Practice tests after 6 weeks of studying

[bstampfl]

Hi everyone,

I've been studying for the LSAT for 6 weeks now, using the three Powerscore bibles and primarily concentrating on logic games and logical reasoning. I've seen modest improvement in doing games and LR sections, and I'm starting to improve on timed practice sections. Overall, I feel good about my progress. However, I haven't taken a full timed test since my diagnostic. I don't feel near ready in logic games (I complete the average game in about 11 minutes, and that time would probably increase on a full timed practice test). Additionally, in LR I finish ~22-24 questions in the allotted 35 minutes, so I'm still a little shaky there.

Should I start taking timed, full practice tests? As I said, I do plenty of practice sections, and I'm improving. My only concern is that I need to start taking practice tests. I plan on taking the LSAT in June most likely -- and certainly no later than that. Can anyone offer advice about practice tests, or broad suggestions in general? Thank you!

[James Finch]

Hi B.,

Practice tests are a good way to measure progress and acclimate yourself to taking a full test and practice utilizing your skills in an actual test setting. At this point, you do need more LG practice and need to get down pat your approach to them so that you continue to steadily march through the game and the section and start to shave down your time. While you'll probably do worse initially given the addition of time and test pressure, at some point you're going to need to acclimate yourself to that pressure. Now is a good time to start, and since you're already doing timed sections, a full test makes sense. I would say to focus on completely and accurately finishing/acing 3 games and if possible, doing a quality setup for the fourth for the games section and get the list question correct. People that struggle with game timing usually need to make up a lot of time on the easier games in order to successfully finish the section, so focus on mastering and burning through those easy ones so you can give yourself the time and relax a little on the harder ones.

For LR, you're close enough to finishing a section that you shouldn't worry about timing, but rather section strategy and how to approach tougher questions that appear near the end of a section. Don't get bogged down by any one question and don't overthink the easier early ones, just focus on your approach and a careful strategy.

So overall, now would definitely be a good time to incorporate 1-2 timed PTs a week in your study plan. Just make sure that you're going over all the tests very carefully, preferably using an untimed blind review and making sure that you either understand every game/question, and if you don't, take the time to figure out why and where your approach broke down. Ultimately, the LSAT requires a ton of practice of your skills in order to improve performance, so don't shy away from it!

[lolaSur]

Hi!

I took my second practice test yesterday. I noticed an improvement on my accuracy but not an improvement on how fast I can answer questions. I know that with a lot of practice I can improve my time. I am very slow right now. I ran out of time for two sections of the logic games. I used to not be able to do even one game in 35 minutes, so to be able to get through two games is a major improvement. I ran out of time for two LGs. I ran out of time for two passages of the reading comp, and for about 14 questions each LR section. I am interested in seeing how I score without guessing, so in practice tests I’ve been leaving blank all questions for which I run out of time.

In my revision of the practice tests should I go back and do all the questions I didn’t get to and not time myself? Should I do these questions untimed?

I decided to not worry excessively about answering question fast and to focus on answering the questions correctly, and I will allow myself to get progressively faster as I become more familiar with questions.

I also noticed myself accurately predicting the types of questions asked after every stimulus in the LR which I have interpreted as a good thing.

Thank you so much in advance!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Lola,

Thanks for your questions! First, that's some really solid progress (particularly in the logic games section) for only being your second practice test. Most students require at least five to ten practice tests before they start seeing substantial improvements, and most students are going to need an additional ten to fifteen practice tests (beyond those first five to ten) in order to solidify their score improvements and have confidence that their approach will get them to their goal score on test day. So, just keep plugging away with the practice tests. It takes time, because (as I can tell you know from your questions) you need to do a very thorough review of each practice test in order to fix mistakes and improve your timing.

In regard to your first specific question, definitely go back and do those questions you didn't get to during the timed exam! Don't put a time limit on yourself. Do them at a comfortable pace: you want to be (1) understanding the stimulus argument, (2) accurately identifying the question type, (3) prephrasing, and (4) sorting answer choices using the contender/loser method. Keep track of how long this process takes for each question. Ideally you're trying to figure out which questions are taking you longest, so you can both try to think through a faster way to do them and identify which questions you might want to skip initially on a timed section.

Your general comments at the end of your post are right on track. Thinking through each question methodically, so you can be certain the answer you're picking is correct, is very important at the beginning of your study time. Speed comes with familiarity.

And always remember if you need additional practice test resources (complete sections or individual sections), we make them easily available here: https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/publica ... tal-tests/

I hope this helps!

Jeremy