June 2014 Retakers Forum

[Otunga]

Did PT 59 today, got 161 which is a bit disappointing. My breakdown:
LG -7 fml
LR1 -7
RC -4
LR2 -9

I am disappointed because LG is usually my best section but this is my second -4 on RC a huge improvement from 2 weeks ago when I was -10 so I am happy about that. My LR errors are almost exclusively Assumption Family questions so I plan to re read the MLAST Chapters and drill drill drill this weekend. My next PT is Tuesday so I am hoping to get to at least 166 on that I know that I can do it I just have to find a way to master Assumption questions.

I hope everyone has a productive weekend

The PT59 RC section is challenging, and the sculpture passage has much to do with that. That's a good score. If you're getting RC, LR should catch up with it.

[sashafierce]

Did PT 59 today, got 161 which is a bit disappointing. My breakdown:
LG -7 fml
LR1 -7
RC -4
LR2 -9

I am disappointed because LG is usually my best section but this is my second -4 on RC a huge improvement from 2 weeks ago when I was -10 so I am happy about that. My LR errors are almost exclusively Assumption Family questions so I plan to re read the MLAST Chapters and drill drill drill this weekend. My next PT is Tuesday so I am hoping to get to at least 166 on that I know that I can do it I just have to find a way to master Assumption questions.

I hope everyone has a productive weekend

The PT59 RC section is challenging, and the sculpture passage has much to do with that. That's a good score. If you're getting RC, LR should catch up with it.

Thanks, I have been trying a new strategy for RC and it is working. For LR I knw what my main weakness is so I plan to work on that as well.

PT59 RC was pretty difficult especially the first question of the sculpture passage.

[Otunga]

Did PT 59 today, got 161 which is a bit disappointing. My breakdown:
LG -7 fml
LR1 -7
RC -4
LR2 -9

I am disappointed because LG is usually my best section but this is my second -4 on RC a huge improvement from 2 weeks ago when I was -10 so I am happy about that. My LR errors are almost exclusively Assumption Family questions so I plan to re read the MLAST Chapters and drill drill drill this weekend. My next PT is Tuesday so I am hoping to get to at least 166 on that I know that I can do it I just have to find a way to master Assumption questions.

I hope everyone has a productive weekend

The PT59 RC section is challenging, and the sculpture passage has much to do with that. That's a good score. If you're getting RC, LR should catch up with it.

Thanks, I have been trying a new strategy for RC and it is working. For LR I knw what my main weakness is so I plan to work on that as well.

PT59 RC was pretty difficult especially the first question of the sculpture passage.

Part of it is it deviates from the typical question that asks for the main point. At least for me.

[BaberhamLincoln]

Woah didn't know this thread existed! Been posting in the June LSAT forum, but I'm a retaker.
Awesome

[dasani13]

Did PT 59 today, got 161 which is a bit disappointing. My breakdown:
LG -7 fml
LR1 -7
RC -4
LR2 -9

I am disappointed because LG is usually my best section but this is my second -4 on RC a huge improvement from 2 weeks ago when I was -10 so I am happy about that. My LR errors are almost exclusively Assumption Family questions so I plan to re read the MLAST Chapters and drill drill drill this weekend. My next PT is Tuesday so I am hoping to get to at least 166 on that I know that I can do it I just have to find a way to master Assumption questions.

I hope everyone has a productive weekend

The PT59 RC section is challenging, and the sculpture passage has much to do with that. That's a good score. If you're getting RC, LR should catch up with it.

Thanks, I have been trying a new strategy for RC and it is working. For LR I knw what my main weakness is so I plan to work on that as well.

PT59 RC was pretty difficult especially the first question of the sculpture passage.

Please share the new strategy! I just took 59 and went -11 on RC lol. Gonna blind review the rest so haven't graded it yet.

[sashafierce]

Did PT 59 today, got 161 which is a bit disappointing. My breakdown:
LG -7 fml
LR1 -7
RC -4
LR2 -9

I am disappointed because LG is usually my best section but this is my second -4 on RC a huge improvement from 2 weeks ago when I was -10 so I am happy about that. My LR errors are almost exclusively Assumption Family questions so I plan to re read the MLAST Chapters and drill drill drill this weekend. My next PT is Tuesday so I am hoping to get to at least 166 on that I know that I can do it I just have to find a way to master Assumption questions.

I hope everyone has a productive weekend

The PT59 RC section is challenging, and the sculpture passage has much to do with that. That's a good score. If you're getting RC, LR should catch up with it.

