December 2013 LSAT Study Group Forum

[wtrc]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

ETA: Just to make it more clear, because getting a bunch of PM's from people that I confused., I did get back on it, and I raised my score a good amount. Sorry bout that.

[foundingfather]

So far my strategy for my December retake looks like:

LG: Going through the LG bible and drilling with Cambridge's Difficult LG Bundle
LR: Going through the Manhattan LR and drilling with a bundle of LR questions I have organized by question type (Kaplan's Mastery&Timing book)
RC: LSAT Trainer. I'm not exactly sure how I should approach RC this time around. To be honest I kind of neglected it when prepping for my October test and paid the price (a surprising -11). I would only do RC sections during preptests

What do you guys think?

EDIT: Would following the 4-week study schedule provided by the LSAT Trainer work better? I've just really good things about the Manhattan LR.

Something to note: I work full time and I'm still finishing my undergrad degree.

[Otunga]

So far my strategy for my December retake looks like:

LG: Going through the LG bible and drilling with Cambridge's Difficult LG Bundle

LR: Going through the Manhattan LR and drilling with a bundle of LR questions I have organized by question type (Kaplan's Mastery&Timing book)

RC: LSAT Trainer. I'm not exactly sure how I should approach RC this time around. To be honest I kind of neglected it when prepping for my October test and paid the price (a surprising -11). I would only do RC sections during preptests

What do you guys think?

Speaking to RC, I'm kind of intrigued by Mike Kim analyzing RC by question types. Manhattan takes a broader approach to RC, which has worked wonders for me in the past, but I think really nailing down the nuances of each question type could be a good thing.

As for LG, is it the difficult games that give you the most trouble and not a particular type? If so, your plan makes perfect sense.

Manhattan LR also worked wonders for me in Oct prep, but my Oct LR score was -3 worse than the bottom of my range, so...I underperformed there. Still, Manhattan's top notch for LR. You should mix in some section drilling too once you feel you're confident with all the types.

[dasani13]

Does anyone know where to find this page that breaks down Logic Games and assigns a color to them in a list of all LGs from recent PTs? I know this is a vague explanation but it's all I can remember. I forgot to bookmark it when I found it but I think it was from the 7Sage or LSAT Trainer website.

[HeavenBeyond]

Need help with the LSAT Trainer Assignment Schedule...

Drill 1 - PT 53: 1.1, 9, 10, 22; 3.1, 4, 6

Is 1.1 & 3.1 just referring to the section?

EDIT: I figured it out. What a stupid way to notate it.

[HeavenBeyond]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

Did you rewrite in October?

[wtrc]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

Did you rewrite in October?

Yeah, sorry I wasn't more clear. I scored a 167 in June but then raised it significantly in October.

[sashafierce]

[quote="dasani13"]Does anyone know where to find this page that breaks down Logic Games and assigns a color to them in a list of all LGs from recent PTs? I know this is a vague explanation but it's all I can remember. I forgot to bookmark it when I found it but I think it was from the 7Sage or LSAT Trainer website.[/quote



http://www.thelsattrainer.com/articles/ ... from-29-69

your welcome

[action90]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

ETA: Just to make it more clear, because getting a bunch of PM's from people that I confused., I did get back on it, and I raised my score a good amount. Sorry bout that.

would you mind PMing me your studying advice?

[sashafierce]

Does anyone know where to find this page that breaks down Logic Games and assigns a color to them in a list of all LGs from recent PTs? I know this is a vague explanation but it's all I can remember. I forgot to bookmark it when I found it but I think it was from the 7Sage or LSAT Trainer website.



http://www.thelsattrainer.com/articles/ ... from-29-69

your welcome

[toshiroh]

PT 58 and 59 this week. 58 on Friday. 59 on Sunday

[vicpin5190]

Did some drilling of Weaken and Must Be Trues today and then did a couple of the last 8 questions from PT 33 for LR#4.

Spent a lot of time going through the hard weaken's and most of the level 3 Must be true's.

Plan is to drill more RC tomorrow (i've been spending yesterday and Monday doing this) plus maybe work on a timed section LR, and then do PT 50 and 59 This weekend.

Might as well outline my plan for the rest of training:

Next week, 63/64 (4 section, 5 section)
11/11 - 65/66 (5 section, 5 section)
11/18 - 67/68 (5 section AM, 5 section AM with new watch)
11/25 - 69/70 (5 section AM, 5 section AM with)
12/2 - Do 60 one last time to mark where i've gotten since my diagnostic and chill for the rest of the week.

oh man that's crazy. Anyone have a better suggestion? this seems to be the most logical way to break it down for the next few weeks to keep from fizzling out and balancing work. Will constantly drill and do timed sections on days i'm not doing these PTs. But advice would be appreciated.

