The Official September 2016 Study Group - WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS Forum

[Rupert Pupkin]

I had a super busy week of traveling and didn't get as much studying done as I would have liked, but will be resuming full speed ahead in the am and back on my routine. I am working now, but as long as I stay focused and accountable it shouldnt be an issue keeping up with studies!

[20170322]

I keep missing 1 question on the last game in a packet for some stupid reason or another. I need to keep my focus.

Have y'all experimented with 6-section PT's? I think I may need to start doing this to build endurance.

[34iplaw]

I keep missing 1 question on the last game in a packet for some stupid reason or another. I need to keep my focus.

Have y'all experimented with 6-section PT's? I think I may need to start doing this to build endurance.

You should definitely date a sadist. Sadists and masochists are matches made in heaven.

I dunno. I feel like it's not a bad idea, and, ultimately, it's only another 35 minutes...but it seems like overkill IMO... I think something that would be good is figure out which ordering is really rough for you and do that... or, if you are really good at LG, only give yourself one LG section in your five section test. I'd probably say always put in an extra of your weakest section as your experimental...that way you are getting practice on it and you are making the test as hard as it could be on yourself.

During my diagnostic with Testmasters, I got *really* disheartened by the second RC, as I felt the first was fairly straight forward. I also felt that RC-LR-RC-LG-LR is kind of a rough order.

Edit: Creating my Manhattan LSAT online material access to check it out...why the hell are these 'scratch off with coin' things still a thing. They are so frustratingly messy.

[20170322]

I keep missing 1 question on the last game in a packet for some stupid reason or another. I need to keep my focus.

Have y'all experimented with 6-section PT's? I think I may need to start doing this to build endurance.

You should definitely date a sadist. Sadists and masochists are matches made in heaven.

I dunno. I feel like it's not a bad idea, and, ultimately, it's only another 35 minutes...but it seems like overkill IMO... I think something that would be good is figure out which ordering is really rough for you and do that... or, if you are really good at LG, only give yourself one LG section in your five section test. I'd probably say always put in an extra of your weakest section as your experimental...that way you are getting practice on it and you are making the test as hard as it could be on yourself.

During my diagnostic with Testmasters, I got *really* disheartened by the second RC, as I felt the first was fairly straight forward. I also felt that RC-LR-RC-LG-LR is kind of a rough order.

Edit: Creating my Manhattan LSAT online material access to check it out...why the hell are these 'scratch off with coin' things still a thing. They are so frustratingly messy.

'Yeah, all seems like valid advice.


I think that I'm going to begin experimenting in late July/August. 30 minute sections, 6 section tests, PTing in noisy environments, etc. I want test day to feel like a cake walk.

Also, I cannot recommend Manhattan RC enough. Reading through it and drilling, and it's already improving my RC massively. Very optimistic for the next PT being 175+

[Alexandros]

.

[20170322]

PT of this week done (53) -
LR 1: -4
LG: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -4
raw score; 92
weighted: 173

Could be worse, but could certainly be better. Almost ran out of the in RC, -4 in one section LR at this point is way too low, and definitely need to practice pure sequencing games more .(is it just me or are these are a lot more common on the later tests?)

Now I'm going to go do something that's not LSATs for a little while!

Congrats! That's a great place to be this far out.

[20170322]

Slowly realizing that the biggest obstacle between me and a 175+ is RC. I'm probably going to end up drilling the RC Cambridge packets multiple times before this is all said and done.

[Replitz]

Took my first diagnostic today, got a 163. Only prep I've done so far is the Powerscore LG bible. Not sure how to feel about this...?

[Alexandros]

.

[Alexandros]

Slowly realizing that the biggest obstacle between me and a 175+ is RC. I'm probably going to end up drilling the RC Cambridge packets multiple times before this is all said and done.

RC's been a struggle for me as well. Have you had any luck pinpointing what the issue is for you, exactly?
For me, I think a lot of it is running out of time / lack of mental stamina - or having the sensation that I'm running out of time, thus causing sloppy reading. I tried some drills yesterday shooting for 7 min / passage, one passage at a time, and I managed to get -1 for the full section (which is still -1, but a fair bit better than my usual of -3 - -5) Of course, it may have just been an easier section.

