Struggling with LR

[jiyoonsim]

At the moment, I'm studying on my own with preptest. I review wrong questions by comparing my answer and LSAT answer. Though my score has improved compared to the very early stage of my LSAT journey, it's still around low-mid 160. And I want/need more than that.

I've discovered that while my RC is on alright level and Game improving, my LR kind of stalled. On average, I keep getting 6-8 questions wrong per LR section, mostly on the later parts. My review notes seems like most of the questions I get wrong are late assumptions, flaws and principle (probably because of wordy choices).

I think as long as I can make a breakthrough on LR, I can definetely improve my score. But it seems like my LR performance just stalled (though I feel I did alright more than before!). Honestly, it's just wearing me down and I really don't know what to do ....any words of wisdom?

[giladedelman]

Thanks for posting! I know this test can be frustrating, but don't get too discouraged!

Of course to give more detailed advice, I would have to know more about your particular strengths and weaknesses, but one thing in your post jumps out at me:

"I review wrong questions by comparing my answer and LSAT answer."

No! That's not enough! When you review, here's what you need to do:

Break down the argument (if it's an argument):
- What's the conclusion?
- What's the supporting premise(s)?
- To a lesser extent, what's the other stuff?

If it's an assumption family question, you have to then ask, okay, what's missing here, what's the gap?

Then, crucially, it's not enough just to focus on your answer and the right answer. You need to spend a lot of time and effort coming up with concrete reasons why each wrong answer is wrong, and why the right one is right.

So my biggest advice is, make sure in both your test-taking and your review, to focus on incorrect answers. Getting stronger instincts for finding the wrong ones is maybe the biggest thing you can do to become an LR master.

I hope that helps!

[jiyoonsim]

Thanks so much!

In fact, that is what I meant by "reviewing" - I jot down why the wrong answer is wrong answer, and why right answer is right. And doing so very often forces me to disect the argument, even in the cases I did not mean to

IMO my main problem is that, while I often do get the logics and reasonings behind the answers, the wordings in multiple choices often screw me up. I can think of many times where I did paraphrased the given premises correctly (and it was right there among the five choices), yet got stumbled pretty bad because I paid too much attention on the answer choice wordings. Granted, sometimes it did help but sometimes it really damaged my score....

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks so much again *kowtow*

[giladedelman]

Well, one thing is, if you're having trouble understanding what you're reading -- be it an argument, answer choice, paragraph, etc. -- you have to think small. Rather than trying to understand what answer (D) is saying all in one gulp, you should break it down into little bites and make sure you understand what each one of those is saying. You can't understand the whole thing if you don't have a grasp of each individual part.

[tplan21]

giladedelman
thanks so much for that tip. My score wasnt getting any better. i would review the answers i got wrong and would understand them when i read them, but i never intentionally looked at each on for Premise or Conclusion, or gap. I went more for "understanding" in general.
Thank you! I have a few weeks left, and am really bummed that i might have to cancel the test and lose my money. Wish i would have thought of this simple thing earlier.

[timmydoeslsat]

giladedelman
thanks so much for that tip. My score wasnt getting any better. i would review the answers i got wrong and would understand them when i read them, but i never intentionally looked at each on for Premise or Conclusion, or gap. I went more for "understanding" in general.
Thank you! I have a few weeks left, and am really bummed that i might have to cancel the test and lose my money. Wish i would have thought of this simple thing earlier.

I believe you still have the ability to switch the test date for no cost.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Timmy's right! You have till midnight on January 22nd to change your test date for a fee of $68. The other option is to cancel your registration (deadline Feb 10) which gives you some more time to consider whether you'll be ready. But you would forfeit your entire registration fee - in the big scheme of things, not a big deal.

I went up 8 points in the last 10 days of my prep before I took the Oct 2002 LSAT. You never know!

Good luck...

http://lsac.org/jd/LSAT/test-dates-us-feb12.asp