[HeavenBeyond]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

ETA: Just to make it more clear, because getting a bunch of PM's from people that I confused., I did get back on it, and I raised my score a good amount. Sorry bout that.

would you mind PMing me your studying advice?

I wouldn't mind hearing this as well.

I finished the 7Sage curriculum, but was still PTing well below where I need to be. I just purchased the LSAT Trainer and plan on dedicating my life to it over the next four weeks

[PourMeTea]

Post removed.

[062914123]

.

[Gamine]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

ETA: Just to make it more clear, because getting a bunch of PM's from people that I confused., I did get back on it, and I raised my score a good amount. Sorry bout that.

would you mind PMing me your studying advice?

Would love a PM as well if you don't mind!

Likewise please

[cheme2014]

Rechecking in just to say that I had the biggest disappointment ever after June, after spending thousands of hours and energy and stress studying to only go up one point, and it took a lot of willpower to get back on it and start studying again. If anyone is in that boat now feel free to PM me.

ETA: Just to make it more clear, because getting a bunch of PM's from people that I confused., I did get back on it, and I raised my score a good amount. Sorry bout that.

would you mind PMing me your studying advice?

Would love a PM as well if you don't mind!

Likewise please

Joining the I-want-advice-club (Thanks!)

[wtrc]

Hi. Typing this up quickly during a break at work, sorry for typos. Sorry that this is a bit long.

Lol at B+T.

But anyway...I really think there comes a point of not only diminishing returns but counterproductivity in studying too much. I did it wrong before June because I psyched myself out, and I'm guessing some people here that just had a really disappointing take can relate to some of this. Before June, I did nearly every PT at least once, I drilled pretty much everything, I had almost every game memorized. I was studying a bit when I woke up, when I could while at work (I work 10-6 every day), after work, and on weekends. I studied everything, pretty much equally. My PT's were in the upper 170's for the most part- but inconsistent- sometimes around 170. And the lower PT's were a gift that I never took advantage of. I had very specific weaknesses still- and the weaker PT's highlighted those. But instead of sitting down and thinking "fuck, what just happened... why did I score a 171 this time?" I mostly just brushed it off, thinking it was aberrant, blaming it on lack of sleep or distractions.

I sort of had the mindset that the more hours I put in the better my score would be. I didn't go out (enough) in the weeks before the test, I took way too many natural supplements that the internet told me would help brainpower (nothing sketch- Acai, B complex, etc.), took too much AirBorne to avoid getting sick. The days before the test were filled with friends and family calling wishing me luck. This was a fucking public endeavor.

The day before the test, even though I was told not to, I decided I would "relax" by reviewing old LSAT PT's while hanging out with my (now ex) girlfriend at her apartment pool. I was also arguing with her a lot then, which didn't help my stress level.... but regardless, I left there at like 10 PM, went to a hotel near my test center I was staying at. Got a call from my stereotypically New Yorker but so sweet Jewish Grandma with a PhD from Columbia telling me "I KNOW YOOU WAANT COLUUMBIA, JUST DOO WELL TOMOORROW IS AALL THAT MATTAHHS!," which wasn't exactly what I needed to hear. I barely slept, woke up the next day, and just felt nauseous. I couldn't eat or anything, had to lie down, and eventually was okay but just felt... off. I didn't realize at the time (didn't realize for a few days, actually) that this was probably a mini-anxiety attack, something I've never experienced before. I had told myself -- and convinced myself -- that the rest of my life rides on four hours -- and I couldn't handle it.

On the test, LR1 went fine (-1), but LG was just fucked. And it wasn't some necessarily complicated LG either, but I just couldn't figure it out. My stress and anxiety clouded my judgment, and rather than being able to step back and say "I'm going to take a quick minute to see what inferences can be made here and decide if I can take my rules and turn them into a few neat hypotheticals. I know I usually have extra time on this section, so no need to rush...," I thought "HOLY SHIT FUCK WHAT DO I DO GOTTA BRUTE FORCE THIS SHIT OMG RUNNING OUT OF TIME WHAT IS THIS JUICES AND SNACKS SHIT." Like, actually, that was my thought process.

LG went -7, and I didn't have enough time to finish fully. After redoing it once scores came out (before reviewing), it was an easy 0 in 23 minutes. A 30 second break after reading the rules of each game led to like 10 minutes in time saved.

I forget which Test Prep company says it, but one says to never let your pencil stop moving during the LG section. People on TLS have spoken positively about that. I disagree. Taking a 20 second break in each game to analyze everything helped me a lot, helped cut down my stress level, and helped me save time.

