Aiming for a 170+ Forum

[blacklungz]

Hey all. Long time lurker, and I've decided to create an account and ask a few questions regarding my study strategy for the September LSAT. I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course and have been doing all the homework (just recently started incorporating timing into the HW). I've taken only two five-section-PTs. I'm currently missing 6 on RC, 7 on each LR and I'm nearing perfection on LG. However, in untimed conditions, I'm getting 1-2 misses in LR and 2-3 misses in RC. I feel as though my fundamentals are pretty sound but it's just a matter of taking it under timed conditions. I plan on taking about 10-12 additional PTs before actual test day.

A few questions:
(1) Is a 170+ realistically attainable?
(2) Should I be focusing on completing all of my Testmasters HW, or just really focus on the harder questions at the end of the HW sections only?
(3) What can I do other than PTs to work on my timing? Drilling certain sections? Timing my homework more frequently?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

[ilikebaseball]

Hey all. Long time lurker, and I've decided to create an account and ask a few questions regarding my study strategy for the September LSAT. I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course and have been doing all the homework (just recently started incorporating timing into the HW). I've taken only two five-section-PTs. I'm currently missing 6 on RC, 7 on each LR and I'm nearing perfection on LG. However, in untimed conditions, I'm getting 1-2 misses in LR and 2-3 misses in RC. I feel as though my fundamentals are pretty sound but it's just a matter of taking it under timed conditions. I plan on taking about 10-12 additional PTs before actual test day.

A few questions:
(1) Is a 170+ realistically attainable?
(2) Should I be focusing on completing all of my Testmasters HW, or just really focus on the harder questions at the end of the HW sections only?
(3) What can I do other than PTs to work on my timing? Drilling certain sections? Timing my homework more frequently?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

If you're doing fine in untimed conditions than it sorta says that you have the concepts down, you just gotta keep taking sections or PT's. The common sentiment is for LR finish "10 in 10 minutes" and then once that's easy try "15 in 15 minutes." Although the latter has always been odd to me, because I find questions 12-17 to be the hardest in the section almost routinely.

For RC I feel your pain. I struggled and struggled and struggled. I even got to the point where I didn't think it was possible for me to get below -8. I took for granted the advice that people gave on the forums. You seriously do naturally get stronger the more you do it. Its insane. There is no "go to" strategy for it. The more you do, the higher of a chance you'll find what works for you. No joke, literally fuckin 2 and a half weeks ago I was timed almost every single time on RC at 42 or 43 minutes while missing 8. Now I'm missing below 5 and finishing in 34 minutes because I just worked the shit out of them. There is a pattern. Despite what anyone says, there is a pattern in the questions and the types of passages. Its all about repitition

You got 6 weeks. I know you want people to tell you "oh man you can do it!" But none of that's gonna matter. You can do it if you put the time in. If you treat it like a job, you can do it. If you take it lightly at all, then you wont. There's always someone out there drilling for September. So time you spend on other activities is time that other people are getting better.

[KDLMaj]

Hey all. Long time lurker, and I've decided to create an account and ask a few questions regarding my study strategy for the September LSAT. I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course and have been doing all the homework (just recently started incorporating timing into the HW). I've taken only two five-section-PTs. I'm currently missing 6 on RC, 7 on each LR and I'm nearing perfection on LG. However, in untimed conditions, I'm getting 1-2 misses in LR and 2-3 misses in RC. I feel as though my fundamentals are pretty sound but it's just a matter of taking it under timed conditions. I plan on taking about 10-12 additional PTs before actual test day.

A few questions:
(1) Is a 170+ realistically attainable?
(2) Should I be focusing on completing all of my Testmasters HW, or just really focus on the harder questions at the end of the HW sections only?
(3) What can I do other than PTs to work on my timing? Drilling certain sections? Timing my homework more frequently?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

If you're doing fine in untimed conditions than it sorta says that you have the concepts down, you just gotta keep taking sections or PT's. The common sentiment is for LR finish "10 in 10 minutes" and then once that's easy try "15 in 15 minutes." Although the latter has always been odd to me, because I find questions 12-17 to be the hardest in the section almost routinely.

