The Official September 2016 Study Group - WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS Forum

[34iplaw]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

[Alexandros]

Did a full section timed for the first time in about a week: PT 60 LG, -1, time: 32:30. Feeling pretty good despite the gap in full PTs.

[+] Spoiler

I started smirking during game 3 thanks to that interesting twist in the game, because I guess I'm an LSAT nerd now? What is this test doing to me?!?!

Feel that. 57.3 gave me visceral glee.

[PhiladelphiaCollins]

B.Ring the first half of PT65 that I did this afternoon, and maybe its just mental fatigue but holy shit that last game (hour long generations) is a slug fest

That game sucked. I got every question on it that I got to, but I just ran out of time trying to convert answer choices. Spoiler for the trick if you want it... that said, the rule substitution wasn't actually that bad.

[+] Spoiler

It's a simple sequencing game. I made the mistake of stopping one step too early which just made interpreting answers a pain in the ass.

my set up was like |GG|,r,s,t,w with six slots (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5) and three hypos with |GG| in 1-1.5, 2-2.5, and 3-3.5. The trick...

place the GG block in each of those three spots... write your not rules with the T thing... erase the last slot and change the times to the show number.

Just re-did this game and got it all right outside of the rule-sub. But yeah I tried to treat it as a linear while doing it, and set it up in that order, but I stopped a step too early as well (during the test) and didn't do the hour-block hypotheticals.

[Alexandros]

How to you all wake your brains up in the morning?
Waking up the 6 o clock hour but still feeling foggy in the 9 o clock hour, even with a warm-up. I'm realizing this has the potential to seriously impact my scores.

went -3 on RC this morning, in a set which was half old passage, at over 30 min. Nevermind about sidelining RC I guess.

[Pozzo]

How to you all wake your brains up in the morning?
Waking up the 6 o clock hour but still feeling foggy in the 9 o clock hour, even with a warm-up. I'm realizing this has the potential to seriously impact my scores.

went -3 on RC this morning, in a set which was half old passage, at over 30 min. Nevermind about sidelining RC I guess.

How much sleep are you getting? If it's not much, start there. Otherwise, maybe exercise a bit in the morning if you don't already. I find that even a quick run or bike ride does way more to wake up my brain than an LSAT warm-up.

[Alexandros]

How to you all wake your brains up in the morning?
Waking up the 6 o clock hour but still feeling foggy in the 9 o clock hour, even with a warm-up. I'm realizing this has the potential to seriously impact my scores.

went -3 on RC this morning, in a set which was half old passage, at over 30 min. Nevermind about sidelining RC I guess.

How much sleep are you getting? If it's not much, start there. Otherwise, maybe exercise a bit in the morning if you don't already. I find that even a quick run or bike ride does way more to wake up my brain than an LSAT warm-up.

Probably not enough - I tend to have some difficulty falling asleep at night but I'm hoping that, as I get more used to waking up earlier, earlier sleep will follow.

That sounds like a really good idea. I'm going to try to incorporate some light early-morning exercise. Probably even just speed walking around the block to get blood pumping would be helpful.

Thanks!

[Mikey]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

[Mikey]

Ugh, family member woke me up because they came back home and made a bunch of noise thinking I was awake already. What a jackass he is lmaooo. Now I just woke up and am running on less than 6 hrs of sleep. You know what that calls for.... Caffeiiiiinnnnnneeee

[34iplaw]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

Yeah - questions that I missed and questions that took me longer/I wasn't totally comfortable with picking. Typically, it's maybe one out of every 15 to 20 questions. Sometimes, I include one that was just a stupid mistake (usually if it's kind of short).

[Mikey]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

Yeah - questions that I missed and questions that took me longer/I wasn't totally comfortable with picking. Typically, it's maybe one out of every 15 to 20 questions. Sometimes, I include one that was just a stupid mistake (usually if it's kind of short).

Hmm, I see. I was thinking of doing something like that but just making a document and writing down pt s q. As well as just marking it in my Cambridge packet.

[34iplaw]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

Yeah - questions that I missed and questions that took me longer/I wasn't totally comfortable with picking. Typically, it's maybe one out of every 15 to 20 questions. Sometimes, I include one that was just a stupid mistake (usually if it's kind of short).

Hmm, I see. I was thinking of doing something like that but just making a document and writing down pt s q. As well as just marking it in my Cambridge packet.

Ah - understood. I actually sort of started doing it so I could have a random question popped up in excel that I can answer (which it has that functionality since that was easy), but I realized that isn't the best thing in the world. Almost like that daily thing. What I may do is have it print a random set of 10 or so from it to do every day as a warm up. That idea I actually like... sort of like the LSAT Max drills but harder, more relevant, and tailored to me. I needed to type out the questions no matter what I did, as I typically am fairly assertive when I take the test. If a word eliminates an answer choice, I typically do a circle with a slash in it. I cross out an answer if it's totally weird, so it would be hard not to be influenced by my previous work.

