Improving speed on questions #1-#15

[T.J.]

Hey guys,

For some reason, I feel less comfortable with the questions in the section earlier. They seem to be odd and less anticipated whereas #16 toward the end have a repetitive pattern and thus feel more comfortable. The thing is that I cannot speed through the easier ones fast enough to make room for the more difficult questions toward the end. Also, if I can finish the first 15 questions within 15 minutes, I tend to make very few mistakes.
How can I solve this problem? Is it because I've paid much more attention to the hard questions?

Thanks a lot

[WaltGrace1983]

I'm sure a geek will chime in on this one but is it possible that you just simply aren't warmed up before tackling the first 15 questions and by the time that you actually get to 16 and beyond you are adequately in LSAT mode? I have noticed when drilling with the Cambridge packets I will get a few wrong on the front end if I don't warm up but am usually a bit better on the back end.

[T.J.]

Thanks for replying WaltGrace1983.

You totally have a point. It might really be that I haven't really gotten warmed up until around question #15. The thing is how I can be up to speed right at the beginning though or how not to warm up but answer the questions fast and accurately.

[maryadkins]

In my experience, this kind of issue is usually about a problem that doesn't have to do with what it appears to be ("earlier questions"). I don't think it's that 16-25 actually ARE more predictable/easier for you but that something else is going on. This warm-up discussion happening is a good start to figuring out what that is. Do you struggle with the first questions of a section after you've already been doing LSAT problems for a bit, so say in Sections 2-4 (assuming you've taken a full-length test or at least done some consecutive sections)? That'll be a good clue to whether it's the "warming up" issue. If so, you should go ahead and start doing a couple of warm up questions before you sit down to take practice tests, and definitely do so on the morning of the test.

But I think there's more going on.

My prediction, and you may hate to hear it, is that there's more work to be done on learning the question types and how to approach them"”1-16 actually AREN'T unpredictable as a general matter...if they feel that way, it's a good sign that you need to go back to the book(s) and practice (1) identifying question types, (2) learning how to tackle them, (3) practice doing so until you can do all of this in a "mixed" setting (a real LR section with all kinds of questions). It's a work-focused suggestion, but it can come with big pay off!

Good luck!

[T.J.]

Hey Mary,

As the doctor sometimes says that you will feel worse before you feel better, I took your advice instead of hating it. After I went back to the guide, it helped. I realized that it's been quite a while since I flipped those pages. Some of the instructions were actually oblivious to me. It turned out that I deviated from the suggested approach, and focused too much on the detail of each question, which slowed me down. So now I'm working to re-calibrate my strategy so as to improve on my timing. I really appreciate the honesty and help.