Questions about my recent PT's -need help analyzing the prob Forum

[FAJISTE]

I've been studying for the LSAT since July. In July and August, I learned all the techniques and drilled sections to get used to the timing etc. I only used older LSATs for this. Would do consistently well on RC, LR, and LG when I drilled.

September hits. I start taking PT's for the first time. I've taken 3 Recent PT's (53, 54, 58) in order throughout about a week and a half and have gotten an increasing score of 164, 165, and 167 respectively. Today, when I went over Preptest 58 (167), and I realized that the questions I got wrong I was capable of solving. Nothing on that test I didn't know how to do. There were no questions that stumped me or provided any severe difficulty for me. I ended up getting -4 (1st LR), -7 (RC), -0 (LG), and -3 (2nd LR).

I've identified the problems as basically hastily reading through answer choices and/or not having enough time.

What hurts me the most is that I KNOW how to do this test. I KNOW I can score a 170+. I really believe in myself and after every preptest I take, I see it more and more clearly. But when I go to take that next test, again I'm struggling a bit with time, misreading answer choices, etc. I've definitely been improving and become more efficient, but I need to make sure I get a 170+ on the October LSAT.

Should I keep taking tests and just keep reviewing? Is there something I'm missing here? On the first 2 exams I took, I got all the RC questions right except for around the last 6 I didn't have time for, so I guessed. Today when I took the exam, I finished RC in time, but got random answers wrong due to quick reading. Do I simply need to take more tests? Please, any help would be greatly appreciated.


Also, the days that I'm NOT taking tests, what should I be doing if I finished reviewing that test? I'm guessing I need to drill RC more to become more efficient. Any other tips? Thanks so much TLS.


Also, I noticed that my first 2 sections are usually the most hurt. What do you guys recommend for warming up so that I'm ready the second I hit that first section?

[SisterRayVU]

I'm sort of in the same boat. When you see the answer, you immediately know that you overlooked one word which made your answer incorrect. This is especially devastating on LRs, for me at least. I've improved my RC, though, just be reading carefully. After doing a few, they become rote. You know what to expect for like, a third of the questions, and the rest are usually pretty easy and quick to answer with brief references to the passage. Just make sure you firmly know your answer is right. Pay attention to when a Q-Stem asks for 'support'. It should never, afaik, have an inference. If the author 'supports' something, it's not inferring. So the answer is definitively in the text. Synonyms may be used, but not a new idea or an extrapolation. Inference questions usually depend on going one step further in the author's argument. So watch out for those. (fwiw I could be wrong about support questions never having new information in the answer, but yeah..)

Your speed will increase once you do a few. On my first three, it was the biggest struggle time wise. Now, for the last two, I finished with at least 2.5 minutes left over. You don't need to read every answer in every question either. When you know you're right, move on. Some, you can be like, 100% on. So don't double check them. glgl

[FAJISTE]

Thanks for the reply. I will definitely utilize those techniques and thanks for the confidence boost. I've noticed that a big problem in RC for me was not going back to the passage because I thought I knew it so well. Many times I think something is the right answer but when I check in the passage it's actually wrong. So I'm going to start going back for those specifics.

+bump

[Tiago Splitter]

What hurts me the most is that I KNOW how to do this test. I KNOW I can score a 170+. I really believe in myself and after every preptest I take, I see it more and more clearly.

It is this attitude that you get you the farthest. Keep drilling question types and that confidence will only go higher. If you can score 167 on a practice test then you are right to think that you can score in the 170s. There are only so many types of LSAT questions out there and you have surely seen them all dozens of times.

Get cocky from now until test day; you've put in the time, now just work at becoming a master. You can answer every question correctly.

[FAJISTE]

Thank you. I've also noticed I've been doing worse on the first section regardless of what it is, making more stupid mistakes there than others. People say to do some games, LR , and/or RC before the test. I have been reviewing LR questions but not really doing them...just reviewing ones I already did. It hasn't really helped me get in the proper mindstate right away, however. Any advice?

[Tiago Splitter]

So maybe do them?

[FAJISTE]

Okay, I'm going to do some fresh ones from old PT's. Hopefully I can find some that haven't been done yet. In addition, I start my PT about 45 minutes after I wake up. Perhaps this is also harming my score? I still feel kind of asleep when I'm starting it.

[Tiago Splitter]

The warmup questions should be ones you've done before. Just go through some questions and don't check the answers. It's just about getting your mind into LSAT mode.

The real test will be fairly early in the morning, so you need to figure out now how you will handle being tired at the beginning of the test.