section stress

[interestedintacos]

While doing questions categorized into groups by question type without a time limit I am very accurate and quick. Recently I started doing my first sections, and I have been fairly accurate but surprisingly the only questions I'm missing are from my best types (types where I, for instance, was perfect in going through all questions from PTs 1-20 organized by type).

I realize that it's easy to get into a groove while doing questions of one type over and over, so perhaps my section scores aren't as good because you can't do that in a section, but I still find it surprising that I would miss questions from types that are ultra comfortable for me.

My best guess is that section time limit stress is getting to me. Is this a common experience? I imagine the clock ticking down, and as a result sometimes I find myself reading stimuli and then having to re-read even multiple times because I'll at first read with no comprehension at all. It's weird because when I don't actually set a clock I usually finish a section with plenty of spare time and high accuracy; when I set the clock I've always gone down to the last second for one reason or another, with either worse or identical accuracy.

Does it just take time to adjust the methods I've learned to doing complete sections? Perhaps the stress will dissipate when I'm more used to the section format?

I've noticed in logic games that doing sections is really a significantly different enterprise than just doing individual games because, for instance, you have to identify easier or harder games, crack open easier games quickly in order to save time for the harder games, adjust extremely quickly to different types of games, etc. So I was wondering how much that applied to logical reasoning.

[noah]

This is a very important topic.

You are far from alone - many people report that their accuracy drops once they face the stress of a timed section. Practice, practice, practice!

Also, with LR, there is a general wave of difficulty. If you are using our self-study materials, we do a lesson on this in session 12. In brief, the first 6-8 questions are the easiest, there's a slight increase for a question or two somewhere between 9 - 12, then it's somewhat easy until about 15-16, where it kicks up into high gear, and then usually the last one or two questions are a bit easier (dessert?).

Your strategy depends on your current score. If you're scoring in the 150s, the key is to get the first 15-16 correct, and choose your battles after that. If you're scoring near 170, you should be burning through the first 15 questions in about 15 minutes, to buy yourself time for the last 10.

Make sure to always leave time for the last two questions - some students jump to those after question 15, though I'd never be able to remember to do that during the test!

To me, the most important section-management strategy is to let go of the "impossible" questions. For me, there's always one or two that I know I can't get under the time pressure, and I let it go so I can score my best score.

One other tip: reduce the time you give yourself to 33 minutes per section.

As for why you'd get questions wrong that are supposedly your strong suit - perhaps you're reading more carefully on tougher questions, and thus not falling for traps.

[interestedintacos]

your advice makes sense because I've foundthat rushing on easier questions usually helps, including easier logic games, while rushing on tough questions is asking for trouble. Tough games and lr questions require a real pause to digest the material

[interestedintacos]

Having reviewed both the questions I got wrong and the questions I found most difficult, the vast majority were either #18 or 19. After that it was close to a tie between #11,15,16. A few were #21 or 22. Only 1 was in questions 1-10, and none were in questions 23-25. So I can see your advice is on the mark.

Now I understand why some recommend the strategy of going 1-10 and then 25-11. Or perhaps I can try going 1-10, 25-20 and then 11-19. I think realizing this kind of thing should help in handling section stress. I used to expect 20-25 to be the hardest for some reason; as a result I became overly stressed when dealing with the hard ones between 10-20.

I think 1-10 are the easiest, and the ones at the very end are similar but with trickier elements...tricks probably meant to esnare the test taker rushing to finish the section.

By the way, I thought what you were saying couldn't be the reason for me missing my best types, because I spend much more time on the questions I missed--struggling on them. But after a few more sections again the questions I miss are from my best types, so maybe you're right or there's another reason I haven't discovered. It could also just be that for the tests I've been taking the hardest questions have happened to be from my best types. After enough practice I'm doing ok on pretty much any type with the most difficulty associated with just generally difficult questions.