The Official June 2017 Study Group Forum

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Bro (broette?). You got this. -11 LR is a complete outlier. Honestly. You've been crushing the f^@$# out of PTs the past month. Don't withdraw. No reason to - if June goes bad, just take Sept (and there's no limit any more, so it really doesn't matter regardless). You're going to do excellent, so the whole September thing doesn't even matter.

We're all gonna be fine - we've put in the work. Almost time to reap the rewards.

[Amerision]

Nothin' to update -- I'm just drilling until I take PT 74 on Friday, but I wanted to throw some words of encouragement in there. I know getting a low score right now is incredibly disconcerting and shakes you, but you're not alone. Just taking a second to look at this thread, and there are so many of you who are intelligent and incredibly capable who are panicking over a single testn score. I don't know about all of you, but I think there's something about pressure that can both be negative and positive. The expectation of pressure -- the weeks leading up to the LSAT -- can cause a negative trend in scores. But test day adrenaline and pressure is a different beast that I think, for some of us, will actually help.


Specifically written with Plato in mind. Your scores are top notch, man. The LSAC can only throw a question you in so many different ways. This was an outlier. Take it, learn from it, take the next PT with a chip on your shoulder and kill it.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Took PT 74 today.
LR1: -3 (changed two of my answers from correct ACs to incorrect right before time called )
RC: -5 (can live with this, but really thought I went -2 on the section)
LG: -0
LR2: -0

Scaled: 173 (right at my average)

I feel pretty good about this honestly. RC third/fifth is worst case scenario for me by far, and I typically crush late-test LR sections. Median (and mean) raw score is now officially 93. Turns out that's often a 173. I can live with that. That being said, if I can get -2 RC or better, I think I stand a really good shot at 175+ on D Day.

Two 173s in a row, I think I can safely say that last week's RC meltdown was just a product of being sick/not sleeping.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Nothin' to update -- I'm just drilling until I take PT 74 on Friday, but I wanted to throw some words of encouragement in there. I know getting a low score right now is incredibly disconcerting and shakes you, but you're not alone. Just taking a second to look at this thread, and there are so many of you who are intelligent and incredibly capable who are panicking over a single testn score. I don't know about all of you, but I think there's something about pressure that can both be negative and positive. The expectation of pressure -- the weeks leading up to the LSAT -- can cause a negative trend in scores. But test day adrenaline and pressure is a different beast that I think, for some of us, will actually help.


Specifically written with Plato in mind. Your scores are top notch, man. The LSAC can only throw a question you in so many different ways. This was an outlier. Take it, learn from it, take the next PT with a chip on your shoulder and kill it.

Counting on the bolded. That's how pressure worked for me in engineering school. Don't see any reason it won't supercharge me on test day

[Platopus]

I almost hate to admit it, but my life has been this thread and studying for the last 5-6 months. So I just want to take a moment to say thanks to everyone on this thread for the encouragement and positive vibes. I'd probably go insane without you lovely guys and gals. Keep being cool, folks

[augustyyy]

I have been doing one PT per day for about three weeks and about one and a half weeks ago i was able to hit four consecutive 170+. then the next week my scores fluctuated between 167 to 173 until I got to PT65 to 69 like what the heck I got one 165 and one 164 which are the lowest in the past two months. it seems like after pt65 I just cannot get the LR right and always made like -2 really stupid mistakes in LG. I really want to get back to the 170s but also afraid to take any day off at this point


also, I feel like I used to be able to tell if I had a good or bad test before scoring. now it happens more and more that I felt like I killed the PT and boom! surprise! -8 on LR!

[zkyggi]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Slow down, seriously. You know this shit, and the 70s punish hard for rushing. You should be comfortable answering the questions in time, so be careful. Are you reviewing? When I review 60s/70s tests I often had those "Fuck, the testmakers got me" feelings. Right now prep is all about rooting those out for people scoring in your range.

In any case, what I have noticed is that prephrasing is punished by ugly ACs, and now LR requires you do make more inferences for the correct AC. There are many more questions where it is a matter of picking the least-bad answer as opposed to the "best" answer.

[NavyNuke]

.

[saf18hornet]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Interesting, I took this one two weeks ago and got wrecked by the LR also, scored 10 Q's worse than my LR average, and haven't done it again since. It was a great wake up call and I used it as a blessing to figure out if there was something in my process that I was getting to lax on. DO the same and be confident that it was a 1 off.

[saf18hornet]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

I remember some others saying they had to somewhat abandon trying to predict the correct answer choice for some of the more recent tests' LR sections.. If you typically finish sections with a lot of time to spare, maybe try slowing down a bit on the second half of the section and go into the answer choices with an idea what your looking for but not zoned in completely on finding what your anticipating the correct answer choice to be. Hope that helps, but even if it doesn't you got this! You have put in months of work, you are ready. You just need to find the little tweak that will put you back where you were.

