The Official September 2014 Study Group Forum

[Colonel_funkadunk]

What's a good frequency of LGs to maintain the mindset over the next month? I've got the fundamentals down (-0 to -2 on most PTs) and want to focus on LR and RC, but I need to stay consistent in LG drilling so I don't repeat last weekend's PTs (-3/-4). I don't want to keep burning through my LGs and I don't want to waste time I could spend drilling LR or RC. 1 LG per day? 2 LGs per day? 3 LGs

I thought I could get away with this... nope. Was fine for a few PTs, but then a two week break and suddenly 'WTF IS A LG?'

Haha how often do you PT? I'm only 1-2 per week and I seem to do okay. If I ever take a break from PTing (did this about 2 weeks ago) then I get really flustered.

Yeah usually 1-2 per week. I was feeling dat burnout so then I decided to take a week off, but ended up taking two weeks because I got sick, then took a PT a day after drilling mostly RC and LR.

Picking up LG 21-40 at the post office today after work![/quote

Is that lg from pt21-40?

[Gray]

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[boris09]

Is it sad that the happiest part of my day is when I see there's a new page on this thread

[churrochi]

Any advice for someone struggling with LR timed?

When I drill LR sections untimed, I get around -4/5, but when I take PTs or time the sections I work on, I finish around 32-33 minutes, but usually score anywhere from -7 to -10 (a new-time low from a section I worked on today). After assessing those sections, I realized that I tend to struggle on req/suff. assumption, flaw, role, and mbt/mss. With only a little over a month remaining, what do you propose would be ways for me to keep my accuracy when I time myself?

On the other hand, I'm also working on LGs and trying to gun for -2/-3. For RC, I'm also a little spotty (anywhere from -3 to -7) but that's all the more reason I want to work on not bombing LR so badly.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

[HRomanus]

Any advice for someone struggling with LR timed?

When I drill LR sections untimed, I get around -4/5, but when I take PTs or time the sections I work on, I finish around 32-33 minutes, but usually score anywhere from -7 to -10 (a new-time low from a section I worked on today). After assessing those sections, I realized that I tend to struggle on req/suff. assumption, flaw, role, and mbt/mss. With only a little over a month remaining, what do you propose would be ways for me to keep my accuracy when I time myself?

On the other hand, I'm also working on LGs and trying to gun for -2/-3. For RC, I'm also a little spotty (anywhere from -3 to -7) but that's all the more reason I want to work on not bombing LR so badly.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

Your fundamental LR skills are still need work. You should miss two at most on an untimed section. Work through your prep books - MLSAT or Trainer - and then drill Cambridge packets on the question types you most struggle with. It sounds like you need to wait until December, but depending on your study schedule and available time you can hit your target by Sept 27.

[hetookmetoamovie]

37 days left!

How many questions do you guys drill at a time in the Cambridge LR packets? Do you guys just go straight through the packets or do you get a mix of the difficulty levels?

It may just be Stockholm Syndrome, but I've become really fond of this thing Coming from a health/medical background, I really think the general public could benefit from a Cambridge packet of questions on critiquing scientific studies. You don't need to know organic chemistry to understand bad study design!

[akechi]

How do you guys review your missed / flagged LR questions? I feel like I need to develop a more efficient method of getting the most out of my missed questions.

As it stands now my process is loosely structured as follows:
1) Take a PT
2) Rip out answer sheet and place elsewhere
3) Blind Review
4) Make note of any differences between real-time thought process and blind-review thought process
5) Verify that my reasoning is correct via MLSAT forums
6) Briefly re-visit missed LR questions from previous PT before taking new PT.

Do y'all swear by any method other than merely looking / glossing over the questions you missed? (e.g. cutting questions out, typing them up and printing them out flash card style, categorizing your misses via the type of error you are making, etc)

[ilikebaseball]

37 days left!

How many questions do you guys drill at a time in the Cambridge LR packets? Do you guys just go straight through the packets or do you get a mix of the difficulty levels?

