Starting out... speed or precision? Forum

[isuperserial]

If you've seen my posts in the past, you'll know that I'm taking the LSAT in June, but i'm getting a jump on the studying now. When I'm working through the sections in my Powerscore books, they have a bunch of problem sets. Now, when I'm doing this, should I time them or focus on precision when starting out?

Is it better to start off slow and getting everything right and work to become faster, or to work within the time frame but miss a few and simply work to become more accurate?

Do I start precise and work to achieve speed, or start speedy and work to achieve precision?

If it's a matter of preference, please tell me which one you chose, why you chose it, and how it worked for you. Pros and cons of both method would also be awesome. Thanks!

[Br3v]

If you've seen my posts in the past, you'll know that I'm taking the LSAT in June, but i'm getting a jump on the studying now. When I'm working through the sections in my Powerscore books, they have a bunch of problem sets. Now, when I'm doing this, should I time them or focus on precision when starting out?

Is it better to start off slow and getting everything right and work to become faster, or to work within the time frame but miss a few and simply work to become more accurate?

Do I start precise and work to achieve speed, or start speedy and work to achieve precision?

If it's a matter of preference, please tell me which one you chose, why you chose it, and how it worked for you. Pros and cons of both method would also be awesome. Thanks!

You know the answer, don't you?

[Cobretti]

If you've seen my posts in the past, you'll know that I'm taking the LSAT in June, but i'm getting a jump on the studying now. When I'm working through the sections in my Powerscore books, they have a bunch of problem sets. Now, when I'm doing this, should I time them or focus on precision when starting out?

Is it better to start off slow and getting everything right and work to become faster, or to work within the time frame but miss a few and simply work to become more accurate?

Do I start precise and work to achieve speed, or start speedy and work to achieve precision?

If it's a matter of preference, please tell me which one you chose, why you chose it, and how it worked for you. Pros and cons of both method would also be awesome. Thanks!

Especially with your timeline, focus 100% on precision until you're getting nearly everything right, then worry about speed.

[isuperserial]

If you've seen my posts in the past, you'll know that I'm taking the LSAT in June, but i'm getting a jump on the studying now. When I'm working through the sections in my Powerscore books, they have a bunch of problem sets. Now, when I'm doing this, should I time them or focus on precision when starting out?

Is it better to start off slow and getting everything right and work to become faster, or to work within the time frame but miss a few and simply work to become more accurate?

Do I start precise and work to achieve speed, or start speedy and work to achieve precision?

If it's a matter of preference, please tell me which one you chose, why you chose it, and how it worked for you. Pros and cons of both method would also be awesome. Thanks!

Especially with your timeline, focus 100% on precision until you're getting nearly everything right, then worry about speed.

Okay, thanks for the advice! I'll do that.

[Manhattan LSAT Noah]

You can also switch to focusing on timing for a specific question type - first do a bunch of questions untamed, then, when you're getting them, add the timer.

And when you switch to working on your timing, expect your accuracy to dip at first.

[20121109]

Speed means nothing without accuracy.

Good luck.

[CorkBoard]

TCR is precision and then speed. Once you get a hang of the question types, the speed will come along with it.

[Theopliske8711]

Speed comes naturally with practice; precision is more difficult to attain.

[05062014]

Speeecision

[isuperserial]

Alright, thanks you guys. The general consensus, from what I've gleaned, is that I should aim for accuracy and that the speed will come with it as I become better at it. Thanks a lot for the help!

[hopefulapp]

This post was very informative.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

I think precision is most important. BUT you should do a *little* speed work here and there to keep you grounded in what the test is actually like. Maybe one timed section or test per week starting out.

I've seen a lot of students practice for months on nothing but precision. When they finally take a timed test, they're shocked at how poorly they do. So give yourself a bit of exposure just to be sure you know what real timed sections are like.

[Malakai]

Precision. Do a timed test once every 4 weeks until April, then do two months of timed testing with a timed test every few days. Or, you can do a timed test every month, and do timed tests starting in March.

Just space the timed tests out in a way that's productive and where you are actually learning the most out of your incorrect/correct answer choices.

Ideally, you would have done every LSAT by June if you want to be a boss. Though for some people, even 10-30 PT's has served them very well.

[PDaddy]

If you've seen my posts in the past, you'll know that I'm taking the LSAT in June, but i'm getting a jump on the studying now. When I'm working through the sections in my Powerscore books, they have a bunch of problem sets. Now, when I'm doing this, should I time them or focus on precision when starting out?

Is it better to start off slow and getting everything right and work to become faster, or to work within the time frame but miss a few and simply work to become more accurate?

Do I start precise and work to achieve speed, or start speedy and work to achieve precision?

If it's a matter of preference, please tell me which one you chose, why you chose it, and how it worked for you. Pros and cons of both method would also be awesome. Thanks!

Precision always comes first. What good does it do if you are fast at doing problems wrong? After you are proficient in answering the questions, go for speed. In fact, the speed tends to automatically come as you find questions easier. An initial focus based on speed can actually kill your preparation, because you will eventually realize that you need to get the techniques down - unless you are a freak who just gets all of the questions correct without prep. What you will find in that instance is that the habit of going too fast is difficult to break.

One other benefit to working on speed later: there are subtleties you have to adjust for, such as questions not being in order of difficulty. It is not a good idea for a new LSAT taker to confront those issues while in the habit of speeding through. Develop your system.