Not scoring the best on LR Bible drills, not good?

[fr33law]

Hi,

I have been working a bit on the LR bible and got to chapter 9 thus far.
I ended up taking a bit of a break for several weeks due to burn out and just recently got back to studying.
As I have been working on the drills at the end of the chapter, I haven't been scoring the best on the drills. I understand what I am reading as I go through the material of each chapter; but when it comes time to actually apply it I will typically get 3 questions correct out of 6 or 4/6 on the drills. Should I be worried about this, as this might be an indication to not comprehending the material fully? I plan on taking a good amount of PTs once I finish through this book and the LG bible as well.

I am just not sure if I am doing well enough and sometimes seem to get a bit discouraged.
Is there any advice that someone could offer me to approach studying more effectively?

Just to share if this is of any help:
Untimed diagnostic test result was 148
After 3 weeks of studying a lot each day, I took a second untimed PT scoring a 155.
This was before my burn-out.

I am a bit worried that this burn-out I experienced will hinder my testing abilities.

[DooshBagley]

You need 170 or higher to get into a good law school. The school is everything because the unemployment rate is (and has been, for a long time) very high among attorneys. This is a very, very precarious and risky career choice. If you wanted to get into engineering or med school, my advice would be much different; I'd say keep taking tests until you do better. If these are your untimed scores, your timed scores aren't going to be much better. I'm sorry. But good luck anyway.

[fr33law]

I guess practicing more until I get the ideas down is the best approach.

[Kristina Moen]

Hi fr33law,

What would help is if you tell us which drills are giving you trouble. You can use the forum for that, or if you are taking a class, you can call the Hotline. Each drill is designed to help you solidify a certain skill. If that particular drill isn't working for you, we'll come up with another way to explain the skill until it clicks! It might also help if you know why you are learning that skill. For example, if you are learning about logical opposites, it might help to know that you are practicing negation so that you can use the Assumption Negation Technique on an Assumption problem. And sometimes, there are multiple ways to approach an LSAT question. Again with Assumption questions, the Supporter/Defender model is another approach. Our goal for students is that they can identify what they're being asked to do, and once they identify that, they have a set of skills they can pull out to use.

So let us know which drills are giving you trouble, and we can talk through the drills and what they are designed to teach you. We can point you in the direction of questions that use that skill, so you can test yourself. Maybe the drills were confusing, but you still learned the skill and can use it on actual LSAT questions. Let's figure out if that's the case.

The best method for study is not to take practice test after practice test. That is a recipe for burnout. You should spend at least as much time reviewing a practice test as you did taking it! Explain to yourself (or a patient friend! or a beloved family pet!) why the incorrect answers are wrong. Explain why the correct answer is right. Often, you know it intuitively - but can you explain it? I find that helps students a great deal with accuracy and speed. Good luck.

p.s. Practicing attorneys come from a wide range of law schools. Aim to get the score that will help you get into the best law school for you. Keep at it.

[fr33law]

Hi Kristina!

Thank you for your reply and encouragement – I really appreciate it.
Currently, I am a bit stuck on Necessary assumptions (chapter 11).
I understand how Sufficient assumptions (Justify the Conclusion) question-types can be approached; but I can't seem to figure out how to clearly approach Necessary assumptions.
I tried the drills at the end of the chapter with little success, and know that this is one of my weaknesses.
Could you give me another explanation of the Defender/Supporter model?
From the explanation in the LRB, the supporter model seems easier to use than the defender.
Could I use only one of these methods to answer a Necessary assumption question, or is each method used for specific details within the question (meaning I will need to adjust which method I need to use depending on the stimulus being presented).

Another question: when practicing using prep-tests would you recommend that I isolate certain questions or sections?
For example, I take only one question type from the logical reasoning sections from older PTs and practice them untimed?
Or would you recommend solely taking full prep-tests?

Thank You!

[Charlie Melman]

Hi fre33law,

For Necessary Assumption questions, use the Negation Technique. If you negate an answer choice, and that new statement destroys the argument, then you have your necessary assumption.

Supporter assumptions strengthen arguments by propping up a weak spot. Defender assumptions defend the argument against a potential counterargument. For Necessary Assumption questions, you only have to worry about using the Negation Technique.

Finally, I would recommend taking full preptests and isolating problematic question types for further practice in between tests.