Are you ready for total DOMINATION?!! (Feb. 2011) Forum

[SchopenhauerFTW]

Wooo! 180 on PT 60 tonight!

I still haven't mastered RC though; there are still always 1-3 questions that *seem* to me to be somewhat subjective. I'm going to try to go over all the 40s and 50s RC passages this week, before taking PTs 62 and 61 in that order before next Sat. Maybe that will help.

@Kabuo I agree that tests with lower curves feel harder. Give me a -14 test any day!

180? Righteous. [me trying to play it cool]

As for RC, how do they seem 'subjective'? I'm interested in what kinds of questions you're talking about, since one or two keep escaping me as well.

[akak179]

169 on the December 08 Test, pretty happy about that. 2 really stupid mistakes that I think were a result of taking a PT around midnight when I am not my sharpest. Still excited as this is my highest score and is a nice bump from the 165-166 average I have been experiencing. Hopefully things are starting to click a little bit more and I can hope for some more improvement before next saturday.

I am taking the tests as they are provided by powerscores online course, so I only know them by the date they were administered. Anyone mind telling me what number test December 08 is

Thanks and good job guys, we just keep on trucking and im sure we will all do fantastic!

[8675309]

I JUST GOT 0 WRONG ON A TIMED LG DRILL. ZERO. THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE!

SOOO EXCITED.

[99.9luft]

I JUST GOT 0 WRONG ON A TIMED LG DRILL. ZERO. THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE!

SOOO EXCITED.

Congrats, dude! keep up the focus!

[Kabuo]

mr_toad: I've taken all of the 50s, took 60 in June, and took 61 in October. I averaged around 174 in the 50s, with a 180 on 59 before my October test. I though it'd be best to go through the 40s as I've never seen them in order to at least stay sharp. I will be taking 62 next week, and probably retaking 60 and 61 in the week leading up to the test, but right now I'm not using these scores to predict where I will score so much as I am to make sure I'm still in close to top shape.

[Lasker]

As for RC, how do they seem 'subjective'? I'm interested in what kinds of questions you're talking about, since one or two keep escaping me as well.

I'm really glad you asked this, because it made me look over all my wrong/difficult questions from my last three tests and I found that I wasn't getting things wrong for exactly the same reasons I thought I was!

When I say an answer feels "subjective", what I mean is that I feel that can't distinguish which of two answer choices is better based on the given information. I had assumed that this happened because of a failing to pick up on every implication of the answer choices, but actually, going back over my tests more carefully, I think I am equally likely to find myself in that situation because of failing to apply *all* of the information from the prompt. I wish I had gotten in the habit of writing things down when doing RC, but It seems too late to make a major change like that now.

For instance, on PT 60, I struggled with question 6. D and E seemed reasonable. I decided E was too strong, but still felt uncomfortable about D because I couldn't find any place in the passage where they suggested that the environment could affect people's attitudes. Although I answered the question correctly, I could have saved several minutes of trying to balance two unsatisfactory choices if I had been able to find that information.

I also missed Q 13 in that section. I don't think that was really one of the harder questions, but I do tend to spend too long on "summary" questions, so that will be a focus of this week's studying too.

PS: Loved your cartoon!

[Pleasye]

Akak179, if you go on LSAT Blog (google lsat blog and its the first thing that comes up, I think. Its "NYC LSAT Tutor etc etc") he has a "data" section where he compiled a list of tests by date and number.

I'm on my phone or else I would just link you, sorry!

[Pleasye]

Going through my really shitty PT from Friday...SO MANY STUPID MISTAKES, ugh.

Here's the breakdown so you guys can see how badly I did:

LG: -8
LR: -9
LR: -9
RC: -6

I literally cried after I finished scoring it. Now that I'm going through it I'm almost positive it was just burn out because I don't even know what happened on half these questions..

Here's to hoping that my test tomorrow goes better. Good luck everyone! We're almost there!

[mr_toad]

Kabuo: if that's what you're doing, then more power to you. I figured if your goal is 175 and you're a re-taker, you know what you're doing, but I still take nothing for granted. I feel like I'm just now, maybe in the last four weeks, learning what I wished I would have been doing from the beginning. Good luck to you, and everyone else.

[trudat15]

Retaker hoping for any money with a good Feb Score. I just started studying. Am I screwed?

[Kabuo]

Trudat: see how you do on your first PT and then worry about that.

[trudat15]

Trudat: see how you do on your first PT and then worry about that.

Originally took in June. PT average around 173-5 (though had a smattering of 179s thrown in). Got a 174, so right in line.

Helped gf prepare in Oct/Dec (originally a Oct retake that was extended to Dec). Felt like I learned a lot more of the material by teaching it to her. By the end , I felt reasonably comfortable with most problems.

I ED'd, so not in line for any money, but talked to the Dean of Admissions who said that they would take a new score into consideration. Thought that even if raising it a few points can get me even just 5k, it's worth the $150 or so to do it. Cold PT this weekend was 170 for the Oct test (PT 60 I think).

Dont have a lot of material to prep with. Dec test, and maybe some of the really older ones.

[SKI]

Pleasye: please hang in there! You have a wealth of knowledge of the LSAT with which you've helped many others in this forum, which demonstrates intelligence, and I believe this WILL shine through on test day.

On an unrelated note, does anyone have a detailed, systematic method of reviewing their incorrect answers that they would be willing to share? I've just been re-doing the problems I answer incorrectly, but since I recognize the correct answer fairly quickly due to the previous exposure to the question, I don't think this method is helping me to develop new skills.

Thanks in advance!

[vissidarte27]

Ski -- I have a system for LR that seems to work for me.

