The Official October 2015 Study Group Forum

ltowns1 · Post by **ltowns1** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:34 pm

PatriotP74 wrote:I'm strongly considering taking a course for December, it would be online so I'm pretty much between blueprint, Manhattan, or Fox. Which I'm leaning towards fox.

I'm thinking about 7sage. I find myself trying so hard that I can't get out of my own way, and it's resulting into some not so good scores. I feel like I just need someone to steer me in the right direction because self-studying is not working. I think I need to get proper instruction, and then I'll go back to self studying. I am going to take this test on Saturday, it will help me get over some major anxiety problems.

PatriotP74 · Post by **PatriotP74** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:38 pm

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TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:38 pm

ltowns1 wrote:Hey I'm just curious, RZ, Prodigal, and Mint-Berry, Gamerish. Did any of you take a prep course or have you all self-studied for the entire duration (from the first time you picked an LSAT book up until now) of your prep?

Self-studied. 165 diagnostic and was told outright by Kaplan, "we can't help you." That was four years ago.

I'd been talking about law school for a while, so last July I thought I'd go ahead and register for the September test. Wait, that isn't accurate - I didn't know there were set test dates and lucked into checking three days before the deadline. Studied for four weeks, mostly with Kaplan and Princeton Review books. I found TLS about halfway through and switched to the Trainer and Powerscore.

Only got five weeks of study in for February because of getting married and honeymooning, but I finally got the Manhattan materials (but didn't read RC) and picked up my first Cambridge packet: Difficult Games. And it looks like another four for this one, with the Difficult Passages and Questions added to the mix, and having read the Manhattan RC guide.

Overall, I couldn't see myself song any better at this point with any course or tutoring I could afford.

Mint-Berry_Crunch · Post by **Mint-Berry_Crunch** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:46 pm

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TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:52 pm

Mint-Berry_Crunch wrote:... I pretty much did away with methods except for a handful of tidbits and created systems that worked for myself.

I feel like this is really what makes the biggest difference for most people. Its taking the tools you are offered and taking only what works best for yourself. And that includes diagrams, notations, how to categorize LR questions, all the way down to mindset and approach to the test.

appind · Post by **appind** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:24 pm

just finished BR'ing the PT 75 LR2 section.
i had marked 5 questions for review while doing this section. 1 of these questions i got wrong. during BR changed 1 answer from right to wrong and didn't catch the wrong answer to 1 other question.
-2 in the section.

204Wpg wrote:Just finished PT 75 @ my test room, it felt so promising but ended up being another 173. Two more right and I would have been at a 176 b/c of the scaling, makes the -4 on the second LR hurt just a little more, since everything else I think I did as well as I could reasonably expect.

PT75
LR1: -1
RC: -2
LR2: -4
LG: -0

That last game on 75 nearly killed me too, I didn't catch that when they said there must be three or more features, they didn't mean three distinct features, god that almost got me and I didn't realize until there was only like 4 minutes left haha.

Edit: Gahh, just reviewed when I got home and I think 4 of my 5 misses on LR, I either circled a right answer and then changed my mind, or had narrowed it down to the correct one and the wrong one that I chose. That stings

nice score. where you missed in rc and how was your timing?

eta: when you guys BR how do you avoid seeing the circled responses from the take?

ugg · Post by **ugg** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:32 pm

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appind · Post by **appind** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:44 pm

TheProdigal wrote:
TheProdigal wrote:
appind wrote:for what it's worth no one has posted a better score than -4/-5 in 72 RC in this thread iirc. there could be some near perfect scorers in modern rc in this thread have scored better on it but haven't posted.
Challenge accepted. Going to try to get 72 in tomorrow.
Challenge failed.

PT72
RC: -4
LR1: -1
LR2: -2
LG: -1

174. Fourth in a row. Still .

that's still a rocking score. not sure if anyone's posted a higher overall in 72 so far.

how did you find the rc and where were your misses?

with -0 and -4 in its lr sections respectively i guess i may be ok if rc becomes manageable.

Mint-Berry_Crunch wrote:I wish I had bought the trainer but I'm just not sure how much it would have helped me between July and now.
I still think that I'm totally capable of scoring very highly, I'm just ultimately not good at applying my own methods.

i am not sure how much trainer would have helped if one is already taking PTs and drilling. i bought trainer but i think didn't find it that different.

Mint-Berry_Crunch · Post by **Mint-Berry_Crunch** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:53 pm

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204Wpg · Post by **204Wpg** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:55 pm

appind wrote:just finished BR'ing the PT 75 LR2 section.
i had marked 5 questions for review while doing this section. 1 of these questions i got wrong. during BR changed 1 answer from right to wrong and didn't catch the wrong answer to 1 other question.
-2 in the section.
204Wpg wrote:
nice score. where you missed in rc and how was your timing?
eta: when you guys BR how do you avoid seeing the circled responses from the take?

I missed 24 & 25 in RC, both of course on the glass passage, it's weird because even after going back to them I didn't have an "Ahaa" moment, which I normally do. Both I had narrowed down to the right answer and the one I ultimately picked, and I had ample time and probably wouldn't have changed my answers with more time.

