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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:12 pm

appind wrote:Hey Graeme,
I have a few questions in light of your post about speed reading.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... d#p7670928

My scored lsats are 165, 162. I have 12 months to prep for my next retake when I become eligible. How should someone with these scores go about prepping?
There is a large variation in my scores on some specific section types on the actual administrations. The first scored administration my LR best section was -3, worst was -10. The second administration my LR best section was -2, worst was -7. My LG best section in these admins has been -1, worst -5. The only consistently bad section was RC: -8 and -9. These individual sections scores make me think that I have the capacity to do well in LR of upto -2/section and LG upto -1/section even on real admins, even though on the test as a whole I screw up. What may I be doing wrong?

I've also exhausted all prep material, some PTs even multiple times. I have time to prep and I'd be willing to do heavier exercises than lsat so lsat feels easy. Any material which pushes my intellectual boundaries enough so lsat becomes easy?
I have heard conflicting opinions about speedreading, some even saying that fundamentally it's skimming and that subvocalization is almost necessary for good retention. I have tried spreeder but it's different than reading a rc passage on paper. Can speedreading really help?
First, that kind of variation is normal. Scores are never consistent! For some reason, people seem to think they should be, but they aren't.

Second, work on perfecting LG. Definitely attainable. Aim for -0 with extra time. No reason to give up those points.

Third, repeating prep material is actually great for learning. The main thing you're missing by not having fresh tests is the ability to track your score. You'll need to develop other metrics to assess whether you're actually improving.

Fourth, hard to say with reading speed. I don't believe in speed reading claims that everyone can read 400+ with full comprehension. However, a lot of people read quite slow, like 200 WPM, whereas others read at 300 WPM.

I don't think those at 200 WPM are at their theoretical maximum. From my anecdotal experience, tools like spreeder can help you increase your speed without hurting comprehension, if you're reading below your potential.

Further, skimming is actually extremely useful for information retrieval on RC. If you take nothing else out of it, aim to be able to find any fact in a passage in 2-5 seconds. This is definitely possible. Most students are capable of this with a bit of practice mentally organizing the passage + improving skimming and information retrieval.

But reading speed is not a magic bullet. For about 40-60% of people, it seems to produce some results, and it's worth trying. But it's just a 10-20% boost. Very useful, but not a total game changer.

p.s. One reading tip: read more. I read 500-600 WPM, full comprehension. Why? I was a bookworm all my life, and look up words in the dictionary for fun. I read fast because I have good reading skills. And that comes from reading, a lot.

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About Me + Free Explnations

Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

Free PT Explanations: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/
Free LSAT email course: http://lsathacks.com/email-course/
Last edited by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) on Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by appind » Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:13 pm

LSAT Hacks (Graeme) wrote:
First, that kind of variation is normal. Scores are never consistent! For some reason, people seem to think they should be, but they aren't.

Second, work on perfecting LG. Definitely attainable. Aim for -0 with extra time. No reason to give up those points.

Third, repeating prep material is actually great for learning. The main thing you're missing by not having fresh tests is the ability to track your score. You'll need to develop other metrics to assess whether you're actually improving.

Fourth, hard to say with reading speed. I don't believe in speed reading claims that everyone can read 400+ with full comprehension. However, a lot of people read quite slow, like 200 WPM, whereas others read at 300 WPM.

I don't think those at 200 WPM are at their theoretical maximum. From my anecdotal experience, tools like spreeder can help you increase your speed without hurting comprehension, if you're reading below your potential.

Further, skimming is actually extremely useful for information retrieval on RC. If you take nothing else out of it, aim to be able to find any fact in a passage in 2-5 seconds. This is definitely possible. Most students are capable of this with a bit of practice mentally organizing the passage + improving skimming and information retrieval.

