October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[sgtgrumbles]

For the people who finished LRB, did you guys see a noticeable jump in your LR performance? I am not sure if I should be underlining/marking conclusions, premises, counter-premises and stuff like that while I read the stimulus.

I'm about halfway through the LRB and I've noticed a marked improvement. Usually I'll go -2 to -4 per LR section, but now I'm getting -0 to -2 per section.

Also, I don't mark premises or conclusions or any of that while I'm reading. I'm pretty good at finding that stuff quickly if, say, I have to paraphrase the main point, or identify what role a certain phrase plays in the argument. If I absolutely have to, I'll sketch out conditional or cause and effect reasoning, but I can even keep that stuff clear in my head for the most part.

HTH

[sgtgrumbles]

Oh yeah, I took PT 39 yesterday and scored another 176! -2 LG, -4 LR (exp.), -2 LR, -2 RC, -0 LR. My plan from now on is to have 176 as my baseline and just move up from there. Really, though, I'm very excited about my last two scores and am going to focus on eliminating weaknesses, avoiding stupid mistakes and sustaining this score over the next seven weeks. The one downside was that I pulled a -4 on my experimental LR section. If that were one of the real LR sections instead of the -0, I would've had a 172 instead.

[lastch2]

Oh yeah, I took PT 39 yesterday and scored another 176! -2 LG, -4 LR (exp.), -2 LR, -2 RC, -0 LR. My plan from now on is to have 176 as my baseline and just move up from there. Really, though, I'm very excited about my last two scores and am going to focus on eliminating weaknesses, avoiding stupid mistakes and sustaining this score over the next seven weeks. The one downside was that I pulled a -4 on my experimental LR section. If that were one of the real LR sections instead of the -0, I would've had a 172 instead.

not to be patronizing...but 172 still sounds good to me! you seem to be in the perfect position to start hitting scores pretty consistently. good luck!

[lastch2]

I'm curious is timing ever a non issue ???
I mean, does it ever come to a point where you'd get the same score if you did the test timed vs. un timed, not counting people who score 180s??

I just can't figure out why the difference in my scores of timed vs. un timed is so huge...-3 -4 -5 untimed and -10 -11 - 13 timed...
I think I stop reading carefully in my panic..I do get to all the questions but barely when I time myself and the sad part is I don't even realize that I'm not being careful, I think I'm doing well...

for me timing itself is not the issue so much as the paranoia of running out of time. i do my best when i don't worry about time and let myself look at the time once around question 15 or so to see how much is left for the harder questions. the more i obsess about time the harder it is for me to focus, i read too quickly, i get tricked by simple questions that i know better...especially LR. one day i decided to go through an entire PT (maybe # 12 or something) and time myself but not look at it ever until i was done just to see how long it takes me naturally. i didn't speed but i tried to move quickly from question-to-question. i consistently had time left over on everthing but RC. maybe this will help??

[sgtgrumbles]

Oh yeah, I took PT 39 yesterday and scored another 176! -2 LG, -4 LR (exp.), -2 LR, -2 RC, -0 LR. My plan from now on is to have 176 as my baseline and just move up from there. Really, though, I'm very excited about my last two scores and am going to focus on eliminating weaknesses, avoiding stupid mistakes and sustaining this score over the next seven weeks. The one downside was that I pulled a -4 on my experimental LR section. If that were one of the real LR sections instead of the -0, I would've had a 172 instead.

not to be patronizing...but 172 still sounds good to me! you seem to be in the perfect position to start hitting scores pretty consistently. good luck!

You're right, it's a great score, just not quite as high as I'm hoping for. But yeah, now I just have to work on consistency.

Congrats on your 179, by the way.

[sgtgrumbles]

for me timing itself is not the issue so much as the paranoia of running out of time. i do my best when i don't worry about time and let myself look at the time once around question 15 or so to see how much is left for the harder questions. the more i obsess about time the harder it is for me to focus, i read too quickly, i get tricked by simple questions that i know better...especially LR. one day i decided to go through an entire PT (maybe # 12 or something) and time myself but not look at it ever until i was done just to see how long it takes me naturally. i didn't speed but i tried to move quickly from question-to-question. i consistently had time left over on everthing but RC. maybe this will help??

