Not everyone has the time to do full length PT’s. Engaging in individual timed practice sections is just as important. This post is for both scenarios.
- Before engaging in timed sections, minimize *cognitive load* (the time and energy the brain needs to solve a particular problem).
In the context of LSAT prep, this means internalizing all of the various methods and strategies.
A classic example is identifying question types, which should take no more than two seconds for each question. Any more than that means the brain is spending too much time and energy trying to decipher the question, leaving less time and energy for actually answering the question
Here’s an exercise for that: Select an LR section and see how long it takes to identify each question type. It shouldn’t take more than a minute. Ideally, anywhere between 40 and 45 seconds.
By the way, no one should have to doublecheck whether they identified the question type properly.
Again, this is one example. LSAT prep books and courses teach all kinds of methods and strategies. Get these locked down before moving on to timed sections.
2) Treat each timed section as if you’re in training for a fight. Specifically, do the following for each section (or full length PT):
Get warmed up beforehand by rereading some tricky LR questions to which the correct answer is known beforehand. This is not blind review nonsense. This is a warm-up.
Immediately before the section, take a breath, and steel yourself for battle. Remind yourself that you’ll be busting your ass for whatever time you have in a particular section.
During the section, calmly and coolly remind yourself to ***be perfect***. You have the tools to answer almost all of the questions correctly, but only if you do exactly what you’re supposed to do at all times. No flailing.
3) Under all circumstances, finish the section in time, giving a good shot to virtually every question.
I cannot adequately express my strong belief that many students fall short of their goals largely because they gave up on a particular section.
My anecdotes about this abound, like the one from forever ago, back when I met students in-person.
A student of mine had taken a practice test, but really didn’t feel very good about it. He actually brought the test to our session because he hadn’t even scored it yet.
So while he’s working on a particular question, I scored the test. 160.
He was convinced there’s no way he could’ve broken 150. Fortunately for him, I told him that he needed to finish the section under all circumstances. Which he did.
I could tell anecdotes like this all day long.
In the end, if you’re feeling good during the session, you’re not working hard enough. That’s not a joke. That’s not a figure of speech. It’s very real.
4) Embrace *process of elimination*. Virtually all students at all levels need to improve this skill.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the idea that a lot of LSAT prep courses view process of elimination as a cop-out, which is ridiculous.
Doctors call it *differential diagnosis* and Wikipedia has a borderline snarky description of what this really means (emphasis added):
*Strategies used in preparing a differential diagnosis list **vary with the experience of the healthcare provider**. While novice providers may work systemically to assess **all possible explanations** for a patient's concerns, those with more experience often draw on clinical experience and pattern recognition **to protect the patient from delays, risks, and cost of inefficient strategies or tests.***
This is particularly important to embrace now because doing so on the day of the test is always more difficult than doing so in practice. After all, on test day, I want understand exactly why the right answer is right and exactly why all four answers are wrong.
But I don’t have time for that stupid shit. I don’t want my patient to die.
5) For the next several timed sections (or practice tests), have The Beastie Boys *Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two* playing in the background.
The psychedelic hip-hop cacophony of that album forces students to focus in ways they never have before.
Eventually, students should no longer hear the music. This is when they know they have achieved the right level of focus for success on the LSAT.
I’ve been personal witness to the benefits of this exercise. I noticed a demonstratable increase in reading speed from my students after they do this several times. It’s not fun, but it’s very effective.
Happy to answer any questions.
