To drink or not to drink... Forum

[Funkycrime]

But what about the bigger problem, when you can't even get your mind off the LSAT during sleep? Seriously. I toss and turn over imaginary problems that I generated in my head. The effects on my progress have been inconclusive.

Yeah I sleep study too. I don't think it does much for my scoring.

[05062014]

But what about the bigger problem, when you can't even get your mind off the LSAT during sleep? Seriously. I toss and turn over imaginary problems that I generated in my head. The effects on my progress have been inconclusive.

Yeah I sleep study too. I don't think it does much for my scoring.

This has actually given me sub par sleep on more than a few occasions. My score is currently hitting a wall (PT 48s curve...) but losing sleep over LR problems has seemed to make most of my issues with LR disappear. Untimed (say 5 minutes more than I am allowed) I don't get shit wrong anymore. Losing sleep over mind bending LR problems seems to have helped.

Now if only I could figure out how to do the 15-20 easy problems in under 15 minutes to give myself the chance to execute what I have learned.

[cloudhidden]

But what about the bigger problem, when you can't even get your mind off the LSAT during sleep? Seriously. I toss and turn over imaginary problems that I generated in my head. The effects on my progress have been inconclusive.

Yeah I sleep study too. I don't think it does much for my scoring.

This has actually given me sub par sleep on more than a few occasions. My score is currently hitting a wall (PT 48s curve...) but losing sleep over LR problems has seemed to make most of my issues with LR disappear. Untimed (say 5 minutes more than I am allowed) I don't get shit wrong anymore. Losing sleep over mind bending LR problems seems to have helped.

Now if only I could figure out how to do the 15-20 easy problems in under 15 minutes to give myself the chance to execute what I have learned.

Yeah, give me 40 minutes and that section is consistently -0 or -1. But under the time pressure I might rush through a few problems. I did the LR material from the first 38 PT's by question type over the summer and my typical cumulative score for the two sections has dropped from -8 to -4. I feel like that much exposure to LR has made most questions automatic. But not the same automatic feeling on LG, more or less, I reach a sufficient certainty level where I know that spending any more time on a particular question will only complicate the matter. I noticed toward the end of my question drilling that my initial instincts are correct a vast majority of the time and even on the difficult questions. Now it has become a matter of making sure I clearly understand how the stimulus relates together. However, I still have an ingrained tendency toward re-reading too much that came from doing too much untimed work early on. I hope that the more removed I get from the untimed practice, the more I steady my focus and the more this habit fades away. It's ironic that when I feel like I'm consciously thinking something through, that's when I know that I'm in trouble. And it's usually best then to go back to the stimulus and make sure that I have everything straight in my head. I feel the same way on LG. I just trust the process. Now if it was only just for that damn reading comprehension...

[05062014]

Yeah, give me 40 minutes and that section is consistently -0 or -1. But under the time pressure I might rush through a few problems. I did the LR material from the first 38 PT's by question type over the summer and my typical cumulative score for the two sections has dropped from -8 to -4. I feel like that much exposure to LR has made most questions automatic. But not the same automatic feeling on LG, more or less, I reach a sufficient certainty level where I know that spending any more time on a particular question will only complicate the matter. I noticed toward the end of my question drilling that my initial instincts are correct a vast majority of the time and even on the difficult questions. Now it has become a matter of making sure I clearly understand how the stimulus relates together. However, I still have an ingrained tendency toward re-reading too much that came from doing too much untimed work early on. I hope that the more removed I get from the untimed practice, the more I steady my focus and the more this habit fades away. It's ironic that when I feel like I'm consciously thinking something through, that's when I know that I'm in trouble. And it's usually best then to go back to the stimulus and make sure that I have everything straight in my head. I feel the same way on LG. I just trust the process. Now if it was only just for that damn reading comprehension...

