Hi,
This is the fifth and final email in the intro course. In previous emails I introduced the LSAT and gave you strategies for logical reasoning, logic games and reading comprehension. In this email I’m going to tell you how to study.
There are four main components:
1. Timed practice
2. Review + creation of a weaknesses file
3. Drills
4. Strategy guides/courses
I put study guides last because LSAT preptests should be your main focus. Many students refuse to do a timed LSAT until they’ve read a 600 page guide. This is a mistake. Strategy guides only really make sense when you can relate them to experience with timed LSATs.
1. Timed Practice
The LSAT is a timed test. A lot of LSAT questions are testing how accurate you are under pressure. Remove the pressure, and you’re practicing for the wrong test. By all means, review untimed, when you encounter a concept you need to understand in depth. But the majority of your first-run practice should be timed.
Take full timed tests, and record your scores. 1-2 tests a week is a good amount, depending on how far off your test date is. If it’s quite far off, you might do a full test every two weeks for now. The most important thing is to have a record of your full timed scores. This is what will tell you if you’re improving. The scores will fluctuate – that’s normal. You can also do timed practice of individual sections. Use older tests (earlier than 29 or earlier than 39) for this type of work, and save newer tests for full length exams. You can also redo individual sections of exams you’ve taken.
Make sure you do timed practice right:
* Wooden Pencil
* Mark answers in a bubble sheets (this takes 2-3 minutes)
* Use an analog watch to check time
* cellphone on airplane mode, no distractions
* No checking answers midway through a section
* If doing a full test, only one break, in the middle, 15 minutes
If you time yourself wrong, then test day will be a rude awakening. The 7Sage iphone LSAT proctor is a good option for holding yourself accountable, you can see my review here.
2. Review + a weaknesses file
Review is extremely important. The LSAT is complex. You can get questions right, while having a fundamental misunderstanding of some concepts in that question. Or you can fall into a trap that the test intended you to fall for, but on review you say “oh, that was just a dumb mistake”. There are no dumb mistakes on the LSAT. Almost every mistake you make is something that was written into the test, that was planned. You need to figure out, in detail, why you choose wrong answers, and what habits could prevent it.
Let me share with you a different between my students who score in the 150s, and those who get 165-175. When I do a lesson with a student in the 150s, they often have little to ask me. “I reviewed my errors, and I understand them now.”, they tell me. The high scoring students ask more questions! In fact, they might get five questions wrong on an LR question, but ask me about ten questions.
You have to relentlessly examine your own knowledge. Don’t focus on what you do understand. It’s dangerous. 90% of the time, when a student tells me “I understand”, they actually don’t understand, not fully. It’s much better to focus on what you don’t understand.
Review anything you’re not certain about. Set a very high standard for what it means to understand something. If you ever make a mistake with a concept, you don’t understand it well enough. You never make a mistake when tying your shoes, right? That’s because you understand the concept fully. Set the same standard for, say, translating a conditional statement from English to a logical diagram.
One difficulty with the LSAT is that it tests hundreds of concepts. Some concepts you may only see once per test, or even less frequently. That’s why you should build a weaknesses file for periodic review. This can be on your computer, or in a notebook. Here’s the basic idea:
1. Take note of your errors. (e.g. PT 34, S4, Q21 ➞ I didn’t understand why B was wrong)
2. Attempt to categorize the error (e.g. “I couldn’t diagram the statement”, “I didn’t know how to negate it”, “I didn’t understand what the answer meant”, “I didn’t notice a term shift”, etc.)
3. Create lists of questions to review within each category.
This will serve two purposes. First, you’ll start to see the sources of your errors, and where you lack understanding. Second, you’ll be able to easily review a given concept simply by referring back to examples. You can list all kinds of things. Conditional phrases you have trouble translating, rule-substitution questions, etc.
I can’t emphasize how important review is. I’d rather you only do 10 tests (but redo them until they make sense), instead of plowing through 40 tests without taking the time to understand your mistakes.
3. Drills
Once you identify specific weaknesses, drill them. Partly, this will involve reviewing your past mistakes and weaknesses, as I suggested in the previous section. But there are other drills you can do for each section.
Logical Reasoning
You should know the following like the back of your hand:
* Translating conditional statements from English to logic
* Identifying question types
* Identifying conclusions and reasoning
* Knowing what to do on each question type
The last two are the most difficult. Most students have trouble with LR because they don’t know how to precisely identify conclusions, and they’re not sure what to do on some question types. For identifying conclusions, you can use my explanations. I’ve identified the conclusion and reasoning. You can check those after you identify the conclusion on your own, to see if you’re right.
Knowing what to do on question types takes the most work. I’ll eventually have guides for this, but for now I’d check out the LSAT Trainer. Then I would get drilling packets from Cambridge LSAT, and do questions of a given type until you intuitively know how to solve them.
Logic Games
Games are the easiest section to learn. You just need to do them over and over again. There’s no specific order or type of game that works best. Just do a bunch of games sections, and repeat them.
When you repeat games, you are not trying to memorize the answers. You’re trying to learn the process by which you can prove the answers, quickly. You should aim to get perfect on games you repeat, and eventually do them in six minutes or less. You should know the shortcut through each question.
When you have mastery of a few games, you’ll start to recognize patterns and you’ll be better at games you haven’t seen before.
Reading Comprehension
Do you remember the passages that you read? Many LSAT students don’t. They rush through, forget everything, and fumble around on the questions, their eyes moving frantically between answers choices.
The most important RC drill is retention. You can read a passage, then turn it over. Quiz yourself on it. Do you remember what you read? If you don’t, then you need to re-evaluate how you’re reading passages.
4. Strategy Guides/Courses
I’ve put this last, because I think strategy guides are less important than most people think. The practice tests are the most important part of the LSAT. That said, having a good guide is useful. The three main forms are books, online courses, and classroom courses, and I have a recommendation for each.
Best Book: The LSAT Trainer. My favorite LSAT guide. Written by Mike Kim, formerly the co-author of the Manhattan LSAT guides. This guide is very easy to read, has extensive drills, uses real LSAT questions, has excellent, intuitive strategies, and it covers all three sections in one book for only $40. Everyone should get this.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve found this introductory course useful. It’s everything that I tell my new students. Stay tuned to my site, because I’m going to be releasing new explanations and eventually mini courses of my own. I’m also going to be posting guides to various questions types. Good luck on the LSAT, and let me know how I can help.
Graeme
Creator of LSAT Hacks
p.s. That’s the end of the course, but I’ve got more information on the way. What did you think of this course?
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