Back to June... I knew LG went poorly, and LR2 came next, but I was so freaked out and it reflected that, with a -3. RC went -4. I got a 167, just one point above my first take (a 166... I took a course and felt that was sufficient, with very little study otherwise).

So I was pretty devastated. Thousands of hours of my life.... for a single point. I justified it to myself (maybe that point will mean a scholarship somewhere that otherwise I wouldn't get... 166 and 167 are way different... who knows?!). But I still knew that I did way too much for a single point here. So after 6 weeks off, I got back into studying, but not as intensely. I started (late July, early August) with the LSAT Trainer (highly recommended, and Mike Kim is great), to make sure that I had the fundamentals and basics down. Once I was satisfied I did, I did PT's, usually like one a week, but didn't let them psyche me out. I didn't tell everyone I was retaking, didn't go on any crazy diets, still went out and saw friends and even went drinking occasionally. I made sure that one night per weekend I would go out and do something.

I also was a lot more selective in what I would drill or spend time on. I realized that I had issues with games that had less clear-cut inferences up front (68.4; that damn bus game; etc.), and spent a lot of time on that. I also spent more time on RC, and didn't do as much LR other than parallel flaw, because I knew I had that pretty much under control.

Seeing everything before actually helped my confidence as well. I knew the regular 178's and 179's and 180's weren't entirely representative, but I felt satisfied that, even though in a few instances I might have remembered the correct answer, I still took the time to solve each question in a systematic way that I would use whenever I see a problem like that.

Took October 2013 and scored a 174, but went 0 (LG), 0 (LR1), then -2 (LR2), then -5 (RC). Far from perfect, I could have done (and hoped to do) a bit better, and I did make some dumb errors at the end- I see now that my endurance wasn't perfect- but I'm satisfied with it, since my GPA is solid, so I think I'm in a decent position at the T6, which is where I wanted to be.

So, I guess if you're feeling really burnt out and done with this thing, like I was feeling after June... you just had a nice break. Get back into it, make sure you know the fundamentals, drill selectively based on what you are struggling with, and don't psyche yourself out. Once you know this- you know it- it's like riding a bike. Sometimes weaknesses might come up, or your judgement might be clouded by stress, but once the stress is gone I truly believe the skills you have won't disappear within a few weeks.

Don't go crazy with the dieting and "magic pills," just eat healthy, drink Synchro (TLS180= 20% discount), and exercise, like you normally would (maybe).

Once you have the fundamentals, this test is 99.9999% about process. This isn't rote memorization, and for some people (like me before October), studying (sometimes far) less is going to pay off more than studying way more will. It doesn't matter if you know somewhere in your mind how to solve each logic game, it matters that you have the skills to execute it under pressure (this applies to the other sections as well, but especially LG, which is so systematic). I knew this test backwards and forwards before June, but didn't quite have the skills and mindset to execute that knowledge under pressure, and it showed in my June score. I never entirely perfected this, but the October score showed a lot of progress towards it.

Sorry for the rant. Feel free to PM if anything else I can help with, see y'all in Boston/NYC/San Fran/everywhere else for some ASW craziness in a few months

[cheme2014]

Hi. Typing this up quickly during a break at work, sorry for typos. Sorry that this is a bit long.

...

Sorry for the rant. Feel free to PM if anything else I can help with, see y'all in Boston/NYC/San Fran/everywhere else for some ASW craziness in a few months

Thanks so much for sharing! Glad you're satisfied with your retake!

(Also, LOLLLL at Synchro )

[AAJD2B]

Amen, Wtrcoins. I am taking a different approach this go round. Less is indeed more for my case and even though it wasn't immediately realized, stress/pressure to see the fruits of my labor did happen to cloud my judgment in October. December will be different.

I hope to join you at some ASWs in the coming months!

[retaking23]

Sorry for the rant. Feel free to PM if anything else I can help with, see y'all in Boston/NYC/San Fran/everywhere else for some ASW craziness in a few months

Very inspiring stuff. I really hope I can calm down the day of and the days and weeks before the test.

[bbkk]

Thank you wtr!

[koalacity]

wtrc's helpful advice!

Just want to chime in here and say +100 the advice re: diminishing returns/burnout/studying more efficiently. I will write up something more detailed later, but seriously, this is so credited.

[062914123]

.

[wtrc]

wtr im printing this out and taping it in front of my desk. your advice now has an honored place next to noodley's and tls 1776's.

<3 I'm honored. Hope this does help y'all! Seriously, I'm going to be like... really invested in December LSAT only because I can't wait to be on c**t and hear how great my TLSfriends do .