But reading speed is not a magic bullet. For about 40-60% of people, it seems to produce some results, and it's worth trying. But it's just a 10-20% boost. Very useful, but not a total game changer.

p.s. One reading tip: read more. I read 500-600 WPM, full comprehension. Why? I was a bookworm all my life, and look up words in the dictionary for fun. I read fast because I have good reading skills. And that comes from reading, a lot.
Hey,

Why would variation in LR between two sections in an admin xx and xx be normal even though usually there could be a little difference between the two lr sections? In this case the difference is pretty wide however of xx questions. Since the best lr section is xx, is the upper limit potential no worse than xx?

Is your brain looking up the fact in your mental map of the passage when finding the fact in 4 seconds by skimming the passage or you are also eyeing the text to identify the fact along with mental map?

With your reading speed it appears you'd finish an lsat passage reading w/ full comprehension under a minute. Other than read more and read for structure, any specific steps one could take to increasing the speed of first read while comprehending (e.g. techniques that you use that other normal fast readers don't do, not subvocalize etc)? thanks.
Last edited by appind on Tue Mar 21, 2017 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:57 am

appind wrote:
LSAT Hacks (Graeme) wrote:
appind wrote:Hey Graeme,
I have a few questions in light of your post about speed reading.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... d#p7670928

My scored lsats are 165, 162. I have 12 months to prep for my next retake when I become eligible. How should someone with these scores go about prepping?
There is a large variation in my scores on some specific section types on the actual administrations. The first scored administration my LR best section was -3, worst was -10. The second administration my LR best section was -2, worst was -7. My LG best section in these admins has been -1, worst -5. The only consistently bad section was RC: -8 and -9. These individual sections scores make me think that I have the capacity to do well in LR of upto -2/section and LG upto -1/section even on real admins, even though on the test as a whole I screw up. What may I be doing wrong?

I've also exhausted all prep material, some PTs even multiple times. I have time to prep and I'd be willing to do heavier exercises than lsat so lsat feels easy. Any material which pushes my intellectual boundaries enough so lsat becomes easy?
I have heard conflicting opinions about speedreading, some even saying that fundamentally it's skimming and that subvocalization is almost necessary for good retention. I have tried spreeder but it's different than reading a rc passage on paper. Can speedreading really help?
First, that kind of variation is normal. Scores are never consistent! For some reason, people seem to think they should be, but they aren't.

Second, work on perfecting LG. Definitely attainable. Aim for -0 with extra time. No reason to give up those points.

Third, repeating prep material is actually great for learning. The main thing you're missing by not having fresh tests is the ability to track your score. You'll need to develop other metrics to assess whether you're actually improving.

Fourth, hard to say with reading speed. I don't believe in speed reading claims that everyone can read 400+ with full comprehension. However, a lot of people read quite slow, like 200 WPM, whereas others read at 300 WPM.

I don't think those at 200 WPM are at their theoretical maximum. From my anecdotal experience, tools like spreeder can help you increase your speed without hurting comprehension, if you're reading below your potential.

Further, skimming is actually extremely useful for information retrieval on RC. If you take nothing else out of it, aim to be able to find any fact in a passage in 2-5 seconds. This is definitely possible. Most students are capable of this with a bit of practice mentally organizing the passage + improving skimming and information retrieval.

But reading speed is not a magic bullet. For about 40-60% of people, it seems to produce some results, and it's worth trying. But it's just a 10-20% boost. Very useful, but not a total game changer.

p.s. One reading tip: read more. I read 500-600 WPM, full comprehension. Why? I was a bookworm all my life, and look up words in the dictionary for fun. I read fast because I have good reading skills. And that comes from reading, a lot.
Hey,

Why would variation in LR between two sections in an admin -3/-10 and -2/-7 be normal even though usually there could be a little difference between the two lr sections? In this case the difference is pretty wide however of 7 questions. Since the best lr section is -2, is the upper limit potential no worse than -2?

Is your brain looking up the fact in your mental map of the passage when finding the fact in 4 seconds by skimming the passage or you are also eyeing the text to identify the fact along with mental map?