Yeah, I haven't reviewed my last 2 PT's yet, so I'm hoping with some review I can really flesh out the difference and start to correct whatever it is that is throwing me off with LR.

I find it really useful to do a trending analysis of just my most recent 3 tests, to see which LR question types need the most attention. Than I do some drilling of harder questions in those categories before my next PT, writing out my whole thought process and what I'm to be looking for.

[saf18hornet]

Nothin' to update -- I'm just drilling until I take PT 74 on Friday, but I wanted to throw some words of encouragement in there. I know getting a low score right now is incredibly disconcerting and shakes you, but you're not alone. Just taking a second to look at this thread, and there are so many of you who are intelligent and incredibly capable who are panicking over a single testn score. I don't know about all of you, but I think there's something about pressure that can both be negative and positive. The expectation of pressure -- the weeks leading up to the LSAT -- can cause a negative trend in scores. But test day adrenaline and pressure is a different beast that I think, for some of us, will actually help.


Specifically written with Plato in mind. Your scores are top notch, man. The LSAC can only throw a question you in so many different ways. This was an outlier. Take it, learn from it, take the next PT with a chip on your shoulder and kill it.

Counting on the bolded. That's how pressure worked for me in engineering school. Don't see any reason it won't supercharge me on test day

Same boat here, I am really expecting to have my best ever score on test day. I always have hyper focus during competition, so I think that should be 3+ questions, especially on RC where I average -6/-7

[Walliums]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Plato, I know how you feel. We are in this together Don't withdraw! I'm spending a good chunk these next few days redoing all of the LR sections (timed) from the 70s that I have taken so far. And I'm done with those, I'll be hitting the RC sections.

[MediocreAtBest]

I almost hate to admit it, but my life has been this thread and studying for the last 5-6 months. So I just want to take a moment to say thanks to everyone on this thread for the encouragement and positive vibes. I'd probably go insane without you lovely guys and gals. Keep being cool, folks

Pretty much the same. Anytime I needed advice, I got good advice here. Freaking out about a bad PT? Someone's here to tell me to chill out. It really has helped, and just being able to talk to people who are going through the same process as me has been nice. So yeah, I hope all you guys crush it and maybe some of us end up at the same school.

[NavyNuke]

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[dm1683]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Hey Plato, I'm in the same spot right now. You can do this! There's something different with the 70's, but your foundation in LR is definitely solid enough to make it work. At the very least, it's better to spot these mistakes and fix them before the test than finding them after the test

I agree, I managed an average of -0.75 per section in the 40's + 50's when drilling, so the foundation is there. Just need to tweak a few things to get caught up on the curve balls from the 70's

Yeah it's crazy how the tests in the 70s are pretty much harder on all fronts. Hoping for a nice generous -14 curve.

BTW isn't your pt average like 174 or something? Don't tell me you're not ready for this, because that means I'm not ready either

[Saylor1720]

Parallel and Parallel Flaw are currently the bane of my existence. It's getting to the point where I should just guess and use the time for other questions.

[saf18hornet]

Parallel and Parallel Flaw are currently the bane of my existence. It's getting to the point where I should just guess and use the time for other questions.

I skip them all and come back at the end if I have time (which never happens).
I can't even fathom how some people finish a LR section with 5-10 minutes left to review. Only once have I ever finished an entire section and had more than 15 seconds to go back and look at a question I had marked for BR.

Typically for me, I pick a guess for the parallel flaw question that shows up as like #22, and then once I finish the last question, I have about 20 seconds to go try to answer it for real, but usually get about half way through answer choice A and don't have time to give it a true effort.

[Saylor1720]

Parallel and Parallel Flaw are currently the bane of my existence. It's getting to the point where I should just guess and use the time for other questions.

I skip them all and come back at the end if I have time (which never happens).
I can't even fathom how some people finish a LR section with 5-10 minutes left to review. Only once have I ever finished an entire section and had more than 15 seconds to go back and look at a question I had marked for BR.

Typically for me, I pick a guess for the parallel flaw question that shows up as like #22, and then once I finish the last question, I have about 20 seconds to go try to answer it for real, but usually get about half way through answer choice A and don't have time to give it a true effort.

I feel for you. I skip the late ones and go back as well. I don't have an issue with time though. I also think I'm overreacting in terms of a recency bias (aka the last LR section I drilled I got both wrong). My 7sage analytics from my last 5 PTs says I'm 6/10 on Parallel Flaw and 9/11 on Parallel. So I guess it's not THAT bad, but could be better.

I think for Parallel Flaw I'm trying to match the conclusions and premises too much, I should probably figure out what the actual flaw of the argument is, then match the actual FLAW not the pretty looking conclusion/premise matches that they throw in for trap answers.

