The Official February 2016 Study Group Forum

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:27 pm

Rigo wrote:-8 combined, so I was consistently -4 in each section across the board.
Looking back, I was one stupid game away from 170. Oh well. Ever upward.

Yup. You need to devote every day to LR.

Major in LR
Minor in LG and Reading Comp.

Don't prioritize LG over RC, or RC over LG.

Basically your study plan should have you doing sets of <LR, LG2, RC3, LR4>

then repeat.

so LR, LG, RC, LR, LR, LG, RC, LR

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:33 pm

Cool cool, thank you. Still trying to organize all my old study materials. They were just thrown haphazardly in a box last year. LG was digital so it enabled my laziness.
Drilling everything these next two weeks then taking a few PT's before registration deadline to see if February is even doable. I expect it is if I work hard.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:34 pm

You're retaking for waitlists and $$$ I presume? Make good outlines to hand down when if I follow you to Harvard.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:39 pm

Rigo wrote:You're retaking for waitlists and $$$ I presume? Make good outlines to hand down when if I follow you to Harvard.

Harvard is the dream c:

But I'm starting to lose hope since it's been so long and I still haven't heard anything from them. I did just have an interview with Chicago though so that's got me a little more optimistic!!!

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:42 pm

Eh don't lose hope. The cycle is young.

The Abyss · Post by **The Abyss** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:47 pm

I may be retaking in February for $$$ and waitlist purposes.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 5:24 pm

Whenever JY is like "I dont think you'll see a clone of this game," "this game isn't useful for modern LSAT's," etc. I'm like LIAR!!!!

jlet0314 · Post by **jlet0314** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:21 pm

With the weird LGs this past December, same chance of that happening for Feb? Seems like it pops up once or twice every 10 exams.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:01 pm

Rigo wrote:Whenever JY is like "I dont think you'll see a clone of this game," "this game isn't useful for modern LSAT's," etc. I'm like LIAR!!!!

He's sorta almost right though. You won't find an exact clone of that game. But you will find a game that uses the exact same analytical reasoning skill!

That's why so many instructors advocate not drilling games by type because you can get put into a lock-step method of doing games, and this works for the easy ones, and it's how lots of people breeze through the early games. BUT the more difficult games recruit a variety of strategies that you have to be able to have at your disposal.

jlet0314 wrote:With the weird LGs this past December, same chance of that happening for Feb? Seems like it pops up once or twice every 10 exams.

They weren't weird.

Every single (and I mean every single one) test administration has people saying that they swore the game section was so unlike anything that had ever seen before they assumed it was the experimental.

Learning games is essentially you developing a "toolbox" of different methods you can use on test day.
You have to be able to adapt to anything they throw at you, and there are a lot of games that break the mold of grouping or linear.

Drill Games by type ONLY IN YOUR FIRST TWO WEEKS. After that I highly advocate drilling mixed sections. Also this breaks the bad habit of trying to put every game into a category before you even start to work it (and then being disappointed and wasting time when you figure out it doesn't fit neatly into your idea of what is a grouping game or linear game so you have to completely rewrite your set-up).

You really shouldn't give a shit what "type" of game it is. This is especially true since the logical difficulty of any game is completely independent of the game's type. And you're gonna shoot yourself in the foot if you go in on test day thinking "i hope they don't give me two grouping games" then you get two grouping games and you're on tilt now. Even though those were the easier games in the section!

chicharon · Post by **chicharon** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:31 pm

Post removed...

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:36 pm

chicharon wrote:Is it too weird if I hang out in all the study threads at the same time

Maybe I should start a September 2016 thread too?

That's not too weird.

And I'm frankly surprised that the June thread popped up before the December administration even occurred. AND FURIOUS THAT THEY'RE BEATING US IN POST COUNT!!!!

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:38 pm

brb making June 2019

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:40 pm

Rigo wrote:brb making June 2019

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:41 pm

Li'l Sebastian wrote: And I'm frankly surprised that the June thread popped up before the December administration even occurred. AND FURIOUS THAT THEY'RE BEATING US IN POST COUNT!!!!

