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I did PT 23 Game 3, and although the game is difficult, I messed up the game by forgetting to apply several key rules, which resulted in 3 missed questions. I find that I'm getting sloppy with games by lazily working out each answer choice properly and forgetting to apply rules for some of them! It's annoying because I'm pretty darn good at LG's when I don't make any silly blunders like this, but the fact I've been making so many of them this past week is really concerning me.

I usually write rules for grouping games below the diagram (very bottom of the page). Is there more effective areas to place the rules so you remember to apply them for every question?

You have to find what works for you. I make an effort to keep everything nice and neat so that I dont confuse certain rules or lose track of what I was looking at. On another note, I really sucked penis today with LR Strengthen/Weaken questions.

It sounds like you're having a hard time keeping the rules in your head. I have that problem. To avoid that problem, I make sure to commit the rules to memory before moving on to the questions. I go through the questions much faster now. I still make a careless error every once in a while on the easier games.

3|ink wrote:It sounds like you're having a hard time keeping the rules in your head. I have that problem. To avoid that problem, I make sure to commit the rules to memory before moving on to the questions. I go through the questions much faster now. I still make a careless error every once in a while on the easier games.

That's actually pretty damn good advice. I tend breeze through the rules, which is maybe that's why I'm not able to internalize them very well. Only problem is this game takes forever because it involves a lot of testing out each answer choice.

I tend to remember conditional rules pretty well, but I actually have most problem with rules like "neither team included both N and R."

Looking back on the 1st attempt of the game it seems like I literally wasn't apply 2 major rules for a majority of the questions.

Anaconda wrote:

3|ink wrote:It sounds like you're having a hard time keeping the rules in your head. I have that problem. To avoid that problem, I make sure to commit the rules to memory before moving on to the questions. I go through the questions much faster now. I still make a careless error every once in a while on the easier games.

That's actually pretty damn good advice. I tend breeze through the rules, which is maybe that's why I'm not able to internalize them very well. Only problem is this game takes forever because it involves a lot of testing out each answer choice.

I tend to remember conditional rules pretty well, but I actually have most problem with rules like "neither team included both N and R."

Looking back on the 1st attempt of the game it seems like I literally wasn't apply 2 major rules for a majority of the questions.

It really does help if you take a moment to make deductions and inferences before moving onto the questions.

1) You become more familiar with the rules and they are easier to commit to memory.

2) You tend to answer 1-2 questions before even getting to them.

I used to just write out the rules thinking I could just rule drive. That works most of the time, but the score I'm looking for demands 100% diligence.

If you decide to write down inferences, make sure to separate them from your intended rules by a line or something.

I just don't understand how sloppy I could get. Back in June I would destroy most games and would hardly ever make stupid mistakes, don't know why I am all of a sudden. There was a 2 week break from LGs at one point, but that was almost a month ago...

3|ink wrote:

Anaconda wrote:

3|ink wrote:It sounds like you're having a hard time keeping the rules in your head. I have that problem. To avoid that problem, I make sure to commit the rules to memory before moving on to the questions. I go through the questions much faster now. I still make a careless error every once in a while on the easier games.

That's actually pretty damn good advice. I tend breeze through the rules, which is maybe that's why I'm not able to internalize them very well. Only problem is this game takes forever because it involves a lot of testing out each answer choice.

I tend to remember conditional rules pretty well, but I actually have most problem with rules like "neither team included both N and R."

Looking back on the 1st attempt of the game it seems like I literally wasn't apply 2 major rules for a majority of the questions.

It really does help if you take a moment to make deductions and inferences before moving onto the questions.

1) You become more familiar with the rules and they are easier to commit to memory.

2) You tend to answer 1-2 questions before even getting to them.

I used to just write out the rules thinking I could just rule drive. That works most of the time, but the score I'm looking for demands 100% diligence.

If you decide to write down inferences, make sure to separate them from your intended rules by a line or something.

I found when I used to diagram beside each question I would routinely leave off NOT LAWS or other such rules because re-diagraming the game took a substantial amount of time; time which I did not have. All the rules were contained in my main diagram at the bottem of the page, which is why I left them off, but I found this often lead to careless errors espesially when I had to try hypotheticals (I would think a hypothetical would be correct because I didnt notice J couldnt go in 7th spot, for example).

I clensed this problem by diagramming at the bottem of the page. Both my main diagram and individual questions are contained in a simple chart. This single move took me from a consistent -3/-4 to a -0/-1. You can see an instance of my diagram in this thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=125071

Cheers

What worked for me personally was highlighting any rule(s) that I found difficult to diagram. I found that even if I thought I committed all of the rules to memory I would often "forget" one or two in the midst of solving questions, leading to an error. By highlighting I did not forget the fact that there was something that I wasn't able to diagram, or was represented unclearly, and I would make sure to check before deciding on an answer. If I didn't highlight anything I knew all information was already in my diagram.

kazu wrote:What worked for me personally was highlighting any rule(s) that I found difficult to diagram. I found that even if I thought I committed all of the rules to memory I would often "forget" one or two in the midst of solving questions, leading to an error. By highlighting I did not forget the fact that there was something that I wasn't able to diagram, or was represented unclearly, and I would make sure to check before deciding on an answer. If I didn't highlight anything I knew all information was already in my diagram.

Hmm, thing is the rules I forgot to diagram aren't very difficult to understand, in fact they're very, very basic (i.e. N and R can't be in the same group). I think my problem is the layout of my diagram in which I forget to check what the original rules are. Looking back at the local diagrams, it was clear I was not applying 2 basic rules since a lot of the diagrams contained impossible groups which led to the -3.

Anaconda wrote:

kazu wrote:What worked for me personally was highlighting any rule(s) that I found difficult to diagram. I found that even if I thought I committed all of the rules to memory I would often "forget" one or two in the midst of solving questions, leading to an error. By highlighting I did not forget the fact that there was something that I wasn't able to diagram, or was represented unclearly, and I would make sure to check before deciding on an answer. If I didn't highlight anything I knew all information was already in my diagram.

Hmm, thing is the rules I forgot to diagram aren't very difficult to understand, in fact they're very, very basic (i.e. N and R can't be in the same group). I think my problem is the layout of my diagram in which I forget to check what the original rules are. Looking back at the local diagrams, it was clear I was not applying 2 basic rules since a lot of the diagrams contained impossible groups which led to the -3.

hmmmm... yeah it sounds like for you, you're going to have to play around with your diagramming format for a bit - maybe put the original rules in a box or something? And get in the habit of checking back every couple of questions or so. When I got down to finishing a games section in 20~25 minutes I always used the remaining time to go back and check every single answer with every single rule (which actually didn't take as long as it sounds like it would). Definitely helped me catch some mistakes in a few PTs.

It helps to be paranoid when studying for the LSAT....