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Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:15 pm
by backtothebeat
I've taken about 3 full preptests, and have done a bunch of logical reasoning sections (not sure how many, upwards of 10) and I keep getting, on average, 3 wrong per section. It's the weirdest thing, no matter what I do I can't seem to cut it down to less than 3 wrong on a consistent basis. Is this just the nature of the beast or is there something extra I can do to ensure fewer incorrect answers? The types of questions I get wrong vary from section to section, but usually 1 of them will be an assumption question. I guess it is just going to come down to practice, but it's almost comical how I get 3 wrong every time

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:19 pm
by vespertiliovir
You could try the LR Bible -- I've never used it, but people seem to like it.

Most importantly, just keep doing practice sections/tests. You still haven't done very many in the grand scheme of things, so it's not too surprising you're not perfect yet.

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:19 pm
by Nikrall
backtothebeat wrote:I've taken about 3 full preptests, and have done a bunch of logical reasoning sections (not sure how many, upwards of 10) and I keep getting, on average, 3 wrong per section. It's the weirdest thing, no matter what I do I can't seem to cut it down to less than 3 wrong on a consistent basis. Is this just the nature of the beast or is there something extra I can do to ensure fewer incorrect answers? The types of questions I get wrong vary from section to section, but usually 1 of them will be an assumption question. I guess it is just going to come down to practice, but it's almost comical how I get 3 wrong every time
Are the 3 wrong always after question 14 or so?

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:21 pm
by backtothebeat
Yup, usually something will happen like I'll be going along fine, thinking I nailed the section, and then get questions 17 and 18 wrong, with 1 other mixed in there.

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:08 pm
by jr1886
backtothebeat wrote:Yup, usually something will happen like I'll be going along fine, thinking I nailed the section, and then get questions 17 and 18 wrong, with 1 other mixed in there.
I have the same problem too averaging -3 and always seem to miss two in a row. I plan to buy the Cambridge 410 Difficult questions (link --LinkRemoved-- ... stions/336) even though i have all the PT's and break those hard questions down to see if i can with brute force drive my average down further.

Ps. I did the LRB and took extensive notes. Still missing -3 which usually involved flaw or/and MBT questions

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:58 am
by kazu
backtothebeat wrote:I've taken about 3 full preptests, and have done a bunch of logical reasoning sections (not sure how many, upwards of 10) and I keep getting, on average, 3 wrong per section. It's the weirdest thing, no matter what I do I can't seem to cut it down to less than 3 wrong on a consistent basis. Is this just the nature of the beast or is there something extra I can do to ensure fewer incorrect answers? The types of questions I get wrong vary from section to section, but usually 1 of them will be an assumption question. I guess it is just going to come down to practice, but it's almost comical how I get 3 wrong every time
I've been there. What worked for me was analyzing the questions I got wrong, by "type", (and like you the types varied but I could tell which ones I was worse at) and then doing the Kaplan Mastery book in the order of the questions I would get wrong the most. After doing that, when I went back to doing whole sections I got -1~-2 per section, then -0.

Don't worry, I know it feels like you've hit a wall but there's plenty of time & studying left and progress in LSAT seems to usually go in fits and starts.

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:54 am
by winnatech
kazu,

Do you generally start off by doing individual LR sections and locating the types of questions you get wrong, and then going to the Mastery book to work on them by type? When you do that, do you also redo the questions you've done already before (to solidify your understanding I'm guessing)?

Thanks.

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:40 am
by kazu
I'm not currently studying, I took the June LSAT so the advice I'm giving you is based on my experiences then.

I decided to hit the Mastery book when I had gone through about 15~20 individual LR sections. I located all of the questions I got wrong and then divided them by type. Then I "ranked" the different types according to which ones I got wrong the most often.
I didn't redo the original questions I got wrong, since I had already reviewed them & written out why I had gotten them wrong, etc. Besides the Mastery book had more than enough questions for most of the question types. I viewed doing the Mastery as a way of solidifying that particular kind of logic in my head that I wasn't quite used to, especially under time pressure.

Hope this helps! I'll be happy to answer any other questions :)

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:37 am
by GratefulDead
I have a sidenote question Kazu, what is your strat for success in RC, did you use mastery to drill this section as well?

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:47 am
by 3|ink
backtothebeat wrote:I've taken about 3 full preptests, and have done a bunch of logical reasoning sections (not sure how many, upwards of 10) and I keep getting, on average, 3 wrong per section. It's the weirdest thing, no matter what I do I can't seem to cut it down to less than 3 wrong on a consistent basis. Is this just the nature of the beast or is there something extra I can do to ensure fewer incorrect answers? The types of questions I get wrong vary from section to section, but usually 1 of them will be an assumption question. I guess it is just going to come down to practice, but it's almost comical how I get 3 wrong every time
Are you missing sufficient or necessary assumption questions?

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:13 pm
by kazu
GratefulDead wrote:I have a sidenote question Kazu, what is your strat for success in RC, did you use mastery to drill this section as well?
No. All I did for RC was do PT sections. I never had much trouble with it though, so I didn't really pay too much attention to it - just made sure I was used to the more recent RC style & again, like LR, thoroughly reviewing any questions I got wrong.

Are you having a lot of trouble with RC?

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:13 am
by GratefulDead
Yeah RC I think might be my worst, if not LR. I get 0,-1 on LG, and LR used to be my worst but I'm getting much better, like -3, -4 a section, trying to get that down to 0 as well. RC though, which I haven't really started prepping yet is anywhere from -3 to -8. I used to think RC was easy, but lately I've been having a lot of trouble with both timing and answering the questions correctly. I think most of my focus from now on should just be practice sections of LR and RC, and LR by type.

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:25 am
by tommynobody
vespertiliovir wrote:You could try the LR Bible -- I've never used it, but people seem to like it.

Most importantly, just keep doing practice sections/tests. You still haven't done very many in the grand scheme of things, so it's not too surprising you're not perfect yet.
The LSAT is an exercise in endurance.

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:31 am
by kazu
GratefulDead wrote:Yeah RC I think might be my worst, if not LR. I get 0,-1 on LG, and LR used to be my worst but I'm getting much better, like -3, -4 a section, trying to get that down to 0 as well. RC though, which I haven't really started prepping yet is anywhere from -3 to -8. I used to think RC was easy, but lately I've been having a lot of trouble with both timing and answering the questions correctly. I think most of my focus from now on should just be practice sections of LR and RC, and LR by type.
With practice you should get better, especially since you haven't really started prepping yet for RC. Maybe read a lot of LSAT-type dense material outside of normal "studying" hours as well. I had subscribed to the Economist for about a year before I took the LSAT, dunno if that helped but I was definitely used to that sort of dry-ish material. Since I never used study aids for RC, just did PT sections I don't know if RCB or anything else is worthwhile.

Sorry I can't be of more help :(

Re: Hitting the wall on LR?

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:19 pm
by gdane
Getting ONLY 3 wrong per section is F*ing amazing! Of course the goal is always to get 0 wrong per section, but wow thats good.

Take a break from LR. Do LG or RC.