The Official September 2016 Study Group - WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS Forum

[Fantasyfreak294]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

[Fantasyfreak294]

LSAT Trainer is good stuff. I gave myself only a month to study, after some research chose that book as my sole study tool, and I walked away with a 170. It explained everything very clearly, and I felt confident that any issues I had with any sections were due to my shortcomings. I'd especially swear by his Logic Games section - my last two weeks I didn't miss a single question on any PT Games questions.

What did you like about his games section? I did the Powerscore Bible, but I'm looking for new perspectives on games.

[Fantasyfreak294]

Increasing speed on games: how'd y'all do it?

[tsf]

Increasing speed on games: how'd y'all do it?

I know that's what everybody says, but the key to increasing speed on games is to practice, practice, practice. The first time I took a PT, I only managed to get through 3 of the games and I even missed a few questions on those. I practiced for about 2 months and ended up finishing LG with 6 minutes to spare in June.
I think it's really important that you develop a system that works for you so you can take the best out of your diagrams. My notations are sort of a mix between the ones proposed by the LSAT Trainer and by 7Sage...I just made up a system that worked out for me. Then I practiced A LOT, first untimed (to increase accuracy) and then timed (to increase speed).
If I were you, I would practice to increase accuracy for a while, and then move on to timed sections. I know you've probably practiced a lot, but redoing the games is crucial if you want to be faster at solving them...

[pretzeltime]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Hmmm...

What is your GPA?
What was your PT average and how many PTs did you do? How much preparation in general?
Was the wrong answer distribution consistent with your PTs? That's pretty fantastic for LR.

I think I, like most people, will say that you should be able to do better in games, like -0 to -2 with proper studying. If your other 2 sections were to stay the same then naturally you're looking at a score that is even more amazing than the one you got already.

Also, there's lots of discussion about this everywhere on the forums, but schools don't really average scores anymore. My impression is that H doesn't give a shit and takes your highest score. Y and S are the "black box" schools that may take it into account. Someone feel free to fact check me on that one.

[proteinshake]

back to LG today. haven't touched it in about two weeks. gonna finish up most of the LG cambridge packets today and do some LR drilling in my weak areas. then taking a PT tomorrow morning.

[Mikey]

back to LG today. haven't touched it in about two weeks. gonna finish up most of the LG cambridge packets today and do some LR drilling in my weak areas. then taking a PT tomorrow morning.

GL with the PT bro, let us know how it went!

[Dodocogon]

Hope everyone had a good 4th! I took my time in the car to family places to review a couple tests - ready to take a full one tonight and get back into the swing of things... I'm looking to take a Tues./Thurs PT schedule with drilling and in depth review in between. Weekends will be whatever I'm feeling; plus I have trips planned like 3 weeks straight from the 14th on so I don't want those to be too structured yet!

[proteinshake]

back to LG today. haven't touched it in about two weeks. gonna finish up most of the LG cambridge packets today and do some LR drilling in my weak areas. then taking a PT tomorrow morning.

GL with the PT bro, let us know how it went!

thanks!

[proteinshake]

upcoming 7Sage admissions even. taken from 7Sage:

"Hi there,

On Thursday, July 7, at 9 p.m. EST, David Busis, 7Sage's Admissions Editor, will tell you everything he knows about choosing a topic for your personal statement.

He will give you prompts, explain some common mistakes, and show you a few examples.

The presentation will probably last about twenty minutes. After that, he will take questions about any aspect of the admissions process.

To join, just follow this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/283859861

If you'd like to get your questions queued up, ask them ahead of time in this thread in our Discussion Forums.

Hope to see you there!

- JY"

[Mikey]

upcoming 7Sage admissions even. taken from 7Sage:

"Hi there,

On Thursday, July 7, at 9 p.m. EST, David Busis, 7Sage's Admissions Editor, will tell you everything he knows about choosing a topic for your personal statement.

He will give you prompts, explain some common mistakes, and show you a few examples.

