October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[Mad_Twatter]

I'm tired of studying. Bring on PT 61. Lets finish this job. Who's with me?

[Adjudicator]

I'm tired of studying. Bring on PT 61. Lets finish this job. Who's with me?

Right on! Let's do this already.

[DreamShake]

Did PT 48 w/ exp section today. 172. (My first ever -0/-0 on LR)
Ran out of time with 3 Q's left on RC, and wasn't able to answer 2 Q's on LG in time.
Woulda been 177 if I had time for the 3 RC questions that took me 2 mins to answer (correctly) after the test was over, so if I'd done it DURING the test when the section was slightly more fresh, maybe 1:30?

Gonna start reading for an hour in the early evening. Printed text. My head switches gears when I'm looking at a computer screen, and I swear that reading becomes totally different. I need to build my speed/endurance.

I think this happens to me, too. I notice that if I read on the internet before a PT, I can't focus at all on reading during the test.

[Sandro]

Did PT 53 today

LR -3
LG -2
LR -2
RC -7 Missed half the english common law.

86/167 Had a 174 going into the last section

I got -5 on Sep09 Admin. RC (my best section of the test) and a year+ later, tons of tests, i'm still not even hitting around that on the recent RCs. Guess its time to try something radical. I could understand this if reading wasnt really my strong point but however unrelated it is i scored in the 99th percentile in reading on the ACT lol.

[lennonist]

Did PT 48 w/ exp section today. 172. (My first ever -0/-0 on LR)
Ran out of time with 3 Q's left on RC, and wasn't able to answer 2 Q's on LG in time.
Woulda been 177 if I had time for the 3 RC questions that took me 2 mins to answer (correctly) after the test was over, so if I'd done it DURING the test when the section was slightly more fresh, maybe 1:30?

Gonna start reading for an hour in the early evening. Printed text. My head switches gears when I'm looking at a computer screen, and I swear that reading becomes totally different. I need to build my speed/endurance.

I think this happens to me, too. I notice that if I read on the internet before a PT, I can't focus at all on reading during the test.

I am exactly the same way...or TV during breakfast before you take a PT is equally distracting/mind-numbing.

[vstraight]

My lg is getting progressively worse. I think it's because I haven't been practicing as much...

[CGI Fridays]

I can't stand when there's a logical error in an LSAT question.
PT 48. Section 4. Question 7.
I wish I could type the question verbatim for the vast majority of potential readers who don't happen to have PT 48 handy, but copyright is a negative nancy. Sooo, for those who DO have access to it & are interested.

The "correct" answer is C. However, in the test plantings, the hybrid strains are planted "alongside" the traditional strains, suggesting identical growing conditions (or at least close enough to identical for the purpose of an LSAT test). [in testing, hybrids outperform traditionals]
But the same relationship holds between hybrid strains & traditional strains in the "many parts of the world" where the hybrids didn't outperform the traditionals. We know this because these parts of the world are where traditionals have been "abandoned... in favor of" the hybrids. So, we assume these are the same fields, as there is no mention of (nor any reason to assume that there are) farmers moving fields when switching to hybrid.

So, since the "farming conditions" were almost identical between the two strain varieties both in the test AND in those parts of the world, we can conclude that "significantly better farming conditions" have NOTHING to do with the discrepancy (hybrids outperformed in test, yet failed to do so in those parts of the world).

The only way testing conditions could matter, is if the testing conditions in the test were better for the hybrid strains specifically, which is not stated in answer C. Answer C, as stated, would result in both strain varieties producing less outside of testing, but still the hybrids would outperform the traditionals, relatively, in any given location.
Since it is the only answer we can add to in order to make it a coherent explanation, we pick C even though it's wrong! Yay!

Good job, LSAC. Way to encourage close readings and then screw people over for a minute or two of re-reading in order to figure out that you made an error.

[Cromartie]

I'm tired of studying. Bring on PT 61. Lets finish this job. Who's with me?

Been feeling this way for the past couple of weeks. Let me at that damned test already!

