October 2011 Study Log: 180 or Bust! Forum

[99.9luft]

stop PTing so late

it's true, late testing is unrepresentative. I PTed after 4pm today and got -13 also. fucking pissed as well, given that i could have missed just -6!

[incompetentia]

If I had a FT work schedule, I'd do something like Sun morning, Wed immediately after work, Sat morning.

Monday and Tuesday I'd drill things that I wasn't sure about. Thurs/Fri off to give Saturday the biggest chance for a fresh-look jump.


That's just the way I'm programmed though

[crumpetsandtea]

OK I might do that Inck. Cant do it this weekend >< but I'll figure it out.

[incompetentia]

You gots to do what works for you, though.

[coldshoulder]

Work and school are killing me right now. I'm going to school from 630 am to 630 pm (including my volunteer service group) on Tuesday and Thursday, and I work 9 to 5 every other day (including the weekends). I get home and have so much trouble getting together the motivation to study...which illicit drugs should I use?

In all seriousness though, I know I can score above a 170 on this test, it just depends on dedication. I can score reliably above 170 untimed, I just get exhausted easily when I do them timed and back to back.

I'm thinking focus on individual sections and drills until May, with 1 or 2 tests a week, and then from May til the test (when I'm out of school and have half the work) kick my ass into shape with 20 of the most recent PT's before the test.

[Kurst]

PT 44 LR 2: Missed #26.
26--Assumption Q. Again, this was one that I was legit confused about during the test. I actually almost chose TCR, but instead switched over to the wrong answer. If anyone can clearly explain the right answer to me, that would be excellent. TCR was C, I put E.

The stimulus is a series of conditional statements:

All of an alliance of countries' members are strong in foreign policy --> alliance of countries responds aggressively to problems
Alliance of countries responds aggressively to problems --> every member of the alliance perceives the problems as grave
All E.U. countries perceive a problem as grave --> all E.U. countries agree that it threatens their alliance's economy

Conclusion: Not all of the member countries of the E.U. will be strong in foreign policy

The conclusion denies the sufficient condition of the beginning of the chain. LSAC can logically reach this conclusion in three ways: (1) deny the necessary condition in the first conditional statement; (2) deny the necessary condition in the second conditional statement; or (3) deny the necessary condition in the third conditional statement. Note that denying the necessary condition of the third automatically denies the second and first; and that denying the second automatically denies the first. Answer choice C is the third way:

Problems that appear to some member countries of the European Union to threaten the alliance’s economy will not appear so to others.

If C is true, it is not the case that all E.U. countries agree that certain problems threaten the alliance's economy, and the entire stimulus is negated.

[Curry]

PT 44 LR 2: Missed #26.
26--Assumption Q. Again, this was one that I was legit confused about during the test. I actually almost chose TCR, but instead switched over to the wrong answer. If anyone can clearly explain the right answer to me, that would be excellent. TCR was C, I put E.

The stimulus is a series of conditional statements:

All of an alliance of countries' members are strong in foreign policy --> alliance of countries responds aggressively to problems
Alliance of countries responds aggressively to problems --> every member of the alliance perceives the problems as grave
All E.U. countries perceive a problem as grave --> all E.U. countries agree that it threatens their alliance's economy

Conclusion: Not all of the member countries of the E.U. will be strong in foreign policy

The conclusion denies the sufficient condition of the beginning of the chain. LSAC can logically reach this conclusion in three ways: (1) deny the necessary condition in the first conditional statement; (2) deny the necessary condition in the second conditional statement; or (3) deny the necessary condition in the third conditional statement. Note that denying the necessary condition of the third automatically denies the second and first; and that denying the second automatically denies the first. Answer choice C is the third way:

Problems that appear to some member countries of the European Union to threaten the alliance’s economy will not appear so to others.

If C is true, it is not the case that all E.U. countries agree that certain problems threaten the alliance's economy, and the entire stimulus is negated.

I was about to type this out almost verbatim. Well done.

