The Official September 2014 Study Group Forum

mornincounselor · Post by **mornincounselor** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 6:53 pm

Post removed.

danmcc413 · Post by **danmcc413** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:07 pm

Hey All - How is everyone else who is also working full time doing? I keep finding myself burned out by this point in the week and its always so difficult for me to keep focus. My goal is just to get around 15 hours per week in bc I thankfully have a high starting point based on my diagnostic and subsequent PTs but I'm still having trouble efficiently hitting 15 hours. I may study 15+ hours in a week but not necessarily in an effective manner. How is everyone else who is similarly situated dealing with drained energy/general tiredness etc? Thanks, and hope everyone's studies are going well! Another few months and we'll hopefully all be done with this forever.

flash21 · Post by **flash21** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:41 pm

danmcc413 wrote:Hey All - How is everyone else who is also working full time doing? I keep finding myself burned out by this point in the week and its always so difficult for me to keep focus. My goal is just to get around 15 hours per week in bc I thankfully have a high starting point based on my diagnostic and subsequent PTs but I'm still having trouble efficiently hitting 15 hours. I may study 15+ hours in a week but not necessarily in an effective manner. How is everyone else who is similarly situated dealing with drained energy/general tiredness etc? Thanks, and hope everyone's studies are going well! Another few months and we'll hopefully all be done with this forever.

use weekends wisely. My weekdays I only get in a few hours usually. Probably double or triple that on the weekends

ilikebaseball · Post by **ilikebaseball** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:43 pm

Anybody here whose in the Dallas area shoot me a PM, we can study in person!

mornincounselor · Post by **mornincounselor** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:13 pm

Post removed.

Calbears123 · Post by **Calbears123** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:26 pm

How's everyone studying going. I'm restarting this Monday with PT 42. Going to try a new strategy. PT 42 Monday, not going to score, full blind review of the test on Tuesday and review of questions I miss both times, along with watching the corresponding 7sage videos for the LG.

I'm going to volunteer at my old Boy Scout troops Boy Scout camp for a week. Perfect time to drill level 3 and 4 LR and RC. Along with working out every "lost" LSAT game so I don't get Juned again.

vracovino · Post by **vracovino** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:15 pm

Logic Games are sort of becoming easier for me, but timing is still an issue, and I too often seem to make stupid mistakes because I 1) read a rule incorrectly or 2) read what a question is asking for incorrectly. I really have to improve my focus if I want a good LG score on a section- too many times has a misrepresentation of a rule caused me to have to do the game all over again.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:26 pm

Attax · Post by **Attax** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:44 pm

floridaxrose wrote:
What is HYSCCN?

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Chicago
Columbia
NYU

timegoesbytoofast · Post by **timegoesbytoofast** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:13 pm

I can't believe I just found about this forum now... It's so helpful!

I'm sure these questions have already been asked in this forum, but here I go:

(1)
I have the Powerscore LR Bible, read through it, and did all the questions... but I skipped through the parts where it tells you to identify the question stems, identify the stimulus/conclusion, etc. Should I go through the bible more thoroughly? OR should I get the Manhattan LR guide (seems like a lot of people are finding it helpful). Also, timing is my biggest concern (I usually have 5 questions left when time's up... +_+ and my goal is at most 2 or 3 wrong...).

(2)
I also used the Powerscore Bible for LG and usually get -2 or -1 in the section. BUT I want to make sure I try all types of questions out there to get -0 on my PTs (although I haven't done that many) and on the actual exam. Is doing all the games on all the PTs the best way? Or is it worth it to read over other guides and explanations (like 7sage or Manhattan)?

(3)
My WEAKEST section..... READING COMP! I wish there were only 3 passages; 4 is too much for me... Haha. Is it a good idea to focus on 3 passages (try to get almost perfect on them) and just guess on the questions for 1 passage? ANY help/suggestions/tips on this section would be greatly appreciated.

(4)
After reading some posts in this forum... It looks like drills are VERY important... Is drilling just doing many many many many of the same types of questions (i.e. doing 20 flaw in the reasoning questions and going over them thoroughly)?

gnomgnomuch · Post by **gnomgnomuch** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:21 pm

mornincounselor wrote:
Louis1127 wrote:Here is your laugh before you have fun this long weekend.

So it turns out this:

"H sits immediately next to neither F nor K"

is a hell of alot different than this:

"H sits immediately next to either F or K".

I actually set the circle game up right and could have got a few questions, maybe even a majority of them before my time ran out (I had like 12 minutes to do the game).

I just misread the rule. Damn.