Timing on LR was fine; LG was a little tight (because I misunderstood a rule on Game 4, must have had 12 minutes going into that one), and RC was really tight because I was fighting with myself over the last question and actually had my watch set a minute or two off and thought I had another minute-thirty haha, whoops!

As for you BR question, I actually don't BR - I know I should have, but I condensed my study a great deal because I was lazy / busy in May, June and July and so I unfortunately compromised the BR after the first little while and even now I'm balancing LSAT with CPA so, there's only so many hours in the day and just reviewing my wrong answers has been sufficient (although of course not optimal).

Mint-Berry_Crunch · Post by **Mint-Berry_Crunch** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:56 pm

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seashell.economy · Post by **seashell.economy** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:00 pm

Use the LR bible.

TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:14 pm

appind wrote:
TheProdigal wrote:
TheProdigal wrote:
appind wrote:for what it's worth no one has posted a better score than -4/-5 in 72 RC in this thread iirc. there could be some near perfect scorers in modern rc in this thread have scored better on it but haven't posted.
Challenge accepted. Going to try to get 72 in tomorrow.
Challenge failed.

PT72
RC: -4
LR1: -1
LR2: -2
LG: -1

174. Fourth in a row. Still .
that's still a rocking score. not sure if anyone's posted a higher overall in 72 so far.

how did you find the rc and where were your misses?

I found the RC to be fairly doable. Missed one on each passage. Thought passage three (ethics) was the densest, and passage two (artifacts) to give the least to work with. No warm-up may have contributed, and this was the loudest setting I've taken a PT in (had to crank the background to max on 7sage). Haven't reviewed yet, but know that one I missed was changed in the last minute of the section.

mist4bison · Post by **mist4bison** » Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:49 pm

Mint-Berry_Crunch wrote:So I reviewed PT 73RC today by going over each passage, writing a paragraph by paragraph summary, and then going through each question by eliminating each AC.

By the end I just had the sense that it wasn't actually that much harder than the older RC. I thought the comparative passage was much harder than normal, but besides that everything was your normal RC section. I think one of the biggest things is making sure you can remember where the info is in a passage, and have a solid idea of the roles thing play in the arguments. Did anyone else notice anything from RC 73?

I'm going to do the same for 72, 71, and 70 and see if I get any trends.

Took 73 today and I agree that the comparative passage was a little harder than usual. I feel like I always lock down points there, but missed two there on 73.

I like this method. I'm going to take RC to work tomorrow and try to write up responses to each question.

PT 73
RC: -5
LR: -3
LG: -1
LR: -2
171.

That's actually my first time in the 170s. Really glad I was able to do that before test day. I realize I likely won't do that well, but it's nice knowing it's possible, even under timed conditions and after having done PT 40 immediately beforehand.

I will say, I was exhausted after 73. It was a struggle to complete the last LR. That's the first time I've done 8 sections (3 for 40 and 5 for 73)

ugg · Post by **ugg** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:11 am

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gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:23 am

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STL2014 · Post by **STL2014** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:32 am

I have a question to ask.
My friend took the real PT74 in December 2014. She got a reported 175. But I just found out that there is no 175 in the conversion chart. It goes like this:
176 --- 95 --- 95
175 --- 0 --- 0
174 --- 94 --- 94
Could anyone explain to me how did this happen? Many thanks!

nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:39 am

STL2014 wrote:I have a question to ask.
My friend took the real PT74 in December 2014. She got a reported 175. But I just found out that there is no 175 in the conversion chart. It goes like this:
176 --- 95 --- 95
175 --- 0 --- 0
174 --- 94 --- 94
Could anyone explain to me how did this happen? Many thanks!

then your friend is lying

nerdylsat · Post by **nerdylsat** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:47 am

If I am bombing the test and get up and leave before time finishes does it count as a cancellation? Does it count as one of your three tries?

Mint-Berry_Crunch · Post by **Mint-Berry_Crunch** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:51 am

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PatriotP74 · Post by **PatriotP74** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:09 am

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Mint-Berry_Crunch · Post by **Mint-Berry_Crunch** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:21 am

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ugg · Post by **ugg** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:44 am

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mist4bison · Post by **mist4bison** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:51 am

nlee10 wrote:
STL2014 wrote:I have a question to ask.
My friend took the real PT74 in December 2014. She got a reported 175. But I just found out that there is no 175 in the conversion chart. It goes like this:
176 --- 95 --- 95
175 --- 0 --- 0
174 --- 94 --- 94
Could anyone explain to me how did this happen? Many thanks!
then your friend is lying

+1 lol that's awesome.

204Wpg · Post by **204Wpg** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:13 am

theugg wrote:All of my dreams are about RC. Figures.

Lol I've been going to bed pretty much everyday since late August dreaming of RC / the LSAT in general, mostly all the possibilities with a good score, but it definitely cuts a minimum of 30 mins. out of my nightly sleep haha.

No T-Swift terror attacks yet though