Getting Stuck on Challenging Problems

09 February 2026

David McMaster

Download

This post probably doesn't have broad applicability. But if getting stuck on problems has been a time sink for you, some part of this might be something you need to hear right now.

It Feels Like We Should Want to Correctly Solve Every Single Question We Come Face-To-Face With

Sure, I admit it: in order to get your best score on test day, you want to get as many questions right as you can. And you can't take the entire test in any given moment - all you can focus on is the single problem in front of you. So in any moment when you find yourself staring down some fiendishly tough problem, in that one moment, the best way to help get your best possible score is to quickly solve the one problem in front of you. And you recognize that. And so until you finally crack that tough nut, many people often find themselves unwilling to move past it.

But What We Should Really Want is to Correctly Solve As Many Questions As Possible

It's entirely possible to kill your score by getting questions right. Because it will NOT help your score if you do brilliant work to get the question in front of you right... but only after 10 minutes of mental labor. The test is NOT about any one question. It's about you getting AS MANY questions right as possible. Yes, it will help to get any given question right; it will not help to get any given question right by spending way too much time on it. We need to be aware of our competing goals: getting each question right that we see put before us, and getting as many questions right as possible.

Would You Accept a Magically Guaranteed 174?

Think about it for just a second. If you were given two options - 1. take the LSAT like usual and hope for the best, or 2. take the LSAT knowing your efforts will definitely end up at a 168, no higher or lower - which option would you take?

Would it make any difference if the magically guaranteed score were a 174? Would you accept that happily, or would you still roll the dice?

Either way, if you can say that you would be okay with knowing for certain you would get a 168 - or even that guaranteed 174 - then either way you're admitting that you would be happy despite knowing that you would be getting many questions wrong on test day.

And that's the reaction most people have to a 174: happiness, not devastation over getting several questions wrong.

No One Question is Crucial

Get five questions wrong, get a 174. Get ten questions wrong, get a 168. You can get any one question wrong and typically still get a 180. That one question you're looking at isn't crucial. What is crucial is taking the best approach to solving the questions as a whole.

So Get the Bunnies First

Most of us choose to work from the front of the test to the back. Working front-to-back makes sense for a number of reasons, not least of which being the idea of "get the easy questions out of the way first before moving on to the challenging ones."

Let the easy questions be easy. Don't put yourself into a time crunch by saving the easiest questions for the end of the test. Do them first. That way you don't miss any of the easy ones due to time pressure, and then do your best on the harder ones after. Get all the bunnies first.

But a Hard Question is a Hard Question, No Matter Where It Appears

I remember a level 4 difficulty question that showed up as question number 3 on some section. That section punched people in the mouth right out of the gate. People kept thinking they were stupid for getting stuck on a question so early. It ended up being a time sink for a lot of people because they were convinced they SHOULD find it easy. But it wasn't easy. It was hard.

The difficulty level of questions can zig-zag a lot on any section. Early questions can be hard, late questions can be easy. The questions do steadily get harder throughout the test... but only on average. What this means is that if you ARE stuck on some problem, the very next one might be a lot easier. Get all the bunnies first. Your score depends on no one question, but it does depend on as many right as possible, and that means zealously safeguarding your usage of time.

Only Two Options When You're Stuck

We all have those problems that we don't flag, and we don't return to, because we feel we know the right answer - and that feeling turns out to be right. When we lack that feeling - when we've read the stimulus, worked through the answer choices a couple of times, and we're still not sure - there are really only two options:

The problem IS legitimately hard. In which case, move on. Get all the bunnies right. It doesn't matter if it's question 3 or question 23 - hard questions CAN show up early, easy ones CAN show up late. Move on, get the other ones right, then come back.

The problem ISN'T that hard. It's well within your wheelhouse and normally you'd totally get it right. In this case the issue isn't with your abilities, and it isn't with the problem itself - it's just the context of that particular moment. You're serially overlooking something. It's there, you're not seeing it, you've gone back over it a couple of times and you still haven't seen it.

In this case, move on too. Don't try to force something that isn't coming to you. Spend this time getting other questions right, and come back to it later when it's faded from your mind a bit. Often this is enough to give you a fresh perspective.

No One Wants to Be Defeated

Look. I'm not saying anyone likes skipping problems. But I am saying that people like slaying dragons. People don't want to back down. They're not cowards. They have integrity. They know they can solve it and, by gosh, they're going to do it even if it costs them their score.

But sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Get out of there quickly. Flag it, move on. Compose your mind, keep your larger goal in mind, and beat it out of there until you're sure all the bunnies have been gathered.