Order of Questions

[atirvine88]

Hello,

I plan on taking the LSAT in October, and I have been practicing as much as I can. I have two questions. First, after how many tests with a consistent score can I be confident that I will get a similar score on the LSAT? Secondly, I have been really struggling with the Logic Games. I am always nervous when I do them; I am worried about if I making enough inferences' I am never sure how much time I should spend on a question or doing a setup; and I don't know if I should do the questions in order (some sources have told me to do the questions that add extra conditions so that I have more information to work with and find the answer). Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve or deal with some of these challenges?

Thank you,

atirvine88

[Dave Killoran]

Hi AT,

Good to hear from you again, and thanks for the questions. Let me see if I can help you out here, and I'm going to quote from your message above for the sake of clarity:

• 1. "First, after how many tests with a consistent score can I be confident that I will get a similar score on the LSAT?"
  
  LSAT scores naturally vary, and this is one reason LSAC includes score band reporting when scores are released (the +/-3 score band is basically one standard deviation). So, there's always going to be a bit of variation, and even the composition of the LSAT affects your results (for example, more causality is good for some people, but bad for others). However, once you've hit the same scoring range 3 or 4 times, if you have a normal day taking the real test then you should score in that same range.
  
  
  2. "Secondly, I have been really struggling with the Logic Games. I am always nervous when I do them; I am worried about if I making enough inferences' I am never sure how much time I should spend on a question or doing a setup;"
  
  I think this is a universal concern. It's hard to know when you've got it all down. Two thoughts on this: first, it's ok to go into the questions without having every single inference. In some cases the questions will point you in the right direction, so you can recover (the first game from the June 2013 LSAT is like this, for example). Second, I feel that once you've made all the possible linkages and mentally examined some of the more interesting features/rules of the game, if nothing is springing to mind, then move on. If you really feel lost, try a few hypotheticals. But, if you feel like you are just staring at the page, then hit the questions asap. Better to be working towards answering a question than just staring at the game
  
  
  3. "I don't know if I should do the [LG] questions in order?"
  
  I wrote a blog a while back about this exact question, over at: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/153 ... Strategies. Please take a look at that, and let me know what you think.
  
  For anyone else reading out there, I integrated some of the ideas from that blog into the newest version of the LSAT Logic Games Bible. Check out Chapter 10 for more info on this idea, and related time management ideas.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[atirvine88]

Thank you so much. This helped a lot!