[Mikey]

Slowly realizing that the biggest obstacle between me and a 175+ is RC. I'm probably going to end up drilling the RC Cambridge packets multiple times before this is all said and done.

I think the thing I regret most when I prepped for June's test was not buying Cambridge's RC book. By far my worst section, which volume(s) do you have?

[Alexandros]

Took my first diagnostic today, got a 163. Only prep I've done so far is the Powerscore LG bible. Not sure how to feel about this...?

Not bad at all, especially with your limited prep! If you can find your weak spots and drill to improve on them, you're well on your way to a better score.

[Replitz]

Took my first diagnostic today, got a 163. Only prep I've done so far is the Powerscore LG bible. Not sure how to feel about this...?

Not bad at all, especially with your limited prep! If you can find your weak spots and drill to improve on them, you're well on your way to a better score.

LG is by far my worst section, I just completely blanked on one of the questions - it was a weird mapping one - and missed 5/6 questions. Going to drill over and over... does anybody have some good resources for LG practice? Is there a bank of LG questions only, somewhere with explanations?

[20170322]

Slowly realizing that the biggest obstacle between me and a 175+ is RC. I'm probably going to end up drilling the RC Cambridge packets multiple times before this is all said and done.

RC's been a struggle for me as well. Have you had any luck pinpointing what the issue is for you, exactly?
For me, I think a lot of it is running out of time / lack of mental stamina - or having the sensation that I'm running out of time, thus causing sloppy reading. I tried some drills yesterday shooting for 7 min / passage, one passage at a time, and I managed to get -1 for the full section (which is still -1, but a fair bit better than my usual of -3 - -5) Of course, it may have just been an easier section.

I think for me it's a lack of clear strategy when approaching the text. I'm testing out some of Manhattan's strategies, as well as trying to get under time. We'll see how much of a difference it makes.

[34iplaw]

Took my first diagnostic today, got a 163. Only prep I've done so far is the Powerscore LG bible. Not sure how to feel about this...?

Not bad at all, especially with your limited prep! If you can find your weak spots and drill to improve on them, you're well on your way to a better score.

LG is by far my worst section, I just completely blanked on one of the questions - it was a weird mapping one - and missed 5/6 questions. Going to drill over and over... does anybody have some good resources for LG practice? Is there a bank of LG questions only, somewhere with explanations?

163 is good/fine baseline, esp. if you are starting at -5-8+ in LG.

I'm far from mastery at this point, but I've been basically doing Cambridge Packets in LG trying to get time down. I watch videos for games that I get on more leisurely time just to make sure I didn't miss any inference that could be helpful in a future test. I make sure to watch games that I struggled with time substantially [likely a missed inference] or missed questions / struggled. I think I'm like 75% of the way done with linear / relative ordering.

You also have to keep in mind that a 163 can still get you into really good law schools, just not the Top 14. +10 isn't all that unusual for people who put in a lot of effort...granted, if you're like me, a 168 vs a 170 vs a 172 vs a 174 are all very different b/c I will likely be a splitter.

[20170322]

It's weird prepping intensely for a test so far away. Like, I'm used to cramming the week before a test, not months before it.

[Alexandros]

Took my first diagnostic today, got a 163. Only prep I've done so far is the Powerscore LG bible. Not sure how to feel about this...?

Not bad at all, especially with your limited prep! If you can find your weak spots and drill to improve on them, you're well on your way to a better score.

LG is by far my worst section, I just completely blanked on one of the questions - it was a weird mapping one - and missed 5/6 questions. Going to drill over and over... does anybody have some good resources for LG practice? Is there a bank of LG questions only, somewhere with explanations?

163 is good/fine baseline, esp. if you are starting at -5-8+ in LG.

I'm far from mastery at this point, but I've been basically doing Cambridge Packets in LG trying to get time down. I watch videos for games that I get on more leisurely time just to make sure I didn't miss any inference that could be helpful in a future test. I make sure to watch games that I struggled with time substantially [likely a missed inference] or missed questions / struggled. I think I'm like 75% of the way done with linear / relative ordering.

You also have to keep in mind that a 163 can still get you into really good law schools, just not the Top 14. +10 isn't all that unusual for people who put in a lot of effort...granted, if you're like me, a 168 vs a 170 vs a 172 vs a 174 are all very different b/c I will likely be a splitter.