For RC I feel your pain. I struggled and struggled and struggled. I even got to the point where I didn't think it was possible for me to get below -8. I took for granted the advice that people gave on the forums. You seriously do naturally get stronger the more you do it. Its insane. There is no "go to" strategy for it. The more you do, the higher of a chance you'll find what works for you. No joke, literally fuckin 2 and a half weeks ago I was timed almost every single time on RC at 42 or 43 minutes while missing 8. Now I'm missing below 5 and finishing in 34 minutes because I just worked the shit out of them. There is a pattern. Despite what anyone says, there is a pattern in the questions and the types of passages. Its all about repitition

You got 6 weeks. I know you want people to tell you "oh man you can do it!" But none of that's gonna matter. You can do it if you put the time in. If you treat it like a job, you can do it. If you take it lightly at all, then you wont. There's always someone out there drilling for September. So time you spend on other activities is time that other people are getting better.

1) Here are some RC Tips: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=234382 (There IS a strategy for RC, most people just don't know it)
2) Agreed with previous posted that 15 in 15 is insane and should be avoided at all costs. And by that I don't mean it's necessarily a bad thing to get 15 in 15 (though it makes me damn wary), but actively aiming for that (or even 10 in 10 honestly) is a recipe for disaster. You'll start prioritizing your clock over your points. If you're going to pull a 170, you can't afford to be missing a bunch of easy questions because you went into rush mode.
3) Do not just focus on harder questions. They often test different things than the rest (or the same things in different ways), and so if you spend all of your time there you'll find you start losing points elsewhere. There are generally enough easy and medium level difficulty questions to get you into the 160s by themselves (including guess points for the rest). Never forget that.

Good luck!

[joeisreallycool]

Hey all. Long time lurker, and I've decided to create an account and ask a few questions regarding my study strategy for the September LSAT. I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course and have been doing all the homework (just recently started incorporating timing into the HW). I've taken only two five-section-PTs. I'm currently missing 6 on RC, 7 on each LR and I'm nearing perfection on LG. However, in untimed conditions, I'm getting 1-2 misses in LR and 2-3 misses in RC. I feel as though my fundamentals are pretty sound but it's just a matter of taking it under timed conditions. I plan on taking about 10-12 additional PTs before actual test day.

A few questions:
(1) Is a 170+ realistically attainable?
(2) Should I be focusing on completing all of my Testmasters HW, or just really focus on the harder questions at the end of the HW sections only?
(3) What can I do other than PTs to work on my timing? Drilling certain sections? Timing my homework more frequently?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

If you're doing fine in untimed conditions than it sorta says that you have the concepts down, you just gotta keep taking sections or PT's. The common sentiment is for LR finish "10 in 10 minutes" and then once that's easy try "15 in 15 minutes." Although the latter has always been odd to me, because I find questions 12-17 to be the hardest in the section almost routinely.

For RC I feel your pain. I struggled and struggled and struggled. I even got to the point where I didn't think it was possible for me to get below -8. I took for granted the advice that people gave on the forums. You seriously do naturally get stronger the more you do it. Its insane. There is no "go to" strategy for it. The more you do, the higher of a chance you'll find what works for you. No joke, literally fuckin 2 and a half weeks ago I was timed almost every single time on RC at 42 or 43 minutes while missing 8. Now I'm missing below 5 and finishing in 34 minutes because I just worked the shit out of them. There is a pattern. Despite what anyone says, there is a pattern in the questions and the types of passages. Its all about repitition

You got 6 weeks. I know you want people to tell you "oh man you can do it!" But none of that's gonna matter. You can do it if you put the time in. If you treat it like a job, you can do it. If you take it lightly at all, then you wont. There's always someone out there drilling for September. So time you spend on other activities is time that other people are getting better.

1) Here are some RC Tips: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=234382 (There IS a strategy for RC, most people just don't know it)
2) Agreed with previous posted that 15 in 15 is insane and should be avoided at all costs. And by that I don't mean it's necessarily a bad thing to get 15 in 15 (though it makes me damn wary), but actively aiming for that (or even 10 in 10 honestly) is a recipe for disaster. You'll start prioritizing your clock over your points. If you're going to pull a 170, you can't afford to be missing a bunch of easy questions because you went into rush mode.
3) Do not just focus on harder questions. They often test different things than the rest (or the same things in different ways), and so if you spend all of your time there you'll find you start losing points elsewhere. There are generally enough easy and medium level difficulty questions to get you into the 160s by themselves (including guess points for the rest). Never forget that.

Good luck!

If 15 in 15 is bad, and 10 in 10 is also not ideal, how would you suggest I manage time in LR? Like OP I also seem to be struggling with timing.

Thank you for your RC guide by the way, really has helped me improve.

