JUNE 2013 Study Group / Study Partner Thread Forum

[rebexness]

Old logic games are crazy.

[SteelPenguin]

Old logic games are crazy.

Yup. Would have had my first 180 a couple months ago if one of the earlier games didn't throw me off (PT 3 maybe).

[wtrc]

If a really old LG or even LG passage gets you down, look at the curve. Some of those curves are ridiculous and like -14 or even -15.

[SteelPenguin]

Whether I like it or not, I now have to deal with construction on my house while I study during the day. If I can get used to this, I doubt that even a marching band would disrupt me on test day.

[wtrc]

My boss is drafting an article for a pretty major publication right now and just had me edit it. I told him there was a logical gap in what he was writing, and it required the reader to make assumptions to fill that gap to reach his conclusion, so told him possible ways to fill it.

One of the first times (perhaps the first) that I've really used LSAT reasoning in my professional career. Feels kinda funny. Not sure if I'm just over-thinking everything now or what.

[bombaysippin]

Anyone notice that the trend in the most recent PTs (like 51-65) in logic games, there's only 23 questions? Am I the only one upset about this?

Games is my best section and was hoping for a relatively easy 24 possible points, but it seems like they decreased one question...anyone know if this is going to be a continuing trend aka in June or just random...(I know it seems like June will be 23, but I am just really really hoping for otherwise...lol)

I just started the manhattan LSAT the other day, and they actually mention the drop to 23 questions. I would anticipate another 23 question section in June.

This seriously sucks...lol

[monadologist]

Just completed Preptest B in the Superprep. God DAMN that logic games section is ridiculous! Was -1 to -3 on all other sections, but then a whopping -13
in the LG. I've been 0'ing on most games from 40+ but man, these are an entire different beast. Totally threw me off; I've basically left behind LG drilling but I guess that's whats up now

[mvonh001]

I just took PT 50. and i bombed. I tried a new strategy of doing the second half of LR in the beginning, but that was an epic fail. I killed the LG section, but i totalled buttfucked the LR and RC. I do not know how to improve RC. at least with LR when i review the next day i learn from them, but RC is still foreign to me. I guess I should finish the MLSAT RC book, ehh?

Anyway, I have a question for everyone here. What is the downside of taking the June LSAT with the backup plan of taking the October if you dont score well enough (beside financial of course). I want a 170 (So does everyone right!?lol) but my best composite through all the PT's I've taken is only a 167, granted I've only taken 3 PT's, but still its a little disconcerting when you take your best sections from any sitting and still come up short. I have 18 more PT's left to take between now and the Sit date, so i feel like every test i take i learn something from. Like this most recent disaster (153?!), when my last test was only disappointing (159) to say the least.

I know now to start with LR number 1, not 14. But aside from that, I can only hope that my score will slowly rise. I have 18 sittings to fine tune, or actually tune up my lsat game. Can it be done? IDK, am I going to try? Absolutely.

[rebexness]

That is too many tests to take in 5ish weeks, imho, and still allow for enough review.

[mvonh001]

So what should I do? Ive been taking the tests 1 day and typing up a review of the wrong LR the next day, it takes about 3 hours for me to understand why all the LR i got are wrong. My review also adds in LG games that proved difficult(if there are any), but totally neglects RC. Can you give me tips instead of what i should be doing with the next month then? I have ~19 unused PTs from 50'a up and all of the cambridge packets, LR and LG, LG is totally used, but LR is not completely used, in fact ive only answered about 20-30% of each of them. Thanks

[monadologist]

So what should I do? Ive been taking the tests 1 day and typing up a review of the wrong LR the next day, it takes about 3 hours for me to understand why all the LR i got are wrong. My review also adds in LG games that proved difficult(if there are any), but totally neglects RC. Can you give me tips instead of what i should be doing with the next month then? I have ~19 unused PTs from 50'a up and all of the cambridge packets, LR and LG, LG is totally used, but LR is not completely used, in fact ive only answered about 20-30% of each of them. Thanks

I don't know if this helps but I try to have alternate drilling and PTs daily, and I delay PTs if the score increase is not consistent. If you are doing it right you really should be going up
2-3 points (around 5-6) questions per PT. Keep in mind that by now everyone is ~160-165, its not really an accomplishment, but going up to your goal of 170 in a month
should be possible if you drill. You said you bombed RC, focus that and LR, forgot LG, you are probably near perfect there anyways if you are considering yourself in the 170 league by June

[ready4180]

For PT47-S3-Q12, can anyone explain to me why D is wrong? I understand why A is the correct answer, but I want to get a firmer idea of D in my mind...I think it's because "psychoanalysis" is the incorrect term, but then I'm confused when I refer back to the stim and read "through psychoanalysis...can become conscious..." etc. Thanks!!

