The Official June 2014 Study Group Forum

[politibro44]

I feel as if I have a decent grasp on the basics of LR. I am aiming for at least a -3 or -4 for both sections on test day. I'm cautiously beginning to think that I should just drill from Cambridge instead of going through MLSAT. I've gone through the Trainer already and have studied for the exam before.

Do you guys think this is going to prove successful or is MLSAT necessary?

Interested in this as well. I am in the exact same position.

So I finished the trainer a while ago and have been drilling mostly since. I started incorporating Manhattan LR into my drilling a couple of weeks ago and have found it helpful. I think it's worth it.

I just group together questions types by the trainer's chapters, then read those question type sections in manhattan on Saturday and drill those different questions for the rest of the following week. Manhattan has helped for certain questions types more than others (e.g. strengthen + weaken, for me).

While I'm antsy to drill problems, I think it's important to reflect on your process to make sure you aren't cementing any bad habits. I also have a "cheat sheet" I write up after each manhattan section incorporating the major takeaways from manhattan and the trainer. Then I read it before I start drilling those questions types again. Helps me stay focused.

[politibro44]

Had a rough day. Started out missing some level 4 Must Be Trues, then missed some easy Cannot Be Trues, some for stupid reasons (like losing track of the question stem while going through answer choices). Finally, I wrote out full explanations for 4 level 4 Nec Assump questions and got three (of the four) wrong. Yea it's been a rough day for ol' Louis1127.

I just called it a day after 3 hours drilling today. I started thinking to myself "After three months, you really shouldn't be missing this many questions" and I got a bit discouraged so I needed to stop today. If I had kept going, I would have just become more frustrated.

Tomorrow is a new day and I will start working hard again then.

Louis, I have these days too. I think the exact same thing.

I find exercise or other "downtime" activities that just get your mind off the test really help. In fact, I think it's necessary. I also remember reading about previous prepping experiences where people would take a few days off entirely and come back with a bump in PT score. Gotta stay cognizant of that burn out!

[rebexness]

Drilling RC is possibly the worst ever.

[givemea180]

Drilling RC is possibly the worst ever.

Drilling rc is my favorite. So choice

[knowyourself]

Did both LR sections on PT40 (untimed).
Section 1 : -3
Section 3: -3

Reviewed circled questions for 2-hours by dissecting the stimulus and answer choices. Going to finish LR on 7Sage by Friday and will attempt another PT. Hopefully I won't make the same mistakes and will start to shift my focus onto RC.

Excited to begin drilling RC.

[10052014]

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[tfinndogm]

so here's a question... how do you all feel about diminishing returns?

[WaltGrace83]

damn, that's a really good track...

I use to be really big into Mayer before I joined the military.

Gotta catch up on what I've been missing.

On another note, Walt, I think you're ready for June. Are you still in undergrad? I'm studying full time until the test. If you have the time like me there's no reason you shouldn't be taking it.

At least I think...

Mayer is my favorite artist of all time, completely underrated and underrepresented by what music people think he makes. He has his pop stuff but he can play the guitar and write songs like nobody's business. Walt Grace's Submarine Test is the soundtrack of my prep. It's just a song about not being satisfied with where you are and wanting more - it's quite fitting. I especially like the part that says, "...and his wife told his kids he was crazy and his friends said he'd fail if he tried but with a will to work and a library card..." Sometimes I think that this is exactly how my girlfriend/family think about my LSAT prep. They see me working so hard and so long at this damned thing and they think, "why is he working so hard? He can just go to the local TTT"

Anyway, I doubt I'll be ready for June just because I would feel rushed. However, I am not ruling it out as a possibility - it's just unlikely - but that's perfectly fine with me. I want to do this test RIGHT, not just get it over with. I am not still in undergrad because I graduated a semester early (would be graduating in 1.5 months). I graduated early just to study for the LSAT and work a bit. In addition, my real job won't start until July (high school english teacher) but I will only be teaching two-three classes of freshmen so it won't be as demanding as most teaching gigs.

PLEASE don't quote that last paragraph.

[tfinndogm]

John Mayer Trio is my pandora study station right now...

[alexrodriguez]

If you like John Mayer check out Moses Mayfield and Matthew Mayfield. He's an independent artist.

Never thought I'd pay for anything on iTunes until this guy.

Working on games today. Looks like I'm not going to take a PT every other day.

[alexrodriguez]

With the will to warm hard and a library card!

Got this song on repeat!

[alexrodriguez]

PT 37 Section 4 Question 21

What a terrible question.

