Logical Reasoning Help

[jessicalauren24]

Hello! I am planning on taking the November LSAT. My goal is to get at least a 160 on the exam.

My practice test scores currently are: 156, 157, 159, 158.

I have been studying since November, and my RC and LG scores have masssiveeellyyy gone up since then. So I'm pretty confident there -- the only thing I would love advice on (which I feel like is pretty hard to provide) but always worth asking -- is ways to relax while you're in the middle of a section so as to not skip over important language and make silly mistakes, because that's something I'm very susceptible to and find myself falling into while I take these prep tests.

In terms of LR, it is the section I am most worried about since it accounts for the biggest part of the score, and I haven't seen the increase that I need in order to achieve my score. I am consistently missing around 5 or 6 questions per section -- sometimes more if nerves factor in that day. The question type I am missing the most is strengthen/weaken which is odd considering that from what I have researched those are considered "Level 1" questions. Is there any advice you have on how to tackle these questions specifically, and why I might be missing those in particular?

Thank you for your help and insights!

[Brook Miscoski]

Jessica,

For relaxation and avoiding mistakes--

Take the time to sum up RC passages and make and check rules and inferences for LG. Take the time to pre-phrase RC answers, and sketch next to LG questions. You can save your bubbling for the completion of a LG or a RC passage. Those things keep you in rhythm, keep you from getting ahead of yourself, and help divide up the test.

For LR, you are mainly missing Strengthen/Weaken questions. My advice is basically the same. Make sure you are identifying conclusions and allowing yourself a moment to react to the stimulus. When you do a S/W question, your goal is to attack the conclusion (weaken) or to support the conclusion (strengthen). I might have a different opinion with more information, but for now, what I can say is that people missing S/W questions usually aren't staying on those targets. That seems consistent with maybe getting ahead of yourself a little.

It's okay to sac a few questions to guessing to make sure you feel well-paced. And, I'm sure you've had the experience already that slowing down at the right times can speed you up overall.