Is it just me, or..?

[inesa909]

Is it just me or is there a certain section in just about every PT is significantly harder than the others? I'm making mid-160s but every time there seems to be a certain section that I just get murdered in (missing like 10 or so problems). It isn't just LR or RC that this is happening in, it seems to be kind of random. I don't know what to do about this since I want a 180

[a3friedm]

Is it normally toward the end of the test? like section 3 or 4?

Personally, I always do worse in the section after reading comp. For some reason I always just feel really drained after it

[inesa909]

no not really.... for me it seems to be random. I get particularly annoyed when it is a LG section cause I usually rock LG but more often than not it is usually either RC or LR but I cant seem to find a profound rhyme or reason for such a thing.

[ohthatpatrick]

It isn't just you.

Although different LSAT's are supposed to be of relatively equal difficulty, on the whole, there is definitely some variation to how hard individual sections can be.

And while perception of difficulty is definitely a subjective measure, there are at least 3 occasions that come easily to mind when students seemed to agree that a section was objectively terrible.

Test 53 - RC
Test 57 - Games
Test 67 - RC

After each of these tests, there was an avalanche of students expressing their frustration.

I'm sure every test probably has its 'hardest' section for most, but maybe some tests have less of an outlier than others do.

Either way, all you can really do is accept the fact that you might get a really hard section and plan accordingly.

One thing to keep in mind is that the difficulty of the entire test is still supposed to even out, so if one section is really hard then the other ones should be relatively easier.

What you might want to do is keep a list of the worst sections you encounter, and then plan to do them again a few weeks down the road (if you can assemble 2 LR's, 1 RC, and 1 Games, you could even create your own Frankenstein hell-monster LSAT).

Use these really hard sections as an opportunity to train yourself on the worst of the worst LSAT can throw at you.

Whether it's LR, RC, or Games, a common goal you should have in re-doing a killer section is to pick up your pace on the easier stuff. There's always an RC passage or a game or a bunch of early LR questions that could and should be dealt with swiftly.

We need to get more aggressive in completing the easier stuff briskly so that we have a cushion of time for the nitty-gritty, time consuming, attention-demanding hard stuff.

And make sure you're trying to be as well-rounded on the test as possible ... for example, some LR sections are hard because they have a bunch of "Role of the Claim" or "Match the Reasoning" questions, question types students don't often practice as frequently.

If variety is the spice of life, then these killer sections are just the habanero pepper that LSAT is challenging us to digest.

Good luck.

[inesa909]

OMG Patrick, thank you so much. Ironically Test 53 was one of the ones I had trouble with (also RC). I'm pretty sure I already have enough sections to put together that frankenstein hell monster test. A simple "thanks" wouldn't have sufficed. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!