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

[20170322]

Took yesterday off of LSAT prep, but I made 30 new packets of 5 logic games, so I've got all of my materials for the coming weeks. Gonna do 2 PT's a week, with RC/LG drilling in the interim.

[Barack O'Drama]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

[20170322]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

UGH, 3 months? That's sooooo longggggg

[Barack O'Drama]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

UGH, 3 months? That's sooooo longggggg

Good! I need it And believe me, by then you'll be pulling 180s straight. You're only going to get better, the only thing you have to fear is burnout!

It does seem like a long time when you're scoring as high as you though, so I understand how it must feel. Could be worse though, haha

[rmichel93]

Is anyone using or have used the Lawschooli study schedule? If so please let me know, I am using the 12 week one now.

[Doubting Law]

Is anyone using or have used the Lawschooli study schedule? If so please let me know, I am using the 12 week one now.

I looked into it, then realized you had to purchase all the materials to supplement it. In the end I decided to go with 7sage online.

[proteinshake]

I've been using locker number 171 at the gym and I got a 171 on my last PT. maybe I should start using locker number 180

[proteinshake]

Is anyone using or have used the Lawschooli study schedule? If so please let me know, I am using the 12 week one now.

I looked into it, then realized you had to purchase all the materials to supplement it. In the end I decided to go with 7sage online.

I used lawschooli the last time I prepped and it wasn't good. there aren't enough drills and I believe the 12 week schedule has you doing about 5-6 PTs a week. that is horrible advice. I would trash it if I were you.

[cgra1916]

Went to the public library today to do PT 61 and of course all the goddamn high school kids studying for exams took up all the private rooms and the ones that didn't get the rooms were screeching throughout the building. I know everyone says to get used to distractions but fuck, reading a dense package is difficult with cackling.

Went from a 165 last Thursday to a 158 today so it was a hard reality check for me. Timing was the big thing with this, felt like I never really got in a rhythm. Oh well, there's always B.R.

To anyone that's a re-taker like myself: Right now I'm taking 2 tests a week then spending the next 1-2 days reviewing. Would it seem like a better idea to cut to 1 a week and throw in more drilling?

are you not going through any prep books?

No, I am. This is my 3rd go at it. Last summer I did a Powerscore course so I worked through all the books again throughout May and I finished them a week or two ago.

How was the Powerscore course? I am set to begin mine on the 5th of July...

[Doubting Law]

Just finished Section 1 LR on PT53 with the proctor app. Scored 19/25. Obviously one section isn't nearly enough data to reach a conclusion on improvement, but this is roughly 10% better than my last two untimed LR sections I worked on earlier this week.

[Alexandros]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

WE GOT THIS.

Hoping 3 months will allow me to get in full gear, fully master each section, and be PTing in the high 170s come September.

[Barack O'Drama]

Is anyone using or have used the Lawschooli study schedule? If so please let me know, I am using the 12 week one now.

I looked into it, then realized you had to purchase all the materials to supplement it. In the end I decided to go with 7sage online.

I used lawschooli the last time I prepped and it wasn't good. there aren't enough drills and I believe the 12 week schedule has you doing about 5-6 PTs a week. that is horrible advice. I would trash it if I were you.

I tried it and ditched it quick. Like DoubtingLaw said, you have to purchase all the other materials. And Protein is also 100% correct. IMHO you'd be better of just using the PT to study.

Use Mike Kim's LSAT Trainer schedule and or Powerscore. You can always tweak them.

[20170322]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

UGH, 3 months? That's sooooo longggggg

Good! I need it And believe me, by then you'll be pulling 180s straight. You're only going to get better, the only thing you have to fear is burnout!

It does seem like a long time when you're scoring as high as you though, so I understand how it must feel. Could be worse though, haha

Yeah, I was in the high 160's this time last month, so I'm definitely glad I didn't sit for the June test. I just wish there was something between June and September! Haha, I'm going to have to decide which law schools to apply to within 48 hours of receiving my score if I want to truly be an early applicant.

[Barack O'Drama]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

UGH, 3 months? That's sooooo longggggg

Good! I need it And believe me, by then you'll be pulling 180s straight. You're only going to get better, the only thing you have to fear is burnout!

