The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

[nlee10]

Glad to be studying with some familiar faces again.

[Shakawkaw]

QFNarcissisticPurposes.

[ccordero]

Hello! I recently signed up for the June test - it'll be my first time. (Hopefully it's gentle.)

I was on these forums before back in 2012, but I ultimately chickened out of taking the LSAT last minute. Now I'm back, and hopefully I'll see some improvements while studying for the June test, grow some balls, and actually take the test this time.

[JackelJ]

I love you guys too, and I am very happy to have people that are going through the same things as me. But why are we still here in the study threads? I was supposed to be done with this last September.

LOLSAT: 99999999
Jackel: 0

[nv93]

LSAT Plan A:

Testmasters at $950, Powerscore Materials from before, online materials I can find for free on Youtube or Google to fill in gaps.

LSAT Plan B:

7Sage, Cambridge, Manhattan, Powerscore Materials from before, online materials I can find for free on Youtube or Google to fill in gaps.

I am bad with self studying. I need a linear course to learn materials since I get easily distracted. Looking to go from ~ 150 to a 160. I wanted to find out if the actual $950 is worth it since it's a lot of money. That's a cheaper course than other companies nevertheless. I really want to be able to probably study 25 hrs a week at most since I get burnt out easily.

[betterLawyerUP]

LG time is killing me. I score well on most of the games thus far but I cannot even get the easy ones in 8:45, most take 9-11minutes per. 7sage is ok but it moreso just explains the questions, and it seems LG is easily understood on my own I just need methods to get it done much quicker.

[Rigo]

Why specifically Testmasters, nv93?

[CambrianExplosives]

LG time is killing me. I score well on most of the games thus far but I cannot even get the easy ones in 8:45, most take 9-11minutes per. 7sage is ok but it moreso just explains the questions, and it seems LG is easily understood on my own I just need methods to get it done much quicker.

What part is slowing you down? Are you taking a long time diagramming the problems or is it at the questions stage?

[Shakawkaw]

LSAT Plan A:

Testmasters at $950, Powerscore Materials from before, online materials I can find for free on Youtube or Google to fill in gaps.

LSAT Plan B:

7Sage, Cambridge, Manhattan, Powerscore Materials from before, online materials I can find for free on Youtube or Google to fill in gaps.

I am bad with self studying. I need a linear course to learn materials since I get easily distracted. Looking to go from ~ 150 to a 160. I wanted to find out if the actual $950 is worth it since it's a lot of money. That's a cheaper course than other companies nevertheless. I really want to be able to probably study 25 hrs a week at most since I get burnt out easily.

IIRC, many who have taken a course still end up self studying, either alongside the course or right after. Courses are good with establishing the fundamentals. However, if you can't find the discipline to self study, how do you expect lawl school to work?

If you're settled on taking a course, you can always look into 7sage or Velocity. It is online, so if you're one of those people that has to be physically surrounded by other bodies in a classroom, that might not work for you. Is this your first time?

[betterLawyerUP]

LG time is killing me. I score well on most of the games thus far but I cannot even get the easy ones in 8:45, most take 9-11minutes per. 7sage is ok but it moreso just explains the questions, and it seems LG is easily understood on my own I just need methods to get it done much quicker.

What part is slowing you down? Are you taking a long time diagramming the problems or is it at the questions stage?

Small pockets of time throughout I am trying to cut down. I understand the rules pretty quickly, but deciding how the game board should look takes a couple seconds, I take perhaps a 5-15 seconds to decide how to organize it. The biggest dilemma I face constantly is deciding whether to go right through the questions or map out more possibilities. I think intuitively I decide correctly to go right to the questions when the rules dont present much inference, but then creating one or two boards per question ends up taking too much time to hit under 9min. Perhaps trying to avoid writing boards could be the issue. Sometimes I try to think internally of possibilities where pieces can be placed but im not sure if its better to just ignore thought and be as mechanical as possible, simply read a question and make a board rather than trying to figure out patterns in your head.

[biggestlawman]

Starting my prep today. Wish me luck!

I will start with the Trainer. How many days should it take to finish the Trainer aggressively? I am thinking less than 10 days.

[NL2424]

..

[santoki]

Post removed.

[Shakawkaw]

Starting my prep today. Wish me luck!

I will start with the Trainer. How many days should it take to finish the Trainer aggressively? I am thinking less than 10 days.

What's the rush with finishing the Trainer?

[sfoglia]

Starting my prep today. Wish me luck!

I will start with the Trainer. How many days should it take to finish the Trainer aggressively? I am thinking less than 10 days.

What's the rush with finishing the Trainer?

Yeah, no need to rush. Take your time and do all of the drills. But I was able to read all in a little less than ten, IIRC.

[CambrianExplosives]

LG time is killing me. I score well on most of the games thus far but I cannot even get the easy ones in 8:45, most take 9-11minutes per. 7sage is ok but it moreso just explains the questions, and it seems LG is easily understood on my own I just need methods to get it done much quicker.

