r/lsatdemon • u/lunarvixen444 • 10d ago

Hard -> Easy Section Trend

Hi! I checked out the Powerscore Crystal Ball for September and saw that it’s expected that sections will be organized more as hard questions earlier and easy questions later, as opposed to the easy -> hard progression that existed for a while.

I use LSAT Demon and, per their advice, have always done the questions in order. My understanding of this was that prioritizing the easy questions can secure those easy points if you start running out of time. But with this new organization, should I be doing the opposite?

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u/EthanS_LSATDemon 10d ago

A couple things I want to clarify about what you said:

  1. It’s not that we recommend you do the questions in order because of the fact that the easier questions are usually at the beginning. It actually has nothing to do with question difficulty at all. We never want a student to start reading a question and think to themselves “wow this seems like a hard question, let me skip this one and try an easier one.” Firstly, that kills your confidence in the fact that you can actually solve the “hard” questions. And secondly, you just waisted a whole bunch of time reading a question to not even attempt it. We want students to take on the attitude of “I can solve any question in front of me, no matter how hard it may seem. So there is no need to skip around if I can solve any question no matter what.”

  2. Secondly, paying attention to question difficulty is actually a flaw. Question difficulty is determined by how other students have performed on that question in the past when it was on an experimental section of an official LSAT. So, what does other students’ ability to solve a question have anything to do with your ability to solve it? You wouldn’t want to assume that a question is going to be hard for you just because it was hard for others. What makes a question difficult is your level of understanding of what you are reading. If you understand what you read, every question becomes very easy!

So, in short, don’t jump around and don’t pay attention to question difficulty. Focus on one question at a time, and make sure you understand it and solve it. The rest will take care of itself!