Keep Missing 5-6 on Logical Reasoning! Forum

[The Avatar]

Hey guys, what advice do you have for someone who is continuously missing 5-6 on LR? They're not really specific question types per say but more so with losing accuracy for timing.

Parallel Reasoning/Parallel Flaw is a hit or miss for me and not something I am going to rely on for points. However I want to improve on the section overall under timing. When I complete these questions untimed I usually only miss one or two.

[should-i-do-it]

lsat trainer

[Christine (MLSAT)]

When people can complete questions untimed with significantly better accuracy than timed, one of two things is happening:

1) You are executing a good process, but taking too long in between each step of the process to decide what the next step should be, and/or you are simply taking too long to actually execute each step. Consciously articulate the exact steps of the process for each question type, and practice smoothly transitioning from one step to the next.

2) You have no process, or at best a partial process, but with unlimited time you have the freedom to re-read the stimulus a few times until something 'clicks'. This means you are simply waiting for inspiration to strike, and your gut to kick in. There's no great way to make this more efficient, as you can't just decide to improve your gut, or speed up your 'inspiration'. Instead, you'll have to consciously create a process - one that uses your gut responses, but doesn't sit around waiting for them.

For instance, on parallel (non-flaw) questions, many people just read through all the scenarios waiting for something in an answer choice to strike them as different. This is extremely haphazard and time-consuming. It's a lot more efficient to consciously articulate something about the structure in the stimulus, then go actively hunt for that in each answer choice, eliminating anything that doesn't contain that structural element.

Ask yourself if you always know exactly what your task is, at every moment, or are there times when you've allowed yourself to become the passive reader, waiting for something to jump out at you as being right or wrong.

[KDLMaj]

Try another section, but this time skip two questions. Any two you want, but skip them proactively. (It doesn't count if you dive in and spend 30-60 seconds first). Knowing that you're going to do that, remind yourself that it's okay to slow down and do your job right on the rest. Now watch your score jump up.

You are most likely rushing through and running into "stupid mistakes" zone. You'll know this is the case if, upon review of those questions you're missing, the answer is IMMEDIATELY obvious to you. When you have that "DUH- I can't believe I got this wrong" feeling- you're rushing. The worst thing you can ever do to yourself on the LSAT is to tell yourself you have to get to every question. Telling yourself the exact opposite will actually make it easier to do it. My mantra is: if you're not going to do a question right, don't do it. Save that time for questions you've got a better chance of getting correct.

Now, if it turns out that these Qs aren't "DUH" moments on review- it's an issue with difficulty of questions. (Though both issues can feed into each other). Don't race

[blueberrycrumble]

When people can complete questions untimed with significantly better accuracy than timed, one of two things is happening:

1) You are executing a good process, but taking too long in between each step of the process to decide what the next step should be, and/or you are simply taking too long to actually execute each step. Consciously articulate the exact steps of the process for each question type, and practice smoothly transitioning from one step to the next.

2) You have no process, or at best a partial process, but with unlimited time you have the freedom to re-read the stimulus a few times until something 'clicks'. This means you are simply waiting for inspiration to strike, and your gut to kick in. There's no great way to make this more efficient, as you can't just decide to improve your gut, or speed up your 'inspiration'. Instead, you'll have to consciously create a process - one that uses your gut responses, but doesn't sit around waiting for them.

For instance, on parallel (non-flaw) questions, many people just read through all the scenarios waiting for something in an answer choice to strike them as different. This is extremely haphazard and time-consuming. It's a lot more efficient to consciously articulate something about the structure in the stimulus, then go actively hunt for that in each answer choice, eliminating anything that doesn't contain that structural element.

Ask yourself if you always know exactly what your task is, at every moment, or are there times when you've allowed yourself to become the passive reader, waiting for something to jump out at you as being right or wrong.

lol i just do #2...

[The Avatar]

Try another section, but this time skip two questions. Any two you want, but skip them proactively. (It doesn't count if you dive in and spend 30-60 seconds first). Knowing that you're going to do that, remind yourself that it's okay to slow down and do your job right on the rest. Now watch your score jump up.