The presentation will probably last about twenty minutes. After that, he will take questions about any aspect of the admissions process.

To join, just follow this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/283859861

If you'd like to get your questions queued up, ask them ahead of time in this thread in our Discussion Forums.

Hope to see you there!

- JY"

Thanks for sharing. I definitely need to get in on that since I still have no clue what my PS will be about. Hopefully it gives me at least some guidance!

[20170322]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

You shouldn't settle for anything less than -0 on games. Hit the books, do every game available as many times as you possibly can, and get a 177+

[Hennessy]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Hmmm...

What is your GPA?
What was your PT average and how many PTs did you do? How much preparation in general?
Was the wrong answer distribution consistent with your PTs? That's pretty fantastic for LR.

I think I, like most people, will say that you should be able to do better in games, like -0 to -2 with proper studying. If your other 2 sections were to stay the same then naturally you're looking at a score that is even more amazing than the one you got already.

Also, there's lots of discussion about this everywhere on the forums, but schools don't really average scores anymore. My impression is that H doesn't give a shit and takes your highest score. Y and S are the "black box" schools that may take it into account. Someone feel free to fact check me on that one.

TCR.

General impression is that anyone should be able to go -0 on games because they are the most learn-able and formulaic section; given enough time, you could work out the correct answer to every question just by plugging in answers.

A -6 could easily be a -0 for you within a couple months, and that 171 would turn into a +175

Definite take the plunge. HLS could be your dream, but a +175 could also be full-ride at lower t14s, and that's a whole new dream.

[MyNameIsntJames]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Hmmm...

What is your GPA?
What was your PT average and how many PTs did you do? How much preparation in general?
Was the wrong answer distribution consistent with your PTs? That's pretty fantastic for LR.

I think I, like most people, will say that you should be able to do better in games, like -0 to -2 with proper studying. If your other 2 sections were to stay the same then naturally you're looking at a score that is even more amazing than the one you got already.

Also, there's lots of discussion about this everywhere on the forums, but schools don't really average scores anymore. My impression is that H doesn't give a shit and takes your highest score. Y and S are the "black box" schools that may take it into account. Someone feel free to fact check me on that one.

TCR.

General impression is that anyone should be able to go -0 on games because they are the most learn-able and formulaic section; given enough time, you could work out the correct answer to every question just by plugging in answers.

A -6 could easily be a -0 for you within a couple months, and that 171 would turn into a +175

Definite take the plunge. HLS could be your dream, but a +175 could also be full-ride at lower t14s, and that's a whole new dream.

Excellent advice. You've demonstrated perfectly here how one does not need to be an admissions' expert to give out solid advice on this forum. Well done, sir.

[proteinshake]

deciding whether or not I should just go ahead and PT with 5 sections or start with 4 and eventually do 5? I'm probably just gonna go ahead and do them with 5 sections by adding an E section from PT 1-38. thoughts?

[Mikey]

boop bop beep boop

[Mikey]

deciding whether or not I should just go ahead and PT with 5 sections or start with 4 and eventually do 5? I'm probably just gonna go ahead and do them with 5 sections by adding an E section from PT 1-38. thoughts?

I'd say do it with 4 sections for the first few and then move to 5 sections once your endurance builds up a bit. I mean you obviously know what it's like to do 5 sections, but since you haven't PT'd in a while, I'd say start with 4 and then work your way to 5. What I'm going to do is when I reach the point of 5 section PT, I'm going to have the experimental be the most simple section (LG), and then work my way into having an LR experimental, and then my nightmare of 2 RC's, lol. I think this is the best approach for me since RC is most mind draining, imo.

[Blueprint Mithun]

Ok guys, I found the post I was talking to you guys about for the harder LR questions. I feel like it's pretty detailed but if Mithun would like to give more advice on it, that would also be great!

What might be more useful to you, however, if you're trying to get good at tackling difficult LR questions in general, is to go through the preptests/practice sections you've finished and start with question 15. As you've probably heard, LR sections increase in difficulty as you get later in the section. I'd say q15/16 onward is where you start to see the upper tier of difficulty - more convoluted stimuli, denser answer choices, knottier arguments to break down.