It does seem like a long time when you're scoring as high as you though, so I understand how it must feel. Could be worse though, haha

Yeah, I was in the high 160's this time last month, so I'm definitely glad I didn't sit for the June test. I just wish there was something between June and September! Haha, I'm going to have to decide which law schools to apply to within 48 hours of receiving my score if I want to truly be an early applicant.

Yeah, something in like Late July/Early August would work for ya. I wish they gave the LSAT every month!

Ahh this is true. I definitely need to make my mind up on where to apply. I am toying with the idea of "safety schools" but I am pretty set on going to a T14 in NY or H. So I'll need to apply like you, very, very shortly after we get our LSAT scores back. I better request my LOR asap. I'm worried because I'm states away from my UG and can't meet with them in person.

[20170322]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

UGH, 3 months? That's sooooo longggggg

Good! I need it And believe me, by then you'll be pulling 180s straight. You're only going to get better, the only thing you have to fear is burnout!

It does seem like a long time when you're scoring as high as you though, so I understand how it must feel. Could be worse though, haha

Yeah, I was in the high 160's this time last month, so I'm definitely glad I didn't sit for the June test. I just wish there was something between June and September! Haha, I'm going to have to decide which law schools to apply to within 48 hours of receiving my score if I want to truly be an early applicant.

Yeah, something in like Late July/Early August would work for ya. I wish they gave the LSAT every month!

Ahh this is true. I definitely need to make my mind up on where to apply. I am toying with the idea of "safety schools" but I am pretty set on going to a T14 in NY or H. So I'll need to apply like you, very, very shortly after we get our LSAT scores back. I better request my LOR asap. I'm worried because I'm states away from my UG and can't meet with them in person.

My thought is to have every PS and LOR ready to coat the T14 (sans NU, GT, and Berk) by the time the scores come out. Then, depending on how high my LSAT is, cut out schools I'm less interested in (Cornell, Mich, Penn). If it's below my goal (172), I'll either add some safety schools like WUSTL and Vandy, or (more likely) just retake and delay a year.

[Alexandros]

The plan for the next few weeks:

- 2 full LR sections a day (minimum). Started a spreadsheet to keep track of each section, my score, and the types I got wrong and why - hopefully that will be of some use.

- at least 1 RC section a day (probably 2-ish in the next couple of days), for as long as it's sustainable.

- Keep drilling LG - focusing on problem areas but doing a variety. Today - Advanced Linear, review the difficult Grouping games. Tomorrow and (possibly) Saturday - Pure Sequencing.


Realized I'm going to have done every LG from PTs 1 - 38 (and a few more) pretty soon, don't have the 40s, and am saving 53 onwards for full PTs, so that's a bit worrisome. When I get to that point, I'll photocopy all of the ones I've done, randomly separate them into packs, and do a few packs a day, combining with set-up drills and whatnot. Hopefully that will keep me from getting too rusty.

[Barack O'Drama]

Howdy all...Almost exactly 3 months from the September LSAT.

OK time to get to work! Today I am going to drill more 3D ordering and relative ordering and hope I see some serious improvements. Goal is to be doing grouping games by sometime next week.

Good luck today everyone

UGH, 3 months? That's sooooo longggggg

Good! I need it And believe me, by then you'll be pulling 180s straight. You're only going to get better, the only thing you have to fear is burnout!

It does seem like a long time when you're scoring as high as you though, so I understand how it must feel. Could be worse though, haha

Yeah, I was in the high 160's this time last month, so I'm definitely glad I didn't sit for the June test. I just wish there was something between June and September! Haha, I'm going to have to decide which law schools to apply to within 48 hours of receiving my score if I want to truly be an early applicant.

Yeah, something in like Late July/Early August would work for ya. I wish they gave the LSAT every month!

Ahh this is true. I definitely need to make my mind up on where to apply. I am toying with the idea of "safety schools" but I am pretty set on going to a T14 in NY or H. So I'll need to apply like you, very, very shortly after we get our LSAT scores back. I better request my LOR asap. I'm worried because I'm states away from my UG and can't meet with them in person.

