October 2012 Retakers Forum

[TheThriller]

I feel like we're all Hunger Games champions and now we're being put in the championship round.

So what we really have to do is put paperclips on our answer sheets so they'll break the grader as they go through. And then everyone gets 180s!

It's really late, guys. Forgive this post.

Never seen the Hunger Games, but I can relate this to the final round of the TriWizard Cup

[052220151]

Manhattan LSAT book trio received, 20 PTs received. Plan of attack. Don't choke on LG. Become wizard at LR. Pray that I learn to read before October 6th.

[sabanist]

I feel like we're all Hunger Games champions and now we're being put in the championship round.

So what we really have to do is put paperclips on our answer sheets so they'll break the grader as they go through. And then everyone gets 180s!

It's really late, guys. Forgive this post.

Never seen the Hunger Games, but I can relate this to the final round of the TriWizard Cup

Plot twist: writing sample is a portkey to Cooley.

[TheThriller]

I feel like we're all Hunger Games champions and now we're being put in the championship round.

So what we really have to do is put paperclips on our answer sheets so they'll break the grader as they go through. And then everyone gets 180s!

It's really late, guys. Forgive this post.

Never seen the Hunger Games, but I can relate this to the final round of the TriWizard Cup

Plot twist: writing sample is a portkey to Cooley.

Plot Twist Twist: The Dean is a human Horcrux

[maggielizer]

Retaker checking in! Got a 166 on last year's December LSAT. Hoping to raise my score at least 6 points – dream school is Columbia.

Registered for a prep course through Powerscore, a couple of other people recommended it to me and it seems pretty legit.

[chem!]

I feel like we're all Hunger Games champions and now we're being put in the championship round.

So what we really have to do is put paperclips on our answer sheets so they'll break the grader as they go through. And then everyone gets 180s!

It's really late, guys. Forgive this post.

Never seen the Hunger Games, but I can relate this to the final round of the TriWizard Cup

Plot twist: writing sample is a portkey to Cooley.

I LOL'd

[03152016]

.

[mowmissy]

Checking in! Underperformed on test day, but still improved from my prior score(s). Will be doing Velocity with self-study as well. My strongest section is LG. Weakest is RC. I debated on which package I should sign up for on Velocity, but with my $100 discount for having taken another prep course (Testmasters) already, the $450 for the comprehensive course (digital books) seemed incredibly decent.

[bdeebs]

Checking in! Underperformed on test day, but still improved from my prior score(s). Will be doing Velocity with self-study as well. My strongest section is LG. Weakest is RC. I debated on which package I should sign up for on Velocity, but with my $100 discount for having taken another prep course (Testmasters) already, the $450 for the comprehensive course (digital books) seemed incredibly decent.

I've got 2cents/word of warning for Velocity RC. I think it's a good approach, but make sure you do the 'homework' pretty diligently. I was running out of time for RC and resorted to listening to video explanations before really analyzing my own work. I didn't get nearly as much out of the program as I should have. I feel like his explanations are geared toward people who have already put a decent amount of thought into the passages and the answers are just there to illuminate what you should have been thinking before choosing the right answer. On the plus side, I feel like his office hours are still pretty sparsely populated, so if you get stuck on something, he'll be there for one on one tutoring once a week.

[bdeebs]

No, it's not really a negative on Velocity...it's just pretty easy to skip doing the work you're supposed to do and then it, like any course, is much less beneficial.

[Br3v]

So I took PT 19 today broken up. Did a section at a time then graded it. Did that for 2 sections, then maybe 30 min dinner break, then repeated for sections 3 and 4 after dinner. I recognized some of the material but not too much.

The good news (well I'm proud): for 3 sections I had over 5 minutes left. For June I was always working till last second on PTs. I think I can reset my internal clock for this new pace. Unfortunately the 4th section I went over by about 45 seconds.

Despite all this, it graded out to a 174
Even though this wasn't a real PT strictly speaking, for my first full session of studying since June I feel really good.

PT 19 (split up)
LG: -1 (and I made a careless mistake)
LR: -1
RC: -3
LR: -1
Scaled: 174

Lets hope for more numbers like these as I progress!

[anitadonielle]

I took the test in June. I was not pleased with my score. I'm deciding to do a course this time around. Who would be better Powerscore or Velocity?