During my last few weeks of prep, I used to compile the last 10 questions in different LR sections and treat those like individual sections themselves. I think that boosted my confidence and endurance quite a bit. It's easy to get lax when it comes to the easy LR questions, but these "super-sections" forced me to stay hyper-focused the entire time.

You have to be on alert for the smallest details with hard LR questions, but it's useful to have that approach to all LSAT questions in general. It's not easy, but once I switched back from these super sections to regular LR sections, I found them much less taxing to go through.

Thanks for bumping this! I should stress that I only did in the last two or three weeks of my prep, after my PTing and drilling had showed me that the only questions I was getting wrong were numbered 15+.

When you train on regular LR sections, you're conditioning yourself to warm up on the first 10 or so questions, and then up the ante for the later questions. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, as that's exactly what the LSAT is like. However, you might find that you start to dread the later questions, and that the awareness of the impending difficulty is affecting your concentration. Or you might find that you're making careless mistakes on the early questions, because you have a tendency to rush through them, not taking them as seriously as you might.

These sections are difficult, but they're much more even than traditional LR sections. You're forced to completely focus early on in the section, and you have to maintain that throughout. I was able to carry the same mindset over to regular LR sections, and found myself being more attentive to detail, and able to handle the more dense stimuli without much stress.

[Fantasyfreak294]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Hmmm...

What is your GPA?
What was your PT average and how many PTs did you do? How much preparation in general?
Was the wrong answer distribution consistent with your PTs? That's pretty fantastic for LR.

I think I, like most people, will say that you should be able to do better in games, like -0 to -2 with proper studying. If your other 2 sections were to stay the same then naturally you're looking at a score that is even more amazing than the one you got already.

Also, there's lots of discussion about this everywhere on the forums, but schools don't really average scores anymore. My impression is that H doesn't give a shit and takes your highest score. Y and S are the "black box" schools that may take it into account. Someone feel free to fact check me on that one.

Hey! 3.7988 GPA (that's my undergrad GPA, I haven't submitted my transcript to LSAC, so I don't know my LSAC GPA). PT range 169-174. There was one 167 and a 176 in that mix. It went, usually, 171+ on a good to medium day, 169 on a bad day. 19 full practice tests. 0-2 (usually 0-1) missed on each LR section. 1-3 missed, usually, on RC. Consistently missing 5-6 on games. Very occasionally, I'd have a games section where I'd miss 0-2. Those were easy games sections, though, because on those tests, missed questions on LR and RC went up. NYU averages LSAT's, that's the main thing I'm worried about (since I'd really like a shot there). I think there's one other school in that ranking range that might still average, but I haven't looked into it either.

[Fantasyfreak294]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Hmmm...

What is your GPA?
What was your PT average and how many PTs did you do? How much preparation in general?
Was the wrong answer distribution consistent with your PTs? That's pretty fantastic for LR.

I think I, like most people, will say that you should be able to do better in games, like -0 to -2 with proper studying. If your other 2 sections were to stay the same then naturally you're looking at a score that is even more amazing than the one you got already.

Also, there's lots of discussion about this everywhere on the forums, but schools don't really average scores anymore. My impression is that H doesn't give a shit and takes your highest score. Y and S are the "black box" schools that may take it into account. Someone feel free to fact check me on that one.

Hey! 3.7988 GPA (that's my undergrad GPA, I haven't submitted my transcript to LSAC, so I don't know my LSAC GPA). PT range 169-174. There was one 167 and a 176 in that mix. It went, usually, 171+ on a good to medium day, 169 on a bad day. 19 full practice tests. 0-2 (usually 0-1) missed on each LR section. 1-3 missed, usually, on RC. Consistently missing 5-6 on games. Very occasionally, I'd have a games section where I'd miss 0-2. Those were easy games sections, though, because on those tests, missed questions on LR and RC went up. NYU averages LSAT's, that's the main thing I'm worried about (since I'd really like a shot there). I think there's one other school in that ranking range that might still average, but I haven't looked into it either.