You are most likely rushing through and running into "stupid mistakes" zone. You'll know this is the case if, upon review of those questions you're missing, the answer is IMMEDIATELY obvious to you. When you have that "DUH- I can't believe I got this wrong" feeling- you're rushing. The worst thing you can ever do to yourself on the LSAT is to tell yourself you have to get to every question. Telling yourself the exact opposite will actually make it easier to do it. My mantra is: if you're not going to do a question right, don't do it. Save that time for questions you've got a better chance of getting correct.

Now, if it turns out that these Qs aren't "DUH" moments on review- it's an issue with difficulty of questions. (Though both issues can feed into each other). Don't race

This is almost exactly what happens to me. Either they're stupid mistakes or I was conflicted over two answer choices and due to the "rush," chose the one I believed to be (but was unsure of) as the correct answer.

[KDLMaj]

Try another section, but this time skip two questions. Any two you want, but skip them proactively. (It doesn't count if you dive in and spend 30-60 seconds first). Knowing that you're going to do that, remind yourself that it's okay to slow down and do your job right on the rest. Now watch your score jump up.

You are most likely rushing through and running into "stupid mistakes" zone. You'll know this is the case if, upon review of those questions you're missing, the answer is IMMEDIATELY obvious to you. When you have that "DUH- I can't believe I got this wrong" feeling- you're rushing. The worst thing you can ever do to yourself on the LSAT is to tell yourself you have to get to every question. Telling yourself the exact opposite will actually make it easier to do it. My mantra is: if you're not going to do a question right, don't do it. Save that time for questions you've got a better chance of getting correct.

Now, if it turns out that these Qs aren't "DUH" moments on review- it's an issue with difficulty of questions. (Though both issues can feed into each other). Don't race

This is almost exactly what happens to me. Either they're stupid mistakes or I was conflicted over two answer choices and due to the "rush," chose the one I believed to be (but was unsure of) as the correct answer.

Yup, you're rushing. You are most likely reading your stims WAY too fast. (SLOW DOWN on these- it'll speed you up later in the prediction and answer choices) You may also be reading the answer choices too fast. One thing that really helps most people is to move your lips while you read. (Some people are distracted by this though- so try it out a bit) When you do that, you recruit Broca's Speech Center in your brain to help you with your comprehension.

Also, if you're stuck between two answers:

1) Stop looking for what's right. Look for what's wrong. Correct answers on the LSAT aren't perfect- they're flawless. It's not the one with the best stuff in it, it's the one that doesn't have anything bad in it. Too often people get stuck between two or more answers and start trying to figure out which one is best. Don't bother. Figure out which is worst and eliminate.

2) If you've been staring at the answer choices for more than 30 seconds, GET OUT. The longer you stare, the more you lose touch with what you're looking for (you forget your prediction and you forget what the stim says). Pick an answer immediately (whatever your first instinct was). Then come back to it later after 2-3 questions. A lot of the time what's really going on is you've misread something. Ever noticed how you can misread something and not catch it until later? A lot of folks experience this when they review a stim they re-read several times during the exam and realize they completely misread it. Basically what happens is after you read something once, your short-term memory kicks in. Then, if you try to read it again right away, you brain reads from your short-term memory, NOT from the page. But if you go back to it a few minutes later, your short-term memory has been purged: your brain is forced to read from the page again. That's why you catch it later and not earlier. Use this to your advantage during the exam- jump out fast and buy yourself time to come back later.

[flash21]

Try another section, but this time skip two questions. Any two you want, but skip them proactively. (It doesn't count if you dive in and spend 30-60 seconds first). Knowing that you're going to do that, remind yourself that it's okay to slow down and do your job right on the rest. Now watch your score jump up.

You are most likely rushing through and running into "stupid mistakes" zone. You'll know this is the case if, upon review of those questions you're missing, the answer is IMMEDIATELY obvious to you. When you have that "DUH- I can't believe I got this wrong" feeling- you're rushing. The worst thing you can ever do to yourself on the LSAT is to tell yourself you have to get to every question. Telling yourself the exact opposite will actually make it easier to do it. My mantra is: if you're not going to do a question right, don't do it. Save that time for questions you've got a better chance of getting correct.

Now, if it turns out that these Qs aren't "DUH" moments on review- it's an issue with difficulty of questions. (Though both issues can feed into each other). Don't race

This is almost exactly what happens to me. Either they're stupid mistakes or I was conflicted over two answer choices and due to the "rush," chose the one I believed to be (but was unsure of) as the correct answer.