[hillz]

I thought the goal was to finish the first ten questions (usually - not always, of course - the easiest) in 10 minutes, the last 5 questions or so in 5 minutes, and the middle questions (usually the most difficult) + review questions that were difficult that you circled with the remaining 20 minutes.

[hillz]

Sometimes if I'm anxious about completing an LR section on time, I do the first ten questions, then answer a few of the middle questions, answer the last 5-6 questions that are usually easier, and then spend the remaining time on the rest of the middle questions. It's probably not a strategy that works for everyone, but since each question is the same amount of points regardless of difficulty, it makes me feel a little more at ease. You gotta do what works for you.

[KDLMaj]

Hey all. Long time lurker, and I've decided to create an account and ask a few questions regarding my study strategy for the September LSAT. I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course and have been doing all the homework (just recently started incorporating timing into the HW). I've taken only two five-section-PTs. I'm currently missing 6 on RC, 7 on each LR and I'm nearing perfection on LG. However, in untimed conditions, I'm getting 1-2 misses in LR and 2-3 misses in RC. I feel as though my fundamentals are pretty sound but it's just a matter of taking it under timed conditions. I plan on taking about 10-12 additional PTs before actual test day.

A few questions:
(1) Is a 170+ realistically attainable?
(2) Should I be focusing on completing all of my Testmasters HW, or just really focus on the harder questions at the end of the HW sections only?
(3) What can I do other than PTs to work on my timing? Drilling certain sections? Timing my homework more frequently?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

If you're doing fine in untimed conditions than it sorta says that you have the concepts down, you just gotta keep taking sections or PT's. The common sentiment is for LR finish "10 in 10 minutes" and then once that's easy try "15 in 15 minutes." Although the latter has always been odd to me, because I find questions 12-17 to be the hardest in the section almost routinely.

For RC I feel your pain. I struggled and struggled and struggled. I even got to the point where I didn't think it was possible for me to get below -8. I took for granted the advice that people gave on the forums. You seriously do naturally get stronger the more you do it. Its insane. There is no "go to" strategy for it. The more you do, the higher of a chance you'll find what works for you. No joke, literally fuckin 2 and a half weeks ago I was timed almost every single time on RC at 42 or 43 minutes while missing 8. Now I'm missing below 5 and finishing in 34 minutes because I just worked the shit out of them. There is a pattern. Despite what anyone says, there is a pattern in the questions and the types of passages. Its all about repitition

You got 6 weeks. I know you want people to tell you "oh man you can do it!" But none of that's gonna matter. You can do it if you put the time in. If you treat it like a job, you can do it. If you take it lightly at all, then you wont. There's always someone out there drilling for September. So time you spend on other activities is time that other people are getting better.

1) Here are some RC Tips: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=234382 (There IS a strategy for RC, most people just don't know it)
2) Agreed with previous posted that 15 in 15 is insane and should be avoided at all costs. And by that I don't mean it's necessarily a bad thing to get 15 in 15 (though it makes me damn wary), but actively aiming for that (or even 10 in 10 honestly) is a recipe for disaster. You'll start prioritizing your clock over your points. If you're going to pull a 170, you can't afford to be missing a bunch of easy questions because you went into rush mode.
3) Do not just focus on harder questions. They often test different things than the rest (or the same things in different ways), and so if you spend all of your time there you'll find you start losing points elsewhere. There are generally enough easy and medium level difficulty questions to get you into the 160s by themselves (including guess points for the rest). Never forget that.

Good luck!

If 15 in 15 is bad, and 10 in 10 is also not ideal, how would you suggest I manage time in LR? Like OP I also seem to be struggling with timing.

Thank you for your RC guide by the way, really has helped me improve.

You're welcome on the RC Guide- glad it was helpful!

People get too caught up on time when they should be more worried about points. Let's take a typical 25 Q LR Section. Say you only did the first 15 questions, and you skipped everything else. Assuming you got them all right (which is a big assumption- there are 2-3 toughies in there usually), you'd have:

15 points from questions
2 points from guessing on the other 10 (20% chance of getting it right)

That's 17/25, or 68%. And that's a weird, worst case scenario where you don't do any of the last 10. For a lot of people, that's a better LR Score than they're getting.

