how to improve speed in LR Forum

[Alexander Wang]

I have a problem with timing in LR. Typically I can finish 20~21 questions in 35 mins. Accuracy is OK, 1 or 2 miss out of 20. But since rest of 4 or 5 questions are all blind-guessed, I usually lose 5/6 in the end. Do your guys have same trouble when you practise? How do you improve speed?
Your comments are appreciated.

[breadbucket]

Well, every question is worth the same amount of points, so which questions are going unanswered? Try skipping really shitty question types, like parallel method of reasoning questions, to give yourself a better shot at both the questions you do know and the shorter questions.

[john1990]

I have a problem with timing in LR. Typically I can finish 20~21 questions in 35 mins. Accuracy is OK, 1 or 2 miss out of 20. But since rest of 4 or 5 questions are all blind-guessed, I usually lose 5/6 in the end. Do your guys have same trouble when you practise? How do you improve speed?
Your comments are appreciated.

My speed increased as i took more exams. It is important to identify why you can't finish. Are you losing focus during the section? Or are you a slow reader? Sometimes specific question types take some people more time, you should find your weaknesses there. I think that if everyone spent a week doing nothing but parallel Q's they would master them.

[Take Two]

I dont know if this is helpful at all but I became convinced that good test takers didnt diagram ever on the LR. As a result I would try and figure out the questions without diagraming which for me was not the right thing at all. I would waste way more time trying to figure it out in my head than it would take for me to just throw down a quick question and power through it.

[bernaldiaz]

Just keep doing them. In 5 weeks of pretty regular study, I have gone from barely finishing in the 35 minutes, to finishing up in 27-29 minutes. Albeit my accuracy hasn't improved that much, I've stayed at -3 or -4 the whole time (per section)

[Take Two]

yeah basically just practicing as much as possible is the real key haha

[annyong]

Practice with an analog watch so you'll be set for test day. Try to do the first 15 questions in 15 minutes, if you can get the first 20 in 20 that's even better but accuracy should be important as you go. Some questions, especially towards the beginning, you should be able to fly through (without having careless mistakes trip you up), though there are some questions early on that are tricky, but usually those come in the middle or later in the section; if you get slogged down in a question, skip it. I know it's hard to let one go but you might be able to look at it more clearly after you come back to it and you don't want to sacrifice 5 questions for getting stuck on one.

[Alexander Wang]

I have a problem with timing in LR. Typically I can finish 20~21 questions in 35 mins. Accuracy is OK, 1 or 2 miss out of 20. But since rest of 4 or 5 questions are all blind-guessed, I usually lose 5/6 in the end. Do your guys have same trouble when you practise? How do you improve speed?
Your comments are appreciated.

My speed increased as i took more exams. It is important to identify why you can't finish. Are you losing focus during the section? Or are you a slow reader? Sometimes specific question types take some people more time, you should find your weaknesses there. I think that if everyone spent a week doing nothing but parallel Q's they would master them.

Yes..., I am a slow reader. Sometime I need read question twice to understand what is gist. Parallel Q is a nightmare. need more than 2 mins to figure it out. Princeple and Flaw Q's are also headache. Decide to spend two weeks to drill those type Q's down!

[iamrobk]

I have a problem with timing in LR. Typically I can finish 20~21 questions in 35 mins. Accuracy is OK, 1 or 2 miss out of 20. But since rest of 4 or 5 questions are all blind-guessed, I usually lose 5/6 in the end. Do your guys have same trouble when you practise? How do you improve speed?
Your comments are appreciated.

Try being stricter with your timing, aim for 10 questions in 10 minutes, 15 in 15 minutes, 20 in ~23 minutes, and all 25 in 30 minutes. Or some variation of that.