[mvonh001]

So what should I do? Ive been taking the tests 1 day and typing up a review of the wrong LR the next day, it takes about 3 hours for me to understand why all the LR i got are wrong. My review also adds in LG games that proved difficult(if there are any), but totally neglects RC. Can you give me tips instead of what i should be doing with the next month then? I have ~19 unused PTs from 50'a up and all of the cambridge packets, LR and LG, LG is totally used, but LR is not completely used, in fact ive only answered about 20-30% of each of them. Thanks

I don't know if this helps but I try to have alternate drilling and PTs daily, and I delay PTs if the score increase is not consistent. If you are doing it right you really should be going up
2-3 points (around 5-6) questions per PT. Keep in mind that by now everyone is ~160-165, its not really an accomplishment, but going up to your goal of 170 in a month
should be possible if you drill. You said you bombed RC, focus that and LR, forgot LG, you are probably near perfect there anyways if you are considering yourself in the 170 league by June

Ya, thanks, I am near perfect with LG. Its just LR and RC. LR was a consistent -5/-6 per section. Ideally Ill get that down to -2/-3 per section. And then just keep RC to -5 or better. Thats what im hoping for on game day. So you think i should hold off on PTing then? I planned on doing pt 51 this weekend then pt 52 on monday, but i guess i could drill my weaknesses according to lsatqa this weekend and hit the pt's hard come monday.

[patfeeney]

Preptest 55

LR 1: 22/25
RC: 23/27
LR 2: 25/25
LG: 21/23

Raw: 170.

My previous test was a 165-166, which I predicted was because I fluked on the last game. I only saved myself two or three points on LG but I saw a two-point increase in my cume for logical reasoning.
Reading comp still gets me, but I'm improving. This is the best score I've gotten so far... the only note I can make is that I left halfway through the 4th section to attend a dorm building meeting, but it was only ten minutes and I paused the timer instead of restarting.

My confidence for June has tremendously increased.

[nyjets2090]

Preptest 55

LR 1: 22/25
RC: 23/27
LR 2: 25/25
LG: 21/23

Raw: 170.

F*** dude, raw score of 170/101, just call it a day and roll right in on June 10th.

Congrats on the 170 btw.

[patfeeney]

F*** dude, raw score of 170/101, just call it a day and roll right in on June 10th.

Congrats on the 170 btw.

Lol, thanks though.

[SteelPenguin]

Finished my retake of PT 65 and got a 174, pretty excited about that.

RC: -4
LR: -0
LG: -1
LR: -1


I haven't looked at this test since November and didn't properly review it last time, so that was encouraging. Made a silly mistake on 1 LG, but got a -0 on the experimental LG. I've only gone through the first 200 pages of the Manhattan LG book, but I feel like the drilling and new strategies are really helping me in LG. I'll try and finish the MLG book soon as well as the Manhattan RC.

[Squintz805]

I was gonna post this on the general LSAT Forum, but figured I'd be better of starting here first.

I'm somewhat baffled that I cant seem to lock down LR and RC for June.

Just took a PT Today, which is pretty reflective of my overall progress in studying.

LG 22/23 [30:30]
LR-A 19/26 [36:00] *Missed 2 easy ones in the begging and the rest on the 3rd fold.
LR-B 21/26 [42:15] *Missed a few in the beginning and scattered towards the end
RC 18/26 [44:10] *I've done better, but I'm not stable at being consistent.

Logic Games is just not an issue for me at all. Doing them, I feel like I'm on autopilot just cruising through the section without a worry in the world (minus the fact I need to complete it in 35 minutes).

For RC and LR I'm usually missing 4-7 for each section and it takes me around 5-10 minutes over the time allotted. I've been working my ass off - drilling and reviewing daily and I still can't get these sections down. I see improvement but not enough for the time I feel like I've put in. I wouldn't say there is a particular question type in LR that gives me struggle minus"Most Strongly Supported" and "Strengthen", but I feel there is more behind what I'm missing. Many a times after reading a 'harder' stimulus I'm puzzled on how to move forward -- I understand what the question is asking but the passage just has me lost.

Has anyone been in a situation like this before? How'd you get out of it? What worked/What didn't? What would you recommend?

Just to mention, I've read, re-read, and review with Powerscore Bibles LG + LR, and for RC I use Blueprint's Method with notes from Voyager.

[objection_your_honor]

I used to have timing problems on LR and RC. Sometimes I still do, but it's much less of a road block.

Drilling individual RC passages is very helpful. Get used to seeing 8:45 as your maximum.

For LR I took old sections and "raced the clock" — I set an alarm for 10 mins and tried to clear as many questions as possible. Timing in LR is really about the first 10-15 questions. If you can get to #12 or so before that alarm goes off, you're in great shape. Before I started doing this specific drill, it was not uncommon for me to be 20-25 minutes in and just then reading #15. Now I hit that same question in the 15-17 minute window.

