OCTOBER 2012: Daily Study Report! Forum

[islandlava]

anybody is using cambridge lsat materials, those organized by type and difficulty? if you are, do you know why some of the answer keys are postfixed by *FL*? i am confused by this FL.
also, this LSAT logical reasoning by type doesn't have explanations except answer keys?

[Adam Banks]

Anyone have LR reasoning advice. I'm missing about 5-6 a section. I always get it down to 2 answers and ponder them and 90% of the time pick the right answer then rethink it and switch it or I don't switch it because I'm thinking when I switch it, it's usually wrong so then I miss it again. But when I look at the answers it's pretty easy for me to realize why the one and not the other.

[beautyistruth]

Are you doing these sections timed, or untimed? Is there a rhythm to -when- you miss these questions? Is one choice a more/less extreme wording of the correct choice? (I have this problem too, and that's very often the case).

[Adam Banks]

Are you doing these sections timed, or untimed? Is there a rhythm to -when- you miss these questions? Is one choice a more/less extreme wording of the correct choice? (I have this problem too, and that's very often the case).

I'm doing them untimed because I'd like to get to -1 or 2 before I go for timed. That could be the reason I miss them because I have to much time to think about other things. It's never usually due to wording. Not really a rhythm either. I think it may be due to the fact that if I have time I think what would I think and not what are the writers thinking. Idk





Edit. It's also usually on the easier questions, so maybe I just think wow that's to obvious to be right.

[beautyistruth]

To be honest, that's happening to me too. I've gone back and taken some logical reasoning sections that I haven't taken for months on end, and I miss easy questions that I got right away when I started. However, I'm getting all the hard questions, usually involving some special test mechanic or formal logic, that completely stumped me when I took sections without reading Powerscore or studying the test. Overall, I'm getting a greater percentage of the questions right, so I do have a net improvement. I'd like to figure out why I'm missing easy questions now, though. I suspect I either over think, or gloss over and miss word tricks.

[echamberlin8]

Hey, guys. Sorry, I haven't posted in here in a bit, even though I promised I would daily. I haven't been studying as much as I've wanted to, but I did read more about Grouping Games last night in the Logic Games Bible. These are really giving me some problems, and I haven't learned them as well right now as I have the Linear Games. Tonight I'm probably going to start taking the full sections at the end of the Grouping chapter in the LGB.

At the end of the Linear Games chapter, I was regularly hitting -1 or -0 on the Linear Games sections, which I was pretty happy about. Of course, I wasn't doing them timed yet. I always try to hit things perfectly before I do them timed (haven't done any timed sections yet).

Not sure when I should start taking full-length PTs yet...after I finish the LGB and during the same time I read the other two Bibles?

[echamberlin8]

So yesterday I did my first section of grouping games. Got a 7/7 (untimed)! Also did a few more grouping games drills. Tonight I'm hoping to do a few more grouping sections, and shall try to retain my perfect record.

[totaltest.milan]

Anyone have LR reasoning advice. I'm missing about 5-6 a section. I always get it down to 2 answers and ponder them and 90% of the time pick the right answer then rethink it and switch it or I don't switch it because I'm thinking when I switch it, it's usually wrong so then I miss it again. But when I look at the answers it's pretty easy for me to realize why the one and not the other.

Key is to basically figure out what types and sub-types you're getting wrong, what the correct answer looks like, what the incorrect answers look like, and then to drill those question types. Post the questions here and the choices you were deliberating between and me or someone else will help explain why the correct answer's correct and the incorrect one incorrect. Also, more practice tends to strengthen your intuition so don't worry about it too much, but as implied above, make sure to review.

You also mentioned that you were getting the easier ones wrong because you were thinking that the correct choice is too obviously correct. That's absolutely correct, next time go with the obviously correct one; the easy questions generally won't have any subtle trickery.

[CalAlumni]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

[atclavon]

Captain's Log: 6/28/12

5:00 A.M. - It is time to wake up, but I do not.

6:00 A.M. - The alarm goes off. I thought I set it for 5:00. I was wrong.

6:30 A.M. - 7:45 A.M. - After hitting snooze several times, I finally ingest caffeine and begin my studies. Week 2, Day 5 appears to be a breeze. I think of sailing. Things move along smoothly until I am tasked with PT 24, Game #4. I decide it's time to take a shower.

8:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M. - The office. Phone calls, drafting, e-mails, some filing, and a smattering of gossip. I talk a client down from the ledge. Today is a win.

6:30 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. - I consider resuming PT Game 24, Game #4. I decide it's time to take a walk.

7:15 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. - I review court reports. Still considering resuming that game. "Game", what an inappropriate word. "Game", like the abusive lover who strikes out and sings a siren song of peace. "Game"...

8:30 P.M. - With the promise of macaroni 'n cheese for dinner, I am motivated to finish PT 24, Game #4. Doctors, clinics, Ns and Os. I go 4/6. I do not understand how the last three rules can coexist (especially those involving N and O), but I will not discover that tonight because

9:00 P.M. - It's macaroni time.

9:20 P.M. - And then peanut butter smoothie time.

9:25 P.M. - And now TLS time.

!!!!!!

[echamberlin8]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

That's a pretty sick score to have this early in the process, man. I'm jealous. What are you shooting for ultimately?

Did two more sections of Grouping Logic Games last night. Got perfect on both! I decided to time my second one, since I've never done a timed section before (other than my diagnostics), just to see how quickly I was doing it. It ended up being around 12 minutes and 30 seconds, which isn't bad, but obviously I have a bit of a way to go.

Cal, was 165 your diagnostic, or did you get that after studying for a bit? 5+ minutes left is great. How did you get yourself so fast?

[JDanger007]

I am trying to figure out the best way to make flash cards to study from:
This may be of help to others who want to incorporate this into their study strategy.
I have my quick tips on things to do when looking at certain types of games or reasoning questions.
I also have a key words to help me identify question types.
Does it make sense to put anyting else on them? Maybe important games that may help me when im in the October exam?
If thats the case what are good ones to know, I have done so many.

Much love

[JohnV]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

That's about where I'm at although I haven't taken that many full length PTs. RC can be very variable for me, anywhere from -1 to -9... the last few I've done I've gone -2 to -5 so hopefully the -9's are are thing of the past.

Still need to take more full length LG sections, timing down individually but for some reason it hasn't translated into good time on full length sections.

[pearla]

Captain's Log: 6/28/12

5:00 A.M. - It is time to wake up, but I do not.

6:00 A.M. - The alarm goes off. I thought I set it for 5:00. I was wrong.

6:30 A.M. - 7:45 A.M. - After hitting snooze several times, I finally ingest caffeine and begin my studies. Week 2, Day 5 appears to be a breeze. I think of sailing. Things move along smoothly until I am tasked with PT 24, Game #4. I decide it's time to take a shower.

8:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M. - The office. Phone calls, drafting, e-mails, some filing, and a smattering of gossip. I talk a client down from the ledge. Today is a win.

6:30 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. - I consider resuming PT Game 24, Game #4. I decide it's time to take a walk.

7:15 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. - I review court reports. Still considering resuming that game. "Game", what an inappropriate word. "Game", like the abusive lover who strikes out and sings a siren song of peace. "Game"...

8:30 P.M. - With the promise of macaroni 'n cheese for dinner, I am motivated to finish PT 24, Game #4. Doctors, clinics, Ns and Os. I go 4/6. I do not understand how the last three rules can coexist (especially those involving N and O), but I will not discover that tonight because

9:00 P.M. - It's macaroni time.

9:20 P.M. - And then peanut butter smoothie time.

9:25 P.M. - And now TLS time.

!!!!!!

LOL It is so easy to get caught up in such "I am studying for the LSAT-Not" routine

[burtlantin]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

That's about where I'm at although I haven't taken that many full length PTs. RC can be very variable for me, anywhere from -1 to -9... the last few I've done I've gone -2 to -5 so hopefully the -9's are are thing of the past.

Still need to take more full length LG sections, timing down individually but for some reason it hasn't translated into good time on full length sections.

Exact same situation here. I'm reviewing my mistakes pretty thoroughly... aside from doing lots of RCs, is there anything else I can do to fix this?

[PeanutsNJam]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

That's about where I'm at although I haven't taken that many full length PTs. RC can be very variable for me, anywhere from -1 to -9... the last few I've done I've gone -2 to -5 so hopefully the -9's are are thing of the past.

