Initial Prep, Emphasizing accuracy over speed Forum

[SunDevil14]

In the first month or two of studying, is it advisable to focus less on the time constraint and focus much more on accuracy? presumably if the accuracy is there, the overall time one takes to complete the sections and one's overall score will improve as more becomes more familiar with the patterns used in the test and the strategies one incorporates.

At present I can complete a section in roughly 40 minutes with only missing 1 or 2 questions on average. When I take timed 35 minute sections, I tend to average around 4 wrong answers.

I try to look at the time as little as possible when taking timed sections, and sometimes only after 5 minutes is called. I struggle with test anxiety, and I have found more frequently I check the time and worry about the time, the more my accuracy suffers.

Im half way through my prep material (6 prep books in total: Powerscore Bible Series and Manhattan Prep Series) and will have completed the remaining 3 books in the next 3-4 weeks. Once I have completed all the prep material and start taking multiple timed PT's a week as opposed to 1 a week I take now, I will start to shift my focus towards speed.

Does my approach sound reasonable or am I placing too much emphasis on accuracy at the cost of speed during the initial stages of my preparation?

My most recent timed PT was yesterday, I scored a 166. My goal is a 173+

[PDX4343]

I definitely think you're on the right track here as far as emphasizing accuracy over speed early on in the process. I scored a 173 on a February LSAT a few years ago, and my strategy was to spend the entire first month completely disregarding speed.

If your goal is to score a 173+, then you should make sure that you're consistently getting perfect or near perfect scores on any sample sections that you do un-timed. It's important to give yourself a solid foundation of knowledge before you start trying to rush things.

Once you're at that level of getting almost everything you do un-timed correct, you can start thinking about speed. For this, I highly, HIGHLY recommend drilling by question type. I think I used Cambridge's(?) drilling books and they were absolutely critical to my success. The speed comes naturally as you do dozens of each sub-question type. You'll start to notice patterns, and begin to get a feel for what a correct answer might look like.

After that, I recommend just knocking out PT after PT. If you weren't already comfortably doing each section quick enough after all that drilling, then doing all of the available PTs should get you over the hump.

I don't have test-taking anxiety, so I can't really help you there. But I think just over-preparing is the way to go here. You want all of this stuff to be second nature by the time you take the actual test. I would think just by virtue of doing thousands of sample questions, and dozens of sample PT's, you'll eventually get to a point where you're confident in your abilities, and that should be an antidote to your anxiety.

Anyways, sorry for the somewhat long-winded response. I hope this helps. To once again answer your original question, though, I think you're definitely on the right track with disregarding speed for now.

[Blueprint Mithun]

In the first month or two of studying, is it advisable to focus less on the time constraint and focus much more on accuracy? presumably if the accuracy is there, the overall time one takes to complete the sections and one's overall score will improve as more becomes more familiar with the patterns used in the test and the strategies one incorporates.

At present I can complete a section in roughly 40 minutes with only missing 1 or 2 questions on average. When I take timed 35 minute sections, I tend to average around 4 wrong answers.

I try to look at the time as little as possible when taking timed sections, and sometimes only after 5 minutes is called. I struggle with test anxiety, and I have found more frequently I check the time and worry about the time, the more my accuracy suffers.

Im half way through my prep material (6 prep books in total: Powerscore Bible Series and Manhattan Prep Series) and will have completed the remaining 3 books in the next 3-4 weeks. Once I have completed all the prep material and start taking multiple timed PT's a week as opposed to 1 a week I take now, I will start to shift my focus towards speed.

Does my approach sound reasonable or am I placing too much emphasis on accuracy at the cost of speed during the initial stages of my preparation?

My most recent timed PT was yesterday, I scored a 166. My goal is a 173+

Absolutely, I think this approach is wise. Trying to improve speed before focusing on accuracy is a recipe for disaster. It doesn't make sense to try and speed through questions if you haven't mastered applying the strategies. Doing so will cause you to develop bad habits and overlook important steps.

Your progress sounds really good so far. There are several great timing strategies out there, I've shared a few below. I wouldn't recommend focusing on these until you've spent some more time working on accuracy, so save them for later.

