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soj wrote:

Eichörnchen wrote:Mom's in town staying w/me, graduation and then bf's bday all in a row

Did you graduate? Congrats, girl!!!

Hahaha thank you, I did indeed. And I miss that show...sigh <3 Arrested Dev

And fellas I do have to say that before this forced break, I was dreaming about the LSAT at least a few times/week and getting a little bit in that rut where you feel like you're going through the motions, yet not moving forward. I hope that this break didn't hurt me, and maybe I'll get lucky and come back stronger (Don't count on it )

Are method of argument questions typically easier? Just breezed through them in the Kaplan mastery. Finishing main point, only have three more question types to go!

Strange wrote:Are method of argument questions typically easier? Just breezed through them in the Kaplan mastery. Finishing main point, only have three more question types to go!

They're usually easier, but a few of them are tricky. No middle ground, IMO.

Reviewing RC 25-28. It's more obvious to me than ever that pacing is important. The two Qs I got wrong at the end of RC26 was entirely preventable if I'd spent more than the ~30 secs I'd spent on them. So frustrating, too! I don't know where I would save time, though. Do I need to read faster? But I'm getting Qs about minutiae wrong as it is. I know I'm supposed to read for structure and all that, but if I don't know where to locate particular details that is the key to the answer (and the Q is general enough that it doesn't help you locate it), then I'm still screwed.

Damn you, Reading Comp. I've been doing pretty intense LR and LG drilling over the past six weeks but today was my first full length prep test since getting a 168 back on the October test.

Took PT 47:

LR 1: -2
RC: -5
LR 2: -3
LG: -0

Overall: -10, 170

I feel really good with where I'm at with LR and LG, but seeing that -5 in RC was definitely a setback. RC has always been my weakness, I guess I just need to keep on drilling on those like I have the other two, but I'm frustrated I haven't made progress on it. Test day goals are LR/LR/LG: -6, RC: -2, Overall -8, so I think I'm close to there on LR and LG, but really am having troubles locking down consistency on RC.

Time to download about ten sections off of Cambridge and drill them constantly over the next couple weeks...

Read a few threads on TLS about LSAC allowed timing devices. Decided to look into buying a cheap, $20 watch soon so I could practice timing on tests without my cell phone.

...two hours and $115 later I have some fancy black thing with a chronograph. Looks like I wear a watch now.

Eichörnchen wrote:
Hahaha thank you, I did indeed. And I miss that show...sigh <3 Arrested Dev

And fellas I do have to say that before this forced break, I was dreaming about the LSAT at least a few times/week and getting a little bit in that rut where you feel like you're going through the motions, yet not moving forward. I hope that this break didn't hurt me, and maybe I'll get lucky and come back stronger (Don't count on it )

I think it's important to understand that days off aren't necessarily detrimental. They can be the opposite. Taking a break can imo, at times, be more beneficial than doing a billion PTs or drills. Burnout is real. If you hit a wall, don't see taking a day off as a bad decision

I got my first 180 on a pt today. I took pt 36 and missed two questions. One in the first LR and one in RC. I had to grade the thing twice because I was astounded since I've been pting in the low 170s with a few outliers. This makes me really happy because it will give me confidence going forward that I can make the highest score. It's a good day in LSAT world.

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:

Eichörnchen wrote:
Hahaha thank you, I did indeed. And I miss that show...sigh <3 Arrested Dev

And fellas I do have to say that before this forced break, I was dreaming about the LSAT at least a few times/week and getting a little bit in that rut where you feel like you're going through the motions, yet not moving forward. I hope that this break didn't hurt me, and maybe I'll get lucky and come back stronger (Don't count on it )

I think it's important to understand that days off aren't necessarily detrimental. They can be the opposite. Taking a break can imo, at times, be more beneficial than doing a billion PTs or drills. Burnout is real. If you hit a wall, don't see taking a day off as a bad decision

Agreed. I definitely think taking a few days to a week off can be beneficial, especially if you are plateauing. I'm a pretty hardcore gaming nerd, and I've noticed that whenever I plateau in video games, it is because I have developed some bad habits, and are just reinforcing them with practice over and over. The longer and more frequent of breaks that I take, the easier it is to break out of these habits upon the resuming of my practice. This is especially the case if I have already identified these habits and, during my down time, think through some possible solutions in my head.

Burnout and exhaustion are entirely dependent on you and your body. Everyone here should have a good idea of their physical and mental limits by now, and should be somewhat aware if you are experiencing burnout. I definitely think that excess rest and sleep are the best thing for burnout. Replace study time with nap time for 2 days and when you return to your studies you will be rejuvenated and refreshed.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing but expecting different results" --Albert Einstein

took saturday off for spring weekend but back to it today! pt 46 ughh. maybe being hungover will help?