It may just be Stockholm Syndrome, but I've become really fond of this thing Coming from a health/medical background, I really think the general public could benefit from a Cambridge packet of questions on critiquing scientific studies. You don't need to know organic chemistry to understand bad study design!

I've got Cambridge's "Most difficult LR" questions packet, i think it has like 405 questions or so. Yesterday I was feeling up to it so I knocked out 125. Usually its about 40 or so though lol because they're so hard that I don't even time myself. I just work through them for accuracy and see if I recognize a pattern. Which, as of right now, there are a few where I'm like "that sounds so out of the ordinary" so I'll skip it, and then I'll remember LSAT's tendencies for tough questions and ultimately select it. I wont know why its right at all (until I view the Manhattan forum) but I'm able to notice some patterns now, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

[Colonel_funkadunk]

Is that lg from pt21-40?

Yeah! Every game from 21 to 40 arranged by type. (I finished 1-20 a while ago)

Did you get these from Cambridge? I bought their fill lg packet but they are arranged by type. I think it would've been more useful for them to be arranged by PT.

[ilikebaseball]

How do you guys review your missed / flagged LR questions? I feel like I need to develop a more efficient method of getting the most out of my missed questions.

As it stands now my process is loosely structured as follows:
1) Take a PT
2) Rip out answer sheet and place elsewhere
3) Blind Review
4) Make note of any differences between real-time thought process and blind-review thought process
5) Verify that my reasoning is correct via MLSAT forums
6) Briefly re-visit missed LR questions from previous PT before taking new PT.

Do y'all swear by any method other than merely looking / glossing over the questions you missed? (e.g. cutting questions out, typing them up and printing them out flash card style, categorizing your misses via the type of error you are making, etc)

I do it incredibly simple. I go through each wrong answer choice and underline why its wrong, or I'll put a caption saying "out of scope" or something. I'll underline in the stimulus itself what is important to getting the right answer, and if I need to say more, I'll explain why its right.

[BillPackets]

How do you guys review your missed / flagged LR questions? I feel like I need to develop a more efficient method of getting the most out of my missed questions.

As it stands now my process is loosely structured as follows:
1) Take a PT
2) Rip out answer sheet and place elsewhere
3) Blind Review
4) Make note of any differences between real-time thought process and blind-review thought process
5) Verify that my reasoning is correct via MLSAT forums
6) Briefly re-visit missed LR questions from previous PT before taking new PT.

Do y'all swear by any method other than merely looking / glossing over the questions you missed? (e.g. cutting questions out, typing them up and printing them out flash card style, categorizing your misses via the type of error you are making, etc)

I do it incredibly simple. I go through each wrong answer choice and underline why its wrong, or I'll put a caption saying "out of scope" or something. I'll underline in the stimulus itself what is important to getting the right answer, and if I need to say more, I'll explain why its right.

that's pretty much what i do. it's simple, effective. nothing crazy.

[hetookmetoamovie]

I've got Cambridge's "Most difficult LR" questions packet, i think it has like 405 questions or so. Yesterday I was feeling up to it so I knocked out 125. Usually its about 40 or so though lol because they're so hard that I don't even time myself. I just work through them for accuracy and see if I recognize a pattern. Which, as of right now, there are a few where I'm like "that sounds so out of the ordinary" so I'll skip it, and then I'll remember LSAT's tendencies for tough questions and ultimately select it. I wont know why its right at all (until I view the Manhattan forum) but I'm able to notice some patterns now, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

125! That's like altitude training. I definitely have to up my game.

I noticed that, too, in a lot of the tough LR problems! The one that's worded a little differently with synonyms that are strange (i.e., not words that I'd use) but not outrightly wrong tend to be the answer. I have to rely a lot on eliminating wrong answer choices, too. Great, I'm probably going to end up buying that packet tonight TLS is great at marketing LSAT stuff to a vulnerable population (me).

