How to improve on time constraints?

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• 1 Like

  OlamHafuch Alum Member

  January 2018 2326 karma

  I'm going to be blunt: You're clearly not ready to take the test, and it would take a miracle for that to happen in a few weeks. Taking as many timed PTs as possible is not a good strategy at this point. If you are serious about scoring to your potential, you must delay, even if that means pushing off law school for a year. That's probably disappointing to hear, but it's the unvarnished truth.
• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  January 2018 23929 karma

  @uhinberg said:
  I'm going to be blunt: You're clearly not ready to take the test, and it would take a miracle for that to happen in a few weeks. Taking as many timed PTs as possible is not a good strategy at this point. If you are serious about scoring to your potential, you must delay, even if that means pushing off law school for a year. That's probably disappointing to hear, but it's the unvarnished truth.

  Yeah --- you don't want to be focusing on simply finishing sections on time a month out. Taking tons of PTs won't be of much help since you're not really doing anything different.

  You need to figure out why speed is an issue. Judging by your score I would guess you need work in the fundamentals.Once you have solid strategies that work, and which you practice doing repeatedly, your timing will get better.
• Sami Live Member Sage ⭐ 7Sage Tutor

  January 2018 edited January 2018 10789 karma

  @mozzafiato said:
  Taking my first (and most likely not final haha) lsat in Feb which is less than a month away now. I've been having some trouble trying to finish sections under the time constraint. Most of it is me usually having a brain fart while reading and having to re-read over and over again as well as not fully understanding RC passages and having to underline things which takes up so much time.

  With RC, you do not want to try to remember every single thing. You want to simply read and do low resolution summaries. If you try to re-read and understand things over and over, you will run out of time. JY has re-vamped the core curriculum for RC -have you taken a look at it yet?

  With BR and spending as much time as I can on each section I've been able to get in the 160-165 range but with the timer on I leave about a whole section blank because I'm not able to finish.

  The BR score is always going to be higher. The trick is to score in 170's range in blind review, if you want to score in mid 160 range in real time.

  The exam is so close and I'm getting super worried and anxious I've been trying to take as many timed practice tests as possible but I'm not sure at this point it will help much. Any advice or suggestions?

  I agree with people above. It's not the amount of test that will help but the amount of time working on your weaknesses. So really use the test you take to go over and drill out any weaknesses you might be having. 7sage has a analytics tool that can help you out with that.
• tylerdschreur10 Alum Member

  January 2018 1465 karma

  Clarification: when you say you run out of time and have one section unfinished, is that for RC, LR, and GAMES? Or is it just one of the three?

  If it's RC, I echo @Sami you're missing the forest for the trees. Everyone is different, but the general consensus is the initial read thru is for big-picture ideas and themes, it's impossible and impractical to grasp and remember all the minutia. I would also suggest that unless you have a demonstrably useful system, underlining may be hitting more than it helps.

  For LR, the best way to speed up is improving your recognition of question types and the logic required to resolve them. Unfortunately this is a slow, incremental process.

  For games, there are two general possibilities depending on your BR section score. Option A: your BR is -2,-1, or -0. If this is the case, then it's purely a timing issue. Try adjusting your strategy for splitting game boards. If a rule or inference makes 2 or 3 game boards practical, 45 seconds upfront could save 5 minutes later. Also practice exhausting all inferences. When you BR make sure to combine rules and find the second and third tier inferences, because these can make questions immediately obvious. Use the 7sage videos to check for any you're missing.

  Overall, the only way to really increase speed is to increase your understanding of the material. Which takes repetition. Redo old sections, ALWAYS UNDER TIME CONSTRAINTS! But @uhinberg and @"Alex Divine" are right, missing whole sections is not a minor issue to be fixed in a matter of days, you need to strongly consider pushing back your test. Best case scenario for a February test is that you rush thru like a bat out of hell in order to answer every question. Not a recipe for success. Take the time, further grasp the material, and get to the point where you can finish 5 minutes early and review tough Qs, then go get a score you can come back bragging with!!!
• tringo335 Alum Member ⭐

  January 2018 3679 karma

  Do you think you can push back your app? Sounds like it might be best to wait. Since you plan on taking more than once anyway it might be beneficial to take at a later date.