What I'm getting at here, is those first 15 questions are your cash cow. The vast majority of your points are going to come from there, odds are. So you do whatever you need to in order to make sure you're maximizing your points in those questions. Think to the last 10 questions- you're going to miss more there than the rest more likely than not. What do you lose if you don't get to 2 questions at the end that you were going to get wrong anyway? Nothing. What have you gained? If you play your cards right- time.

So here's the real practical suggestion I have:

From now on, after you finish question 15, record your time in the test booklet. Then, when you review those questions, review every question you got wrong very carefully and put it into one of three categories (you really should always be doing this)

1. DUH- I can't believe I got this wrong. The second I looked at it, the answer was obvious. Didn't even need explanations.
2. I get it now, but I wouldn't have at the time. There was something I didn't realize I should be looking for, or some wrong answer trap I wasn't aware existed.
3. I'm still confused

If you've got ANY questions in the first 15 that are in category 1, you're mismanaging your time. Try giving yourself a little more time and slowing down a bit on those questions.* On the other hand, if all of the ones you missed were in category 2 or 3, then timing is not the issue. See if you can speed up ever so slightly until you find yourself missing category 1 questions again.

There's no set amount of time needed for the first 15- it depends on you and the section. Remember- half of your job is to study yourself during this whole process. But when I hear LSAT instructors say things like "Do the first 15 in 15 minutes", I want to throttle them. People who should be doing that were already doing it and didn't need to hear it. The other 90% are now going to start rushing and missing questions there for no good reason- just so they can get to some questions at the end that they're WAY less likely to get right. Remember- there's no prize for completion. Just for high scores. Sometimes the two are mutually exclusive.


Make sense?


*When I say slow down- be careful about WHERE you're slowing down. I don't mean stare at answer choices longer. You should be spending relatively little in answer choices and spending more time reading the stim more carefully and predicting the answer. The stim has the answer. The choices have the traps. More time in the latter generally = lower score.

[blacklungz]

Hey all. Long time lurker, and I've decided to create an account and ask a few questions regarding my study strategy for the September LSAT. I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course and have been doing all the homework (just recently started incorporating timing into the HW). I've taken only two five-section-PTs. I'm currently missing 6 on RC, 7 on each LR and I'm nearing perfection on LG. However, in untimed conditions, I'm getting 1-2 misses in LR and 2-3 misses in RC. I feel as though my fundamentals are pretty sound but it's just a matter of taking it under timed conditions. I plan on taking about 10-12 additional PTs before actual test day.

A few questions:
(1) Is a 170+ realistically attainable?
(2) Should I be focusing on completing all of my Testmasters HW, or just really focus on the harder questions at the end of the HW sections only?
(3) What can I do other than PTs to work on my timing? Drilling certain sections? Timing my homework more frequently?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

If you're doing fine in untimed conditions than it sorta says that you have the concepts down, you just gotta keep taking sections or PT's. The common sentiment is for LR finish "10 in 10 minutes" and then once that's easy try "15 in 15 minutes." Although the latter has always been odd to me, because I find questions 12-17 to be the hardest in the section almost routinely.

For RC I feel your pain. I struggled and struggled and struggled. I even got to the point where I didn't think it was possible for me to get below -8. I took for granted the advice that people gave on the forums. You seriously do naturally get stronger the more you do it. Its insane. There is no "go to" strategy for it. The more you do, the higher of a chance you'll find what works for you. No joke, literally fuckin 2 and a half weeks ago I was timed almost every single time on RC at 42 or 43 minutes while missing 8. Now I'm missing below 5 and finishing in 34 minutes because I just worked the shit out of them. There is a pattern. Despite what anyone says, there is a pattern in the questions and the types of passages. Its all about repitition

You got 6 weeks. I know you want people to tell you "oh man you can do it!" But none of that's gonna matter. You can do it if you put the time in. If you treat it like a job, you can do it. If you take it lightly at all, then you wont. There's always someone out there drilling for September. So time you spend on other activities is time that other people are getting better.

1) Here are some RC Tips: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=234382 (There IS a strategy for RC, most people just don't know it)
2) Agreed with previous posted that 15 in 15 is insane and should be avoided at all costs. And by that I don't mean it's necessarily a bad thing to get 15 in 15 (though it makes me damn wary), but actively aiming for that (or even 10 in 10 honestly) is a recipe for disaster. You'll start prioritizing your clock over your points. If you're going to pull a 170, you can't afford to be missing a bunch of easy questions because you went into rush mode.
3) Do not just focus on harder questions. They often test different things than the rest (or the same things in different ways), and so if you spend all of your time there you'll find you start losing points elsewhere. There are generally enough easy and medium level difficulty questions to get you into the 160s by themselves (including guess points for the rest). Never forget that.

