The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

McJimJam · Post by **McJimJam** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:36 am

Post removed.

nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:39 am

McJimJam wrote:Is manhattan RC worth the time/money, or should I just stick to drilling? Used LGB, LRB, and Superprep for Feb. Was thinking of getting Manhattan LR and maybe the Trainer.

I found Manhattan LR/Trainer much more helpful than the LRB.
Can't say much about Manhattan RC since I read half of the book and then forgot about it. lol

CambrianExplosives · Post by **CambrianExplosives** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:39 am

McJimJam wrote:Is manhattan RC worth the time/money, or should I just stick to drilling? Used LGB, LRB, and Superprep for Feb. Was thinking of getting Manhattan LR and maybe the Trainer.

I only skimmed the RC book so I can't tell you for sure. However Manhattan LR changed my game entirely on those sections and I swear by it. From what I saw of RC it seemed like it would be good too, but I didn't have time to read it.

Shemp · Post by **Shemp** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:44 am

I'm not completely sold on the utility of blind review. You're essentially giving yourself an unlimited time frame to reason out each difficult question. But that's not what we're being tested on. No matter how good you get, you'll never have enough spare time to beat yourself up for ten minutes over a single difficult question on the actual test. It seems like you would see bigger improvements by getting faster and more accurate on the easy and medium difficulty questions and then when you come up on the really difficult ones you can get better at knowing how to proceed with different question types, eliminating bogus answers, and maximizing your expected return within two or two and a half minutes.

If a wild guess is worth one fifth of a raw score point and you will never in a million years get some crazy ass question about elephants and face paint down to anything more than a coinflip, then your real score on that question is half a point, or not even a third of a point gain over just picking B for Bieber. On the test, the most difficult questions are the hardest points to go after, and unless you are already picking up every bit of the low hanging fruit, you are probably better off concentrating on being perfect on the questions you can be perfect on. Likewise, in your study, it seems like blind review of the questions you have the most difficulty with is putting a ton of hard work for some real lean gains. It's probably good exercise for your brain, but I don't see it having a huge effect on your score.

McJimJam · Post by **McJimJam** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:53 am

Post removed.

dizzydg · Post by **dizzydg** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:54 am

Hey everyone, just was gunna give a little breakdown of my situation since I haven't participated in this group yet.

Feb LSAT was my first go. Got a 169. Not totally displeased but I was averaging low to mid 170s so I think I can improve significantly to make a retake worth it. I don't have a stellar GPA (3.2) but I'm a STEM major from a good university so hoping that counts for something. But I think I need 170s to get any significant $$$ from the places I want to apply.

I used the blueprint online course this go around. Stretched it out from late october to feb. I liked the groupings of problems and the problem sets, but I got pretty annoyed with the videos after a while. It just took too long for me to review problems, and I'd lose focus.
Think I'm weakest now on LR and RC (blueprint actually did great LG explanations and I was -0 sections after a couple weeks with their method).

Oh and another reason I wanted to retake is that I broke my femur snowboarding in January before the test. I probably would have just delayed until June because of that alone, but I felt pretty prepared from before that and LSAC wouldn't refund me. It was shitty the first weeks with pain and the drugs but it actually was a good excuse after a while to do nothing but study. I think it was an overall negative, but who knows maybe it really helped me concentrate. I'd like to be healthy this time around thou

So that's what I've got going on, looking foward to gettin to know everyone better/not lurkin anymore

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:58 am

McJimJam wrote:Is manhattan RC worth the time/money, or should I just stick to drilling? Used LGB, LRB, and Superprep for Feb. Was thinking of getting Manhattan LR and maybe the Trainer.

Manhattan RC definitely isn't bad, but it isn't groundbreaking either. RC is a tough section to teach, so drilling RC is probably the most effective strategy. The book can't hurt though.

I highly recommend The Trainer followed by Manhattan LR, however.

JackelJ · Post by **JackelJ** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:00 am

Shemp wrote:I'm not completely sold on the utility of blind review. You're essentially giving yourself an unlimited time frame to reason out each difficult question. But that's not what we're being tested on. No matter how good you get, you'll never have enough spare time to beat yourself up for ten minutes over a single difficult question on the actual test. It seems like you would see bigger improvements by getting faster and more accurate on the easy and medium difficulty questions and then when you come up on the really difficult ones you can get better at knowing how to proceed with different question types, eliminating bogus answers, and maximizing your expected return within two or two and a half minutes.

If a wild guess is worth one fifth of a raw score point and you will never in a million years get some crazy ass question about elephants and face paint down to anything more than a coinflip, then your real score on that question is half a point, or not even a third of a point gain over just picking B for Bieber. On the test, the most difficult questions are the hardest points to go after, and unless you are already picking up every bit of the low hanging fruit, you are probably better off concentrating on being perfect on the questions you can be perfect on. Likewise, in your study, it seems like blind review of the questions you have the most difficulty with is putting a ton of hard work for some real lean gains. It's probably good exercise for your brain, but I don't see it having a huge effect on your score.

It seems like you are missing the point of blind review. You go through blind review to learn the material and the thought processes so you develop these skills and can use them quickly on the actual test (and PTs). You are right that you aren't tested under unlimited time. But by practicing with unlimited time and really solidifying skill sets, you will become faster at getting to the correct answer when you are timed.