My thought is to have every PS and LOR ready to coat the T14 (sans NU, GT, and Berk) by the time the scores come out. Then, depending on how high my LSAT is, cut out schools I'm less interested in (Cornell, Mich, Penn). If it's below my goal (172), I'll either add some safety schools like WUSTL and Vandy, or (more likely) just retake and delay a year.

Same plan of attack! I think if I don't score where I want, I'm going too try to retake in December and see if I can snag something. I know it will be on the late side, and certainly not early, but I'm hoping I can snag a T14 in NY.

But, yeah, chances are if I don't get into my top choices I'll also wait another year and retake.

[34iplaw]

Yeah - I'm going to assume that I am blanketing the T14, so I will get applications in order for all of them.

As for what I've one today [some overlap from previous post]

---Wake up---

Started with some LG Cambridge Packets:

PT32S2G3 - 8:30 - 7/7

PT27S2G4 - 5:30 - 5/5 [something silly slowed me down]

PT34S4G3 - 9:00 - 7/7 [+1 EXTRA min for #16]

I really need to avoid rushing where I make a reading error that costs me time...really reminds me of old days of ski racing, coach always said remember to breathe, because otherwise you're going to pass out.

---Breakfast--- [subpar chicken and waffles...they had some, cute girl at counter said they were good, they were not.]

Testmaster's Sufficient and Necessary Homework

9/10 for the first ten - missed question was about material bodies and the spirit... basically misread it.

---Back to normal study place---

9/10 for the second ten - missed question was about sociologists...was thrown off by paraphrasing that indicates not migrate = remain settled. I also had missed a somewhat hidden [really not hidden intermediary premise], but I think it would have picked C if I wasn't thinking, "Well, what if they don't migrate, they die off."

Testmaster's Relative Ordering Homework [all new to me IIRC]

1991 Game 3 - 5/5 - 4:40

2013 Game 1 - 4/5 - 5:30+45 sec on #4 [wasted a ton of time on #4 initially, I flipped L - K to K - L in my head for some silly reason; question wrong was a rule substitution...it was still easy and I should have gotten it right]

2006 Game 4 - 6/7 - 9:00 [wrong answer was a really careless mistake with an acceptable situation question... I honestly can't even understand why I got it wrong...super careless...I'm sort of assuming I flipped something in my head while reading like I do from time to time...really took too long]...way more embarrassing when a friend tells you to meet you at 401 and you're sitting at 410 a block away.

2002 Game 1 - 6/7 - 7:00 [wrong answer was a misbubble...was tempted to say 7/7, but I'll keep myself honest]

1999 Game 1 - 6/6 - 5:30+1:00 for #1 [should have done faster but the first question was really throwing me off...everything was seeming acceptable initially, but I flipped K - N to mean N - K in my head... not a hard game, but had two floating elements thrown into a relative ordering which was new to me...granted...I approached it as just everything basically was given a +2/-2 position range which I think was the best way to look at it]

2007 Game 2 - 5/5 - Stopped Timing... was taking far beyond an acceptable time [I HATE this game. I got *so* worked up with the fact that it was a relative ordering game with three branches that are relatively unrelated. You could frame it, but you would have four scenarios which doesn't seem worthwhile for a RO game. Here's the problem. Literally, none of it mattered. Goes to show, don't get worked up. If a game seems way too hard, there's a chance it won't matter by the time you get to the questions. I think there was maybe one question where knowing how the three would work together had any value. One question was acceptable situations. One was where can this not be, and one is just the last slot. I also got thrown off where, for some unknown reason, I did a local question that assigned L to 6, the last position as _ _ _ _ _ L _ _ rather than _ _ _ _ _ L. REALLY stupid stuff. Low energy stuff. All in all, I got worked up because this game seemed super complicated, but none of that complexity remotely mattered for the questions.]

Going to take a bit of a break for now... es claro que si necesito una siesta con los perritos.

When I'm done relaxing, I think I'm going to redo the Testmasters drills [ID question types; some vocab (must rank up and lead that leaderboard) some Sufficient/Necessary in the Cambridge Packets. I'm going to save the second half of the Testmaster's homework for tomorrow morning/afternoon [20 Sufficient/Necessary. I have the Blueprint Webinar on applications at 9PM tonight. I'll post my notes on it [and probably the latter half of my day] when it's done.