^ All of that!

If you (like me) can't find Cambridge Packets at a remotely reasonable price, using the packs of Actual Officials and categorizing by game type (7sage and the Trainer both have free game breakdowns for all the PTs works. There's also Powerscore's Game Type Training, which categoarizes the games for you. I've found an excel sheet or something like that works well to keep things organized and keep track of your time and amount wrong for each time. It can take a surprising and frustrating amount of time to make progress, but continuous drilling will pay off.

[20170322]

Haha, omg! I was doing my analysis of my last PT, and I realized I did the math wrong. I didn't get a 173, I got a 174!

Doesn't make that big of a difference, but it sure makes me feel better.

[20170322]

Anyone else considering doing a hotel the night before? More and more I think it may be worth the hundred bucks.

[Alexandros]

Haha, omg! I was doing my analysis of my last PT, and I realized I did the math wrong. I didn't get a 173, I got a 174!

Doesn't make that big of a difference, but it sure makes me feel better.

Wooo, congrats!! That's fantastic!!

[proteinshake]

Anyone else considering doing a hotel the night before? More and more I think it may be worth the hundred bucks.

I am, my testing center is 2.5 hours away so I kinda have to.

[20170322]

Anyone else considering doing a hotel the night before? More and more I think it may be worth the hundred bucks.

I am, my testing center is 2.5 hours away so I kinda have to.

Woof, that's rough.

Mine is only an hour away, but there's 2 reasons I'm worried.

1) I'm an RA, so there's a chance a resident comes banging on my door at 2am.
2) My school has a football game that day, so traffic may be rough.

[proteinshake]

Anyone else considering doing a hotel the night before? More and more I think it may be worth the hundred bucks.

I am, my testing center is 2.5 hours away so I kinda have to.

Woof, that's rough.

Mine is only an hour away, but there's 2 reasons I'm worried.

1) I'm an RA, so there's a chance a resident comes banging on my door at 2am.
2) My school has a football game that day, so traffic may be rough.

I've already taken the LSAT at this testing center and it was amazing, so I thought it was worth it to just get a hotel room and take it there again.

if I were you, I'd just get the hotel room!

[20170322]

Anyone else considering doing a hotel the night before? More and more I think it may be worth the hundred bucks.

I am, my testing center is 2.5 hours away so I kinda have to.

Woof, that's rough.

Mine is only an hour away, but there's 2 reasons I'm worried.

1) I'm an RA, so there's a chance a resident comes banging on my door at 2am.
2) My school has a football game that day, so traffic may be rough.

I've already taken the LSAT at this testing center and it was amazing, so I thought it was worth it to just get a hotel room and take it there again.

if I were you, I'd just get the hotel room!

Ugh, still pissed I can't take it at my home university. I hear the testing site is dope as fuck. I have no idea about this new one, though it's at a TTT law school, so I'm guessing it can't be THAT bad.


And yeah, I may just drop the money on a hotel room. At the very least, it'd be a fun treat. I just need to find a way to sleep the night before.

[proteinshake]

Anyone else considering doing a hotel the night before? More and more I think it may be worth the hundred bucks.

I am, my testing center is 2.5 hours away so I kinda have to.

Woof, that's rough.

Mine is only an hour away, but there's 2 reasons I'm worried.

1) I'm an RA, so there's a chance a resident comes banging on my door at 2am.
2) My school has a football game that day, so traffic may be rough.

I've already taken the LSAT at this testing center and it was amazing, so I thought it was worth it to just get a hotel room and take it there again.

if I were you, I'd just get the hotel room!

Ugh, still pissed I can't take it at my home university. I hear the testing site is dope as fuck. I have no idea about this new one, though it's at a TTT law school, so I'm guessing it can't be THAT bad.


And yeah, I may just drop the money on a hotel room. At the very least, it'd be a fun treat. I just need to find a way to sleep the night before.

there's a for-profit law school and some TTTT universities I can take the LSAT at in my hometown but I've heard terrible things about all of them. don't assume it's a good testing center just because it's a law school! that being said, you should be fine. have you tried looking for some reviews online?