Anyhow, does anyone check your notated rules against the stimulus AFTER you notated them, but BEFORE moving on to make inferences/go to the questions? I feel like that would help me avoid this in the future but I also feel like ti could hurt my time.

edit: hey flash I answered your question without even knowing it, maybe i should drop the lsat and become a psychic
I did the exact same thing on the star pattern game (where each person can play two instruments and they must share an instrument with at least one of their neighbors) I get to like the 4/5 questions and none of the choices are right. I run through it three or four times before realizing I misread a rule and I have to start all over again.

GOD I HATED THAT GAME. Also, did anyone intuitively leap to the star pattern other than JY? When i was doing it in real time, i literally blanked, and ended up going 1/5 on it (got the elimination question correct). I had to watch the video a LOT, like 5 or 6 times, before i was really able to get that game done with confidence, and even know im not sure if i go back to it, ill be able to go 5/5 on it.

gnomgnomuch · Post by **gnomgnomuch** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:28 pm

timegoesbytoofast wrote:I can't believe I just found about this forum now... It's so helpful!

I'm sure these questions have already been asked in this forum, but here I go:

(1)
I have the Powerscore LR Bible, read through it, and did all the questions... but I haven't really done the drills where they tell you to identify the question stems, identify the stimulus/conclusion, etc. Should I go through the bible more thoroughly? OR should I get the Manhattan LR guide (seems like a lot of people are finding it helpful). Also, timing is my biggest concern (I usually have 5 questions left when time's up... +_+ and my goal is at most 2 or 3 wrong...).

(2)
I also used the Powerscore Bible for LG and usually get -2 or -1 in the section. BUT I want to make sure I try all types of questions out there to get -0 on my PTs (although I haven't done that many) and on the actual exam. Is doing all the games on all the PTs the best way? Or is it worth it to read over other guides and explanations (like 7sage or Manhattan)?

(3)
My WEAKEST section..... READING COMP! I wish there were only 3 passages; 4 is too much for me... Haha. Is it a good idea to focus on 3 passages (try to get almost perfect on them) and just guess on the questions for 1 passage? ANY help/suggestions/tips on this section would be greatly appreciated.

I would personally avoid that, because skipping a full section make you need to go perfect on the other 3, and almost perfect on LR and games, to still have a 170 or up. If you HAVE to skip - do everything in your power to avoid this if you can - then hit the passages with the most questions.

RC is a mind game for me, when i enjoy (or just dont hate) a passage, i will usually go perfect or -1 occasionally. When i dislike a passage, i can very easily go -3/-4 on it. So its a matter of getting into the mindset where you psych yourself up for RC. It's also, for me at least, the easiest section. Very few questions on RC are tricky in the sense that there will be 2 answer choices that are a toss up. As long as you read for structure and then backtrack for specifics your score wont fluctuate too much. The LSAT trainer was very helpful in showing how to read for structure, id recommend it.

Louis1127 · Post by **Louis1127** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:40 pm

timegoesbytoofast wrote:I can't believe I just found about this forum now... It's so helpful!

I'm sure these questions have already been asked in this forum, but here I go:

(1)
I have the Powerscore LR Bible, read through it, and did all the questions... but I skipped through the parts where it tells you to identify the question stems, identify the stimulus/conclusion, etc. Should I go through the bible more thoroughly? OR should I get the Manhattan LR guide (seems like a lot of people are finding it helpful). Also, timing is my biggest concern (I usually have 5 questions left when time's up... +_+ and my goal is at most 2 or 3 wrong...).

(2)
I also used the Powerscore Bible for LG and usually get -2 or -1 in the section. BUT I want to make sure I try all types of questions out there to get -0 on my PTs (although I haven't done that many) and on the actual exam. Is doing all the games on all the PTs the best way? Or is it worth it to read over other guides and explanations (like 7sage or Manhattan)?

(3)
My WEAKEST section..... READING COMP! I wish there were only 3 passages; 4 is too much for me... Haha. Is it a good idea to focus on 3 passages (try to get almost perfect on them) and just guess on the questions for 1 passage? ANY help/suggestions/tips on this section would be greatly appreciated.

(4)
After reading some posts in this forum... It looks like drills are VERY important... Is drilling just doing many many many many of the same types of questions (i.e. doing 20 flaw in the reasoning questions and going over them thoroughly)?

1. Eh, that's up to you. Identifying the conclusion in arguments cam naturally to me, and I'm an idiot.

2. First of all, you're scoring higher than me on games so I'm not sure I'll be of much help haha, but if I were you I would do every game ever. The past two LSATs features a very nonstandard game.