[WWhitman]

Hello everyone,

Just finished school and now starting to study for the LSAT in Sep. I have two questions and welcome all inputs:

1. What study plan should I follow? (I have PowerScore 3 month plan now, is it good?) My goal is at least 175+ and I will be studying full time this summer (no job).
2. At the moment I have LRB, LGB, SuperPrep II, and the three latest 10 New/Actual/Next Preps. What other books are good or must haves?

Much appreciated,

WW

All the info others have recommended is great. Wouldn't change a thing!

My prep schedule is basically a mixture of Pithy's/Noodle's with some advice from high scorers on here like SweetTort and ProteinShake. I would recommend going through the LG bible first and drilling until you have made significant advances on your LG score. Then read LR and drill by type after every chapter. Also, if you're open to it, I really recommend spending $40 on the LSAT Trainer. Go through it, and learn all the fundamentals of the test. I did and I think it was the best thing I did for myself vis-a-vis LSAT prep. It gave me a really solid foundation. I would do this first if you choose to get it. You could probably get through it in 2 weeks or so, depending on how much time per day you put in.

If not, I don't think it will necessarily be a problem. I just think it was an efficient way for me to learn the basics and get a good grip on every section. Something to build on if you will.

I just go through chapter-by-chapter of each book and drill by type.

So for my haves: I really think the LSAT Trainer is up there. Also, if you want a 175 I cannot recommend the Manhattan LSAT trilogy enough. Yeah, you'll probably spend another $150, but in the long run, I think anyone would agree it is well worth it. I have the Bible and am going through them with the Manhattan books, but I think MLSAT is more geared toward scoring deep in 95+%-tile. Don't completely jettison the Bibles though if you find them helpful. But I think MLSAT is more conducive to a faster learning curve.

175 is a big goal. But, hey, what can I say when I have the same goal in mind. I know it is doable because others certainly have gone from the 150s to the 170s. I think you just have to be willing to put the time in.

Lastly, I can't tell you how much 7Sage's free LG explanations have been. Definitely sign up for an account and use their videos to check your work and see if there's a simpler way you could have done it. I think Jy from 7Sage has helped me improve my speed more than anything.

Much appreciated! This is super helpful. There seems to be a running theme where studying LG before LR is better, am I correct? Also, you recommend reading LSAT Trainer before the Bibles?

[Barack O'Drama]

Hello everyone,

Just finished school and now starting to study for the LSAT in Sep. I have two questions and welcome all inputs:

1. What study plan should I follow? (I have PowerScore 3 month plan now, is it good?) My goal is at least 175+ and I will be studying full time this summer (no job).
2. At the moment I have LRB, LGB, SuperPrep II, and the three latest 10 New/Actual/Next Preps. What other books are good or must haves?

Much appreciated,

WW

All the info others have recommended is great. Wouldn't change a thing!

My prep schedule is basically a mixture of Pithy's/Noodle's with some advice from high scorers on here like SweetTort and ProteinShake. I would recommend going through the LG bible first and drilling until you have made significant advances on your LG score. Then read LR and drill by type after every chapter. Also, if you're open to it, I really recommend spending $40 on the LSAT Trainer. Go through it, and learn all the fundamentals of the test. I did and I think it was the best thing I did for myself vis-a-vis LSAT prep. It gave me a really solid foundation. I would do this first if you choose to get it. You could probably get through it in 2 weeks or so, depending on how much time per day you put in.

If not, I don't think it will necessarily be a problem. I just think it was an efficient way for me to learn the basics and get a good grip on every section. Something to build on if you will.

I just go through chapter-by-chapter of each book and drill by type.

So for my haves: I really think the LSAT Trainer is up there. Also, if you want a 175 I cannot recommend the Manhattan LSAT trilogy enough. Yeah, you'll probably spend another $150, but in the long run, I think anyone would agree it is well worth it. I have the Bible and am going through them with the Manhattan books, but I think MLSAT is more geared toward scoring deep in 95+%-tile. Don't completely jettison the Bibles though if you find them helpful. But I think MLSAT is more conducive to a faster learning curve.

