Has anyone been successful in cracking the LSAT with untimed PTs (starting out, of course).

I don't think there is a "too long" answer. If you're doing untimed PT's to really try to understand the material, attempt to understand it for as long as you can handle. There's really no harm in going as long as you need, and this kind of study has value.

Yes. Take them untimed in order to reverse-engineer questions. Take them timed to get ready for the exam. I took five untimed, five timed, five untimed, and the rest timed. I took as long as two days to get through some of the untimed ones.

So how accurate were able to get with the untimed PT's? What kind of performance drop should one expect when you transition from timed to untimed?

I started off with untimed on the first 10, then timed a few. I realize I was finishing LR and RC well within 30 minutes, so I stopped timing myself to make sure I don't rush, and trying to get more accuracy. I probably will do the rest of my prep untimed except for the last 5 or so. for LG I am working on the PS bible but I want to make sure I can get through all the questions accurately before worrying about time. I hope by then I should be able to finish well within time. So far untimed I have been able to get to -1 to -3 on LR and RC and 0 to -2 on LG consistently. I hope this transition into similar performance on timed tests. Just want to see how others did.

I'm getting better than -5 on each section untimed (i've taken 5 PTs so far, three of them untimed), besides LG, of course. I get either -0 or -1 untimed on LG.

I'm trying my best to reverse-engineer the questions by searching for the central components of arguments, argument engines, etc. I really feel like I'm developing an intuitive grasp, but it's not nearly as fast as it needs to be. Good news is that I still have 45+ more PTs to go throug until i sit for the exam.
Has anyone been in the exact same boat by any chance? As in the development of LSAT intuition was slow at first, but it eventually picked up?

When I was hitting around the low 160's after studying a few weeks I took an untimed test and hit 175. It took me prob over an hour and a half to do the games section though, which was my worse section by far to start off with. It probably took me around 5-6 hours to finish.

I think taking a practice test or two (or even three or four) untimed early on is very helpful in gaining a better understanding of the test. But making sure to do plenty of timed tests is absolutely vital still for most.

I do the LG one game at a time. I keep time on them, and then combine the time. On average I am doing each question 1:40 each (set up included in the averaging). I think the average alotted time on the real test is about 1:25 or so per question. So I need to shave 10-15 second off each question. I think being able to diagram better, make inferences faster, spot the rule violations faster will all come with practice. By stat I am able to finish LG section in 40 minutes average with almost 100% accuracy, so I think practice will make perfect. I picked up PS LG bible just for this reason because I know I was inefficient but accurate. I am only on my first week of doing the book, so hopefully I will be able to see some improvement by next week.

I signed up for a Kaplan ultimate practice test at 8:30am at the same college I am taking the real test to simulate the real thing 3 weeks before the Feb test. I will focus more on timing after I take that practice test. If I can't finish under real testing conditions then I know what I have to focus on!

So how did you do on the real test in LG, and what do you think that helped you shave the time? As I wrote above I am only about 5 minutes over limit (10-15 seconds per question), I feel pretty positive about getting that time down.

I spent 10 years of my life trying to shave seconds off doing something, I am a pro at it and I always did better under pressure so hopefully it works the same on the test

-2

What really helped me the most was just doing as many games as possible. What helped me increase my speed after I got my accuracy and understanding down was stopping once I was able to get the right answer instead of going through and double checking all the answers. It's a balancing act- try pushing yourself to see how fast you can go before you start losing accuracy. Once you notice you are missing Q's b/c you're working to fast, then scale it back a bit.

Going back over games you've already done and trying to figure out (untimed) the best sketch possible on that game is a good exercise as well.

I think the scaling back idea after rushing as fast as you can on LGs is an excellent piece of advice. I'll see how it goes after I complete my first 150 fake logic games. After all, I have until next June to prepare (prior to hitting real PTs, I solve several fake logic games and read magazines for 30 minutes every morning religiously).

Even if you are not taking until next June, you might still be fine with starting on actual logic games. Where did you get the fake ones? While I've seen a few alright ones out there, those would be in the vast minority. Most fake questions are generally crap. The great part about logic games is you can do a game multiple times and still receive a benefit from doing so. If you have access to older tests, I would start working through some of those games now and more than likely you won't remember them when you redo them in a month or two or three.

One of the biggest problems that I had with PTs, was that I was able to score in the 160s (although I've taken only 5 real PTs, I've actually taken about 5 fake ones too... I don't recommend this...), I've consistently scored in the 160s after my diagnostic and going through LGB. I pretty much tried my best to rush through each section, and tried to make the best guesses when I couldn't come up with an answer within 1.5 minutes.

I decided to pull a 10-untimed-PT regimen so that I can sway away from utilizing intuition/guesses and to make sure that each answer choice *logically clicks* Here's what I also do:

1. Analyze each and every question with explanation book
2. Cut all the questions that I got wrong with stickers and tape them onto my "incorrect answer log notebook"
3. Cut all Parallel questions onto a separate parallel notebook.

I know that this might sound ridiculous, but I would like a serious answer: Would 10 untimed PTs with rigorous review be sufficient for developing speed?? In what ways have untimed PTs contributed to your success on LSAT preparations? How long did it take?

I think untimed tests help the most in getting a good general understanding of the test to begin with. That means how to set-up games and then how to go about answering LR and RC questions. I would think continued untimed tests would be most helpful for someone who is continually struggling with LR since games and RC have such strong pacing focus. If you are missing more then a few Q's on LR and RC, then you know you have some big holes in understanding you need to try and resolve. You simply should not be guessing for the majority of LR and RC questions with untimed tests. Any question you feel unsure about is a question you need to go back over and spend as much time as needed understanding why you were tempted by the wrong answer, figure out the flaw in that wrong choice, and figure out why you overlooked the correct answer.

When you have a good understanding of the questions that could help in speeding you up, but there really is no replacement for taking timed sections and timed tests.

If it sounds ridiculous, that's only because it is ridiculous.

In seriousness and in general, no. There are two stumbling blocks on the LSAT: accuracy and speed. You have to answer the questions correctly within the time limit. Untimed practice is good for accuracy. Timed practice is good for speed. Usually accuracy has to precede speed, which is the reason that people recommend starting out with untimed practice. But accuracy doesn't replace speed.

Even so, if you're not far off finishing in 35 minutes anyway, then a greater understanding of the questions may help you speed up as well, which means that you may not need much timed practice after your untimed practice. But when I started with the LSAT, I was doing games sections in an hour (with perfect accuracy). The only way to get better was to watch my time and slowly speed up.

I am easily getting 100% accuracy on the games at around 40-45 minutes. When I start my timed practice, do you think I should keep a mental clock and skip questions that takes too long. Or like PS bible suggests skip the questions that will take the most time? I guess from practice I will know how long I would personally likely to spend on each question type, and maybe skip the most time consuming. Of course I want a 180 but maybe I should sacrifice a couple of raw points so I can get the section finished? The only difficult part is if you skip LG questions its hard to come back to finish like LR since you have to pick up the logic of the game again and that is unlikely.

I guess I am just anxious about not having enough time and mess up the easy questions. I am pretty confident with the rest of the test, just the speed on LG.

Part of the point of doing timed practice is to be able to test different methods, so you can try skipping the most time-consuming questions wherever they fall or just not completely finishing the most time-consuming game, and see which method works best for you. Usually the latter method is the most reliable path to eventually finishing everything.

As you're working on timing, check the time frequently, not to try to speed up within the section that you're doing, but just to see where the time is going. This will tell you what to try to speed up on for the next time.

36 minutes is too long. Do the PTs in a timed session and finish any unanswered questions after time is called.