Advice needed !!

[Johnclem]

Hi powerscore ;
I am writing the December lsat and want to see what else I can do to further improve and if that's even possible in that time frame .

Here's where I stand : - And my goal is to get 23 in each section : I want 170!!!
Of course I should say that I started off in the 130's. I have been studying for 1 year. And have killed a lot of material . Particularly LR (not so much LG or RC as i igored them). I have only 2 tests that I haven't seen and want to save them closer to test date . I don't know what to think of my LR score . Since I've seen all the material . I am not able to recognize exactly which is the answer - although I am able to recall seeing the stimulus and what question may follow the stimulus - but I slow myself down and force to go through each choice to justify why the correct answer is correct and all the others wrong . MY biggest issue in LR is that I am only able to get to question 20.or 21 ( when i rush.. my accuracy dies . I start missing 4-6).I want to finish all of them .
Additionally I'm so nervous that on test day LR is going to freak me out since I'm going to be seeing "fresh metrial " obviously I realize the whole test is fresh material , I'm just afraid because I don't know how accurate my lr is due to having seen the Metrial .

Where I stand now:
LR : 19/25
LG 17-20/24
RC : 16/ 27 *can finish 3 passages . Unless I hit one that tricks me into thinking its easy and ends up feeling like a slap in the face . For example the 3rd passage from PT 30 . It was about critical legal study . - I mean wow . I even had background studying the topic in undergrad. Once I hit the questions I was stuck . I read the passage 2x and still got 4 wrong .

Thank you
John

[Jonathan Evans]

John,

Are you doing two/three passes through LR? Based on your observations about your speed and accuracy, you should perhaps plan not to attempt two or three questions on an LR section. The hard questions are indeed time consuming. You need to choose the hard questions that you know you will get right and consider skipping the few that will suck up a lot of your time, the ones that you might get wrong even if you invest a lot of time in them.

Be that as it may, try to diagnose which kinds of problems or kinds of reasoning still present you with difficulty. Those are your areas to make the largest possible improvements.

Ask yourself, "Which kinds of problems do I have the greatest difficulty coming up with good prephrases for?"

Those are the problems which will (1) suck up a lot of time because you're trapped in the answer choices (2) you will still likely get wrong because you go for the wrong answer choice after a lot of wasted effort.

Work on improving your prephrases for those types of problems but also consider making one or two of those questions that you do not attempt in order to have more time to get other questions right.

For Analytical Reasoning, it looks like you're still managing to miss what amounts to one entire game's worth of questions. If you are attempting all four games and missing a problem or two here and there on multiple games, you need to take a step back and improve your accuracy. Do not be satisfied with any given game unless you have answered every question on it correctly. Do the same games two to three times to master the concepts involved.

The first time: run through it as through you were seeing it for the first time on the test. Note what you find challenging or confusing. Note questions with which you have difficulty.

The second time: notice what changes you could have made in your approach better to avoid pitfalls you fell into the first time. Try to see what you could do to ensure complete accuracy and better speed.

The third time: try to achieve a complete structural understanding of the game's mechanics. What is the point of each question? What is the best strategy to get perfect prephrases for each question?

Learn to identify very hard games. If you're going to attempt all four games, save the hardest one for last. If you see a game that looks like it's going to suck up a lot of time, skip it and come back to it.

You need 100% accuracy on the first three games. If you're short on time on the fourth game, figure out how to extract as many points as possible from it. Get a bare bones setup to understand what's going on, then knock out the global list question. Look through the remaining questions. Is there a straightforward global question or an easy local question? Do it. Get three points out of the fourth game.

Answer questions on the first three games if and only if you are 100% certain you have the right answer. You must attempt to do exactly the amount of work required to get the answer right. It is better to err on the side of doing too much work rather than too little (no "chin scratching/hmmmmm which is it"), but you should try to know when you've found the answer.

For reading comp, you need to consider jumping straight into the questions on very difficult passages. Find the two or so questions that are just local/extract information type questions ("according to the passage"/"as used on line 49, the word "bubblegum" most nearly means"). Read every word you need to to answer those questions. Then move on to the local purpose type questions ("according to the author"). As you go, try to develop an understanding of the VIEWSTAMP of the passage. When you have finished these more specific questions, you should be better equipped to answer the global questions on a very difficult passage.

Do timed drills with individual passages. What can you do with a passage in 9 minutes? in 8 minutes? in 7 minutes? in 6 minutes? You'd be surprised how many you can get right in very little time if you're strategic about your approach.

I hope this helps.