9 replies to this topic

[Phoenix-Wright]

Hey all,

So I just wrote my first "mock" LSAT today, a freebie administered by the PR under strict LSAT conditions (had to bring my snack in a plastic ziplock ).

I wrote the mock off of virtually no prep (i quickly leafed through the PR "Cracking the LSAT 2012" over the winter break), so it was a pretty true "cold" diagnostic.

Anyways, the one thing which most surprised me was how much time I felt I had for each section. Friends and peers who I've talked to have often stressed the importance of transferring answers by section in order to save time, and the need to guess the last 5 questions or so in a section.

I personally did not feel pressed for time to any significant degree, and was able to work through the test at a very comfortable pace. I was however simply stumped by a few of the LR and LG questions. Often I would narrow LR down to two answers that both seemed infuriatingly correct. LG naturally were a challenge without being able to diagrams anything other than line games!

RC went very well, finished the 4th set and sat there for ~3 minutes twiddling my thumbs.

My query is, did any of you find the time to be pretty much a non-factor right from your first writing, but needed to greatly improve your accuracy in some sections?

Do you think I was simply going too fast to hope to be very accurate if I didn't have to rush at the end of sections?

To improve accuracy, will I need to slow down, or will a great deal of prep allow me to keep working at my pace, and simultaneously bump up my accuracy?

Sorry for the long read, I'm just excited and want to talk with someone about my first LSAT experience... my housemates weren't interested


P.S. my test had two LG sections. Is the one in the first three sections of the LSAT the experimental one?

[theprophet89]

You can't really compare them because they both come with experience at a pretty static rate.

[FindMeMikeRoss]

It all depends on what your score was. If you wrote a 165 cold and with extra time, then timing isn't going to be a problem for you. If you instead wrote a 145 with this timing, you're going to need to slow down huge.

The LSAT is all about balancing speed vs accuracy. Generally, people tend to side that accuracy is more important. Better to answer 20 questions and get 18 of the correct than answer 26 and get 15 correct. That being said, timing is the hardest part of the LSAT. If we all had an extra 5 minutes per section, we could all score 175+. but we don't. The test is almost perfectly sculpted with regards to timing and difficulty.

In terms of being unusually fast, when it comes to games, a lot of people can pull it off. It's not uncommon for some people to finish all 4 games in 28-30 minutes and get almost all or even all of them correct. LR can be time consuming depending on the questions. You spoke of narrowing it down to two answers and then being unsure. I'd say 15% of your time on the LR sections is spent choosing between 2 good answers. Learning how and then doing this will eat up some extra minutes. Finishing RC with that kind of time left over is very impressive. I'd be curious as to your accuracy. I wrote a 171 on the December 2011 LSAT and never in all my practice tests did I have more than 2 minutes left on any RC section.

At the end of the day, you want to maximize your accuracy. Why rush if you don't have to? If you have 5 extra minutes at a section, you better be going back and reviewing starred questions, ensuring you've bubbled in entirely, double checking to make sure you transitioned from booklet to answer sheet properly. There's no such thing as extra time on the LSAT. Even before all that, I'd say slow down on sections. Great if you can kill 4 games in 25 minutes. Might as well slow down a little, make sure you hit the right inferences and don't get cocky.

Again, none of this really matters without knowing your score.

PS: As for your question about the experimental: it has traditionally fallen in the first three sections, however the October 2011 LSAT changed that when it fell in the 4th section for some. You have to be prepared to anything now. I'd still practice with it in the first three though, because that's the worst case scenario. Also, don't worry about identifying the experimental section. When you're writing the actual test, you better approach it as though you're writing 5 real sections.

Edited by FindMeMikeRoss, 06 February 2012 - 11:59 AM.

[esther414]

OP, when I first started preparing for the LSAT I had this idea in my head that I needed to be speedy in order to finish; but like you, I was easily finishing with time to spare. I started forcing myself to slow down and my accuracy improved along with that. I was honestly rushing through it initially, and it wasn't doing me any favours.

[Malicious Prosecutor]

esther414, on 06 February 2012 - 12:03 PM, said:

OP, when I first started preparing for the LSAT I had this idea in my head that I needed to be speedy in order to finish; but like you, I was easily finishing with time to spare. I started forcing myself to slow down and my accuracy improved along with that. I was honestly rushing through it initially, and it wasn't doing me any favours.

That's why you practice ahead of time.

My first run through I thought "gee, these problems aren't very hard at all!" only to realize I'd done 3 questions and had 5 minutes left.

[Mal]

You should find what works for you over many practice tests, this is in my opinion the greatest value in preparing for the lsat. You develop a feel for the time you need to spend on each question and what you are finding difficult.

I was very fast with the lsat except for reading comprehension. I only spent about 20 minutes on the Logic Games section on my real lsat (I got a perfect score on LG), yet barely finished on reading comprehension. I think this is fairly typical, but I would actually say that you should be aware that this is a problem and make sure to practice your weak area's. I way overstudied LR/LG getting to the point of true perfection (100% correct nearly 100% of the time), but didn't enjoy RC so I let it slide.

[Phoenix-Wright]

Hmm, so the results are in - 154 cold Diagnostic. Accuracy will clearly need to be improved.

LR went quite well, I was only -11 out of 50 questions between the two sections (0/3 on inference questions though), and RC also went okay, with a 19/27.

Logic games were a disaster, to put it mildly. Clearly this will be the area that I need to improve on.

The forum consensus seems to be that the Powerscore LG Bible is well... the bible, when it comes to Logic Games. Do you all recommend the purchase of this book?

[antioppressivepractice]

Phoenix-Wright, on 09 February 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

Hmm, so the results are in - 154 cold Diagnostic. Accuracy will clearly need to be improved.

LR went quite well, I was only -11 out of 50 questions between the two sections (0/3 on inference questions though), and RC also went okay, with a 19/27.

Logic games were a disaster, to put it mildly. Clearly this will be the area that I need to improve on.

The forum consensus seems to be that the Powerscore LG Bible is well... the bible, when it comes to Logic Games. Do you all recommend the purchase of this book?

Yes definitely get the LG Bible. Looks like you did quite well on the other sections, thats great!!!

[KER_2012]

Phoenix-Wright, on 09 February 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

Hmm, so the results are in - 154 cold Diagnostic. Accuracy will clearly need to be improved.

LR went quite well, I was only -11 out of 50 questions between the two sections (0/3 on inference questions though), and RC also went okay, with a 19/27.

Logic games were a disaster, to put it mildly. Clearly this will be the area that I need to improve on.

The forum consensus seems to be that the Powerscore LG Bible is well... the bible, when it comes to Logic Games. Do you all recommend the purchase of this book?

This is a great starting point!

Personally, I've found working though the tests to be much more helpful than anything I've ever read in a book. It takes time, but if you work on your own you're able to develop a personal strategy that works for you.

[wickedsis]

Yo Phoenix, I'm a huge fan of your work on the Mask DeMasque case. What a great twist that you revealed Detective Atmey as the true Mask in court!

May I recommend the Pithypike method [http://www.top-law-s...php?f=6&t=41657]? It works very well. This youtube channel is also great for a fresh perspective on problems you get stuck on: http://www.youtube.com/user/lsatpingu .

Cheers,
your biggest fan