[WaltGrace83]

PT 37 Section 4 Question 21

What a terrible question.

I thought the same thing when I was initially drilling this question. HOWEVER, this is a great learning opportunity because it makes you think about a central "principle" for principle questions . Perhaps more so than most other question types in which the scope can be a little bit vague (strengthen/weaken/necessary assumption)., principle questions are heavily dependent on being absolutely supported. If it isn't mentioned in the stimulus, it probably isn't the right answer (I cannot think of an instance in which this maxim is broken but I am always hesitant to talk about general overarching rules for the LSAT). Check this out....

Short-term consequences are likely to be painful
+
Long-term benefits are obscure
→
Newly enacted laws should be repealed ONLY IF circumstances are dire, they need a period of immunity

The "only if" part is good to take note of but it isn't necessarily the key to this question. The key to this question is the "period of immunity" part. Why should we have a period of immunity? Well the author says that its because short term consequences are painful BUT long-term benefits aren't so easily seen. Why would the author conclude this though? Well the author seems to be assuming that the long-term benefits are more important than the short-term pains. How could we justify his conclusion then? We could justify it by saying that the long-term actually IS more important than the short-term.

A beneficial exercise, I think, for principle questions is to eliminate wrong answers because of words/phrases that don't match. Principle questions are very similar to sufficient assumption questions in this regard.

(A) "Voters think its consequences will be." This is never mentioned. We don't care.

(B) This looks like what we thought.

(C) "Repeal should be least as difficult as the passage." We aren't comparing the two and we don't know really anything about the passage.

(D) The beginning looks like the OPPOSITE of what we want and this falls short like (C) does by comparing the passage with the repeal.

(E) This looks decent. However, "should be more beneficial" is not something this argument is talking about. The argument is saying that the long-termconsequences "should be considered more than..."

Trust me, I hate LSAT questions sometimes. However, I encourage you to think about the ones you hate as something that you can truly learn from. Sometimes we drop the ball on questions and not every wrong answer is going to give us these HUGE lessons we can take away. However, the questions that you think are WRONG or the questions that you HATE are often the most beneficial ones.

Hope that helps.

[tfinndogm]

100 pages left in my LR book... eyes...bleeding....

[FSUHopeful]

This is how it all started. Thank you Clearlynotstefan.

Heres a thought, why don't you make one thread, and put all your thoughts in there, instead of creating new posts every day.

What an extensive and thrilling backstory!

Good luck on your LSAT studying.

ETA: Oh Jesus, do you own not one but.. two copies of Princeton Review's LSAT guide? Burn them. Burn them both.

I have two.. new to this.. didn't know any better:(

[tfinndogm]

I have two.. new to this.. didn't know any better:(

manhattan lsat 4lyfe

[alexrodriguez]

I'm setting a new standard for all of you.

If you can't finish a logic game before this ends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrcMMyNeJJs

and while listening to it... you're doing something wrong.

[givemea180]

I have been thinking about this for a while, but I guess I will consult you all.

-Do you think it is a good idea to wear a Respirator a month leading to the test, so as not to get sick?

I feel like that would be serious overkill as well as a crushing blow to your social life. However you could just rent a hermetically sealed room and stay there until June if you wanted to go all in

Taking PT41 tomorrow timed, if I get a 168+ fun will be had

[sashafierce]

Drilling RC is possibly the worst ever.

Do you work full time? When do you get time to drill?

[agalfano]

Drilled flaw questions today...getting a better grasp of them I'd say
I have done 40 questions in the cambridge packets, getting 36/40 correct that were timed, and 39/40 correct during blind review
I'm glad that my blind review is going well, hopefully I can keep this up with other sections because I need to kill LR!

[politibro44]

I have been thinking about this for a while, but I guess I will consult you all.

-Do you think it is a good idea to wear a Respirator a month leading to the test, so as not to get sick?

I feel like that would be serious overkill as well as a crushing blow to your social life. However you could just rent a hermetically sealed room and stay there until June if you wanted to go all in

I have this same fear. Instead of a respirator (which I didn't think of), I've been drinking "Emergen-C" every morning and lots of liquids, such as different teas.

[santoki]

just got demolished by a set of level 3 necessary assumptions questions...someone save me

[10052014]

.

[WaltGrace83]

just got demolished by a set of level 3 necessary assumptions questions...someone save me

Been there, man. I feel like level 3's are often harder than level 4's. Maybe after getting crushed by level 3's I just learn a few things though.

[10052014]

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