The Official June 2014 Study Group Forum

[10052014]

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[10052014]

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[suitsfan]

Do y'all study for the LSAT during midterms or take a break from it until you're done with midterms? I have a round of midterms coming up and I'm having trouble balancing the two things.

[esquirelhomme]

Whats the status of everyone's studying? getting enough study time lately?

This week, I drilled Flaw questions (levels 1 & 2) and got 96/98 correct, which is a huge improvement for me.

For RC, I've just been doing a passage a day, for the past week.

I work full-time, so I try and get all of my studying done on the weekends and after work, and sometimes during work.

What about everyone else? How do you all study for RC and how are you at it?

[10052014]

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[WaltGrace83]

Whats the status of everyone's studying? getting enough study time lately?

This week, I drilled Flaw questions (levels 1 & 2) and got 96/98 correct, which is a huge improvement for me.

For RC, I've just been doing a passage a day, for the past week.

I work full-time, so I try and get all of my studying done on the weekends and after work, and sometimes during work.

What about everyone else? How do you all study for RC and how are you at it?

i just finished drilling rc for 2 months. getting consistent -2

I really want to drill LOTS of RC but the problem is that I am afraid of still remembering information. I redid an RC section last night and I remembered that "ohhh I got this question wrong the first time and the answer had something to do with this." I took it a month ago though!

[esquirelhomme]

I really want to drill LOTS of RC but the problem is that I am afraid of still remembering information. I redid an RC section last night and I remembered that "ohhh I got this question wrong the first time and the answer had something to do with this." I took it a month ago though!

WaltGrace83, how many PTs do you have? I have all of them, but I've started drilling RC passages from PT1 - 20 (just finished the RC section of PT1 a few minutes ago). But anyway, I've read the passages several months back, and I did remember a bit of the passages' scale and some of the incorrect answers, I made it a point not to make the current drilling go to waste. After going through the passage once and answering the questions (timed), I went back, before checking the answers, and read the passage un-timed, looking for the scale of the argument (MLSAT RC strategy), the main point, author's tone, any supporters of either sides of the argument, and their evidence; I did this to basically fully understand the passage and the structure. Then, I went through each of the questions again, and wrote reasons why I eliminated each of the wrong answers and then I supported the right answer with a referenced line from the passage, since answers to questions are located in the passage (whether it be an identify question, inference question, or a synthesis question). And finally, I would check the answers and read explanations of the questions that really tripped me up or that I got wrong.

Maybe you can give this, or something similar, a shot.

For me, it really helps me in deciphering what I should be paying attention to while reading a passage (not focused primarily on details, but passage structure) and helps with familiarity of the types of tricks/characteristics the LSAT authors utilize for wrong answer choices.

Oh, and I got 1 answer wrong on each of the passages from PT1 (so 24/28 correct). So, I still have to be more diligent with RC practice.

[alexrodriguez]

The golf leauge I am in ends this Friday

But back to studying daily!

The LSAT is the key to getting in. Never forget this.

[VSFula14]

I feel utterly behind. 10 months until the exam and everyone is drilling, studying 5-6 hours a day... I'd like to ask: what are the chances of doing well with only a 6 month window to really study? I can't start at the moment because a) I'm studying for my GREs and b) living in Senegal doesn't exactly lend itself to easy shipping of LSAT prep material. I have a general Kaplan book on my kindle that I have read through just to get measure of the exam and practice a couple questions a day. But I won't be able to get a lot of the stuff until I'm home for Christmas and even then I can't take everything back with me or devote 6-8 hours a day to studying (yes, even on weekends because there are, in fact, no weekends over here) because of village life in general (hiding in one's hut drilling LG & LR questions is highly frowned upon in the Peace Corps). I might be able to get 2-3. Only when I get home for good in Mid April will I be able to devote my life to studying.

Is this going to bite me in the butt? I am planning on applying for schools next fall, so I need to take the June LSATs. Is it possible to get a decent score (165+) on this unbalanced schedule?

I'm just curious. I don't want to blow my chances. Would it be better to wait and take the October 2014 exam? Or go for broke and do it in June?

Advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[WaltGrace83]

I feel utterly behind. 10 months until the exam and everyone is drilling, studying 5-6 hours a day... I'd like to ask: what are the chances of doing well with only a 6 month window to really study? I can't start at the moment because a) I'm studying for my GREs and b) living in Senegal doesn't exactly lend itself to easy shipping of LSAT prep material. I have a general Kaplan book on my kindle that I have read through just to get measure of the exam and practice a couple questions a day. But I won't be able to get a lot of the stuff until I'm home for Christmas and even then I can't take everything back with me or devote 6-8 hours a day to studying (yes, even on weekends because there are, in fact, no weekends over here) because of village life in general (hiding in one's hut drilling LG & LR questions is highly frowned upon in the Peace Corps). I might be able to get 2-3. Only when I get home for good in Mid April will I be able to devote my life to studying.

Is this going to bite me in the butt? I am planning on applying for schools next fall, so I need to take the June LSATs. Is it possible to get a decent score (165+) on this unbalanced schedule?

I'm just curious. I don't want to blow my chances. Would it be better to wait and take the October 2014 exam? Or go for broke and do it in June?

Advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Everyone requires different amount of time. I don't think that you should be worrying too much BUT I say that without a general sense of your diagnostic (which still doesn't mean that much other than a general understanding of where you are at). I think the consensus seems to be that studying the LSAT over a longer period is better than cramming for 3-4 months. This is a new process of THINKING; not just a test per se. Also, keep in mind that the people in this thread are a bunch of crazy folks (like myself sometimes).

