The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

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NonTradLawHopeful

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by NonTradLawHopeful » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:54 am

grantb134 wrote:
NonTradLawHopeful wrote:
grantb134 wrote:Just started studying for the LSAT a few weeks ago for a retake. I'm working full time now so its a little difficult to find the motivation/energy after working all day for studying ugh. But I'm taking my first practice test this weekend, I'm nervous/excited!
Good luck and welcome! A lot of people working full time around here so you are in good company.
Thanks! I'm in that awkward position where my work doesn't know I'm taking the LSAT so I can't study at work even when its completely dead. So basically I drink a bunch of coffee and study at night.
Good idea. I try to wake up early to study before work, but it never turns out well. I wind up hitting snooze about 10 times.

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by Rigo » Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:55 am

grantb134 wrote:Just started studying for the LSAT a few weeks ago for a retake. I'm working full time now so its a little difficult to find the motivation/energy after working all day for studying ugh. But I'm taking my first practice test this weekend, I'm nervous/excited!
Welcome & good luck this weekend.

NonTradLawHopeful

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by NonTradLawHopeful » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:06 pm

It seems common on TLS to not use the LSAT Trainer to learn LG, but as I've been studying the past few days there is at least one instance I've found it more useful than the 7Sage setup: double layered sequencing games. Instead of setting up two rows, the LSAT Trainer makes one row a variable to the main row, attached as a subscript. After going through it with PT 20, game 4, I find it to be a much cleaner way to keep track of the pieces. For that game in particular I only used the songs as the main game pieces, and attached the vocalists on as subscripts instead of a second row.

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by Rigo » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:13 pm

NonTradLawHopeful wrote:It seems common on TLS to not use the LSAT Trainer to learn LG, but as I've been studying the past few days there is at least one instance I've found it more useful than the 7Sage setup: double layered sequencing games. Instead of setting up two rows, the LSAT Trainer makes one row a variable to the main row, attached as a subscript. After going through it with PT 20, game 4, I find it to be a much cleaner way to keep track of the pieces. For that game in particular I only used the songs as the main game pieces, and attached the vocalists on as subscripts instead of a second row.
See, I hate the use of subscripts and am much better using the two rows. But def do whatever works best for you.

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TheWalkingDebt

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by TheWalkingDebt » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:53 pm

BruiseWillis wrote:
campaignraiser wrote:Arcade fire is great but the Decemberists are much better imo
Being a fan of both AF and the Decemberists, I'd have to say that Funeral/Neon Bible is better than anything the Decemberists have done (Her Majesty being my fav)
I like both also. I think neon bible was their weakest album actually. And Castaways and cutouts and crane wife are both nearly flawless albums. I haven't heard the new Decemberists yet though and am excited to remember to spotify it later.

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TheWalkingDebt

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by TheWalkingDebt » Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:37 pm

Determined assignment games are pretty challenging.

ETA: Actually, nix that they are normal. I apparently just need to warm up with a game before being able to think in LSAT mode.

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ltowns1

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by ltowns1 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:09 pm

campaignraiser wrote:
RZ5646 wrote:
Gluteus wrote: Goal:
167
That's an oddly specific and low goal. Why not shoot for 170+ like everyone else? Your diagnostic was decent.
Why is 151 considered a good diagnostic? I thought it was average? I got the same thing and had a bit of a panic attack about it being too low of a starting point.
Usually when people start out taking a preptest this is a benchmark. If you can get that score while not having used up many preptests, then chances are you're heading for a really good score (given that you practice, practice, practice) if you're scoring in the 150's around your actual test day then you may have reason to panic, assuming that you were aiming for a score better than around the 150's. In that case I would prob. postpone the test.
Last edited by ltowns1 on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.

trvr

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by trvr » Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:18 pm

Checking in!

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tedofsandimas

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by tedofsandimas » Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:10 pm

I'm planning on taking the June 2015 test, but I haven't actually registered for it yet. My diagnostic LSAT that I just did last week was 156 and my goal is 170+. I work full time and am currently in a graduate program, but I know I can realistically work in 3-4 hours a week of studying and a practice test every other week or so.

With that in mind, any thoughts on whether or not I can get to 170+ by June?

Hopefully this is the right thread for this question, I'm new here.

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a_parm

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by a_parm » Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:49 pm

Been studying hard for a Feb 28 PT.

Just completed few flaw questions from Cambridge. Results are:
Level 1- 10 questions, 8 correct... 8/10
Level 2- 10 questions, 6 correct... 6/10
Level 3- 10 questions, 8 correct... 8/10
Level 4- 5 questions, 3 correct... 3/5
Total- 25/35

I did them untimed. Did them right after the trainer flaw lesson. (Only book I used for flaw....so far). Thoughts?

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RZ5646

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by RZ5646 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:19 pm

a_parm wrote:Been studying hard for a Feb 28 PT.