Sorry, almost forgot. Prep in general was the Trainer LR and RC sections, the Powerscore Bible, and Manhattan Peep's RC book.

[MyNameIsntJames]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Absolutely retake. You can easily sweep games with practice. The key to games honestly is just to consistently keep doing them. The more you do them, the better you get at them to the point where it just becomes a routine thing. And honestly if you -0'd the LR section you probably have that dow pat. I'd do a month of solid review on that to make sure you're still up to par and then on RC I'd brush up on that too. You could also clear the RC section. In theory, you could bang out a 180 if you stay motivated. LR is really the biggest hump for most people in terms of a section that takes sort of raw logical prowess and intelligence. LG is really just pure practice so -0'ing on that shouldn't take you more than 2-3 weeks of just hammering out LG after LG until it become something you do in your sleep. And RC is something you can brush up on by doing passage after passage.

I'll factor in test day jitters and assume you get -2 to -3 wrong because you over thought some question in the heat of the moment... But I'd recommend retake. You seem like you could smack a 175+ with ease if you take the correct steps.

[MyNameIsntJames]

Looking for some advice on LSAT prep myself actually.


I'm taking the September LSAT. I haven't taken the LSAT since the middle of my senior year of college (Fall 2014) where I got a 161. Since then, I haven't taken an official timed PT, but I've taken broken up sections (timed LR section, rest, timed LG section, rest) etc., so I'm looking to work on doing a test straight through when the time is right. I was going to take last year's November LSAT and backed out last second because I felt I could do a lot more prepping.

I've more or less been prepping since the summer of 2014 at varying intensities and haven't had a true diagnostic of where I'm at for a few months now. How do yall recommend I proceed? Lately I haven't been doing too many problems, but I've been religiously working through the Powerscore book on LR. I feel fairly confident that I can crush LG if I just take 2-3 weeks to really practice them and drill them out and RC has always been a strong point for me so I'm not too worried about it, but I will spend time on it. LR, by far, would be my biggest weakness on this exam if any. A terrible RC section for me would be -4. Normal is -2 to -0. Could be rusty though. Looking to get 175+, but not sure where I am. I've spent the last few months literally just breaking down each type of individual problem on the LSAT and studying the methodology behind the stems and answers through various sources.

I have access to all the Kaplan, 7sage, Powerscore books plus all of the PT's released by LSAC.

Also, I'm feeling a little anxious about how long I'm studying. I normally try to do a solid 2-3 hours a day, but I feel guilty on the days I skip and even guiltier when those days are weekends when there are literally hours of idle time to do anything with and I end up fucking around.

All suggestions and comments are much appreciated and feel free to PM me w your comments/questions as well. Thanks!

[pretzeltime]

Looking for y'alls input. I took the June LSAT, got a 171. HLS is my dream, so I'm looking to get a 174+ in September. My wrong answer distribution for June was 6 missed on games, 3 missed on RC, none missed on either LR section. I want to retake, my only fear is that, somehow, I do worse this time around (scary thought for the schools I'm applying to that average scores). What do y'all think? Take the plunge and go for it? Or back off and not take the risk.

Hmmm...

What is your GPA?
What was your PT average and how many PTs did you do? How much preparation in general?
Was the wrong answer distribution consistent with your PTs? That's pretty fantastic for LR.

I think I, like most people, will say that you should be able to do better in games, like -0 to -2 with proper studying. If your other 2 sections were to stay the same then naturally you're looking at a score that is even more amazing than the one you got already.

Also, there's lots of discussion about this everywhere on the forums, but schools don't really average scores anymore. My impression is that H doesn't give a shit and takes your highest score. Y and S are the "black box" schools that may take it into account. Someone feel free to fact check me on that one.

