Checking over games? Forum

[cc.celina]

I have a weird problem: when I first started prepping, I (like most people, I think) couldn't even take a whack at the fourth game in an LG section before running out of time. So I drilled, and drilled, and drilled, and in my most recent preptest I finished with 8+ minutes on the clock. And then stared at the wall for the next 8+ minutes.

How do you go about checking over an LG section? It's easy for LR and RC, because if I'm not 100% sure about a question I draw a box around it, and there are usually enough to keep me occupied till my creepy virtual proctor man tells me to stop. For LG, I'm always sure about every question, because either I got it right or I fundamentally misunderstood the rules/stem and got the right answer to the wrong question.

Since I don't know where to start, I usually end up not starting at all, taking a mental break and idly waiting for the next section to start. I should probably be using this time to my advantage -- I'd say I don't miss anything about 60-70% of the time, but I have a significant history of missing anywhere from 1 to 4, clustered in a single game, because I've done something silly like misdiagram a rule or fail to count to 3 properly.

Basically it seems like I could do three things
- devote remaining time to redoing most challenging game, with special attention to making sure I haven't misunderstood anything
- redo all the "complete and accurate" questions: less likely to gain me points in the short term, but usually allows me to recognize if i've gotten any of the global rules muddled up
- or I could actually use the time to stare at the wall and mentally regroup before I have to read yet another passage on medieval women's rights

Should I default to one of these strategies, or am I missing something? How do you motivate yourself to check an LG section when you finish before the creepy proctor calls time, and what's your plan of attack to get the most points the most effectively?

[NoodleyOne]

I would go through your diagrams and make sure you copied down all the rules correctly and didn't miss any dumb questions that way, and maybe making sure the inferences you made were correct. I wouldn't go question by question since that would be pretty pointless. Maybe double check any questions that seemed abnormally hard for you, but other than that, I'd say enjoy your 8 minute break.

[bruss]

All those are bad strategies. You should never truly have to recheck games because you should be using the time you're doing the game to make sure your answer is correct. LG is unique in that you can check your work instantly and quickly.



As for you misdiagramming, LG copies the same rules over and over and the games are all basically the same especially the newer ones. you need to practice until you can do it in your sleep. With practice comes speed and confidence and with this you will not have to recheck your answers.

This is how you check answers for LG. Does A fit? No. Does B fit? No etc. Until you find the find the right answer. That is it.

Also most ppl on this site, including me, started off horrible at LG missing more than 12. The way we for better is practice practice practice, and that's the only way you will get better. You should always aim to go -0 with games.

[cc.celina]

It just seems like treason or something to put my pencil down before time is called!

You should never truly have to recheck games because you should be using the time you're doing the game to make sure your answer is correct.

How do you manage pacing when you do this? Get over the feeling that some kind of bomb is going to explode if you dont get to the next game RIGHT NOW?

Does A fit? No. Does B fit? No etc. Until you find the find the right answer. That is it.

agreed... This doesn't really solve the fundamental misunderstanding problem. I'm not talking about not recognizing rules, I've done enough games to know the format. My problem is brain farts. Diagramming "J performs after K" as "J-K" type things. Do you have a better time catching those after youve gone through an entire game section or by doublechecking your diagram right after youve made it?

[bruss]

It just seems like treason or something to put my pencil down before time is called!

You should never truly have to recheck games because you should be using the time you're doing the game to make sure your answer is correct.

How do you manage pacing when you do this? Get over the feeling that some kind of bomb is going to explode if you dont get to the next game RIGHT NOW?

Does A fit? No. Does B fit? No etc. Until you find the find the right answer. That is it.

agreed... This doesn't really solve the fundamental misunderstanding problem. I'm not talking about not recognizing rules, I've done enough games to know the format. My problem is brain farts. Diagramming "J performs after K" as "J-K" type things. Do you have a better time catching those after youve gone through an entire game section or by doublechecking your diagram right after youve made it?

Well I'm picturing you as not having left over time because you week like a beginner. If you have left over time then go back in check. But you really shouldn't HAVE to.

For the time factor you should be using a watch to keep track of time. Im not sure if it will help the feeling completely go away but it should help you have a little bit more control over the test.

