Timing/Accuracy Forum

[Hedwig]

Hi all.

I've started studying for the October exam, and I've been focusing on increasing accuracy at this point, rather than speed. I've kept a casual eye on the clock for most sections, however, and I seem to go through LR and RC rather quickly (25-30 minutes on average), and LG is still quite a slow section.

While I realize LG needs practice practice practice, I think as I review all games already done, repeat them until I can do them within the 8 minutes per game that's usually recommended, as well as work on new games continually, the timing piece of that will come by itself.

At what point do you guys think timing is a good thing to introduce? I started off with the free June 2007 test as a cold diagnostic, and scored a 159, with timing that was liberal (40 minutes per section, was under 35 minutes for everything but games). My scores since on the practice tests I've taken, again with games taking slightly longer than would be allowed, have been 163, 170, 171, and 175. These aren't really that great of indicators, I feel, since I had extra time on games.

Is it worth it to start timing sections now? Most of my studying is focusing of looking at the sections/tests after they've been completed in order to understand where I'm making mistakes, how I'm getting things right, and why the right answer isn't wrong, etc, all that good stuff... but I'm anxious to sort of see an "actual" score, one that includes timing and stricter conditions.

[Geat27]

I wouldn't introduce timing for a while yet.

I think there is huge value to doing practice questions untimed -- it gives your mind time to work out better heuristics, and it helps you get comfortable with and familiar with the questions.

If, over time, you find that you've gotten down to eight minutes or less, then you'll know it's time to start taking timed LG sections.

Otherwise, I wouldn't start timing yourself until you've had many hours of practice.

I used the Powerscore Logic Games Bible when I was prepping and thought it was really good.

You'll know you're ready for the LSAT itself when you can take several timed practice tests over a few days and get a consistent score that you're comfortable with.

[tidepool]

This is just my experience, but here's what I think. Being able to answer questions quicker than you can now is a function of understanding the test better. Right now you should just be focused on getting the right answer, and for questions you miss, you should go back and understand why you missed them, what attracted you to the wrong answer choice, why you ruled out the correct answer choice, etc. As your skills improve, so will your timing. ymmv.

[Hedwig]

Thanks for the replies.

I've found that for LR and RC I actually only take about 20-25 minutes each. So I don't feel like I need to worry about that for awhile.

I think I have to suck it up and spend the 60 dollars on the LG Bible though, because I'm fairly slow and I think having a guide to follow for my diagrams (even if I ultimately do it more my own symbolic method) would be helpful. Sigh. There goes 60 dollars.

[Geat27]

It should only be about $40 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... le&x=0&y=0

That's still higher than it ought to be...

[Hedwig]

Thanks for the link. I'm Canadian and thus the price seems to be quite inflated over here. I suppose I could order it from .com and it would only cost about 50 dollars once the shipping/conversion went through, which isn't bad.

[Anaconda]

The LGB is worth every penny.