Finding it hard to improve on LG

[Jiya]

Hi there,

I am struggling to improve my LG score. I average 13-15 correct, and the highest has been 19. I was enrolled in another online course, and felt that LG needed some additional work, so I bought the Power Bible and have completed it. I do well on individual practice games (even when timed), feel like I understand the fundamentals but something changes when I sit down for a full-length LG section . It's been rather frustrating, as I'll do so much better when I am reviewing or when I attempt the same game a second time, although the latter is obvious I suppose.

I've wondered if this is probably the best I can do, and if I should instead focus on maximizing my LR and RC scores. I usually miss no more than 4-5 in each of those, sometimes less in RC. My goal is a score in the high 160s, although I feel I should hit low 170s in my practice tests to plan for the likelihood of nerves on test day.

I have enough material that I can re-review and practice tests that I could still tackle, and feel that I am not bad at self-study. Thoughts/strategies/advice on what to do next to optimize my efforts? Thanks in advance!

[Jon Denning]

Hey Jiya,

Thanks for the question! It sounds like if you're missing around half of the games questions you could probably do with a revisit to the fundamentals, examining some basic games concepts like linearity and sequencing, as well as initial grouping discussions. That said, it might help if I knew a bit more about what's causing your misses: are you running out of time after only two games but largely getting those questions right? Are you struggling on any particular type of game(s) more than the others? Is the difficulty in getting a consistent setup, or do you feel confident when moving to the questions only to later find there are errors? I suppose if I knew a bit more I could give some more specific advice.

Thanks!

[Jiya]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for your reply. My issue is with time. I can typically get to 3 games, and of the 3 that I attempt, I do end up with the right set up and will usually get at most 1-2 wrong (most often because of some silly oversight like not reading the question carefully or moving too quickly).

Now that I'm recapping this for you, I am realizing I should aim to perfect what I attempt and work on improving my time (duh!). Anything else you'd suggest? I have worked on so many LG timed sections, I don't feel like I have many unused tests left. Is it not as useful to go back and retake old tests? They're familiar, but not so much that I remember the answers or gotchas or anything like that.

Thanks for your help!

[Jon Denning]

Hey Jiya,

Thanks for the response and additional information! My first bit of advice is not to hesitate redoing older games sections that you've already completed. There can still be a ton of value in going back over completed content and considering whether your initial approach was as efficient as it could have been, and avoiding any mistakes that were made during your first pass. My colleague Dave actually talked about this idea in a reply to another student, suggesting the appropriate mentality to adopt as you redo sections: http://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/viewto ... f=2&t=2285 (there are also a number of other posts on the Forum about it if you're interested; simply do a search and read through the threads).

Secondly, as you work through Games going forward--whether content you've seen previously or not--break down your pace more specifically, looking at the times when you begin the game, begin to diagram, stop diagramming and move to the questions, and then finish each individual question. That should give you a better idea of where you're spending too much time and allow you to focus on speeding up (or avoiding) that part of your approach. For instance, maybe you spent an extra two minutes looking for inferences in your setup when you should have moved on to the questions, and you can know to move on more quickly in the future. Or maybe there was a single question that took you several minutes and you can consider skipping similar questions when you next encounter them.

I hope that helps!

[Jiya]

Hi Jon,

For the past few timed LG sections, I've improved into the 18-20 score, consistently getting 20 on the past few. I am able to attempt all 4 games now, although I still run out of time on the last 3-4 questions. Hopefully, the trend will continue though and I'll be to get to the point where I am able to tackle all questions and do them correctly!

Please let me know if there is anything else I could be trying. I have realized the issue is entirely with time. I am not spending that much on setup, but take longer with the questions than I should. My first game runs into 10-11 mins (yikes!), and then I start buckling down, but still end up missing the last 3-4. I am not always moving on to the next question after I have picked the answer choice - I feel I should check the others just to be safe That's not helping I am sure!

Thanks!

[ccampise]

Jiya,

Where you were with your games at the beginning of this post is about where I am now, so to see that you've improved so much is very encouraging to me. Any tips beyond the obvious on how you maybe altered your methods to speed up? Any and all wisdom is appreciated! Thanks!