Still need to take more full length LG sections, timing down individually but for some reason it hasn't translated into good time on full length sections.

Exact same situation here. I'm reviewing my mistakes pretty thoroughly... aside from doing lots of RCs, is there anything else I can do to fix this?

Beat yourself with a bag of batteries every time you get a question wrong. jk.

I have trouble with RC too... it seems so subjective. I realized what happens is that when you get down to 2 questions and you have to pick between the two, and neither seem all that convincing, one is wrong because of 1 word (or 2) that doesn't match with the passage.

[CalAlumni]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

That's a pretty sick score to have this early in the process, man. I'm jealous. What are you shooting for ultimately?

Cal, was 165 your diagnostic, or did you get that after studying for a bit? 5+ minutes left is great. How did you get yourself so fast?

I can't quite recall my exact diagnostic, but when I first started studying I had no idea how to approach LG's and was getting -7/-8 on all the other sections. In other words I sucked.

I mastered LG's easily with the Logic Games Bible by Powerscore, so now I'm like -1 consistently. For LR, I studied the Powerscore Bible and that got me down to -2 over time by taking PT's and review my wrong answers--although I'll have a bad showing every so often.

For RC it really depends on what passages I get and what kinds of subjects they are on. On really convoluted science passages I tend to do worse than say, a law passage. RC is the section I'm least consistent in. Although I've been getting better over time, on a bad showing I can still get a -7....this CAN NOT happen in October or my T-10 dreams will be crushed.

I've also done every PT from 7-54 so I'm trying now to spread the rest of the PT's into the months ahead so I don't waste them now.

At the beginning I used to have a few questions left when 35 min came to an end...however, as I got into the late 30's, 40's and 50's my speed increased...I think you just get more acquainted with the format and types of questions so you don't stall as much. Also, I have a cheap timex analog watch I bought at Target which I constantly monitor to make sure I'm on track.

[CalAlumni]

I'd like to join this thread!

Been studying for the past 2 months and have moved my score up from 165-ish to now 170 consistently under timed conditions and finishing with 5+ minutes left most sections.

I'm pretty consistent on LG, LR, but on RC I can either have a good showing and get -3 or my score can go to sh*t if I get a bad passage and get -7...although that hasn't happened the last few PT's.

That's about where I'm at although I haven't taken that many full length PTs. RC can be very variable for me, anywhere from -1 to -9... the last few I've done I've gone -2 to -5 so hopefully the -9's are are thing of the past.

Still need to take more full length LG sections, timing down individually but for some reason it hasn't translated into good time on full length sections.

Exact same situation here. I'm reviewing my mistakes pretty thoroughly... aside from doing lots of RCs, is there anything else I can do to fix this?

Beat yourself with a bag of batteries every time you get a question wrong. jk.

I have trouble with RC too... it seems so subjective. I realized what happens is that when you get down to 2 questions and you have to pick between the two, and neither seem all that convincing, one is wrong because of 1 word (or 2) that doesn't match with the passage.

^^^^Totally with you guys! It's so subjective that getting consistent is difficult. If any of you guys have any breakthroughs let us know what worked. I'm going to take PT 54 now....let's see what happens.

[echamberlin8]

Thanks for the response, CalAlumni. I'm envious/mad at myself that I haven't studied as much as you in the past few months. I've only done one full-length PT so far. I need to get going on that after I finish the Logic Games Bible.

Last night I did three Grouping Games. On one I got totally stuck (Game #4 at the end of the Grouping Games chapter in the LGB), but on the other two I did alright (-1 combined).

Tonight I plan to start doing some games out of the Kaplan LSAT Mastery Practice book.

Tomorrow I'm going to Six Flags to hit the roller coasters, then hopefully I'll study a good bit the rest of the weekend.

[echamberlin8]

Yesterday, I did 4-5 games from the Kaplan Big Blue Book. I only missed one question, which I still wasn't happy about. I have not been timing myself yet, but a lot of the games I can do in under ten minutes. However, Grouping Games I still find to be the hardest, and I've had the least experience with these so far.

