The Official December 2014 Study Group Forum

[gutrot3]

Hey guys, returning to ask for some study advice.

Since I was so weak in games I abandoned the trainer in favor of BP's logic games book, and I've almost completed it. I'm wondering what should be my next step for studying. I have the cambridge packets - should I begin drilling them?

[nlee10]

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[Rigo]

[sashafierce]

Hi guys, you all should sign up for the Odyssey course, its free and its helpful. LG is not my strongest section especially Basic and Advanced Linear Games but the course has helped me alot so far. I am only in Week 3 but so far so good!

[JDman]

I have Powerscore LG Bible, currently on page 155--drilling Game #2, September 1998, Questions 8-12 and I have to say that Logic Games are not sticking! It goes in one ear and out the other.

Anytime I attempt to drill a game, I get stuck and forget what I need to be inferencing, looking for. How do I keep focus? How do you all keep focus for the games? I am having the worst of trouble concentrating and remembering how to diagram. Pretty stupid but indeed happening! Any advice would help!

[sashafierce]

I have Powerscore LG Bible, currently on page 155--drilling Game #2, September 1998, Questions 8-12 and I have to say that Logic Games are not sticking! It goes in one ear and out the other.

Anytime I attempt to drill a game, I get stuck and forget what I need to be inferencing, looking for. How do I keep focus? How do you all keep focus for the games? I am having the worst of trouble concentrating and remembering how to diagram. Pretty stupid but indeed happening! Any advice would help!

While you're learning, the 2 minute drill can be very effective in breaking the habit of rushing into the questions but on timed sections you don't want to waste time unnecessarily. Make sure that you watch the videos on "finding deductions" because this will let you come up with a checklist that you can quickly apply to the rules to find deductions and once you're done with the checklist then you move into the game.

So your checklist should be as follows (the videos give better examples, but the checklist is the same):

1. Are there rules with variables in common? If the 1st rule and the 3rd rule both have variable "Q" then consider if there is a deduction to be made (there usually will be).

2. Are there rules with slots or groups in common? If the 2nd and 3rd rule both reference group 2 then there's probably a deduction to be made.

3. Are there spatial restrictions? Usually big rules (like blocks) create spatial restrictions that may yield deductions. Spatial restrictions tend to be stronger deductions on grouping games rather than linear so I really focus on this one for grouping, especially if there is one group that is smaller than the others (more spatial restrictions).

4. Are there any Not Spots? Rules that involve sequencing almost always create Not Spots (ex: blocks or before/after rules)

5. Is there a key component of the game (something bigger than just one variable) that can only go in one of two placement positions? This is more of a strategy than a deduction, but it should be on your checklist. This is what is going to tell you if the game is restrictive enough to prove out all the possibilities. Most people either don't know when to do the possibilities or they try to do them too often. If there is a block, for example, that can only go in slots 2 and 3 or slots 3 and 4 then go ahead and do two possibilities that represent each of them. If there is a single variable that can only go in slots 1 or 7 then it is generally a waste of time to do possibilities. This technique is a double-edged sword and if you overuse it you will lose a ton of time, but if you don't use it in appropriate situations then you will lose a ton of accuracy and time. I found that lots of people struggle with this concept, so in every game that I prove the possibilities I make sure to specify the key component of the game that is restricted to one of two (sometimes three) placement possibilities. This way you can see clearly when and why it is appropriate to use this technique.

Hope this helps!

Your welcome

[Rigo]

[JDman]

I have Powerscore LG Bible, currently on page 155--drilling Game #2, September 1998, Questions 8-12 and I have to say that Logic Games are not sticking! It goes in one ear and out the other.

Anytime I attempt to drill a game, I get stuck and forget what I need to be inferencing, looking for. How do I keep focus? How do you all keep focus for the games? I am having the worst of trouble concentrating and remembering how to diagram. Pretty stupid but indeed happening! Any advice would help!

You're just starting out. Stick with it and don't stress too much. It's like learning a new language. In no time at all PT26 G2 (the lingo for the game you're talking about) will seem like the easiest game on the planet.

Practice the basics, because the games will only get harder. Formal logic is coming up, and that's definitely tricky and frustrating in the beginning, but once you finally get the hang of it, it'll become second nature and a piece of cake.

7Sage is a great resource for LG Explanations:
http://7sage.com/logic-game-explanations/
Definitely keep on going with the Bible though. It's a great foundation.

Thanks! How far into the Bible did you begin to understand games?

[Rigo]

[nlee10]

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[Rigo]

[nlee10]

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[splittingheadache]

Anyone currently drilling the RC packets? I just did like 6 passages in a row and feel like I just read a whole novel. hahaha

The Cambridge ones right? I finished 1-39 of humanities and I never want to touch RC again. At, first the level ones were like super easy, I could do them just straight on the PDF, but then as they became more difficult, I had to print everything out, start taking notes on the side, and still would be hit or miss sometimes.

I have half of law, science, and social sciences to go. Just really not in the mood to go through all that reading, LG and RC are so efficient (like even when you get stuff wrong, just the way they are designed are so efficient), but RC is just like running a 10k on a really hot day. Every time I get all my pens and highlighters ready, all my print outs in front of my, my brain is like you should be a chef, a dancer, you should be the next Beyoncé, you know what Gary Oldman is doing right now? well hurry up and youtube him, oh look the trees are swaying, the breeze must be very nice outside, but you can't go outside because you don't know what Gary Oldman is doing right now, HAHAHAHAHAHA 8 minutes 45 seconds is up.

