February 2013 LSAT Study Group Forum

[TomThompson]

who else is spending their saturday night studying for the lsat?

If it makes you feel any better I am and I'm not even take it until June.

+1. Once you are into your dream school after a killer LSAT, party then.

I signed up late for the February LSAT, so dropping $250 on it just gave me a ton of incentive to beat my October score. If I tie or get worse than October I will have wasted $250 plus all the time spent studying- that could have been put to partying/working out/studying.

[kevin0201]

Just did PT66

RC (-0)
LR (-4)
LG (-8)
LR (-3)

Score: 167

Ughhhhhhhhh Games are killing me

Find out what game types are killing you and drill that type. Use LSATQA.com

Also, you should avoid using more recent tests until we get closer to the test date, if you haven't already exhausted earlier tests.

Thanks for the tip. As of now Im alternating between earlier tests and recent tests. When do you think I should start tackling the recent ones?

[natashka85]

PT 47
LR-2(could get all right if i used the technique right)
LR-0(finally pleased )
Decided to do today Lr drilling but i think i will do one section of RC or games after a break.

[Instinctive]

PT 54: 172

RC: -2
LR1: -1
LG: -0
LR2: -4

My highest score, I've improved on three consecutive PTs now.

This is the 1st LG section I've done with no time issues. I've been drilling games at 8:20 a piece as my limit, and it has gotten me to work much better on them. I may try to go down to 8 minutes per game in drills consistently, and then have extra time to run through and check answers on PTs.

RC was much better. Here's my number one tip for RC, as I have not worked through PS's Bible yet, but am improving purely off of taking PTs and reviewing the answers: THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS SUPPORTED BY THE TEXT. I still find that every single one of my answers is making way wider a generalization than the text, going against the text, or is simply made up. All three errors come from not quite reading closely enough: if anyone has advice on how to keep concentration (I'm already PTing with an extra section and no break, meaning 5 straight 35 min sections each PT...) up, I seem to do better on RC the earlier, and worse the later it is.

LR - I need to go through the Bible here. I think I'll improve quite a bit. I seem to have the most trouble with Strengthen, and Flaw in the Reasoning questions. I'm improving, but it's hard to say by how much. I'm going to plan to be through the bible in the next week, and then we should really see improvement.

I just need to get to about -1 per section, total, and I'm fairly confident in a -0 on Games at this point. If I can improve on LR, that will leave me some leeway on RC, which would be super nice.



Keep working everyone, we're only 26 days away! (well, 25 and some hours)

[TheThriller]

Hovering around the 174-178 in my PTs.

All I want is a 170+ on game day.

Today I had an uncharacteristic -0 LR1 + LR2 but a -2 LG and a -4 RC. PT 29. Usually I go -0 in LG and hold the RC passage to ~-2. Kinda frustrated because I know that LG slip is the difference between a 176 and a 174.

[ws81086n]

Just did PT 3, Sec 4 LR and I have to say that it was the most useless section ever. I would have cried if I had missed one. Generally old LR's are a great practice tool, but not this one. Don't waste your time.

[Theopliske8711]

How many people who report scores are reporting repeat tests?

[Instinctive]

How many people who report scores are reporting repeat tests?

I have zero repeat tests in my schedule. I only have PTs 52-66 + June 07 because I didn't decide to take Feb until around Christmas...but I take a practice every 3rd day and have no repeat tests.

[natashka85]

Unfortunately i do,i have no fresh tests left,so i have no choice but to take the ones i took before,but honestly i know it can affect your score,but i dont really remember the right answer ,so that gives me some hope,the argument does sound a little bit familiar,cause i read and understood that but the right answer choices i dont remember,so i do go through the normal process of elimination and choosing between two answer choices.

[Jcastro1]

PT51

LR1 -4
LR2 -4
LRX -5
RC -4
LG -0

RS: 87/100
SS: 169

First -0 on games, but LR is stubbornly high. Timing is still an issue on LR and, at least this time, on RC as well. Need to step back and re-evaluate.

[steel_shot]

Well, it looks like I'm going to move to June and aim for a mid 170s score. This semester is just too busy for me to write, and GPA is weighed equally, or more up north. Good luck in February everyone!

[chuckbass]

PT 22
RC: -3
LR: -3
LG: -5
LR: -1

First 170 on a PT! Pretty happy with this, but definitely still need to work on limiting mistakes in LG, as I usually miss 3-5 questions.

[natashka85]

Not really happy w my progress,sort of burnt a little bit and not still sure if i should take this in Fe

[gobosox]

Took PT 53 today... 170.

-0 on games, but combined -8 on LR. -3 on RC. Unbelievable mistakes...

Anyone know how to get better at weaken questions? That's by far my worst section...

[kevin0201]

Took PT 53 today... 170.

