LR and RC - how to improve on hardest questions? Forum

Prepare for the LSAT or discuss it with others in this forum.
Post Reply
amz

New
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:51 pm

LR and RC - how to improve on hardest questions?

Post by amz » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:50 am

I'm taking the test on February 12.  I've done four practice tests so far, and all of my scores have fallen between 157 and 163.  I'm trying to figure out the best way to use my remaining prep time, especially with respect to LR and RC (I've already done a fair amount of work on games, my weakest section).

I'm relatively strong on LR and RC.  On all my practice tests I've gotten between 3 and 6 wrong in every LR and RC section.  I rarely have any trouble with the easy and medium-difficulty questions and blow through them quickly and pretty much intuitively. *Not* thinking about these questions actually seems to work extremely well for me (not thinking in a conscious or deliberate way, that is).  On the other hand, I definitely need to find ways to improve on the most difficult questions, but at the same time, the LAST thing I want to do is mess with the mojo I've going on the easier ones.

To illustrate:  on my most recent practice exam, I tried out some of the strategies for LR and RC I've read and heard about (strategies which on previous tests I hadn't been aware of), and found that while it didn't affect my performance at all (if anything I did worse than usual), it drastically reduced my speed on RC: I ran out of time and was forced to guess randomly on an ALL of the last passage's questions, which was COMPLETELY atypical for me -- I've always finished more-or-less right on the 35-minute mark in RC.  I ended up feeling like I'd gone backwards rather than forwards.

Granted, I haven't really practiced these strategies much and I know that if I do, my speed will improve.  However with only a month go to (and a full-time job to attend to as well), I'm not sure I will have enough time to do enough practice to get myself to the point I need to be at. And as I say, I'm very concerned about making it only part of the way there, i.e. screwing up my intuitive ability to deal quickly and effectively with the majority of the questions to the point that that any gains I might make on the harder ones are nullified (or worse).

I know there must be folks out there who have faced this kind of dilemma, and I'd be especially interested to hear how you dealt (or are dealing) with it.  I feel like (though perhaps this is just wishful thinking) there must be some specific way to address this, some strategy that speaks particularly to the harder questions in LR and RC, as opposed to just an across-the-board type of prescription.  Any and all advice will be very greatly appreciated.

Voyager

Silver
Posts: 728
Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 2:52 pm

Re: LR and RC - how to improve on hardest questions?

Post by Voyager » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:21 pm

amz wrote:I'm taking the test on February 12.  I've done four practice tests so far, and all of my scores have fallen between 157 and 163.  I'm trying to figure out the best way to use my remaining prep time, especially with respect to LR and RC (I've already done a fair amount of work on games, my weakest section).

I'm relatively strong on LR and RC.  On all my practice tests I've gotten between 3 and 6 wrong in every LR and RC section.  I rarely have any trouble with the easy and medium-difficulty questions and blow through them quickly and pretty much intuitively. *Not* thinking about these questions actually seems to work extremely well for me (not thinking in a conscious or deliberate way, that is).  On the other hand, I definitely need to find ways to improve on the most difficult questions, but at the same time, the LAST thing I want to do is mess with the mojo I've going on the easier ones.

To illustrate:  on my most recent practice exam, I tried out some of the strategies for LR and RC I've read and heard about (strategies which on previous tests I hadn't been aware of), and found that while it didn't affect my performance at all (if anything I did worse than usual), it drastically reduced my speed on RC: I ran out of time and was forced to guess randomly on an ALL of the last passage's questions, which was COMPLETELY atypical for me -- I've always finished more-or-less right on the 35-minute mark in RC.  I ended up feeling like I'd gone backwards rather than forwards.

Granted, I haven't really practiced these strategies much and I know that if I do, my speed will improve.  However with only a month go to (and a full-time job to attend to as well), I'm not sure I will have enough time to do enough practice to get myself to the point I need to be at. And as I say, I'm very concerned about making it only part of the way there, i.e. screwing up my intuitive ability to deal quickly and effectively with the majority of the questions to the point that that any gains I might make on the harder ones are nullified (or worse).

I know there must be folks out there who have faced this kind of dilemma, and I'd be especially interested to hear how you dealt (or are dealing) with it.  I feel like (though perhaps this is just wishful thinking) there must be some specific way to address this, some strategy that speaks particularly to the harder questions in LR and RC, as opposed to just an across-the-board type of prescription.  Any and all advice will be very greatly appreciated.
With no practice, those RC methods (mine in particular) will slow you down. WITH practice they make you much much faster and much more accurate.

Post Reply

Return to “LSAT Prep and Discussion Forum”