[Kurst]

I was about to type this out almost verbatim. Well done.

Oops, didn't mean to tread on the TLS Mafia. Sorry

[Curry]

I was about to type this out almost verbatim. Well done.

Oops, didn't mean to tread on the TLS Mafia. Sorry!

Hahaha no! Your explanation was excellent. Great contribution.

[incompetentia]

Curry: Only assumed sarcastic when he isn't

[crumpetsandtea]

I was about to type this out almost verbatim. Well done.

Oops, didn't mean to tread on the TLS Mafia. Sorry

Don't apologize!!! Your explanation was very helpful. Thanks so much (:

Side note: I'm going to take another test either today or tomorrow, then 2 on Saturday/Sunday. This way I'll be avoiding the 2-tests-after-work-every-week issue.

[crumpetsandtea]

45 -- 04/20/11 ----- LR: -2/1 ; RC: -4 ; LG: -0 ------------ 94/177

Woww, lol, 10 point jump from a week ago. Damn my erratic scoring...not that I'm complaining about finally beating that 175 barrier though One caveat to the awesomeness--I'm doing 30 minute sections, and my RC was 35 minutes this time I spent too long on the first 3 passages and ran out of time on the last one.

One other notable comment is for the first 2 sections, I tried the "take your time and slow down" tactic, but then I hit LG (which I fucking love) and raced through, and kept the same pace through my last LR section. The timing was 28 min -- 35 min -- 26 min -- 24 min for the sections. Also, one of the problems I missed in LR, I put TCR and then went back and switched

Anyway, I'm going to do another 'Missed Questions' breakdown, the last one was really helpful and forced me to review right away. Again, small font so this post isn't super huge and chunky.

LR: Missed 21, 22
21: Assumption Q. Originally had TCR (A) but switched to B @ the last second. I switched cause A says "ALL X would be followed by Y" and the wording just seemed really strong. Intuitively it did seem like the better answer though. B said "MANY Y have followed X" :\
22: Follows Logically From The Stimulus (lol I suck at Q names). TCR E, I put B. I guess I see that B is too general--it says 'businesses that profit' which extends beyond the few it mentioned in the stimulus. I hadn't thought of that when answering the question. E, at the time, seemed too strong again-- it said "drought" when the stimulus had said "lack of rain".

RC: Missed 6, 19, 22, 23
6: Most Strongly SUpported. TCR E, I put A. I actually almost put E here too, but switched ): I see now though that A doesn't really get at the MP of the passage, which is that the current system is failzorz. A just says that it's inefficient and we're just now realizing it, E is much stronger/clearer (uses words like "wasteful, "dramatic illustrations" "little accountability").
19: Weakens. TCR E, I put D. Ok, re-reading the question now, I thiiiink I was kind of confused and forgot this was a weaken question. e_E I definitely remember attacking this question as a non-weaken question. FAIL lol.
22: Passage Explicitly States. TCR C, I put A. I think A was wrong because it said "definition of property rights" but in the passage it was all about how those were ambiguous. "definition" must be too strict of a term to apply to how the passage addressed it. C says "recognition of customs" which is actually listed almost verbatim in the passage. Confession: I was strapped for time and didn't read all of the answer choices.
23: Author's Attitude. TCR E, I put B. This makes sense now that I look back. It wasn't that the author was negative about how it was HARD to interpret the terms, but he was upset about how the courts eventually ruled/decided.

LG -- none! Yey!

LR: 4
4: Weakens Q. TCR was D, I put A. This sort of confused me while I was reading it too, which is kinda embarrassing cause it's one of the first five so it's supposed to be easier. :\ I still don't really get why it's right, but my best guess is that D attacks the argument more directly (free installation = no need for customer to worry, whereas manuals still put the responsibility on the customer) Anyone want to confirm/correct?

Anyways, y'all, thanks for putting up with my constant whining/complaining about this stuff (especially inck and curry!!) I <3 you for bothering to read all this muck or anything like that.