You know what, I'm just going to shut up and get back to work. Been posting too much recently and I'm really deluding myself that this kind of procrastination is justified.

Update us once you have that aha moment in RC!

[Rigo]

[Rigo]

[nlee10]

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[peetesLA]

I'm new to this website. I went back to school to get my undergrad 5 years ago and now am finishing up at the age of 36. I want to apply to law school just to see how good of a school I can get into. I don't think I would go unless I can get into top 14.

I started studying for LSAT about 6 weeks ago - 10 hours/week at the most (working full time and going to school, etc.) I got a 157 on first test before studying at all, then studied for a week and got 170 on my second test. Since then I've taken 7-8 tests with all scores in the 170-174 range. The games are killing me. Last test I had -1 on all three sections except games but -5 on games.

I've been studying with LG Bible for games and logical reasoning - finished the games book and am halfway through reasoning.

I wish I had started studying sooner so I could have taken test in September and applied early. I feel like there's an outside chance I can get to the high 170s or even 180. Any advice?

You are seriously amazing. Love the motivation.
How averse are you to waiting a cycle? I say this because you seriously have potential to get 175+ on the actual exam if you just put in some more time to it. Your score might not be !!! this cycle if you apply late, but it could mean !!! and a less stressful cycle for 2015-2016.

PS and MH for LG, you don't have to read both, for some games each book has different ways of approaching/diagramming certain situations but both are solid choices. Like Dirigo said, Cambridge for drilling. You have to drill. There is no way around it. After each game, 7sage. Drill the first time around for accuracy, don't care too much about the time. Then keep drilling to bring the time down. There are certain techniques in LG that you just have to do over and over again and are tested over and over again. Thus, you have to have done every single published LG available. Keep notes on which games cause you the most trouble, what type of questions are the hardest. Print MANY copies of these games and redo them. 2.5 months is doable.

You owe it to yourself and your progress in LR and RC (-1 in LR and RC is something many of us dreaming of right now) to make sure LG is -0.

Thanks for the advice. I actually think waiting a cycle is a good idea. How will that affect my letters of recommendation? I'm in my last year of undergrad at Harvard Extension - not as prestigious as Harvard College but I do have access to a couple big names for letters of rec but feel like I need to jump on that now.

One more question - what is 7sage?

[peetesLA]

I'm new to this website. I went back to school to get my undergrad 5 years ago and now am finishing up at the age of 36. I want to apply to law school just to see how good of a school I can get into. I don't think I would go unless I can get into top 14.

I started studying for LSAT about 6 weeks ago - 10 hours/week at the most (working full time and going to school, etc.) I got a 157 on first test before studying at all, then studied for a week and got 170 on my second test. Since then I've taken 7-8 tests with all scores in the 170-174 range. The games are killing me. Last test I had -1 on all three sections except games but -5 on games.

I've been studying with LG Bible for games and logical reasoning - finished the games book and am halfway through reasoning.

I wish I had started studying sooner so I could have taken test in September and applied early. I feel like there's an outside chance I can get to the high 170s or even 180. Any advice?

How averse are you to waiting a cycle? I say this because you seriously have potential to get 175+ on the actual exam if you just put in some more time to it. Your score might not be !!! this cycle if you apply late, but it could mean !!! and a less stressful cycle for 2015-2016.

I wouldn't worry about this too much. It's expected that LSAT administrations will fall even lower this year than last. [June was down around 9% and September has been confirmed to have dropped as well.] This means that # of applications this cycle will also likely drop. January isn't considered late in the cycle anymore. No need to sit out if you don't want to, peetesLA. Your original posts makes it seem like you're wanting to apply just for kicks anyways, so you won't lose anything other than the LSAC reporting fees which are $21 or so (I think) per application. You'll probably get fee waivers from a lot of the T14 schools if you solicit them.
You have more than enough time between now and December to reach your full potential. I expect an awesome cycle for you, unless your GPA is really low. Even then, splitters will still have options.

Do you know how law schools consider GPA? I'm going to have two full years at the school I'm graduating from with a GPA of 3.96, but the previous two years of credits are spread over about 8 years of time at 6 different schools when I was in my 20s, floundering and doing drugs, etc. The GPA from that era is probably closer to 3.0 or even lower. What will they consider my GPA to be under those circumstances?

[nlee10]

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[Rigo]

[Rigo]

[nlee10]

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[Colonel_funkadunk]

Thanks for the advice. I actually think waiting a cycle is a good idea. How will that affect my letters of recommendation? I'm in my last year of undergrad at Harvard Extension - not as prestigious as Harvard College but I do have access to a couple big names for letters of rec but feel like I need to jump on that now.

One more question - what is 7sage?

On the LOR front, you're fine. They don't have to be written shortly before applying.
I'm applying with one letter from January 2013 and one letter from December 2013.
Definitely jump on it now while you're still fresh in their minds.

On the 7sage front,
http://7sage.com
http://7sage.com/logic-game-explanations/

7sage- an LG service that should cost n exorbitant amount of money but is instead free bc JY IS BOMB AF

[Rigo]

[mist4bison]