Strategy

[LawLover]

I want to learn from tests that I have already completed. I want to make sure I understand the questions I got wrong, and how to get to the correct answer. I am wondering is there a strategy for looking at questions I missed? Or do I just go back through the test and retry the questions I missed? Someone give me tips on how to review my missed questions.

Thanks
LawLover

[Adam Tyson]

I usually recommend to my students that, first, they do not mark up their practice tests after they have taken them. That is, don't do anything to indicate on the page which questions you got right and which you missed. Then, the day after you take a test (not the same day - your brain will be mush, so give it a rest), go over every question again to see what you think about every answer choice you selected. Now that the pressure is off, would you change it? Don't change an answer without a clear, articulated reason! If you would change it, write down why. What did you see this time around that you missed the first time? How did your prephrase change? What's wrong with the answer you originally chose? In this process you will be teaching yourself more about the strategies and techniques you are supposed to be applying.

Finally, correct the test. Were there answers that you got wrong on both passes? Study those carefully to understand what you were doing wrong. Were there some that you had right the first time and then changed to a wrong answer, talking yourself out of the right one? Study those, too, and especially study the reasoning that you wrote down for changing it to see what may have broken down in your analysis. Were there any that you got right but spent a lot of time struggling with? Study those, too, to see how you might have been able to be more efficient and confident in your choices, perhaps through prephrasing or sorting the answers.

Look for patterns in your struggles. Were the majority of the questions in just one LR family? Was there a particular type of game that proved troublesome? Use those patterns to guide your decisions about what to study next, what concepts and strategies and techniques you should brush up on.

For more tips for reviewing and learning from your practice tests, check out this article from our blog: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-be ... tice-tests

[LawLover]

Adam,
I am diffidently going to use the approach you have laid out going forward on the remaining LSATs that I have not taken. Knowing how to correctly grade LSATs now, I feel stupid not knowing how to review or benefit my study with tests I have already taken. I feel like I have jeopardized my chances of increasing my LSAT score because I only have 36 practice tests left. Is it okay to retaken LSATs? I really do not want to think about retaking any LSATs, but I just do not want to do so terrible that I am not improving. Do you guys know what I mean/where I am coming from? I’m probably jumping ahead of myself which I should not.

[Adam Tyson]

36 practice tests is a ton, my friend! If you did two per week, followed the next day each time by a thorough blind review, followed by some untimed practice and study, that would give you 18 weeks of study, or just over 4 months' worth of material to work from. As long as you don't start burning through them at a pace of 3-4 per wee you'll be just fine.

As to retaking old tests, there's certainly some value to doing so. Most of the material you won't remember all that well if it's been a while, and as long as you are taking a fresh approach with new skills, new habits, and new strategies, there is plenty of good that can come from that. I also recommend to my students who haven't been having trouble with LR and have not been prephrasing that they use an old test to practice prephrasing, writing their own short answers to every LR question rather than checking the multiple choice answers so as to build that good habit.

Go ahead and reuse old tests, even doing a blind review approach on them, to improve your understanding of the strategies and concepts you've been learning and practicing. Don't beat yourself up about what's been done so far! Just continue to make confident, positive strides forward. Keep up the good work!