personal experience, so please adapt them to yourself, appropriately.
  
  As always, good luck folks. May the Devil (LSAT) have mercy on our souls.
  
• 2 Likes

  CJ Shin Free Trial Member

  September 2013 302 karma

  Hey there K,
  
  I don't know about the others, but you certainly are doing better than me. -1 RC?? That is amazing. My lowest RC ever was -3 and that was from the 50s. 60s RC is wooping my ass so hard that it is bleeding haha. Anyway, I just want to tell you that you should be happy about your achievements and keep the momentum going! You seem to have mastered 2 parts out of 3, which leaves you with just 1 to improve on. And who knows, maybe on the test day the LSAT evil decides to give you a break on LR and you end up with -6 total wrong. With your current streak in LR and RC, combined with that shine of light in LR, you are in the 99th percentile.
  
  Don't lose faith.
• 4 Likes

  James Dean Free Trial Member

  September 2013 297 karma

  @CJ,
  
  I am also losing blood due to RC in the 60's.... It's killing me slowly.
  
  I didn't have any trouble with LR until the most recent test that I've taken 63. I did really well on 60-62 (170,174, 170), but 63 left me in the fetal position. Coming from a - 5 in 62, to a -12. I am embarrassed to mention my overall score on 63.
  
  Best of luck to my fellow sufferers. May we all prevail despite this last minute discouragement.
  
  Coming out of 63, I feel I need another year to prepare myself.
  
  On that note, I'm going to tend to my wounds....
  
  
  
  
• 2 Likes

  James Dean Free Trial Member

  September 2013 edited September 2013 297 karma

  http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/signs-lsat-burnout-avoid-recover.html
  
  After a google search of "LSAT burnout"... I think some of us may be victims.
  
  Does anyone feel that taking a complete day off would be beneficial between tests?
  
  I read that the best strategy is taking a test one day, reviewing it the next, followed by a complete day of nothing, then repeating.
  
  Any thoughts?
• 2 Likes

  CJ Shin Free Trial Member

  September 2013 302 karma

  Haha.. my symptoms seem to indicate a burnout.
  Yes, I do feel guilty about taking a break for an hr. I actually feel guilty all the time.
  I will make sure to give myself 2~3 days of complete rest before the test day.
• 2 Likes

  x2007tmb Free Trial Member

  September 2013 13 karma

  Hey K,
  
  Please take a break. Yes, practice is essential. But over-practice and over-analysis can be detrimental! This test does challenge cognitive processes that absolutely can and should be sharpened with practice, but at the same time are deeply and unequivocally dependant on mental clarity. You need both. And the latter requires serious rest and a tuned perspective. If you are achieving those kinds of scores on the logic games and reading comprehension, you are a damn smart person. For real homie. Have some faith in that and let your brain catch up with you! I hope I'm not coming off too preachy but keep in mind that stress is your worst enemy here. You have displayed the ability to be able to knock this thing out of the park. So don't let too much attention to performance trends in your practice dictate your confidence level heading into the test on the day that it matters. This test is hard enough, don't stand in your own way .
• samantha.ashley92 Alum Member

  November 2017 1777 karma

  Ugh. I'm right there with you. I haven't finished LR yet but decided to check out my progress anyway. Before I started studying I had -20 in LR. Now, I had -4 in one section and -10 in the other. When I average them together, I have spent 75+ hours to improve on 6 questions. Most of the ones I got wrong were on flaws, which I didn't get to yet, but I'm feeling really discouraged.
• 1 Like

  akistotle Member ⭐ 🍌🍌

  November 2017 9382 karma

  @"samantha.ashley92" this is a 4-year-old thread!
• 1 Like

  samantha.ashley92 Alum Member

  November 2017 1777 karma

  @akistotle I noticed as soon as I posted lol but it doesn't let you delete comments!
• 1 Like

  Trust But Verify Alum Member

  November 2017 432 karma

  Namaste
• Tom_Tango Alum Member

  November 2017 902 karma

  Listen to the "Thinking LSAT" podcast. I like Nathan Fox and the FoxLSAT approach to LR for the most part.

  Don't read question stem first. Focus most of your time on the stimulus. Pre-phrase answers.
• klkForver Member

  January 2018 16 karma

  I went from stinking at logic games to being okay at logic games, and I did it by tracing every thought in my mind from taking the games, tracing my thoughts during blind review, and tracing my thoughts after knowing the answers and watching the review videos.
• LCMama2017 Alum Member

  January 2018 2134 karma

  @akistotle said:
  @"samantha.ashley92" this is a 4-year-old thread!

  I just realized that when you said it. Holy smokes.
• LCMama2017 Alum Member

  January 2018 2134 karma

  @LCMama2017 said:

  @akistotle said:
  @"samantha.ashley92" this is a 4-year-old thread!

  I just realized that when you said it. Holy smokes.

  I do like Eric Fu's suggestions though.