Learn to skip questions that baffle you, or that you know will take a lot of time to finish. A lot of students feel really uncomfortable about skipping at first. Trust me, you'll get used to it. It's a very useful and totally valid strategy. Every question is worth the exact same on this test. I'd rather solve two moderate questions than waste 3 minutes on a single hard one. Maintaining your confidence is an important element of test-taking, and skipping around can help keep your anxiety levels down. Plus, sometimes when you come back to that question later, you'll find it a lot easier to understand.

LG
Logic games involve a lot of repetition, so you can cut down on time spent by getting faster at basic processes like redrawing your diagrams, notating rules, and making scenarios. You will get faster with practice, but it may take a conscious effort to pull yourself out of bad, or in this case, slow, habits. However, it is important not to rush these steps, because an incorrect diagram could easily lead to incorrect answers, or more wasted time when you have to go back and correct your mistakes.

There are a couple of safe shortcuts you can take to cut down time while re-diagramming. For one, if it's an ordering game, you don't need to write the numbers labeling each space. I usually just make a row of dashes, counting them as I add each one. Granted, this will only save you a few seconds for each diagram you make, but over the course of a section, that could add easily up to over a minute. Just watch out for questions that ask about a specific numbered space. You also may not need to rewrite each deduction from your original diagram. Use discretion and write in the most important ones. It's good to make a habit of referencing the original diagram, as well.

LR
Hard questions typically take more time to solve. LR sections are also laid out such that the questions generally get hard later in the section. The first 10 questions tend to be fairly easy, but from question 16 on, the majority of them will be difficult.

Since we want to leave more time for answering the later, harder questions, the best strategy is to work through the early questions quickly, without sacrificing accuracy. Do just the first 10 questions of an LR section while timing yourself. If you completed them all in under 10 minutes, you're in excellent shape. If not, 10 within 10 is a great benchmark to aim for. If that seems impossible, 7 or 8 questions is still solid. However, you shouldn't be moving so fast that you're getting any of these questions wrong. That would defeat the point, as these 10 questions are worth just as much as the hard questions you're trying to get to.

Once you've practiced under these benchmarks for long enough, it will become natural for you to work at that pace. Your sense of when you've worked too long on a question will also improve.

RC

Doing well on RC isn't really about reading quickly, but about reading carefully and knowing what to look for. The foundation for being a fast RC taker is having a reliable, effective Reading Method that you've practiced to the point where it's become second-nature.

The Blueprint Reading Method emphasizes the big picture. There are elements of every passage that have a high chance of being relevant to the questions. These are:
- the number of perspectives/sides on the issue
- the main point of the passage
- the author's opinion
- the structure/flow of the passage

It's important to be on alert for these key elements as you are reading the passage for the FIRST time. By the time you finish the passage, you should do a quick mental review and see if you can describe all four of them (especially the first three). Think of them as the basic building blocks to understanding any RC passage.

Don't rush through the passages. This is the most common mistake students make when doing RC. They attempt to rush through the passage quickly to have more time for the questions, but ultimately squander that time re-reading and going back and forth because they didn't understand the content well enough. Given how much important info tends to reside in the first paragraph, I would recommend that you start reading at a conservative pace, and speed up if you feel comfortable.

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Lastly, if you have test-related anxiety, I'd recommend practicing basic mindful meditation for a few minutes each day. Learn some basic breathing exercises and start doing them. If you feel overcome by stress on the test, take few seconds to close your eyes and re-center yourself. Stress management is a highly important part of doing well on a test as long as this one. It's tempting to just try and power through, but in general, taking a step back and calming yourself will lead to more successful results.

[SunDevil14]

Thanks for the thorough responses.

I do not think I am too far off completing the sections accurately within the time period. It is going to be just a of practice and repetition.

I think my most pressing issue is deciding when to bail on a question if I am unable to answer it within a minute or so. I believe my problem is that I too often err on the side of completing the question.

[SunDevil14]

As far as drill books go, I will have to look into what the different companies offer. As stated, I believe I could benefit from a book that separates the question types, and then drills each type with a abundance of problems.