Can I imporve more for Dec. test? Forum

[SFnative]

First, I would like to say this site is amazing. I have been lurking and searching old threads and have found some super valuable information for the LSAT. So thank you to those old posters.

Anyways, a quick history about me, I took an online class w/Kaplan during my senior year at UCLA (biggest mistake), I never paid attention, clicked on other tabs, only did the work from the lesson book, never did homework and partied. I was still in the dumb mind state of "dude its my last year of college, live it up bro!" ... Like an idiot I went from a 132 to a 143 (yes, you read right)... I still took the test and scored a 143 in DEC 10 ( I still, to this day, have no idea why I took the test)...Fast forward to July 30th 2010 I began a Kaplan classroom course, I began my diagnostic at 141, I have honestly done all the required work, studied on my own, and have put a real effort into this, I have achieved now a 150...which to me has been great BUT it is not enough for the schools I want (USF, Santa Clara, UC hastings, USD)......so im aiming for a 160....

So, do you guys think this can be attained for Dec? will I burnout before?

My studying consist of just each day focusing on a section and doing at least 3 hour a day, I do mastery and imply the methods Kaplan has taught me and just do repetition.

My results are on average like this: LR: minus 7-10 LG:minus 4-7 RC: minus 10-14 (RC i am having much trouble with)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I am beyond determined and willing to all I can this time.
Also, as a side note, since the start of my LSAT class I have only done 5 PT, and I have almost every test available to me right now, Kaplan says doing more than 1 PT a week is only good for building endurance, what do you guys think?

SORRY for the long post..

[lakers3peat]

sure. anything is possible. the sky is the limit. but you have to adhere to the following principles
1)stop smoking so much weed-it makes you lazy and not want to do lsat questions
2)stop getting drunk on the weekends-you wake up hungover and not in the mood study
3)actually study when you say you are going to study-"talk is cheap"

I think you just might be alright if you can follow those 3 steps.

[tourdeforcex]

the history is appreciated.

i definitely think you can break 160 by december. the question of burnout is a different manner. it sounds like you are determined--i believe it. you just need to stay positive and be disciplined.

as for specifics: -10 to -14 RC isn't too great. are there any types of passages that you're just not good at? for example, i'm not too great at law passages so my strategy is to do the other sections first and get as many of those right as possible and then try out the law passages and if i get some wrong there that's okay b/c the rest i've done well on. LG can definitely be improved with practice. LG is all about practice actually. do the games again. and again. and again. literally. if you got -3 or -4 just from one game, do it the day after tomorrow, next week, and the week after. then if you get anything similar to it on the Dec LSAT, you'll destroy it. LR seems pretty decent. isolate the questions you've been getting wrong (cut them out of the book, paste them to your wall or door), is there a pattern? any type of question you get wrong continuously? work on that and then work on it some more.

follow any advice that resonates, be positive, be disciplined and you've got this.

[SFnative]

Yeah, thanks for the advice, for LG I am mainly just not getting to the fourth game hence always ending up w/ at least minus 4/5, and almost minus 0 in the first three games.

For RC, I have read many different types of strategies, one being to just read,read,read,and read as many passages as I can everyday and not worry about the questions, to just get used to dense material... Another I have seen is to take each paragraph as its own mini passage and summarize it in 3 to 4 words in the margin... The third is to read it "strategically" by highlighting key name, dates, words, and underline points of view, examples, all while writing in the margins....

Honestly I feel none have truly worked for me, especially with Natural Science & Humanities....

Any other ways ppl tackle RC???

[lakers3peat]

You should do a bunch of practice(and actually answer the questions).

Make note of changes in tone, and comparisons/distinctions.

i.e.

Bob Marley and his sons all loved playing music and smoking weed BUT(distinction), his sons were not as musically talented as he despite receiving popular acclaim from mainstream music.



Q: The passage indicates all the following about Bob Marleys Son's EXCEPT:
A-
B-
C
D-
E-They enjoy playing music and are comparable in talent to their their father did.


My point: I know it's not the best example but they do this a lot... It is true the passage indicates they enjoyed playing music so you might naturally eliminate that answer choice but the second part says they are comparable to their father. Here they are testing you on the distinction between father and the sons. while they share similarities, what are their differences. Whenever you see the word "but", "however", etc. circle it and write it in the margin.

Everyone is different so I can't tell you what to do or what not to do but for me personally, I don't find writing and underlining very helpful at all. And believe me, in college it was completely the opposite, underlining and writing was crucial for comprehension but here, it doesn't help as much. you aren't trying to grasp the exact details of every passage as if you were reiterating it verbatim. pay attention to major differences and similarities between the author of the passage and the person who the passage is about. if the passage is about theory A and theory B(which a lot of them are), take note of how they are similar and how they are different from each other. what does the author think/say about each theory? look for context clues.

Also, probably as important as similarities/differences are the authors tone. There is usually a question about this or relating to this. Look for key adverbs or adjectives the author may use to describe their opinion of a passage. For example they might say something like, "Although the critics of theory A find reason in rejecting the main hypothesis, not enough evidence supports their claim." This doesn't mean the author supports theory A but that they don't believe their is enough evidence to reject it. They might not find either theory plausible. Another example that I just read in a passage I did, the author says something along the lines of "efforts to map the the human gene sequence have failed in the past, yet curiosity remains present." then they ask a question, "which of the following can be inferred from the passage"

A)
B)
C)
D)
E) Future scientists will attempt to map the human gene sequence.

do they say this? No, but saying curiosity remains present allows you to infer that maybe they will in the future.

anyway i'm rambling now, but I read back over my previous advice and I think it was a little vague lol. Hope this helps.

You did say you like to party so from my personal experience, as I was like you, I think you have have to cut everything out entirely while your studying. Even a hint of your old fun life may tempt you to say "fuck it, ill get what I get."

[SFnative]

Hey, thank you for your detailed response. I am literally bouncing w/ joy right now, but after literally after about hours of just going back through old work and seeing what my process was in tackling a passage, I quickly identified I was circling and underlining almost 75% of each paragraph, I was letting all the details drown me...

After more practice of reading with limiting my self to only marking only about 5% of a paragraph, I was A.) finishing passages a full 1min10sec faster B.) was getting the main ideas a lot easier and feeling less worried about each passage ( in terms of making sure I remembered every detail).....

But long story short I was able to score 18 right on the first timed one using this method, 14 right the second time and 16 third time... When i was averaging 9-11 correct on RC....

And today I took my last practice test (Dec2010) w/ Kaplan and I scored a 155!! (153w/out guesses)......
I am truly feeling like a 160 by December can be achievable, just got to keep pushing...

One more question though, is it pointless to Recycle material already used?? ie: Kaplans Mastery books ( i have not used up all the material but fear that I may if I intend to study until DEC)

[ohlawl]

One more question though, is it pointless to Recycle material already used?? ie: Kaplans Mastery books ( i have not used up all the material but fear that I may if I intend to study until DEC)

I've been recycling old material, especially to get me motivated to study. Since I remember a tiny bit about the question, I have found it easier to dive into. I take old PTs I've done and cover up the answer choices with a piece of paper and try to pre-phrase the answer from the stimulus alone. Honestly, this skill is the most important one I have found while studying.