The Official September 2014 Study Group Forum

[Louis1127]

On my next PT, I am going to try and mark up the stimulus on LR less than I usually do.

Doing this because I think marking up the stimulus 1. Takes too much time and

More alarmingly 2. I think it may cause me to miss the big picture of what's going on in the argument. On my last PT, I missed a main conclusion question and upon review I knew the answer in 5 seconds.

[Christine (MLSAT)]

In trying to improve RC, I find RC passages are much more complex than writing in economist or ny times. So I have been trying to find a book that compiles scholarly complex articles and essays on diverse topics in humanities, soc sciences (art/literature movements, historical events etc). I don't have access to jstor. Any suggestions?

Not all of these are the same complexity, but this list should offer a wider range of both focus and structure than just The Economist:
Smithsonian Magazine, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, NASA News, Scientific American, Public Library of Science, Popular Science, Psychology Today, Foreign Affairs, The Socjournal, SCOTUSBlog, Law Professor Blog Network, Arts & Letters Daily.

[sashafierce]

On my next PT, I am going to try and mark up the stimulus on LR less than I usually do.

Doing this because I think marking up the stimulus 1. Takes too much time and

More alarmingly 2. I think it may cause me to miss the big picture of what's going on in the argument. On my last PT, I missed a main conclusion question and upon review I knew the answer in 5 seconds.

Trust me less marking would help tremendously! I used to underline and circle so much and it started to become a distraction, now I just use brackets to separate conclusion from premise with a "C" and "P" next to each bracket.

[Learn_Live_Hope]

On my next PT, I am going to try and mark up the stimulus on LR less than I usually do.

Doing this because I think marking up the stimulus 1. Takes too much time and

More alarmingly 2. I think it may cause me to miss the big picture of what's going on in the argument. On my last PT, I missed a main conclusion question and upon review I knew the answer in 5 seconds.

Trust me less marking would help tremendously! I used to underline and circle so much and it started to become a distraction, now I just use brackets to separate conclusion from premise with a "C" and "P" next to each bracket.

Could not agree more!!!

Sometimes-depending on the difficulty of the passage, I don't mark at all.

[Comstock]

My long weekend break has paid off for me.

PT 51:

LR 21/25 (-4)
RC 23/28 (-5)
LR 21/25 (-4)
LG (21/22) (-1)

Score: 168

Feeling good.

Again, every time I've felt burnt out and have taken a break from the LSAT, my score has gone up substantially from my previous week of PTs. If anyone ever feels burnt out, please take some time off. It really does more good than trying to pound through even more material.

Now all I hope for is that I can maintain this Either way today is a good day.

[Louis1127]

Just dropped 9 points from PT 43 to 44.

156

LG -8
RC -7
LR -6
LR -9

I have no idea what happened on LR. I felt like I didn't understand what I was reading on half the questions, which is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of my last PT, in which I missed 3 each section and felt very confident.

Haven't had a bad LSAT day in a while, so I guess I was in line for one today.

Anyhow, review tomorrow, and see what exactly happened on LR.

[gnomgnomuch]

Welp.

First day of Chem today. Its a MONTH long course, that meets three times a week from 12- 5:20....BUT it has 10 labs, 4 quizzes, a midterm and a final (which is cumulative.) Like goddam... they're going hard.

Also, got an ULTRA gunner in my chem class, but he's apparently not very bright. Professor was asking super basic questions (whats a compound, what is the name of CO, difference between physical/chemical changes) and not only did he yell out the answer EVERY TIME, he also got it wrong, ALMOST every time. Normally I wouldn't care about him getting the answer wrong, but in a 2 hour lecture, he managed to yell about 30 times...and the first 30 minutes of the lecture was just going over the syllabus.


On an LSAT related note:
Does anyone have problems with relative ordering? I'm pretty accurate with them (usually go -0/1) but I'm SO slow. I just did the clown game and went 6/7 on it, but it took me 8 minutes.

[gnomgnomuch]

Just dropped 9 points from PT 43 to 44.

156

LG -8
RC -7
LR -6
LR -9

I have no idea what happened on LR. I felt like I didn't understand what I was reading on half the questions, which is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of my last PT, in which I missed 3 each section and felt very confident.

Haven't had a bad LSAT day in a while, so I guess I was in line for one today.

Anyhow, review tomorrow, and see what exactly happened on LR.

Don't worry buddy!

It happens once in a while, just remember that you CAN and HAVE done much better, that this was just a fluke.

[kbrizz]

Just dropped 9 points from PT 43 to 44.

