JUNE 2010 LSAT Countdown Thread: Good Luck Today Everyone! Forum

[honestabe84]

Anyone else wish the test was next Monday?

[PotatoMonkey]

Absolutely not.

[beidoun]

I have been stuck in the 168-172 zone for a while. This is getting annoying.

I took a month off because of finals and a miserable sickness. I went from -6 avg on RC and now I have a -2 average. Do not know how that happened but I will take it.

LR is driving me crazy because I can get every problem right but I make dumb mistakes during time PTs and I am getting around 4 wrong per section on average because of it.

[shoop]

(I ripped this off from a tshirt I saw on CafePress) On June 8, we will all be happier than a bird with a french fry.

How many full length tests everyone planning on taking total? (As in at least 4 sections, or maybe 5 or all 6 including writing).

10. I bought all 3 10-pack books and individual tests from 39 to the most recent. I chopped up everything but 50-59 to use for LG and LR practice, so the only tests that are going to be useful/accurate as practice tests this month are going to be 50-59. UNTAINTED.

I didn't touch LR and RC sections from 44-49, so I'm using bits and pieces from those to simulate experimental sections. I have my housemate copy a random (non-LG) section from anywhere in 44-49 and then have him draw an X at the bottom of the last page of either section 1 or section 2 to tell me to jump to the experimental.

I used a loose interpretation of the PithyPike method, fwiw.

Checking in. This will be my first and (like the person above me) hopefully last time. The nervous excitement is definitely starting to set in. I can only imagine how the days leading up to our scores being released will be; my heart pounds just when I check my answers to PTs...

Good luck to all in the last month of studying!

I have my housemate score mine (I read the answers off and he marks up the bubble sheet) and tell me the score. He's a great sport about all this.

[makingwaves]

Absolutely not.

+1,000,000,000,000.

[WWAD]

Checking in. This will be my first and (like the person above me) hopefully last time. The nervous excitement is definitely starting to set in. I can only imagine how the days leading up to our scores being released will be; my heart pounds just when I check my answers to PTs...

Good luck to all in the last month of studying!

Make sure you take a few tests where you do everything to time. Including filling out the bubble sheets, even your name and the statement you have to write. 5 sections. I had planned on just getting through the test and all the other stuff was stressful too, you don't want to be caught off guard.

[slax]

Anyone else wish the test was next Monday?

I've been trolling but have finally registered to post.

Abe -
Yes!! I didn't want you to feel alone in the sentiment. I'm afraid I've hit my peak and will start to dip down. I also promised my mom I'd go on the family vacation Memorial Day weekend Thurs-Tues. Worst timing. I take a practice once a week and I don't see myself getting higher.

Started mid March and have scored:
154
165
173
170
176
176
173

These next two weeks I'm crunching down on the specific problem types I consistently make mistakes on to work out the kinks and get back up to that 176 if not higher. I have gotten -0 RC and LG and generally have 5-15 minutes left so I know I can repeat that if I check my answers. LR is what fluctuates for me. I've gotten -1 but last test I got -6. That's where my focus is for the remainder of the month, with the exception of a few refresher LG and RC sections at the end.

[CryingMonkey]

I'm very happy with where I'm at NOW but I am freaking out about taking too many tests and getting burned out or turning it down a bit and losing my edge. Or getting a cold on test day. Or breaking my arm walking up the steps to the test center.

Actually, I'm most concerned because I'll be out of town the weekend before the LSAT, so I'm taking it about 500 miles from home.

Also, my gf/friends/family may murder me if I don't start talking about something else.

In any case, here's where I'm at:

4/24 - PT 58 - LR1 -1, RC 0, AR -1, LR2 -1 - 177
5/1 - PT 59 - AR -2, LR1 -1, LR2 0, RC 0 - 180
5/4 - PT 29 - LR1 0, RC 0, AR 0, LR -1 - 180
5/6 - PT 30 - AR -1, LR1 -4, RC -1, LR2 0 - 177
5/8 - PT 31 - AR 0, LR1 -2, LR2 -1, RC -1 - 180

I very brilliantly did a section of PT 57 in pen when I was still clueless so I'm skipping that, plan on doing PT 32-38 and PT 52-56 between now and June 7. I'm doing 4-section tests this week every other day, working through LGs from 1-28/39-51 on the off days. Next week I'm planning on going to 5 section tests, then going to 6 section tests the week after, then a pretty dramatic taper the last week - maybe 1-2 tests with a few timed sections thrown in. Finishing the Logic Games has been a big challenge for me - I'm usually getting in just barely under the wire, so that's a big focus.

Man I can NOT wait to get this over with.

So that we can all start obsessing about the rest of our apps.

