The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

[msp8]

Finally finished BRing Superprep A today. Really did poorly (-4) on the second LR section. Was set for a solid score if not for that. Also did worse (-2) on LG than usual.

Score: 170

BR score: 178

[TheProdigal]

I use PS notation but also use some things I picked up from 7sage videos. I don't think your diagramming symbols are all that important.

Agreed. Pick and choose as you go - everyone is going to think differently so find the one that you're most comfortable with. And don't try changing it two days before the test.

[TheWalkingDebt]

Finally finished BRing Superprep A today. Really did poorly (-4) on the second LR section. Was set for a solid score if not for that. Also did worse (-2) on LG than usual.

Score: 170

BR score: 178

That's really good, particularly this early out.

[msp8]

Finally finished BRing Superprep A today. Really did poorly (-4) on the second LR section. Was set for a solid score if not for that. Also did worse (-2) on LG than usual.

Score: 170

BR score: 178

That's really good, particularly this early out.

Nah, I've been studying for awhile. I'm pretty frustrated that I make so many foolish little mistakes consistently.

(Thanks, though)

[RZ5646]

Finally finished BRing Superprep A today. Really did poorly (-4) on the second LR section. Was set for a solid score if not for that. Also did worse (-2) on LG than usual.

Score: 170

BR score: 178

That LG was supposed to be rather difficult. I went -5.

I think the other two Superprep LG sections are even harder but I haven't gotten to them yet.

[msp8]

That LG was supposed to be rather difficult. I went -5.

I think the other two Superprep LG sections are even harder but I haven't gotten to them yet.

I'll be doing Superprep B maybe tomorrow. If not, then Monday.

I was just a mess on one of the games. It actually took me 15-16mins, which is crazy. Thankfully the other three games (I found) were super easy. I got two of them done in ~5mins each.

[The Abyss]

I didn't find Superprep A LG to be that difficult.

Superprep B LG is a different story. I found that section to be very difficult.

[msp8]

I didn't find Superprep A LG to be that difficult.

I don't think it was at all. I have this weird weakness in LG. I seem to kill a majority of games in ~6-6.5mins, but then there'll be some game that isn't known to be especially difficult that throws me entirely. I'm looking forward to getting a few more PTs done then printing out around 40 LG sections and drilling them all 2-3x each.

[RZ5646]

I'm saying that based on 7sage giving it a 5 star difficulty rating. Every LG section is hard for me so I don't trust my subjective experience.

ETA: When I get back to school I'm going to start doing logic games every single day as part of my routine. LG remains my greatest weakness so I need to buckle down and fix it. I think all of my recent PTs would have been 177+ if it weren't for LG dragging my score down.

[TheProdigal]

LG remains my greatest weakness so I need to buckle down and fix it. I think all of my recent PTs would have been 177+ if it weren't for LG dragging my score down.

I am insanely jealous of people in this position. My sections run about equally bad, there's no easy fix.

[TheWalkingDebt]

Having finished the MLSAT LR, are there any chapters that are particularly useful in LRB? I'm not trying to spend too long in it. Flew through skimming 4 chapters already and it seems largely redundant and pays an incredible amount of time to stim first over stem first, which I don't prefer.

[RZ5646]

Having finished the MLSAT LR, are there any chapters that are particularly useful in LRB? I'm not trying to spend too long in it. Flew through skimming 4 chapters already and it seems largely redundant and pays an incredible amount of time to stim first over stem first, which I don't prefer.

I'm planning on reading the sections on parallel/matching and method of argument because those are the two types that I most struggle with and I'd like another perspective. Can't speak to how useful those chapters actually are though. In any case, I'm definitely not going to read the whole book.

[nv93]

Almost 3 months till June. Ought to be a long time though. I like to use boxing as a metaphor. 3 months to train to the big fight. Speaking of boxing, Money vs Pac May 2nd.

