Avoid these 4 habits that Guarantee Slower Progress

You've been studying for hours on end, and it feels like you aren't improving despite your best efforts. You've been following all the right advice—you've been studying hard, reviewing your mistakes, and taking occasional practice tests to measure your progress. Meanwhile, you see other people making significant progress in just a few months. You scratch your head wondering, "Why am I progressing so much slower than everyone else?"

You may be inadvertently making some of the following mistakes. Sometimes it's not about what you're doing, but how you're doing it.

1. Just seeing if the correct answer “makes sense”

When reviewing wrong questions, many people move on as soon as they understand why the correct answer is right. But if you already know the correct answer, it will usually “make sense” naturally. The real question is whether you would avoid the same mistake when you encounter a similar question later.

Make note of exactly what went wrong. Did you misunderstand a statement? Did you make an erroneous assumption? Identify the error and create a concrete way to prevent it in the future.

2. Brushing mistakes under the rug

When you get a question wrong, it can be tempting to think that it was just a fluke or that it's unlikely you will see that type of question again. But the LSAT, like any standardized test, contains patterns. It is very possible that you could see a similar question in the future.

Also, many students are satisfied from the fact they got the question correct, even if they made mistakes along the way. They ignore the fact that they mis-diagrammed a statement or that they didn't have the correct reasoning for an answer choice they eliminated. But there are hundreds of different things the answer choices could have said. Brushing these types of mistakes under the rug makes you more dependent on luck, and you will need to hope that you get a question that your thought process just happens to work on.

3. Chasing the score rather than the understanding

Score fluctuations can be nerve-wracking. If your score drops, it can feel like you aren't making any progress. But as discussed in my prior post, your score can dip even if you are improving.

Don't let score fluctuations stress you out. Just focus on understanding every single mistake you make. As long as your understanding improves, your score has to eventually catch up to reflect that.

4. Studying when you have time rather than making time

My students who improve 15+ points are not passively hoping for a time that works for them to study. They will make time regardless of the situation. For instance, I even had a student who studied for the LSAT while she waited for her mother at the ER. She ended up scoring a 175. Of course, this is a more extreme example, but this shows that if there is a will, there is a way. The ones who proactively find time to study see far more progress.