The Official September 2014 Study Group Forum

[jmjm]

PT69 today

LR1 -4
LG - 0
RC -9
LR2 - 0

169.
Fuck you RC.

rc has become very hard recently. aren't you retaking a very high score; how was your rc on that test? where are your rc mistakes coming from?
tbh, 69 LR is tough so -4 on it is good.

Yes, retaking higher. But haven't studied since the last go around. Definitely content with a 169 with 6 weeks to go. I missed 5 on RC on the real deal in December 2013, but only missing 5 isn't typical. I just thought December 2013's RC was really easy.

well, the 3rd passage in dec'13 test had a couple of tricky questions even though the passage itself read very smoothly with no prominent wrinkles. The last question of second passage was very tricky imo and iirc one or two in the mirrors passage took quite some time to go back and re-read due to convoluted language of the parts of the passage. overall, -5 on dec'13 rc is good as it was tougher than average but still easier than pt-72.
any idea why pt-71 had such a great curve? imo it was due to very tough LR2.

i don't know how but iirc i got around -4 or -5 in 69 rc but blew it in LR when i took the PT-69.
imo 72 rc >> 71 rc > 69 rc

[schmelling]

.

[Chris McCandless]

With some logic games do you just have to brute force through the game rather than make substantial inferences? For example, in PT7 G3 I just worked through the questions with hypotheticals (which obviously went past time), and even 7sage just set up templates and answered questions from them.

[cavalier2015]

thanks for the tips. anyone have tips on incorrect answer trends on strengthen questions?

[Jon McCarty]

With some logic games do you just have to brute force through the game rather than make substantial inferences? For example, in PT7 G3 I just worked through the questions with hypotheticals (which obviously went past time), and even 7sage just set up templates and answered questions from them.

Brute force should be your last line of defense, because it usually won't get you to the correct answer in an acceptable amount of time (as you experienced on this game). I very rarely recommend using brute force because there is almost always a quicker way to solve a problem. On the game you referenced there are actually some good deductions to get up front and you only need a local hypothetical for question 16.

[Jon McCarty]

thanks for the tips. anyone have tips on incorrect answer trends on strengthen questions?

The most common ones that I've noticed that people pick are answer choices that strengthen a slightly different conclusion (which is why it is so important that you know EXACTLY what the conclusion is stating) and answer choices that weaken the argument (usually because the answer choice is relevant to the argument therefore making it somewhat attractive if you're unclear about the stim).

[Chris McCandless]

With some logic games do you just have to brute force through the game rather than make substantial inferences? For example, in PT7 G3 I just worked through the questions with hypotheticals (which obviously went past time), and even 7sage just set up templates and answered questions from them.

Brute force should be your last line of defense, because it usually won't get you to the correct answer in an acceptable amount of time (as you experienced on this game). I very rarely recommend using brute force because there is almost always a quicker way to solve a problem. On the game you referenced there are actually some good deductions to get up front and you only need a local hypothetical for question 16.

7sage essentially forced the game, but by using templates made for a quick game. Is there a way to solve it without using templates/possibilities? I didn't identify any inferences that I didn't deduce from hypotheticals.

[h3jk5h]

really dumb question but for strengthen questions: when i find a flaw, i want an AC that addresses this and fixes it or something that just points it out? drawing a blank right now

Here is an analogy that you may find useful:

When a girl walks into a room and you happen to be in that room, if you are a really picky guy looking for some love, finding a flaw means trying to find a deficiency in her (looks, attitude, etc.), and strengthening means thinking various ways in which the girl can address the deficiency (better make-up, smiling, etc.).

Likewise, on an LSAT question, finding a flaw means trying to identify a deficiency in the argument, and strengthening means fixing that deficiency.

[mornincounselor]

Post removed.

[Jon McCarty]

Great to see the techniques are working for you MC!

[Toby Ziegler]

really dumb question but for strengthen questions: when i find a flaw, i want an AC that addresses this and fixes it or something that just points it out? drawing a blank right now

Here is an analogy that you may find useful:

When a girl walks into a room and you happen to be in that room, if you are a really picky guy looking for some love, finding a flaw means trying to find a deficiency in her (looks, attitude, etc.), and strengthening means thinking various ways in which the girl can address the deficiency (better make-up, smiling, etc.).

Likewise, on an LSAT question, finding a flaw means trying to identify a deficiency in the argument, and strengthening means fixing that deficiency.

When considering this analogy, always remember, it's most effective if you truly don the persona of a misogynist bastard.