Hmmmmm....got a 169 on my last PT. It seems that the 170 is elusive so far. Not to bring morale down, but I am seriously considering putting off until October. I need at least 173 on this test. Thoughts?

Also, are we meeting in the room today to go over PT 49? I would love to hear from people that did well on the RC section of that test specifically the last passage.

geverett wrote:Hmmmmm....got a 169 on my last PT. It seems that the 170 is elusive so far. Not to bring morale down, but I am seriously considering putting off until October. I need at least 173 on this test. Thoughts?

You are not alone friend. I secretly hoped to get in the 173-75 range but it's not lookin so hot right now.

Eichörnchen wrote:

geverett wrote:Hmmmmm....got a 169 on my last PT. It seems that the 170 is elusive so far. Not to bring morale down, but I am seriously considering putting off until October. I need at least 173 on this test. Thoughts?

You are not alone friend. I secretly hoped to get in the 173-75 range but it's not lookin so hot right now.

Keep your heads up! There's still over a month to get to where you want to be. Don't think about october, focus on june!

blink wrote:

Eichörnchen wrote:

geverett wrote:Hmmmmm....got a 169 on my last PT. It seems that the 170 is elusive so far. Not to bring morale down, but I am seriously considering putting off until October. I need at least 173 on this test. Thoughts?

You are not alone friend. I secretly hoped to get in the 173-75 range but it's not lookin so hot right now.

Keep your heads up! There's still over a month to get to where you want to be. Don't think about october, focus on june!

I know, it's very hard with those sneaking thoughts burrowing in- "how nice would it be if I had months of prep ahead?" etc etc but I try to remember how good it would feel to get it over with. I already bought my unlimited yoga pass for July for god's sake!

Let's keep our feet on the gas and see how we are PTing in about a week and a half and then think about our situations.

i hate thinking...if i don't do well i'll still have months ahead of me

Yea I mean for those of us who have been studying for a while now, it seems like a lot of us are in a doubtful phase. Hopefully it's just that- a phase- but I know at least a few of us in the, I don't know what you'd call it, but core group of people who have been posting here since Jan/Feb are starting to think about Oct. Maybe we're all tired from studying so much, or maybe it just the realization that these past months have flown by and we're down to a small portion of our prep that remains. Freaky. But I guess we should all keep pushing and if we are seriously not hitting our pt goals after the first week and a half of may has passed, then we can entertain these thoughts more. Until then, let's think of how far we've come in these past months and still aim for killing it in June! (and then having a much more carefree summer )

PT 43

Exp RC: -7
RC: -7
LR1: -3
LR2: -3
LG: -0

Raw: +88/-13
Scaled: 169


Was afraid that I'd regress in a major way on LR after getting a cumulative -4 last time. Felt unfocused and off, quite possibly because I've been focusing so much on RC. I'll take a -6 between the two. RC troubles continue, but this time bear out in both RCs I did instead of just one.

The optimistic view right now is that the test felt awful, but I only lost 1 from the last test in both raw and scaled score.
On the other hand...RC continues to be the bane of my existence. No time to review today. This week's shaping up to be as busy as I'm going to be in the next month or so, so progress on any front might be hard to come by. We'll see what I can do.

Eichörnchen wrote:But I guess we should all keep pushing and if we are seriously not hitting our pt goals after the first week and a half of may has passed, then we can entertain these thoughts more.

Good plan. I was in the same boat last year and chose to prematurely defer. Twice. This left me with no chance to take the test for the 2011 admissions cycle, when things went bad in Feb 2011. Things totally out of your control can go wrong, like unexpected illness for me.
On a more cheerful note, did parts of PT41 and PTB today. Did you guys review PT49 at 1 pm? I would have been up for that, but had to do PT41. I'll be in the study room at 8 pm if anyone is. RC for PTB was hard.
Did taking the break from study help on practice scores?

Just did superprep A:
LR 1: -4
LG: -3
RC: -0
LR2: -1
Raw: -8
Scaled: 171

The LG is tough, I ran out of time for the last game. Got a careless mistake in the game 2.
Could have done better on LR1. I shouldn't have started working on the test right after I had lunch. My mind is always slow right after meal. So maybe I should adjust my lunch time to 11 am to accommodate the test time? I am a bit relieved about RC this time, but still have to drill RC intensively for a couple of days. Ok. Time to review the test.

errrrr! raw score 70 scaled score 155 :(

i'll attribute that to too much celebrating last night (hopefully)

Boo negativity! We can do this! And no, that's not some blanket statement of encouragement. I read everyone's posts, I see what people are working on, and I know that the people in this thread are capable. There's a reason we all started studying the day that we did, and not a day later. It's because these next 35 days are going to be where we make our final push to the scores that we want. Yes, we all envisioned ourselves getting 175s on 10 straight PTs before June 6 and having the real thing be just another walk in the park, but just because it's been a little more difficult than that doesn't mean we're not definitely going to get there.