[HenryHankPalmer]

Parallel and Parallel Flaw are currently the bane of my existence. It's getting to the point where I should just guess and use the time for other questions.

I don't know how you've been attacking those, but I found that anaylizing them formulaically is the best approach. Structure and content don't matter at all in those questions, just conditional language and flaws. Quite often, the answer choice with similar content as the stimulus is wrong. These questions do take the most time for me, because thy do require a lot of careful thought, and I usually diagram the argument in the stimulus for reference.

[tuna_wasabi]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Hey Plato, I'm in the same spot right now. You can do this! There's something different with the 70's, but your foundation in LR is definitely solid enough to make it work. At the very least, it's better to spot these mistakes and fix them before the test than finding them after the test

I agree, I managed an average of -0.75 per section in the 40's + 50's when drilling, so the foundation is there. Just need to tweak a few things to get caught up on the curve balls from the 70's

Yeah it's crazy how the tests in the 70s are pretty much harder on all fronts. Hoping for a nice generous -14 curve.

BTW isn't your pt average like 174 or something? Don't tell me you're not ready for this, because that means I'm not ready either

My average for PT 70's isn't that hot though (around 172.9?) The last 2 PT's hit me hard and I'm still struggling to get over them. How are you faring in the 70's, DM? How do you keep a clear mind when going through the more challenging LR questions?

I'm just lost on what to do right now.

[dm1683]

Currently having a fucking panic attack. IDK what it is, but I seriously forgot how to do LR on the recent tests.

PT 70
LR1: -4
RC: -0
LG:-1
LR2: -7

Like WTF is this. Neither section felt particularly difficult, so I guess I'm just stupid and falling for all the trap answers? This literally feels night and day from even the late 60's. Very, very seriously considering withdrawing from June at this point. Feeling defeated and like I've totally wasted the last 6 months.

edit: In case it isn't clear this is a desperate cry for help for someone to tell me its gonna be okay

Hey Plato, I'm in the same spot right now. You can do this! There's something different with the 70's, but your foundation in LR is definitely solid enough to make it work. At the very least, it's better to spot these mistakes and fix them before the test than finding them after the test

I agree, I managed an average of -0.75 per section in the 40's + 50's when drilling, so the foundation is there. Just need to tweak a few things to get caught up on the curve balls from the 70's

Yeah it's crazy how the tests in the 70s are pretty much harder on all fronts. Hoping for a nice generous -14 curve.

BTW isn't your pt average like 174 or something? Don't tell me you're not ready for this, because that means I'm not ready either

My average for PT 70's isn't that hot though (around 172.9?) The last 2 PT's hit me hard and I'm still struggling to get over them. How are you faring in the 70's, DM? How do you keep a clear mind when going through the more challenging LR questions?

I'm just lost on what to do right now.

I've only taken 3 70s PTs (71, 75 and 76 - saving 72-74 for a retake if needed). I got 173, 170 and 177 respectively, so about in your range (although my PT average for all tests is around 173 so it's not really a drop for me).

As far as LR I honestly didn't really alter my strategy, although I noticed that I've been doing process of elimination more often than in the past (eliminating four wrong answers rather than picking out the right one). I've been cutting it closer to the bell on most sections too - taking more time on the last 8-10 questions.

[calmike]

Are the PTs in the 70s harder than the 60s and 50's ? I have an average of a 171 on 15 PTs but the PT's in the 70s range are killing me. I took PT 75 This morning and scored a 162. I'm freaking out

[MediocreAtBest]

Drilled an LG section just now and had a wrong answer that I have no idea how I selected. It was so obviously wrong without even needing to diagram it. I'm thinking since it was a CBT question I may have accidentally looked at an AC from a different question and it worked so I selected it. Still scratching my head over it a little bit lol.

Also, tried setting my timer for 35 minutes and not looking at the time. Ran out of time before I got to the very last question. So that's something I won't be doing again.

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

It seems like I have developed a severe caffeine addiction

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Parallel and Parallel Flaw are currently the bane of my existence. It's getting to the point where I should just guess and use the time for other questions.

I skip them all and come back at the end if I have time (which never happens).
I can't even fathom how some people finish a LR section with 5-10 minutes left to review. Only once have I ever finished an entire section and had more than 15 seconds to go back and look at a question I had marked for BR.

Typically for me, I pick a guess for the parallel flaw question that shows up as like #22, and then once I finish the last question, I have about 20 seconds to go try to answer it for real, but usually get about half way through answer choice A and don't have time to give it a true effort.

I used to feel the same way, but the past 4 tests I've gone 20Qs in 20 minutes on almost every LR section all while maintaining my -2 average.

I think for me it really has just been repetition allowing me to get through ACs faster.