Just completed few flaw questions from Cambridge. Results are:
Level 1- 10 questions, 8 correct... 8/10
Level 2- 10 questions, 6 correct... 6/10
Level 3- 10 questions, 8 correct... 8/10
Level 4- 5 questions, 3 correct... 3/5
Total- 25/35

I did them untimed. Did them right after the trainer flaw lesson. (Only book I used for flaw....so far). Thoughts?
Do you know what caused you to get those wrong? It's odd that your performance stays basically same despite the increasing difficulty level, and timing couldn't have been an issue.

ETA:

New poll up. Unfortunately you can only have 10 options in a poll, so I made options for the most common prelaw majors and then some general categories that will hopefully catch everything else.

Here are the results of the last poll:

Image

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a_parm

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by a_parm » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:32 pm

Trainer recommends to have a pre-set flaw in your mind before diving into the answer choices. I dont have trouble finding the conclusion and premise but I'm def struggling with finding the CORRECT flaw before looking at the answer choices. So when I look at the answer choices, the "pre-determined" flaw isn't one of the choices. Perhaps I'm not thinking the way I should be?

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RZ5646

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by RZ5646 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:41 pm

The usefulness of prephrasing answers definitely varies. On many questions there's one obvious issue that jumps out at you, but other times the argument seems valid the first time through, or there are so many flaws that you can't identify TCR before looking at the ACs. I'll usually try to see what's wrong with the argument as I read it and prephrase TCR, but if that doesn't work I just keep going and see what the ACs are like.

Did you notice if the ones you missed fall into a certain category of flaw? IIRC the Trainer has 3 kinds of flaws... "a piece is not a puzzle", etc.

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EvergreenStateLady

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by EvergreenStateLady » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:43 pm

gamerish wrote:
RZ5646 wrote:What happened to Gamer? And that Motivator dude who hasn't been around forever.
Heyo. I was recovering from birthday activities, if you mean my lack of posting the last few days. If you're talking about studying I still haven't gotten back to it since that day. I intend on getting back into it tomorrow but we'll see how that goes.
Happy belated birthday! Hope you had fun! :D

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TheWalkingDebt

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by TheWalkingDebt » Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:37 pm

Anyone else ever have a light bulb day on LG? I've been drilling determined assignment questions today as I mentioned earlier. My first game I was -4, but haven't missed a question since in the next 6 games. Am I finally emerging from the shadows of logic games? Or is this just a false peak? Curious to hear from others who initially struggled with LG and turned it around later on

edit: just as I speak, I make a stupid mistake and get -1.
Last edited by TheWalkingDebt on Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by acidwash » Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:50 pm

Jesus. I just took my second PT and got a -9 on RC. First PT I had -1. I haven't studied at all for RC and frankly wasn't really planning on it, but maybe I should. Overall though I ended up with the same final score as my first one.

Are you guys all drilling things from the Cambridge bundles? All I've really used so far is the LGB, LRB, and PTs (and Kaplan explanations of PTs). I have the mastery practice and the super prep, but I'm looking for targeted exercises for LGs and maybe some LR questions.

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betterLawyerUP

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by betterLawyerUP » Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:25 pm

Just took a diagnostic with no knowledge of material, got a 154, not too thrilled. That being said, how are u guys studying the book materials. I just started recently but it seems like the Lsat trainer/powerscore bibles frequently take examples from real lsats. The only problem is that in the future when I PT I would already be exposed to a number of questions. Its hard to keep track cause they will draw examples from PT7 or 32, or 48... its often random.

Also, the logic games werent as bad as expected. I obviously got a fair amount wrong but it seems to be the easiest IMO. Dam RC is hard as hell and I am a slow reader, do you guys internalize everything or make notes close to the passage? Revisiting the June07 RC section I found it pretty difficult and I need to find ways to get better.

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by cheesy145 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:32 pm

betterLawyerUP wrote:Just took a diagnostic with no knowledge of material, got a 154, not too thrilled. That being said, how are u guys studying the book materials. I just started recently but it seems like the Lsat trainer/powerscore bibles frequently take examples from real lsats. The only problem is that in the future when I PT I would already be exposed to a number of questions. Its hard to keep track cause they will draw examples from PT7 or 32, or 48... its often random.

Also, the logic games werent as bad as expected. I obviously got a fair amount wrong but it seems to be the easiest IMO. Dam RC is hard as hell and I am a slow reader, do you guys internalize everything or make notes close to the passage? Revisiting the June07 RC section I found it pretty difficult and I need to find ways to get better.
Don't be discouraged! That's a good diagnostic...I got a 146...as for studying I would recommend starting with power score because its usually more basic and working up to Manhattan and LSAT trainer. RC is very hard to improve because most people learn their reading skills years ago but I would recommend reading the economist and science daily to familiarize myself with the style of writing that is in the LSAT and hopefully that can improve your reading speed.

