Advice for self studying after taking prep class. Forum

[Erickt26]

I took Blueprint, however, I am averaging in the low 150's. I took the june LSAT and decided to cancel score. I have decided to self study for the october test. I currently have no job and have completely finished school, meaning I have a lot of time in my hands.

My goal is to score 170+.

I have not self studied and would like some advice on how to self study after a prep class. I think that the majority of my weaknesses are coming from Games and Reading Comp.

How should I study given that I have the time and the commitment?
What schedule did you follow and what score did you get?

Also if you are in the same situation would you be interested in forming a study group?

Thank you.

[magickware]

What are you averages on each section?

-RC - Honestly I have no idea. I don't know how to study for this section, and as a result I occasionally do perfectly on it or I get killed by it. I'd say just get the Manhattan LSAT RC book and understand what it's saying about the RC. Basically, the RC will split into either a passage that is pure info dump with no contrasting perspectives, or a passage that has two or more perspectives on a single topic.

Beyond that, Voyager's RC strat (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... f=6&t=7240) and Thelonious Kwiggz's method of studying for the RC (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=203798) seem to be the best I've seen.

-LR - The basic idea is to know exactly why every answer choice is wrong, and why every answer choice is right. Coincidentally, you should also do this for RC, but it will be harder to find it because each question is not self-contained.

That being said, it is essential that you realize that every LR and RC questions work. The right answer is clearly the right answer, and there is a very clear reason why. This could be very tenuous, but the answer will still be better than the rest, and merely means that the rest either don't match at all or are even more tenuous than the right one.

Another thing to realize is that every LR question types have patterns in them. From what I've noticed, the vast majority (arbitrarily speaking, about 95%) of all LR questions follow patterns set within their respective question types. If you thoroughly understand what the question type is about and have solved enough, then you'll notice these patterns. This means that even the hardest LR question will be easy.

A minority are those questions that know you know said patterns and intentionally subvert them, effectively creating trick answers that you think is right because of the patterns, but is actually wrong. These are rare, but they're scary and hard. However, if you know your patterns well enough, then these will be solvable.

In other words, learn the patterns.

-LG- Solve every LG in existence 3-4 times. 7sage says do 10 of any LG that gives you even the slightest of problems IIRC. The basic point is that LG gets easier with repetition, and you should approach it that way. All the game types, besides the random ones, are on a progressive line. You start from linear games, then move onto grouping games, and so on. It is best to approach LG this way as well. Don't do any games besides linear games if you don't understand them yet; you'd just be confusing the heck out of yourself otherwise.

Go study at a library or elsewhere. Staying home kills concentration.

A lot of people get organized packets from Cambridge LSAT and work through them a lot (http://www.cambridgelsat.com/problem-se ... reasoning/). I would recommend the same.

If you want greater advice on how to self-study, the following two links will give you great help-
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... =6&t=41657
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 6&t=195603

[Erickt26]

Average for LR-15 RC-12 Games-10.

As you can see I have a lot of work to do. But I have plenty of time and energy to spare these upcoming months.

Thanks for the tips.

Should I start focusing on games primarily and then slowly move towards full PT next month?

[magickware]

If you are 100% dedicated, then I honestly would recommend the following-

4-5 games a day. Minimum. Just do a shit-ton of games and look at them afterwards on the 7sage explanations (http://7sage.com/logic-game-explanations/). Then do them again. Over and over. If you're not sure of your method, then get the PS LG Bible and read through it. But from what I understand Blueprint's method is fine.

Go through the Manhattan LSAT LR book and work on packets (http://www.cambridgelsat.com/problem-se ... reasoning/) according to whichever chapter you're on the book. I strongly recommend that you practically memorize the first 6 chapters. Thoroughly understanding the assumption family and conditional logic makes every other LR families and question types easier. Ideally, you want to be able to get all of the diff 1-3 (You'll get what that means if you purchase the packets) of the packets right. Virtually none wrong whatsoever. Diff 4 is ok to get wrong right now; you just want to build up a thorough understanding of how the question types work and how they look like. You'll get better once you start PTs.

You can find explanations to just about every LR questions on this site - http://www.manhattanlsat.com/forums/

RC- I have no idea. Sorry =(

If you can help it, you should finish LR by the end of this month. You should also strive to finish just about every existing game by mid-July at the latest. If you do 5 games a day, then you can finish just about every existing one within two weeks. I would recommend this. Then start doing 3 PTs a week from July. One day to do a PT, that evening and the following day to thoroughly understand that PT. If you're reviewing correctly, you'll see an improvement, at least on LR, fairly quickly.


Edit-

Forgot to add, don't do LG timed. Timed LG is pointless until you get to the point that you can do them all without getting them wrong. That being said, don't go and take the entire 35 minute for each game. Time yourself, but don't feel constrained by the time.

[Erickt26]

If I take every possible game what exam should I leave untouched for PT? Or I should still take exam to which I have done the LG already?

Also, how to i get my hands on games and which ones?

So for the first month do untimed LR or timed?

[magickware]

Did you look at the links I gave you?

http://www.cambridgelsat.com/bookstore/ ... lications/

You can get PTs there and packets that are made up of material from PT 1-40 (these are under the link "problem sets) there.

Just do everything untimed initially. Why time yourself when you can't get anything right anyhow?

And it's perfectly fine to not have fresh material. They're over-rated so long as you work through material properly. Don't ever gloss over things, and know exactly why the answer is whatever it is.

[Erickt26]

Great! Thanks magickware

[bp shinners]

If you have any questions about using the materials that we provided (assuming that you didn't get to all the homework and the extra practice problems), let me know and I can help you work out a study schedule based on that!

[Erickt26]

magickware

First, what score did you get?

Second, how many hours do you recommend studying each day?

Thanks.

[Reframe]

Erickt, how closely did you follow the Blueprint methods? Did you feel something about them was not serving you well?

For RC, the main thing to think about is how long you're spending reading the passage versus how long you're spending working through the questions. Many students need to be pushed to read faster: to read superficially, making a "map" of the passage in their heads rather than trying to remember the details as though they're studying for an exam or trying to figure out "whodunit" in a mystery novel.

LG is harder to predict. Are any specific game or question types troubling you?

[Erickt26]

Reframe, I followed them closely. I don't think the LG BP method worked for me. I felt like it was not specific enough.

Overall, I need more practice in all three categories. My top score was a 158 and I was never able to get past that.

I'm having real issues with games and recent 2007+ reading passages.

[Reframe]

Reframe, I followed them closely. I don't think the LG BP method worked for me. I felt like it was not specific enough.

Overall, I need more practice in all three categories. My top score was a 158 and I was never able to get past that.

I'm having real issues with games and recent 2007+ reading passages.

Sorry - can you tell me what you mean by "specific"?

The RC has gotten harder since 2007, so it's normal that that's where you'd have trouble.

[Erickt26]

I completed most of the four text books. Took five pt according to the course and then 4 pt on my own. I did all the work each text book. I studied about 4 hours daily 5 times a week. I use the common techniques in LR, RC, and Games.