December 2013 LSAT Study Group Forum

[vicpin5190]

Am I the only one who used to rage quit PTs lol. When I was first learning the LSAT. I would take a test, and the first section in I would bomb it and then... rage quit the whole PT lol.

i would rage quit grading my first few PTs at first. Okay -10....well maybe things will get better...-12....hopefully i can still pull it out....-12....i quit, screw law school.

[toshiroh]

Welp. 30 days left for me. I stop everything on the 5th.

[taks7]

Not sure if there's any consensus on this, but is there a difference (in terms of difficulty level) between PT's in the 50s to those in the 60s?

[aesth24]

Is it just me or has anyone else felt like they haven't had to diagram as much for conditional statements when it comes to LR questions in the 60s PTS....

[steven21]

I recently took PT 63 168, LR 24/25 LG 21/23 LR 22/26 RC 21/27. I have PTs 65 66 67 68 69 70 left to take. To score 170-173 on the actual test will I have needed to have scored at least a 170 on all six of them? Or would 3/6 4/6 be good enough? Before taking PT 63 I had been re-using tests in the 50s with last one taken being PT 54. Should I re-use PTs 55-62 before I take PT 65 to make sure I score a 170 on PTs 65-70 and on the real test

[toshiroh]

I recently took PT 63 168, LR 24/25 LG 21/23 LR 22/26 RC 21/27. I have PTs 65 66 67 68 69 70 left to take. To score 170-173 on the actual test will I have needed to have scored at least a 170 on all six of them? Or would 3/6 4/6 be good enough? Before taking PT 63 I had been re-using tests in the 50s with last one taken being PT 54. Should I re-use PTs 55-62 before I take PT 65 to make sure I score a 170 on PTs 65-70 and on the real test

There's no way to answer this question. There have been people who have scored 165-168 the whole way through and wound up with a 170 on test day.

[cookiecrisp]

At a crossroads. Debating whether I should buckle down and take the exam on the 7th or get a refund and wait till June. Let me explain. I've been working full time and I've been lazy/discouraged from working. Generally I PT (I've probably taken like 4 full tests) in the low 160s. When I take the test untimed I hit 170+. I was thinking of giving notice at work from the 16th to Dec. 5th just going super hard and doing a PT every day, maybe even two. I can afford to do this because I am leaving the country for 10 months in January. If I do this I miss out on some extra money I'd make by working and possibly still get a shitty score if I don't figure out how to perform under pressure. My other choice is wait until June because the test isn't administered where I am going to be in February. Do a three month intensive prep because I will have much more free time and take it then. What do you guys think? Now or then? I really don't know what to do. I feel like shit about the whole thing. It isn't even laziness as much as cracking under pressure on timed PTs and getting totally discouraged. But if I take a leap of faith I might still royally screw myself and then kick myself over losing the extra money I could have made staying at work.

[retaking23]

At a crossroads. Debating whether I should buckle down and take the exam on the 7th or get a refund and wait till June. Let me explain. I've been working full time and I've been lazy/discouraged from working. Generally I PT (I've probably taken like 4 full tests) in the low 160s. When I take the test untimed I hit 170+. I was thinking of giving notice at work from the 16th to Dec. 5th just going super hard and doing a PT every day, maybe even two. I can afford to do this because I am leaving the country for 10 months in January. If I do this I miss out on some extra money I'd make by working and possibly still get a shitty score if I don't figure out how to perform under pressure. My other choice is wait until June because the test isn't administered where I am going to be in February. Do a three month intensive prep because I will have much more free time and take it then. What do you guys think? Now or then? I really don't know what to do. I feel like shit about the whole thing. It isn't even laziness as much as cracking under pressure on timed PTs and getting totally discouraged. But if I take a leap of faith I might still royally screw myself and then kick myself over losing the extra money I could have made staying at work.

Take it June. A couple of weeks won't make much of a difference because, if you are in the low 160s, there is simply too much to master and not enough time to get both effective and efficient at it.

And don't be lazy about this. You need to be afraid of this test to motivate yourself to buckle down and go mad studying for it. Your lack of fear is disturbing. Maybe you should take it in December and see if luck favors you. If it does, then congratulations will be in order. If it doesn't, you will have manufactured your own fear. Win win?

[OVOXO]

PT 54: I dont care about your stupid drilling methods.

LR −2
LR2 −0 (first time, BEEN waiting for this)
LG −1
RC −2 (was expecting −5ish)

96/101

176

Tied my highest PT score thus far and couldn’t be happier. My only late-night PT (started around 8:30) and was tired as hell from my workout, contemplated stopping multiple times. Didn’t have an experimental and already noticed a right-to-wrong answer switch. Killed precious time fixing misbubbling errors. Never the less, will take it.

[vicpin5190]

Did some timed sections and a review of my Sunday PT, 59.

After going over the LR sections, very evident that I must have lost focus on the second section, because there were about 5 that I definitely wouldn't have missed usually. Need to pay attention.

For the timed sections, did 2 LRs today, both from 57.

First one was LR#2, and I scored -6 and then -3 off blind review. A little troubling, but I reviewed hard and then jumped into LR#1 from 57 and went -1, -0 off blind review, so that was encouraging. Very little break between reviewing LR#2 and LR#1 so somethings tells me being a little bit more warmed up was a good thing.

Plan tomorrow: Do 2 timed sections of RC's plus some drilling of Most Strongly Support, Role in Argument, and Point of Differences (seems to be these are ones that i'm now having trouble on...weird).

A solid 3 hours today.

[echamberlin8]

Gotta start focusing more strongly on PTing. I've been doing a fair bit of question type drilling and reading the books, but I should start focusing more heavily on PTs this last month. Won't lie, I'm pretty terrified of December.

