The Official June 2017 Study Group Forum

[Future Ex-Engineer]

I took 74 yesterday, doing BR right now. I just wanted to say that the Han purple question is complete and utter crap. That is all.

Agreed. After reviewing, I see why the correct AC is correct, but it's a total BS question.

[Platopus]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

A harder test is harder precisely because we can't feel the difference. It's extreme subtlety that makes the differences between a -11 and a -14 curve.

[tuna_wasabi]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

Agreed, I can't tell the difference. So instead of praying to the LSAT Gods for easy LR/RC/LG, I just pray for a generous, generous curve.

Btw which questions in LR2 were you struggling with? The parking question and the babbler birds one were weird.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Anyway I did PT 78 today.

Ayoooo me too!

172
LR1: -2 (had every question right and inexplicably changed two ACs on my review with my last 5 minute re-run)
LG: -0
LR2: -4
RC: -2 (hallelujah!)

I didn't miss any questions on the last two passages, and tbh, actually felt like the clay tablets passage was pretty interesting. I think maybe knowing it was 'hard' helped me crack it.

Feels nice to be back on a 170+ after Friday's abomination.
Also feeling super great about timing/internal clock at this point. I'm consistently finishing LR sections in 27-28 minutes giving me plenty of time to bubble/check bubbling/review marked questions. Consistently have 8-10 minutes left in LG. Finishing RC with plenty of time to bubble and go back to grab a point or two on 'easier' questions I marked for review.

Doing C2 on Wednesday and 76 on Friday. Probably do individual sections from 79 on Saturday/Sunday and a review of pattern games on Sunday just in case LSAC throws one of those at us.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

A harder test is harder precisely because we can't feel the difference. It's extreme subtlety that makes the differences between a -11 and a -14 curve.

Yeah, I don't know about that. I am consistently missing 8 questions per test. Doesn't matter if it's a 9 point curve or a 14 pointer. Seems somewhat random IMO (obviously it isn't b/c LSAC don't f*** with randomness).

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

Agreed, I can't tell the difference. So instead of praying to the LSAT Gods for easy LR/RC/LG, I just pray for a generous, generous curve.

Btw which questions in LR2 were you struggling with? The parking question and the babbler birds one were weird.

Not OP, but parking question definitely got me. Also Parkinson's. Also the question about internal/external national tradition and literature. Ended up getting that one right just through instinct (and AC elimination), but couldn't for the life of me prove why the answer was correct.

[Slippin' Jimmy]

PT 79 S1 Q 22 is probably one of the harder LR questions I've done in a long time. I still can't figure out why A is wrong and E is right even after looking at the Manhattan forums and spending significant time with the question. This PT's LR was strange in that both sections felt really unbalanced. The questions were either super, super easy while a few were brutally hard.

[dm1683]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

Agreed, I can't tell the difference. So instead of praying to the LSAT Gods for easy LR/RC/LG, I just pray for a generous, generous curve.

Btw which questions in LR2 were you struggling with? The parking question and the babbler birds one were weird.

Not OP, but parking question definitely got me. Also Parkinson's. Also the question about internal/external national tradition and literature. Ended up getting that one right just through instinct (and AC elimination), but couldn't for the life of me prove why the answer was correct.

Yep I got 23-25 in the second LR section all wrong. Parking, world lit, and the parallel reasoning question about the college class. I honestly can't figure out why D is the right answer on that last one. In the stim the argument is about the percentage of X in one thing (the class), while in D it's a comparison between two things (the grocery stores) and which has the greater percentage of X. Why is the answer not E?

[tuna_wasabi]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

Agreed, I can't tell the difference. So instead of praying to the LSAT Gods for easy LR/RC/LG, I just pray for a generous, generous curve.

Btw which questions in LR2 were you struggling with? The parking question and the babbler birds one were weird.

Not OP, but parking question definitely got me. Also Parkinson's. Also the question about internal/external national tradition and literature. Ended up getting that one right just through instinct (and AC elimination), but couldn't for the life of me prove why the answer was correct.