For the brain farts you should go over your diagram of rules. I'm not advocating rushing this. I'm saying you need to get to the point of writing the rules and having ur set 2-4 mins of time on it and not having to go back and fix a mistake. The only way to get to this point is to practice your butt off.

Yea sometimes you will make a mistake and that's where practice come into play, it will help you hurry and recognise the mistake and quickly fix it

[bdeebs]

I'm not sure if bruss is quite understanding your situation. It seems like (correct me if I'm wrong) you have such a good understanding of the games that more practice would not be particularly beneficial other than to keep your skills sharp. It also seems like you have a near certainty that you are 100% correct with your answers, and are wondering what to do other than twiddle your thumbs because LG wouldn't be a challenge unless they gave you 25 minutes rather than 35 minutes. If this is true, I'm in roughly the same boat, but every once in a while I'll make a careless error due to misdiagramming, or more often, forgetting to include a rule in my thought process. What I've started doing is circling any problem where I am less than 100% sure (usually somewhere between 90-95% sure). These are usually problems like, "What are the maximum amount of spaces between X and Y." There are usually 2-3 per section that I circle. When I've finished those, I double check my hypotheticals for my most common mistakes (Mine personally are forgetting "not" rules on a heavily conditional grouping game. I'm so concerned with satisfying all the conditional rules that I'll occasionally forget a "not" rule.) During the remaining minute or two, I just casually glance at random stuff in the section and let my mind relax. If I happen to catch something, then great, but I haven't caught anything yet during this phase.

[cc.celina]

These are usually problems like, "What are the maximum amount of spaces between X and Y."

Those are the worst!

Thanks, that helps. it's good to know that other people allow themselves to chill, mostly I was just worried that not squeaking every minute of productivity to its fullest was blasphemy...

On an NPH-related sidenote: My friend lives in the apartment building that he owns (and occasionally even lives in) on 110th and Manhattan, and he once asked us (through a text) to turn down the music because he and David were trying to sleep. Highlight of my life

[Nova]

Thanks, that helps. it's good to know that other people allow themselves to chill, mostly I was just worried that not squeaking every minute of productivity to its fullest was blasphemy...

Many will say it is blasphemy...

...but personally, I used the ususal 5 minutes I had to spare on AR and the few minutes I had to spare on LR to take a break and rest. It made me feel fresh for the following sections. YMMV.

[bdeebs]

I feel you.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=185070

PS That's awesome.

[elee]

IF you find yourself consistently having time left over, you should be spending that time checking every answer choice on most questions. If you made a mistake in your diagram, you will find it because for some reason, two choices COULD BE true when the answer states there should be only ONE. So even if you think you can hit the right answer and move on, it helps to check out the others. This is if you find yourself making errors, or if you have extra time.

You should NOT be reviewing questions by skimming most of them because many of them you should KNOW you got right, and you don't know which ones are more in need of checking. When I do LG on a first run, I will set-up efficiently from my drilling practice, and attack questions. Sometimes answer choices can be eliminated quickly because of powerful diagram and inferences/scenarios, sometimes not. Sometimes answer choices will clearly relate with one another and you can eliminate them, such as when you are looking at a MBF or MBT Q and 2 of the answer choices are "X is in slot 3" or "Y is in slot 3", and you know slot 3 is undetermined. ANY question where I don't conclusively knock out all answer choices i circle the question number, and THOSE you can check if you have extra time by knocking out the ACs you didn't go through the first time.

If ever I miss an inference and find myself brute-forcing questions with a weak diagram, that I expand later AFTER answering other questions (such as after MBF questions), then i will circle all the questions that i answered with the weak diagram as potentially questionable or prone to mistakes and give priority for the extra time. I have often caught errors that way. I'm sure we've all gone through a game where we're like, "ohhh i should've inferred that. at least the rest will be easier", then proceed to get some wrong because we assumed we were going solid to that point.

If you do all this and STILL have time...just rest. You deserve it lol

I usually end LG with ~5 or less left, and have time to cross out EVERY wrong answer in the ENTIRE section... This has consistently enabled me to catch errors that i DO make (usually on could be trues, or missing an EXCEPT) and get -0 with the occasional -1.