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I've been focusing on improving my LR but I can't seem to improve under timed conditions but when I BR I'm doing great. I'm getting pretty discouraged. Any tips would be helpful.
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I'm feeling the exact same way and would love to hear others' suggestions on how to overcome this hurdle. As soon as the clock turns on it feels really difficult to process and understand what I'm reading.
Same here guys!
Have you been doing separate sections? How long does it take you to do the first 10 questions?
Try a less daunting method of getting questions quickly (the timing will come -- I promise).
Use a stopwatch and do a question. Pause it when you finish each question to review if you got the question right/wrong and why (but keep the stopwatch cumulative to see where it's at when you finish the LR section). By focusing on each question one at a time, the timed component of the LSAT will appear less daunting.
Once you feel a little more comfortable with the timed pressure, use the cumulative stopwatch method for a page (2-4 questions). Once you feel more comfortable, use it for every two pages (i.e. before "flipping" pages). Eventually, you'll work yourself up to keeping a clear mind when doing the whole section timed!
We crawl before we walk, and walk before we run, and run before we take the LSAT
Can someone offer insight on this?
I am on the same boat.
If you haven't already watched the LR curriculum videos, I would do that and really focus on JY's reasoning when he eliminates a wrong answer. Being able to quickly understand why an answer is wrong or being able to identify a right answer without necessarily reading through all the answer choices was huge for me--- LR is the only section where I never feel pressured for time.
@Sammie215 I used to do that until I started eliminating the right answer thinking that it was irrelevant... I guess a better understanding of the stimulus will help with that
Can't emphasize enough the importance of paraphrasing the stimulus as you're reading along. Putting it into your own words and not reading word-for-word will really help you better understand what is going on with the argument and how they are trying to trick you.
At this stage in your studying you need to be focused on time management strategy. The first thing you've got to realize is you are managing the clock, not racing it. Slow down, read at a comfortable, natural pace. Once you have a good understanding of the argument, move into the ACs and act decisively. This is where your time will come from. Don't agonize over anything. If you think it's wrong, eliminate it. If you think it's right, choose it. If you're not sure, leave it as a contender and move to the next one. If you finish E and you still don't have a confidence answer, give your contenders one more shot and then get out of there.
You've also got to learn to trust your reasoning without having to justify it to yourself. You shouldn't be articulating your reasoning to yourself. On your first round, you should really be working entirely from intuition. That means getting out of your head and not overthinking it. Just read the thing and answer the question. When you can't do that, save it for your second or third round. Personally I don't do any work beyond intuition until my third round.
I really appreciate the tips. I will use them using forward. It's also nice to know that I'm not alone in this struggle to defeat LR.
I haven't reached that goal just yet but that's what I'm shooting for but I think I'm overthinking and it's eating my time up.