The Official June 2014 Study Group Forum

[DKjunior]

Just got my Oct '13 score back; scored a 166 (right around my PT average). I studied for about two months with a BP course, and although it was a good foundation, I'm looking forward to self-studying my way to a 175+.

Here are the materials I'm planning on using:

-Manhattan 3 Set of Strategy Guides
-LSAT Trainer
-LG Bible
-Cambridge LR Qs by type (PT 1-38
-PT ~40-70

I scored fairly well on RC (-3) and LR1 (-1), but I think I misdiagrammed LG and I totally f'ed up LR2 (-7)
I would love some feedback on materials and strategies!

LSm - Welcome!

While the LSAT is fresh in your memory, do you have any advice for those of us starting out our studies? Anything you think that you would do differently approaching the test? Was the BP course online or classroom?

Thanks!

[JSm00v3]

Just got my Oct '13 score back; scored a 166 (right around my PT average). I studied for about two months with a BP course, and although it was a good foundation, I'm looking forward to self-studying my way to a 175+.

Here are the materials I'm planning on using:

-Manhattan 3 Set of Strategy Guides
-LSAT Trainer
-LG Bible
-Cambridge LR Qs by type (PT 1-38
-PT ~40-70

I scored fairly well on RC (-3) and LR1 (-1), but I think I misdiagrammed LG and I totally f'ed up LR2 (-7)
I would love some feedback on materials and strategies!

LSm - Welcome!

While the LSAT is fresh in your memory, do you have any advice for those of us starting out our studies? Anything you think that you would do differently approaching the test? Was the BP course online or classroom?

Thanks!

Hi! The best advice I can give is to PT a few times to figure out problem areas, and drill them mercilessly. Also, I regret not spending more time reviewing my PTs to see why I got certain questions wrong. I think that in the future I will take my PT and fill out the answer sheet, then put the answer sheet away and review the whole test without timing it. This helps me because if there ends up being a problem I got wrong in the timed PT, but I understood it when I wasn't being timed, I was able to chalk it up to timing issues. This was important to help build confidence.

As for the BP course, I did it in person. I really enjoyed the course, and my instructor was awesome, but I don't really think it's tailored to people who want to go for 175+. It was a great way to learn the basics with a set schedule. I guess I would say that it was a solid jumping off point, but without rigorous self-study, I'm not sure one can really expect to jump too much one they hit the 170+ area.

My last bit of last bit of self reflection is: be proud of your improvements, but never get cocky. I think I started to get cocky, and my LG suffered because of it.

Hope this helps and doesn't come across preachy or anything, this is just my experience.

[Rasputin805]

Lurker checking in to participate in this group. Studied on and off for October and the results were less than ideal. I had been PTing mid to high 160s. Decided to not rush it for December and take my time do it right in June. Also getting some WE under my belt won't hurt. Looking forward to working with all of you for the next 7 1/2 months. Although I've put in a good deal of work, I am taking a fresh approach to LR and RC as they both crushed my soul. I'll be using Manhattan for all sections and Cambridge for Drilling.
Oct 12/PT70 gave me the following: LG -2 LR1 -4 RC -12 LR -6 (I basically lost it halfway through RC and should have cancelled right then and there)

[StealthyJ]

Hey, guys. Although I plan on taking the test in October, I might as well hop in here since nobody is joining my October '14 thread and I
find the participation of others to better motivate me to hit the grindstone.
I guess I'll post my materials here and see what people recommend I start with:

Manhattan LG, LR, RC
Velocity Comprehensive Course
Powerscore Logic Games Bible
PT 1-65 (although I need to print them)

So far, I'm about 250 pages through Manhattan LR and around 40% through Velocity's game stuff. Anyone have experience with them?
I really like their standard ordering method, but I'm not sure about 3D ordering...LG is my most problematic area and I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on
whether they found PS LGB or Manhattan's methods, being more inference-heavy, more helpful than Velocity's Brute Force method with those game types?
Yes, I know I should search more thoroughly on the forums, but I'd like to get involved in the study group so I'm asking here.