[fundip]

Whoa yeah, that is a long time per passage. If you can use that time to get enough of a grasp of the passage to just blaze through the questions, it probably isn't bad. But if not, you might be spending too much time reading parts of the passage that aren't too important and not focusing enough on just getting the main ideas. Econ and science passages are probably the biggest contenders for complicated-sounding jargon and mechanisms. But generally, the passages seem a lot more complicated than they really are. There's usually going to be some theory/underlying mechanism for some phenomenon, and you just have to get a solid grasp of the gist of it.

Don't spend time trying to memorize details--just know where shit is, and if it comes up on a question, go back to it then. Specific questions like these should be really quick--if you're finding yourself skimming through the ENTIRE passage, or a very large chunk of it to find the part of the passage to which the question refers, you've missed the main points of the passage and you need to fix your approach (i.e.: don't read so much for detail, especially, ESPECIALLY if this makes you forget the main points).

I agree that the Logical Reasoning-like questions on RC can be tricky. I don't really know what advice to offer, other than to make the smallest logical leap possible. Read literally, and don't make assumptions--if the question requires you to make at least one, pick the answer that makes the smallest, most acceptable/negligible one.

If strengthen/weaken questions are hurting you a lot, make sure:
1. You know the conclusion, premise, and flaw
2. Find the answer that actually does strengthen or weaken the relationship between the premise(s) and conclusion. If the answer choice just strengthens/weakens the premise, or the conclusion, without making the argument any better, then it's probably not the right answer. Some people advocate visualizing this as strengthening/weakening the "glue" between premise and conclusion, or ask you to picture building a house and making it stronger or weaker, or some other obnoxious shit. But really, just look for the answer that strengthens/weakens how well the premises support the conclusion.

Practice with conditionals will probably help a bit too. Diagramming itself isn't too bad, just make sure you're not doing an excessive amount of it. Keep in mind that diagramming should be a tool that facilitates your understanding of the stim and getting to the right answer. If some part of your diagramming process doesn't do this for you, it's probably best you drop it.

Yeah, I definitely get bogged down in the details. I need to cut that out. I think the strengthen/weaken questions that mess me up the most are the ones that are just so damn subtle and clever... and even after I check the answer key, I still don't understand how it's right until I go to the Manhattan forums and see what they say about it.

But it sounds like you got this test down on lock.

[nlee10]

daylight savings...

[RZ5646]

Gonna try to read the Superprep explanations for A today and see if they contain any hidden wisdom.

[TheWalkingDebt]

Gonna try to read the Superprep explanations for A today and see if they contain any hidden wisdom.

The superprep explanations are really quite useless.

[Smallville]

daylight savings...

[TheWalkingDebt]

Going to PW my hound-lab puppy, Winston. (I checked with him first, he doesn't think adcomms will be able to find out who he is).



ETA: He's the biggest distraction to my studies because puppy.

[Gluteus]

Heading to the Library, not leaving until I get at least 150 more pages of Manhattan LG done.

[RZ5646]

Heading to the Library, not leaving until I get at least 150 more pages of Manhattan LG done.

Your avatar is perfect.

[McJimJam]

Post removed.

[Shakawkaw]

Heading to the Library, not leaving until I get at least 150 more pages of Manhattan LG done.

Your avatar is perfect.

His is perfect and mine is creepy? Weirdo.

[ccordero]

I've been focusing primarily on LR and RC since I started studying and I'm scoring pretty well - doing especially well during blind review, but I'm having a lot of trouble actually finishing a section on time, often taking ~40 minutes to finish a section instead of 35. Does anyone have tips on getting through the sections more quickly without sacrificing accuracy?

[Shakawkaw]

I've been focusing primarily on LR and RC since I started studying and I'm scoring pretty well - doing especially well during blind review, but I'm having a lot of trouble actually finishing a section on time, often taking ~40 minutes to finish a section instead of 35. Does anyone have tips on getting through the sections more quickly without sacrificing accuracy?

Where do you find yourself spending more time/starting to slow down? By the time you're in the middle of each section, what's your time stamp?