[Curry]

I has a proud. Now do it consistently

[incompetentia]

Now if you take some during the day you'll be sure to score 180

[xjykybl]

45 -- 04/20/11 ----- LR: -2/1 ; RC: -4 ; LG: -0 ------------ 94/177

Woww, lol, 10 point jump from a week ago. Damn my erratic scoring...not that I'm complaining about finally beating that 175 barrier though One caveat to the awesomeness--I'm doing 30 minute sections, and my RC was 35 minutes this time I spent too long on the first 3 passages and ran out of time on the last one.

One other notable comment is for the first 2 sections, I tried the "take your time and slow down" tactic, but then I hit LG (which I fucking love) and raced through, and kept the same pace through my last LR section. The timing was 28 min -- 35 min -- 26 min -- 24 min for the sections. Also, one of the problems I missed in LR, I put TCR and then went back and switched

Anyway, I'm going to do another 'Missed Questions' breakdown, the last one was really helpful and forced me to review right away. Again, small font so this post isn't super huge and chunky.

LR: Missed 21, 22
21: Assumption Q. Originally had TCR (A) but switched to B @ the last second. I switched cause A says "ALL X would be followed by Y" and the wording just seemed really strong. Intuitively it did seem like the better answer though. B said "MANY Y have followed X" :\
22: Follows Logically From The Stimulus (lol I suck at Q names). TCR E, I put B. I guess I see that B is too general--it says 'businesses that profit' which extends beyond the few it mentioned in the stimulus. I hadn't thought of that when answering the question. E, at the time, seemed too strong again-- it said "drought" when the stimulus had said "lack of rain".

RC: Missed 6, 19, 22, 23
6: Most Strongly SUpported. TCR E, I put A. I actually almost put E here too, but switched ): I see now though that A doesn't really get at the MP of the passage, which is that the current system is failzorz. A just says that it's inefficient and we're just now realizing it, E is much stronger/clearer (uses words like "wasteful, "dramatic illustrations" "little accountability").
19: Weakens. TCR E, I put D. Ok, re-reading the question now, I thiiiink I was kind of confused and forgot this was a weaken question. e_E I definitely remember attacking this question as a non-weaken question. FAIL lol.
22: Passage Explicitly States. TCR C, I put A. I think A was wrong because it said "definition of property rights" but in the passage it was all about how those were ambiguous. "definition" must be too strict of a term to apply to how the passage addressed it. C says "recognition of customs" which is actually listed almost verbatim in the passage. Confession: I was strapped for time and didn't read all of the answer choices.
23: Author's Attitude. TCR E, I put B. This makes sense now that I look back. It wasn't that the author was negative about how it was HARD to interpret the terms, but he was upset about how the courts eventually ruled/decided.

LG -- none! Yey!

LR: 4
4: Weakens Q. TCR was D, I put A. This sort of confused me while I was reading it too, which is kinda embarrassing cause it's one of the first five so it's supposed to be easier. :\ I still don't really get why it's right, but my best guess is that D attacks the argument more directly (free installation = no need for customer to worry, whereas manuals still put the responsibility on the customer) Anyone want to confirm/correct?

Anyways, y'all, thanks for putting up with my constant whining/complaining about this stuff (especially inck and curry!!) I <3 you for bothering to read all this muck or anything like that.

Congrats! Great breakthrough

[crumpetsandtea]

47 -- 04/24/11 ----- LR: -4/1 ; RC: -3 ; LG: -1 ------------ 91/171

Ok, not super stoked about this but as long as I'm over 170 I'm happy with my PTing XD One comment I wanted to make was: the -4 on the first LR section was totally predictable. I was SO ZONED OUT for that first section. When I went back to check answers there were questions I literally didn't even remember reading That's never happened to me before. Usually I just can't think straight, it's never been an issue of me basically blacking out while testing, lol! So overall I'm going to take this as a successful test.

