Score drop concern

[lsatstudier]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could offer some advice. I have been studying for the LSAT for the past four months. I started to see a small increase in my score around December but am now starting to see drastic drops in my score with each practice test I take. I have especially seen a drop in my Games section which was always my highest scored section. I think this might be due to the fact that I keep stopping my work on a game after 8 minutes and 45 seconds. However, I was wondering if you would have any advice for ways to increase my score with the remaining time I have left before February. Should I just keep taking practice tests and going over my wrong/right answers, or do you recommend going back to the books?

Thank you for always answering all of my questions. I feel like I have learned so much about the LSAT. I just don't understand why it is not reflective in my score.

Thank you so much.

[Kristina Moen]

Hey lsatstudier,

The most efficient use of your time right now is to figure out where you are routinely making errors and correct those before test day. Since you asked specifically about Logic Games, I will discuss some questions you can ask yourself:

— Did you correctly identify whether the game was grouping or linear (basic or advanced) or a grouping/linear combination? If not, what words in the scenario did you miss? There are some other game types, but those are by far the most common game types on the test.
— Did you choose the best "base" for the setup?
— Did you write out the variables sets correctly?
— Did you correctly identify whether the game was balanced/unbalanced and fixed/unfixed? This can greatly impact your understanding of the game. If not, why? What words in the scenario did you miss? Did you make assumptions that were incorrect?
— Did you diagram the rules correctly? If not, what types of rules are giving you trouble? Conditional rules? Sequencing rules? Blocks and Not-Blocks?
— Did you make inferences? Did you link rules with common variables? Did you get all your Not-Laws down? Some inferences are harder than others, but there are some inferences you should be making automatically - such as if F goes before V, then F can't go last and V can't go first.
— Are you moving onto the questions in a timely fashion? Or are you spending so much time on your setup and inferences that you don't leave enough time for the questions?
— Are you doing List Questions quickly? Are you going rule-by-rule, rather than answer choice by answer choice?
— Are you understanding the difference between what can be true and what must be true?

I could go on, but you get the idea I hope! Identify where you are routinely making errors. Review the books for tools to avoid those errors.

Finally, if you are moving onto the next game at the 8:45 mark and missing questions, that may mean you are going too fast and making easy mistakes due to simply rushing. Each game will not take you exactly 8:45. Some students find that they get their best scores when they aim for three games and get almost all the questions on those three games correct. Try two timed sections. With one section, aim to do all 4 games. With the other section, aim to do all 3 games (yes, that means giving yourself 11-12 minutes per game!). Check the difference in your score. Remember that you are only scored on how many questions you answer correctly, so for some students the time it takes to set up a 4th game and rush through an additional 5 - 8 questions is not worth it.

Also, you do not have to do the games in order! So maybe you're awesome at Pure Sequencing games, but Advanced Linear Games make you crazy. So do the games you like best first! You will move faster through them, and it will give you confidence for the other games.

Good luck!

[lsatstudier]

Thank you so much for this helpful advice Kristina!