LSAT Preparation - LSAT Explanations

LSAT Timing and Pacing

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to obtaining the LSAT score that you desire is that you have insufficient time. The absolute worst thing that you can do is to try to cut corners on the LSAT strategies that you've learned. Although this will result in your attempting more questions, you will likely make a large number of simple mistakes because you are rushing, and thus will see a score plateau or even a decrease. Instead, try the following:

Determine pacing

Pacing is the number of questions that you will actually attempt, whereas timing is how much time you spend on those questions. To determine pacing, you must first have a goal score. Determine your goal score by figuring out what schools you wish to attend, and, along with your GPA, what score you would need to obtain admission. Then determine how many raw points you need to obtain that score by looking at the conversion chart at the back of every LSAT PrepTest. Then determine how you will achieve those points by filling in the following chart:

 

  Logic Games Logical Reasoning Section 1 Logical Reasoning Section 2 Reading Comprehension Total
Questions Attempted          
Questions Attempted Correct          
Questions Attempted Incorrect          
           
Questions Skipped          
Questions Skipped Correct          
Questions Skipped Incorrect          
           
Total Correct Points          

 

Note: On questions skipped, you do not read read through and attempt to answer the question, but would still bubble in a guessed answer choice. For every five of these guesses, you will likely get one correct and four incorrect.

 

For example, suppose your goal is a 165. To obtain this, you would need to obtain about 84 points, depending on the test. Also suppose that you're not particularly good at logic games, and want to skip one full game. You could achieve 84 points this way:

  Logic Games Logical Reasoning Section 1 Logical Reasoning Section 2 Reading Comprehension Total
Questions Attempted
17
23
23
28
91
Questions Attempted Correct
14
21
21
26
82
Questions Attempted Incorrect
3
2
2
2
9
           
Questions Skipped
5
2
2
0
9
Questions Skipped Correct
1
0
1
0
2
Questions Skipped Incorrect
4
2
1
0
7
           
Total Correct Points
18
20
21
27
84

 

In the above, you could skip nearly 10% of the total questions on the LSAT. Of the 91 that you attempt, you can get about 10% wrong, yet still achieve about 165, which is above the 90th percentile rank. In the above example, you could skip one entire logic game, plus four of the toughest logical reasoning questions. Obviously, this is not an exact science . However, these guidelines will greatly assist you in determining how many questions to attempt.

 

 

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