The Official June 2014 Study Group Forum

[DaRascal]

Bought the Manhattan LG book at Barnes and Noble a couple of days ago. Worth going through it if I'm already completely comfortable with the diagramming techniques of the PS Bible?

[rebexness]

Bought the Manhattan LG book at Barnes and Noble a couple of days ago. Worth going through it if I'm already completely comfortable with the diagramming techniques of the PS Bible?

I mean if it saves you a second or earns you one point- its worth it.

[jimmymac]

Been PTing in the mid 170s lately, until i hit PT 61 with a 167 today ... pretty frustrating. Taking a PT a day pretty much until test day. Hopefully will be back by my average tomorrow.

[rebexness]

FYI date change deadline is 5/25

[akechi]

Just took PT-52, my third strictly timed PT (forth, if I include June 07 diagnostic)

Breakdown:
LR1: -11
LG: -3
LR2: -5
RC: -3

Raw: 78
Scaled:162

I knew right after I finished LR1, that I completed bombed it. I spent way too long dwelling on the easier questions, which left me little to no time to finish the rougher part of the section. Forced myself to trust myself on the first 15 or so questions and came out of LR2 feeling much more confident and even finished 3 minutes before the clock ran out.

RC really played to my interests so it definitely helped me stay more engaged / active during my reading of the passages.

Will be blind-reviewing the hell out of both LR sections so if anyone is down to have a review session for this PT sometime in the near future, please feel free to PM me.

Also, this will be the last PT I score before blind-reviewing it. I feel like my blind-review is much more honest when I have no clue as to how I scored in each section.

[Tyr]

Just took PT-52, my third strictly timed PT (forth, if I include June 07 diagnostic)

Breakdown:
LR1: -11
LG: -3
LR2: -5
RC: -3

Raw: 78
Scaled:162

I knew right after I finished LR1, that I completed bombed it. I spent way too long dwelling on the easier questions, which left me little to no time to finish the rougher part of the section. Forced myself to trust myself on the first 15 or so questions and came out of LR2 feeling much more confident and even finished 3 minutes before the clock ran out.

RC really played to my interests so it definitely helped me stay more engaged / active during my reading of the passages.

Will be blind-reviewing the hell out of both LR sections so if anyone is down to have a review session for this PT sometime in the near future, please feel free to PM me.

Also, this will be the last PT I score before blind-reviewing it. I feel like my blind-review is much more honest when I have no clue as to how I scored in each section.

Whenever you do RC, just lie to yourself. Tell yourself "Holy shit! This is the most fascinating thing I've ever read!" It really does help regardless of your true interest level. You see what happened when you were interested in something.

[alexrodriguez]

There was this dean at this T14 school.

Some student told the dean that he or she would do anything to get into the school.

The dean replied, "Will you study?"

[givemea180]

So after a lot of thinking and discussion I've decided to take the June test after all.

My reasoning is that in a worst case scenario I cancel or get a slightly subpar score that won't really hurt my cycle. Also it'll be interesting to have a walkthrough for September and who knows, maybe I'll kill it and won't need a retake after all

[BaberhamLincoln]

So after a lot of thinking and discussion IMy reasoning is that in a worst case scenario I cancel or get a slightly subpar score that won't really hurt my cycle. Also it'll be interesting to have a walkthrough for September and who knows, maybe I'll kill it and won't need a retake after all

I think that's smart. Let me tell you a story you didn't ask to hear...

Last year I signed up for the June lsat and started studying in March. I was really giving it my all because I wanted so badly to get into NU and move to Chicago. But my company surprisingly had an opening in Chicago that I was given so I took the LSAT in the middle of moving, working things out in my 2 year relationship (read: not working things out), and transitioning my old job and learning my new one.

I wanted so badly to postpone to October. But I used your same thought process.

Some disaster struck the morning of the test involving my dog and I STILL sat in on it.

I didn't do my best: 161. So I resolved to abandon my law school dream and see how my new job was. Maybe it would renew my faith in engineering and make me want to do this the rest of my life?

It didn't. But when the next LSAT came around, I had some very serious health issues going on. I had significant surgery in October and spent time pondering the meaning of life. (I know, I'm a cliche.)

After my recovery, I decided I really don't have much time to waste. Clearly I had been put through this terrifying time for a reason. I needed to make a change.

I knew I wouldn't get into UChi and NU with this LSAT, but I had to try anyway. And I thought I would retake if by some grace of God I was waitlisted or decided to wait another year.

And one year later, I'm on those WLs and I'm chasing that dream. You just NEVER know in life what's going to happen, be it a new job or illness.

You have nothing to lose in your first take, and so much to gain.

Motivational speech, done.

[Learn_Live_Hope]

So after a lot of thinking and discussion IMy reasoning is that in a worst case scenario I cancel or get a slightly subpar score that won't really hurt my cycle. Also it'll be interesting to have a walkthrough for September and who knows, maybe I'll kill it and won't need a retake after all

I think that's smart. Let me tell you a story you didn't ask to hear...