3. I would strongly recommend against that. I would work on figuring out the best strategies for you and drilling RC like crazy to get good at it (drilling seems to have helped me go from -12ish per section to -5 on my last PT, although it may be too early to tell). Speaking of drilling...

4.Yes, that is exactly what drilling means, at least here on TLS.

Welcome aboard!

Louis1127 · Post by **Louis1127** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:10 am

Calbears123 wrote:How's everyone studying going. I'm restarting this Monday with PT 42. Going to try a new strategy. PT 42 Monday, not going to score, full blind review of the test on Tuesday and review of questions I miss both times, along with watching the corresponding 7sage videos for the LG.

I'm going to volunteer at my old Boy Scout troops Boy Scout camp for a week. Perfect time to drill level 3 and 4 LR and RC. Along with working out every "lost" LSAT game so I don't get Juned again.

Sup!

We are on the same PT. I think I may drill LR a little more before taking it though, and I'll probably take way longer to review than you will lol.

U still PTing around mid 160s?

Calbears123 · Post by **Calbears123** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 1:54 am

Louis1127 wrote:
Calbears123 wrote:How's everyone studying going. I'm restarting this Monday with PT 42. Going to try a new strategy. PT 42 Monday, not going to score, full blind review of the test on Tuesday and review of questions I miss both times, along with watching the corresponding 7sage videos for the LG.

I'm going to volunteer at my old Boy Scout troops Boy Scout camp for a week. Perfect time to drill level 3 and 4 LR and RC. Along with working out every "lost" LSAT game so I don't get Juned again.
Sup!

We are on the same PT. I think I may drill LR a little more before taking it though, and I'll probably take way longer to review than you will lol.

U still PTing around mid 160s?

Yo, hopefully I'm still PTing in the upper 160s, I haven't looked at an LSAT problem since the June test. Hopefully I can get back into it pretty quick. GL on PT 42 bro, luckily we still get a while until sept 27th

...by the way I'm a huge college football fan. Why the Mike Leach avatar, did you go to Tech?

timegoesbytoofast · Post by **timegoesbytoofast** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:04 am

Louis1127 wrote:
timegoesbytoofast wrote:I can't believe I just found about this forum now... It's so helpful!

I'm sure these questions have already been asked in this forum, but here I go:

(1)
I have the Powerscore LR Bible, read through it, and did all the questions... but I skipped through the parts where it tells you to identify the question stems, identify the stimulus/conclusion, etc. Should I go through the bible more thoroughly? OR should I get the Manhattan LR guide (seems like a lot of people are finding it helpful). Also, timing is my biggest concern (I usually have 5 questions left when time's up... +_+ and my goal is at most 2 or 3 wrong...).

(2)
I also used the Powerscore Bible for LG and usually get -2 or -1 in the section. BUT I want to make sure I try all types of questions out there to get -0 on my PTs (although I haven't done that many) and on the actual exam. Is doing all the games on all the PTs the best way? Or is it worth it to read over other guides and explanations (like 7sage or Manhattan)?

(3)
My WEAKEST section..... READING COMP! I wish there were only 3 passages; 4 is too much for me... Haha. Is it a good idea to focus on 3 passages (try to get almost perfect on them) and just guess on the questions for 1 passage? ANY help/suggestions/tips on this section would be greatly appreciated.

(4)
After reading some posts in this forum... It looks like drills are VERY important... Is drilling just doing many many many many of the same types of questions (i.e. doing 20 flaw in the reasoning questions and going over them thoroughly)?
1. Eh, that's up to you. Identifying the conclusion in arguments cam naturally to me, and I'm an idiot.

2. First of all, you're scoring higher than me on games so I'm not sure I'll be of much help haha, but if I were you I would do every game ever. The past two LSATs features a very nonstandard game.

3. I would strongly recommend against that. I would work on figuring out the best strategies for you and drilling RC like crazy to get good at it (drilling seems to have helped me go from -12ish per section to -5 on my last PT, although it may be too early to tell). Speaking of drilling...

4.Yes, that is exactly what drilling means, at least here on TLS.

Welcome aboard!

gnomgnomuch wrote:
timegoesbytoofast wrote:
I would personally avoid that, because skipping a full section make you need to go perfect on the other 3, and almost perfect on LR and games, to still have a 170 or up. If you HAVE to skip - do everything in your power to avoid this if you can - then hit the passages with the most questions.

