The Official February 2015 Study Group Forum

[peppermint]

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[peppermint]

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[mizu]

[Rant] Just want to put it out there that I abhor PT10's first RC passage. It's unnecessarily difficult for the first passage and Q1, choice D uses the word "preempt", which I thought meant "to advance", but it apparently means the opposite in this context. How am supposed to fucking know that!!!? Taking the LSAT as a nonnative English speaker just ain't fair. [/Rant]

Sorry; when the LSAT wrongs me, I seethe with anger.

[peppermint]

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[JackelJ]

How many full timed PT's do you guys think you are going to have completed before the Feb test?

I've already done 11 and I hope to do 13 more. Next one on Tuesday. I will probably break up some of the previous PTs I did and use them as timed sections just to help get my timing down or as "experimental" sections for my fresh PTs. Most of the 11 I already took was from a few months ago and I don't remember any of the questions so they should still be beneficial to use.

[ChoboPie]

[Rant] Just want to put it out there that I abhor PT10's first RC passage. It's unnecessarily difficult for the first passage and Q1, choice D uses the word "preempt", which I thought meant "to advance", but it apparently means the opposite in this context. How am supposed to fucking know that!!!? Taking the LSAT as a nonnative English speaker just ain't fair. [/Rant]

Sorry; when the LSAT wrongs me, I seethe with anger.

Lol, so I just checked out my PT 10 and realized I had that exact same problem and it drove me crazy. Like, that word bothered me so much I straight up left the timer on, walked out of the room, looked it up, came back and then continued the section. And apparently I still got that question wrong????? (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

[uorbulldog]

In addition to The Economist, I used to read the Best American Science and Nature, which comes out every year and is basically an anthology of scientific journal and news articles. It helped me on the GRE RC anyway. I think there's a 2014 one now, I'll probably pick it up.

What was the context of preempt? We use that in the military a lot, as in a preemptive strike.. like if you knew your adversary was planning something, you strike first in order to impede his plan. That word probably gets thrown around a lot in the journalism/news media world too I would imagine.

And I've got like 10 PTs to do before the test, I don't think I'd want to spend much more time on it than that.

[nlee10]

Just did PT 37 RC and went 23/26 again. Was a much harder section than PT 36's RC.

Yay, Nlee, you're kicking ass on RC! I'm proud of you, let's eat poptarts to celebrate your success!

I've adopted the "less is more" approach to the lsat since postponing and I think it's doing wonders. But slowly getting into full PT's soon.

[gamerish]

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[ChoboPie]

Thoughts on a study group over Skype? I feel like it might be helpful to review PTs in depth with others + discuss question-specific strats. I remember Daily_Double talking about a mass e-mail chain, but I feel like Skype might be a little bit less messy.

eta: bulldog, iirc the context was new techniques for offshore oil drilling, and "preempt" was used incorrectly as it described a preventative measure for something that was already in existence.

[flawyers]

Chobo, your little text pictures are always on point.

[mizu]

[Rant] Just want to put it out there that I abhor PT10's first RC passage. It's unnecessarily difficult for the first passage and Q1, choice D uses the word "preempt", which I thought meant "to advance", but it apparently means the opposite in this context. How am supposed to fucking know that!!!? Taking the LSAT as a nonnative English speaker just ain't fair. [/Rant]

Sorry; when the LSAT wrongs me, I seethe with anger.

Lol, so I just checked out my PT 10 and realized I had that exact same problem and it drove me crazy. Like, that word bothered me so much I straight up left the timer on, walked out of the room, looked it up, came back and then continued the section. And apparently I still got that question wrong????? (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

o(｀ω´ )o o(｀ω´ )o o(｀ω´ )o

[brusselsprouts]

does anyone have tips to help me not hate LR? I love LG because I got the hang of them quickly and now they feel fun, plus I do best. RC I've learned to love because I can feel myself progressing so much and mostly because it's just so much better than LR. I dread LR which leads to me getting distracted and bored and missing a huge number of questions. I know it's my weakest section still when it comes to basics but maybe if I didn't hate it I would do a little better or maybe just miss fewer than 2938292 per section

[mizu]

Oh man, that's gotta be tough. I have those moments too & I'm a native speaker

Keep working hard, mizu, it'll pay off in the end

Thanks, Peppermint. I know you're a foodie and I wish I could share my shaved Brussels sprouts salad with walnut and pecorino with you!

[flawyers]

does anyone have tips to help me not hate LR? I love LG because I got the hang of them quickly and now they feel fun, plus I do best. RC I've learned to love because I can feel myself progressing so much and mostly because it's just so much better than LR. I dread LR which leads to me getting distracted and bored and missing a huge number of questions. I know it's my weakest section still when it comes to basics but maybe if I didn't hate it I would do a little better or maybe just miss fewer than 2938292 per section

Yes, keep doing them until you love em. I used to hate LR too. I've honestly put so many hours into LR you wouldnt believe. Like 4/5th of my entire prep time I think went into LR, just because I wanted to be really good at the section considering its half the test. I always used to hate it too just because I thought it was too damn hard and that I was never going to be good at it. But now its my best and favorite section. RC on the other hand? fuck everything about that section.