There's a difference between not getting it because we just don't get it, and not getting it because we aren't there yet. Eich, I would kill to have your problems. You have the hardest part down with great scores in LR and RC. You have 35 days to master games, something that if you dedicate yourself to, will surely be accomplished. 2 weeks ago I was averaging -5 on LG, and yesterday I dropped -0 twice (LG and LG exp). Gev, RC does not come easy but you're going to break through soon. As you improve your LR from that -6/7 range to that -3/4 range, your RC will come with. Add a perfect 0 or -1 games section to that and welcome to 170-land.

Stop thinking about this mid-May deadline. I won't allow it. No one ever said getting into our dream schools would be easy. If you doubt yourself, I guarantee you that you'll fail. But if you stay positive, and do what you're capable of, you'll get there. We're all so close and the only thing that will stop us is ourselves. Let's dig our heels in and take this challenge head on!

mickeyD wrote:Boo negativity! We can do this! And no, that's not some blanket statement of encouragement. I read everyone's posts, I see what people are working on, and I know that the people in this thread are capable. There's a reason we all started studying the day that we did, and not a day later. It's because these next 35 days are going to be where we make our final push to the scores that we want. Yes, we all envisioned ourselves getting 175s on 10 straight PTs before June 6 and having the real thing be just another walk in the park, but just because it's been a little more difficult than that doesn't mean we're not definitely going to get there.

There's a difference between not getting it because we just don't get it, and not getting it because we aren't there yet. Eich, I would kill to have your problems. You have the hardest part down with great scores in LR and RC. You have 35 days to master games, something that if you dedicate yourself to, will surely be accomplished. 2 weeks ago I was averaging -5 on LG, and yesterday I dropped -0 twice (LG and LG exp). Gev, RC does not come easy but you're going to break through soon. As you improve your LR from that -6/7 range to that -3/4 range, your RC will come with. Add a perfect 0 or -1 games section to that and welcome to 170-land.

Stop thinking about this mid-May deadline. I won't allow it. No one ever said getting into our dream schools would be easy. If you doubt yourself, I guarantee you that you'll fail. But if you stay positive, and do what you're capable of, you'll get there. We're all so close and the only thing that will stop us is ourselves. Let's dig our heels in and take this challenge head on!

very nice motivational speech!

mickeyD wrote:Boo negativity! We can do this! And no, that's not some blanket statement of encouragement. I read everyone's posts, I see what people are working on, and I know that the people in this thread are capable. There's a reason we all started studying the day that we did, and not a day later. It's because these next 35 days are going to be where we make our final push to the scores that we want. Yes, we all envisioned ourselves getting 175s on 10 straight PTs before June 6 and having the real thing be just another walk in the park, but just because it's been a little more difficult than that doesn't mean we're not definitely going to get there.

There's a difference between not getting it because we just don't get it, and not getting it because we aren't there yet. Eich, I would kill to have your problems. You have the hardest part down with great scores in LR and RC. You have 35 days to master games, something that if you dedicate yourself to, will surely be accomplished. 2 weeks ago I was averaging -5 on LG, and yesterday I dropped -0 twice (LG and LG exp). Gev, RC does not come easy but you're going to break through soon. As you improve your LR from that -6/7 range to that -3/4 range, your RC will come with. Add a perfect 0 or -1 games section to that and welcome to 170-land.

Stop thinking about this mid-May deadline. I won't allow it. No one ever said getting into our dream schools would be easy. If you doubt yourself, I guarantee you that you'll fail. But if you stay positive, and do what you're capable of, you'll get there. We're all so close and the only thing that will stop us is ourselves. Let's dig our heels in and take this challenge head on!

is it weird or cool that i pictured this coming from arnold's mouth. hehe

I definitely wish I was in Eichs position I've already mastered the LG so now to get to the 170's I have to improve on the ever frustrating LR/RC Oh well, back to the Atlas strategy guides

Jim, We did meet at 1pm to go over some of PT 49, but I had to leave at 3pm. We got through most of the test, but I will most likely review the RC section tomorrow in the late afternoon.

Each month has it's own little challenges. January is about getting organized and actually starting the process. February was trying to find self motivation to study for a test that was months away. March was a bear and separates the serious test takers from ones with good intentions but fall off the wagon. April is that month where the doubt might start to creep in. But I believe if you can fight the doubt, not cheat yourself, and maintain consistency while working on your weaknesses, you'll start to peak in May. Just like in sports. 4-5 months after the season starts is playoff time - where you step your game up and play your best.

For those who are interested, meeting tonight at 8 in the room. Going over a few more formal logic LR, and maybe even games if there is enough interest.