RC is a mind game for me, when i enjoy (or just dont hate) a passage, i will usually go perfect or -1 occasionally. When i dislike a passage, i can very easily go -3/-4 on it. So its a matter of getting into the mindset where you psych yourself up for RC. It's also, for me at least, the easiest section. Very few questions on RC are tricky in the sense that there will be 2 answer choices that are a toss up. As long as you read for structure and then backtrack for specifics your score wont fluctuate too much. The LSAT trainer was very helpful in showing how to read for structure, id recommend it.

Thank you Louis1127 and gnomgnomuch! =) And... I just bought the Manhattan RC Guide today, but I guess I should look into the LSAT Trainer (it must be REALLY good since everyone's talking about it)! I love RC I love RC I love RC I love RC.... (maybe trying to make myself like the RC Section will help me improve on it at least a bit? Haha )

ilikebaseball · Post by **ilikebaseball** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:18 am

Started reading the MLSAT LR today. Already I have found advice that will make me better in both LR and RC and I'm only on chapter 2. Read everything like you're a debater. It sounds simple and you think "well I already kinda do that." But if you keep this in the back of your mind and really dive deep to find each flaw, its so damn effective.

sashafierce · Post by **sashafierce** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:55 pm

Finished NA Level 1 went 71/76 (-5) and most of Level 2 went 53/55 (-2). I am wondering if I should move on to Level 3 NA now ( I am leaving the remaining 20 questions from Level 2 for a later date when I need to brush up on my NA skill) or just move on to Flaw questions?

I knw that DD said that doing Level 3 and 4 is not really necessary so I am thinking that when I start PTing again I can work on my Level 3 and 4 questions to sharpen my skill rather than rush into them now?

Now, the following recommendation, for some reason, which honestly I can’t fathom, confuses some people: do all of the level ones and twos, but don’t do all of the level threes and fours. Why? Because you don’t need to. Now for the question people ask me when I tell them this, “What if I suck at a specific question type, won’t the difficult ones help me?” To begin with, this is really just a recommendation and it completely depends upon the skills of the person in question. But I’ll answer it anyways, if you do all of the ones and twos, review after each time, and still manage to miss more than 5/30 on your last increment of the question type, then do some, but not most, of the threes and fours. Honestly, this is just a tip, if you think you need to do half of them, then do half, if you think you need to do all of them, then do all, but it would be better for your future fifth sections or just retakes of old sections if you did not. You’ll learn from those three and fours eventually, you’ll probably even get them correct.

gavaga1 · Post by **gavaga1** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 7:18 pm

sfoglia · Post by **sfoglia** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:30 pm

Depressed. Scored 2 points LOWER on yesterday's practice test. 20 hours of studying and negative gain.

ilawsxhool1 · Post by **ilawsxhool1** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:41 pm

How often do you guys take Full Timed LSAT's? I don't want to do so many 3 months out.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:50 pm

gnomgnomuch · Post by **gnomgnomuch** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:09 am

sfoglia wrote:Depressed. Scored 2 points LOWER on yesterday's practice test. 20 hours of studying and negative gain.

Don't look at it that way. First - your scores will fluctuate within a certain score range, going 158-160-162 doesn't mean you're getting worse, it just means that particular test tested your strengths or weaknesses in a way that was bad or good for you.

Second, line the two tests up, where did you mess up more, did you miss LG or did you miss LR, if LR what kind of questions were causing you problems, drill those, read the book you have. If it was RC, same process as for LR.

Finally, I've got no idea where in your prep you are, but id recommend going over the first test in super depth. Every question you weren't 100% sure, you circle and you go back too. After that, retake the test, see if you can go 180/175/170. It's not about getting the score, but it IS about making sure that you've identified the reasoning that led you to incorrect thinking, and then trying to avoid that reasoning on new tests.

Perseverance is 90% of everything in my experience, most people fall within the intelligence range to work their way up to a 170 score, most people however don't have the desire to sacrifice to get to the score.

....and this is all assuming you want a 170+ score.
=D

ilikebaseball · Post by **ilikebaseball** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:03 am

ilawsxhool1 wrote:How often do you guys take Full Timed LSAT's? I don't want to do so many 3 months out.

ill start on that about 5 weeks out, taking one every other day. then when im two weeks away, ill take 2 every other day just to work my endurance up.

ilawsxhool1 · Post by **ilawsxhool1** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:30 am

choward014 wrote:
ilawsxhool1 wrote:How often do you guys take Full Timed LSAT's? I don't want to do so many 3 months out.
ill start on that about 5 weeks out, taking one every other day. then when im two weeks away, ill take 2 every other day just to work my endurance up.

That sounds like my plan, I was just getting nervous because it seems everyone on here is taking one every week. I don't want to run-out of material.