With your reading speed it appears you'd finish an lsat passage reading w/ full comprehension under a minute. Other than read more and read for structure, any specific steps one could take to increasing the speed of first read while comprehending (e.g. techniques that you use that other normal fast readers don't do, not subvocalize etc)? thanks.
Variance happens. There's no "why". It just is. Some people seem to have smaller variance. Others consistently vary by margins similar to yours. I'm guessing the ones that vary less have both of these going on:

1. They have a solid understanding of the material, such that only 2-3 questions will throw them.
2. They're present focussed, unlikely to be stressed or panic.

The more questions you *may* get wrong, the higher the variance. On each section you may have had 10 questions where you risked error. On one section, you got lucky and only missed two of those. On the other section, you got unlucky and missed 10.

The default assumption would be -5. But swings in either direction are not unusual, especially with a small sample (25 questions). There's nothing specific you can do about variance except get better in general. And meditation may help if the variance is ever due to losing focus over a sustained period.

For mental maps: I know roughly what's in each paragraph. So if I'm asked to find "the part about English court records" then I know "that's in paragraph 2, or maybe 3....starting skimming at 2". So I only have to search a small area of text + I do it fast.

Yeah, I read RC passages in 1-2 minutes. In some ways this disqualifies me from giving RC advice. Probably the biggest advantage I have for reading speed is that I know all the words. Like, there's not a single word on LSAT passages I don't know, and know well.

In part this came from doing a year of law school, and looking up all words I didn't know. Old legal cases are harder than RC. If you look up all the words you don't know on RC, that *may* help your speed, though it's hard to change vocabulary size overnight.

I actually wouldn't put too much effort into reading speed if the advice I wrote in the thread above doesn't produce results. Reading speed is more or less a fixed variable. There is a HUGE impact to developing better reading skills over your lifetime, but it's hard to do much in ~2 months.

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About Me + Free Explnations

Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

Free PT Explanations: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/
Free LSAT email course: http://lsathacks.com/email-course/

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by TrunksFan1 » Sat Oct 18, 2014 2:11 am

Hello Graeme,

Out of curiosity, how long did you study before taking the LSAT that you scored a 177 on?

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Sat Oct 18, 2014 4:30 pm

TrunksFan1 wrote:Hello Graeme,

Out of curiosity, how long did you study before taking the LSAT that you scored a 177 on?
Do as I say, not as I do. I studied about three months....but I'm not sure I saw a single real LSAT question. I was living in a small town in Canada, and just bought a Kaplan book, which is what they had in the local bookstore.

I went through it, and saw my LG was weaker. So I went back and bought a supplementary book full of LG, did that. Was averaging around 173 on the made up Kaplan tests, then scored a 177.

I had an intuitive sense of the LSAT, but I was not nearly as good as I am now. I could easily have scored lower than 177. It was teaching the LSAT that really improved my skills. Seeing questions multiple times and answering people's questions is what let me improve. Answering questions forces you to be clear.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by flash21 » Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:57 am

Graeme, I don't know if this is going to be a bit vague but, I am just STUCK in the low 160's.

literally 5-6 PT's stuck there. 1 164 which I guess was an outlier.. the rest were 161's, and the last one being a 160.

LR is consistently 19-21
LG is a bit erratic usually been around 17/18, though i bombed it badly last pt (got -11 -_________-) still somehow got a 160
RC is usually 18-21

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:21 am

flash21 wrote:Graeme, I don't know if this is going to be a bit vague but, I am just STUCK in the low 160's.

literally 5-6 PT's stuck there. 1 164 which I guess was an outlier.. the rest were 161's, and the last one being a 160.

LR is consistently 19-21
LG is a bit erratic usually been around 17/18, though i bombed it badly last pt (got -11 -_________-) still somehow got a 160
RC is usually 18-21
I'd focus on LG. Repeat entire timed sections. Aim to get everything right, and fast. Don't ignore "easy" games. You should be finishing those very fast. Taking 8 minutes when you could have taken 6 will hurt you on hard games.

People usually seem to be able to perfect games with brute force effort, so you're not stuck until you do that. Aim for -0 with time to spare. The point of the repetition is to get an intuitive sense for the patterns of games.