[10052014]

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[VA21]

what's up guys, just took the october test and wasn't happy with results, so i'll be shooting for a retake in june

[StealthyJ]

Hey, guys. Although I plan on taking the test in October, I might as well hop in here since nobody is joining my October '14 thread and I
find the participation of others to better motivate me to hit the grindstone.
I guess I'll post my materials here and see what people recommend I start with:

Manhattan LG, LR, RC
Velocity Comprehensive Course
Powerscore Logic Games Bible
PT 1-65 (although I need to print them)

So far, I'm about 250 pages through Manhattan LR and around 40% through Velocity's game stuff. Anyone have experience with them?
I really like their standard ordering method, but I'm not sure about 3D ordering...LG is my most problematic area and I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on
whether they found PS LGB or Manhattan's methods, being more inference-heavy, more helpful than Velocity's Brute Force method with those game types?
Yes, I know I should search more thoroughly on the forums, but I'd like to get involved in the study group so I'm asking here.

Well, I am reading and drilling with BP lg... But here is my plan (pasted from another thread):

1. Read BP LG
2. Re-read bp LG chapter by chapter, this time drilling the corresponding games from Cambridge packets (PTs 1-38) (untimed). I also watched 7sage LG videos for any games that gave me trouble (to learn faster/more efficient set-ups for games, how to make crucial inferences, etc.)
3. Drilled all games from Cambridge LG packets, timed. At this point, I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of how much time I took on each game, as well as the number I got correct. If there were any games that gave me trouble (i.e. didn't do perfectly), I made sure to re-do them right away (this worked for me because at this stage, I had trouble remembering answers and key/game-breaking inferences). Even though I timed myself during this stage, I didn't really focus on solving games faster; I merely timed myself to get a sense of my general speed.
4. After finishing my first round of timed games, I went back and did all of the games again, timed.. this time I aimed to solve each game as fast as I could, while maintaining 100% accuracy.
5. After that, I re-did only Level 3 and Level 4 difficulty games from Cambridge LG, timed, aiming for faster time and 100% accuracy.

Using this method, I went from a -15 LG on my cold diag in June to -0/-1 (when I make careless mistakes)

In my opinion, the key to doing well on LG is solving the easy games as quickly as you can, so that you can have plenty of time for the hard ones + check your answers.

Repeat games you've solved before OVER and OVER and OVER again until you have them down cold. Ideally, you want to be solving even the hardest Cambridge LG games in under 9 minutes, and the easy ones in 2-4 min.

I like that...seems like the optimal way to attack your deficiencies.
How helpful did you find BP's book? That's to say, do you find any particular insights that other books lacked? Obviously the majority of your
improvement came from the intense drilling.
Thanks. I'll be ordering the Cambridge packs and following your method.

[JSm00v3]

what's up guys, just took the october test and wasn't happy with results, so i'll be shooting for a retake in june

What did you end up getting today? and what are you shooting for? Just curious, I totally understand if you don't want to post one or both.

[10052014]

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[10052014]

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[VA21]

what's up guys, just took the october test and wasn't happy with results, so i'll be shooting for a retake in june

So, you will be waiting a whole cycle?

yea, i think so. dec is just too close, and feb too far. i was really against applying next cycle (i'll be 28 by fall 15) but i think it's the best. depending on my scores, if i'm doing well enough by feb i may take it then but still apply fall '15

[VA21]

what's up guys, just took the october test and wasn't happy with results, so i'll be shooting for a retake in june

What did you end up getting today? and what are you shooting for? Just curious, I totally understand if you don't want to post one or both.

check your PMs

[JSm00v3]

Since this thread doesn't have a poll yet; maybe the OP could make a poll asking how many points people want to improve their score?

[Hemenway]

Welcome guys!
We're all gonna kill it in June for sure

[10052014]

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[10052014]

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[JSm00v3]

Any updates?