Normally, people study for 5-6 months and a typical diagnostic is in the low-mid 150s.

On that note, now that I got a big paper that I was writing done, I am going to revisit Necessary Assumption questions tomorrow! I will be drilling those like no one's business. I WILL OWN YOU, ASSUMPTION FAMILY! WATCH OUT.

EDIT: also don't be afraid to wait it out a cycle. I will graduate early (in December) for the SOLE purpose of studying for the lsat as my full time job for ~5 months. Don't rust the LSAT. This could be the difference between you being 100+ grand in debt and fighting for ~$40,000/yr jobs and being comfortably in debt (if there is even a thing) and very nicely employed . This is a CAREER. You will be working on this career for ~35 years. A year or two is not going to kill you if you need to sit it out until you are comfortable with the LSAT. Think about it. You are going to be broke paying off that debt if you don't score highly enough anyway! I would much rather study for a test hard than work exponentially harder to pay off debt. This is just simply better for you

[DKjunior]

I feel utterly behind.

You shouldn't feel behind at all. Like Walt said, everyone studies differently. I know that if I started drilling preptests and studying for hours and hours every day right now (like I will be in April), I would probably burn out.

What I'm personally doing right now is a lot of the basics. To use a sports analogy, I'm trying to condition myself before the pre-season. Going over the basics, trying to get into good habits and routines now so that come December and January I am not scrambling. If you know you're going to need to put more work into RC, I'd begin reading dense passages if you can find them (a lot of people recommend the Economist.) Try to apply what you would be doing on the LSAT to those passages by breaking them down and finding main point, finding the tone/viewpoints of the writer, etc.

Other people may be able to go on a Preptest -> Review every other day for 7 or 8 months. Others end up just fine with just studying for 3 months.

When you get a chance, take a timed diagnostic to see where you stand and go from there.

[10052014]

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[mo1234]

hello!

Im planning to take the LSAT in june 2014.. and right now trying to decide on a LSAT prep course to take after the holidays.After extensive research and information sessions online/in person.Im deciding on powerscore.I initially looked into Blueprint,but they dont have many course options and ther online course aren't live. I wanted a company that is LSAT based and have teachers that are 99th percentile and experienced.Kaplan/princeton review reviews were as I assumed,not as strong and only teach LSAT to make an extra buck.

Im looking into study groups sine I will will most likely be taking it online due to a busy work schedule.Anyone live in the Texas area?

[WaltGrace83]

Does anyone else find that blind reviewing is REALLY hard? Not in the sense that it's hard to deconstruct the arguments or whatever but I find that it is really hard just to keep on going: "okay what is the argument? what is the thought process? why is A wrong? why is B right? why is C wrong? how could I have done this better? etc.

It is mentally DRAINING. I can only do about 5-6 questions an hour (I go REALLY in depth) and I write out on an excel spreadsheet the explanation for everything with a cross reference to charts and graphs and stuff.

[alexrodriguez]

Maybe don't go so in depth. Usually three of the answers are complete garbage anyhow. I find the hardest questions are not the ones that are necessarily harder. The hard questions are the ones where I fail to miss something in the stimulus.

[givemea180]

Took PT33 today after going through the LRB, Manhattan RC, and Blueprint LG. I managed to get a 166 with RC being my strongest area. Would you guys recommend blind review at this point?

The world is a good place

[alexrodriguez]

Took PT33 today after going through the LRB, Manhattan RC, and Blueprint LG. I managed to get a 166 with RC being my strongest area. Would you guys recommend blind review at this point?

The world is a good place

Blind review is always beneficial.

[10052014]

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[Hemenway]

whats everyones status?

Currently drilling Cambridge RC and taking old LR sections to tighten up my timing.
Planning to drill L4 Cambridge LR questions as necessary

[alexrodriguez]

whats everyones status?

Currently slacking off.

However, there is a three day weekend coming up. Thus, I may end up being productive for a brief period of time.

One must assume that by having three day weekends the possibility of being productive exists.

[alexrodriguez]

This is how we should feel when we study because we love the LSAT.

[Straw_Mandible]

This is how we should feel when we study because we love the LSAT.

^ I feel this way every time I open the Trainer. No lie.

I also feel this way when I drill 100 flaw Q's and get 99 correct. (Last night!)

ETA: Who else ITT is working full time and studying 20 hrs/week? Can we commiserate together?

[esquirelhomme]

^ I feel this way every time I open the Trainer. No lie.

I also feel this way when I drill 100 flaw Q's and get 99 correct. (Last night!)

ETA: Who else ITT is working full time and studying 20 hrs/week? Can we commiserate together?

I, too, am working full time – which makes studying so hard to do after a long day at work. Congrats on your Flaw streak! How are you liking The LSAT Trainer so far? I took PT52 this past weekend just to see where I’d score at (and because we’d be going through PT52’s questions during the LSAT Trainer’s study schedule anyway) and got a 157.

LR: -7
LG: -1
LR: -9
RC: -12 (obv my weakest section)

While it’s not a terrible score, I still have a long way to go. I was a bit disappointed at my LR scores, though, since I thought I would get more correct. I also need to work on my accuracy under timed conditions.

[10052014]

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[dowu]

Checking in.


Scored a 160 in October 2012.

Looking for a 165+. I don't know if it's possible (made a jump from 146 diag), but I'm going to try my best.

Hopefully I can stay motivated. I haven't looked at anything LSAT for about a year. Lol