Yep I got 23-25 in the second LR section all wrong. Parking, world lit, and the parallel reasoning question about the college class. I honestly can't figure out why D is the right answer on that last one. In the stim the argument is about the percentage of X in one thing (the class), while in D it's a comparison between two things (the grocery stores) and which has the greater percentage of X. Why is the answer not E?

I was pretty confident with the literature question. Will try to provide my reasoning here--feel free to pick it apart

[+] Spoiler

A) Not at all implied in first sentence. We don't know the relation between being well received within an external tradition and being well receives in the writer's own tradition. First sentence just implies: Thought of as world lit -> received and interpreted in own tradition AND received and interpreted in external tradition.
B) Premise never mentions readers. We may have assumed that foreign authors may have learned something more from the work than domestic authors would, thus passing down the benefits to the readers. But even the first part (foreign authors learning more) is an overinference.
C) Never mentioned meaningfulness and readers. Not implied in first sentence.
D) We know from the second sentence that a world lit work will have an influence on an external tradition. But we don't know what influences the work itself.

Now:
E) Thought of as world lit -> received and interpreted in own tradition AND received and interpreted in external tradition.

Here is where I got confused. The second sentence said: authors from that tradition use the work in min 1 of the three ways -> counts as being interpreted within that tradition.

Thing is, this allows for the possibility that the work fulfills the necessary condition without fulfilling the sufficient condition, i.e. even if those authors from that tradition do not use the work in any of the 3 ways, the work may STILL count as being interpreted through other means. So here the AC makes the leap of assuming that being interpreted means affecting the development. Not a big leap, but not perfect either.

For number 25:

[+] Spoiler

Sociology majors = Valley Food; psych majors = Jumbo Supermarket; Intro class = organic veggies. The premise invalidly compares sociology majors to psych majors, while D) compares Valley Food to Jumbo Supermarket.

For E), the premise doesn't have a shift in subjects: the subjects in the support AND in the conclusion are psych major students and sociology major students. In E), the support are about photos, while the conclusion is about the houses/condos themselves.

[MediocreAtBest]

Doesn't anyone else think that the curves are sort of arbitrary? I can't really tell the difference between a -10 test and a -14 test. 78 felt harder than usual but the curve was -10/-11 I think.

Definitely, but I try to have faith that they know what they're doing. I'll take that -14 curve next week though.

[Slippin' Jimmy]

Anyone bringing a separate eraser? I use the Dixon Triconderoga pencils and they have pretty good erasers but I didn't know if there was a certain separate eraser that is super effective or anything.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Anyone bringing a separate eraser? I use the Dixon Triconderoga pencils and they have pretty good erasers but I didn't know if there was a certain separate eraser that is super effective or anything.

Black Tricons or sub-150. Jk. I use regular black ticons.

I use a basic all white high polymer rectangle eraser. It is wonderful, and it's super smooth, so if I get anxious I can rub my thumb on it and chill out.

[Platopus]

Black Tricons or sub-150. Jk. I use regular black ticons.

TCR

[Slippin' Jimmy]

Anyone bringing a separate eraser? I use the Dixon Triconderoga pencils and they have pretty good erasers but I didn't know if there was a certain separate eraser that is super effective or anything.

Black Tricons or sub-150. Jk. I use regular black ticons.

I use a basic all white high polymer rectangle eraser. It is wonderful, and it's super smooth, so if I get anxious I can rub my thumb on it and chill out.

I actually got an LSAT care package in the mail from the illustrious TTT Savannah Law School that had an eraser, I'll try it out tomorrow and if it's shit I'll get another off Amazon.

I actually got the Triconderogas by accident, I searched Amazon for Ticonderoga black and that was the first result. But I've actually come to really like the 3 sides and I can't do a PT with a regular shaped pencil anymore lol.

[HenryHankPalmer]

Took PT 78 today
LR1: -1
LR2: -2
LG: -3
RC: -3

92 raw, 171 scaled.