I agree. I find that when I look at my watch every three minutes I waste a lot of time calculating how much longer I have per question, obsessing over whether I'll finish, etc. I now try to keep myself to about three glances at my watch per section. It definitely keeps my concentration on the questions instead of the time limit.

[brickman]

Oh yeah, I took PT 39 yesterday and scored another 176! -2 LG, -4 LR (exp.), -2 LR, -2 RC, -0 LR. My plan from now on is to have 176 as my baseline and just move up from there. Really, though, I'm very excited about my last two scores and am going to focus on eliminating weaknesses, avoiding stupid mistakes and sustaining this score over the next seven weeks. The one downside was that I pulled a -4 on my experimental LR section. If that were one of the real LR sections instead of the -0, I would've had a 172 instead.

props, now if only I could establish my baseline already!

[Patriot1208]

This site is great because it makes me feel like shit about my 171. Anyways, PT 54 tomorrow morning, really hoping to keep it above 170.

[Hedwig]

I think I need to suck it up and go make some copies of the games. I have 2 sets of the 3 10 LSAT books + 2 superpreps (shipping mixup, I didn't buy two sets lol). Thus one is pristine.

I need to re-tackle the games section. For some reason, I'm now intimidated as all get out and no longer enjoy this section. I need to consistently be -0 to -1 on this section! Well, on all the sections, really, but there's just no excuse in games, I feel.

[3|ink]

for me timing itself is not the issue so much as the paranoia of running out of time. i do my best when i don't worry about time and let myself look at the time once around question 15 or so to see how much is left for the harder questions. the more i obsess about time the harder it is for me to focus, i read too quickly, i get tricked by simple questions that i know better...especially LR. one day i decided to go through an entire PT (maybe # 12 or something) and time myself but not look at it ever until i was done just to see how long it takes me naturally. i didn't speed but i tried to move quickly from question-to-question. i consistently had time left over on everthing but RC. maybe this will help??

I agree. I find that when I look at my watch every three minutes I waste a lot of time calculating how much longer I have per question, obsessing over whether I'll finish, etc. I now try to keep myself to about three glances at my watch per section. It definitely keeps my concentration on the questions instead of the time limit.

Yep. That's why I don't bother looking at the time. That's also why I do my best to finish the section before the '5 minutes' call. The moment I know exactly how much time is left, I start to panic. However, I find that if 5 minutes are called after I'm finished, I can still concentrate just enough to go back and check my answers to the questions I circled (I circle questions I'm not 100% on).

[brickman]

This site is great because it makes me feel like shit about my 171. Anyways, PT 54 tomorrow morning, really hoping to keep it above 170.

You gotta love it, nothing motivates you like a bunch of hyperactive obsessive overachievers. Cheers, TLS, you da' best.

[Hedwig]

This site is great because it makes me feel like shit about my 171. Anyways, PT 54 tomorrow morning, really hoping to keep it above 170.

You gotta love it, nothing motivates you like a bunch of hyperactive obsessive overachievers. Cheers, TLS, you da' best.

Keeners for the win.

[Patriot1208]

took a couple RC sections timed, -2 on both. Better than I've ever done on a preptest so hopefully that will carry into tomorrow. Also, took a LR section and went -3. I'm a little annoyed after my two -1 sections on my last preptest. But hoping for a solid 172 on preptest 54 tomorrow.

[3|ink]

took a couple RC sections timed, -2 on both. Better than I've ever done on a preptest so hopefully that will carry into tomorrow. Also, took a LR section and went -3. I'm a little annoyed after my two -1 sections on my last preptest. But hoping for a solid 172 on preptest 54 tomorrow.

I have a similar problem. It seems that the more I practice LR, the worse I get.

[Kafka]

.