Last year I signed up for the June lsat and started studying in March. I was really giving it my all because I wanted so badly to get into NU and move to Chicago. But my company surprisingly had an opening in Chicago that I was given so I took the LSAT in the middle of moving, working things out in my 2 year relationship (read: not working things out), and transitioning my old job and learning my new one.

I wanted so badly to postpone to October. But I used your same thought process.

Some disaster struck the morning of the test involving my dog and I STILL sat in on it.

I didn't do my best: 161. So I resolved to abandon my law school dream and see how my new job was. Maybe it would renew my faith in engineering and make me want to do this the rest of my life?

It didn't. But when the next LSAT came around, I had some very serious health issues going on. I had significant surgery in October and spent time pondering the meaning of life. (I know, I'm a cliche.)

After my recovery, I decided I really don't have much time to waste. Clearly I had been put through this terrifying time for a reason. I needed to make a change.

I knew I wouldn't get into UChi and NU with this LSAT, but I had to try anyway. And I thought I would retake if by some grace of God I was waitlisted or decided to wait another year.

And one year later, I'm on those WLs and I'm chasing that dream. You just NEVER know in life what's going to happen, be it a new job or illness.

You have nothing to lose in your first take, and so much to gain.

Motivational speech, done.

There is that great saying-"The pain you feel today, is the strength you feel tomorrow."

[sashafierce]

Just took PT 57, scored 161

LG -5
LR1 -5
LR 2 -3
RC -11 clearly, I need to do some RC drills tomorrow....ARGHH

I am having some trouble with LG lately and would like some insight from you all:

1. Do you guys try and solve for all possibilities for basic ordering games or do you just list the rules and go straight to the questions?

2. For any game where you solve for all possibilities lets say you diagram four possible worlds 1, 2, 3 and 4. If Question 10 ask for a possible world that can only be achieved using Diagram 3 (but adds some additional information such as L is in position 1) do you draw over the diagram to reflect the new info or do you just look at our original diagram and answer the question using a "mental diagram"?

[gagewhitneypace]

Hi all,

I'm new here; thought I'd join for some emotional support/motivation/commiseration before the test.

Question: I still haven't mastered LG. I've finally gotten to the point where I can finish most games sections if I some intuition to really fly through the questions, but then I end up with -4 or -5 on the section. What should I be working on so that have the games mastered by the 9th? I'm thinking I should do more careful review of difficult games vs. greater volume of games. Does this make sense? Any other tips?

Thanks! Looking forward to being part of the community.

[Calbears123]

Wow I got absolutely rocked tonight. PT 62 ended up with a 166...4 points lower then my average. RC didn't seem bad but somehow I managed -7, and LG seemed harder then normal. Both LR had 26 questions. I think the curve was -14 and somehow I went -20 all together. Going to take a few hours and review what went wrong tomorrow. Hopefully this was just a "difficult" LSAT and I hit my bottom range.

[givemea180]

So after a lot of thinking and discussion IMy reasoning is that in a worst case scenario I cancel or get a slightly subpar score that won't really hurt my cycle. Also it'll be interesting to have a walkthrough for September and who knows, maybe I'll kill it and won't need a retake after all

I think that's smart. Let me tell you a story you didn't ask to hear...

Last year I signed up for the June lsat and started studying in March. I was really giving it my all because I wanted so badly to get into NU and move to Chicago. But my company surprisingly had an opening in Chicago that I was given so I took the LSAT in the middle of moving, working things out in my 2 year relationship (read: not working things out), and transitioning my old job and learning my new one.

I wanted so badly to postpone to October. But I used your same thought process.

Some disaster struck the morning of the test involving my dog and I STILL sat in on it.

I didn't do my best: 161. So I resolved to abandon my law school dream and see how my new job was. Maybe it would renew my faith in engineering and make me want to do this the rest of my life?

It didn't. But when the next LSAT came around, I had some very serious health issues going on. I had significant surgery in October and spent time pondering the meaning of life. (I know, I'm a cliche.)

After my recovery, I decided I really don't have much time to waste. Clearly I had been put through this terrifying time for a reason. I needed to make a change.

I knew I wouldn't get into UChi and NU with this LSAT, but I had to try anyway. And I thought I would retake if by some grace of God I was waitlisted or decided to wait another year.

And one year later, I'm on those WLs and I'm chasing that dream. You just NEVER know in life what's going to happen, be it a new job or illness.

You have nothing to lose in your first take, and so much to gain.

Motivational speech, done.

Thanks so much for writing this, I really appreciate it! It always helps to have more people affirming my decision haha

Let's all just kill it in June and be done with this test forever

[CocoSunshine]

So after a lot of thinking and discussion I've decided to take the June test after all.

My reasoning is that in a worst case scenario I cancel or get a slightly subpar score that won't really hurt my cycle. Also it'll be interesting to have a walkthrough for September and who knows, maybe I'll kill it and won't need a retake after all

I did the same choice as you. I haven't managed to consistently score within my target range but decided to give a try. If I did well, say bye to LSAT forever. If not, I will gain some real test-day experience which may help me better cope with test anxiety in Oct.

