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No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 3:35 am
by notaznguy
Eh, just wondering, did ANYONE or, are you SUPPOSE to have some sort of amazing improvement after going through the LR Bible once?

Probably not right?

I was able to get through 400/500 pages on the LR Bible (I actually skipped the formal logic question, but overall I covered 400 pages). I did the question sets per section, and overall, I really just went over it once. I only had about 2 weeks to do so before my initial TM diagnostic today.

Well anyways, just wanted to rant that I'm a bit bummed about my diagnostic. My initial diagnostic I took a year ago with Kaplan was 138 (and that was ice cold - but also, we were only give 4 sections, no experimental). For TM, I took a full test (5 sections) and wasn't expecting how much of a burn out it was. I got a 142 this time.

For the Kaplan diagnostic, I got 23 LR questions correct.

For the TM diagnostic, I got 25 LR questions correct (wtf). Maybe I'm only trying to convince myself when I'm saying this, but the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th section were LR and I felt the main reason I did bad was because of the burn out. I felt like I did "okay" on the 2 and 3 sections (I'll explain why in a bit) and I did horrible in the 5th LR section just because I was so tired and wasn't focused anymore. My 3rd LR section was scored, and the 2nd wasn't. I think I would have done "okay" on the 2nd one because on the 3rd section my scores were 16 correct and 10 incorrect, For my 5th LR section, I only missed 3 in the first 12 questions, and then subsequently missed every single question after that...LOL

So uh, considering I only went over the LR Bible once (and not the whole thing, including skipping formal logic) and didn't do ANY supplemental drilling on problems (other than those question sets in the bible), this should be normal right?

P.S. Not gonna lie, I kinda am just looking for some moral support, heh.

Edit**: I also want to say that during the timed exam, I actually found it difficult to identify conditional reasoning or causal reasoning problems. I couldn't tell when to use diagrams and stuff, but that's also because I was pressured by time to just keep moving. I felt I did a lot better when I saw assumption/justify/strengthen questions because I always remembered things like looking for the supporter or defender role and stuff. For parallel/flaw/method questions, I would always remember looking for indicator words too. I just wasn't able to identify if a question was using conditional or causal reasoning during the timed diagnostic though...

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 3:41 am
by glewz
notaznguy wrote:Eh, just wondering, did ANYONE or, are you SUPPOSE to have some sort of amazing improvement after going through the LR Bible once?

Probably not right?

I was able to get through 400/500 pages on the LR Bible (I actually skipped the formal logic question, but overall I covered 400 pages). I did the question sets per section, and overall, I really just went over it once. I only had about 2 weeks to do so before my initial TM diagnostic today.

Well anyways, just wanted to rant that I'm a bit bummed about my diagnostic. My initial diagnostic I took a year ago with Kaplan was 138 (and that was ice cold - but also, we were only give 4 sections, no experimental). For TM, I took a full test (5 sections) and wasn't expecting how much of a burn out it was. I got a 142 this time.

For the Kaplan diagnostic, I got 23 LR questions correct.

For the TM diagnostic, I got 25 LR questions correct (wtf). Maybe I'm only trying to convince myself when I'm saying this, but the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th section were LR. I felt like I did "okay" on the 2 and 3 sections (I'll explain why in a bit) and I did horrible in the 5th LR section just because I was so tired and wasn't focused anymore. My 3rd LR section was scored, and the 2nd wasn't. I think I would have done "okay" on the 2nd one because on the 3rd section my scores were 16 correct and 10 incorrect, For my 5th LR section, I only missed 3 in the first 12 questions, and then subsequently for every single question wrong after that...LOL

So uh, considering I only went over the LR Bible once (and not the whole thing, including skipping formal logic) and didn't do much drilling on problems, this should be normal right?

P.S. Not gonna lie, I kinda am just looking for some moral support, heh.

Edit**: I also want to say that during the timed exam, I actually found it difficult to identify conditional reasoning or causal reasoning problems. I couldn't tell when to use diagrams and stuff, but that's also because I was pressured by time to just keep moving. I felt I did a lot better when I saw assumption/justify/strengthen questions because I always remembered things like looking for the supporter or defender role and stuff. For parallel/flaw/method questions, I would always remember looking for indicator words too. I just wasn't able to identify if a question was using conditional or causal reasoning during the timed diagnostic though...
The bolded words & phrases =/= big score improvement.

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:37 am
by senorhosh
I went over LR bible. Skipped around. Did not improve score.
I went over it again after a couple months. This time, I went over EVERYTHING. Score improved slightly from -5 to -8 per section to -3 to -7 per section. At that time, I felt like I understood LR for the most part and I was having trouble with timing, mistakes, and certain very difficult questions.

I went over LR bible once AGAIN. This time, I made an outline while reading of the basic information for each question type. This allowed me to solidify the information and I can use the outline as reference later. For example:
1. Weakening questions.
A. Incorrect answers
i. Opposite answers
ii. Shell game.
iii. Etc.
B. How to approach

This time around, since I already knew everything, it helped me drill everything into my head and assess specific mistakes I was having.

Now I'm getting -1 to -5 per section but still nowhere near the -0 I want. I would say 99% of my problems are due to reading mistakes or timing, which can be improved by taking more PTs.

Conclusion: read over the LR bible multiple times.