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betterLawyerUP

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by betterLawyerUP » Thu Feb 19, 2015 8:03 pm

grantb134 wrote: Don't be discouraged! That's a good diagnostic...I got a 146...as for studying I would recommend starting with power score because its usually more basic and working up to Manhattan and LSAT trainer. RC is very hard to improve because most people learn their reading skills years ago but I would recommend reading the economist and science daily to familiarize myself with the style of writing that is in the LSAT and hopefully that can improve your reading speed.

Thanks man, RC is a pain, every word carries weight it seems. I did the Lsat Trainer for past two days and the biggest issue I am having is that all the prep material uses real examples, which IMO renders the PT's less useful because you dont take them with a fresh eye. Someone let me know if they have any thoughts.

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The Abyss

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by The Abyss » Thu Feb 19, 2015 8:23 pm

betterLawyerUP wrote:
grantb134 wrote: Don't be discouraged! That's a good diagnostic...I got a 146...as for studying I would recommend starting with power score because its usually more basic and working up to Manhattan and LSAT trainer. RC is very hard to improve because most people learn their reading skills years ago but I would recommend reading the economist and science daily to familiarize myself with the style of writing that is in the LSAT and hopefully that can improve your reading speed.

Thanks man, RC is a pain, every word carries weight it seems. I did the Lsat Trainer for past two days and the biggest issue I am having is that all the prep material uses real examples, which IMO renders the PT's less useful because you dont take them with a fresh eye. Someone let me know if they have any thoughts.
Most study books use questions from PTs 1-39, which will still leave you with 30+ fresh PTs for PTing. The conventional wisdom around these parts is to get the Cambridge bundle that takes PT 1-39 and separates everything by section and then question type within the sections. Use that bundle for drilling, and then use the 30+ others for PTing.

Also, you don't want to use ANY study material that makes up questions/uses fake questions.

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betterLawyerUP

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by betterLawyerUP » Thu Feb 19, 2015 8:41 pm

The Abyss wrote:
Most study books use questions from PTs 1-39, which will still leave you with 30+ fresh PTs for PTing. The conventional wisdom around these parts is to get the Cambridge bundle that takes PT 1-39 and separates everything by section and then question type within the sections. Use that bundle for drilling, and then use the 30+ others for PTing.

Also, you don't want to use ANY study material that makes up questions/uses fake questions.
Thanks a lot. Im just starting LGB and trying to get to the meat of it, still stuck where they tell you the obvious to not erase, make labels, be energetic (annoying). In regards to reading comprehension, are u high scorers making a lot of notations or just reading then answering?

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RZ5646

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by RZ5646 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:14 pm

apparently ITT: poli sci majors

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cheesy145

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by cheesy145 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:17 pm

betterLawyerUP wrote:
The Abyss wrote:
Most study books use questions from PTs 1-39, which will still leave you with 30+ fresh PTs for PTing. The conventional wisdom around these parts is to get the Cambridge bundle that takes PT 1-39 and separates everything by section and then question type within the sections. Use that bundle for drilling, and then use the 30+ others for PTing.

Also, you don't want to use ANY study material that makes up questions/uses fake questions.
Thanks a lot. Im just starting LGB and trying to get to the meat of it, still stuck where they tell you the obvious to not erase, make labels, be energetic (annoying). In regards to reading comprehension, are u high scorers making a lot of notations or just reading then answering?
I think it has a lot to do with personal preference but I think most people would agree that less is more. Like if you underline every other sentence it looks complicated and the underling loses its significance. I personally circle a word that is about to defined and peoples names and write "vp" next to a view point. Less is more also because if you make too many notations it can be a time waster.

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The Abyss

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by The Abyss » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:27 pm

betterLawyerUP wrote:
The Abyss wrote:
Most study books use questions from PTs 1-39, which will still leave you with 30+ fresh PTs for PTing. The conventional wisdom around these parts is to get the Cambridge bundle that takes PT 1-39 and separates everything by section and then question type within the sections. Use that bundle for drilling, and then use the 30+ others for PTing.

Also, you don't want to use ANY study material that makes up questions/uses fake questions.
Thanks a lot. Im just starting LGB and trying to get to the meat of it, still stuck where they tell you the obvious to not erase, make labels, be energetic (annoying). In regards to reading comprehension, are u high scorers making a lot of notations or just reading then answering?
I don't make many marks during RC. I'll bracket main points/topic sentences of a paragraph, but most of what I'm doing is just active reading. So, say you just read the 1st paragraph of the passage. Quickly think: what was the main point of that paragraph? Can I predict what this next paragraph is going to be about? And if it was the 2nd or 3rd paragraph, also ask: How did that relate to the previous paragraphs. Reading like this will help you focus on the structure of the passage and the main point of the passage. Don't focus too much on the details, as questions about the details tend to reference line #'s for quick reference.

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RZ5646

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Re: The Official June 2015 Study Group

Post by RZ5646 » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:44 pm

I've been going -1 on RC and I mark up the passage quite a bit. I box names that seem important and underline transition words, phrases that capture main ideas, terms that may need defined, etc. I don't read super fast but I allow myself time to refer back to the passage when I need to, and those markings help me do that.

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