[Clearly]

Just following up. Starting to get over the pain of my June disaster. On the bright side, I started off PTing right in my usual range (10 points higher than my june score!)... With a few more months of refining my game I'll be going in in great shape. I'm gonna retake PT 66 this week.

[totaltest.milan]

Today I was doing some LR practice. I went through the answer choices for a question and decided that option D was most likely a trap, but didnt cross it out, ya know, just in case. after spending 30 seconds looking for the right answer I chose (read: talked my self into) D. D turned out to be a trap.

I fucking hate when that happens.

always go with your gut. I tend to miss more LR if I stop and really think about them.

This gut thing is good advice. I changed 4 answers on the June test from my initial gut response to an incorrect answer due to overthinking/second guessing. I tell my students this advice all the time, yet I failed to follow it. UGH.

I'm printing the Velocity books and will be starting my prep this weekend. I did all the LG from the June test and went -1. I think I already posted this, but I don't remember. They were not difficult. I'm just a nimrod on test day.

I think my advice for myself is this: Anytime I have to convince myself that I'm an idiot in order to un-eliminate an answer choice, i'm probably making the wrong argument.

Seriously, I tried to convince myself that I didnt know what the word "abstraction" meant so that I could pick that specific answer. Funny enough, in the end I didnt just convince myself that I was an idiot, I proved it.

Also, let me know how the velocity RC is. I'm loathe to spend money on RC as I dont see how much more I can learn form them than from PowerScore.

My 2c if anyone's interested. I always tell my students that instincts and paying attention to instincts is important. Essentially, your 'gut' is you processing the information at a not quite conscious level. You're subconsciously recognizing patterns. But you don't want to stop there. You want to get to the point that, if required, you can give a reasoned justification for the choice that your gut is going with. That is a result of carefully paying attention to why the correct answer is correct and why the incorrect answers are incorrect and establishing the different variations for each question type. In short, getting to the point where that pattern-recognition is conscious and fully accessible. I've found that this forum is a good place to bring specific questions and ask why a certain choice is correct and another incorrect.

[Br3v]

Just following up. Starting to get over the pain of my June disaster. On the bright side, I started off PTing right in my usual range (10 points higher than my june score!)... With a few more months of refining my game I'll be going in in great shape. I'm gonna retake PT 66 this week.

I think I'm gonna save PT66 for about a week before the test. If my studying is successful, killing 66 will be a great boost before tackling PT67.

+1

[Pocahontas]

@Wormfather You were so right. I did a few LGs yesterday and my initial 2 hours of prep (which the thought of immediately had me sure a nap would be better use of my time, lol) turned into a 4 hour session. That's the first time I've sat still that long since my prep started. And it was damn productive. Just what I need to get back into the swing of things.

[espressocream]

Back from DC. I loved it and now feel motivated to start studying again...sort of.
I want to jump back into drilling, but I know I should read Manhattan LR before I start.
Do you guys think I should read all of it or just the question types that I have problems with?
Ramadan starts this week and I really don't know how fasting and studying will get along together.

[NoodleyOne]

Back from DC. I loved it and now feel motivated to start studying again...sort of.
I want to jump back into drilling, but I know I should read Manhattan LR before I start.
Do you guys think I should read all of it or just the question types that I have problems with?
Ramadan starts this week and I really don't know how fasting and studying will get along together.

I'm doing all my bookwork before I start drilling, then going to see what I have a problem with for deeper review.

[Pocahontas]

Back from DC. I loved it and now feel motivated to start studying again...sort of.
I want to jump back into drilling, but I know I should read Manhattan LR before I start.
Do you guys think I should read all of it or just the question types that I have problems with?
Ramadan starts this week and I really don't know how fasting and studying will get along together.

I've been reading individual chapters of the bibles before drilling that question type. I bought the PS type training books with questions from PTs 1-40. Seems to be working. I really want to grasp each question type this time before drilling whole sections and then whole PTs.

[espressocream]

Back from DC. I loved it and now feel motivated to start studying again...sort of.
I want to jump back into drilling, but I know I should read Manhattan LR before I start.
Do you guys think I should read all of it or just the question types that I have problems with?
Ramadan starts this week and I really don't know how fasting and studying will get along together.

