October 2011 Study Log: 180 or Bust! Forum

[Strange]

I can definitely recommend the ATLAS RC Guide. While my PT average isn't as high as yours, my RC average was stuck around the -4 range. Since using the guide I've applied its methods and I am consistently getting -1's and -2's. You will probably not see an improvement right away (I didn't), just make sure you practice

[crumpetsandtea]

I can definitely recommend the ATLAS RC Guide. While my PT average isn't as high as yours, my RC average was stuck around the -4 range. Since using the guide I've applied its methods and I am consistently getting -1's and -2's. You will probably not see an improvement right away (I didn't), just make sure you practice

Yeah I was trying to decide between Atlas and Manhattan and sort of just chose Manhattan...if I can get through Manhattan this weekend I'll probably order Atlas and get it done next weekend. What do you mean by practice? Did you just do a bunch of RC practice sections on their own?

[Strange]

I can definitely recommend the ATLAS RC Guide. While my PT average isn't as high as yours, my RC average was stuck around the -4 range. Since using the guide I've applied its methods and I am consistently getting -1's and -2's. You will probably not see an improvement right away (I didn't), just make sure you practice

Yeah I was trying to decide between Atlas and Manhattan and sort of just chose Manhattan...if I can get through Manhattan this weekend I'll probably order Atlas and get it done next weekend. What do you mean by practice? Did you just do a bunch of RC practice sections on their own?

Aren't they the same thing? I think I have the Manhattan one maybe, not sure. By practice I mean yeah, doing timed RC sections you haven't touched yet, individually, to make sure you have the PEAR method down and figure out what notations your comfortable using.

[crumpetsandtea]

I can definitely recommend the ATLAS RC Guide. While my PT average isn't as high as yours, my RC average was stuck around the -4 range. Since using the guide I've applied its methods and I am consistently getting -1's and -2's. You will probably not see an improvement right away (I didn't), just make sure you practice

Yeah I was trying to decide between Atlas and Manhattan and sort of just chose Manhattan...if I can get through Manhattan this weekend I'll probably order Atlas and get it done next weekend. What do you mean by practice? Did you just do a bunch of RC practice sections on their own?

Aren't they the same thing? I think I have the Manhattan one maybe, not sure. By practice I mean yeah, doing timed RC sections you haven't touched yet, individually, to make sure you have the PEAR method down and figure out what notations your comfortable using.

Oh, maybe they are IDK...I always thought they were 2 separate brands. Shows how much I know, huh?

Awesome, thanks for the tips. I'm gonna start drilling RC sections in my 'off' days from PTs after I get home from work...good opportunity to make use of the older tests I'm not PTing with! Thanks so much for the advice!!! I reeeeeaaaallyy hope I see at least a little improvement with RC, because as it is, that -4 is basically automatically shutting me out of the 175+ range.

[crumpetsandtea]

55 -- 05/18/11 ----- LR: -1/0 ; RC: -5 ; LG: -0 ------------ 94/174

17 days, y'all. I feel a bit like this...



(ok so maybe i just wanted an excuse to post that gif ). Reviewed PT 54 yesterday and here are my basic take-away points...

RC: missed 'supported by', 'author says', 'author mentions...' and 'author would agree' questions. The last three were all from the last passage. I seemed to frequently misread or misinterpret the answer choices--things that were clearly stated in the passage I just didn't catch when I was testing :\

LR1: One q I didn't read all the answers. Then I missed a Principles Q and a Parallel Reasoning Q. The principles q I was genuinely confused about, but understood once I took the time to work it out. The PR one was a logic fail on my part ( Only food in apt in refrig + all food in fridge bought in last week =/= all food bought in last week is in apt).

LR2: Missed a 'Weakens', 'Assumption', and 'Strengthens' Q. The last one was just a mindfuck that I was totally confused by...the first 2 I just didn't read the answers carefully enough...IDK haha it seems so obvious once I go back and reread... -_-

Will review this test tomorrow. I am pretty damn pleased with my LR/LG, especially because they were the 2 last sections and I got -0 on both...in fact, if my RC was just SLIGHTLY better i probs would have broken 175 again this test. :\

[incompetentia]

How much time are you finishing ahead on RC? If you're still well below 30, just hit the author viewpoint questions last so you know how much time you can spend on them on the real thing, and for the love of God don't forget to take your time.



You'll be fine.

