The Official October 2015 Study Group Forum

mornincounselor · Post by **mornincounselor** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:09 pm

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gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 1:00 am

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seashell.economy · Post by **seashell.economy** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:06 am

gamerish wrote:PT55. 165. I'm honestly devastated. That's the same score I got on my first PT after my diagnostic (and I took that PT over 4 months ago) and the lowest since. I'm studying and reviewing and rereading my prep books and my scores aren't just not getting better, they're getting worse. I don't know what to do besides trash everything I've done up until now and start from the ground up again but I don't have time for that before October or probably even December now that I'm in school again. I just don't know anymore.

I'm doing PT 55 this week. Which sections are you getting worse on?

The Abyss · Post by **The Abyss** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:15 am

gamerish wrote:PT55. 165. I'm honestly devastated. That's the same score I got on my first PT after my diagnostic (and I took that PT over 4 months ago) and the lowest since. I'm studying and reviewing and rereading my prep books and my scores aren't just not getting better, they're getting worse. I don't know what to do besides trash everything I've done up until now and start from the ground up again but I don't have time for that before October or probably even December now that I'm in school again. I just don't know anymore.

Maybe you need a day off not thinking about the LSAT and relax?

ltowns1 · Post by **ltowns1** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:35 am

gamerish wrote:PT55. 165. I'm honestly devastated. That's the same score I got on my first PT after my diagnostic (and I took that PT over 4 months ago) and the lowest since. I'm studying and reviewing and rereading my prep books and my scores aren't just not getting better, they're getting worse. I don't know what to do besides trash everything I've done up until now and start from the ground up again but I don't have time for that before October or probably even December now that I'm in school again. I just don't know anymore.

I would kill for this, my target score. That's in the 90th percentile. I know it's not where you need to be, but you gotta keep pushing. You're doing things right, just keep keep reviewing your mistakes and blind review.

Dexter97 · Post by **Dexter97** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:38 am

gamerish wrote:PT55. 165. I'm honestly devastated. That's the same score I got on my first PT after my diagnostic (and I took that PT over 4 months ago) and the lowest since. I'm studying and reviewing and rereading my prep books and my scores aren't just not getting better, they're getting worse. I don't know what to do besides trash everything I've done up until now and start from the ground up again but I don't have time for that before October or probably even December now that I'm in school again. I just don't know anymore.

I feel you man. My last 6 PT average has been about a 167 - when I was scoring 170-172 consistently previously. Im not sure what's changed over the past few weeks. If this continues Ill have to shake things up.

The Abyss · Post by **The Abyss** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:17 am

Today I'm drilling strengthen questions and then I'm going to go through the In/Out games packet again.

ugg · Post by **ugg** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:18 am

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The Abyss · Post by **The Abyss** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:31 am

theugg wrote:I've been slacking on inputting my PTs, honestly. I guess I should get back in the habit.

Congrats on the 180. That's a hell of an accomplishment.

ugg · Post by **ugg** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:44 am

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numb3r4 · Post by **numb3r4** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:50 am

Game 3 of PT 36 was pretty annoying. I officially don't like buses! I somehow ended up getting them all right which made me happy but I didn't truly understand it until I reviewed it afterwards. The 7Sage video was not even necessary which made me pretty excited!

168 overall.

LR 1: -5
RC: -3 (Pretty good for me)
LR 2: -4
Game: -3 (2 dumb mistakes)

Just need to focus on getting rid of the silly mistakes in my logic games (and I've started finished with 3-4 minutes left so I may just take a bit more time per question). Aside from that, time to really review those LR questions!

gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:03 pm

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gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:38 pm

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numb3r4 · Post by **numb3r4** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:51 pm

gamerish wrote: 6. Justify the math teacher’s argument.
-Argument: If we teach pre-university students calc, we must make sure they can handle the level of abstraction involved.
-Premises: Teaching pre-university students calc may help them. But if they are taught calc before they can handle that level of abstraction, they may abandon the study of math altogether.
-Hole: Abandoning the study of math may not be that bad? Are they going to teach the students about that level of abstraction or only teach calc to students who already have a grasp on that level of abstraction?
-Answer choices:
A. Only those students who can meet the cognitive challenges of work without losing motivation should be taught it. This matches our third hole. Keep.
B. Only concrete math should be taught to pre-university students. This doesn’t match any of our holes and the stimulus says nothing about concrete math. Discard.
C. Cognitive efforts that require great effort tend to undermine motivation of those who attempt them. Doesn’t match any of our holes and boosts the premise that students may abandon math, not out conclusion. Disregard.
D. We don’t care about university level math, we don’t even know if calc is considered to be university level. Disregard.
E. Complete opposite of what we want. The conclusion tells us that the level of abstraction must be taken into account. Disregard.