I also did my first game of Sudoku last night. I started a book recommended somewhere on here--Will Shortz's Ultra Easy Pocket Sudoku, and did the first game in it last night. It was a bit foreign at first, but I got used to it rather quickly. Hopefully this will actually help me study for the LSAT. What are your guys' thoughts on using Sudoku to study?

[burtlantin]

^^^^Totally with you guys! It's so subjective that getting consistent is difficult. If any of you guys have any breakthroughs let us know what worked. I'm going to take PT 54 now....let's see what happens.

I think I've somewhat stabilized at -1 (or the occasional -2) on RCs (I used to fluctuate wildly from -1 to -8), and what helped me was really cutting down on my annotation. I don't think it's just the quantity of annotation that's making the difference but also the amount of time saved not trying to pin down all the details. Can anyone else attest to minimal annotation?

Pretty much all of my mistakes now are ones that make me want to slam my head against the wall though... so dumb... and frustrating.

[TomThompson]

Hi guys, I've been working on the LG bible. I decided to focus on the games section as that was by far my worst on my cold diagnostic. Slowly getting the hang of basic and advanced linear, and I'm roughly following Pithypike's guide.

At what point should I start doing full PT's? I don't have much confidence yet in my ability to do the more complex games, so I don't want to 'waste' PT's.

My initial cold test was around 158, and I'm aiming for a 165-170 (preferably at the upper range!).

[052220151]

Hi guys, I've been working on the LG bible. I decided to focus on the games section as that was by far my worst on my cold diagnostic. Slowly getting the hang of basic and advanced linear, and I'm roughly following Pithypike's guide.

At what point should I start doing full PT's? I don't have much confidence yet in my ability to do the more complex games, so I don't want to 'waste' PT's.

My initial cold test was around 158, and I'm aiming for a 165-170 (preferably at the upper range!).

158 is a great cold diagnostic, aim for higher than 170. my initial cold test was 149 and now im consistently in the mid to upper 160s with the occasional low 170s. this test is very learnable.

If your only worry is your inability to do the complex games. drill them, get good at them. make sure you have a good foundation for RC and LR and then start with the PTs.

[echamberlin8]

Hi guys, I've been working on the LG bible. I decided to focus on the games section as that was by far my worst on my cold diagnostic. Slowly getting the hang of basic and advanced linear, and I'm roughly following Pithypike's guide.

At what point should I start doing full PT's? I don't have much confidence yet in my ability to do the more complex games, so I don't want to 'waste' PT's.

My initial cold test was around 158, and I'm aiming for a 165-170 (preferably at the upper range!).

Hey there, Tom. You sound somewhat similar to me. I did a diagnostic in 155 a few months ago, and currently I'm working on Logic Games by using the LG Bible and a few other resources (Kaplan's Big Blue Book, which was recommended by some study plan that I found on this site...maybe Pithypike's?). I'm also not sure when to take the plunge into full PTs, but I think for me I decided that when I finish the LGB that I will start taking full-length PTs, mixed in with going through the other two Bibles.

I agree with what someone else said that you should aim for the 170s. My diagnostic was below yours, but I'm aiming for as close to a perfect score as possible. I'm not sure if I'll be able to hit it by October or not, but I will damn well try my best. I think you can definitely get a 172 or higher. Good luck!

As to the purpose of this thread, yesterday I did some sudoku, a Basic Linear game from the LSAT Blog, as well as reading some explanations for previous games I did from Kaplan's Big Blue Book. Tonight I will start the first two games of the LGB's "Forgotten Few" chapter.

[echamberlin8]

Last night I did three games from the LGB. I got perfect on the second Pattern game (supposedly one of the hardest games of the modern era? I don't believe this for a second) and the Circle game, but I missed one on the first Pattern game. Also did some sudoku. I had never played before studying for the LSAT, but I actually like doing it. It's fun to do at work and an easy way to study when I don't have time to do more serious studying.

I'm gearing up to do the SuperPrep tests right when I finish the LGB, then I'm going to order the most recent 10-20 PTs. I'm assuming I should do these before I do the ones in the official LSAC Prep Test books (The Next Ten Official LSATs, etc.)? I have all four of those books, which makes me sad that I haven't used any of them yet, but hopefully I have enough time to dig into them as well as doing the more recent PTs which aren't in books yet.