[HRomanus]

Here is an analogy that you may find useful:

When a girl walks into a room and you happen to be in that room, if you are a really picky guy looking for some love, finding a flaw means trying to find a deficiency in her (looks, attitude, etc.), and strengthening means thinking various ways in which the girl can address the deficiency (better make-up, smiling, etc.).

Likewise, on an LSAT question, finding a flaw means trying to identify a deficiency in the argument, and strengthening means fixing that deficiency.

When considering this analogy, always remember, it's most effective if you truly don the persona of a misogynist bastard.

Epic.

[h3jk5h]

really dumb question but for strengthen questions: when i find a flaw, i want an AC that addresses this and fixes it or something that just points it out? drawing a blank right now

Here is an analogy that you may find useful:

When a girl walks into a room and you happen to be in that room, if you are a really picky guy looking for some love, finding a flaw means trying to find a deficiency in her (looks, attitude, etc.), and strengthening means thinking various ways in which the girl can address the deficiency (better make-up, smiling, etc.).

Likewise, on an LSAT question, finding a flaw means trying to identify a deficiency in the argument, and strengthening means fixing that deficiency.

When considering this analogy, always remember, it's most effective if you truly don the persona of a misogynist bastard.

I try to be as non-judgmental as possible in real life, and that attitude must have cost me countless questions on prep tests.

And when I apply 'critical thinking' in everyday conversations (i.e. LSAT attitude), my social life has been greatly deteriorated. You gotta make sacrifices when prepping for the LSAT, my friends.

[dasani13]

really dumb question but for strengthen questions: when i find a flaw, i want an AC that addresses this and fixes it or something that just points it out? drawing a blank right now

Here is an analogy that you may find useful:

When a girl walks into a room and you happen to be in that room, if you are a really picky guy looking for some love, finding a flaw means trying to find a deficiency in her (looks, attitude, etc.), and strengthening means thinking various ways in which the girl can address the deficiency (better make-up, smiling, etc.).

Likewise, on an LSAT question, finding a flaw means trying to identify a deficiency in the argument, and strengthening means fixing that deficiency.

When considering this analogy, always remember, it's most effective if you truly don the persona of a misogynist bastard.

LOL

[cavalier2015]

going to finish up strengthening packet (60 more questions) and look for patterns.

then going to attack weaken questions (will do first 100), finish in/out grouping packet, and do 5 passages from the law packet.

going to be a fun tuesday for me..

taking PT 52 next monday want to drill questions i'm weak at.

[sfoglia]

For the past two weeks, I've been consistently scoring no more than -2 (and only once!) on timed LG sections. I actually went -1 on my last full PT.

So, I may, in fact, be joining all of you in September. Not like I haven't been lurking around this thread daily, anyway!

[rwe13]

Straight up dreaming about logic games almost every night. My mind will make up some convoluted game that I'll be like half asleep trying to figure out before I'll finally wake up and realize that the game isn't real and doesn't make sense because it was authored by my subconscious hah.

I made an account just to reply to this. I'm so glad I'm not the only one doing this. My dreams tend to be based on LR instead of LG, but I've had 3 of them in the last few weeks lol

haha just had my first LR one last night !

[bound]

Whats the deadline to register? 22nd?

[longhorn65]

Is anyone else having trouble with TLS website? I can access it through my phone but my computer wont load anything. Its only this website.

[Colonel_funkadunk]

Whats the deadline to register? 22nd?

I believe 8/29 for the normal rate. Then late registration until 9/6. But it's been a couple days since I looked.

[Colonel_funkadunk]

Is anyone else having trouble with TLS website? I can access it through my phone but my computer wont load anything. Its only this website.

It's been hit or miss loading the last couple days.

[valen]

Timing is my enemy.

PR 52
Timed: 162
LR: -12
LG: -4 (missed most of a game)
RC: -5

Untimed + blind review: 177
LR: -3
LG: -0
RC: -1

Should I keep doing timed PTs or should I drill to get quicker first? I feel like I'm whipping through questions and not giving them enough thought when I do timed. This is my second timed PT.

Edit: I did this PT after a 9 hour work day and 2 hours of studying so that may have contributed to my slowness.

[valen]

Whats the deadline to register? 22nd?

8/26 for normal registration I believe

[kbrizz]

Lost my motivation and took a week off. Now I'm moving this week but still hoping to get back on the wagon. I've noticed there is a direct correlation between checkin gm this forum and my motivation. So I've resolved to check the forum everyday haha.

[Toby Ziegler]

Just did preptest B from the superprep. The RC kicked me right in the face. LR was decent -- a few areas I need to finish drilling, and all of the missed questions were from types I haven't drilled yet.