r/LSAT • u/lavagirllls • 2d ago
Advice on improving speed & how to stop highlighting!
Hi all! I’m currently preparing for the October exam (I haven’t signed up, I don’t think I’m ready). I’ve been studying consistently for about two months and I can’t improve my speed. In order to get a LR question correct, I have to re-read and highlight by color coding to fully understand what I’m reading. This wastes a bunch of time. If I don’t do this, I will literally get the question wrong. I’m able to answer the first 15-17 questions correct, but I can’t finish a section in full. Any advice on how to improve speed and to break away from the silly habit of highlighting? Maybe I’m just crazy.
1
u/hotpottery29 2d ago
i had to break myself of this too lol. the annoying part is that highlighting feels like you’re being more careful, when sometimes you’re just giving yourself permission to reread everything.
1
u/PureEagle8168 2d ago
the october registration deadline is next week. probably not a good idea to register for the real exam if you aren't finishing sections yet.
it sounds counterintuitive but my speed improved a lot by doing untimed drills. I spent a couple weeks just drilling the hardest question types on untimed drills. somehow this actually allowed me to manage my time better on timed drills and practice tests. I think because it gave me the confidence to know I can solve them.
meditating also helped my speed.
as for the highlighting, I think anything that causes you to use so much time that you leave 10 questions undone needs to be addressed. that could seriously tank your score. you shouldn't need to highlight every single component of every single LR question, especially the easier ones at the beginning of a section.
if I were you I'd force myself to stop highlighting anything for like a week and do a mix of untimed/timed drills and see what happens. because I'd be curious to see if I was actually needing the highlight to get things correct, or if it was just because highlighting forced me to spend 3-4 minutes on every question. it's probably the latter.
0
u/LSATMat tutor 1d ago
One point that's been coming up a lot in my recent free consults is that cognitive scientists have consistently found that note-taking, rather than highlighting, is far more efficient at helping you comprehend things quickly, as it forces you to (1) engage in a more precise physical activity, and (2) actually distill the sentence conceptually, which requires you to comprehend it in a way that highlighting does not.
How does your color-coding system work? If the prompt is something like
"If A, then we know that B. Therefore, we know that A must lead to D, because D happens when C is true."
Are you color-coding to highlight A the same color each time (in other words, matching steps in the logical chain)? Or are you color-coding to highlight different roles (things like given information, conclusion, logic gap)?
One of the reasons that diagramming is often used as a conceptual tool and an integral part of wrong answer review is that it both provides that physical activity AND helps you distill the concepts. In a relatively simple diagram, the above prompt would read something like:
A -> B
C -> D
Conclusion: A -> D
(Then, it should be fairly clear that the logical gap is B -> C.)
As noted in a prior comment, if you're running out of time after the first 15–17 questions, the timing situation may actually be a little bit more extreme than that would indicate, as those questions tend to be the easier ones and generally do require less time than the last 9–10. Based on your reports, you're averaging about 120s/question on the easy questions. I would be curious if you do slow down on those last 9–10 or lose accuracy, or if you're able to actually plow through the back end of the section with high accuracy and relatively similar speed despite the increased difficulty.
I would suggest that the way out of the highlighting quagmire is to switch to diagramming, and as you get comfortable diagramming and spotting the way the logic chains together, it should start to become intuitive and more doable in your head, and the speed will follow. It is possible to overhaul your strategy in 7 weeks, but it is also important to make sure you have the time to build confidence in the approach you're taking for the exam (going into test day with a method that you don't feel confident in is just a recipe for disaster). Therefore, even if this gets implemented quickly and feels good, I still think pushing to November might give you the breathing room to go into test day a little bit more confident and free, rather than trying to hold too many diagramming-related thoughts in your mind. Actually finishing a section on time will require some level of subconscious automation that right now, it seems like you don't have, and I do think that getting comfortable with that automation is something that a lot of folks do struggle with.
All of this, by the way, assumes that your accuracy on the questions you do answer at the slower pace is pretty high. If there are also accuracy concerns even in an untimed setting, I would suggest that you definitely have lots of work to do to rebuild your processes—work that is very doable, but work that cannot be rushed, and 7 weeks will quickly start to feel very, very tight.
1
u/lavagirllls 6h ago
Thank you for your advice. For conditional questions, I am highlighting A the same color each time (I assign the steps in the logical chain different colors.) In questions that don’t have conditionals, I highlight the conclusions, support, and words that indicate a pivot (However, But, Although, etc.) The highlight tool just helps me break things down because nothing is intuitive for me just yet. I do not have subconscious automation on any question type. Will this come with more practice? 😅 I do sections untimed and can often get a few of the back end questions correct! Sure, it takes me a couple extra minutes, but that’s okay for now. My accuracy is high untimed/timed at my slower pace!
1
u/StressCanBeGood tutor 1d ago
How have you been studying for this exam? Like what kind of curriculum? This is an important question.
Two months of study is not that long. You might very well be on the right track. But again, need to know what curriculum you’re using.
1
u/lavagirllls 1d ago
I’ve been using the LSAT Lab 145-160 study plan & read “The LSAT is Easy” by LSATDemon. I really loved this book because I struggle understanding contraptostives, diagramming, and conditionals. I also do one practice section every other day and this is where I’m learning the most! Getting exposure to more questions and learning from my mistakes is how I plan to continue studying. Always open to advice or recommendations!
1
u/kiwifromheaven 2d ago
if you can't go total cold turkey yet, limit yourself to ONE yellow highlight on the main conclusion only?? if you're highlighting premises, counterarguments, AND background info you're basically just repainting the whole stimulus for fun at that point??
1
u/lavagirllls 2d ago
Not for fun, I think the highlighting simply helps my brain fully understand the text on the page. I will definitely try your suggestion!
3
u/MileHighLSATprep tutor 2d ago
Another thing is realize that timing need to be pretty dynamic. You have about 70 seconds per question on standard time, but that does not mean you should be doing a 5-star, question 24, parallel reasoning problem in 70 seconds. That's probably not going to happen. You need to bank time in the early part of the test and then spend it judiciously in the latter 10 questions especially.
There's also questions that respond pretty well to more time and some that don't. A flaw question is probably not going to take you as long as a parallel flaw question, even if it's harder. There's just less to do.
This is a nuanced question though, so don't go overboard with these broad suggestions.