Top Law Schools

I am just starting my LSAT prep for the June test. I've got a bunch of PT's, the Kaplan stuff and the Powerscore stuff.

When working on my timing is it better to set the 35 minute timer and end my practice tests then or keep a lap timer going and let it go until I finish my section and then work on bringing that time down?

If the question isn't clear I'll illustrate it.

Let's say the LG section I do takes me 52 minutes to complete. Should I keep doing the entire section and work on bringing that time down (50, 48, 44, 37 min etc.) or set a timer for 35 minutes and stop there, then work on speeding up my work?

TripleX wrote:I am just starting my LSAT prep for the June test. I've got a bunch of PT's, the Kaplan stuff and the Powerscore stuff.

When working on my timing is it better to set the 35 minute timer and end my practice tests then or keep a lap timer going and let it go until I finish my section and then work on bringing that time down?

If the question isn't clear I'll illustrate it.

Let's say the LG section I do takes me 52 minutes to complete. Should I keep doing the entire section and work on bringing that time down (50, 48, 44, 37 min etc.) or set a timer for 35 minutes and stop there, then work on speeding up my work?

You can't do it fast until you can do it right. At the beginning, learn how to do it correctly, no matter how long it takes. Once you really get the concepts down, speed will come naturally, and you can start timing yourself to get an idea of where you are with it.

going off of above, review each section and see what things you could have done to increase your time without effecting accuracy.

I.e., if its a Logic Game - See if there are any inferences that you missed that could have allowed you to complete the game minutes quicker.

If its a Logical Reasoning Section - Is there any question types that are taking up too much of your time?

Find you weaknesses, understand them, drill to master them, and so on and so forth

elterrible78 wrote: You can't do it fast until you can do it right. At the beginning, learn how to do it correctly, no matter how long it takes. Once you really get the concepts down, speed will come naturally, and you can start timing yourself to get an idea of where you are with it.

This is the only sensible way.

I did both. Work through the whole thing to get the benefit of all the problems, but mark how far you got in the 35 minutes. Score it both ways, one "real" (timed) and one just accuracy (as long as you need).

rinkrat19 wrote:I did both. Work through the whole thing to get the benefit of all the problems, but mark how far you got in the 35 minutes. Score it both ways, one "real" (timed) and one just accuracy (as long as you need).

great idea! Did you do lap timing for each question or is that going too far? I'll analyze every possible angle to get the best results I just don't know how obsessed I want to get...

TripleX wrote:

rinkrat19 wrote:I did both. Work through the whole thing to get the benefit of all the problems, but mark how far you got in the 35 minutes. Score it both ways, one "real" (timed) and one just accuracy (as long as you need).

great idea! Did you do lap timing for each question or is that going too far? I'll analyze every possible angle to get the best results I just don't know how obsessed I want to get...

You don't want to be interrupting your thought processes to fuss with your timer after every single question.

I honestly didn't have to worry about it too much, since LG was the only section I had time problems with and they resolved pretty quickly. But I did draw a line under my answers at 35 minutes and then keep working as long as I needed.

Don't even bother with timing yourself at the beginning. Honestly, the hard part of the LSAT is getting better accuracy, not getting better timing. Timing easily comes through practice once you understand the rules of how to answer accurately. If you can get 100% correct untimed, it's all downhill from there.