[mvonh001]

I used to have timing problems on LR and RC. Sometimes I still do, but it's much less of a road block.

Drilling individual RC passages is very helpful. Get used to seeing 8:45 as your maximum.

For LR I took old sections and "raced the clock" — I set an alarm for 10 mins and tried to clear as many questions as possible. Timing in LR is really about the first 10-15 questions. If you can get to #12 or so before that alarm goes off, you're in great shape. Before I started doing this specific drill, it was not uncommon for me to be 20-25 minutes in and just then reading #15. Now I hit that same question in the 15-17 minute window.

I have a similar problem, only I can get to question 15 in 16 or 16 minute, its the remaining questions that stump the hell out of me and require me to take all of my time, i often will run out of time and miss 2 questions. Do you think i should drill individual questions? The ones from LSATQA that says are my weakest and most costly sections before i take another pt?

[wtrc]

I used to have timing problems on LR and RC. Sometimes I still do, but it's much less of a road block.

Drilling individual RC passages is very helpful. Get used to seeing 8:45 as your maximum.

For LR I took old sections and "raced the clock" — I set an alarm for 10 mins and tried to clear as many questions as possible. Timing in LR is really about the first 10-15 questions. If you can get to #12 or so before that alarm goes off, you're in great shape. Before I started doing this specific drill, it was not uncommon for me to be 20-25 minutes in and just then reading #15. Now I hit that same question in the 15-17 minute window.

Great advice.

The key for timing really is the first half, where questions are mostly much easier. Drilling- and doing this a lot- helps to eliminate careless errors that can be made by going too fast.

When I take a PT, I usually don't look at the clock or watch or timer until I'm at #13. If I'm at 10 minutes or so, I know I have 25 minutes to complete the next 13 questions, which helps with confidence a lot, and allows me to spend more time on difficult or more time-consuming (parallel) questions.

[mvonh001]

I used to have timing problems on LR and RC. Sometimes I still do, but it's much less of a road block.

Drilling individual RC passages is very helpful. Get used to seeing 8:45 as your maximum.

For LR I took old sections and "raced the clock" — I set an alarm for 10 mins and tried to clear as many questions as possible. Timing in LR is really about the first 10-15 questions. If you can get to #12 or so before that alarm goes off, you're in great shape. Before I started doing this specific drill, it was not uncommon for me to be 20-25 minutes in and just then reading #15. Now I hit that same question in the 15-17 minute window.

Great advice.

The key for timing really is the first half, where questions are mostly much easier. Drilling- and doing this a lot- helps to eliminate careless errors that can be made by going too fast.

When I take a PT, I usually don't look at the clock or watch or timer until I'm at #13. If I'm at 10 minutes or so, I know I have 25 minutes to complete the next 13 questions, which helps with confidence a lot, and allows me to spend more time on difficult or more time-consuming (parallel) questions.

Ya parellel are usually the ones i skip due to the time they require. Im assuming there are no shortcuts to their process, is there?

[wtrc]

I used to have timing problems on LR and RC. Sometimes I still do, but it's much less of a road block.

Drilling individual RC passages is very helpful. Get used to seeing 8:45 as your maximum.

For LR I took old sections and "raced the clock" — I set an alarm for 10 mins and tried to clear as many questions as possible. Timing in LR is really about the first 10-15 questions. If you can get to #12 or so before that alarm goes off, you're in great shape. Before I started doing this specific drill, it was not uncommon for me to be 20-25 minutes in and just then reading #15. Now I hit that same question in the 15-17 minute window.

Great advice.

The key for timing really is the first half, where questions are mostly much easier. Drilling- and doing this a lot- helps to eliminate careless errors that can be made by going too fast.

When I take a PT, I usually don't look at the clock or watch or timer until I'm at #13. If I'm at 10 minutes or so, I know I have 25 minutes to complete the next 13 questions, which helps with confidence a lot, and allows me to spend more time on difficult or more time-consuming (parallel) questions.

Ya parellel are usually the ones i skip due to the time they require. Im assuming there are no shortcuts to their process, is there?

Parallel is meant to take a while. It took me lots of drilling to get it down. If the argument is valid, you can usually eliminate 2 answers or so that are invalid (and vice-versa with flawed reasoning). Makes it a little shorter, and if you need to guess, 1/3 is a lot better than 1/5. I also look for changes in language between the stim and answer choices (if the stimulus is telling me something about "all" or "always," I'm pretty sure I can eliminate one with "some" or "sometimes."

[Chambo]

Did drilling on point at issue questions yesterday and went 45/50. The easy ones are getting super easy, but the tougher ones still often stump me. Does anyone have advice on how to attack them?

[CardozoLaw09]

Did drilling on point at issue questions yesterday and went 45/50. The easy ones are getting super easy, but the tougher ones still often stump me. Does anyone have advice on how to attack them?

Which ones did you miss?