Good luck!

Thank you both for your advice. The RC is really about knocking out a bunch of passages and KDLMaj your specific advice seems very helpful. I'll stick with the 10 for 10 now (without decreasing accuracy) and sort of play around with what works best after that.

[schmelling]

.

[blacklungz]

Hey I'm taking testmasters too and I wasn't thrilled with my second diag score- got a 163 and I'm aiming for a 170+ as well.

I've started timing myself on the hw's and doing more of the same section in a row to work speed and endurance. My teacher told me I may benefit from skipping the first 20% of the LR homework, but I like to do the easier ones at the start of a session to get the motions of the question type down before moving into the intermediate/hard ones. as long as you make sure you are getting a good sampling of the difficulties and doing 75% or more of each HW it should be plenty of practice.

I am saving most of the supplemental diags for the last 4 weeks but I will be sure to do every last one of them in addition to the extra sections.

You're going to need some work particularly on LR, watch Robin's videos again on the types giving you trouble and then refer to the extra LR questions they provide that are separated by question type and drill the ones you need. There's a whole book devoted to them.

Don't get discouraged. Most people don't see great improvement from diag1 to 2. they gave us a lot of info to work with and we still need to work on navigating all of the techniques under timed conditions. I have friends who have taken this course still scoring well below their target a few weeks out, then beginning to focus almost solely on timing during practice. They ended up hitting at or above their targets on test day.

Study hard and study smart and you'll do fine.

Hey thanks for your reply. Definitely found Robin's videos to be helpful the day after my lectures to reinforce. Do you time your LR HW? For me, untimed isn't a problem. It's when I'm timed I start making careless errors. I've seen that timing my RC and LG HW has vastly improved the way I do those sections in real PT conditions.

[schmelling]

.

[KDLMaj]

Hey I'm taking testmasters too and I wasn't thrilled with my second diag score- got a 163 and I'm aiming for a 170+ as well.

I've started timing myself on the hw's and doing more of the same section in a row to work speed and endurance. My teacher told me I may benefit from skipping the first 20% of the LR homework, but I like to do the easier ones at the start of a session to get the motions of the question type down before moving into the intermediate/hard ones. as long as you make sure you are getting a good sampling of the difficulties and doing 75% or more of each HW it should be plenty of practice.

I am saving most of the supplemental diags for the last 4 weeks but I will be sure to do every last one of them in addition to the extra sections.

You're going to need some work particularly on LR, watch Robin's videos again on the types giving you trouble and then refer to the extra LR questions they provide that are separated by question type and drill the ones you need. There's a whole book devoted to them.

Don't get discouraged. Most people don't see great improvement from diag1 to 2. they gave us a lot of info to work with and we still need to work on navigating all of the techniques under timed conditions. I have friends who have taken this course still scoring well below their target a few weeks out, then beginning to focus almost solely on timing during practice. They ended up hitting at or above their targets on test day.

Study hard and study smart and you'll do fine.

Hey thanks for your reply. Definitely found Robin's videos to be helpful the day after my lectures to reinforce. Do you time your LR HW? For me, untimed isn't a problem. It's when I'm timed I start making careless errors. I've seen that timing my RC and LG HW has vastly improved the way I do those sections in real PT conditions.

On HW, I am strictest with my LR timing cause it is my biggest strength. I am going to be shortening my time span for completing LG next then RC when I'm ready. Currently If I complete the RC passage in under 10 minutes I consider it a win. I am a firm believer that intense repetition of proper technique will yield the greatest results in terms of efficiency (getting as many right answers as quickly as possible), while focusing on timing before accuracy is damn near 100% will just make make you faster and not necessarily improve your score.

Think about it, if you go at a pace that allows you to answer 100% correct on test day and you don't get to look at 10 questions you will have gotten enough raw points for a 170 (and likely will get a couple lucky guesses too!) but if you rush through it all for 85% accuracy you're at a significantly lower score.

You've got more work to do in RC clearly (instead of just not getting to some questions at the end- you should instead pick one question per passage to skip entirely. I think it'll help).

But I have to say- you are SPOT ON with the management bit. You're going to do really well on this exam if you always keep that in mind.

Rushing NEVER helps.

[blacklungz]

Hey I'm taking testmasters too and I wasn't thrilled with my second diag score- got a 163 and I'm aiming for a 170+ as well.

