LSAT BR Forum

[New_Spice180]

Hey all,

I hope studying is going well for you guys. I'm here to ask a question about BR. I find it strange that when I go back and review a question, I'm easily able to see the important pieces that I miss the first go through especially for LR. Is this normal or is it a sign that I"m doing something wrong?

Thanks

[TLSDookie]

I suspect you're working too fast/too cognizant of the time pressure you're under, and then when you go back to review you aren't thinking of the time at all. This will improve naturally with more practice, but for now, instead of trying to at least attempt every/almost all the questions in a section, slow wayyy down and try to get the highest possible accuracy you can on each section (no more than 2-3 questions wrong, don't worry about how many you leave blank.) Once you are hitting that accuracy, improving your timing is relatively easy, it's just a matter of practicing more and learning which question types take the longest/you should save to revisit at the very end of the section.

[ponderingmeerkat]

So, dude...for me...I have a tendency to go "on tilt" during one LR section per test. And you know what? It's always the section I allow myself to feel time-pressured on. The LR section where I sense the need to hurry or time will run out invariably ends up being a -6/-7 for me. The other section where I feel calm collected and focused is the one I go -0/-1 on.

So, I'm working on reminding myself "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". I haven't mastered the technique by any means yet, but certainly think trying to calm down and not worry about the clock could help you tremendously. Good luck.

[forum_user]

Hey all,

I hope studying is going well for you guys. I'm here to ask a question about BR. I find it strange that when I go back and review a question, I'm easily able to see the important pieces that I miss the first go through especially for LR. Is this normal or is it a sign that I"m doing something wrong?

Thanks

Some of this could depend on how you "blind" review. When I take a test, I use the 7sage grader but only look at the score I got (simply because I need instant validation; if I were really trying to "blind" review, I wouldn't score my test at all). Then the next day I essentially take the entire test all over again--going over each game/passage/question, basically to make sure I got them all right, or to figure out on my own which ones I got wrong (and, of course, find the correct answer this time around).

This system is in marked contrast to the way I previously reviewed, which is where I'd manually score my test and then immediately look at a question I got wrong to try and figure out why the correct answer was correct. This method is, of course, easier--but it's also completely unhelpful. You know the answer you chose is wrong, so you're attacking it again, but this time with only four possible ACs and the knowledge that the fifth is not the right way of thinking about the question.

If your review is more like the latter paragraph, I'd say you ought to do more of a blind review rather than simply looking at the questions you got wrong--this is probably why you'd find it easier to realize where you went wrong. If your review is more like the former, then that's a good sign: you have a good grasp of the fundamentals. If this is the case, practice prephrasing an answer (at least for LR, but works for RC as well) before you even look at the ACs--that way you'll force yourself to understand the stimulus the first time around, and you won't fall victim to any trap answers.

[New_Spice180]

Hey all,

I hope studying is going well for you guys. I'm here to ask a question about BR. I find it strange that when I go back and review a question, I'm easily able to see the important pieces that I miss the first go through especially for LR. Is this normal or is it a sign that I"m doing something wrong?

Thanks

Some of this could depend on how you "blind" review. When I take a test, I use the 7sage grader but only look at the score I got (simply because I need instant validation; if I were really trying to "blind" review, I wouldn't score my test at all). Then the next day I essentially take the entire test all over again--going over each game/passage/question, basically to make sure I got them all right, or to figure out on my own which ones I got wrong (and, of course, find the correct answer this time around).

This system is in marked contrast to the way I previously reviewed, which is where I'd manually score my test and then immediately look at a question I got wrong to try and figure out why the correct answer was correct. This method is, of course, easier--but it's also completely unhelpful. You know the answer you chose is wrong, so you're attacking it again, but this time with only four possible ACs and the knowledge that the fifth is not the right way of thinking about the question.

If your review is more like the latter paragraph, I'd say you ought to do more of a blind review rather than simply looking at the questions you got wrong--this is probably why you'd find it easier to realize where you went wrong. If your review is more like the former, then that's a good sign: you have a good grasp of the fundamentals. If this is the case, practice prephrasing an answer (at least for LR, but works for RC as well) before you even look at the ACs--that way you'll force yourself to understand the stimulus the first time around, and you won't fall victim to any trap answers.

So this is my system, but understand that I'm not PTing just yet: After I drill 10-20 LR questions, I go through them again trying to pay even more attention to detail, writing out conditionals, if they are assumption questions, I write out the argument core and try to find the gaps, etc. Then I do a write up of each answer choice, how and why it's wrong, this has worked well for me because I get to understand why answer choices are indeed wrong and why the correct ones are, well, correct. Then I finally check the answers to see how my write up/answers line up with the key. Additionally, this allows me to quickly see my thought process if I do get the question wrong, how I might have missed an important detail and so on. I've become quicker at marking my errors and seeing my thought process as a result. Also it's really helped me understand the role/parts of the stimulus.

[New_Spice180]

So, dude...for me...I have a tendency to go "on tilt" during one LR section per test. And you know what? It's always the section I allow myself to feel time-pressured on. The LR section where I sense the need to hurry or time will run out invariably ends up being a -6/-7 for me. The other section where I feel calm collected and focused is the one I go -0/-1 on.

So, I'm working on reminding myself "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". I haven't mastered the technique by any means yet, but certainly think trying to calm down and not worry about the clock could help you tremendously. Good luck.

I totally understand you man. I find that when I try to rush myself, I miss important details unnecessarily, but when I'm focused and I take more of a "zenned" approach, I definitely do much better. Thanks!