Hey! 3.7988 GPA (that's my undergrad GPA, I haven't submitted my transcript to LSAC, so I don't know my LSAC GPA). PT range 169-174. There was one 167 and a 176 in that mix. It went, usually, 171+ on a good to medium day, 169 on a bad day. 19 full practice tests. 0-2 (usually 0-1) missed on each LR section. 1-3 missed, usually, on RC. Consistently missing 5-6 on games. Very occasionally, I'd have a games section where I'd miss 0-2. Those were easy games sections, though, because on those tests, missed questions on LR and RC went up. NYU averages LSAT's, that's the main thing I'm worried about (since I'd really like a shot there). I think there's one other school in that ranking range that might still average, but I haven't looked into it either.

Yeah, you could definitely up your games game.

That being said you SHOULD be really stoked that you got the score you did given your range of PTs. Many people score far below their lowest PT so the fact that you broke 170s and got a 171 is pretty great.

If you were losing most points in either of the other sections, I'd personally say not to retake. But since it's games, you could retake if you want. The games section this past June was generally considered to be an easy and predictable section so you need to do some work.

[Deardevil]

Looking for some advice on LSAT prep myself actually.


I'm taking the September LSAT. I haven't taken the LSAT since the middle of my senior year of college (Fall 2014) where I got a 161. Since then, I haven't taken an official timed PT, but I've taken broken up sections (timed LR section, rest, timed LG section, rest) etc., so I'm looking to work on doing a test straight through when the time is right. I was going to take last year's November LSAT and backed out last second because I felt I could do a lot more prepping.

I've more or less been prepping since the summer of 2014 at varying intensities and haven't had a true diagnostic of where I'm at for a few months now. How do yall recommend I proceed? Lately I haven't been doing too many problems, but I've been religiously working through the Powerscore book on LR. I feel fairly confident that I can crush LG if I just take 2-3 weeks to really practice them and drill them out and RC has always been a strong point for me so I'm not too worried about it, but I will spend time on it. LR, by far, would be my biggest weakness on this exam if any. A terrible RC section for me would be -4. Normal is -2 to -0. Could be rusty though. Looking to get 175+, but not sure where I am. I've spent the last few months literally just breaking down each type of individual problem on the LSAT and studying the methodology behind the stems and answers through various sources.

I have access to all the Kaplan, 7sage, Powerscore books plus all of the PT's released by LSAC.

Also, I'm feeling a little anxious about how long I'm studying. I normally try to do a solid 2-3 hours a day, but I feel guilty on the days I skip and even guiltier when those days are weekends when there are literally hours of idle time to do anything with and I end up fucking around.

All suggestions and comments are much appreciated and feel free to PM me w your comments/questions as well. Thanks!

The rust is strong with this one... Kidding!

Judging from your previous post, you sound like you already have a tactical approach to LG.
I also feel confident about that section, but don't let that become a detrimental factor; still drill to make sure you're good at it
because constant, consistent practice is required to ace this exam. Let's assume you got this down; minimal work is needed.
And let's further assume you're good with RC, saving you a bunch of time and making it more viable to take in September.

After you're done with the LRB, immediately drill the heck out of questions, whether by type or via full PT sections (untimed).
This is what I'm doing at the moment to increase accuracy before speed; still getting there, but I'm a lot more confident now.
Like LG, this section also requires repetition and, to an extent, memorization.
You're not necessarily remembering what answer choices are chosen, but rather how you get there, eliminating unfavorable ones.
Once you hit perhaps -2 or -3, you could attempt improving speed. When you're confident in that department, as well as in LG and RC,
it's PrepTest time. Of course, to get to that semifinal stage, you would first need the motivation and focus to begin with.

Two to three hours should be minimum, but definitely aim for 30+ a week, assuming there's no obligatory obstruction.
I'm guilty of procrastinating like crazy (like right now lol)... More than I would prefer, but just think of how much the LSAT matters.
You want a 175 and up, so it clearly means something. In the end, it's what you make it.
You've got the right resources at your disposal; put them to good use!

[Alexandros]

.