The Official October 2015 Study Group Forum

numb3r4 · Post by **numb3r4** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:57 pm

Not that it means a WHOLE lot but I wasn't in the mood to time myself so I took a practice test completely untimed. Only missed 2 questions total... at least I know I could get a 180 if I had all the time in the world!

PatriotP74 · Post by **PatriotP74** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:16 pm

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seashell.economy · Post by **seashell.economy** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:31 pm

I got three LOR's this week, and finished finals as of today. 15 credits this summer to boost my GPA - 99% certain I have 4.0's in all of them, so it worked out. Studied pretty hard this week. Got a 166 pt. Aiming for a 173.

Read the entire 9780 comments in the June 2015 thread out of complete, utter boredom.

kbrizz · Post by **kbrizz** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 11:53 pm

Blind reviewing man... It is so tedious.

dominicanguy12 · Post by **dominicanguy12** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:14 am

Got -6 on the LG of PT 7. Couldn't finish because of game 3.

Im just going to lie to myself and tell myself that I did so badly because its such an old PT.

kbrizz · Post by **kbrizz** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:04 am

Hah too embarrassed to post my latest score. Don't even know how that happened.

ffamran · Post by **ffamran** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:24 am

I did PT 58 today, and I got 177, my highest score so far!!

LR: -1
RC: -2
LG: -0
LR: -1

Hopefully this wasn't a fluke and I can end up scoring like this consistently. So far, I've gone 172-168-176-176-171-177

apetro948 · Post by **apetro948** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:45 am

New poster here. Anybody feel like chiming in / criticizing my study technique?

Purchased Cambridge 1-38 PDFs for LG/LR and have been drilling, printing, drilling, reprinting, drilling, and so forth for LG and soon to be doing the same for LR. I then plan on taking remaining PT's until the Oct/Dec LSAT. I'm not too worried about which LSAT I take, it's whichever I feel prepared for but i'm aiming for Oct and a 180 (why aim any lower, right?). I time every question I drill and re-do any problem wrong on the back of the page. I also graph the individual times/scores in excel to see any progress. Not so much for the learning progress, but for the strive to drill until they're all under time and perfect scores.

Anybody care to comment? Probably won't change the way i'm studying but it's good to hear from others.

thanks.

apetro948 · Post by **apetro948** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:47 am

ffamran wrote:I did PT 58 today, and I got 177, my highest score so far!!

LR: -1
RC: -2
LG: -0
LR: -1

Hopefully this wasn't a fluke and I can end up scoring like this consistently. So far, I've gone 172-168-176-176-171-177

good score

MrBalloons · Post by **MrBalloons** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:12 am

ffamran wrote:I did PT 58 today, and I got 177, my highest score so far!!

LR: -1
RC: -2
LG: -0
LR: -1

Hopefully this wasn't a fluke and I can end up scoring like this consistently. So far, I've gone 172-168-176-176-171-177

If two of your three previous scores were 176, I don't think it's a fluke.

You're officially testing into the upper 170s. Celebrate that.

ffamran · Post by **ffamran** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:53 am

Thanks apetro948 and MrBalloons

apetro948 wrote:New poster here. Anybody feel like chiming in / criticizing my study technique?

Purchased Cambridge 1-38 PDFs for LG/LR and have been drilling, printing, drilling, reprinting, drilling, and so forth for LG and soon to be doing the same for LR. I then plan on taking remaining PT's until the Oct/Dec LSAT. I'm not too worried about which LSAT I take, it's whichever I feel prepared for but i'm aiming for Oct and a 180 (why aim any lower, right?). I time every question I drill and re-do any problem wrong on the back of the page. I also graph the individual times/scores in excel to see any progress. Not so much for the learning progress, but for the strive to drill until they're all under time and perfect scores.

Anybody care to comment? Probably won't change the way i'm studying but it's good to hear from others.

thanks.

I wouldn't personally time each question, since I feel like that extra step would interrupt my focus, but if it works for you, I don't see why not! The registration deadline for Oct LSAT is coming up soon so you should probably finalize whether you will take it. Also, testing centers fill up, and the later you register, the more likely it is that the nearest testing site will fill up and you will need to go to a further one (just happened to me, the one within walking distance is full and now I will probably need to uber...

)

PoopNpants · Post by **PoopNpants** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:07 am

PatriotP74 wrote:Didn't get any studying done today, but I did get one of my LOR's locked in. Had to do some resume updating since the professor wanted a copy.

For those of you working and out of school like myself, are you planning on 2 academic LOR's or 1 academic and 1 work?
My major wasn't much for small class size and intensive writing. So unfortunately professors that might remember me from two years ago are few and far between.

I'm doing 2 academic recs, I graduated back in 2013 and been working shit jobs since then. If you could get a good professional letter of rec I think it would be a good idea though I didn't have that option. I got one of my letters from my old advisor who i took a few classes with and another professor I was on good terms with. I doubt either of them remembered me much though

PatriotP74 · Post by **PatriotP74** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:43 am

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appind · Post by **appind** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:49 pm

pt-60

lg -3 (all misses in g4)
lr1 -2 (q13, 15)
lr2 -1 (q24)
rc -8 (-1 in p3, -7 in p4 due to no time)

rc has been really hard to improve for me despite constant drilling. if i go too fast on passages i miss questions and if i read slowly i just can't get to all the passages/qs. i also thought that p1 and p4 were pretty hard passages and took way too long.

bnssweeney · Post by **bnssweeney** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:55 pm

Weaken questions are the bane of my existence. Any tips on how to properly review/study them?