Trying to clean up LG before next Monday, and I'm praying it comes first on the test. Has anyone actually practiced the writing sample? It seems pretty straightforward, but I have atrocious penmanship, which I am a little worried about.

[Saylor1720]

With no work the rest of the way before the LSAT, I am doing a full simulated game day tomorrow. Same sleep, eating, warm-up etc. that I will be doing on test day. I'm doing it with PT78. Anyone doing anything similar leading up to Monday?

[Experiment626]

I took 74 yesterday, doing BR right now. I just wanted to say that the Han purple question is complete and utter crap. That is all.

Agreed. After reviewing, I see why the correct AC is correct, but it's a total BS question.

Oddly enough, I didn't think that was too bad of a question. 3 of the ACs were crap and between the two left only one made sense.

[Experiment626]

With no work the rest of the way before the LSAT, I am doing a full simulated game day tomorrow. Same sleep, eating, warm-up etc. that I will be doing on test day. I'm doing it with PT78. Anyone doing anything similar leading up to Monday?

Somewhat doing what you're doing. I want to do test day sims multiple times this week but have tutoring at 4 turns and thurs which makes simulating full test day at the same times hard. But I'm doing PT75 tomorrow morn, BR it Wednesday during my lunch break since it's the only day I couldn't take off due to meetings, PT77 Thurs with the same tutoring timing issue, maybe BR after dinner if I'm up for it. Will do a full test day sim on Friday with PT78.

Still figuring out what to do this weekend, BR 77+78 for sure on Sat. See where the weakenesses are, the 70's just seem more wordy to me. Plus that random question type of the answer to which question would be good to know threw me through a loop on 74 and 80. Will probably also drill a few LGs of the type that challenges me the most and the miscs from the 70's just to boost my confidence in case there is a "shit this doesn't fit the normal diagram techniques" like there have been in the 70's.

[Pozzo]

Took PT 78 today
LR1: -1
LR2: -2
LG: -3
RC: -3

92 raw, 171 scaled.

Trying to clean up LG before next Monday, and I'm praying it comes first on the test. Has anyone actually practiced the writing sample? It seems pretty straightforward, but I have atrocious penmanship, which I am a little worried about.

Don't practice the writing sample. If you want to read a couple of the prompts so it's not totally unfamiliar, that's fine. But it's a freebie at the end; just write something coherent and you'll be find.

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

The only answer for writing prompt is hand turkey

[MediocreAtBest]

The only answer for writing prompt is hand turkey

Slightly on/off-topic, but during the digital test, you know how they had tutorials before each section? Some people in my room spent the whole 5 minutes of the writing section tutorial typing stuff. Like wtf are you even typing? What are you doing?

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

The only answer for writing prompt is hand turkey

Slightly on/off-topic, but during the digital test, you know how they had tutorials before each section? Some people in my room spent the whole 5 minutes of the writing section tutorial typing stuff. Like wtf are you even typing? What are you doing?

Lol right? Like it's a keyboard.

Nice keyboard actually for what it was


Low key forget to exit a tutorial early and made the entire class wait. Second I ended it the Procter was like "ok sweet"

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

Think the biggest thing I'm doing for prep for his week is actually like, eating. I've been on a low carb low cal diet and and it's kinda sucked with prep totally lose energy by the afternoon

[zkyggi]

Took PT 78 today
LR1: -1
LR2: -2
LG: -3
RC: -3

92 raw, 171 scaled.

Trying to clean up LG before next Monday, and I'm praying it comes first on the test. Has anyone actually practiced the writing sample? It seems pretty straightforward, but I have atrocious penmanship, which I am a little worried about.

Don't practice the writing sample. If you want to read a couple of the prompts so it's not totally unfamiliar, that's fine. But it's a freebie at the end; just write something coherent and you'll be find.

This, unless you're applying to Yale.

[Slippin' Jimmy]

About to take second to last PT, C2. I'm getting excited for Monday, just want to kill it and move on to writing my PS and Why X essays.