Blind review is basically like homework. For example, you have a physics problem to solve for homework. You are sort of familiar with the equations and the methods you have to use but you fumble around for an hour trying to make sense of it all. Then you start to put things together and slowly but surely, you figure it out and get the right answer. Then you get around to taking an exam for the class. There is a similar problem from the homework. Its a hard problem and it could take a while, but you spent the time on the homework and you learned the concepts so you know exactly where to start this time and you get through the problem easily. If you do you're homework (BR) then you'll understand better when it comes to the actual test.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:02 am

Welcome dizzy. 169 is a damn good floor.

CambrianExplosives · Post by **CambrianExplosives** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:12 am

McJimJam wrote: Thanks, just realized their e-book formats are for $10 so I'll probably get them both and see how it turns it out.

I used my Kindle for both of them so I got them for $10 each and it worked well. I was a little worried it wouldn't hold up on the Kindle, but I liked it. Luckily, they have a demo for all Kindle books though. It really sealed the deal.

dizzydg · Post by **dizzydg** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:13 am

Dirigo wrote:Welcome dizzy. 169 is a damn good floor.

Thanks rigo. sorry feb didn't go your way either. hope you got something big and strong to drink as well

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:16 am

dizzydg wrote:
Dirigo wrote:Welcome dizzy. 169 is a damn good floor.
Thanks rigo. sorry feb didn't go your way either. hope you got something big and strong to drink as well

Oh I didn't take in February. I'm just a thread whore.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:21 am

I also thought blind review was pointless until I did it and found out that I had missed important parts of stimuli or even read them wrong. Thorough, methodical review reveals things you don't see when you're trying to beat the clock. (For reference, I've been missing 1 or 2 LR per PT and usually finish 5+ minutes early, so I'm not a beginner who sucks at LR.)

dizzydg · Post by **dizzydg** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:22 am

Dirigo wrote:
dizzydg wrote:
Dirigo wrote:Welcome dizzy. 169 is a damn good floor.
Thanks rigo. sorry feb didn't go your way either. hope you got something big and strong to drink as well
Oh I didn't take in February. I'm just a thread whore.

haha wow totally juked me on that. are you taking June or just whorin' around over here too lol?

TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:23 am

nlee10 wrote:For the recent retakers:

What are your plans for Round 2 of studying? Drilling the entire cambridge packets and then PT'ing?

It'll be round 3 for me. If the cycle doesn't go my way I'm hitting Cambridge LR and whatever RC (finally will read the Manhattan book) I can get my hands on. Probably just enough LG to keep up to speed on it. This cycle is kind of all-or-nothing for me, so we shall see. And finally figure out BRing.

I really don't know what I did for fun before all this. So here I am again.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:25 am

June is the plan as of now. If some other opportunities materialize for me, I probably wouldn't be able to retake until February 2016 though. Thankfully law schools aren't going anywhere.

Shemp · Post by **Shemp** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:36 am

RZ5646 wrote:I also thought blind review was pointless until I did it and found out that I had missed important parts of stimuli or even read them wrong. Thorough, methodical review reveals things you don't see when you're trying to beat the clock. (For reference, I've been missing 1 or 2 LR per PT and usually finish 5+ minutes early, so I'm not a beginner who sucks at LR.)

I think someone who is almost perfect on LR is exactly the kind of person that blind review will work for, because the few most difficult questions that you are putting the most time into are the same questions where you still have some available points to pick up. I just think that most people would be better served by spending their time on fundamentals instead of killing themselves with the hardest questions.

jam313 · Post by **jam313** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:47 am

Checking in from Feb.
Score went up by 5, but I anticipate being waitlisted, so I'll study for June in hopes for more scholarship $$$ or to beat the waitlist.

nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:48 am

Haven't looked at a single LSAT question in 3+ weeks...starting up this week will not be fun.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:51 am

nlee10 wrote:Haven't looked at a single LSAT question in 3+ weeks...starting up this week will not be fun.

Get back on the wagon fast. The longer you wait, the harder it is.

jam313 · Post by **jam313** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:52 am

nlee10 wrote:Haven't looked at a single LSAT question in 3+ weeks...starting up this week will not be fun.

Same boat. We have 14 weeks though...that's a nice chunk of change.

nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:55 am

Dirigo wrote:
nlee10 wrote:Haven't looked at a single LSAT question in 3+ weeks...starting up this week will not be fun.
Get back on the wagon fast. The longer you wait, the harder it is.

Yeah. Starting back up tomorrow sighh. Was holding out since I thought I had a chance of doing well.

Hope I'm one of those people who benefits from taking time off and do much better in Round 2.

dizzydg · Post by **dizzydg** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:00 am

jam313 wrote:Checking in from Feb.
Score went up by 5, but I anticipate being waitlisted, so I'll study for June in hopes for more scholarship $$$ or to beat the waitlist.

Do you know how well this strategy works? Kinda in the same boat this cycle. Do you let the admissions office know you are taking again?

doctorofoz · Post by **doctorofoz** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:05 am

Buckeye Gus · Post by **Buckeye Gus** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:09 am

Got my score earlier today from the Feb test and I'm pretty disappointed in myself. I let a lot of things distract me from putting in the time/effort that I knew I needed in order to get the score I wanted. I won't make that mistake again.