managing consistency Forum

[habelder23]

I've taken some PT's lately in my phase of taking PT's and have noticed wide fluctuations in my scores. They range from 161-170 and it's tremendously upsetting. This is not all that surprising, either. When I do individual sections, as I am continuing to do, I find similar ranges of scores. Roughly, -2- -7 for LR, -2- -7 for RC and LG is pretty consistent at -2. I've tried doing some deep reviewing to do see what I'm doing wrong and it's still difficult to tell. It just seems like particular questions, regardless of what type, just throw me off for whatever reason. Anyone else dealt with this and know how to solve it? Is it just me not having the right mindset approach for each time I take?

[Jeffort]

You need to review deeper and determine specifically/exactly what aspects caused you trouble with each of the questions that "just throw me off for whatever reason". You need to determine the exact reason(s) for each individual question in as much detail as possible, keep a list/error log and look for patterns in the various different specific issues that 'threw you off' and figure out the underlying causes/weaknesses in your LSAT knowledge, skills, methods, approach, strategies, etc. that are the underlying reasons your mistakes come from. There are lots of different types of mistakes/issues/things that lead to getting questions wrong. You need to figure out all of the different issues/weaknesses/mistakes involved in questions you struggle with and/or get wrong in order to figure out your underlying weaknesses that need to be addressed.

Figure out all the various different reasons you've gotten 'thrown off' in questions you've missed, make a big list and analyze that deeper for patterns and to figure out which skills you are weak with, where there are holes in your LSAT knowledge/understanding of logic/question types/techniques/etc., which mistakes are based on carelessness with process vs which missed questions are due to foundation/conceptual/understanding/reasoning skills based weaknesses.

What are some of the types of common reasons that cause you trouble with certain questions/have cause you to get some wrong?

The more details the better. To learn from your mistakes/weaknesses and improve, first you need to specifically identify exactly what all your weaknesses/issues/mistakes are so you can then figure out what to do to fix them.

Do you have sets of methods of step by step processes/techniques you apply for each different Q type that you consistently apply? Big fluctuations in LR section scores is a common indication that you aren't strictly applying defined sets of systematic methods/steps consistently to questions under timed conditions and are instead being more thorough with some questions and less thorough with others depending on what your gut instincts/intuition/feelings are at the moment depending on timing, how hard or easy you perceive the question to be, how good/bad certain ACs 'sound', etc. and letting fleeting thoughts and feelings generated by the time pressure control your behavior/level of scrutiny you give to each question instead of sticking to thorough tried and tried systematic methods of analysis, that when applied lead to high accuracy level.

[papercut]

You need to review deeper and determine specifically/exactly what aspects caused you trouble with each of the questions that "just throw me off for whatever reason". You need to determine the exact reason(s) for each individual question in as much detail as possible, keep a list/error log and look for patterns in the various different specific issues that 'threw you off' and figure out the underlying causes/weaknesses in your LSAT knowledge, skills, methods, approach, strategies, etc. that are the underlying reasons your mistakes come from. There are lots of different types of mistakes/issues/things that lead to getting questions wrong. You need to figure out all of the different issues/weaknesses/mistakes involved in questions you struggle with and/or get wrong in order to figure out your underlying weaknesses that need to be addressed.

Figure out all the various different reasons you've gotten 'thrown off' in questions you've missed, make a big list and analyze that deeper for patterns and to figure out which skills you are weak with, where there are holes in your LSAT knowledge/understanding of logic/question types/techniques/etc., which mistakes are based on carelessness with process vs which missed questions are due to foundation/conceptual/understanding/reasoning skills based weaknesses.

What are some of the types of common reasons that cause you trouble with certain questions/have cause you to get some wrong?

The more details the better. To learn from your mistakes/weaknesses and improve, first you need to specifically identify exactly what all your weaknesses/issues/mistakes are so you can then figure out what to do to fix them.

This is right on.

As an example from back in my tutoring days, a student kept getting hung up on an equivocation between relative and absolute amount/change (better vs good, more vs 10 more) no matter what question type it was. Once you notice what the particular problem is, it's much easier to avoid.

[habelder23]

Thanks. I'm really not sure though how to analyze my incorrect answers. I've just gone over them and it seems that that they're more of the careless nature.

For example, Super Test A Section 4- #5, I couldn't discern at the moment of taking the test what was meant by "official" (answer choice A) and thought since it said official it wasn't relevant because it didn't relate to the "authorities".

Or from PT 51 Section 3 question 10, I was explicitly searching for an answer that would deal with human settlement, and so I went with C. When, however, I should have gone with E as it presented a reason for the overall argument, which had little do with the fact of humans.

By-the-by I think it seems like these ARE careless misreadings/shortcuts/misinterpretations/lapses in attention/thought caused by poor perception/laziness/preconceived notions. I also seem to get bogged down with difficult language.

Anyway, as confusing as that was it seems it is more due to the above reasons than it is to me not grasping some fundamental concepts/strategies. OR maybe my grammar skills suck and I can't read.

[papercut]

For example, Super Test A Section 4- #5, I couldn't discern at the moment of taking the test what was meant by "official" (answer choice A) and thought since it said official it wasn't relevant because it didn't relate to the "authorities".

Okay that's a good example. Here's how I'd analyze this for greater improvement:

I've seen tons of people make this kind of mistake. People start getting paranoid about making invalid equivocations. So they look for the same exact written form of the word to make sure they're not making equivocations. This is a mistake.

You could be dealing with a homograph (same written form, different concept). Or you could be dealing with a synonym (different written form, same concept, officials vs authorities).

So, the key is to be aware of homographs, and look for synonyms. You're almost never gonna get the same phrase or word, but you will get the same concept, even though it's represented by a word/phrasing with a different written form (spelling).

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You really don't want to explain your mistakes as "careless reading." What are you supposed to do? Tell yourself to be more careful? You want to pin it down to something you can conceivably change by changing you approach.