[ilikebaseball]

I've got Cambridge's "Most difficult LR" questions packet, i think it has like 405 questions or so. Yesterday I was feeling up to it so I knocked out 125. Usually its about 40 or so though lol because they're so hard that I don't even time myself. I just work through them for accuracy and see if I recognize a pattern. Which, as of right now, there are a few where I'm like "that sounds so out of the ordinary" so I'll skip it, and then I'll remember LSAT's tendencies for tough questions and ultimately select it. I wont know why its right at all (until I view the Manhattan forum) but I'm able to notice some patterns now, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

125! That's like altitude training. I definitely have to up my game.

I noticed that, too, in a lot of the tough LR problems! The one that's worded a little differently with synonyms that are strange (i.e., not words that I'd use) but not outrightly wrong tend to be the answer. I have to rely a lot on eliminating wrong answer choices, too. Great, I'm probably going to end up buying that packet tonight TLS is great at marketing LSAT stuff to a vulnerable population (me).

I will honestly say that the difficult passages, LR questions, and games are probably the most valuable resource I have bought (besides actual PT's.) I've bought hundreds of dollars worth of material. With the games, I go to 7sage for his awesome approach, and for the other two sections I go to the manhattan forums. Plus, they're relatively cheap.

[Gray]

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[Colonel_funkadunk]

Is it sad that the happiest part of my day is when I see there's a new page on this thread

hahahah that reminds me of this:

[HRomanus]

YOLO is my creed until September 27.

You Only LSAT Once.

[GreenTee]

YOLO is my creed until September 27.

You Only LSAT Once.

Cue retake chorus.

[Toby Ziegler]

YOLO is my creed until September 27.

You Only LSAT Once.

I sure hope this is true for me. I want to be a one and done test taker so bad!

[Hand]

[HRomanus]

YOLO is my creed until September 27.

You Only LSAT Once.

I sure hope this is true for me. I want to be a one and done test taker so bad!

That's how I felt at first but I'm actually quite excited about retaking. It's a rite of passage these days!

Yea actually I'm retaking as well. I hate that I put myself in this positon (I'd rather be going through orientation/classes now), but I just couldn't settle and live my life knowing I hadn't done my best and had jumped at instant gratification.

[Toby Ziegler]

YOLO is my creed until September 27.

You Only LSAT Once.

I sure hope this is true for me. I want to be a one and done test taker so bad!

That's how I felt at first but I'm actually quite excited about retaking. It's a rite of passage these days!

I can see that from a comfort with the test, testing location, nuances of how you preformed mentally on the actually test, etc. standpoint. But right now, studying for 4 more months sounds awful, but if I don't score where I want/need to I will for sure retake.

[BillPackets]

This is a one night stand hit it n quit it one n done this beezy I ain't lookin for my own sloppy second on this one

The LSAT of course

[HRomanus]

This is a one night stand hit it n quit it one n done this beezy I ain't lookin for my own sloppy second on this one

The LSAT of course

I've already taken days off in preparation for the December LSAT as a backup. It'll be my last opportunity, so I want to leave the door open.

[sfoglia]

I decided to finally get on this study group as I am realizing I may be more behind than I previously thought. I am currently taking the Blueprint Movie online course and it has helped but (for me personally at least) I don't feel that it, alone, will be enough push into the 170s in time for the September exam. This is my first time taking it and besides the course I have recently starting using the Powerscore LR Bible to supplement the course's material. For drilling I've read that many of ya'll have used the Cambridge packets. Have ya'll bought full sets? My weakest spot is still Logic Games, primarily because I haven't done enough problems/practice. Is it worth getting only the Logic Game set (PrepTests 1-38) alone or just buy the whole set? What sets/packages would ya'll recommend?

After reading all of ya'lls points I do not believe I'm remotely close to being prepared for this test and I am debating on just taking it in December. Any advice? Thanks ya'll!

Welcome! The only way to gauge whether you are ready for the test is to analyze your performance on PTs. Are you already signed up for the September test?

I have promised myself that if I'm not 175+ on every PT for two weeks up to the test, I will defer to December. Better a late score than a low score.

[sfoglia]

Is it sad that the happiest part of my day is when I see there's a new page on this thread

Nah, I'm with you on that.