I've started timing myself on the hw's and doing more of the same section in a row to work speed and endurance. My teacher told me I may benefit from skipping the first 20% of the LR homework, but I like to do the easier ones at the start of a session to get the motions of the question type down before moving into the intermediate/hard ones. as long as you make sure you are getting a good sampling of the difficulties and doing 75% or more of each HW it should be plenty of practice.

I am saving most of the supplemental diags for the last 4 weeks but I will be sure to do every last one of them in addition to the extra sections.

You're going to need some work particularly on LR, watch Robin's videos again on the types giving you trouble and then refer to the extra LR questions they provide that are separated by question type and drill the ones you need. There's a whole book devoted to them.

Don't get discouraged. Most people don't see great improvement from diag1 to 2. they gave us a lot of info to work with and we still need to work on navigating all of the techniques under timed conditions. I have friends who have taken this course still scoring well below their target a few weeks out, then beginning to focus almost solely on timing during practice. They ended up hitting at or above their targets on test day.

Study hard and study smart and you'll do fine.

Hey thanks for your reply. Definitely found Robin's videos to be helpful the day after my lectures to reinforce. Do you time your LR HW? For me, untimed isn't a problem. It's when I'm timed I start making careless errors. I've seen that timing my RC and LG HW has vastly improved the way I do those sections in real PT conditions.

On HW, I am strictest with my LR timing cause it is my biggest strength. I am going to be shortening my time span for completing LG next then RC when I'm ready. Currently If I complete the RC passage in under 10 minutes I consider it a win. I am a firm believer that intense repetition of proper technique will yield the greatest results in terms of efficiency (getting as many right answers as quickly as possible), while focusing on timing before accuracy is damn near 100% will just make make you faster and not necessarily improve your score.

Think about it, if you go at a pace that allows you to answer 100% correct on test day and you don't get to look at 10 questions you will have gotten enough raw points for a 170 (and likely will get a couple lucky guesses too!) but if you rush through it all for 85% accuracy you're at a significantly lower score.

How are you timing your LR HW? 1:25 per question or some other way?

[KDLMaj]

Hey I'm taking testmasters too and I wasn't thrilled with my second diag score- got a 163 and I'm aiming for a 170+ as well.

I've started timing myself on the hw's and doing more of the same section in a row to work speed and endurance. My teacher told me I may benefit from skipping the first 20% of the LR homework, but I like to do the easier ones at the start of a session to get the motions of the question type down before moving into the intermediate/hard ones. as long as you make sure you are getting a good sampling of the difficulties and doing 75% or more of each HW it should be plenty of practice.

I am saving most of the supplemental diags for the last 4 weeks but I will be sure to do every last one of them in addition to the extra sections.

You're going to need some work particularly on LR, watch Robin's videos again on the types giving you trouble and then refer to the extra LR questions they provide that are separated by question type and drill the ones you need. There's a whole book devoted to them.

Don't get discouraged. Most people don't see great improvement from diag1 to 2. they gave us a lot of info to work with and we still need to work on navigating all of the techniques under timed conditions. I have friends who have taken this course still scoring well below their target a few weeks out, then beginning to focus almost solely on timing during practice. They ended up hitting at or above their targets on test day.

Study hard and study smart and you'll do fine.

Hey thanks for your reply. Definitely found Robin's videos to be helpful the day after my lectures to reinforce. Do you time your LR HW? For me, untimed isn't a problem. It's when I'm timed I start making careless errors. I've seen that timing my RC and LG HW has vastly improved the way I do those sections in real PT conditions.

On HW, I am strictest with my LR timing cause it is my biggest strength. I am going to be shortening my time span for completing LG next then RC when I'm ready. Currently If I complete the RC passage in under 10 minutes I consider it a win. I am a firm believer that intense repetition of proper technique will yield the greatest results in terms of efficiency (getting as many right answers as quickly as possible), while focusing on timing before accuracy is damn near 100% will just make make you faster and not necessarily improve your score.

Think about it, if you go at a pace that allows you to answer 100% correct on test day and you don't get to look at 10 questions you will have gotten enough raw points for a 170 (and likely will get a couple lucky guesses too!) but if you rush through it all for 85% accuracy you're at a significantly lower score.

How are you timing your LR HW? 1:25 per question or some other way?

Never time your LR with a time/question goal. That's asking for trouble.

[schmelling]

.