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after several self-timed 5-section mock exams, i feel that my timing for the game section fluctuates a lot.

of the four games, i usually finish two easy ones within 5-6 minutes for each, but then i spent over 13-15 minutes on the hard one, and for the medium difficulty game, if it goes well, i can finish the section on time, if it doesn't, then i will leave one or two questions unanswered...

i wonder if i need more practice? i used to try every answer in the choices (i still managed to finish on time), now i use deduction as much as possible to pick out the right answer instead of trying them all, but why i am still so slow?

should i just do 4 games every day to keep my brain fresh? sometimes i do over 20 games a day, and i feel that the more i do it, the faster i go. but if i don't do it for a couple of days, it slows down again.... is it common?

Looks like you're on the right track to me.

mz253 wrote:after several self-timed 5-section mock exams, i feel that my timing for the game section fluctuates a lot.

Right on for doing 5 sections instead of 4. If by fluctuation, you're referring to the 1 or 2 lost questions below, don't sweat that. You still have time to settle into your best form.

mz253 wrote:of the four games, i usually finish two easy ones within 5-6 minutes for each, but then i spent over 13-15 minutes on the hard one, and for the medium difficulty game, if it goes well, i can finish the section on time, if it doesn't, then i will leave one or two questions unanswered...

Good timing on the easy ones, and the point of that is to buy that extra time. You may want to consider learning to pick your battles. I think folks can end up burning 3 minutes on a question and still get it wrong and then have to randomly guess on a question or two that is within their range.

mz253 wrote: i wonder if i need more practice? i used to try every answer in the choices (i still managed to finish on time), now i use deduction as much as possible to pick out the right answer instead of trying them all, but why i am still so slow?

I think you do need more practice. Deductions are the way to go, and if you still remember the times when you used to use trial and error mostly, then you still have more room for incorporating this new strategy into your repetoire.

mz253 wrote:should i just do 4 games every day to keep my brain fresh? sometimes i do over 20 games a day, and i feel that the more i do it, the faster i go. but if i don't do it for a couple of days, it slows down again.... is it common?

I would suggest you start re-playing games. After you do it under timed conditions, figure out how you WISH you had done it, then put it down for a few hours and play it again, and then try it again in a week.

thanks for the suggestion!

Atlas LSAT Teacher wrote:Looks like you're on the right track to me.

mz253 wrote:after several self-timed 5-section mock exams, i feel that my timing for the game section fluctuates a lot.

Right on for doing 5 sections instead of 4. If by fluctuation, you're referring to the 1 or 2 lost questions below, don't sweat that. You still have time to settle into your best form.

mz253 wrote:of the four games, i usually finish two easy ones within 5-6 minutes for each, but then i spent over 13-15 minutes on the hard one, and for the medium difficulty game, if it goes well, i can finish the section on time, if it doesn't, then i will leave one or two questions unanswered...

Good timing on the easy ones, and the point of that is to buy that extra time. You may want to consider learning to pick your battles. I think folks can end up burning 3 minutes on a question and still get it wrong and then have to randomly guess on a question or two that is within their range.

mz253 wrote: i wonder if i need more practice? i used to try every answer in the choices (i still managed to finish on time), now i use deduction as much as possible to pick out the right answer instead of trying them all, but why i am still so slow?

I think you do need more practice. Deductions are the way to go, and if you still remember the times when you used to use trial and error mostly, then you still have more room for incorporating this new strategy into your repetoire.

mz253 wrote:should i just do 4 games every day to keep my brain fresh? sometimes i do over 20 games a day, and i feel that the more i do it, the faster i go. but if i don't do it for a couple of days, it slows down again.... is it common?

I would suggest you start re-playing games. After you do it under timed conditions, figure out how you WISH you had done it, then put it down for a few hours and play it again, and then try it again in a week.