Thanks, I have been trying a new strategy for RC and it is working. For LR I knw what my main weakness is so I plan to work on that as well.

PT59 RC was pretty difficult especially the first question of the sculpture passage.

Please share the new strategy! I just took 59 and went -11 on RC lol. Gonna blind review the rest so haven't graded it yet.

No problem.

I know that my approach is really going to sound dumb to a few top scores but I will share anyway

After reading the first RC section in the Trainer, I learned a few important RC tips that has positively impacted my score:
1. Focus on why not what i.e Reasoning Structure
2. Embrace Uncertainty
3. Scrutinize every word in your contenders/chosen answer choice
4. For main point questions because of the commonality between answer choices, you need to consider every word in the answer choice carefully
5. Read each question stem carefully and try to anticipate the correct answer choice

Those are a few tips that have helped me but overall my score is improving because I am skipping around, any passage with 7+ questions I complete those first. I ALWAYS leave the passage with the least questions for last. I prefer to have 5 mins to answer 5-6 questions than to have 5 mins to answer 7-8 questions regardless of the difficulty of the passage. By skipping around I can finish an RC section on time with and extra 2-3 mins to recheck questions that I circled.

Also, Comparative Passage (CP) are my favourite regardless of the topic because for some strange reason I always go -0 on those passages. I like to do those after I complete a difficult passage, because it helps boost my confidence during the test.

Some of the other things that I have been doing are:

1. Notating less, all I do is underline, circle and number i.e. points, example etc.

2. After every passage I PAUSE and try to summarize the reasoning structure of the passage in my mind for e.g. PT 59 Passage 3 my mental note of the reasoning structure was:
P1- Artist that thinks like a scientist
P2- Artist interned with another artist during this time he discovered a problem (something about negative light and sculptures)
P3- After internship, a friend of a friend helped him solve his problem
P4- Explanation of the solution- something about positive light
P5- Artist continues on his journey (solving problems)

Before I used to actually write this out during the exam which wasted a lot of my time since I never referred back to what I wrote because I already mentally stored the summary/reasoning structure in my mind.

3. When I am pressed for time (i.e. I am on the final passage), I preview the question stems and answer the passage specific questions first. For e.g. in PT58 P2, I previewed the question stems and was able to correctly answer Question 11-13 before I even finished reading the passage. Since this was the last passage that I completed I still had like 2-3 minutes when I was finished with the passage to re-check my work. Honestly, I am thinking about trying this strategy for all of the passages because I have found that questions that ask: "Why does the author mentions XYZ in Passage 2" or the "Main function of XYZ in line 12 is to" are so much more easier to answer while reading the passage or immediately after reading the passage and understanding the reasoning structure because the info is so fresh in your mind.

From what I have read on TLS alot of people are against 1) Skipping Around 2) Previewing Question Stems BUT they work for me.

I still have to read the MLSAT 2nd RC Chapter which is basically focused on question specific strategies, I am hoping that after reading that chapter I can get my RC down to -0.

Hope this response is helpful

[Learn_Live_Hope]

...

[rebexness]

PT 68

LG: -0
LR 1: -4
RC: -5
LR 2: -4
Exp LR 2 PT 42: -4

Raw: 88
Score 169

[Jack Reagan]

Got -1 on RC today, still fighting for the elusive -0. May try to preview some of the question stems even though I've always heard that it is a waste of time, it seems to be working for a few people itt.

[Learn_Live_Hope]

...

[Jack Reagan]

Got -1 on RC today, still fighting for the elusive -0. May try to preview some of the question stems even though I've always heard that it is a waste of time, it seems to be working for a few people itt.

Awesome job!

Try it…it doesn't work for everyone, but it does for some...

Just gave it a quick test run on a random passage of 8 questions. I actually notated in the passage when possible where the correct answer should be to each question and answered the questions as I read each portion. For the ones I couldn't notate on the passage where the answer would be I short handed the question in some empty space and kept focused on those as I read. It was really weird, but I felt more in control of the passages than I normally do. It almost felt like a game in that my certainty for each question was very high. I finished in 9 minutes flat and missed one question which I approached as a must be true but it was actually a strengthen, a result of the hap hazard way I was going through it because I never mix those up. Test was inconclusive, there was good and bad, not sure if it would work on a full section or not. I will try a few full sections with the new method and see what happens, it was definitely interesting though.

[dasani13]

PT 60 Review Monday 9pm EST.