For LR, there's probably no substitute to analyzing all of your mistakes to see what patterns you're still missing. Have a very high standard for "understanding". Most of the time people say "I understand this LR question" they are incorrect. They would have been more correct to say "I now understand more about this LR question, but there are points I would stumble if I were explaining this for a job interview."

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Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by flash21 » Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:09 pm

Okay thanks, should I just not do cambridge games anymore? I've done them and the cambridge LR so much I basically know them all by heart so it feels kind of dumb drilling them. I'll go back and do timed sections from PT's then, thanks.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Thu Oct 23, 2014 3:52 pm

flash21 wrote:Okay thanks, should I just not do cambridge games anymore? I've done them and the cambridge LR so much I basically know them all by heart so it feels kind of dumb drilling them. I'll go back and do timed sections from PT's then, thanks.
I would just do games sections. I don't much believe in games by type. The categories have considerable flexibilty, and learning types by rote is brittle. Newer games sections have been introducing games that break type, and they slaughter people who are stuck in a rigid approach.

Whereas an approach based on deep mastery of games principles will hold up against any new game. You get that mastery from doing full sections.

As for LR, you need to try to figure out what you're missing. Set a very high standard. Mastery comes from training your intuition to see what's relevant without even consciously thinking about it. I just took 73, here's what doing LR is like for me now:

* I can see the reasoning and conclusion as I read, and put cluttering details off to the side.
* Yet my mind is aware of the detail, and focussed on it if it suddenly becomes relevant
* I can read complex sentences quickly.
* I can prephrase almost all questions. I see where the question is going and what the answer is likely to be.
* I can detect when an answer is irrelevant. I quickly read through all five with a fast filter: no, no, probably not, yes, no.
* I finish with 10 minutes left or more.
* I have internalized things like diagrams, negations, contrapositives, the full meaning of most. I no longer need to think about or even do these things. The knowledge is just there.

I say this not to brag, but to illustrate what LR is like when done at an expert level. Just "understanding" a question is not enough. Your aim should be to internalize the principles so that the knowledge is at your fingertips, the same way you know how to tie your shoes or open a door (things you had to learn, after all! They're not simple operations). All experts operate at this fast, intuitive level. They've internalized the structures of their subject matter and don't have to think anymore.

Analyze your own approach: where are you falling short of this ideal? Where do you stumble? That's where you still need to work on your intuition.

Hope that helps!

By the way, the way I developed an intuition was by having students ask me about random hard questions. I worked on a phone helpline for an LSAT prep company. The questions came rapid fire. I had to open up to a random question, read it, and address the student's question in under a minute. Their questions forced me to consider things I hadn't even noticed in the questions.

....actually, operating a private LSAT phone helpline for TLS readers might be a pretty good way to break through blockages.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by mjsjr » Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:24 pm

Graeme,

I encountered a problem that was really tough for me. It is a parallel/flaw question type, but I can't seem to identify the flaw very well. I've included the PT details below. Could you please explain what the flaw is and why the correct answer choice (B) is a better match than the others? I got the question right but I don't think I accurately understand the way the argument works.

PT 6, SEC 2, Q5.

Thanks!

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:41 pm

mjsjr wrote:Graeme,

I encountered a problem that was really tough for me. It is a parallel/flaw question type, but I can't seem to identify the flaw very well. I've included the PT details below. Could you please explain what the flaw is and why the correct answer choice (B) is a better match than the others? I got the question right but I don't think I accurately understand the way the argument works.

PT 6, SEC 2, Q5.

Thanks!
The flaw is assuming that the guards or correct. They could be wrong.

B makes the same flaw of blindly accepting the competitors' claims. Other answers don't do this. For instance, C says "IF the census is to be believed"

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Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Wed Nov 26, 2014 1:48 pm

I've just released free explanations for PT 73: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/lsat-preptest-73/

Good luck in December! 29-38 will be up within a few days as well.

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Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:50 pm

Two updates:

1. There are now 22 full PTs explained on LSAT Hacks. 29-38 and 62-73. 74 will be up within a week I expect. http://lsathacks.com/explanations

2. I just made classifications of all LR question types from 29-38 and 52-71. How do you find the format? http://lsathacks.com/guide/logical-reas ... s-by-type/

Good luck!