-Answer originally chosen: A
-Final answer: A. Correct.

At least for me, it has been helpful to look for concrete reasons that drew me to incorrect answers. For example, say you're going through a question and realize that you should have chosen B instead of C. It might be useful to instead of simply writing why C is wrong and why B is correct, to also write out the reason for why you chose B in the first place. What was it that made the answer appealing (which is different from why it's wrong and why the other answer is correct).

Doing that, you find out what you're actually doing wrong when approaching the questions. Did you prematurely eliminate an answer? Did you misread one of the words in the incorrect answer that you chose? Did you misunderstand the passage? Did you have a questionable method to deal with that specific question type? Those are the types of questions I try to answer if I ever change an answer. From there you know what types of changes that you need to make to eliminate those errors in the future.

mist4bison · Post by **mist4bison** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:03 pm

ugg · Post by **ugg** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:31 pm

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GauchoMarx · Post by **GauchoMarx** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:51 pm

Took PT 62 on Sunday.

LR -3
LG -0
LR -2
RC -2

174.

I seem to be getting around -5 on LR each PT. I'd love to get that number to around -2 leading up to test day. It also seems like with each LR section, I miss a question that was seemingly a lay up when I did it initially and so didn't check it once I finished the section and went back to review with the time remaining. I feel like the key to getting my target score in October will be making sure I'm totally locked in and not making any shitty little mistakes on level 1/2 questions.

Sera Numquam · Post by **Sera Numquam** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:23 pm

gamerish wrote:
The Abyss wrote:
gamerish wrote:
The Abyss wrote:Did PT 60 this morning.

Score: 170
LR1: -1
LG -5
LR2: -2
RC: -3

I had trouble with the last game. Timing wasn't an issue, it just stumped me for whatever reason. -1 and -2 in LR is really good for me, and I slightly under performed on RC. Going blind review tonight.
I went -5 on the LG section of PT60 too when I took it. I didn't understand the last game until I BR'd it.
I figured it out during blind review, and then watched the 7Sage video. JY makes me feel dumb with how easy he makes it seem.
We are all but maggots before the greatness that is JY Ping.

Truest comparison

Sera Numquam · Post by **Sera Numquam** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:26 pm

Theresa87 wrote:
Sera Numquam wrote:Realistic optimism appreciated: Does anyone think a 6 point increase from last PT is possible from now until test day?
Definitely possible. It also depends on where your last PT was...if it was in the 150s to low 160s then I think it can definitely be done. It could be done at any range though I think. It's just harder the higher and higher you get.

Personally, I improved 4 points from my first LSAT take to my second, and they were two months apart with only about 10 hours of study a week.

It also depends on what section is giving you trouble.

Thanks! Low 160s so I'm in that range. If I get something wrong on LG 9 times out of 10 it's a dumb mistake. RC is inconsistent for me which is aggravating, so it could use some work. LR needs the most work by far.

gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:04 pm

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PoopNpants · Post by **PoopNpants** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:27 pm

Anyone else feel super guilty after taking a day or two off from studying?

ltowns1 · Post by **ltowns1** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:45 pm

I

PoopNpants wrote:Anyone else feel super guilty after taking a day or two off from studying?

Yep

GreekOmega12 · Post by **GreekOmega12** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:07 pm

Am I the only one who struggled with PT71 RC passage on mirrors? Destroyed me, went -5 on that passage. Is this a considerably difficult passage and rare? Or did I just fail miserably?

Overall PT71
LG-2
LR-9
RC-9

Raw 81 LSAT score 166. The -14 curve helped a lot.

GreekOmega12 · Post by **GreekOmega12** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:08 pm

ltowns1 wrote: I
PoopNpants wrote:Anyone else feel super guilty after taking a day or two off from studying?

Yep

Yea didn't get much done Saturday and Sunday getting ready for the First day of classes.

Sera Numquam · Post by **Sera Numquam** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:17 pm

Just finished PT 38

Score 165
LR: -7 (switched between a lot of correct answers)
LG: -4 (3 dumb mistakes)
RC: -2 (best score in RC yet!)
LR: -5

BR Score 174

This is a jump I was hoping for and I'd be very happy with that BR score on test day. LR still needs a lot of work, and I need to keep drilling LG because the ones I get wrong are often dumb mistakes. RC, if I can consistently go -2 I'm content with that. Hopefully I'll continue to stay in this range or improve. Definitely relieved with this PT score so now I can stop starving myself and go get food