I've been reading individual chapters of the bibles before drilling that question type. I bought the PS type training books with questions from PTs 1-40. Seems to be working. I really want to grasp each question type this time before drilling whole sections and then whole PTs.

I like this idea and will try it out tomorrow. Thanks

[jjrialva]

Studying for the retake here.. I didn't want to start a new thread just for this questions so I thought u guy could help me out..

I got this 95 lsat question wrong -> http://gmatclub.com/forum/unless-the-re ... ml?kudos=1

It seems that I eliminated answer B because one can't properly conclude something WILL happen when it has been explicitly stated that it is just probable.

I choose answer A thinking it was the contrapositive and it wasn't the credited answer. Anyone quickly explain to me why is this wrong and why is B?

I have found that a few pre 2000 LSAT LR questions aren't as airtight as the newer questions. One of them I remember use the word "hypothesis' and "theory" like if they were the same term with the same definition. I remember choosing the answer choice that that described that error but I was wrong. The other choice was also backed up by the stimulus but why was the other choice wrong I don't know.

[jjrialva]

Studying for the retake here.. I didn't want to start a new thread just for this questions so I thought u guy could help me out..

I got this 95 lsat question wrong -> http://gmatclub.com/forum/unless-the-re ... ml?kudos=1

It seems that I eliminated answer B because one can't properly conclude something WILL happen when it has been explicitly stated that it is just probable.

I choose answer A thinking it was the contrapositive and it wasn't the credited answer. Anyone quickly explain to me why is this wrong and why is B?

I have found that a few pre 2000 LSAT LR questions aren't as airtight as the newer questions. One of them I remember use the word "hypothesis' and "theory" like if they were the same term with the same definition. I remember choosing the answer choice that that described that error but I was wrong. The other choice was also backed up by the stimulus but why was the other choice wrong I don't know.

... and the increased population would probably result in overcrowded schools and would certainly result in roads so congested that new roads would be built. Neither new roads nor additional schools could be built without substantial tax increases

Only the school overcrowding was probable. The road congestion was a certainty. That was a tricky one.

Edit because even I read the word probable and then initially discarded the answer choice.

thanks... I too missed that word... maybe I should take a day off...

[totaltest.milan]

The passage can basically be restated as follows:

If residents don't band together then rezone will be approved. (I tell my students to replace 'unless' with 'if not')
If rezone is approved then city will build water and sewer necessary for apts.
If apts are built then they will attract residents.
If there are residents then probably overcrowded schools and certainly new roads built.
If no substantial tax increase then no new roads or new schools ('without' is like 'unless').
Contrapositive of previous: if new roads or schools then tax increase.

Answer choice B is the consequence of the last three conditionals. Although schools are only a probability, roads are a certainty and both roads and schools will require tax increases. So since you only need schools or roads the sufficient condition is triggered.

A is not a contrapositive because for the contrapositive you need to switch the conditions and not just negate them. A just negates them. Also, the conditionals don't link all the way to the end. Notice that the residents not banding together just leads to the city building water and sewer necessary for the apts, not the apts themselves.

Sorry for any mistakes, it's past 3am here - off to bed.

[lelesmiles]

Hey guise. I'mstudying to retake in October. I originally planned to retake in June but had a family emergency.
I got a 163. I got KILLED on RC and did worst on LG than I did PTing. LR was fine. Yes I bombed the reading comprehension section
I'll be doing way more PTs this time around and drilling my weak spots

[Psib337]

I'm still going through the Bibles but I really wanted to do more PTs this time so I took my first one yesterday. By TLS standards it's probably an awful score but I was happy, 162, definitely better than the 154 I got in June and higher than I was getting PTing before June (yeah I know, I probably shouldn't have taken the test but I spent so much time studying and taking a class that I just felt like I had to). Maybe the score's a bit inflated (the curve was -14) but still, it's higher than I've gotten and made it seem worth it to miss True Blood last night. I feel like last time I was in a constant state of panic everytime I did anything LSAT related whether it was going to class or drilling or taking a PT or whatever else, just having a number to go off of, even a bad one, somehow takes some of the stress off if that makes any sense. Initially I was going for 165 but now I'm thinking maybe I could get the upper 160s, maybe 170. Things are making more sense this time and obviously I missed a lot and/or it just didn't sink in last time.