[brusselsprouts]

does anyone have tips to help me not hate LR? I love LG because I got the hang of them quickly and now they feel fun, plus I do best. RC I've learned to love because I can feel myself progressing so much and mostly because it's just so much better than LR. I dread LR which leads to me getting distracted and bored and missing a huge number of questions. I know it's my weakest section still when it comes to basics but maybe if I didn't hate it I would do a little better or maybe just miss fewer than 2938292 per section

Yes, keep doing them until you love em. I used to hate LR too. I've honestly put so many hours into LR you wouldnt believe. Like 4/5th of my entire prep time I think went into LR, just because I wanted to be really good at the section considering its half the test. I always used to hate it too just because I thought it was too damn hard and that I was never going to be good at it. But now its my best and favorite section. RC on the other hand? fuck everything about that section.

this is what I thought although I do wish there was some magical solution. thank you...I'm going to start doing at least one timed LR section a day at the end of this week. until then I'll probably do untimed to build some confidence.

[Webpolice]

I<ScholarlySweets! Dictionary of Modern 0L Lingo:

*180 = highest score on the LSAT. Usually used to rate something as spectacular.
*120 = lowest score on the LSAT. Used to rate something as shit.
*SPS = Shit Pure Shit
*TTT = Third Tier Toilet
*ITE = In This Economy (references the shit legal market that we currently live in. Thanks boomers and liberals!)
*shitlibs = liberals who are annoying as fuck
*SJW = Social Justice Warrior
*TITCR = This Is the Credited Response (the credited response is the right answer to an LSAT question)
*FMA = fuck my ass (used when you're surprised, worried, or when someone PWNs you)
*CR = credited response
*CQ = credited question
*LS = law school
*killself = kill yourself/ i will kill myself
*biglaw = prestigious position that pays 160k starting salary
*shitlaw = SPS lawyering positions for TTTs
*T6 = top six law schools in the country YALE, HARVARD, STANFORD, CHICAGO, COLUMBIA, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
*T14 = bares no significance to our modern-day because anything outside the T6 schools is TTT
*AutoAdmit.com = the most prestigious law discussion board in the world
*TLSer = a person who posts on http://www.top-law-schools.com
TLS = http://www.top-law-schools.com
*JDunderground.com = a board where TTT shitlawyers post about how they hate the law and will killself
*lawschooldiscussionboard.org = a dumber version of TLS

can't help laugh crying....

[ChoboPie]

does anyone have tips to help me not hate LR? I love LG because I got the hang of them quickly and now they feel fun, plus I do best. RC I've learned to love because I can feel myself progressing so much and mostly because it's just so much better than LR. I dread LR which leads to me getting distracted and bored and missing a huge number of questions. I know it's my weakest section still when it comes to basics but maybe if I didn't hate it I would do a little better or maybe just miss fewer than 2938292 per section

I found that moving through LR at a fairly brisk pace (i.e.: first 20 in 20 min) helped me keep focus and get a good groove going.

Also, are you getting stuck on seemingly tricky questions? For a while, those buggers just crushed my motivation and focus for the entire section--I'd just be sitting there spinning my wheels for what felt like ages and STILL felt unsure about the question. This in turn made me EXTREMELY unconfident any time I saw them. I think what did it for me was just taking a more positive mindset and being confident.

I'm still super rusty b/c of break, but another big thing that helped was developing a really simple, intuitive process and being comfortable with conditional + formal logic. Like, I'd just read the question and I wouldn't have to think about what steps I'd have to take--I'd just read q-stem to know if I should expect premise+conclusion+flaw, or if it was conditional or formal logic, just note in my head necessary, sufficient, and whatever part of it was noteworthy (there was a pattern to these kinds of questions, and you could almost 100% pre-phrase exactly which part of it was going to be in the right answer). I know Powerscore, Manhattan, and BP recommend a lot of diagramming, but I found diagramming in LR a waste of time and just made me break focus. Hope this helps.

@flawyers Haha, thanks dude <3

Edit: a word

[JackelJ]

this is what I thought although I do wish there was some magical solution. thank you...I'm going to start doing at least one timed LR section a day at the end of this week. until then I'll probably do untimed to build some confidence.

How have you been studying LR? It will help us to give advice or describe what has and what has not worked for us.

[NL2424]

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[Smallville]

My strategy for the rest of our time (which is slowly but surely running out might I add)is to do PTs under timed conditions and then BR

shhhhhhhhhh

[NL2424]

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[JackelJ]

I've been putting off looking at how many weeks are left, I don't know if it's 7 or 6 but I'm just imagining that it's somewhere around 12 weeks left.

Me too. Being on vacation also doesn't help at all. I'm thinking of taking a PT now just to see how bad my score is and hopefully that'll motivate me to use the last month or so efficiently.

[mizu]

Yes, keep doing them until you love em. I used to hate LR too. I've honestly put so many hours into LR you wouldnt believe. Like 4/5th of my entire prep time I think went into LR, just because I wanted to be really good at the section considering its half the test. I always used to hate it too just because I thought it was too damn hard and that I was never going to be good at it. But now its my best and favorite section. RC on the other hand? fuck everything about that section.

Agreed. Manhattan and the Trainer both have really good LR sections. I used to completely space out after a few questions and get frustrated at myself for spacing out, making LR a drag and a bore. But now, I know exactly what I need to focus on for each question type with the help of those two books. I find having that mental focus/game plan makes LR similar to LG.

In regards to RC, I'm not sure if others feel the same way, but I tend to perform my best when I read each passage leisurely, like how I would read a NYT or Guardian article.

[peppermint]

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