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I just took my first full timed lsat in a classroom setting; I've taken two on my own, but I didn't time the logic games section and it wasn't under rigid time constraints (other sections under 35 min, but I took breaks whenever I wanted, etc). I have just started studying this past month, focused solely on LG (been through most of the powerscore bible and also the full manhattan book).

I was really excited to do the LG on this test since I've been working on them, but I came to the section and totally panicked (missed vital information on the first question and had to skip it, though I came back and did a couple after the others). I think I got something like 60% right in this section?

So- my first question is- is it normal, mid-studying, to get a bit worse at something you've been practicing a lot? I recovered ok but was still really disappointed with this section- hit to my morale! (I'm thinking this also could do with the fact that this was my first modern game, so the questions were a tad different than what I had encountered in the other practice tests).
I scored 161, which I'm more pleased with knowing that I bombed the LG, but obviously plenty of room for improvement.


Second question- I asked about this before, but since it cropped up again during my actual timed test I'm going to ask again. Aside from LG (where I worked until time) I consistently had 5-10 minutes left over at the end of each section. We didn't have a clock to look at, only 5 min left getting called, so I'm hoping that when I can see a watch I will pace myself a little better...but should I be trying to slow myself down, or should I be moving through at normal pace and then rechecking? I found that I had enough time to check all of the starred questions in each section, which was helpful, and spotted some dumb mistakes I had made as well. But- I might eliminate more of these dumb answers being slow through the test the first time? I don't feel like I'm rushing myself. *But* I found that on nearly all of my wrong answers (I think all but 5 total?) the second choice I had marked was the correct answer, which maybe means I need to be debating a few of them a bit more.

Oh also- I have been marking my answers on the test itself, then bubbling them in after each page- good strategy? bad strategy? When I get towards the end I bubble each question as I go in case time sneaks up on me.

As a side note- wanted to thank all you TLSers, after reading all of the crazy threads on here I felt excited to do the lsat, and I think that really helped me- when the test ended I felt like I had at least another couple sections in me!

imjustjoking22 wrote:is it normal, mid-studying, to get a bit worse at something you've been practicing a lot?

It would be much stranger if you didn't have this happen at least once.

should I be trying to slow myself down, or should I be moving through at normal pace and then rechecking?

I found slowing down and working deliberately to be much better, but you should be working on probably 30-minute sections to start with, considering that under the pressure of actual test day you don't want to feel rushed.

Oh also- I have been marking my answers on the test itself, then bubbling them in after each page- good strategy? bad strategy? When I get towards the end I bubble each question as I go in case time sneaks up on me.

This is probably better for your accuracy. I did it the other way, but you have to do what works for you.

incompetentia wrote:

imjustjoking22 wrote:is it normal, mid-studying, to get a bit worse at something you've been practicing a lot?

It would be much stranger if you didn't have this happen at least once.

should I be trying to slow myself down, or should I be moving through at normal pace and then rechecking?

I found slowing down and working deliberately to be much better, but you should be working on probably 30-minute sections to start with, considering that under the pressure of actual test day you don't want to feel rushed.

Oh also- I have been marking my answers on the test itself, then bubbling them in after each page- good strategy? bad strategy? When I get towards the end I bubble each question as I go in case time sneaks up on me.

This is probably better for your accuracy. I did it the other way, but you have to do what works for you.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to get myself a watch and slow down a bit- or just learn how to better manage my time while checking answers. I think I got a bit lazy knowing it wasn't the real thing ("do I haaaaaave to check my answers?" said the lazy/evil little man on my shoulder). I'm figuring I'll lose at least 5 minutes on the real thing stressing about each answer, so it's probably good to PT with a little room to spare.

The bubbling stresses me because I don't want to miss any time-wise, but I have a tendency to mess up my bubbling if I don't focus on it, so maybe you're right that it's my strategy and I should stick with it.

...I hope the lsat makes everyone this neurotic. Haha.

Don't worry, the test makes everyone a bit neurotic.

The fact that you messed up on the LG section in this test isn't really an indicator of anything that you need to be worried about. You said it yourself, you came to the section and totally panicked. Generally you don't want to use individual instances as criteria to judge whether or not you're making progress, you're looking for trends and consistency. Particularly if the instances are radically different from the norm. What you should do is use this is as a learning opportunity to try and figure out what caused you to drop off so much and work on it.

As for the second question, I'd recommend slowing down if you can do it so that you're still giving yourself a comfortable amount of time to finish the section. In my student's experience, having a lot of time to spare means a fairly unacceptable level of carelessness. You really need to pay close attention to the answer choices, particularly the more difficult ones.