[almostthereee]

Sigh I'm starting to experience this burnout towards the end of the test people are talking about. I start developing this sense of "omg almost done then I can watch football" and got pummeled on the last LR of PT50. -7

Burnout is starting to become a very scary factor... I never had this issue until I started feeling burn out from studying in general

[catsparka]

Tryptophan is an amino acid. Carbs are not composed of amino acids, proteins are. So, by your theory, wouldn't your advice have the opposite effect?

No. How much do you know about nutrition? This is not my theory, it is a well known mechanism. Tryptophan competes with other amino acids to cross the blood-brain barrier. Carbs stimulate the increased production of insulin which cause certain other amino acids in the blood to be taken up into cells, which reduces the competition for tryptophan to cross into the brain, thereby increasing tryptophan levels in the brain.

Also, who are you to say that choline's effect is minuscule? Have you done some studies on it?

There was an LR question about this! Or maybe it was an RC question...

[Adjudicator]

Tryptophan is an amino acid. Carbs are not composed of amino acids, proteins are. So, by your theory, wouldn't your advice have the opposite effect?

No. How much do you know about nutrition? This is not my theory, it is a well known mechanism. Tryptophan competes with other amino acids to cross the blood-brain barrier. Carbs stimulate the increased production of insulin which cause certain other amino acids in the blood to be taken up into cells, which reduces the competition for tryptophan to cross into the brain, thereby increasing tryptophan levels in the brain.

Also, who are you to say that choline's effect is minuscule? Have you done some studies on it?

There was an LR question about this! Or maybe it was an RC question...

I was wondering if anyone would catch that. That is true. I think it was an LR question.

[lennonist]

Tryptophan is an amino acid. Carbs are not composed of amino acids, proteins are. So, by your theory, wouldn't your advice have the opposite effect?

No. How much do you know about nutrition? This is not my theory, it is a well known mechanism. Tryptophan competes with other amino acids to cross the blood-brain barrier. Carbs stimulate the increased production of insulin which cause certain other amino acids in the blood to be taken up into cells, which reduces the competition for tryptophan to cross into the brain, thereby increasing tryptophan levels in the brain.

Also, who are you to say that choline's effect is minuscule? Have you done some studies on it?

There was an LR question about this! Or maybe it was an RC question...

I was wondering if anyone would catch that. That is true. I think it was an LR question.

yeah, i think a PT from the 90s....

btw, your screenname, "Adjudicator" could be from that RC passage on two types of legal systems. if, not, then at least that's what I think of first when i see it.

[ND'10]

Yesterday, finally broke 170 on a PT in the 50s with a 173 on PT 51 (So what if it was before Comparative Reading was introduced, its still in the 50s, at least thats what I tell myself haha)

Today, did two timed sections back to back and got a -0 on LR #1 and -1 on LG from PT 35.

I'm really hoping its all coming together, or at least it feels good to think it is for one night. Confidence is the key for me on test day.

[Miranda 18]

Yesterday, finally broke 170 on a PT in the 50s with a 173 on PT 51 (So what if it was before Comparative Reading was introduced, its still in the 50s, at least thats what I tell myself haha)

Today, did two timed sections back to back and got a -0 on LR #1 and -1 on LG from PT 35.

I'm really hoping its all coming together, or at least it feels good to think it is for one night. Confidence is the key for me on test day.

Just broke 170 as well! I hope it is the coming together part for us! It would be nice to keep this momentum for test day.....

[Hedwig]

Anyone else super stressed about what they have to do schoolwork wise before the LSAT? I have a test tomorrow, two intense history tests on Monday the fourth, and quizzes on the 6th and 8th (the one on the 8th necessitating me reading a whole Shakespeare play for comprehension).

I'm seriously melting down under the stress. I have four Prep Tests left to take. Scheduled for Wednesday, Friday, Saturday (mock test), Monday, Wednesday. I don't know how I'm going to take all the prep tests I need to take and do all the studying I need to do at the same time.

