Weird trend during each individual LSAT section Forum

[Ogresmash]

Alright, so I'm really trying to find a way to improve my score, and have noticed something that seems to occur for every LR and RC section of every PT I've taken. I rarely miss or miss at most 2 in the first half of each section, then often tank the second half of each section, missing at times something like 5 or more questions. Sometimes it will be really bad and I'll miss 8 or 9.

So, does anyone know if the LSAT questions get harder as you progress through a section, or am I having some other sort of difficulty? What's weird also is when I finish a section, having tanked the second half of that section, I bounce back and do really well for the first half of the next section.

Any ideas? If anyone has anything it would seriously be a big help because this is what's holding me back from a decent score.

[emkay625]

In LR, the questions go from easiest to hardest. Purposefully.

In RC, within each individual passage, they go from easiest to hardest. But generally speaking the hardest passage will be the 3rd or 4th. (IMO).

[rinkrat19]

Do a few PT working the sections backwards (working from the end question back to #1) and see if you still get more right in questions #1-12 than #13-25. If yes, the questions get harder. If the trend reverses, it's a fatigue issue.

[Micdiddy]

In LR, the questions go from easiest to hardest. Purposefully.

In RC, within each individual passage, they go from easiest to hardest. But generally speaking the hardest passage will be the 3rd or 4th. (IMO).

Hmm, I would disagree with the conclusiveness of this assessment. It has generally been observed that in LR the first couple of questions are rather easy, and easy questions become more rare later in the section.
However, by no means would it be right to state every LR section goes from easiest to hardest, period. Clearly there are some PT's with hard questions at the beginning, and some with easy ones towards the end, and in almost everyone I am sure an easy case can be made that number 19 or 20 or whatever is harder than number 25 or 26.

For RC it's the same thing with passage organization, as you noted (by using "generally" as a qualifier), but again with the questions asked for each passage, it's not a sure thing that they will be ordered by difficulty.

With all that said, if you feel you are mentally strained towards the end of an LR section and cannot put sufficient thought into the more challenging questions you are likely to see, then you can simply skip to question 15 or whichever at the beginning of each LR section, and skip back to 1 after that.
DO NOT DO THIS if it adversely affects your scored at the beginning of the section without significantly improving your score at the end, since each question is worth the same amount of points you may as well get the gimmes at the beginning when you're fresh if you cannot just as simply them after doing the end half.

Personally, I like the usual escalating order of difficulty because I feel warmed up for those tougher questions.

[Clearly]

If anything the accepted pattern is easy-hard-easier

[Nammertat]

If anything the accepted pattern is easy-hard-easier

Definitely agree.... 12-22 are have generally been the "hard" ones, 1-12 "gimmie", and 23-26 back to easy.

[bp shinners]

If anything the accepted pattern is easy-hard-easier

Definitely agree.... 12-22 are have generally been the "hard" ones, 1-12 "gimmie", and 23-26 back to easy.

And 18/19 is usually a killer.

[flem]

In LR, the questions go from easiest to hardest. Purposefully.

In RC, within each individual passage, they go from easiest to hardest. But generally speaking the hardest passage will be the 3rd or 4th. (IMO).

I never found this to be true.

Am I the only one who skips around on the test?

I always do reading passages I find interesting first to build confidence. If I don't like something about a logical reasoning stimulus (super sciency, long, confusing, whatever) I skip and come back. I pick out easiest games first.

I've never done the test in order.

[Clearly]

I skip around in LG, but I do the rest almost entirely in order. I only skip 1-2 LR, then come back to it after I do the rest. Reading Comp I do in order unless I glance something I REALLY don't like right off the bat. LG I play by ear but generally do any sequencing game first, then matching, hybrid, then binary selection games lady, unless I see something unfamiliar ala mixing colors, zepher,mulch and stones, etc.

[lederhosen]

.

[bp shinners]

Am I the only one who skips around on the test?

I always do reading passages I find interesting first to build confidence.

I usually recommend doing an 8 question passage first, as you'll be fresher then than after 2-3 other passages. Skipping around is a practice I commonly recommend to my class, so you're not the only one.

[shifty_eyed]

In RC, within each individual passage, they go from easiest to hardest. But generally speaking the hardest passage will be the 3rd or 4th. (IMO).

I have not noticed the easy to hard trend within the questions for each passage. I miss the first or second question of a passage just as often as I miss one of the last couple questions in a passage. What do you guys think?

[flem]

I have not noticed the easy to hard trend within the questions for each passage. I miss the first or second question of a passage just as often as I miss one of the last couple questions in a passage. What do you guys think?

I think you should be nailing main point questions and shit like that every time. Do you prephrase?

[shifty_eyed]

I have not noticed the easy to hard trend within the questions for each passage. I miss the first or second question of a passage just as often as I miss one of the last couple questions in a passage. What do you guys think?

I think you should be nailing main point questions and shit like that every time. Do you prephrase?

I don't really prephrase on RC. I mean, I always have a general idea about what the main point of the passage is, but I have missed 1 or 2 main point questions on my last 10 PTs.