I am almost done drilling 1-40 games for a third time... Then will read LR bible and MLSAT lr to drill...

again, share your studying plans! it motivates us

I just got paid, so I plan on ordering the rest of my study materials when I get off work. My first objective is to get my LG from the (-5) range to -0/-1. From there I plan on reading through the MLSAT LR guide and do the Cambridge 1-38 LR problems as drills until I'm hitting timed sections at -2 or lower. After that, I'm going to focus primarily on PTs and tweaking weak areas and hopefully work my way up to 6 section PTs to build endurance. Once all my materials come in, I'm hoping to create a flexible 16-20 week schedule.

Also, I'm setting up an excel sheet to track my progress based on question type and difficulty. Good luck to everyone on their studying!

[10052014]

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[JSm00v3]

Any updates?

I am almost done drilling 1-40 games for a third time... Then will read LR bible and MLSAT lr to drill...

again, share your studying plans! it motivates us

I just got paid, so I plan on ordering the rest of my study materials when I get off work. My first objective is to get my LG from the (-5) range to -0/-1. From there I plan on reading through the MLSAT LR guide and do the Cambridge 1-38 LR problems as drills until I'm hitting timed sections at -2 or lower. After that, I'm going to focus primarily on PTs and tweaking weak areas and hopefully work my way up to 6 section PTs to build endurance. Once all my materials come in, I'm hoping to create a flexible 16-20 week schedule.

Also, I'm setting up an excel sheet to track my progress based on question type and difficulty. Good luck to everyone on their studying!

How long do you think it will take you to read MLSAT lr and drill with it also?

3 months? 2 months?

Im about to start and im thinking of a general time frame.

Well, I'll probably start on it in a few weeks, but I'm head out of the country for a few weeks at the end of November/beginning of December. So vacation not included; I'd say 4-6 weeks while also drilling games and some RC sprinkled in for good measure.

[Hemenway]

Has anyone found it helpful to drill Cambridge LR twice??

I drilled LR (Difficulty 1-3) after each chapter of Manhattan LR back in July.. I'm currently at around -5/-6 combined but I still struggle with timing (I usually barely finish on time).

When I blind review I usually get -0 to -2 combined but I'm discouraged that timing is still an issue..

Incidentally, do you guys think I should try solving Qs 15-25/26 first, and then solve the first 14 Qs last?? (I can do 10 questions in 10 minutes but I can't seem to get 15 in 15..)

[cpamom]

Looks like I'm going to retake in June. So I'm checking in.

My plan is to work on RC until the end of year, then I'm adding Velocity games (I used to go -1 to -2 on the section but it's been a while), and then I'm adding LR drilling. Starting March, I'm going to do times tests and mix it all up.

I need to get at 170 so badly! It's going to be my third take.

[Straw_Mandible]

Looks like I'm going to retake in June. So I'm checking in.

My plan is to work on RC until the end of year, then I'm adding Velocity games (I used to go -1 to -2 on the section but it's been a while), and then I'm adding LR drilling. Starting March, I'm going to do times tests and mix it all up.

I need to get at 170 so badly! It's going to be my third take.

Welcome to the party! What was your score range in Oct? What materials/methods did you use to prepare? Is RC the weak link, or are you looking to improve all around?

[10052014]

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[cpamom]

Welcome to the party! What was your score range in Oct? What materials/methods did you use to prepare? Is RC the weak link, or are you looking to improve all around?

October 2012 166 (I believe LG -2, LR -6 total, RC -6)
October 2013 159 (LG -6, LR -13, RC -11)

I can't believe I did that bad, although I know it'd due to the fact that I haven't done a single full timed test since October 2012 (just did not have time). So RC has always been my worst section, but I need to improve all around

[cpamom]

Finally finished doing LG 1-40 3 times over, and I am finishing games around 5 minutes each.

So, I'll be starting LR in a week or so, and will do a section of LG and RC a week just to keep sharp

You definitely seem to be on top of it! Wow!