-0 on games, but combined -8 on LR. -3 on RC. Unbelievable mistakes...

Anyone know how to get better at weaken questions? That's by far my worst section...

Well, for weaken questions, it's usually the answer choices that show
1) Yes cause but no effect
2) No cause but yes effect
3) Alternate cause

Right?

[TheThriller]

Kev, drill assumption questions, since weaken are a subset of assumption questions and attack the assumption inherent in the argument.

[natashka85]

At this point i am not gonna panic ,i am just gonna put my emotions on a side and not to score my tests any more,i am just gonna count how many mistakes i make and try to eliminate them as many as I can,i am not gonna think about June ,i will take this in Feb and treat it just a test,nothing more,even if instead of a 170 i for some reason get a 160 ,i am just gonna take that score , all the scores are not bad, they are scores that still mean something,maybe i will retake that in June ,but I am not gonna panic or turn my life into miserable experience,this is just a test and not the end of the world ,and honestly i don`t care ,I know i can understand every problem there if i don`t panic and read calmly,so i am just gonna put that 170+ thoughts on a side and jus try to do my best these 3 weeks.

[Jcastro1]

DRILL DRILL DRILL

[natashka85]

PT 40(5 mistakes)
LR-2
LR-0
G-0
RC-3
i dont have fresh tests to take except t68 which i havent even purchased yet,still confused that my score may drop when i take a test not seen yet,can someone advise me what to do,take this in feb or in june?

[natashka85]

Drilling type two questions w bubbling,hope it will help

[TheMostDangerousLG]

Finally took SuperPrep B today.. couldn't believe how badly it killed me! Especially after I thought the SuperPrep tests were weirdly easy after getting a 174 on both A and C closer to the beginning of my prep...

SuperPrep B: 173
LR1: -4 (Haven't done that badly on LR in ages.. ugh.)
LG: -4 (....same as LR.)
RC: -2 (Woo, moving on up.)
LR2: -1
Total: -11 (RS: 90)

Also took PT 51; went a bit better (new high score!).

PT 51: 176
LR1: -1
RC: -4
LR2: -1
LG: -0
Total: -6 (RS: 94)

SuperPrep B was a bit of a wakeup call, realized I might need to start drilling LGs outside of preptests again. PT 51's RC was disappointing, didn't have time for a passage. Blergh. Still, progress is being made- only got one Q wrong among those I had time to finish, so that was good.

Don't know what test to do next.. have done most of the 50s. Is it too early to start moving on to late 50s and the 60s tests? Hurm..

[Jcastro1]

Hey TheMostDangerous,

I'm struggling for timing on LR. Generally going over by 2 minutes and around -3/-4 per section. Any tips? You're killing the LR (and pts!)

[Jcastro1]

Finally broke 170. Did a 4 section test with no break (mainly because I started it so late -- around 9pm here in the UK)

PT52

LR1 -3
LR2 -1 (a personal best on a timed pt)
LG -1
RC -2

92/100

173

Still having timing issues. Found games here really tough and going to redo the section a few times. Thorough review of LR as well. Found RC here easier, maybe that's just me though.

[TheMostDangerousLG]

Hey TheMostDangerous,

I'm struggling for timing on LR. Generally going over by 2 minutes and around -3/-4 per section. Any tips? You're killing the LR (and pts!)

The way that I was able to turn around my LR time was by automatically skipping parallel reasoning and parallel flaw questions. I also typically skip principle example Qs as well. Put a big, sloppy square around them, and be careful not to misbubble your sheet when you move on to the next Qs, and then at the end, when you have time, come back and just kill them. You often realize under time pressure that the answer to parallel Qs will be obvious: if the parallel isn't nice and clean, if you find yourself trying to navigate convoluted language, strike it and move to the next AC. When I'm super pressed for time and I'm finishing the unanswered parallel Qs, I'll move on to the next one as soon as I've found an answer choice that I know is right, even if it means I don't look at the others. That typically allows me to answer every Q, and often I'll have time to go back and read the last couple of answer choices just to make sure I made the right choice.

I also make sure that I do. not. get. stuck. on individual questions. Just remember: every Q is worth the same as every other! If one is giving you trouble, put a circle around it and *move on*. At the end, you'll either have time to come back and finish or fix it, or you'll at least be able to flip back at the last second, and be able to guess between those you hadn't yet ruled out with better than 20% odds of getting it right (e.g. if you find yourself staring at question 16, torn between B & E, circle it, move on, and then when you only have ten seconds left in the test, flip back and guess between those two). But just like with parallel questions, if you use your time right throughout the rest of the section, you should hopefully end up with enough time that you won't have to do any guessing.

TL;DR: It's all about knowing which Qs slow you down, and moving on.

[kevin0201]

^ +1.

I also think it's a good strategy to skip the parallel questions for the last, especially if you don't have much time.