JUNE 2013 Study Group / Study Partner Thread Forum

[patfeeney]

I've been drilling RC for the past few nights and I've noticed something foolish that I did that made me get one of the questions wrong.

On PT 54 Sec. 1, Passage 2 (Comparative about drilling muds), I got question 8 wrong. Looking at the right answer, I noticed this was an answer I had eliminated early on. I got frustrated, but reading the answer a second time, it hit me.

In the passage, the writer notes that pollution of drilling muds is caused by discharge from oil wells into the sea. The correct answer (it was a support EXCEPT question) was E, which stated that drilling mud is continuously discharged while drilling.

This one word, those twelve deceitful letters, I completely oversaw when reading it. Take it out and the answer can be immediately eliminated. Put it in, and it's suddenly the right answer.

The moral of the story is, you can't trust the system, man.
Also, every single word needs to be noted. EVERY one. I realized this beforehand, but not to this degree.

More drilling tonight. Let's see where that goes.

[TheMostDangerousLG]

The moral of the story is, you can't trust the system, man.
Also, every single word needs to be noted. EVERY one. I realized this beforehand, but not to this degree.

Absolutely this. One of the things that has helped turned my RC scores around (still not perfect, but dear god, so much better) is realizing that the writers of RC Qs are obsessive dickheads. Take the meticulousness of the LR answer choices and multiple by 482. A single wrong word is often the easiest way to eliminate otherwise appealing answer choices.

[patfeeney]

Absolutely this. One of the things that has helped turned my RC scores around (still not perfect, but dear god, so much better) is realizing that the writers of RC Qs are obsessive dickheads. Take the meticulousness of the LR answer choices and multiple by 482. A single wrong word is often the easiest way to eliminate otherwise appealing answer choices.

Holy ass, I'm doing double-passages (half a section at a time) and I'm still getting one or two of questions wrong per passage. When I go through these questions, I notice that they're the most insipid errors I could imagine. Had I spent an extra second or two processing the information, I would have gotten in right.

[jad0re]

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[mvonh001]

Who's gunning for UPenn next cycle?

Right here...

[SteelPenguin]

Who's gunning for UPenn next cycle?

I think Penn is a going to be one of my top goals next cycle. That being said, if I go there I'll have to hope I don't get stabbed or killed during a flyers/penguins game.

[NoWorries]

Throughout my study I have been fairly consistent with my scores and they have risen gradually. I was starting to feel good with 5 straight over 174 and then, bam a 169 on PT 52. Confidence killer, damn.

[isuperserial]

Who's gunning for UPenn next cycle?

UPenn is the dream, but I'd be more than happy with most anything in the T14. Definitely shooting for UPenn as the goal though. Dat biglaw employment rate... *drool*

[SteelPenguin]

Who's gunning for UPenn next cycle?

UPenn is the dream, but I'd be more than happy with most anything in the T14. Definitely shooting for UPenn as the goal though. Dat biglaw employment rate... *drool*

Yeah, I visited Cornell this year, and even though I was put on reserve, it made the whole thing process feel a bit more real and important.

[Chambo]

Did PT 61 yesterday

RC: -2 (ran out of time, had to guess on 1)
LR: -3
LG: -3 (Ran out of time, had to guess on 2)
LR: -0

93/173


Well, I ran out of time on two of the sections and it cost me pretty dearly.That being said, -2 on RC is pretty solid for me. I may be better off slowing down a bit and risking having to guess on one or two. I got to the 4th passage with about 10 minutes left, but it was a toughie (African American histiography).

LG felt fine except for the first game, which took me 10 minutes. This has consistently been a problem for me. When I don't get off to a hot start, I struggle to nail the tougher games. Does anyone else have this problem on the first LG? It's usually one of the easiest games, but I just get in my own head.

Seems like I've been slipping lately on LR, as is evidenced by that -3. Ironically enough, two of those questions were pretty easy. I just had a brain fart, I guess. But then I rip off the -0 on my last section. Overall, I'm confident in my abilities in LR, but could work on consistency a bit.

Overall, I feel like I'm in a solid place. Gonna keep plugging and try to relax my way into test day. Avoiding burnout is paramount at this point.

[isuperserial]

Who's gunning for UPenn next cycle?

UPenn is the dream, but I'd be more than happy with most anything in the T14. Definitely shooting for UPenn as the goal though. Dat biglaw employment rate... *drool*

Yeah, I visited Cornell this year, and even though I was put on reserve, it made the whole thing process feel a bit more real and important.

How is Cornell? I plan on doing a bit of a road trip once I get my LSAT back, visiting all the schools I have a chance to get into. I've never been to Cornell, and it seems like an awesome school, but my only worry is that the whole place will feel too "small town". On the other hand schools like UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, all are in the heart of the city, and that's really tempting.

[SteelPenguin]

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[SteelPenguin]

Just had to stop taking PT B I got destroyed by LG so bad (-6, -4 on game 2, didn't have time for last 2 on game 4). I spend 10+ minutes on game two and couldn't figure out what I was doing.

