The Official June 2017 Study Group Forum

[Platopus]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

[PrezRand]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

[Platopus]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

[PrezRand]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

Yeah i try to do 6 sections a day, 2 of each, to get more prepared. Hopefully my mental state improves lol

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

Yeah i try to do 6 sections a day, 2 of each, to get more prepared. Hopefully my mental state improves lol

When you drill/ do sections do you review? Reviews (for me at least) was really helpful in getting over the 'narrowing things down to two ACs and picking the wrong one' hump. You might have to review things more in depth than you are. Remember there's always a distinct reason why all four of the ACs are wrong and you job is to figure that out.

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

I barely did any lsat this weekend. This was largely unintentional

[PrezRand]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

Yeah i try to do 6 sections a day, 2 of each, to get more prepared. Hopefully my mental state improves lol

When you drill/ do sections do you review? Reviews (for me at least) was really helpful in getting over the 'narrowing things down to two ACs and picking the wrong one' hump. You might have to review things more in depth than you are. Remember there's always a distinct reason why all four of the ACs are wrong and you job is to figure that out.

I do but sometimes the explanations i find on the manhattan forum are not that helpful. I do think i should review more carefully though

[InterLaw]

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

So what's the trick, for someone who is still stuck in a -3/-4 avg because getting to the last game with 3/4 minutes left?

Different people approach the questions differently, but I stand by the up-front approach. For most games, I'll make multiple diagrams with the most restrictive rule(s). Usually your set-up will allow you to focus on a couple of variables, so that each question can be done fast (except for local questions, which take a little more time). If you have to look at all the answer choices to figure out the correct answer for LG, you need to work on diagramming. This is really why LG can feel like a relaxing section, it's is so mechanical barring a weird game.

If you aren't able to pick the correct answer, one trick that may net you a couple points is when you see two choices that are governed by the same rule. If the same rule restricts two different answer choices, then you know that both are incorrect. For example: On a "must" question, if A and X are both "floating," then you know that if both A and X are answer choices, you can eliminate them both. This can help if a question, has you stumped.

Agreed with the above. I don't usually do complete diagrams for all the possibilities, but I spend a considerable amount of time making sure I really understand how everything interacts. I also think jumping around on questions is pretty helpful. There's no reason to work out the solution to a Must Be True question right away, since through the course of the game you'll likely make a couple of mini diagrams that definitely negate a handful of answer choices for that MBT question. The same logical applies for could be true questions. Additionally, if you haven't already, you shouldn't be proving answer choices incorrect. If you get A, and you have reasonable faith in your diagram, there's no need to check B,C,D,E. Of course, when you grade the test, make sure you actually got A correct.

Thank you both guys! The thing is that I never get an answer wrong within the ones I actually can do, I just have to guess the last 3-4 almost always.
I just tried a hard game (9 mins target time) following Platopus' tricks: starting with local questions and stopping myself when I find the correct choice. All good in 5:40 mins. However, it was a game I already tried a week ago... Still a better improvement than it used to be. I'll try again 3-4 times with new games! Thanks!

[Walliums]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

Yeah i try to do 6 sections a day, 2 of each, to get more prepared. Hopefully my mental state improves lol

Prez, when was the last time that you took a break from LSAT studying? You may have a bit of burnout at the moment and may need a few days off.

[Barry grandpapy]

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[Nik9639]

Removed.

[zkyggi]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

Drilling PR questions didn't help me much. The questions are basically matching flaws or overall structure, so what worked best for me was taking a stack of PR questions and simply writing the structure/flaw of each on a piece of paper. Developing speed with that process made it really easy to match what I wrote to the answer choices.

[zkyggi]

Scored -4 with 4 minutes extra left on the RC section last night (with -1/3 on the rest of the sections)! So pumped lol. Now just need to repeat this on the exam day and I'm golden.

RC is still my worst section but I'm so happy to see the improvement from constant -7/10 just had to share

Congratulations on the improvement! Are you using a watch? With 4 minutes left, you can definitely pick up an extra point or two from brute forcing a couple of questions.

[Nik9639]

Removed.

[Amerision]

Just took PT 68. Was feeling AWESOME until I hit Game 4 :'(. Ended up with a 171, but the fact that I still got a good score while getting -4 on just that one game is making me feel pretty good. I don't really know what to drill at this point. No glaring section problems, no glaring LR weakness... but clearly I'm not perfect or else I'd be getting a 180. Where do you go from here?

[zkyggi]

Just took PT 68. Was feeling AWESOME until I hit Game 4 :'(. Ended up with a 171, but the fact that I still got a good score while getting -4 on just that one game is making me feel pretty good. I don't really know what to drill at this point. No glaring section problems, no glaring LR weakness... but clearly I'm not perfect or else I'd be getting a 180. Where do you go from here?

More PTs, more granular review.

[zkyggi]

Scored -4 with 4 minutes extra left on the RC section last night (with -1/3 on the rest of the sections)! So pumped lol. Now just need to repeat this on the exam day and I'm golden.

RC is still my worst section but I'm so happy to see the improvement from constant -7/10 just had to share

Congratulations on the improvement! Are you using a watch? With 4 minutes left, you can definitely pick up an extra point or two from brute forcing a couple of questions.

