Logical Reasoning Focused Improvement

[mbenedict25]

Hello!

I'm just looking for some advice on improving my score. I'm finding that in the LR sections, th majority of the marks I'm loosing seems to come from the last 10 questions. It's not with one particular question type either, just the last 10 questions. I'm not sure if it's because it's a timing thing or because those questions are the most difficult. The only time I seem to loose marks otherwise is with Parallel Reasoning type questions - which I'm already working on to address. I'm not sure how to go about improving - should I just work on the last 10 questions of recent LSAT LR section or are there any lists/workbooks which pool together LR questions by difficulty level?

I need my LR section to be strong because my LG is weak in the sense that I seem to be able to only complete 2 Games comfortably but accurately. I'm working on timing to get my self to finish at least 3 games with equal comfort and accuracy.

So, yeah - I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions for me to focus my study?

[Adam Tyson]

You're in good company there, mbenedict25 - many students find the latter portion of each LR section to have the hardest questions. This could be because they actually are harder (some are, some aren't), or because of fatigue, a major factor in test performance, or because some test takers tend to start rushing as they approach the end of the section because they start worrying about the time and trying to make up for slower work done earlier, or it could be (and probably is) some combination of all of these factors.

Here's my advice: slow down. It would be much better if you were to answer 6 of those last 10 questions and get them all right than it would be to answer all 10 and miss them all, wouldn't it? Check yourself on issues like pacing. Are you, like so many others, rushing at the end to try and "catch up"? That can make an easy question hard and a hard question impossible, so avoid rushing at all costs.

Remind yourself to prephrase at every question. Before you move to the answer choices, decide what the right answer needs to do. That way, you are simply looking for a match to what you already know, and you won't easily fall for trick answers. When you encounter conditional reasoning, don't hesitate to diagram the conditional relationships (especially on those parallel reasoning questions). It might take a little longer at first, but you will end up eliminating loser answers and picking winners much faster, making up for the time it takes to diagram. I'd rather spend the extra time and guarantee the right answer, and you should too.

Finally, I like your idea of focusing on those later questions first, but only as a drill for homework, and only untimed. Get more practice with those challenging questions now so that when you encounter similar ones on the real test you will have more experience with them, be better able to recognize patterns within them, and be less fazed by convoluted language and complicated structures. Once you get into a practice test, and especially on the real test, work through the sections the same as you always do, and just remember to be meticulous, prephrase, sort into losers and contenders, and never ever rush. That should ramp up your speed, your confidence, and your accuracy to gain those extra points the next time around.

Good luck, you can do it!