February is almost entirely retakers, most often ones on their third take. Few think they're going to be there until December gray day.
June usually picks up the fresh gunners for next cycle.

All in all, the study threads now are super tame. 2014 was nuts (in a super fun way that made me fall in love with TLS).

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:43 pm

September 2014 Waiters was 745 pages. So big and crazy that mods moved it to the lounge.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:49 pm

Rigo wrote:September 2014 Waiters was 745 pages. So big and crazy that mods moved it to the lounge.

Oh my goodness.

WorthlessDegree · Post by **WorthlessDegree** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:56 pm

I don't know why, but logic games have been kicking my butt recently.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:00 pm

WorthlessDegree wrote:I don't know why, but logic games have been kicking my butt recently.

Are you re-doing the games?
Re-doing games is great for learning how to go about in the most efficient manor possible.

Just take like 30 games and do them each once and look up video explanations (7sage youtube videos come to mind)

Once you finish the 30th re-do the set and only look back to the explanation if you're really really stumped.

Then try to do each game in under 8 minutes.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:02 pm

^7Sage Foolproof Method

chicharon · Post by **chicharon** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:27 pm

Post removed...

WorthlessDegree · Post by **WorthlessDegree** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:36 pm

Li'l Sebastian wrote:
WorthlessDegree wrote:I don't know why, but logic games have been kicking my butt recently.
Are you re-doing the games?
Re-doing games is great for learning how to go about in the most efficient manor possible.

Just take like 30 games and do them each once and look up video explanations (7sage youtube videos come to mind)

Once you finish the 30th re-do the set and only look back to the explanation if you're really really stumped.

Then try to do each game in under 8 minutes.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing. Strangely, simple ordering is the game type giving me the most trouble.

WorthlessDegree · Post by **WorthlessDegree** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:43 pm

Starting to get worried I'll have to delay...

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 12:24 am

WorthlessDegree wrote:Starting to get worried I'll have to delay...

You have two whole months before the test. Just drill baby drill.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:28 am

I'm scared of finishing up my finals because that will mean I won't have any reason not to start the grind again.

ngogirl12 · Post by **ngogirl12** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 2:07 am

Li'l Sebastian wrote:
Rigo wrote:Cool on both fronts. Any RC memory tips, feel free to pass them along.
Doing grouping games now. I seem to remember conditional logic pretty well so that's encouraging. February is seeming more and more doable for me.

Get familiar with the process.

If you have excess time try the following:

Print out only the passages, not the questions. Answer the following quesitons in short answer format:

•Main Point
•Logic Pieces of the Argument
•Tone
•What Would the title be
•rewrite all the key terms in your own words

for comparison passages or passages where multiple view points are present also write out
•how they're the same
•how they differ
•what the authors/groups would say about the other

The Reading Comprehension section has questions that are way easier than the Logical Reasoning section, but the answer choices are what makes this section difficult. You have to know the answer before you ever EVER look at the choices.

Another great strategy is to cover all the answer choices with post it notes, and write in you own words what the correct answer choice is.

These are two excellent ways of breaking your habit of moving straight into the answer choice. (if you're having problems with reading comp but not logical reasoning this is probably why)

In reading comprehension you absolutely have to pre-phrase the answer because of how similar they are able to make the answer choices look this can cause interference with what you read making you do worse on the rest of the questions. And the longer you spend thinking about answer choices that weren't in the passage the more time your memory has to both degrade and integrate those possible answer choices into a false memory of what you read.

This differs in LR because you are better able to pick out what did or did not happen just by scanning the stimulus. In RC you don't have that luxury, so it is imperative that you spend your time pre-phrasing, this will also help you move faster in the section because less time debating answer choices.

I'm a Junie lurking on this thread, but THANK YOU for this.. I am so going to utilize this methodology for RC!!