[Marionberry]

So I took PT 37 today, got a 179 scaled. This is a 4 point increase from my previous top score. Did anyone else find this test to be particularly easy? I think I was a little bit more focused today, but I don't see that accounting for that much of an increase. I am pretty sure that this isn't representative of my abilities on current tests, as I got a -0 on the RC section and I can't manage less than a -3 on the newer RC. The games in these old ones are supposed to be harder, but I'm good at the games so that trade off doesn't really help me.

Anyone else have a similar experience with PT 37?

[Knock]

So I took PT 37 today, got a 179 scaled. This is a 4 point increase from my previous top score. Did anyone else find this test to be particularly easy? I think I was a little bit more focused today, but I don't see that accounting for that much of an increase. I am pretty sure that this isn't representative of my abilities on current tests, as I got a -0 on the RC section and I can't manage less than a -3 on the newer RC. The games in these old ones are supposed to be harder, but I'm good at the games so that trade off doesn't really help me.

Anyone else have a similar experience with PT 37?

I've found my best scores have come from the PT's in the 30's, including a couple of 180's and 179's, and a bunch of 175+'s. I think the reason is that, compared to the newer tests, they have more generous curves, and are recent enough that they aren't weird like some of the PT's in the teens and earlier are. The newest PT i've done is 50, but I wouldn't say the RC is much easier. In fact, some of the hardest RC has come from the 30's, such as Dworkin and legal positivism. Anyways, congrats on the score. I found for me though I was more likely to be in the mid 170's on the newer PT's (173/174 range) rather than the high 170's (175/6+) on the PT's in the 30's.

but congrats on the great score

[Marionberry]

Thanks! It was definitely a confidence boost. With the tests in the 50s the RC doesn't actually seem any harder, I just don't do as well. So I guess it's a subtle increase in difficulty, or maybe I just do worse because they're supposed to be harder.

[Knock]

Thanks! It was definitely a confidence boost. With the tests in the 50s the RC doesn't actually seem any harder, I just don't do as well. So I guess it's a subtle increase in difficulty, or maybe I just do worse because they're supposed to be harder.

Yeah, I wouldn't let the constant montra that RC gets harder get in your head and psych you out at all. It did for me, until I did Riddled Basins of Attraction and realized that people were just overreacting (as of PT 50 that is...it could get harder 51-59). If you handled the RC in the 30's well (and you obviously did, with that -0), there's absolutely NO reason you can't do it in the 50's as well!

[005618502]

Question for anyone doing really well on Reading Comp, that may have not initially done so well, is there any strategies you would suggest? And i dont want to hear "read hard material" because 4 weeks wont change anything.
Im missing 0 on LG and 3 on arguments (all together), but 10 on RC :/ very frustrating

[Marionberry]

Question for anyone doing really well on Reading Comp, that may have not initially done so well, is there any strategies you would suggest? And i dont want to hear "read hard material" because 4 weeks wont change anything.
Im missing 0 on LG and 3 on arguments (all together), but 10 on RC :/ very frustrating

There's really not too much that I've done that I've found to be really helpful in RC. What I would suggest is start taking time to do other, not explicitly LSAT related things that can help with focus and concentration. Specifically I would suggest eating right, meditating, and doing about 30 minutes of cardio every day if you can. It really helps with mental clarity and focus. Other people have suggested doing RC marathons of like 5-10 sections in a row, and I don't know if that helps or not, I haven't tried it. There no established way to diagram them either, just have to find out what works for you. I do very little writing on my RC. Take all this with a grain of salt, as I am no RC master myself.

hth

[alphagamma]

Question for anyone doing really well on Reading Comp, that may have not initially done so well, is there any strategies you would suggest? And i dont want to hear "read hard material" because 4 weeks wont change anything.
Im missing 0 on LG and 3 on arguments (all together), but 10 on RC :/ very frustrating

Are you missing questions because you run out of time and rush? That was happening to me. I focused on reading the passages faster, mainly by stopping myself from reading them aloud in my head. This really helped me. I ended up saving five minutes and improved my scores.

[honestabe84]

Did anyone take in February? I'm curious what the overall test was like.

[snodell]

ahhhh i can't believe there is a countdown thread! i'm getting a little nervous...

[WWAD]

I did. I did not do as well as I had hoped. I only studied for about 3 weeks. The problem was I had convinced myself I would get 2 LG:) I got 3 LR and when I got to the 3rd one it killed me. I had felt good about the first two. I was just getting to the point where I felt like I got it, but the stress and length of the test wore me down. I knew I had not done well and guessed my score on the nose. I was just finishing the sections before that test. I feel much better now. Build up your stamina. There was one logic game that seemed to get a lot of people, I forgot what it was, but make sure you go over every game available. The next two weeks I am only taking RC and LR as my extra sections. I might even take a couple of 6 section tests. LG have clicked now, once that happens I think you are set. I am not a 175-180 tester though, so maybe some one else has more insight.