[fatduck]

CRUMPETS AND TEA

CRUMPETS AND TEA

TEA AND CRUMPETS

CRUMPETS AND TEA

[incompetentia]

CRUMPETS AND TEA

CRUMPETS AND TEA

TEA AND CRUMPETS

CRUMPETS AND TEA

I pick C. Is this the right answer?

[crumpetsandtea]

Hahahhaa <3 you guys ^_^

How much time are you finishing ahead on RC? If you're still well below 30, just hit the author viewpoint questions last so you know how much time you can spend on them on the real thing, and for the love of God don't forget to take your time.

I'm not finishing with too much time, maybe a minute or sometimes less. The taking my time thing applies more to LR, I think, cause I'm finishing with like 5-8 minutes to spare.

[fatduck]

i'm trying to remember the exact date that i realized crumps was not a posh english woman

[99.9luft]

Hahahhaa <3 you guys ^_^

How much time are you finishing ahead on RC? If you're still well below 30, just hit the author viewpoint questions last so you know how much time you can spend on them on the real thing, and for the love of God don't forget to take your time.

I'm not finishing with too much time, maybe a minute or sometimes less. The taking my time thing applies more to LR, I think, cause I'm finishing with like 5-8 minutes to spare.

Congrats, crumpets, wow, you're an LR beast. Do you find yourself doing 10qs in 10 mins, 15 in 18, 20 in 26? How do you pace yourself throughout the section. Also, do you read the question first or the stimulus?

I never finish LR with more than 30 secs to spare. Any time-cutting advice?

[crumpetsandtea]

i'm trying to remember the exact date that i realized crumps was not a posh english woman

What do you mean, I'm not a posh english woman???

[crumpetsandtea]

Congrats, crumpets, wow, you're an LR beast. Do you find yourself doing 10qs in 10 mins, 15 in 18, 20 in 26? How do you pace yourself throughout the section. Also, do you read the question first or the stimulus?

I never finish LR with more than 30 secs to spare. Any time-cutting advice?

Hmmm lemme see...I don't usually check the timer till I'm done with the section and going back to review, but I think I finish the first 15 or so in 14-16 minutes, then the rest of the 10 in the remaining time.

I don't always finish with that much time--there have been sections where I finish with anywhere from 1-4 minutes, and the occasional section where I barely finish, or have to use the full 35 min. I've logged the timing of some of my past PTs, if you want to wade through the off-topic posts (lol sorry) and find them. [ETA: actually I don't think I mentioned it in more detail ITT, but after dinner I'll pull out some of my old PTs...there were a couple where I logged my timing for each game/passage/LR block]

I read the stimulus first, then the question. I think for me, what helps me with timing the most is pre-phrasing...though I'll look at each answer (cause I've been screwed by not reading all of them before), usually if I prephrase it'll help me zone in on one much faster. Also, the LRB helped a lot by giving me a better understanding of what kinds of answers the LSAT looks for...IDK if that makes sense, but for example I've noticed that occasionally, when I don't have a prephrase, if I scan the answers I can go "Oh! This one, because this is a X question and the answers are usually like Y"

Honestly, though, I've always sort of rushed through LR, so I'm not 100% sure why I get through it so fast.

[99.9luft]

Congrats, crumpets, wow, you're an LR beast. Do you find yourself doing 10qs in 10 mins, 15 in 18, 20 in 26? How do you pace yourself throughout the section. Also, do you read the question first or the stimulus?

I never finish LR with more than 30 secs to spare. Any time-cutting advice?

Hmmm lemme see...I don't usually check the timer till I'm done with the section and going back to review, but I think I finish the first 15 or so in 14-16 minutes, then the rest of the 10 in the remaining time.

I don't always finish with that much time--there have been sections where I finish with anywhere from 1-4 minutes, and the occasional section where I barely finish, or have to use the full 35 min. I've logged the timing of some of my past PTs, if you want to wade through the off-topic posts (lol sorry) and find them. [ETA: actually I don't think I mentioned it in more detail ITT, but after dinner I'll pull out some of my old PTs...there were a couple where I logged my timing for each game/passage/LR block]

I read the stimulus first, then the question. I think for me, what helps me with timing the most is pre-phrasing...though I'll look at each answer (cause I've been screwed by not reading all of them before), usually if I prephrase it'll help me zone in on one much faster. Also, the LRB helped a lot by giving me a better understanding of what kinds of answers the LSAT looks for...IDK if that makes sense, but for example I've noticed that occasionally, when I don't have a prephrase, if I scan the answers I can go "Oh! This one, because this is a X question and the answers are usually like Y"

Honestly, though, I've always sort of rushed through LR, so I'm not 100% sure why I get through it so fast.

