-5/-6 struggles with LR :( Forum

[adagio15]

Whenever I time myself I can't seem to get fewer than 5 or 6 questions wrong in a LR section. I take the time to look over and understand every single question that I get incorrect AND correct, but I still end up getting questions wrong again the next time I attempt a timed section. I try to focus on studying questions that give me the most trouble (assumption, strengthen/weaken, flaw) but some of the questions I get wrong are so arbitrary.

I don't know how I need to change my approach to studying. I have to be doing something inefficiently or straight up wrong.. Does anyone have advice for dealing with these nasty 5-6 problems? Anyone in the same boat as I am?

Any suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

[thelong]

When you say that you study question types what do you mean exactly? Do you drill a set number of questions of that type or do you just go and read from the LRB or other LR resource?

Drilling is essential to putting the theory you've learned into practice. And, on PT day and test day you need to remember to use what you've learned. Identify the question and remember to give the answer that the question is expressly asking for. It's really easy to just throw your method out the window on a timed section, but don't!

What I do is PT one day then I tally up which questions I got wrong by type the following day. This past PT I got two strengthen questions wrong and only 1 question of a few other types. That means that I'm going to do 50 strengthen questions in my drilling either the same day or the following day. I do this for each question type that is giving me trouble. For the PT prior to this I missed three assumption questions. I subsequently drilled assumption questions and missed zero this time around because I had a better feel not just for what the question was looking for but what kinds of answers make sense.

For instance, in assumption questions you can usually figure out where the correct answer would fit into the stimulus, while incorrect answers rarely make sense with the stimulus. Some of this is discussed in the LR literature but doesn't really become intuitive until you actively drill that question type.

[Jack Smirks]

Just keep reviewing the questions you get wrong and drill the question types you have problems with. When you miss a question make sure you understand why the answer you chose is wrong as well as why the right answer is TCR. You could also try slowing down and bringing up your accuracy. If you only attempt 22 or 23 questions but you get them all right you'll see an initial boost in your score and eventually the speed will develop along with the accuracy.

[joshceo]

My suggestion is to forget about timing for a while and simply practice an assload of LR sections. Hit the LR sections from PT's 1-30, and do at least one PT of LR each day (about 50 questions minimum). People underestimate the amount of work it takes to reach the upper limits of the LSAT scorecard. You can jump from a 145 to a 160 with a few weeks prep, but if you want that 170+ and you're not a savant, then you need to drill till you pass out. Read PowerScore's LR Bible twice (50 pages a day and you'll finish it in 10 days, then repeat). Missing 5 to 6 per LR section will keep you out of the top schools. Knock that down to 2 or 3, and tell Harvard to roll out the red carpet for you.

[adagio15]

Thanks guys! After completing a timed section, I usually re-read sections from the LR bible related to the question types I got wrong, then do some practice related problems from my Kaplan course's LR workbook. In the book, I've exhausted all the assumptions questions (oops) and most of the moderate level questions for Strengthen/Weaken and Flaw already. Where do you all find a set of a particular question type to drill? Is there a list that breaks down PTs by questions type?

The problem working through the Kaplan workbook is that it tears apart so many Preptests that I can't go through, say Preptest 20 without recognizing a majority of the questions. I guess it's not too bad since I'll still have to work through how to do the problems even though the correct answer is somewhat in the back of my head. I think there are about 20 more recent pretests that Kaplan leaves completely untouched.

Alright, I think I'm going to focus more on accuracy for questions I complete and drilling, drilling, drilling! I'll let you all know how it goes. *fingers crossed

[SA1928]

Hi! I'm going through a similar situation as you are! I finished the Powerscore LR Bible with all the drills, and was doing great on LR, but then started devoting my study time to RC and basically lost it all and can't seem to get back there. My new plan is to start going through each section of LR in the earlier tests that I have and do them slowly, choose an answer and explain why I think each of the other answers are wrong. Then obviously review them all once I'm done and see which types of questions I am struggling on the most. I have found this link: http://www.kaplanlogin.com/dl/LSAT/lsat ... qrater.asp incredibly helpful to break down each question type and where to find them on each test. I'm also making sure to do at least one RC section and LG section a few times a week as well to maintain my skills. Hope the link helps!

[imjustjoking22]

Do you feel like you're making "silly" mistakes or really not understanding the questions you're missing? I think that makes a pretty big difference re: studying and how to fix it.

[adagio15]

Thanks SA1928 for the link! It's extremely helpful. I'm going to use it to practice problem types in older tests. Good luck to you with LR!

@imjustjoking22 Some are actually silly, like I'll skip over a word when I'm reading that completely alters the meaning of the answer choice. When it comes down to two choices though, I'm inclined to reason myself towards the wrong answer. I think it'll help for me to prove how the other 4 are undeniably wrong. Also, when I read an answer choice that sounds reasonable, I don't bother looking at the remaining options. It's usually to save time, but when I go back to review my work, I realize if I had continued reading, I would have found a better answer. Have to train myself to be absolutely certain and stick to the scope of the stimulus..

Does anyone have a recommendation for which preptests should be allocated for full lengths versus individual timed sections versus drilling questions? I started using the oldest ones (single digits lol) for question drilling but they aren't that representative of the kinds of questions that appear now. I used a lot of the 20s/30s for practice problems already.

[Tiago Splitter]

My suggestion is to forget about timing for a while and simply practice an assload of LR sections. Hit the LR sections from PT's 1-30, and do at least one PT of LR each day (about 50 questions minimum). People underestimate the amount of work it takes to reach the upper limits of the LSAT scorecard. You can jump from a 145 to a 160 with a few weeks prep, but if you want that 170+ and you're not a savant, then you need to drill till you pass out. Read PowerScore's LR Bible twice (50 pages a day and you'll finish it in 10 days, then repeat). Missing 5 to 6 per LR section will keep you out of the top schools. Knock that down to 2 or 3, and tell Harvard to roll out the red carpet for you.

+1. I'd get even more specific though, and go with heavy doses of drilling of question types you struggle with.