156

LG -8
RC -7
LR -6
LR -9

I have no idea what happened on LR. I felt like I didn't understand what I was reading on half the questions, which is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of my last PT, in which I missed 3 each section and felt very confident.

Haven't had a bad LSAT day in a while, so I guess I was in line for one today.

Anyhow, review tomorrow, and see what exactly happened on LR.

Don't worry buddy!

It happens once in a while, just remember that you CAN and HAVE done much better, that this was just a fluke.

^^ Agreed! It also seems like you have the right attitude about it. It's just one bad test. You're gonna bounce back.

[Louis1127]

Also, got an ULTRA gunner in my chem class

At least that will prepare you for law school, lol.

One of my friends' dad said that he did the best in college when he took 18 hours and was working 20 hours a week. So see if that holds true for you!

Thanks 4 the encouragement gno and kbrizz. Tomorrow's a new day

[ilikebaseball]

Definitely trying the much hyped Voyager thread strat for my next RC section

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... f=6&t=7240

See if it makes things quicker and/or easier

[h3jk5h]

How come you are always so positive, Louis? I almost always feel like crying when my score does not live up to expectation.

Also, got an ULTRA gunner in my chem class

At least that will prepare you for law school, lol.

One of my friends' dad said that he did the best in college when he took 18 hours and was working 20 hours a week. So see if that holds true for you!

Thanks 4 the encouragement gno and kbrizz. Tomorrow's a new day

[valen]

My second PT (PT B from superprep) untimed:

LR: -4
LG: -3
RC: -1
LR: -1
Converted score: 175

Looks like there was a serious curve on this exam. You could get up to 4 wrong and still get a 180. I'm guessing because the first LR seemed super tricky.

Will I naturally get better at timing with more practice? If this was timed I probably would have gotten a 150.

[ultraman]

Did my first timed PT and Got a 169 thanks to a very generous curve (Prep B)

Breakdown:

LR: #14 #17 #19 #21 #23 #26
LG: -0
RC: #7 #13 #15 #20
LR: #5 #9 #15 #17 #18 #25

I need to focus on LR and RC......

[bound]

My second PT (PT B from superprep) untimed:

LR: -4
LG: -3
RC: -1
LR: -1
Converted score: 175

Looks like there was a serious curve on this exam. You could get up to 4 wrong and still get a 180. I'm guessing because the first LR seemed super tricky.

Will I naturally get better at timing with more practice? If this was timed I probably would have gotten a 150.

Timing gets easier with practice yes, but the biggest step to getting there is actually timing yourself. How many querstions have you finished after the 35 minutes are up? 23/25? 20/25? 15/25?

Drilling helped me get A LOT faster. For example, I always try to get through the first 14 questions in LR on PT's in about 14-15minutes. That way, I have much more time to complete the more difficult questions (15-22.) When drilling, I would take 14-15 lower difficulty questions and attempt to complete them in 10-12 minutes. That way on PT's, attempting to complete them in 14minutes felt like a breeze.

[valen]

My second PT (PT B from superprep) untimed:

LR: -4
LG: -3
RC: -1
LR: -1
Converted score: 175

Looks like there was a serious curve on this exam. You could get up to 4 wrong and still get a 180. I'm guessing because the first LR seemed super tricky.

Will I naturally get better at timing with more practice? If this was timed I probably would have gotten a 150.

Timing gets easier with practice yes, but the biggest step to getting there is actually timing yourself. How many querstions have you finished after the 35 minutes are up? 23/25? 20/25? 15/25?

Drilling helped me get A LOT faster. For example, I always try to get through the first 14 questions in LR on PT's in about 14-15minutes. That way, I have much more time to complete the more difficult questions (15-22.) When drilling, I would take 14-15 lower difficulty questions and attempt to complete them in 10-12 minutes. That way on PT's, attempting to complete them in 14minutes felt like a breeze.

Thanks for the tip! Where do you pull your questions from for drilling?

[bound]

My second PT (PT B from superprep) untimed:

LR: -4
LG: -3
RC: -1
LR: -1
Converted score: 175

Looks like there was a serious curve on this exam. You could get up to 4 wrong and still get a 180. I'm guessing because the first LR seemed super tricky.

Will I naturally get better at timing with more practice? If this was timed I probably would have gotten a 150.

Timing gets easier with practice yes, but the biggest step to getting there is actually timing yourself. How many querstions have you finished after the 35 minutes are up? 23/25? 20/25? 15/25?