Side note: I talked to my boss, and I OFFICIALLY HAVE WEDNESDAYS OFF WORK FOR THE NEXT MONTH!!!!! So excited. This means I'll be able to do my Wed/Sat/Sun schedule and not have to do any evening PTs (even though sometimes my weekend PTs end up being evening ones because I procrastinate )

Also, I get Wednesdays off. AWESOMEEEEEEE. Haven't reviewed this test yet, so wrong answer breakdown will come later in the day. Thanks everyone for your support so far!

[crumpetsandtea]

48 -- 04/26/11 ----- LR: -2/1 ; RC: -3 ; LG: -0 ------------ 95/173 ----- 4 sect @ ~8. 95 raw, 171 scaled? FUUUUUUU LSAT

Highest raw score yet! Unfortunately it wasn't a correspondingly high scaled score, but I'm still happy. I really need to work on RC, I think...if I can get it down to consistently -1/-2 that would be soooo nice. Quick wrong answer breakdown:

LR1: Missed 3, 23
3: Most Supports Q. TCR C, I chose B. I ALMOST chose C (I drew a heart around it, which I later erased e_e) but it seemed so....off topic. Videos? WTF? But I guess B even less on topic...I think I just let me nervousness get to me and I switched last second.
23: Parallel Reasoning Q. TCR E, I put D. I HATE HATE HATE parallel reasoning questions!!! Grrrr. This one I got confused because I didn't diagram it out. booo. I don't get this one...anyone want to help?

RC: Missed 5, 6, 18.
5: Author Agreement Q: TCR C, I chose D. Was struggling between the two. I thought it was D because it was stated word for word in the passage, but I guess it wasn't really attributed to the author, but rather other anthropologists. C is more of an inference made through the commentary about ceremonial acts
6: Main Point Q: TCR D, I put A. I actually crossed this one off right away because on my first reading, I didn't pick up on the whole "gender differences will arise unconsciously" bit I figured it out as I continued answering qs, but I never went back to check this answer. A is WAY too specific, only part of the passage dealt with it.
18: Compare Main Viewpoints Q: TCR A, I put E. OK didn't get this one at all when I first re-read it, but I see it now. E is wrong because of lines 39-40, and A is correct because the passage basically hints that collective ownership doesn't really deal with 'owning' land but rather taking care of it. BOOO ):

LR: Missed 25
25: Vulnerable to Criticism Q: TCR B, I put A. TBH I had a prephrase that was essentially the same as B, but the wording of the answer threw me off and I didn't process it to mean the same thing as my prephrase, so I chose A, which seemed the most logical out of the rest of the answers. DOUBLE BOOOO. lolol XD

Overall thoughts: decent. RC NEEDZ MOAR WERK. How do I improve in RC?? help meeee....

[incompetentia]

Main-point questions.


Did you try my skim-answermainpoint-reread method?

[crumpetsandtea]

Main-point questions.


Did you try my skim-answermainpoint-reread method?

Yeah those are sorta my weakness

I kind of did. I read a little bit of LSAT Blog's tips too, so what I did was I would do your whole 'first skim for general structure, then go back and pick up on a bit more detail, but not super in-depth reading' thing. I tried to write on the side main ideas (ie: 'X against G. Diff" and "AO: agree w/Y") as well as one-word summaries of each paragraph (LSAT Blog's "V1" "V2" "C1" "C2" idea to label arguments/critiques). IDK if it helped at all though, I think 3 is pretty average for my range...maybe a liiittle better (avg is 4 probably) but not significant.

I'm thinking of timing how long it takes me to read a passage for my next test on Thursday.

[crumpetsantea]

Did you try my skim-answermainpoint-reread method?

Nope!

[Curry]

I lol'd hard

[crumpetsandtea]

Did you try my skim-answermainpoint-reread method?

Nope!

God damnit XD

[Curry]

DAMMIT not damNit

[incompetentia]

I 'd hard

[crumpetsandtea]

DAMMIT not damNit

Uhhhh get yo TTT spelling the fuck out of my thread, damNit!