[objection_your_honor]

Just had to stop taking PT B I got destroyed by LG so bad (-6, -4 on game 2, didn't have time for last 2 on game 4). I spend 10+ minutes on game two and couldn't figure out what I was doing.

That section is a monster. I took it this weekend and did poorly as well. Luckily the curve is very generous, so you'll likely score much higher than you think.

[SteelPenguin]

Just had to stop taking PT B I got destroyed by LG so bad (-6, -4 on game 2, didn't have time for last 2 on game 4). I spend 10+ minutes on game two and couldn't figure out what I was doing.

That section is a monster. I took it this weekend and did poorly as well. Luckily the curve is very generous, so you'll likely score much higher than you think.

Thanks, I realized when I went over it again that I kept reading rule 3 as "if Y,then...." instead of if "Y, then..."

I'm not really sure how to avoid this other than try and take a deep breath and re-read the rules, or perhaps return to the game later. The problem was that I knew I must have been missing something, and it looked like one of the easier games of the section, which it probably was. For this reason, I didn't want to skip it. I should have moved on to game three, and then back to game two afterwards.

[Chambo]

Just had to stop taking PT B I got destroyed by LG so bad (-6, -4 on game 2, didn't have time for last 2 on game 4). I spend 10+ minutes on game two and couldn't figure out what I was doing.

That section is a monster. I took it this weekend and did poorly as well. Luckily the curve is very generous, so you'll likely score much higher than you think.

Thanks, I realized when I went over it again that I kept reading rule 3 as "if Y,then...." instead of if "Y, then..."

I'm not really sure how to avoid this other than try and take a deep breath and re-read the rules, or perhaps return to the game later. The problem was that I knew I must have been missing something, and it looked like one of the easier games of the section, which it probably was. For this reason, I didn't want to skip it. I should have moved on to game three, and then back to game two afterwards.

I always double-check the rules after I have them all diagrammed. First, to make sure I didn't misread anything the first time through, and to assure that I have them represented properly. Can save a lot of headache and only takes a few seconds.

[nyjets2090]

PT 56:

S1 LG: -1
S2 LR: -4
S3 LR: -1
S4 RC: -0

175.

Found out my secret for RC, I have to avoid reading everything that isn't an LSAT RC passage. Usually I'll read for an hour or so before bed, I think my mind can't switch between LSAT mode and enjoyment mode, so my reading list will be on hold until June 11th.

-0/-1 RC is doable, don't give up hope! Especially on these newer ones, read for the general picture. Case and point, passage 2 on this exam didn't require you to know the mechanics of biology, but it did require that you knew how to follow the author's argument. There were also some tempting answer choices if you were too sleepy headed.

LR is weird, there was 1 question I left blank (which I graded as a -1), and on my blind review I would've changed two right answers. I like the fallback technique of spotting the assumption and bridging the gap. I also notice that I cruise through the second LR on my tests, finished the second section in about 29 minutes.

LG's are getting better. I'm capable of doing -0, but I will still need heavy drilling. On my experimental section for this test (games from PT 62) the stained glass game took me for a loop, took me almost 11 minutes to get through. Glad to see that it's one of the tougher games though, it wasn't all me. Especially glad that on the actual PT I cruised through the first 3 and missed 1 q on the final one which is probably a 4 or 5 difficulty.

Had a rough week on the PTs last week, glad to be back in range. My goal, as has been said on this board, is a 180. Props to the folks who gave me "the retake advice" when I first got on TLS. First time around I was one of those, "I just want a 170." I want a 180, that's what I'm working towards.

[SteelPenguin]

=I always double-check the rules after I have them all diagrammed. First, to make sure I didn't misread anything the first time through, and to assure that I have them represented properly. Can save a lot of headache and only takes a few seconds.

That was the problem. I read the actual rule set 2-3 times and kept misreading it. I'm not testing in the brightest conditions, so I'm hoping that had something to do with it. I know my actual test center has the best set up I can ask for, so hopefully that won't happen on test day.

[okaygo]

Just bombed an LR second on PT 57 with -12 I literally never do this bad on LR so I'm going to attribute it to my headache, the fact that I did it while laying and bed, and the fact that I didn't go to sleep until like 2 AM last night.

[SteelPenguin]

My god wtf is the deal with PT B?

I thought I did terrible and ended up with a 174, and if I read a LG rule right I would have likely been around a 177+.

174/91
LR: -3
LG: -6
RC: -1
LR: -0

EDIT: We need more science passages about fish, whales, crabs, sharks, dolphins, etc. They're fun.

[objection_your_honor]

Told you.

[patfeeney]

I've decided... 90% of my incorrect answers on RC are all stupid errors.
I better start cracking down on untimed sections.

[SteelPenguin]

Told you.

You certainly did. Wasn't expecting a -10 to result in a 174 though

[Dr. Dre]

Who is switching to the october test?

[Daily_Double]

Who is switching to the october test?

Kind of an odd time to ask that question.