LSAT Preparation Forum

[mikialjan]

Indeed lol

How long have you been studying for and what kind of improvements have you made so far? Did you too start out just as bad....or you're still just as bad?

Well, i did a couple PTs before reading the Bibles, and three since. And I'm sorry to say I haven't improved any on games... maybe a point. I'll just keep trying to use the techniques in the book and try to get faster at making inferences. Fortunately, I'm almost where I hoped to be already in the other three sections (though I could always get better). You just hear a lot that games are by far the easiest section to improve on and people see their games shoot up as their working through the LGB. Unfortunately it doesnt happen that way for everyone. maybe it will for you. If I don't get better I suppose I'll have to do something drastic like get a tudor or take one of them classes you guys are talking about

meh, I'm more of the game section fan myself. I despise the reading passages section though. Just take a prep course. It's well worth the investment. And I suppose you can use the books to fine-tune your new skills afterwards again.

I just read through piitypikes post, not sure if you seen it. If you're sutdying on your own, maybe his tips and outline will work for you
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=41657

I still think I spent much more time on the first 10 questions than most any other first-timers
It's going to take A LOT of work for me to reach my goal

[wjun15]

For people that used the Logical Reasoning Bible...Do you guys actually make those signs for any conditional statement you see on a passage? I tried to follow the books way of doing the " B > C, not C > not B"...etc... but it just confuses me even more. I feel like I am not reading the content of the passage but trying to make those stupid letters and arrows...And it takes so damn long to figure out those statements, contrapositives, etc...and if the answer choices don't show my letters, im screwed.

Any tips?

[BigA]

For people that used the Logical Reasoning Bible...Do you guys actually make those signs for any conditional statement you see on a passage? I tried to follow the books way of doing the " B > C, not C > not B"...etc... but it just confuses me even more. I feel like I am not reading the content of the passage but trying to make those stupid letters and arrows...And it takes so damn long to figure out those statements, contrapositives, etc...and if the answer choices don't show my letters, im screwed.

Any tips?

I know what you mean. I have a hard enough time just making an abbreviation and then remembering what it means, lol. I remember reading somewhere in the book that many students are able to diagram almost as fast as they read. I'm amazed by this. And I'm not one of those people. I just try to have an idea of the conditional reasoning in my head. And keep that in mind when I'm looking at the answer choices, like in parallel reasoning for example. I might keep practicing it though to see if I get any better

[dynomite]

I just try to have an idea of the conditional reasoning in my head.

This could kill you on test day. The LSAT is a logic test -- being able to accurately depict logical statements in shorthand is an enormous help. Just start at the basics and work out from there. Make up conditional statements and diagram them yourself. For example:

If you're in New York, then you're in the United States

Simple enough, right? There's nowhere in either the state or the city of New York that's outside the USA, right? So all that's saying is:

If NY --> USA

Whereas, thinking about the opposite, you can also write it as:

If you're NOT in the United States, you're NOT in New York

Again, I don't know where you ARE, I just know that if you aren't somewhere where the stars & stripes are flying you can't very well be in New York. Which is just

If [strike]USA[/strike] --> [strike]NY[/strike]

Again, pretty simple and straightforward. But this will be enormously helpful to be able to do for some of the more difficult LR questions. The key with starting out simple is that you see what NOT to do -- just negating the statement (if you're not in NY, you're not in the USA) is obviously wrong, as is flipping it (if you're in the USA, you're in NY)

[am060459]

take testmasters. its superior to any other prep course.

edit: just to verify that we're talking about the same testmasters. http://www.testmasters.net/

Thanks for the link. Yeh, that's the one. You really think it's superior to the others? Did you take it? If so, how were you with taking the test prior to starting and how much did you improve upon completion of the course?

i took Princeton review first and was not satisified. my instructor was great but the structure of the course was well laid out well. then i took Testmasters. i went up 11 points with Testmasters.

[tomwatts]

i took Princeton review first and was not satisified. my instructor was great but the structure of the course was well laid out well. then i took Testmasters. i went up 11 points with Testmasters.

Did you take the real (Hyperlearning) or fake (Accelerated) course?

Also, where and on what schedule?

[am060459]

i took Princeton review first and was not satisified. my instructor was great but the structure of the course was well laid out well. then i took Testmasters. i went up 11 points with Testmasters.

Did you take the real (Hyperlearning) or fake (Accelerated) course?

Also, where and on what schedule?

took hyperlearning last June in NYC.

[tomwatts]

... then I have no answers for you. Your experience is unusual, and I have no explanation of it. What didn't you like about the schedule?

I ask partly because, as a Princeton Review teacher myself, I'm always interested to know what makes for a successful student experience and what doesn't.

[am060459]

... then I have no answers for you. Your experience is unusual, and I have no explanation of it. What didn't you like about the schedule?

I ask partly because, as a Princeton Review teacher myself, I'm always interested to know what makes for a successful student experience and what doesn't.

the classes ended early. the instructor would rush through the material and go off topic sometimes. also i think the Princeton Review coursebooks are bad. the classification system of LR questions is of no help. also we barely went over RC.

[mikialjan]

... then I have no answers for you. Your experience is unusual, and I have no explanation of it. What didn't you like about the schedule?

I ask partly because, as a Princeton Review teacher myself, I'm always interested to know what makes for a successful student experience and what doesn't.

As a Princeton Review Teacher do you find it normal that I finished the first 10 questions in 40 minutes? I never seen a test before or had any prep whatsoever. I just took a shot at it and I think I did pretty damn bad for the first practice shot wouldn't you agree? My point is, if that's where I'm starting at, how much better can I actually get with ANY LSAT prep course +self-study?