It is like you read my mind... I did the difficult questions from 1-38 so I am still behind you in terms of pacing. I think the fact that I took 20-38 in full PTs and now am dealing with slight accuracy/time issues makes my situation ideal. I have seen so many difficult problems nothing takes me by surprise and I have a lot of unseen easy questions to work with to get my timing to be clutch (without seeing new tests -- about 12 of them left). Right now, I have Pt's 7-18 to figure out a way to do easy problems at a rate of 3/2min or 2/1min.

And fuck RC.. I may need to do the -- 3 passages in 9-10 min; last passage in under 5 - strategy. I was strictly against this practice but my accuracy is exponentially superior, in that i rarely get problems wrong, if I have ~9-10 minutes per passage.

[espressocream]

I don't drink, but I've started my weekly cigarillo routine.
Though since I'm slightly asthmatic and live in the Mile High -- it's not a good idea when I work out...

Whatever helps you relax -- like everyone else said -- if you are able to forget about the existence of
this test for an hour or so - do it.

But also don't watch 5 episodes of Daria and do one section of prep a day...

[cloudhidden]

Yeah, give me 40 minutes and that section is consistently -0 or -1. But under the time pressure I might rush through a few problems. I did the LR material from the first 38 PT's by question type over the summer and my typical cumulative score for the two sections has dropped from -8 to -4. I feel like that much exposure to LR has made most questions automatic. But not the same automatic feeling on LG, more or less, I reach a sufficient certainty level where I know that spending any more time on a particular question will only complicate the matter. I noticed toward the end of my question drilling that my initial instincts are correct a vast majority of the time and even on the difficult questions. Now it has become a matter of making sure I clearly understand how the stimulus relates together. However, I still have an ingrained tendency toward re-reading too much that came from doing too much untimed work early on. I hope that the more removed I get from the untimed practice, the more I steady my focus and the more this habit fades away. It's ironic that when I feel like I'm consciously thinking something through, that's when I know that I'm in trouble. And it's usually best then to go back to the stimulus and make sure that I have everything straight in my head. I feel the same way on LG. I just trust the process. Now if it was only just for that damn reading comprehension...

It is like you read my mind... I did the difficult questions from 1-38 so I am still behind you in terms of pacing. I think the fact that I took 20-38 in full PTs and now am dealing with slight accuracy/time issues makes my situation ideal. I have seen so many difficult problems nothing takes me by surprise and I have a lot of unseen easy questions to work with to get my timing to be clutch (without seeing new tests -- about 12 of them left). Right now, I have Pt's 7-18 to figure out a way to do easy problems at a rate of 3/2min or 2/1min.

And fuck RC.. I may need to do the -- 3 passages in 9-10 min; last passage in under 5 - strategy. I was strictly against this practice but my accuracy is exponentially superior, in that i rarely get problems wrong, if I have ~9-10 minutes per passage.

In hindsight I did way too much untimed work. I went through the LRB and MLSAT strategy guide and did them by question type from 1-20 and then started over on 21-38. I don't think I had the most efficient plan, but doing them untimed really helped me internalize the logic. I'm hardly ever surprised as well. Sometimes I get through the first ten questions or so and I look at my watch and it's only been like 8 minutes, and then I start thinking "wow, I can slow down now" and that throws me off. In the same way, any "meta" thoughts about how well I'm doing just break my flow. It's all just wasted mental energy. Like an athlete who becomes self-conscious about their performance. I wonder if I would work faster if I never even looked at my watch. Regardless, I want to cut my usual total misses in half from -4 on the two sections to -2 and then maybe I might feel like I have a mastery level in timed conditions.

I'm in the same boat on RC. But I think banking on having only five minutes on the final passage can lead to inconsistent scores. I know it has for me. I either get into such an intense zone that I can roll right through that final passage with blazing speed or I lose even a little concentration and it gets difficult fast. I liken this one to playing tetris on the highest levels, where you only have a fraction of a second to process an information block. I have not seen any real improvement after doing over 50 sections worth of passages. My score often bounces around as I try new things. I think I'm going to go back to how I used to attack the passages and just underline or circle something that seems important. I just don't see the need annotate anymore to make an implicit undertstanding explicit, when it can pull me away from the train of thought in the passage and when I already know the important things to look for.

