You have been hitting the LSAT books hard for some time now and you have seen dramatic progress in games, but you seem to be hitting a brick wall when it comes to Logical Reasoning. No matter how many sections you do, you don't see any progress.
Does this sound like you? No problem! We will discuss the common mistakes people make when it comes to Logical Reasoning (LR) prep, and what to do about it.
Mistake #1: Trying to finish all the questions
In timed LSAT practice sections, people often calculate that they have roughly 1.5 minutes per question and make it a goal to finish every question within that time frame.
This is a flawed way to think about this LSAT section. Here's why...
Some questions are harder or longer than others and naturally take longer to complete. If you think about the exam in this way, you will panic when you take longer than 1.5 min. As a result, if you take 2 min to answer a question you will think "oh my gosh... how much time do I have per question now? I need to go faster! I'm never going to finish this section at this pace! AHHHHHH!!"
Do you see the problem here? You are WASTING valuable time on the LSAT by focusing on time instead of the question in front of you.
I can understand why this is tempting. After all, if you answer more questions on the LSAT you are more likely to get more questions right...right? Well, not exactly...
If you are too focused on time, you will try to read faster to save time. As a result, you will skim. And that is exactly what the evil LSAT test writers want. They have set up traps for those who do not read carefully at every turn.
Don't give them what they want. Instead, read carefully. Don't go into the section with the expectation you will answer every single LSAT question. Instead, make it a goal to answer every question that you do attempt correctly. In other words, prioritize accuracy over speed. I have seen so many students improve their LR scores just by changing that alone.
But of course, that is not always enough. You also need to practice correctly...
Mistake #2: Only doing timed practice
"The LSAT is a timed exam so we should only be simulating timed practice, right?" I can't tell you how many times I have heard this. This simply is not true.
If you are trying to get better at an instrument, do you just play songs as fast as you can? Probably not. You probably would do drills and do targeted practice. The same applies for the LSAT in general, not just LR.
Yes, you should be incorporating timed practice into your LSAT routine, but make sure to include some untimed practice as well. This allows you to truly engage with the questions without any time pressure. If you are missing questions untimed, how are you going to get questions correct timed?
Practice questions until your accuracy improves. Then you can start adding timing into the mix.
Mistake #3: Not deeply understanding structure
I often see students far too focused on LSAT LR question types as their weakness. They will say that they need to get better at Necessary Assumption or Flaw questions, for example. But they determine this by simply figuring out which questions they miss the most. This doesn't tell the whole story.
For example, a lot of people brush off Main Point questions, saying they only miss them every now and then. But that could just be because there are very few Main Point questions, not necessarily because you are good at them.
That translates into the other LSAT question types. If you are not accurately identifying the conclusion of the argument, you will not be able to identify the assumption (after all, the assumption is the missing link between the premise and the conclusion). If you can't identify the assumption, you will not be successful with the assumption question types.
So, don't focus so much on the question type alone. Make sure you fully understand the conclusion and premise, and the relationship between the two. If you are not properly identifying the structure, make sure to review the passage thoroughly.
Mistake #4: Not reviewing efficiently
Most people HATE reviewing LSAT questions, but I promise it is a big deal. It makes a world of a difference. If you just do questions without review, you pretty much wasted all the lessons you could have learned from them.
Here is how to review...
Do a single question and IMMEDIATELY check the explanations
REDO the question (from start to finish) utilizing the process provided in the explanations. Continue to repeat until it becomes second nature to you.
Move onto the next question and repeat steps 1-2
Mark down the questions that especially gave you trouble and do them again a day or two later
This is no doubt a grueling way to review LSAT questions, but it is so effective. I would put my money on someone who used this process for 20 questions over someone who did 100 questions without review.
Stay Motivated!
Sincerely,
Impetus LSAT
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