calvinlovehobbes wrote:
PreLawMentor.com wrote:
Desert Fox raises a good point that many top scorers cannot teach others how to repeat their success; nonetheless, some 99th percentile scorers can. Downing and rbhesser's posts do provide important limits to following others' advice: you have to figure out what works for you specifically.
I have taught the LSATs for over half a decade at multiple companies which taught me that the fundamentals of solving LSAT problems are the same for everyone (e.g. the basic picture you draw for a logic game, the sequence in Logical Reasoning of reading the question before the stimulus, and the idea that you should take notes while you digest a Reading Comprehension passage). But the best ways to teach these fundamentals and the best ways for students to practice the same, varies with each student. In my book, SPAM REMOVED BY MODS I describe all the options for LSAT courses available today and explain what makes each LSAT company unique. Everyone is different and so your choice of LSAT company should factor in your study habits and challenges.
If you insist on studying on your own, I'll repeat what another poster said: analyzing your mistakes is the most important part. Students often make the mistake of taking practice tests one after the other, assuming more tests means higher scores. There are two huge problems with this: you tend to get sloppy if you do too many full tests in a row (and those sloppy habits stick around) and you don't give yourself enough time to review every mistake. The LSAT is the most predictable standardized test. I can tell you where the hardest questions will be placed, and the relative number of Strengthen the Argument questions versus Parallel Reasoning questions on any test. Thus, mistakes on practice tests are virtually guaranteed to be repeated on test day if you do not correct the problem. You should definitely learn strategies before barreling through questions, but beyond that I believe analyzing your mistakes is the most important part of LSAT prep (again, because the test is so predictable). Closer to test day, this is even more important because mistakes at the end of your study period are not the result of confusion of basic strategy. Presumably, you've learned that over your weeks or months of studying.
TIP: Teachers will tell you to analyze every single question and its explanation. The advice goes: you should understand why you got something right so you can repeat it, in addition to studying why you got others wrong. But all students are busy so most just analyze questions they got wrong. This strategy will miss huge opportunities to improve your score. Instead, try this: analyze all questions you get wrong thoroughly. In addition, create a symbol you'll write next to a question to signal that you were not 100% sure. Even better, use a "?" if you had no idea and just guessed and use a "*" to say you think you got right answer but weren't 100%. This way, you can analyze questions you got wrong PLUS all questions where you weren't sure. If you only review questions you got wrong, you're forgetting that you basically guessed on some; remember, the LSAT is repetitive so you'll probably have to guess on test day.
Follow this advice because it's much better than only reviewing wrong answers and it's faster than trying to review every single question. My partner (who was Yale's Law Career Counselor for two years) and I co-authored SPAM REMOVED BY MODS.
Good Luck!
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what happens during review/analysis when you can't figure out why you did something wrong or why the correct answer is...correct?
Well, if you have a teacher/tutor, use that resource. If not, you're in a tough spot. Unfortunately, some explanations in even the best books are not that helpful. Moreover, some good explanations just don't help certain students even though they work for 80% of the class. There are a million reasons an explanation may work for 80% of the class but not for you. What can you do? Here are a few suggestions:
(1) Try to find out why all wrong answers are wrong. One some questions, especially toughest ones, it's very difficult to understand why the right answer is right, but it's not so difficult to find the problems with wrong answer, at least once you know which ones are wrong from looking at solutions. Using process of elimination is big on the LSAT and is sometimes the easiest method to get to the right answer. Note that the toughest questions are usually placed in the middle and late-middle of a Logical Reasoning section (tough questions can appear anywhere in Logic Games and Reading Comp.).
(2) Post the question and answer (preferably all the answers) on a blog and hope to get a better explanation. You might post the book's explanation too b/c someone can provide more useful advice if they see what you've already considered. There may actually be an error in the explanation which someone can point out.
(3) Leave the problem alone for at least a day and come back to it. Research proves there are huge benefits to giving a problem some space before returning (the same goes for writing). Basically, if you keep trying, without a break, your brain is stuck in a certain pattern of thinking. You must take a break from something for your brain to think outside your current pattern. Sometimes the answer will become clear with nothing more than a break of a day or two.
(4) Walk through the problem step-by-step and then try to predict the answer, without looking at the answer choices. (I realize you've already done the questions so it's a bit artificial to pretend you don't know the answers, but try.) Then, figure out how your predicted answer differs from the correct choice.
I hope this is helpful!
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 7:03 pm 