Thanks! Yes I always time myself, that was the last section in the PT and I just wanted to be done lol. I'll probably spend more time reviewing or double checking for bubbling mistakes on the actual exam to get every second worth.

I have the same problem. I've really had to force myself to sit and check my answers when I finish early. Keep in mind that if you finish early in June, you're going to wish you'd practiced being in that situation many times before.

[Amerision]

Just took PT 68. Was feeling AWESOME until I hit Game 4 :'(. Ended up with a 171, but the fact that I still got a good score while getting -4 on just that one game is making me feel pretty good. I don't really know what to drill at this point. No glaring section problems, no glaring LR weakness... but clearly I'm not perfect or else I'd be getting a 180. Where do you go from here?

More PTs, more granular review.

I'm getting close to not having any more PTs left. I have about 6 left in the 60s and 6 in the 70s. I guess the ideal way to do it is 2 PTs a week until the actual test?

[saf18hornet]

Just took PT 68. Was feeling AWESOME until I hit Game 4 :'(. Ended up with a 171, but the fact that I still got a good score while getting -4 on just that one game is making me feel pretty good. I don't really know what to drill at this point. No glaring section problems, no glaring LR weakness... but clearly I'm not perfect or else I'd be getting a 180. Where do you go from here?

More PTs, more granular review.

I'm getting close to not having any more PTs left. I have about 6 left in the 60s and 6 in the 70s. I guess the ideal way to do it is 2 PTs a week until the actual test?

Wow, when did you start studying? And you've done every test from 1 to 61 also?
If I run out, I'm gonna start over where i began and do the tests from 42-51 again

[PrezRand]

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode

Do you have any glaring weaknesses? For me its parallel questions. I think the usual answer for us is to just drill, drill, drill

Parallel is definitely a weakness. I also think i fatigue really quickly which impacts my score. 80% of the questions i get wrong were questions i narrowed down to the right answer, but picked the wrong one. I think im just going to accept the score i get in June and then retake in Sept.

We still have 40 something days, there's definitely room to improve. Keep at it; no need to throw in the towel on June just yet. Have you tried upping the # of sections for your PT's? I'm hitting parallel hard all week. Don't admit defeat, this test is also a mental game of sheer will.

Yeah i try to do 6 sections a day, 2 of each, to get more prepared. Hopefully my mental state improves lol

Prez, when was the last time that you took a break from LSAT studying? You may have a bit of burnout at the moment and may need a few days off.

I took a few days off after like Wed or Thurs and started again yesterday

[zkyggi]

Just took PT 68. Was feeling AWESOME until I hit Game 4 :'(. Ended up with a 171, but the fact that I still got a good score while getting -4 on just that one game is making me feel pretty good. I don't really know what to drill at this point. No glaring section problems, no glaring LR weakness... but clearly I'm not perfect or else I'd be getting a 180. Where do you go from here?

More PTs, more granular review.

I'm getting close to not having any more PTs left. I have about 6 left in the 60s and 6 in the 70s. I guess the ideal way to do it is 2 PTs a week until the actual test?

You can make/find packets of hard questions to do for each section. For LG and RC it is really easy to focus on the tougher ones. Outside of drilling hard questions, doing a bunch of easy/medium ones isn't likely to help you in seeing your mistakes.

[MediocreAtBest]

Just got my ass kicked by pt54. Ended up with a 164, I was shooting for higher than 172 since that was my last pt. I don't remember the last time I missed this many questions. Hoping it's just a fluke.

Also concerned since the 170 curve was -10, so I'm assuming this was supposed to be an easier test.

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

I'm having a really annoying trend of missing early questions. Took 51 today, and missed more than half of my totally misses in the first 15. Ill weirdly get tripped up on question 2 or 3 for like, no reason.
-9 in LR -2 in RC and -0 in games (finished 10 mins early!). Feeling like I'm all tools no box right now

[zkyggi]

Just got my ass kicked by pt54. Ended up with a 164, I was shooting for higher than 172 since that was my last pt. I don't remember the last time I missed this many questions. Hoping it's just a fluke.

Also concerned since the 170 curve was -10, so I'm assuming this was supposed to be an easier test.

I just took PT 55 today and got -11 168. It had a -9 curve with one of the harder LG games and one of the hardest RC passages of all time. You shouldn't be concerned about the curve of any individual PT from before ~68 or so. What tripped you up on 54?

[MediocreAtBest]

Just got my ass kicked by pt54. Ended up with a 164, I was shooting for higher than 172 since that was my last pt. I don't remember the last time I missed this many questions. Hoping it's just a fluke.

Also concerned since the 170 curve was -10, so I'm assuming this was supposed to be an easier test.

I just took PT 55 today and got -11 168. It had a -9 curve with one of the harder LG games and one of the hardest RC passages of all time. You shouldn't be concerned about the curve of any individual PT from before ~68 or so. What tripped you up on 54?

Um, everything except LG lol. I'm usually -2 or less on RC and the first section was a difficult RC for me. I also went -11 on LR, I'm reviewing the questions now, most of the ones I missed seem kind of ambiguous to me, but other than that there's no real pattern, I'm kind of all over the place on this one.