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CeciSeptember 17, 2018
Time and question types.
I started diagraming everything just like in the video's, including the answers, and obviously that works but just like in the video, I'm spending roughly 3 minutes per question! I feel nervous not reaching the 1:24 because I know that's how much time we'd actually have. How are we supposed to do this faster on the practice tests and on the actual LSAT? Do we not map everything out when we start doing the practice tests?
Also, I know these are quantifiers and I know the last section was sufficient and necessary but how do I figure that out on the test? These all look the same. (Same question for all the other question types.) I can determine error in reasoning or parallel or illustration or inference questions, the big distinctive ones, but how are we supposed to determine the sub categories within each?
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Can someone respond to this question/post. I am also having this issue. I am spending up to 5-8 minutes on ONE really hard question. Of course on the real LSAT I would skip and work on the others but I am never hitting the 1:24 time for any question. Any tips or will this just come faster with practice? Please respond to previous question asked in this post.
Jacob-RMarch 7, 2019
Hi Ceci and Brianna-Underwood,
The timing issues (and nerves) you are experiencing are entirely normal. Unfortunately, there is no magic solution to gaining speed without sacrificing accuracy. All I can say with total confidence is that if you continue to practice (and repeat! ...and repeat!) your timing will improve.
With that said, here are a few tips on how to gain that speed as you practice.
1. Really try to home in on the type of questions that are slowing you down the most. Spend as much extra time as you can spare on these question types, and really review why you got the answers wrong. This sort of targeted focus will help improve speed.
2. As to your question re: identification — by the time you have put in a ton of practice and worked on problem types, you won’t really need to spend the mental energy specifically identifying question types on the actual exam. (With that said, you will ALWAYS need to concentrate on understanding exactly what the question stem is asking you. The stem will usually end up revealing the question type, too — but crucially it will tell you what you need to look for in the passage, and in the answer.)
3. As you gain fluency in the patterns of the LSAT, you will not have to map out or diagram every single question and every single answer. Instead, there are some questions you will be able to fly through, and for the tougher ones, you may still be able to easily eliminate an answer option or two, and then only have to diagram the last remaining choices. That sort of selective diagramming will also help you save time.
LSAT mastery takes a while. Depending on whether you are studying full time or working while you study, developing speed and fluency can take several months of quality study. If you have already put in that kind of time and are still having timing issues, feel free to reach out to see if we can craft some more tailored support. If you have not yet put in that time, then I promise you that practice is the most likely solution!