Thanks! I try to prephrase but sometimes it doesn't work as well. Some questions I feel like it's better to read the stimulus first, bit I don't think i can change my 'question first' method this late in the game. I need to keep drilling LR. Recently I've noticed being better at abstract, conceptual questions than at simple, formal logic ones. Gotta keep everything in tune.

By the way, took PT 51 today and got -5 on RC, too. Ugh, so annoying, right? Unlike LR, I feel that RC mistakes are mure more silly and preventable for some reason. Enjoy the MLSAT RC guide, it helped me to go from a -5 average to a -3.3 average currently.

[fatduck]

i'm trying to remember the exact date that i realized crumps was not a posh english woman

What do you mean, I'm not a posh english woman???

totally worth it for that gif

[crumpetsantea]

i'm trying to remember the exact date that i realized crumps was not a posh english woman

[crumpetsandtea]

i'm trying to remember the exact date that i realized crumps was not a posh english woman

What do you mean, I'm not a posh english woman???

totally worth it for that gif

^_^

Thanks! I try to prephrase but sometimes it doesn't work as well. Some questions I feel like it's better to read the stimulus first, bit I don't think i can change my 'question first' method this late in the game. I need to keep drilling LR. Recently I've noticed being better at abstract, conceptual questions than at simple, formal logic ones. Gotta keep everything in tune.

By the way, took PT 51 today and got -5 on RC, too. Ugh, so annoying, right? Unlike LR, I feel that RC mistakes are mure more silly and preventable for some reason. Enjoy the MLSAT RC guide, it helped me to go from a -5 average to a -3.3 average currently.

Yeah, I never really got into the whole 'question first' thing, it's always just been stim-first. Probs cause that's how TM taught it when I took the course.

Yeah, RC is such a fuckin bitch for me, hahaha! I mean, I'm happy with missing one or two in LR, just cause that's an improvement for me, but I pretty much haven't improved at all in RC. Even worse, the first time I took it I got -2/-1 LR, -2 LG, -8 RC...so the idea of bombing RC and scoring sub-170 again is a very real, very frightening possibility for me.

[incompetentia]

wait...but...tar...

[crumpetsandtea]

wait...but...tar...

I am clearly an Emilia Clarke clone in every way. I've no idea what ducky is talking about.

[incompetentia]

i know this charming place on 32nd street

[Curry]

i know this charming place on 32nd street

Do they serve crumpets and tea?

[crumpetsandtea]

i know this charming place on 32nd street

Do they serve crumpets and tea?

All the good places do.

[Curry]

i know this charming place on 32nd street

Do they serve crumpets and tea?

All the good places do.

Fantastic. Simply fantastic.

[Jack Smirks]

I might take a PT today, really not too worried about it.

[crumpetsandtea]

I might take a PT today, really not too worried about it.

Good luck! I'm sure you're going to rock it.

56 -- 05/21/11 ----- LR: -1/1 ; RC: -5 ; LG: -0 ------------ 93/174

Siiiiiiiiiiiiigh. OK admittedly I have not yet read any of the RC guide, so IDK why I expected to do better, but this is still really soul-crushing ): TBH though I could tell that I bombed the RC...I was really struggling through it and had to take the full 35 minutes just to finish. Questions I missed were: MP, 'Undermine Author's sentence', 'Parallel relationship', 'Inference', & 'Passage Organization.'

Also interesting to note...the one question I missed for both LR sections was #20. What are the odds of that? One was a 'A and B disagree about..' and one was a 'Weakens' Q.


BTW 99.9, if you're still interested, I logged my first 15 Q in LR, and the time I had left when done with the problems:

LR1 =
20:10 left on the clock when I finished the first 14 (~10 minutes for 1-14),
7:15 left when I finished the rest (~13 minutes for the remaining 11, which i did from 25-15).

LR 2 =
19:16 left on the clock after the first 14 (~11 minutes for 1-14),
almost exactly 7 left for the rest (~12 min for the remaining 11, which i did from 25-15)

I did 1-14 first because the page ended on 14...normally I'll stop at 15 (or sometimes 16, if the page ends there).