[smoneill88]

Gonna be doing practice tests 3 a week until the test. Just got finished with one actually. I'm happy with my mid to high scores, which have been 173-175, but I have a 168 and a 169 that are scaring me (one of which is the PT I just took...rooked the reading comp, but I think it's because I haven't touched LSAT stuff in over a week due to final exams and graduation). I just need to hit some consistency around the 174 mark and I'll be happy.

If anyone has pointers on getting consistent let me know, intuition is telling me that just taking as many tests as possible is best. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[honestabe84]

I did. I did not do as well as I had hoped. I only studied for about 3 weeks. The problem was I had convinced myself I would get 2 LG:) I got 3 LR and when I got to the 3rd one it killed me. I had felt good about the first two. I was just getting to the point where I felt like I got it, but the stress and length of the test wore me down. I knew I had not done well and guessed my score on the nose. I was just finishing the sections before that test. I feel much better now. Build up your stamina. There was one logic game that seemed to get a lot of people, I forgot what it was, but make sure you go over every game available. The next two weeks I am only taking RC and LR as my extra sections. I might even take a couple of 6 section tests. LG have clicked now, once that happens I think you are set. I am not a 175-180 tester though, so maybe some one else has more insight.

Based on the most recent administrations, I think we can safely assume that there will be at least one doozy that will compare to the games in the 30s - probably slightly harder, but there will only be one as opposed to two or three pretty hard ones. Those that took the test in the mid 40s-early 50s REALLY lucked out.

[nycsoul87]

LG did get somewhat more difficult with the last few administrations: I've taken the official administrations of September 2009, December 2009 and the Feb 2010 exams so I have noticed them getting slightly more difficult each time. I went from a perfect LG section in September to not even being able to finish the LG section in Feb. Still, the games are a lot easier to attack than they used to be back in the day. The one problem I have is with the new type of LG question that is framed somewhat like this: Which one of the following conditions if replacing X condition from the stimulus would allow for the game to be resolved in the same way. Does anyone have a good way to attack this new type of LG question?

[honestabe84]

LG did get somewhat more difficult with the last few administrations: I've taken the official administrations of September 2009, December 2009 and the Feb 2010 exams so I have noticed them getting slightly more difficult each time. I went from a perfect LG section in September to not even being able to finish the LG section in Feb. Still, the games are a lot easier to attack than they used to be back in the day. The one problem I have is with the new type of LG question that is framed somewhat like this: Which one of the following conditions if replacing X condition from the stimulus would allow for the game to be resolved in the same way. Does anyone have a good way to attack this new type of LG question?

Those are the hardest question. This type, however, doesn't appear to be anything new, and it is usually the very last question of a game (i think). I would suggest skipping it until you finish all the other questions of the other games. At least that's what I do.

[Zebulon]

Hi all,

New poster, long-time lurker here. I'm taking the June 2010, and I'm nervous as hell!

I started studying for 3-4 hours a week (horrible, I know) back in March using LG Bible, but I haven't been able to study much for the last three weeks because of classes. So far, I've taken 3 PTs and scored:

1.) 155 (cold diagnostic through Kaplan)
2.) 170 (everything timed but LG)
3.) 170/173 (fully timed; latter score includes guessing, former doesn't)

I'm done with finals and starting LSAT Boot Camp as of tomorrow. I'm hoping to put in 40-50 hours per week and to complete another 8-10 PTs, but I don't want to burn myself out. I really wish it hadn't come to this, but that's life!

Good luck to everyone!
-Zeb

[DaveBear07]

Alright guys, I can't resist joining the fray any longer.

Taken PT 50 and 51 so far---

PT 50 168 (RC -4, LR -5, LG -1, LR -4)
PT 51 168 (LR -3, RC -5, LR -6, LG -0)

I was pretty bummed that I didn't improve and actually did worse on RC and one LR section. I'm about to review both for an hour or so and hopefully find some good things to improve on.

[makingwaves]

Question for anyone doing really well on Reading Comp, that may have not initially done so well, is there any strategies you would suggest? And i dont want to hear "read hard material" because 4 weeks wont change anything.
Im missing 0 on LG and 3 on arguments (all together), but 10 on RC :/ very frustrating

I started out -14 on RC on my diag. and i'm averaging between -4 and -6 now. I bracket each paragraph and after I read it, I summarize it in the margin in a handful of words. This method helps me keep track of who's saying what, how they feel about it, the flow of the passage, etc. Then before I start the questions I write down in some blank space what I think the main point and the author's attitude are, since they are more often than not in the first couple questions.

Hope this helps!