When to worry about time? Forum

[DLTJAL2244]

I have been preparing for the LSAT for the past couple months. June and part of July were spent going through and taking notes on the Bibles, and in the latter part of July, I began my prep course. My instructor keeps reiterating that timing is not something that I should worry about at this point, but I am not sure whether or not to trust her. My accuracy is great untimed, but it goes down considerably once I begin timing (this is what I have noticed on the very few times that I did attempt to time myself). I plan on taking the October LSAT, and I have no obligations other studying between now and October 9th. Is it unreasonable to wait until September to vigorously hone in on timing after I master all of the logic behind different games, LR question types, etc? Would it be more effective to begin timing now and based on my progress decide whether or not to postpone until December? I would appreciate any suggestions.....

[Emma.]

I have been preparing for the LSAT for the past couple months. June and part of July were spent going through and taking notes on the Bibles, and in the latter part of July, I began my prep course. My instructor keeps reiterating that timing is not something that I should worry about at this point, but I am not sure whether or not to trust her. My accuracy is great untimed, but it goes down considerably once I begin timing (this is what I have noticed on the very few times that I did attempt to time myself). I plan on taking the October LSAT, and I have no obligations other studying between now and October 9th. Is it unreasonable to wait until September to vigorously hone in on timing after I master all of the logic behind different games, LR question types, etc? Would it be more effective to begin timing now and based on my progress decide whether or not to postpone until December? I would appreciate any suggestions.....

2 months is not a long time, and I feel like it would be good to start thinking about timing certainly before September. Have you ever taken a timed practice test?

[DLTJAL2244]

Yes, I got a 150. However, I am aiming for a 160.

[The Gentleman]

I too found the transition from untimed to timed sections to be quite challenging. When the timer started, my brain had a tendency to abandon the techniques I learned through the PS bibles and revert to less effective strategies. One of the things I did to help overcome this was beginning with 40 minute timed sections and working my way down to 35 min. By giving myself a little extra time to start with, I was able to build confidence applying the PS techniques while at the same time familiarizing myself with the feeling of time constraints. But to answer your question, (granted that I too am an LSAT n00b) it definitely seems unreasonable to not begin timing yourself until September.

[DLTJAL2244]

Well I am glad to have heard your perspectives. My gut feeling was that waiting was not a good strategy. The TM course that I am taking has given me the most recent pts, but I wanted to save them for later in my prep. However, the HW that I am assigned is filled with questions from earlier tests. I ordered every single pt the LSAC sells so that I would be able to make extra copies of LG's and LR's. Would it be a bad idea to begin some earlier practice tests timed given that I already may know the answers to so many problems? Should I stick to timing parts of my HW/doing 1 timed section per day?