Timed/Untimed Problems Forum

[Tajx_93]

Hey guys! I am a long time lurker here and I am seeking advice/recommendations on an issue I am currently experiencing.

I have been studying for the October LSAT since July. I am currently enrolled in an in-person prep course and have not significantly improved since my first timed diagnosis. If anything, I have gone down. My initial time diagnosis was a 149 and I still currently score in that range when I time myself. However, I decided to take two untimed exams and on both occasions I scored a 164. On both untimed exams, I spent at most an hour extra overall really thinking about the questions and what I was being asked. (I took these untimed exams for me so I can see what I was capable of without the time constraint. I have not taken any untimed since.)

My question is this: what advice would you give someone who seems to be really struggling with timing? I've noticed that I seem to have a different "mindset" when I am being timed. I tend to struggle the most on logical reasoning and reading comprehension for particularly this reason. I just take a different mindset and start miss-reading what I read or not fully understanding what I read, going back to read it over again and losing valuable time in the process.

I've thought about going back to the basics and really drilling over everything again. I plan to look at everything carefully and make sure I understand the basics before I start to take more timed practice exams. Overall, logical reasoning and reading comprehension are my most problematic sections. I am not too worried about logic games .

At this point, I will more than likely take the December exam and the October exam for practice but just cancel it afterwards. I have come to the conclusion that If I cannot score where I want to be scoring, I will more than likely reconsider going to law school.

Any advice is welcomed. Thanks for reading!

[BertYoo]

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[Tajx_93]

I tend to struggle the most on logical reasoning and reading comprehension for particularly this reason. I just take a different mindset and start miss-reading what I read or not fully understanding what I read, going back to read it over again and losing valuable time in the process.

Hey there!

I'm also taking an in-person prep course and what I quoted above from your OP was probably the most common issue that people raised during the beginning of the course. The reply, which I completely agree with, is that if you are having issues with time then you are missing crucial deductions or inferences that the question is specifically testing. Yes, untimed I think it is fair to say that most people will do better simply because they can brute force attack a question to find the right one. The LSAT is really testing particular skills and looking for a specific type of reasoning with each question.

The solution is pretty much as you say right after that quote above! I found that grouping all of the questions that I got wrong after each test, and going through them one by one to see why X is the right answer, but more importantly, why the other 4 choices are wrong. Remember, there is ONLY 1 right answer and ALWAYS 4 wrong answers. But reviewing each question you got wrong and trying to internalize the reasoning that you should have employed to get the right answer has been one of the most effective ways of improving a score (in my experience).

Last piece of advice: to really get your score up above the 160's, which is definitely possible (!), you are going to want to up the number of practice tests you take - those being timed ones as well.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it!

And your feedback seems pretty reasonable. I feel like I do spend a good amount of time reviewing problems but it looks like ill be spending more time these next two weeks reviewing questions I get wrong and see how much improvement I can make for the October exam. Thanks again!