[05062014]

In hindsight I did way too much untimed work. I went through the LRB and MLSAT strategy guide and did them by question type from 1-20 and then started over on 21-38. I don't think I had the most efficient plan, but doing them untimed really helped me internalize the logic. I'm hardly ever surprised as well. Sometimes I get through the first ten questions or so and I look at my watch and it's only been like 8 minutes, and then I start thinking "wow, I can slow down now" and that throws me off. In the same way, any "meta" thoughts about how well I'm doing just break my flow. It's all just wasted mental energy. Like an athlete who becomes self-conscious about their performance. I wonder if I would work faster if I never even looked at my watch. Regardless, I want to cut my usual total misses in half from -4 on the two sections to -2 and then maybe I might feel like I have a mastery level in timed conditions.

I'm in the same boat on RC. But I think banking on having only five minutes on the final passage can lead to inconsistent scores. I know it has for me. I either get into such an intense zone that I can roll right through that final passage with blazing speed or I lose even a little concentration and it gets difficult fast. I liken this one to playing tetris on the highest levels, where you only have a fraction of a second to process an information block. I have not seen any real improvement after doing over 50 sections worth of passages. My score often bounces around as I try new things. I think I'm going to go back to how I used to attack the passages and just underline or circle something that seems important. I just don't see the need annotate anymore to make an implicit undertstanding explicit, when it can pull me away from the train of thought in the passage and when I already know the important things to look for.

I have not seen any improvements either. There have been a few outliers on the positive end but whenever I get a good RC score, I start focusing on LR and it seems to drop. LR is consistently improving though, so I may focus solely on RC for a few days closer to the exam.

I also agree about getting too comfortable and fucking up on LR. My next strategy for LR will probably be answering questions in 30-45 seconds or eliminating choices in 30-35 seconds and skipping around. Making that "my system" will prevent me from getting bogged down and messing up on game day, I hope. The idea is to see every Question I am remotely unsure about (which is still far too many) at least twice before I begin bubbling, or as I am bubbling

[dowu]

Well how about a home-made LSAT question/answer to your question:

Drinking makes some people happier. People that are happier are usually less stressed. When some people are less stressed they perform better on several different activities. Yet, many reporters claim that drinking can cause people to process information slower than normal. Also, many have reported that they scored high on the LSAT while drinking throughout their studies.

Which one of the following is most supported by the information above?

(A) Reporters make little effort to drink while studying.
(B) Some people who drink while studying for the LSAT have their scores higher than the ones who don't.
(C) Drinking can make people happier and less stressed. Therefore, people who take the LSAT drink more.
(D) Some people who drink can still score high on the LSAT.
(E) Usually, reporters disagree that people who drink can take information faster than normal.

180

I chose D too. I wish it was this easy for a 180.

[relevantfactor]

Well how about a home-made LSAT question/answer to your question:

Drinking makes some people happier. People that are happier are usually less stressed. When some people are less stressed they perform better on several different activities. Yet, many reporters claim that drinking can cause people to process information slower than normal. Also, many have reported that they scored high on the LSAT while drinking throughout their studies.

Which one of the following is most supported by the information above?

(A) Reporters make little effort to drink while studying.
(B) Some people who drink while studying for the LSAT have their scores higher than the ones who don't.
(C) Drinking can make people happier and less stressed. Therefore, people who take the LSAT drink more.
(D) Some people who drink can still score high on the LSAT.
(E) Usually, reporters disagree that people who drink can take information faster than normal.

180

I chose D too. I wish it was this easy for a 180.

Don't we all

[Yardbird]

Personal preference. I did it for one LSAT and did okay. I drank throughout my studying season for my second LSAT and did better.

This. In fact, I went out the Saturday before my Monday June test. Slept like a baby all day Sunday and was super ready and mentally fresh on Monday.