[dasani13]

sashafierce, thanks for all that! It's crazy because I came to the conclusion by myself that I should try to look over the questions for maybe 5-10 seconds before the passage to see if it does anything. I didn't do it since everyone says it's not a good idea but now that you mentioned it I'll give it a try. Also, I go -0 on almost every comparative passage I've ever done (even the hard ones) but my average in RC overall is like -8/9. Weird! Maybe that says something about what I need to work on? Hmm

[dasani13]

PT 59
LG -8
LR -6
LR -1
RC -11

75 raw 161

I have 28 days and 11 PTs left to increase by 5 points! I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to try to improve RC at this point. I think if I focus on LR from now on and try to get it to a -5 combined and do hardcore LG drilling I'll have a better chance to increase my score. Do you guys agree?

[rebexness]

I have 28 days and 11 PTs left to increase by 5 points! I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to try to improve RC at this point. I think if I focus on LR from now on and try to get it to a -5 combined and do hardcore LG drilling I'll have a better chance to increase my score. Do you guys agree?

Have you tried doing a few sets of bulk RC (think 2-3 sections, timed, in a row?)

[dasani13]

I have 28 days and 11 PTs left to increase by 5 points! I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to try to improve RC at this point. I think if I focus on LR from now on and try to get it to a -5 combined and do hardcore LG drilling I'll have a better chance to increase my score. Do you guys agree?

Have you tried doing a few sets of bulk RC (think 2-3 sections, timed, in a row?)

No but I'm willing to try if you recommend it!

[rebexness]

I have 28 days and 11 PTs left to increase by 5 points! I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to try to improve RC at this point. I think if I focus on LR from now on and try to get it to a -5 combined and do hardcore LG drilling I'll have a better chance to increase my score. Do you guys agree?

Have you tried doing a few sets of bulk RC (think 2-3 sections, timed, in a row?)

No but I'm willing to try if you recommend it!

I've not done it personally (but I plan to this week) but I have heard it can be really helpful w/r/t reading for structure, reading for the type of things that the LSAT likes to ask for, etc.

[dasani13]

I have 28 days and 11 PTs left to increase by 5 points! I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to try to improve RC at this point. I think if I focus on LR from now on and try to get it to a -5 combined and do hardcore LG drilling I'll have a better chance to increase my score. Do you guys agree?

Have you tried doing a few sets of bulk RC (think 2-3 sections, timed, in a row?)

No but I'm willing to try if you recommend it!

I've not done it personally (but I plan to this week) but I have heard it can be really helpful w/r/t reading for structure, reading for the type of things that the LSAT likes to ask for, etc.

I've been doing RC as experimental for every PT I take-- maybe I'll add another and do 6-section PTs with 3 RCs.

[dasani13]

PT 60 Review Monday 9pm EST.

I just saw in my notes that we already reviewed this as a group 2 weeks ago lol. I'm ok with going over it again if someone still needs it. I'm actually gonna be doing a heavy review of 56, 59, and 60 all day tomorrow so if anyone wants to join just let me know.

[akechi]

Hey dasani, I am down to review PT 56 with you. Although, I won't be home until 10:30pm PST :/

[sashafierce]

Im def. one of those. Previewing the questions, and limited notating is what works for me.

I swear by little notating, before I would notate like crazy and waste valuable time.

Do you preview the questions for all of the passages? I only do that for the last passage but I plan to try it for all of the passages on my next PT.

I have 28 days and 11 PTs left to increase by 5 points! I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to try to improve RC at this point. I think if I focus on LR from now on and try to get it to a -5 combined and do hardcore LG drilling I'll have a better chance to increase my score. Do you guys agree?

I dunno, I feel like you should give RC your best shot You can do it! BTW Can I have your LR score pleaseeeee

Also, if anyone has any Strengthen/Weaken/Necessary Assumption tips please share, those questions are killing me

[ioannisk]

Preptest 60 Today 9pm EST I hear?

is this through skype or something? Can someone share the wealth?

[Learn_Live_Hope]

...

[sashafierce]

Quick question PT58 S4 Q11- Armadillos and New Territory

I knw that this is a NA question but if this were a flaw question would the flaw be hasty generalization?

I am asking because the premise is a based on a subset of a subset. The first subset is armadillos at a research site that were tagged and the second subset is those armadillos that were recaptured after being tagged but the conclusion is a general statement about the entire armadillos species.

[ioannisk]

Anyone interested in a Skype Call for Preptest 62 Wednesday, 9 pm?