[DasBoot]

I took last week off from PTs to focus on mastering the couple of LR problem types I cannot get a handle on. The good news is that on the PT I took today I scored a personal best on LR sections -4 (-1[Also a new record], -3), the bad news is that I scored -6 on RC. I am really uncomfortable with where I stand on RC. It's just a total wildcard for me. One test I get -2, the next it's -7. I'm on a diet of two RC sections a day from now till my cutoff day. I feel like I'm on the precipice of having the section down. I'm starting to have a better instinct for where questions are going to come out of. Overall, I'm feeling good. LG is completely zoned in at -0/-1, I have made massive improvements in LR (my first diagnostic was a disaster of epic proportions: -20 for both LR sections combined), RC is going to be what kills me I think.

[lennonist]

I took last week off from PTs to focus on mastering the couple of LR problem types I cannot get a handle on. The good news is that on the PT I took today I scored a personal best on LR sections -4 (-1[Also a new record], -3), the bad news is that I scored -6 on RC. I am really uncomfortable with where I stand on RC. It's just a total wildcard for me. One test I get -2, the next it's -7. I'm on a diet of two RC sections a day from now till my cutoff day. I feel like I'm on the precipice of having the section down. I'm starting to have a better instinct for where questions are going to come out of. Overall, I'm feeling good. LG is completely zoned in at -0/-1, I have made massive improvements in LR (my first diagnostic was a disaster of epic proportions: -20 for both LR sections combined), RC is going to be what kills me I think.

i am in exactly the same shoes as you. if we get the RC down, good things will come. I have never gotten -0 on RC. Two days ago, tried to do the 4th passage first and work backwards. Ended up with a -5. I think lack of endurance or focus is a big part of making silly mistakes.

[Sandro]

I was a -4 RC away from my first 170 going into the last section of PT 53.

Got a -7

I am going to try reading for structure rather than detail and making quick 3-4 word summaries of each paragraph as I go along.

[almostthereee]

RC's also a total wildcard for me... To me it depends on the focus and how well I detail those summaries in the margins. Sometimes I make the mistake of going too much in detail and spend way too much time mapping out the summaries, which I've deduced should be no more than 8-10 words per paragraph. I still have a hard time reading dense material (usually science) the first go round... I tend to have to reread a dense sentence at least once. (riddled basins) Then there's passages where I read it once and only once with 2-3 words in the margins for each paragraph and hit the questions boom boom boom, referring back to the passage at most once or twice. Now it's a matter of doing that consistently...

[WhatWouldMichaelDo?]

I'm tired of studying. Bring on PT 61. Lets finish this job. Who's with me?

I only have three left (58-60). 30 down, 4 to go. I'm ready.

[yzero1]

Had to disappear from these forums due to school..insane amount of work to do in the form of classwork and work for some student clubs. Anyways, my performance in the 50s has been extremely inconsistent, with scores ranging from 171-178 so far. Reading comp killed me for the first few "50's" tests I did (June 2007, PT 53 and 54). I averaged like -4 or -5 per section before I figured out how to do them properly. Essentially, I just increased my focus and spent a longer time referring back to the passage and noticing if I made any unnecessary assumptions about the answer choices. So far, that's paid off and I've been getting around -1 per RC section from 55-57.

I hope I can get my performance to be more consistent in the last 3 PTs.

[lparker]

I had decided not to take PT60, but I changed my mind and bought it on Amazon yesterday. I need to retry the mulch game--which killed me in June. I've been living in fear of it for too long. So if it kills me again, please remember me as fearless.

[brickman]

guys, guys, guys. What you want is adderall mixed with some anti anxiety medication, breakfast of champions.

That or 2-3 sugar free redbull's and some 'naners.

[Adjudicator]

I had decided not to take PT60, but I changed my mind and bought it on Amazon yesterday. I need to retry the mulch game--which killed me in June. I've been living in fear of it for too long. So if it kills me again, please remember me as fearless.

No matter what happens... I'm proud of you.

[Mad_Twatter]

guys, guys, guys. What you want is adderall mixed with some anti anxiety medication, breakfast of champions.

That or 2-3 sugar free redbull's and some 'naners.

No, no, no! That is not right. It is morally apprehensible and an affront to God. Shame on you.

Try a spliff dipped in embalming fluid instead.