Are there individuals that were as bad as I when taking a shot at the first practice test, but eventually scored high on the LSAT exam?

[am060459]

... then I have no answers for you. Your experience is unusual, and I have no explanation of it. What didn't you like about the schedule?

I ask partly because, as a Princeton Review teacher myself, I'm always interested to know what makes for a successful student experience and what doesn't.

As a Princeton Review Teacher do you find it normal that I finished the first 10 questions in 40 minutes? I never seen a test before or had any prep whatsoever. I just took a shot at it and I think I did pretty damn bad for the first practice shot wouldn't you agree? My point is, if that's where I'm starting at, how much better can I actually get with ANY LSAT prep course +self-study?

Are there individuals that were as bad as I when taking a shot at the first practice test, but eventually scored high on the LSAT exam?

as you drill questions and go through the LRB you will become very familiar with the questions and will naturally develop speed. its real important to focus on accuracy first. try to take a couple of untimed LR sections or untimed PT.

[tomwatts]

the classes ended early. the instructor would rush through the material and go off topic sometimes. also i think the Princeton Review coursebooks are bad. the classification system of LR questions is of no help. also we barely went over RC.

Well, that's on your teacher. That has nothing to do with the way the course is supposed to run. I do apologize that you had such an experience, because that's not how it normally works. (And the classification system of LR questions is the same one that virtually everyone here uses, so I imagine it's not particularly idiosyncratic. )

As a Princeton Review Teacher do you find it normal that I finished the first 10 questions in 40 minutes? I never seen a test before or had any prep whatsoever. I just took a shot at it and I think I did pretty damn bad for the first practice shot wouldn't you agree? My point is, if that's where I'm starting at, how much better can I actually get with ANY LSAT prep course +self-study?

Are there individuals that were as bad as I when taking a shot at the first practice test, but eventually scored high on the LSAT exam?

Being super-slow at first is not a big deal. The way our course is structured is that you basically spend the first half learning how the questions work and learning to get the answers right, and then you spend the second half of the course learning to do all of that within the allotted time. (This is an extremely crude generalization, obviously.)

But yeah, I started out doing a logic games section in about 60-70 minutes. I eventually got fast enough at them.

[mikialjan]

Thanks guys. That's a load off my shoulders. Chapters and Indigo are large book chain stires here and neither of them carried the Powerscore Bible books. If anyone is in the Toronto area and wants to sell my theirs (latest version) please let me know. I can't afford to wait 4-5 weeks via ordering it online.

[kacee]

I bought mine off Amazon and had them within the week.

Edit: Also maybe try a college bookstore. They would be me more likely to carry it than a regular bookstore.

[dynomite]

I bought it on Walmart.com for $38 (plus S+H).

Here's the link: --LinkRemoved--

[mikialjan]

Thanks for the info.

Someone wants to sell me the LSAT PowerScore Bible books, but they're not actually books. They are on PDf file. Does anyone know if these actually exist? Are they a scam? Just as good? etc. They're asking $30 for them.

[abbas123]

waste of money AND illegal

if you want the pdfs, you can get them yourself for free but it's stlll illegal

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=33535

[am060459]

Thanks for the info.

Someone wants to sell me the LSAT PowerScore Bible books, but they're not actually books. They are on PDf file. Does anyone know if these actually exist? Are they a scam? Just as good? etc. They're asking $30 for them.

never heard of that. i wouldnt trust it though.

[mikialjan]

Thanks for confirming my gut feeling.

[mikialjan]

Sorry for being MIA. Broke up with future wife and girlfriend of 6 yrs and it hit pretty bad. So bad it hurt my midterm exam!

Anyway, the bright side is I won't have any distraction during LSAT Prep and Law School.

Can I get some opinions on taking an LSAT prep in-class course with Testmasters vs one-on-one tutoring by Kaplan?
Would I learn more and better be prepared for the LSAT with the tutoring simply because I get all the attention?
Money is not an issue.

[mikialjan]

I think I'll do both. The course in addition to 10-12 hrs of private tutoring.

Just got off the phone with Testmasters for some info. I inquired about what the level of understanding should be for someone prior to enrolling and begining the LSAT prep course. They said the less they know the better to avoid bad habits from forming from self-studying.
SO now I'm stuck because I thought I would follow Pithypike's Prep outline via self-studying and then enroll in the course. I figured perhaps this will make me a better student for the LSAT prep course and help with higher LSAT score.

Confused,

mikial

[tomwatts]

If you learn from something similar to TM (PS), you won't have problems going into a TM course. No reason not to study now.

Condolences on the break-up.

[mikialjan]

Thanks Tom - got over it pretty quick. Where one door closes another one opens

I'm going to enroll in an LSAT Prep classroom course that begins this July lasting up to the LSAT exam in October.
I'm taking a 6 credit summer course in Modes of Reasoning (Phylosophy). I also want to take another course at the same time but afraid it will hinder with my LSAT prep course. Samething for September - should I minimize classes to focus more on the LSAT prep or will 2 classes be okay? My work hours will be 5-8 hrs per week.

[tomwatts]

Since summer courses are usually shorter and more intense, I'd shy away from two while prepping for the LSAT. During the school year, it's probably fine.

[waxecstatic]

Why in God's name would you want to dedicate 10 months to the LSAT? It's not like you're taking the USMLE. There is not much material. And why would you ask if the real tests are of better quality? Um, yeah, because they are REAL. Taking the course twice? Do you actually need an answer to that question?