----------------

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by 179orBust » Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:51 pm

Graeme, I love your explanations. They're amazing and the best part about them is they're concise. I wish you'd post video explanations though. Would definitely pay for something like that. Any chance you'll do this in the near future?

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Thu Jan 29, 2015 3:09 pm

179orBust wrote:Graeme, I love your explanations. They're amazing and the best part about them is they're concise. I wish you'd post video explanations though. Would definitely pay for something like that. Any chance you'll do this in the near future?
Yup, it's in the works. I've made a few attempts. There's a lot of little details I hadn't expected about recording video, like where the light hits my face, noises I make when speaking, editing out sections when I'm erasing what I"m drawing, doing something on screen so it's not dull, microphone setup, etc.

Video's next on my list of projects though. I think I'm also going to put out a version 1 of a course with some flaws in the technical quality, in order to get feedback and see what people like. Otherwise I could spend months on this without getting much closer to releasing something good.

If you're on my email list, there will be an announcement when something's out. I'll also likely have a few youtube videos for free.

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Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Feb 02, 2015 4:37 pm

I just released expectations for LSAT 74, except LG: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/lsat-preptest-74/

I've had an illustration delay, so LG isn't ready. But I wanted to let people use at least LR and RC before the February LSAT. Good luck!

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Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Thu Feb 05, 2015 4:06 pm

I wrote these four guides for law school transparency. They're technically intro guides, but if you like the stuff I write then I recommend you read them.
They contain stuff that's lots of people who have been studying for 3+ months are still doing wrong.
Would love to hear what you think of them. And I'd like to thank the team at law school transparency for hosting these, I hope they help people who use that site.

Also, feel free to ask questions about the LSAT. This thread quieted down recently.

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Feb 16, 2015 4:03 pm

I just wrote a series of articles about how to go faster on the LSAT. This is by far the most common question I get.

It's my first long form writing on my site in a while, so I'd greatly appreciate feedback. If you've got a moment to leave some, it will really help me decide what to write next.

* http://lsathacks.com/guide/faq/how-to-g ... r-on-lsat/
* http://lsathacks.com/guide/faq/how-to-g ... reasoning/
* http://lsathacks.com/guide/faq/how-to-g ... rehension/
* http://lsathacks.com/guide/faq/how-to-g ... gic-games/
* http://lsathacks.com/guide/reading-comp ... peed-lsat/

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Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

Free PT Explanations: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/
Free LSAT email course: http://lsathacks.com/email-course/

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by br714 » Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:38 pm

Graeme, I've really found your articles helpful. Kudos to you for everything you're doing.

Quick question, you wrote somewhere that whatever method a student uses to study/review should translate directly into an increase in PT scores (this may be an oversimplification). While this seems obvious, it made me wonder what sort of increase you would consider a display of "effective" studying. I know it would be impossible to put absolute numbers on it as every person is different but I'd like to have a gauge for what's typical.

For example, I began studying in mid-December with a diagnostic score of 157. I have since improved to ~165 using a combination of your email course, the 7Sage curriculum, BR and discussions with a study partner. Initially I focused my efforts on gaining proficiency in LR and have since changed my focus to LG so that I could stop missing out on those "easy" points. I've just recently begun writing out explanations for LR questions I struggle with and that has seemed to translate into an increase of couple of points. My last 5 PTs have all hovered around 163-165 range and I can't but feel that these should be increasing even if only by a little bit. Is there anything I should be doing differently that would translate more directly into an improved score?

Thanks!

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by ltowns1 » Fri Feb 20, 2015 10:54 am

Just curious, I was talking to someone who scored really well on test 73, and he basically said that the LR section was predicated on excellent elimination skils. (which I believe is absolutely true) you also tend to hear that some of the most recent preptests are harder in LR. I Think this is because students don't spend an adequate amount of time focusing on elimination skills. I just wanted to ask were there any earlier LR sections (as in earlier preptests) that focused primarily on elimination skills?

Side note: I'm on PT 24 currently.