[xqhp82]

The most frustrating thing about LR for me is that I think I did okay/well most of the time. Then I check the answers to find out that I got destroyed on the sections. Other sections I have a much better idea of my performance.

i know exactly what you mean. just yesterday I thought I did an ok LR section and it turned out to be a -7. I thought I got destroyed by the second LR from the same test but scored an acceptable -4. i think this is a general pattern that happens so frequently in my life. i should reverse everything my intuition tells me...

[Jack Smirks]

took a couple RC sections timed, -2 on both. Better than I've ever done on a preptest so hopefully that will carry into tomorrow. Also, took a LR section and went -3. I'm a little annoyed after my two -1 sections on my last preptest. But hoping for a solid 172 on preptest 54 tomorrow.

Hey I took that Superprep A again today and although it was pretty easy like I remembered, the curve was a son of a bitch.

[Kafka]

.

[Hannibal]

Superprep C's games section just kicked my ass with a minus 4. Booooo.

[brickman]

Superprep C's games section just kicked my ass with a minus 4. Booooo.

40's mapping game ruined me. I just looked at it during the test and went (with about 15 minutes left), and couldn't even brute force my way to the end with it.

[pinkedelweiss]

I'm curious is timing ever a non issue ???
I mean, does it ever come to a point where you'd get the same score if you did the test timed vs. un timed, not counting people who score 180s??

I just can't figure out why the difference in my scores of timed vs. un timed is so huge...-3 -4 -5 untimed and -10 -11 - 13 timed...
I think I stop reading carefully in my panic..I do get to all the questions but barely when I time myself and the sad part is I don't even realize that I'm not being careful, I think I'm doing well...

for me timing itself is not the issue so much as the paranoia of running out of time. i do my best when i don't worry about time and let myself look at the time once around question 15 or so to see how much is left for the harder questions. the more i obsess about time the harder it is for me to focus, i read too quickly, i get tricked by simple questions that i know better...especially LR. one day i decided to go through an entire PT (maybe # 12 or something) and time myself but not look at it ever until i was done just to see how long it takes me naturally. i didn't speed but i tried to move quickly from question-to-question. i consistently had time left over on everthing but RC. maybe this will help??

Except I only get to question #15 or 16 at the 35 minute mark if I don't look at the time I feel like I'm doomed
Is there any hope for me or should I just reschedule for December or February?? I just did another practice LR section and it went pretty much the same, I was on question #15 at 35 minutes, went on anyway and got -3 ..
My goal is at least 160 but preferably 165, I just want to get into a school that's in the top 50.

[Justiceinbrothel]

Oh yeah, I took PT 39 yesterday and scored another 176! -2 LG, -4 LR (exp.), -2 LR, -2 RC, -0 LR. My plan from now on is to have 176 as my baseline and just move up from there. Really, though, I'm very excited about my last two scores and am going to focus on eliminating weaknesses, avoiding stupid mistakes and sustaining this score over the next seven weeks. The one downside was that I pulled a -4 on my experimental LR section. If that were one of the real LR sections instead of the -0, I would've had a 172 instead.

not to be patronizing...but 172 still sounds good to me! you seem to be in the perfect position to start hitting scores pretty consistently. good luck!

It just sounds good actual performance will differ.

[Hedwig]

I have all this !!!!!!! towards the LSAT right now from my stupid bad score a couple days ago, but I'm working 6/7 days this week (ew) and going to the dentist so I'm all sectioning things until I can finally get going again on Wednesday. Chomping at the bit, here. Of course, it would help if I went to bed on time, which I'm obviously not doing.

[Hannibal]

I'm gonna go to where I'm testing tomorrow to take the test on one of the actual desks (I took a class in the room, I know what it's like). Doing it for psychological reasons I guess.

Should be fun.

[lparker]

Finally!!! I broke the much coveted 170 range...

PT41 (my new bff)
LR:-4, -4
LG:-0
RC:-3
171

Also a big test for me as this was my first -0 in a section...