Also for conditional reasoning and diagramming stuff, once you start studying for the games, this part gets a lot easier. Also, don't skip the formal logic section of the LR bible. It's IMPORTANT (especially for Mistaken Reversals)

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:51 am
by glewz
senorhosh wrote:I went over LR bible. Skipped around. Did not improve score.
I went over it again after a couple months. This time, I went over EVERYTHING. Score improved slightly from -5 to -8 per section to -3 to -7 per section. At that time, I felt like I understood LR for the most part and I was having trouble with timing, mistakes, and certain very difficult questions.

I went over LR bible once AGAIN. This time, I made an outline while reading of the basic information for each question type. This allowed me to solidify the information and I can use the outline as reference later. For example:
1. Weakening questions.
A. Incorrect answers
i. Opposite answers
ii. Shell game.
iii. Etc.
B. How to approach

This time around, since I already knew everything, it helped me drill everything into my head and assess specific mistakes I was having.

Now I'm getting -1 to -5 per section but still nowhere near the -0 I want. I would say 99% of my problems are due to reading mistakes or timing, which can be improved by taking more PTs.

Conclusion: read over the LR bible multiple times.


Also for conditional reasoning and diagramming stuff, once you start studying for the games, this part gets a lot easier. Also, don't skip the formal logic section of the LR bible. It's IMPORTANT (especially for Mistaken Reversals)
This is good advice, but OP, as you are about to undergo TestMasters training, I would recommend that you focus on the materials provided by the class; supplement your course only if you have spare time.

I honestly think you'd be a bit overloaded to juggle multiple prep course doctrines (they are similar, but simply reading the bibles does take away valuable time you could be spending on practice problems), but you of course know yourself better than I do.

Best wishes, and take my comments as reassurance that reading the LR bible 1 time is not sufficient to produce the results you were looking for.

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:05 am
by notaznguy
glewz wrote:
senorhosh wrote:I went over LR bible. Skipped around. Did not improve score.
I went over it again after a couple months. This time, I went over EVERYTHING. Score improved slightly from -5 to -8 per section to -3 to -7 per section. At that time, I felt like I understood LR for the most part and I was having trouble with timing, mistakes, and certain very difficult questions.

I went over LR bible once AGAIN. This time, I made an outline while reading of the basic information for each question type. This allowed me to solidify the information and I can use the outline as reference later. For example:
1. Weakening questions.
A. Incorrect answers
i. Opposite answers
ii. Shell game.
iii. Etc.
B. How to approach

This time around, since I already knew everything, it helped me drill everything into my head and assess specific mistakes I was having.

Now I'm getting -1 to -5 per section but still nowhere near the -0 I want. I would say 99% of my problems are due to reading mistakes or timing, which can be improved by taking more PTs.

Conclusion: read over the LR bible multiple times.


Also for conditional reasoning and diagramming stuff, once you start studying for the games, this part gets a lot easier. Also, don't skip the formal logic section of the LR bible. It's IMPORTANT (especially for Mistaken Reversals)
This is good advice, but OP, as you are about to undergo TestMasters training, I would recommend that you focus on the materials provided by the class; supplement your course only if you have spare time.

I honestly think you'd be a bit overloaded to juggle multiple prep course doctrines (they are similar, but simply reading the bibles does take away valuable time you could be spending on practice problems), but you of course know yourself better than I do.

Best wishes, and take my comments as reassurance that reading the LR bible 1 time is not sufficient to produce the results you were looking for.
Yeah I will probably not be going over the Bible while undergoing my prep course. I went over the Bible because I had ~2.5 weeks of free time prior to the beginning of my prep course, so that's why I decided to go through it. Thanks for the moral support guys, haha.

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:03 pm
by lrslayer
I just finished it and here are my results after doing LR sections last night compared to June:
June LSAT: -12 and -8
Last night, done under 30 min with no changes: -2 and -4

Taking the LSAT without the Bible was like being BLINDFOLDED for me!

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 3:24 pm
by suspicious android
Stop doing timed diagnostics, or any timed work at all really; you're not ready yet. You're not going to improve much by doing them.

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 3:49 pm
by cnyltiak
Yeah I would suggest going through the LR bible again and also doing a bunch of deliberate, untimed LR sections until you can recognize sufficient/necessary, causation/corrolation, conditionals, etc. I wouldn't even say you have to diagram these types of questions to do decently in LR, but you do need to be able to instantly recognize and understand them.

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:56 pm
by bruss
Going through the Lrb without drilling the problems is a waste of time. Obviously you doing the rinky dink 5-8 questions in the Lrb isn't helping you much. IMHO think its best to go over a section then drill it. Also use a timer not a countdown. Even though you aren't ready to be bound by time constraints you should still record how long it takes you.
GL

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:06 pm
by notaznguy
bruss wrote:Going through the Lrb without drilling the problems is a waste of time. Obviously you doing the rinky dink 5-8 questions in the Lrb isn't helping you much. IMHO think its best to go over a section then drill it. Also use a timer not a countdown. Even though you aren't ready to be bound by time constraints you should still record how long it takes you.
GL
I guess it really just depends. A simple, straightforward MBT question or an Assumption question is usually done within a minute. Meanwhile, Parallel Flaw or Method of Reasoning questions take me 2-3 minutes because I really have to just sit there and think.

Re: No amazing improvement after reading the LR Bible once?

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:11 pm
by Tiago Splitter
You are taking a Testmasters class, so as Glewz said, focus on that for now. I also took that class and it took some time before I could quickly identify questions and figure out when and when not to diagram. Trust me, it gets easier. Just hang in there.