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North

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by North » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:07 pm

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Deleterious

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by Deleterious » Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:55 am

Hey Graeme,

Thanks for the great material. Your explanations are the best by far.

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LSAT Hacks (Graeme)

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Feb 23, 2015 1:59 pm

br714 wrote:Graeme, I've really found your articles helpful. Kudos to you for everything you're doing.

Quick question, you wrote somewhere that whatever method a student uses to study/review should translate directly into an increase in PT scores (this may be an oversimplification). While this seems obvious, it made me wonder what sort of increase you would consider a display of "effective" studying. I know it would be impossible to put absolute numbers on it as every person is different but I'd like to have a gauge for what's typical.

For example, I began studying in mid-December with a diagnostic score of 157. I have since improved to ~165 using a combination of your email course, the 7Sage curriculum, BR and discussions with a study partner. Initially I focused my efforts on gaining proficiency in LR and have since changed my focus to LG so that I could stop missing out on those "easy" points. I've just recently begun writing out explanations for LR questions I struggle with and that has seemed to translate into an increase of couple of points. My last 5 PTs have all hovered around 163-165 range and I can't but feel that these should be increasing even if only by a little bit. Is there anything I should be doing differently that would translate more directly into an improved score?

Thanks!
What I meant when I said you should see an increase is that if you're truly learning then you're going to see better results. I'll give an analogy.

I used to suck at talking to people. So I spent some time analyzing how I did it, how other people did it, and read material about getting better at social skills. And I made measurable improvements, going from "bad" to very good. I saw a total change in how people interact with me.

Now, I still talk to people all the time. But I wouldn't say I'm improving much. Which is fine, I'm where I want to be. But since I'm no longer doing a program of improving that skill, it's just staying steady.

Likewise, you can do the LSAT for a while, and just stay steady. The fact that you've seen improvement stall suggests you may need to reexamine your approach and see i. where you're still weak ii. How you could train that.

I can't be specific, because all the necessary stuff happens inside your head. But know that if you can identify weaknesses, you can improve them. Usually be repeat exposure. Theory can guide us to where we need practice, but then only well-applied practice can make stuff intuitive.

p.s. There's no "right" amount of improvement. Your 157 might have been a high diagnostic within your range, and you improved more than you realized. 10 points is the average improvement, but it's just an average.
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About Me + Free Explnations

Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

Free PT Explanations: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/
Free LSAT email course: http://lsathacks.com/email-course/

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LSAT Hacks (Graeme)

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:02 pm

ltowns1 wrote:Just curious, I was talking to someone who scored really well on test 73, and he basically said that the LR section was predicated on excellent elimination skils. (which I believe is absolutely true) you also tend to hear that some of the most recent preptests are harder in LR. I Think this is because students don't spend an adequate amount of time focusing on elimination skills. I just wanted to ask were there any earlier LR sections (as in earlier preptests) that focused primarily on elimination skills?

Side note: I'm on PT 24 currently.
You know, I have on idea. Elimination is definitely crucial. I read over all five answers fast before thinking about any in depth. I eliminate 2-3 very quickly on the first pass, which frees up mental space to focus on the other two.

But I couldn't say that any particular test period uses this more than others. It seems pretty consistently useful.

If LR got harder, it's because people are prepping more.

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About Me + Free Explnations

Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

Free PT Explanations: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/
Free LSAT email course: http://lsathacks.com/email-course/
Last edited by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) on Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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LSAT Hacks (Graeme)

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Re: LSAT Hacks free PT explanations + Q and A with Graeme

Post by LSAT Hacks (Graeme) » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:15 pm

Deleterious wrote:Hey Graeme,

Thanks for the great material. Your explanations are the best by far.
Thanks! Always nice to hear stuff like this.

p.s. To the other posters: sorry for the slow replies to the above comments. No one asked questions here for about a month, so I had stopped checking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
About Me + Free Explnations

Hi, I'm Graeme. I scored a 177 and have been teaching since 2008. I release free explanations for LSAT PTs.

Free PT Explanations: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/
Free LSAT email course: http://lsathacks.com/email-course/

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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