Going over the hump in LR

[nooyyllib]

Hey guys,

I've been focusing on logical reasoning (mainly because its 50% of the exam and also because that's my weak section) and these past two weeks I improved slightly from 12-16 wrong on a section untimed to 8-9 wrong untimed.  I took two more sections (untimed for accuracy purposes) and kept getting 9 wrongs on each section.  The frustrating part is that everytime I'd go over the questions it would be either the question I eliminated down to two choices or the ones I COULD HAVE gotten right.  Do you guys have any advice on getting over this sloppy 9 wrong hump? And, I am doing the correct thing by focusing on accuracy first by untiming and catching up on timing later right? I plan on taking my test on June 09. 

Also, if you guys have any other advice on LR please let me know! Thanks!

[baragon112]

I think we have all been through this, at least I have.

First of all, since you have until June to take the test, your current concentration should be only on accuracy. Don't worry about time AT ALL right now. You should focus on learning and comprehension over simulated timed conditions. The more you master before you start timing, the easier it will be to do the test when you do time it.

Sounds like you are having problems choosing between the real answer and the "trick/almost" answer. Just keep practicing and eventually you will start to see patterns.

In my opinion, going from 12-16 wrong down to 8-9 is very good for just 2 weeks of practice. Imagine how much better you will be doing when the June test rolls around.

Also, you may want to consider studying for all sections right now. It makes studying easier because just doing all LR is killer on my brain. When you take a "break" and do LG or RC instead, coming back to LR seems easier.

[DerekShiHarvard]

I think LR is the subject that most improves with practice. You will get used to the right answer choices and be able to spot misleading answers.

[nooyyllib]

Thanks for the inputs.

It wasn't really only two weeks I've been working on the LR section.  I went through the LR bible last summer and have been on and off because of school fall semester (really couldn't focus because of school work).  However, this spring semester I only have class 3 times a week so I plan on going crazy.  Anyways, yes I do solve the LG section here and there.  Do you think I'll have enough practice (leaving about 10-13 whole exams for the final stretch to June to time them intensively) material left? (I went though the 10 actual, and at the 29th one on the 10 more actual.) 

Any other advice? Thanks!

[senseless]

Thanks for the inputs.

It wasn't really only two weeks I've been working on the LR section.  I went through the LR bible last summer and have been on and off because of school fall semester (really couldn't focus because of school work).  However, this spring semester I only have class 3 times a week so I plan on going crazy.  Anyways, yes I do solve the LG section here and there.  Do you think I'll have enough practice (leaving about 10-13 whole exams for the final stretch to June to time them intensively) material left? (I went though the 10 actual, and at the 29th one on the 10 more actual.) 

Any other advice? Thanks!

It sounds like you're on track, and with diligence you will be well prepared this June. You should do fine if you make good on your pledge to go crazy this Spring semester

My piece of advice is to purchase at least the 10 most recent LSATs from LSAC. You can get the October 2008 LSAT right now, and you will be able to get the December 2008 LSAT in late January 2009. You must purchase these tests individually at a price of $8 each, but it is one of the best investments you could possibly make for LSAT preparation.

[flip side]

like baragon said, i think this is something that most people go through in their prep.  i was def in the same position and made up a study ritual to target lr.

after already going through the lr bible several times, i started again to go through section by section.  for example, i'd do the assumption chapter.  then, i used the kaplan mastery book & did all the assumption questions there.  i also had a packet of prep test questions (some overlapped with kaplan and the lr bible, but there were many more) of each lr question type, which were from earlier tests that i'd already taken & wasn't going to take again.  so, i'd do the assumption questions there too.  in the mastery book and the packets, i'd do about 10 questions at a time, starting with the easiest then moving to hardest, then i'd go back through the questions thoroughly to make sure i understood the answers.  for the harder questions (in the mastery book they're categorized by difficulty level), i would only do 3-5 at a time before going back through to check. 

after i finished one question type, i'd move on to the next.  while doing this, i was continuing to take prep tests.  if i noticed that i was missing a lot of a certain question type, i would go through the little ritual again for that question type.  also, i usually did not do all of the questions in the mastery book for each question type on the first go around, so that i had some new questions to work with when/if i went back a 2nd or 3rd time.

in addition to this study routine, i also think it was really helpful on prep tests to go back and make sure i thoroughly understood every question, even the ones i got right.  even though everybody on these boards says to do that, i guess i did not do a great job at first of going back through the tests, so it really helped when i finally did.  someone also suggested marking any questions where you guessed, whether you got them wrong or right, wrong.  that was helpful to me because it forced me to put more effort into understanding before guessing when i'd narrowed the answer choices down to 2.  re: timing, i'd definitely continue to practice untimed, then moved to timing yourself once you see yourself getting more right.

i ended up going from -8 or -9 per lr section to -0 or -1 per lr section.  it was like something clicked along the way that made it much easier to identify the wrong answer choices, so that in most cases, there wasn't even a 2nd contender for the correct choice. 

also:

Do you think I'll have enough practice (leaving about 10-13 whole exams for the final stretch to June to time them intensively) material left? (I went though the 10 actual, and at the 29th one on the 10 more actual.) 

on this, if you purchase pretty much all the tests, you'll be fine.  definitely save the most recent until last.  otherwise, even if you complete all the other tests, you can go back and do them a 2nd or 3rd time.  if you wait long enough (at least a few months while doing several other prep tests) you won't remember most of the questions anyway.  your score may be a few raw points higher than the 1st time, solely because you recognize a few questions, but for me anyway, i never recognized more than 5ish max per test.

good luck!!

[Julie Fern]

there no hump in lr.  maybe that your problem.

[crashvandicoot]

I would recommend spending an entire 4 - 6 weeks SOLELY on LR. What this does for me is it engrains the primary objectives into my routine. I think it also allows you to develop and retain the ability to read the questions faster. After two weeks, I'm already working much faster. One neat thing I've been able to do is scan the entire section for question types in 30 - 45 seconds. You'd be amazed at how many LSATs put 3 - 5 easy questions at the very end.

However, most people don't like doing this. They like to jump around from LG to LR and such. I'd say, give it a shot for a week and see how it works for you.