[OVOXO]

Gotta start focusing more strongly on PTing. I've been doing a fair bit of question type drilling and reading the books, but I should start focusing more heavily on PTs this last month. Won't lie, I'm pretty terrified of December.

PT-thorough review…and repeat

The quantity of times isn’t as important as the quality of your review. Just my $0.02.

[toshiroh]

I decided to take a week off from taking PTs. I feel really, really burnt out, and it's no use wasting perfectly good PTs on an unrepresentative score.

[vicpin5190]

Did a timed section of RC from PT36 today. It was pretty easy I think, and accordingly I scored -1 total.

Then drilled Hard Must Be Trues, and Level 1 Method of Reasoning and Point at Issue questions til the cows came home (i.e. I got kicked out of the library because they were closed).

RC is coming along at least, albeit PT36 is not representative of any current PTs with regard to RC. Still, my performance there is improving.

[usernotfound]

Anyone taken PT 50 recently? I found the RC really challenging, and the LG and LR easier than usual.

[Youppi!]

Anyone taken PT 50 recently? I found the RC really challenging, and the LG and LR easier than usual.

YES!

[vicpin5190]

Anyone taken PT 50 recently? I found the RC really challenging, and the LG and LR easier than usual.

I took this one last Friday, scored -4 I believe on reading comp. I think the last passage was pretty tough from what I recall.

[ftbchamp231]

I burned through PTs 29-38 and 52-69 studying for the October test. I am drilling LR and RC from 1-40 and 1-20, respectively. I found a couple of PTs in the 40s floating around in PDFs online (usually from kaplan's website), would these be fairly representative of current problems or am I better off reusing the tests from the 60s?

[Youppi!]

Anyone taken PT 50 recently? I found the RC really challenging, and the LG and LR easier than usual.

I took this one last Friday, scored -4 I believe on reading comp. I think the last passage was pretty tough from what I recall.

I forget the topic but I want to say it was heavy on science and REALLY difficult. -3 on the last passage.

[usernotfound]

Anyone taken PT 50 recently? I found the RC really challenging, and the LG and LR easier than usual.

I took this one last Friday, scored -4 I believe on reading comp. I think the last passage was pretty tough from what I recall.

I forget the topic but I want to say it was heavy on science and REALLY difficult. -3 on the last passage.

I thought the 3rd and 4th sections were really hard. I just felt that several of the questions had no clear answer. The first two were fairly easy imo, I think I only got one wrong between the two, but the last two just totally killed me and I think I went -9 on that section with -0 on LG and -1/2 on LR. I even reread them and did them untimed and didn't do much better. Really pissed me off.

[echamberlin8]

Gotta start focusing more strongly on PTing. I've been doing a fair bit of question type drilling and reading the books, but I should start focusing more heavily on PTs this last month. Won't lie, I'm pretty terrified of December.

PT-thorough review…and repeat

The quantity of times isn’t as important as the quality of your review. Just my $0.02.

Thanks for that. How do you recommend reviewing after finishing the PT? Going over missed problems and then problems that one had trouble with, even if they didn't necessarily miss them? Any good resources for going over the problems on PTs?

[OVOXO]

PT59: Still getting pwned by LR

LG −0
LR −4
LR2 −2
RCX - 5 (PT35, Ronald Dworkin)
RC −3 (I’m no fan of Japanese sculptors)


92/101

174

I’ll gladly take a −3 on such a tough RC section esp. when its the fifth section but −4 on LR when its the second section is unacceptable. Will review tonight. if any of you smart peeps have comments about PT59, please post or pm me.

[echamberlin8]

PT59: Still getting pwned by LR

LG −0
LR −4
LR2 −2
RCX - 5 (PT35, Ronald Dworkin)
RC −3 (I’m no fan of Japanese sculptors)


92/101

174

I’ll gladly take a −3 on such a tough RC section esp. when its the fifth section but −4 on LR when its the second section is unacceptable. Will review tonight. if any of you smart peeps have comments about PT59, please post or pm me.

Phenomenal score! Going to PT this weekend (maybe twice). Haven't taken one in a while. It's hard to motivate myself to take a full 5-section PT, especially when I want to review it after taking it, after a full day of work. Bleh.

How do you guys motivate yourself to study after/before(/during?) work?

[toshiroh]

PT59: Still getting pwned by LR

LG −0
LR −4
LR2 −2
RCX - 5 (PT35, Ronald Dworkin)
RC −3 (I’m no fan of Japanese sculptors)


92/101

174

I’ll gladly take a −3 on such a tough RC section esp. when its the fifth section but −4 on LR when its the second section is unacceptable. Will review tonight. if any of you smart peeps have comments about PT59, please post or pm me.

If you call that getting owned, I guess I'm getting god stomped then

[toshiroh]

PT59: Still getting pwned by LR

LG −0
LR −4
LR2 −2
RCX - 5 (PT35, Ronald Dworkin)
RC −3 (I’m no fan of Japanese sculptors)


92/101

174

I’ll gladly take a −3 on such a tough RC section esp. when its the fifth section but −4 on LR when its the second section is unacceptable. Will review tonight. if any of you smart peeps have comments about PT59, please post or pm me.

Phenomenal score! Going to PT this weekend (maybe twice). Haven't taken one in a while. It's hard to motivate myself to take a full 5-section PT, especially when I want to review it after taking it, after a full day of work. Bleh.

How do you guys motivate yourself to study after/before(/during?) work?

I study after work, and I just look at it as something that has to be done. I get a quick snack and red eye and go to work.