175 is a big goal. But, hey, what can I say when I have the same goal in mind. I know it is doable because others certainly have gone from the 150s to the 170s. I think you just have to be willing to put the time in.

Lastly, I can't tell you how much 7Sage's free LG explanations have been. Definitely sign up for an account and use their videos to check your work and see if there's a simpler way you could have done it. I think Jy from 7Sage has helped me improve my speed more than anything.

Much appreciated! This is super helpful. There seems to be a running theme where studying LG before LR is better, am I correct?

I'd say that's about right. The exception probably being if you did insanely good on your diagnostic with LG. I think the reason to focus on LG first is because it is easiest to get consistent -0 on. Once you have LG down, you'll also be knowledgable and gave experience with conditional logic and some other skills that will allow you to do better with LR. Also, LG can take a while to get down, especially when timing is involved. This probably renders is best to begin first so you can use the rest of your prep to keep drilling a handful of LG every other day or so to ensure you are getting faster.

[PhiladelphiaCollins]

How was the Powerscore course? I am set to begin mine on the 5th of July...

Pretty solid. I actually sat for the first time in June 2015 after going through the Powerscore books (I had NO business doing this) so going into the course I had a decent grasp of the fundamentals and stuff. Mine was 3x a week for 5 hours a night (I think). I don't know exactly how much I gained from the class room stuff, but learning a few extra pointers that you hadn't thought of before is something that I found pretty valuable. Sometimes someone vocalizing something helps it click as well.

More than anything I benefited most form the dearth of material that came with the course, so it kept me on the ball.

[Doubting Law]

Just finished BR'ing the LR section I took earlier and my score is lower after BR'ing then before I did. Does this ever happen to anyone else?

[Archer@Law]

The plan for the next few weeks:

- 2 full LR sections a day (minimum). Started a spreadsheet to keep track of each section, my score, and the types I got wrong and why - hopefully that will be of some use.

- at least 1 RC section a day (probably 2-ish in the next couple of days), for as long as it's sustainable.

- Keep drilling LG - focusing on problem areas but doing a variety. Today - Advanced Linear, review the difficult Grouping games. Tomorrow and (possibly) Saturday - Pure Sequencing.


Realized I'm going to have done every LG from PTs 1 - 38 (and a few more) pretty soon, don't have the 40s, and am saving 53 onwards for full PTs, so that's a bit worrisome. When I get to that point, I'll photocopy all of the ones I've done, randomly separate them into packs, and do a few packs a day, combining with set-up drills and whatnot. Hopefully that will keep me from getting too rusty.

If you want 41-50, Manhattan sells those in a book organized by type. It is like $40ish on Amazon last time I checked.

[cgra1916]

How was the Powerscore course? I am set to begin mine on the 5th of July...

Pretty solid. I actually sat for the first time in June 2015 after going through the Powerscore books (I had NO business doing this) so going into the course I had a decent grasp of the fundamentals and stuff. Mine was 3x a week for 5 hours a night (I think). I don't know exactly how much I gained from the class room stuff, but learning a few extra pointers that you hadn't thought of before is something that I found pretty valuable. Sometimes someone vocalizing something helps it click as well.

More than anything I benefited most form the dearth of material that came with the course, so it kept me on the ball.

That's great to hear. I've had 3 friends take the Powerscore coure, and now they're all at Georgetown and UT. They're sharp kids who probably just needed the course for reinforcement as you mentioned, but still had great things to say about the course.

My course will be similar to yours, 2-3 days a week, for 4 hours/day. If you don't mind me asking, did you see significant improvements with your scores? I know they give about 3-4 PT's.

[WWhitman]

WOWWW

Has anyone on here felt soo overwhelmed by all the reading on TLS?!?! Jesus, I mean, I haven't even started yet and these pro's tips and tricks are so friggin overwhelming I need a draaaank!!! It's so overwhelming I don't even know where to begin!!! I guess LGB... Sigh... (btw, there's a girl sitting right next to me who looks just like Sansa Stark and to my a guy who's studying for his bar exam, is there a meaning behind this???)