Breaking an LR Slump Forum
- beezneez
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:53 pm
Breaking an LR Slump
Hi all,
For the last 12 LR timed practice sessions I've been getting exactly 5-7 wrong. Looked for patterns among question types and can't find any, and I assume like most people 4-5 occur after questions 15 (stamina could be an issue). I can usually get about 22/25 etc untimed, but when timed by numbers go down to 18-20/25. I've also tried starting a Q15 etc with the SAME results.
Has anyone experienced anything similar? Going through PS again, this time making notes, and reviewing the LR part Steve's 6 month plan again. Anything else I can try? Is there hope to break this slump and be PT'ing in the 20s by Oct? Could it be a flaw in my basic abilities? Perhaps a reading speed, or a concentration thing? My GPA is 3.8, so I think I can do this!
Thanks so much!
For the last 12 LR timed practice sessions I've been getting exactly 5-7 wrong. Looked for patterns among question types and can't find any, and I assume like most people 4-5 occur after questions 15 (stamina could be an issue). I can usually get about 22/25 etc untimed, but when timed by numbers go down to 18-20/25. I've also tried starting a Q15 etc with the SAME results.
Has anyone experienced anything similar? Going through PS again, this time making notes, and reviewing the LR part Steve's 6 month plan again. Anything else I can try? Is there hope to break this slump and be PT'ing in the 20s by Oct? Could it be a flaw in my basic abilities? Perhaps a reading speed, or a concentration thing? My GPA is 3.8, so I think I can do this!
Thanks so much!
- flippacious
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 3:54 pm
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
How do you review? You could try keeping track of exactly why you get a question wrong. For every question you miss or are not 100% sure about (say you narrow it two answer choices, but guess the right one) ask yourself these four questions:
1. Why is the right answer right?
2. Why is the wrong answer wrong?
3. What about the wrong answer made me think it was right?
4. What about the right answer made me think it was wrong?
Pay attention to your answers to these questions, especially #3 and #4, and you should pick up on a pattern besides question types. Figure out what types of answers trick you into thinking they're right and why these answers are wrong.
You could also try taking a section timed and not looking at the answer key right away. Instead, go through the questions again, untimed, and try to "grade" yourself and catch your mistakes on your own. The key is doing this shortly after the timed section, so you can remember exactly what you were thinking. I tried this recently and it really made my mistakes stand out, I thought it was helpful.
1. Why is the right answer right?
2. Why is the wrong answer wrong?
3. What about the wrong answer made me think it was right?
4. What about the right answer made me think it was wrong?
Pay attention to your answers to these questions, especially #3 and #4, and you should pick up on a pattern besides question types. Figure out what types of answers trick you into thinking they're right and why these answers are wrong.
You could also try taking a section timed and not looking at the answer key right away. Instead, go through the questions again, untimed, and try to "grade" yourself and catch your mistakes on your own. The key is doing this shortly after the timed section, so you can remember exactly what you were thinking. I tried this recently and it really made my mistakes stand out, I thought it was helpful.
- CalAlumni
- Posts: 204
- Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 11:58 am
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
What PT's have you been doing?
- sabanist
- Posts: 574
- Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:48 pm
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
+1, excellent advice.flippacious wrote:How do you review? You could try keeping track of exactly why you get a question wrong. For every question you miss or are not 100% sure about (say you narrow it two answer choices, but guess the right one) ask yourself these four questions:
1. Why is the right answer right?
2. Why is the wrong answer wrong?
3. What about the wrong answer made me think it was right?
4. What about the right answer made me think it was wrong?
Pay attention to your answers to these questions, especially #3 and #4, and you should pick up on a pattern besides question types. Figure out what types of answers trick you into thinking they're right and why these answers are wrong.
You could also try taking a section timed and not looking at the answer key right away. Instead, go through the questions again, untimed, and try to "grade" yourself and catch your mistakes on your own. The key is doing this shortly after the timed section, so you can remember exactly what you were thinking. I tried this recently and it really made my mistakes stand out, I thought it was helpful.
Also, the problem with it occurring after Q15 is probably less of a stamina issue and more of a difficulty issue. I often find that the questions I struggle with the most are 15-20, with a slight decline in difficulty after that, and I think some people have said the same.
Reviewing the LRB helped me as well (forgot ALL about the negation technique etc. by test day, which would have helped me a lot), and failing that, some people have said doing Manhattan LR in addition to the LRB helped them.
Good luck!
-
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:28 am
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
.
Last edited by lederhosen on Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Want to continue reading?
Register now to search topics and post comments!
Absolutely FREE!
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 235
- Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 1:23 am
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
This advice is good. I took a cold practice test today. (Cold, because in the past, I've taken the earlier practice tests, and questions from the Kaplan Mastery Practice/Big Blue Book crop up all over the place. I'm very sure that seeing questions I've done, picked apart and thoroughly studied inaccurately inflate my score, time, and confidence). I was shocked. By far the worst score I had gotten in a LR section since my very first cold diagnostic. I think that I'll go through and write down the answers to the above mentioned questions 1-4.
Good luck!
Good luck!
- beezneez
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:53 pm
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
Thanks so much, all! Excellent advice and much appreciated.
My errors have been occurring in the last 8 questions, and I've been doing PTs 19-38, saving 40+ for timed, full lsat experience in the last 2 months. I;ve gone over the LRB and made notes and can now go -2 average untimed, so I think I understand things. Just need to start drilling and push it now.
Happy studying all. We'll kill this thing!
My errors have been occurring in the last 8 questions, and I've been doing PTs 19-38, saving 40+ for timed, full lsat experience in the last 2 months. I;ve gone over the LRB and made notes and can now go -2 average untimed, so I think I understand things. Just need to start drilling and push it now.
Happy studying all. We'll kill this thing!
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:48 pm
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
Do a deeper analysis.. are you getting the last few questions wrong? Then it could be a fatigue issue. Or maybe you're getting a certain type of question wrong...see if you can see some similarities in the questions youre getting wrong...maybe its a small concept or trick youre getting sucked into each time
-
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:52 pm
Re: Breaking an LR Slump
Are all of these timed? If yes, maybe you can get rid of the timer and see if you can master it then go back to work on timing