Drilling helped me get A LOT faster. For example, I always try to get through the first 14 questions in LR on PT's in about 14-15minutes. That way, I have much more time to complete the more difficult questions (15-22.) When drilling, I would take 14-15 lower difficulty questions and attempt to complete them in 10-12 minutes. That way on PT's, attempting to complete them in 14minutes felt like a breeze.

Thanks for the tip! Where do you pull your questions from for drilling?

I have the Cambridge packets!

[kbrizz]

My second PT (PT B from superprep) untimed:

LR: -4
LG: -3
RC: -1
LR: -1
Converted score: 175

Looks like there was a serious curve on this exam. You could get up to 4 wrong and still get a 180. I'm guessing because the first LR seemed super tricky.

Will I naturally get better at timing with more practice? If this was timed I probably would have gotten a 150.

Good to see that you appreciate the curve here, but you should also celebrate your score! That is something to be proud of, timed or not. Giving yourself a pat on the back will keep you encouraged (it's one of the better pieces of advice I've received) and it will motivate you for next time. Keep pushing and congrats!

[mornincounselor]

Post removed.

[kbrizz]

Just ran through PT 22 RC doing each section individually while keeping time. For the middle two passages I marked very little while the last passage took a lot more marking. I would like to think I am getting better but it probably more likely that these passages just aligned more with my strengths (an 8 question legal passage, a passage on the morality of corporations, no biological science etc.). Whatever the case may be I did go -2. (-1, -0, -0, -1)

Hell yeah.

Good job!

[valen]

My second PT (PT B from superprep) untimed:

LR: -4
LG: -3
RC: -1
LR: -1
Converted score: 175

Looks like there was a serious curve on this exam. You could get up to 4 wrong and still get a 180. I'm guessing because the first LR seemed super tricky.

Will I naturally get better at timing with more practice? If this was timed I probably would have gotten a 150.

Good to see that you appreciate the curve here, but you should also celebrate your score! That is something to be proud of, timed or not. Giving yourself a pat on the back will keep you encouraged (it's one of the better pieces of advice I've received) and it will motivate you for next time. Keep pushing and congrats!

Thank you! I'm hoping I can keep it consistently in the mid 170s, but trying not to be overly confident

[kbrizz]

I am just not moving through the LG Bible quickly enough. I feel like I'm losing time. It seems like drilling after each chapter just slows me down.

I kind of just want to plow through the rest of the book and then drill full sections of games.

Dumbest idea ever?

[fra]

I am just not moving through the LG Bible quickly enough. I feel like I'm losing time. It seems like drilling after each chapter just slows me down.

I kind of just want to plow through the rest of the book and then drill full sections of games.

Dumbest idea ever?

I want to say yes, but at the same time I don't want to be a jerk, so I'm going to say probably. I did almost the opposite with LG bible, skimmed through the chapter to get to the drills at the end, just reviewing the chapter in more detail for things that challenged me.

I think that it's not about the time spent at this point, but about the skills gained. Are the drills helping your LG skills? Do whatever you have to do to maximize (skills gained/time invested).

[kbrizz]

I am just not moving through the LG Bible quickly enough. I feel like I'm losing time. It seems like drilling after each chapter just slows me down.

I kind of just want to plow through the rest of the book and then drill full sections of games.

Dumbest idea ever?

I want to say yes, but at the same time I don't want to be a jerk, so I'm going to say probably. I did almost the opposite with LG bible, skimmed through the chapter to get to the drills at the end, just reviewing the chapter in more detail for things that challenged me.

I think that it's not about the time spent at this point, but about the skills gained. Are the drills helping your LG skills? Do whatever you have to do to maximize (skills gained/time invested).

Haha, don't worry about my ego, I'm here for the hard truth if that's the means to the end.

To be honest, I don't really know how to tell if the drills are helping my skills. Sometimes I feel like I am seeing inferences, and sometimes I think I just get through the question because I vaguely remember it.

[danmcc413]

Just finished up PT40 and the results were definitely mixed. On one hand, I managed to -0 my first ever LG section with time to spare, too, which is really encouraging, and I also got -1 on the first LR section. However, on the second LR, I really messed up and got -8. RC is usually my strongest and I got -1 which is about the average. So all together, I'm happy with the results - I got a 170 which is right around my average, but that huge drop off in LR scares me. I definitely am about to start really drilling my weakness areas with LR because I've been pretty inconsistent with it. I've gone -3 total LR for a test before and then today I went -8 so I feel like I've got some definite strengths and weaknesses to keep in mind. Hope everyone else is doing well, on to PT41 tomorrow!