Right now, when I get one wrong, I write a little blurb as to why the wrong AC is wrong and why the correct AC is correct. I feel like I don't improve when I drill though. It's very frustrating.

PoopNpants · Post by **PoopNpants** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:07 pm

PatriotP74 wrote:
PoopNpants wrote:
PatriotP74 wrote:Didn't get any studying done today, but I did get one of my LOR's locked in. Had to do some resume updating since the professor wanted a copy.

For those of you working and out of school like myself, are you planning on 2 academic LOR's or 1 academic and 1 work?
My major wasn't much for small class size and intensive writing. So unfortunately professors that might remember me from two years ago are few and far between.
I'm doing 2 academic recs, I graduated back in 2013 and been working shit jobs since then. If you could get a good professional letter of rec I think it would be a good idea though I didn't have that option. I got one of my letters from my old advisor who i took a few classes with and another professor I was on good terms with. I doubt either of them remembered me much though
Yeah I have a letter of rec from my previous cycle but it's a professor I had my freshman year and I'm pretty sure nothing but a generic LOR. The one I'm getting now is from a professor my senior year and I'm fairly confident it will be a good LOR. I may reach out to one other professor but I doubt that I would be remembered. It would merely be a long shot because the class was one where only 10-15 percent could get an A no matter how well you did, and I was able to achieve that.

I know my current manager would be willing to write a LOR so I would have one good academic and one work.

Yeah I think you should get one from your manager than if that's possible over a generic prof writing one who doesn't know you well. I had to get 2 academic ones because I really didn't have a choice, although I think that LORs can't really hurt as much as they can help me. I still got a PS and DS statement plus some other softs that can balance that out if anything

PoopNpants · Post by **PoopNpants** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:13 pm

bnssweeney wrote:Weaken questions are the bane of my existence. Any tips on how to properly review/study them?

Right now, when I get one wrong, I write a little blurb as to why the wrong AC is wrong and why the correct AC is correct. I feel like I don't improve when I drill though. It's very frustrating.

I think to get weaken questions correct, first you got to understand the argument completely, how the premises support the conclusion, to the absolute T. When eliminating ACs, apply them and see how they impact the argument as a whole. if they don't have any affect besides weakening it, eliminate it. Whatever ACs you got left, see if they weaken the arugment, remember only one answer choice will accomplish this.

somethingElse · Post by **somethingElse** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:33 pm

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Op_Diom · Post by **Op_Diom** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:37 pm

bnssweeney wrote:Weaken questions are the bane of my existence. Any tips on how to properly review/study them?

Right now, when I get one wrong, I write a little blurb as to why the wrong AC is wrong and why the correct AC is correct. I feel like I don't improve when I drill though. It's very frustrating.

Yeah, I had/have the same issues with weaken questions. Basically, watch out for premise and conclusion boosters. An answer that helps support a premise, or the conclusion of the argument, but not in the way the argument was made in the stimulus is going to be wrong every time. Therefore, focusing on the structure and route used in the argument is the key to weaken questions. Make sure the AC impacts the relation between the conclusion and support, not just one or the other, essentially. Also, remember, an answer can be right, even if it weakens the way the support reaches the conclusion just a little bit; it doesn't have to significantly weaken.

Op_Diom · Post by **Op_Diom** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:41 pm

somethingelse55 wrote:
7) Many, many weaken questions deal with cause and effect. If you see this, there are some common ways to weaken this kind of argument: Identify an alternate cause, identify a similar situation which has the same cause but not the effect, a situation that doesn't have the cause and yet has the effect, or something that tells you the cause and effect relationship is actually switched around, or lastly that a third thing causes both the supposed cause and effect. An example of that last option would be something like this: Conclusion of the argument says that Smoking causes insomnia. An AC that would weaken that conclusion could say something like, "Stress is known to cause smoking and insomnia."

Hope that helps, like I said weaken and strengthens are my least favorite questions as well, mainly because they're really the only questions on the whole exam that TCR can potentially come out of left field. If anyone else has any tips for these I would love to hear them as well!

Question: What if a stimulus has more than one of these methods for weakening the argument in the answer choices? I feel like I have ran into this before, but I guess I could have missed a modifier that invalidated it or something.

alpha kenny body · Post by **alpha kenny body** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:42 pm

*Presumed Cause without the Presumed Effect
*Presumed Effect without the Presumed Cause
*Alternative Cause to Explained Effect
*Alternative Effect to Explained Cause
*Does not weaken entirely, yet does not strengthen either

somethingElse · Post by **somethingElse** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:56 pm

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PoopNpants · Post by **PoopNpants** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:16 pm

anyone know a good way to print out practice tests double sided without having to flip back and forth for Reading Comp? it's such a pain in the ass

appind · Post by **appind** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:30 pm

PoopNpants wrote:anyone know a good way to print out practice tests double sided without having to flip back and forth for Reading Comp? it's such a pain in the ass

print the 1st page separately as one sided

print 2nd page to last page in one go as double sided

reverse the 1st printed page so the printed side faces the 2nd page from the second step

staple the bunch and you are set

appind · Post by **appind** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:37 pm

Op_Diom wrote:Question: What if a stimulus has more than one of these methods for weakening the argument in the answer choices? I feel like I have ran into this before, but I guess I could have missed a modifier that invalidated it or something.

there will never be more than one weakner in answer choices. if one sees that then that's an indication that one missed something in the stim or answer choice as only one choice would weaken the argument to any extent