October 2013 (re)take Thread Forum

[Dr.Zer0]

Question: When studying RC do you guys read passages grouped by type? Or just practice by RC section?

[cricketlove00]

Question: When studying RC do you guys read passages grouped by type? Or just practice by RC section?

I really find doing passages by type to be useless. A "natural science" passage could mean anything. And honestly, it's not the genre that's important. I usually try to only drill RC by doing it in sections - that way you get a more realistic idea of how to budget your time. I can see doing individual passages in the beginning to get a feel for RC in general, but sections is the way to go for me.

[SteelPenguin]

Lol, after taking a week off I just retook PT 53 for possibly a third time and ended up with a 168. I'm done taking PTs for a while, will be going back to basics, drilling by type.

[CyanIdes Of March]

After missing 5 on PT 63 RC, I hereby proclaim never to miss another "According to the passage..." question. I feel kind of dumb not having just searched out the question types before reading to see what to keep a watch out for until now. I think I use to think it'd be time consuming, but what is far more time consuming is the process I have now which involves frantically looking for the relevant information before giving up and just picking the one that looks most familiar.

[BFlanagan]

Enough is enough. Something clicked inside of me today, and I got pissed. After all of the work, photocopied logic games, timed tests, hours of sitting...why the heck am I getting an occasional -2 or -3 on LR? It's an incredibly frustrating concept for me, and it's totally unacceptable.

I did what I said I wasn't going to do: I ordered the Cambridge LR packets. Yes, I'm going to re-read Manhattan LR chapter by chapter and drill the Cambridge packets to death. My rationale? If doing 10,000 logic games gets us down to -0/-1, then doing 10,000 LR questions will get the LR down to -0/-1. My RC is still floating -0/-2 depending on how relaxed and focused I am, i.e. enough sleep, food, water. I still need to get rid of that pesky -1 LG. I'm pretty excited to drill some LR with Manhattan next week.

O.K...I hope everyone's making some decent progress and staying relaxed.

[isuperserial]

I've been working 70 hour work weeks this summer between my job, my internship, and my summer classes. Thankfully, that all ends tomorrow and I'm diving headfirst into studying again. I drilled a little last week to try to freshen up, and I'll probably take a PT this weekend to gauge where I'm at. I was PTing at 170-172 before the test and I messed up due to a large array of factors, so hopefully I can just do like 3-4 hours a day to feel really secure going into October. I'll figure out a true game plan this weekend when I take that PT, I guess.

[steven21]

I recently took PT 55 and scored a 159 LR 17/25 RC 18/29 LR 21/25 LG 20/23. I have been scoring in the range of 162-166 since late March and average around -0 to -1 on LG but I am never able to score that well on LR and RC. I have tests 56-69 left to take. I have taken LR and RC sections from PTs 1-49 over again multiple times and have supplemented that with review using Kaplan and Mahattan Explanations making sure I know why I got each question wrong and have also been going over every question and test with my tutor. I have also done individual LR questions by type multiple times. I have also completed the study guide from LSATBlog, read the PS LR Bible, read Manahattan LR, and have read the LSATTrainer. I have been doing all of this for a little over a year and still have not scored in the 170s.

Should I continue to do LR and RC sections from PTs 1-49? There are only 4 weeks left until the registration date and 8 weeks until the test. My goal is to score in the range of 173-175. For a student who needs to score in this range how close to the test should they reach this score and should they have scored in this range for at least a few of the 13 tests that are left? I know there is no way to guarantee an improvement but is there any thing that I haven't done that would help me get to at least 170 in the next few weeks before September?

[jmjm]

Scores in last 3 LR sections in 3 days
pt35 LR2 -7
pt54 LR1 -3
pt54 LR2 -2

I have not done any pt > 54. are they easier than older tests?

[BFlanagan]

Scores in last 3 LR sections in 3 days
pt35 LR2 -7
pt54 LR1 -3
pt54 LR2 -2

I have not done any pt > 54. are they easier than older tests?

Great scores, jmjm. Keep pushing. i originally found the newer tests "easier" compared to older tests. I think this is only because the language was a bit tighter and I could more easily rely on "muscle memory" type answers, i.e. late 50s-60s are similar questions. If you can get the language of the wordier/less straight forward 30s and mid 50s, you should be ready to KILL the newer LR sections. Keep us posted, and let's keep this thread alive.

I'm doing PT40 this weekend if anyone wants to review.

[jmjm]

PT40 is coming up for me also after a few late 30s PTs.

[jmjm]

pt-39 LR done today
lr1 -5 (wrong 1, 3, 6, 20, 22)
lr2 -2 (wrong q11, q22)

Caught by a wildcard type question q22 in lr2. Chose E due to fallacious attack on the drama critics that says nothing about truth of the argument. Still, don't think it's a good question.

[Dr. Dre]

LR for pre50's test are easier than post50's test

[thestatusguo]

Hi!

Checking in because I'm on the same boat! Long time lurker - just started posting (have lots of rl friends on tls, so this should be interesting). Retaking a 170 from June because I freaked out and went -4 on one game. Good luck everyone! If anyone needs a peptalk or any advice, I'm here. Will probably need one myself. Also applying this cycle, hoping to get apps in before the retake.

[ObviousAlias]

I've been doing a lot of prep recently, and things have been going fairly well. I'm scoring -1 to -3 on LR and RC, and -0 to -1 on LG. Unfortunately, on most of the past dozen tests I've taken, I've been blowing one section. I'll miss around 8 on one section of each test. Logic games are the most common culprit, but I've also bombed a couple of LR and RC. This mostly happens on section 3 and section 5. I'm really scared since October 5 is hurtling toward us. Any tips?

[10052014]

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