I write down the type of question (so that I can see if there's any one type that's giving me problems), and then write down the following:

My answer
The correct answer
Why my answer is wrong
Why the correct answer is correct
Why I chose the wrong answer (ie missed a word in the stimulus, didn't fully read all the answer choices, etc)
How I can avoid this mistake in the future (ie read more carefully)

Don't know what to do about LG and RC, though. I don't generally miss very many on LG and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to systematically tackle RC.

[Pleasye]

SKI: thank you so much. Its always nice to hear that people believe in you <3

Vissi: for RC I do pretty much the same thing as LR (my way of reviewing LR is pretty much the same as yours). Even though RC is a little bit different than LR its still similar enough that writing out why your answer is wrong and why the correct answer is right helps. There are keywords ans bits of information in RC passages that help you see the correct answers just like there are in LR. When I review RC I go back into the passage and find that kind of stuff. It helps me look for those specific things later on in other passages.

[SKI]

vissidarte27: thanks for that. You're the (wo)man.

Couple of subjective suggestions I can make for RC: first, always read actively and focus on the big picture; don't get lost in the details-- there's a lot of information in the passage that will never come up in the questions, so there's not much point in trying to remember all the minute facts. However, you MUST know where to reference the passage should a question arise that calls for specific information; this requires you to have knowledge of the structure of the passage. It helps me to notate the purpose of each paragraph as I read, e.g., 1st is an explanation of a phenomenon, 2nd is a traditional hypothesis to explain this behavior, 3rd is presents an alternative hypothesis that shows promise but has not yet been widely accepted.

Second, you may want to notate key parts of the passage, such as examples, lists, dates of significance, analogies, viewpoints of the various parties, and changes in direction/tone, e.g., but, yet, however, nevertheless, notwithstanding, etc. Questions very often look to test your knowledge of these points.

Third, there is almost always a question about main point, and the main point can almost always be found in the last sentence of the first paragraph or somewhere in the last paragraph.

Forth, the majority of RC questions are must be true. When comparing answer choices, I find it useful not to look for the best sounding choice, but rather what must be true on the basis of the information given in the passage.

Hope that helps

EDIT: just wanted to share that in the spirit of reciprocation, even if it doesn't help in the review of incorrect answers

[Dotson525]

Took PT57 today and performed bad in RC and below my avg. in LG. I decided to try a new technique of highlighting in RC, horrible idea for me. The only improvement was within LR (scored higher in these sections than on past PTs). I don't know if this was a fluke, or I'm just burned out. I'm debating whether to another PT tomorrow, or RC drills (3 or 4 sections.

Any thoughts?

[Pleasye]

Took PT57 today and performed bad in RC and below my avg. in LG. I decided to try a new technique of highlighting in RC, horrible idea for me. The only improvement was within LR (scored higher in these sections than on past PTs). I don't know if this was a fluke, or I'm just burned out. I'm debating whether to another PT tomorrow, or RC drills (3 or 4 sections.

Any thoughts?

If you're feeling burnt out then don't take a PT. That's how I ended up with a score 7 points lower than any of my recent PT's and lower than the score I'm retaking.

Do some drills and take a day off. Good luck <3

[thsmthcrmnl]

And it's not like Dinos is easy.

[kulshan]

.

[Lasker]

Ski -- I have a system for LR that seems to work for me.

I write down the type of question (so that I can see if there's any one type that's giving me problems), and then write down the following:

My answer
The correct answer
Why my answer is wrong
Why the correct answer is correct
Why I chose the wrong answer (ie missed a word in the stimulus, didn't fully read all the answer choices, etc)
How I can avoid this mistake in the future (ie read more carefully)

Don't know what to do about LG and RC, though. I don't generally miss very many on LG and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to systematically tackle RC.

I like this. I think your last step is key - it is important to use your mistakes to try and derive general principles you can apply in the future.

A technique I strongly recommend is to do an LR section where you read the prompts and questions and don't look at the answer choices, instead writing your own answers. Then when your finished you can check them against the actual answers. I did two sections that way, and I believe that this, more than anything else (even reviewing wrong answers) has improved my LR scores.

I remember from your past posts that you are already strong in LG, but I have a few ideas there too. I recommend redoing the hardest games from any section. I usually redo any game that take me ten minutes or more. I also redo some 8-9 minute games if I feel that I should have done them faster.

The other thing that has helped me in LG is solving the same game in different ways. For instance, if I didn't use frames the first time, I might use them the second time. On the dinos game, I tried doing it once focusing on "who could be mauve?" and then again based on "who could be out?" and then again focusing on the two pairs of dinos with related restrictions. (I/P and U/V)

[SKI]

Lasker: Thank you for the suggestions. I've put together a spreadsheet template in which to employ vissidarte27's LR review method, and will give your recommendations a shot tonight as well.

[vissidarte27]

I freaking KILLED dinos today. Finished it in under 8 minutes and got them all right -- not sure why there's so much hype about its difficulty. Made me happy, especially since I had a horrible morning and spent several hours in tears. But I was determined to do one LSAT related thing today, despite my circumstances, and to kick its ass. And I did. Missed one on the whole LG section of PT57 and none on the dinos.

I didn't do a whole PT like I'd planned, but given the situation I've been faced with, I was pretty pleased with what I did accomplish.

Small victories, man. Small victories.

[Pleasye]

Nice Vissi!

[Lasker]

I freaking KILLED dinos today. Finished it in under 8 minutes and got them all right -- not sure why there's so much hype about its difficulty.

Wow. Dinos took me 17 minutes the first time, and I still haven't done it in under 10. You are a Logic Games goddess!