[alexrodriguez]

That feeling I had before shipping out to bootcamp is coming back.

[Louis1127]

2. For any game where you solve for all possibilities lets say you diagram four possible worlds 1, 2, 3 and 4. If Question 10 ask for a possible world that can only be achieved using Diagram 3 (but adds some additional information such as L is in position 1) do you draw over the diagram to reflect the new info or do you just look at our original diagram and answer the question using a "mental diagram"?

Yay! A question I can answer!

I ran into this problem doing the game that dealt with products being advertised (somewhere b/w PT 1-38. After bombing the game originally, I redid it, and on my second try the only question I missed was the type of question you are talking about.

If there is additional info, honestly, I draw that gameboard to the side of that question. I think really smart people can keep that in their heads with little problem, but I just think that FOR ME it's better to draw it out.

First of all, you already have like 80 to 90 percent of the diagram filled out, so drawing a new one to the side of the question takes literally about 7 seconds. Then you put the new info in (and see if any floaters you had on you "diagram 3" become more restricted and fall into place) and then you can't get the question wrong unless you literally misbubble.

That's my take on that. Hope it helps you a little!

[DaRascal]

Question about LG strategy.

Do you guys think it's best to go with the A to E trial and error approach on questions such as "could be true" or "must be true" or do you think it's better to first glance over the answer choices and see if, without even creating hypothetical diagrams, you can pinpoint the correct answer? I'm wondering what the best approach is. You can really shave off some time if you can find the correct answer choice right away based on your understanding of the game and it's time consuming to go trial and error from A to E, especially if the correct answer is D or E, but trial and error also helps you limit the chance that you forget to consider an inference that makes an answer choice you might have picked by glancing over the choices wrong. I have that happen every once in a blue moon where I go trial and error A to E and come down to two answer choices and only then realize I forgot to consider one of the rules that makes one of them wrong.

[Louis1127]

Question about LG strategy.

Do you guys think it's best to go with the A to E trial and error approach on questions such as "could be true" or "must be true" or do you think it's better to first glance over the answer choices and see if, without even creating hypothetical diagrams, you can pinpoint the correct answer? I'm wondering what the best approach is. You can really shave off some time if you can find the correct answer choice right away based on your understanding of the game and it's time consuming to go trial and error from A to E, especially if the correct answer is D or E, but trial and error also helps you limit the chance that you forget to consider an inference that makes an answer choice you might have picked by glancing over the choices wrong. I have that happen every once in a blue moon where I go trial and error A to E and come down to two answer choices and only then realize I forgot to consider one of the rules that makes one of them wrong.

You are probably better at logic games than I am. However, I think I can still be of help by saying that JY Ping of 7sage advocates, instead of brute forcing your way through the answer choices, being strategic about how you do trial and error with the answer choices.

Test answer choices that seem to trigger alot of rules. If the question is which of the following could be true, and you don't get anything else from the question, and answer choice (A) says that "If L is in slot 3, then O is in slot 4", and L being in slot 3 doesn't trigger any rules, try "skipping" that answer choice and going to another one that seems to kick alot of rules.

And, as I sort of hinted at above, I am not great at games, so I most certainly try to do as little in my head as possible. Trying to kick 2 or more rules and place remaining elements in my diagram and doing all of this in my head is a recipe for disaster for me.

Hope that helps!

[BaberhamLincoln]

Ok...

70.4.17 why isn't it d?

70.1.19 why isn't it c?

Having issues with parallel reasoning

[Calbears123]

2 weeks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4gv11PTI8

[alexrodriguez]

Definitely not going into test day without warming up beforehand.

Did some LR sections today after a two day break and did horrible. Right on track after blind review, but still, it was frightening.

[berkeleynick]

Just had my best PT. PT 60. Got a 176.

LR1: -1
LG: -1
LR2: -0
RC: -3

I'm confused because I did this in a Starbucks which was not quiet at all, which in some ways makes me think my own loud mind makes me make mistakes more than other distractions (or this was an easier test or fluke lol). I did feel like logical reasoning clicked a lot more than it has before - like I noticed the small language differences between two good answers and caught myself before making a mistake and selected the right answer almost every time.

*Whoops I marked something wrong that wasn't in my first correction.

[DaRascal]

However, I think I can still be of help by saying that JY Ping of 7sage advocates, instead of brute forcing your way through the answer choices, being strategic about how you do trial and error with the answer choices.

I've gotten so accustomed to "brute forcing" could be true and must be true questions, but, then again, I also used to write out all the variables on my diagram and I stopped doing that (unless it's a game where the variables are being chosen from different groups, then I do it quickly). I guess I'll try that out in the next week (I mean, I'll try out looking through the answer choices for powerful variables on CBT and MBT questions), see how much time it cuts off.


Btw, has anyone else recently been taken for a ride could Must Be False questions in LG? Think the best way to attack those is to eliminate the answer choices that could be true (like PowerScore advocates)?

[BaberhamLincoln]

It's a beautiful day to drill LSAT by the pool.

(Could only handle one timed section. So sick of LSAT.)