Yup, you're rushing. You are most likely reading your stims WAY too fast. (SLOW DOWN on these- it'll speed you up later in the prediction and answer choices) You may also be reading the answer choices too fast. One thing that really helps most people is to move your lips while you read. (Some people are distracted by this though- so try it out a bit) When you do that, you recruit Broca's Speech Center in your brain to help you with your comprehension.

Also, if you're stuck between two answers:

1) Stop looking for what's right. Look for what's wrong. Correct answers on the LSAT aren't perfect- they're flawless. It's not the one with the best stuff in it, it's the one that doesn't have anything bad in it. Too often people get stuck between two or more answers and start trying to figure out which one is best. Don't bother. Figure out which is worst and eliminate.

2) If you've been staring at the answer choices for more than 30 seconds, GET OUT. The longer you stare, the more you lose touch with what you're looking for (you forget your prediction and you forget what the stim says). Pick an answer immediately (whatever your first instinct was). Then come back to it later after 2-3 questions. A lot of the time what's really going on is you've misread something. Ever noticed how you can misread something and not catch it until later? A lot of folks experience this when they review a stim they re-read several times during the exam and realize they completely misread it. Basically what happens is after you read something once, your short-term memory kicks in. Then, if you try to read it again right away, you brain reads from your short-term memory, NOT from the page. But if you go back to it a few minutes later, your short-term memory has been purged: your brain is forced to read from the page again. That's why you catch it later and not earlier. Use this to your advantage during the exam- jump out fast and buy yourself time to come back later.

This is good advice.

[KDLMaj]

Try another section, but this time skip two questions. Any two you want, but skip them proactively. (It doesn't count if you dive in and spend 30-60 seconds first). Knowing that you're going to do that, remind yourself that it's okay to slow down and do your job right on the rest. Now watch your score jump up.

You are most likely rushing through and running into "stupid mistakes" zone. You'll know this is the case if, upon review of those questions you're missing, the answer is IMMEDIATELY obvious to you. When you have that "DUH- I can't believe I got this wrong" feeling- you're rushing. The worst thing you can ever do to yourself on the LSAT is to tell yourself you have to get to every question. Telling yourself the exact opposite will actually make it easier to do it. My mantra is: if you're not going to do a question right, don't do it. Save that time for questions you've got a better chance of getting correct.

Now, if it turns out that these Qs aren't "DUH" moments on review- it's an issue with difficulty of questions. (Though both issues can feed into each other). Don't race

This is almost exactly what happens to me. Either they're stupid mistakes or I was conflicted over two answer choices and due to the "rush," chose the one I believed to be (but was unsure of) as the correct answer.

Yup, you're rushing. You are most likely reading your stims WAY too fast. (SLOW DOWN on these- it'll speed you up later in the prediction and answer choices) You may also be reading the answer choices too fast. One thing that really helps most people is to move your lips while you read. (Some people are distracted by this though- so try it out a bit) When you do that, you recruit Broca's Speech Center in your brain to help you with your comprehension.

Also, if you're stuck between two answers:

1) Stop looking for what's right. Look for what's wrong. Correct answers on the LSAT aren't perfect- they're flawless. It's not the one with the best stuff in it, it's the one that doesn't have anything bad in it. Too often people get stuck between two or more answers and start trying to figure out which one is best. Don't bother. Figure out which is worst and eliminate.

2) If you've been staring at the answer choices for more than 30 seconds, GET OUT. The longer you stare, the more you lose touch with what you're looking for (you forget your prediction and you forget what the stim says). Pick an answer immediately (whatever your first instinct was). Then come back to it later after 2-3 questions. A lot of the time what's really going on is you've misread something. Ever noticed how you can misread something and not catch it until later? A lot of folks experience this when they review a stim they re-read several times during the exam and realize they completely misread it. Basically what happens is after you read something once, your short-term memory kicks in. Then, if you try to read it again right away, you brain reads from your short-term memory, NOT from the page. But if you go back to it a few minutes later, your short-term memory has been purged: your brain is forced to read from the page again. That's why you catch it later and not earlier. Use this to your advantage during the exam- jump out fast and buy yourself time to come back later.

This is good advice.

I paid Flash to say that. But it didn't take very much, so that's good.