The LSAT has the unique ability to bend time and space, making the 35 minutes allotted to each section feel like the shortest 35 minutes of your life.

The folks who write this test are very good at making more than one answer choice seem appealing, so many people waste valuable time debating between two answer choices. Fortunately, there are steps you can take— both when you are initially learning the material and when your focus shifts to timed practice exams— that can help you finish more questions on the LSAT and maintain your hard-won accuracy. 

Unfortunately, the solution shouldn’t be reading faster. A test where the difference between right and wrong often comes down to small, easy-to-overlook words, the LSAT will punish, with the wrath of a jilted ex-lover, those who try to read too quickly. 

While you’re learning how to do the various Logical Reasoning questions and Reading Comp passages, the most important step you can take to eventually speed up is to practice anticipating the correct answer. For more tips on how to do this, read our article on Anticipating the Answer here. 

Additionally, as you get timed practice, remember that every single question — no matter how quick and easy or difficult and time-consuming— is worth just one point. This means you should also practice skipping questions when you have no idea what the right answer is. Don’t waste three or four minutes on any one question when you could have used that time to answer several. Just remember to guess— with no guessing penalty on the LSAT, you may as well give yourself at least a 20% chance of getting it correct!

Once your focus shifts from learning the material to getting lots of timed practice, you should work on developing timing strategies that will enable you to answer the most possible questions correctly. Generally speaking, the Logical Reasoning questions and Reading Comp passages get more difficult as each section progresses. To account for this, you should develop a timing strategy for each section that allots less time to the earlier, easier questions, giving yourself more time to complete the later, more difficult ones. Develop timing strategies, practice them, and tweak them as necessary, until you find the strategies that allow you to answer the most questions correctly.
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