What part is slowing you down? Are you taking a long time diagramming the problems or is it at the questions stage?

Small pockets of time throughout I am trying to cut down. I understand the rules pretty quickly, but deciding how the game board should look takes a couple seconds, I take perhaps a 5-15 seconds to decide how to organize it. The biggest dilemma I face constantly is deciding whether to go right through the questions or map out more possibilities. I think intuitively I decide correctly to go right to the questions when the rules dont present much inference, but then creating one or two boards per question ends up taking too much time to hit under 9min. Perhaps trying to avoid writing boards could be the issue. Sometimes I try to think internally of possibilities where pieces can be placed but im not sure if its better to just ignore thought and be as mechanical as possible, simply read a question and make a board rather than trying to figure out patterns in your head.

Doing a full board or 2 per question does sound like it would be really time consuming. Are you drawing out the rules at the beginning?

What I personally found worked for me was making a larger board of the rules at the beginning with some of the basic implications. I usually spend about 1-2 minutes on that, but then I use it for 5 or 6 problems out of 8. I just cross out my old stuff and use it again.

I know it sounds like a lot of time, but I would put where each variable could go with those basic implications. So say we had an LG where you had to do 6 presentations in order and we knew H came after G.

Most things I've read would tell you to make a board that looks like this:

1:NH 2: 3: 4: 5: 6:NG

Where NG is cannot be G and NH is cannot be H.

I made my boards more like:

1:G 2:GH 3:GH 4:GH 5:GH 6:H

And added/erased as I got more rules and implications. It looks way messier, but it gave me the ability to quickly glance at my tables or lines and have a good idea of what fits where.

Of course, that's just how I did it. I don't know what will work for you. I just found that to be quicker than I originally thought it would be.

[kray]

Checking in! 171-ed feb, PT average was 176 so a little disheartened. Could a June score affect WL?

[TheWalkingDebt]

Starting my prep today. Wish me luck!

I will start with the Trainer. How many days should it take to finish the Trainer aggressively? I am thinking less than 10 days.

What's the rush with finishing the Trainer?

Yeah, no need to rush. Take your time and do all of the drills. But I was able to read all in a little less than ten, IIRC.

+1 to not rushing. I did it at a leisurely pace and finished in 12-14 days but did not incorporate any outside drilling from Cambridge.

[biggestlawman]

Starting my prep today. Wish me luck!

I will start with the Trainer. How many days should it take to finish the Trainer aggressively? I am thinking less than 10 days.

What's the rush with finishing the Trainer?

So much to do in less than 14 weeks. And, I am acquainted with the exam, not well acquainted of course, did not get a 170. But, I need to be aggressive, and I probably can be aggressive. Why linger?

[biggestlawman]

Starting my prep today. Wish me luck!

I will start with the Trainer. How many days should it take to finish the Trainer aggressively? I am thinking less than 10 days.

What's the rush with finishing the Trainer?

Yeah, no need to rush. Take your time and do all of the drills. But I was able to read all in a little less than ten, IIRC.

With necessary drills?

[Shakawkaw]

However, I noticed you mentioning you are going through 14 lessons of the trainer this wknd -- I know that students often know how to use my products better than I do, but please know that that is not how the trainer is intended to be used, and not how any reputable teacher would recommend you go through it. It is literally meant to be a training tool -- rushing through it will not do you nearly as much good as working through it carefully would.

Mike posted this ITT a while back. I agree with him, mostly because the Trainer is designed in a way to establish fundamentals. It's unique in that it includes all three sections, and jumps from one to another in the course of the lessons. I think going through the Trainer and drilling alongside should be good vs. rushing through it just to read it.

[biggestlawman]

However, I noticed you mentioning you are going through 14 lessons of the trainer this wknd -- I know that students often know how to use my products better than I do, but please know that that is not how the trainer is intended to be used, and not how any reputable teacher would recommend you go through it. It is literally meant to be a training tool -- rushing through it will not do you nearly as much good as working through it carefully would.

Mike posted this ITT a while back. I agree with him, mostly because the Trainer is designed in a way to establish fundamentals. It's unique in that it includes all three sections, and jumps from one to another in the course of the lessons. I think going through the Trainer and drilling alongside should be good vs. rushing through it just to read it.

10 days can potentially mean 50+ hours. Is that rushing?

[JackelJ]

soo I bought the cambridge packets in mid-January. I made a pretty spreadsheet to track my progress. Look at how much I got done the past 6 weeks.
maybe publicly shaming myself will motivate me to stop slacking?

[nv93]

Why specifically Testmasters, nv93?

Price is a factor. $950 is the cheapest I can find for Testmasters as a physical course.

[Smallville]

soo I bought the cambridge packets in mid-January. I made a pretty spreadsheet to track my progress. Look at how much I got done the past 6 weeks.
maybe publicly shaming myself will motivate me to stop slacking?

[img]chart[/img]

on the + side you did well on what you did