[Alexandros]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

Yeah - questions that I missed and questions that took me longer/I wasn't totally comfortable with picking. Typically, it's maybe one out of every 15 to 20 questions. Sometimes, I include one that was just a stupid mistake (usually if it's kind of short).

Hmm, I see. I was thinking of doing something like that but just making a document and writing down pt s q. As well as just marking it in my Cambridge packet.

I've been kind of doing this but copy-pasting the questions from the PDFs into a word doc, with explanations for each question at the end.
I'm not sure how useful it's going to be for drilling really because I figure I'll remember many of the answers but I think being reminded of it and going through the reasoning again will be helpful

[Alexandros]

Ugh, family member woke me up because they came back home and made a bunch of noise thinking I was awake already. What a jackass he is lmaooo. Now I just woke up and am running on less than 6 hrs of sleep. You know what that calls for.... Caffeiiiiinnnnnneeee

Poor Mikey. Get you some caffeine.

[34iplaw]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

Yeah - questions that I missed and questions that took me longer/I wasn't totally comfortable with picking. Typically, it's maybe one out of every 15 to 20 questions. Sometimes, I include one that was just a stupid mistake (usually if it's kind of short).

Hmm, I see. I was thinking of doing something like that but just making a document and writing down pt s q. As well as just marking it in my Cambridge packet.

I've been kind of doing this but copy-pasting the questions from the PDFs into a word doc, with explanations for each question at the end.
I'm not sure how useful it's going to be for drilling really because I figure I'll remember many of the answers but I think being reminded of it and going through the reasoning again will be helpful

Didn't know that they were copy paste able. I haven't gotten to my LR packets really to be honest. I've been so busy with the TM curriculum but the fact they are copy paste able is definitely a benefit.

[Mikey]

Ugh, family member woke me up because they came back home and made a bunch of noise thinking I was awake already. What a jackass he is lmaooo. Now I just woke up and am running on less than 6 hrs of sleep. You know what that calls for.... Caffeiiiiinnnnnneeee

Poor Mikey. Get you some caffeine.

like, i want to head to sbux but at the same time, i might just settle for instant coffee at home since your boy doesn't want to find parking afterwards

[Alexandros]

Fixed my spreadsheet. It now checks for page breaks, so it makes them look a lot more like an LSAT booklet with two columns of questions! Just need to make it so it deletes a certain number of characters rather than delete individual characters until it reaches a certain number. Also may fiddle with paragraph settings just to get the spacing a little nicer.

Your spreadsheet questions are based on questions that you've done and had trouble with right?

Yeah - questions that I missed and questions that took me longer/I wasn't totally comfortable with picking. Typically, it's maybe one out of every 15 to 20 questions. Sometimes, I include one that was just a stupid mistake (usually if it's kind of short).

Hmm, I see. I was thinking of doing something like that but just making a document and writing down pt s q. As well as just marking it in my Cambridge packet.

I've been kind of doing this but copy-pasting the questions from the PDFs into a word doc, with explanations for each question at the end.
I'm not sure how useful it's going to be for drilling really because I figure I'll remember many of the answers but I think being reminded of it and going through the reasoning again will be helpful

Didn't know that they were copy paste able. I haven't gotten to my LR packets really to be honest. I've been so busy with the TM curriculum but the fact they are copy paste able is definitely a benefit.

I've been copying from the PT pdfs - things are sometimes cut off or arranged oddly, but that's easily fixed. Just tried to copy and paste from the Cambridge packs and it didn't work so well, so I think they might be protected.

[Justice4Birdperson]

Took my third PT last night. Can't remember which number. Somewhere in the low 60s:

RC: -2
LR1:-1
LG: -1
LR2: -4 (was tough)
Raw: 92
Scaled: 172

Still not where I need to be but I'm satisfied with my progress so far. I've only been focusing on LG the past 2 weeks using the 7sage fool proofed method and it's REALLY helped me a lot I think. I should've gone -0 for LG but I made a small error on game 1. The thing that 7sage has helped me the most with is actually using the diagrams to make inferences. Before I was thinking too hard instead of just visually following the diagram. Rote memorization of past games is surprisingly helpful.

Now I just need to do something about LR. I'm finishing with extra time to spare on all sections. But then for LR when I go back to tough questions that I was shaky on I'm still not getting most of them. So I guess since timing is not an issue for me (I finished all sections with at least 5 minutes to spare for some reason) I think I need to drill LR a lot.

[34iplaw]

Took my third PT last night. Can't remember which number. Somewhere in the low 60s:

RC: -2
LR1:-1
LG: -1
LR2: -4 (was tough)
Raw: 92
Scaled: 172

Still not where I need to be but I'm satisfied with my progress so far. I've only been focusing on LG the past 2 weeks using the 7sage fool proofed method and it's REALLY helped me a lot I think. I should've gone -0 for LG but I made a small error on game 1. The thing that 7sage has helped me the most with is actually using the diagrams to make inferences. Before I was thinking too hard instead of just visually following the diagram. Rote memorization of past games is surprisingly helpful.

Now I just need to do something about LR. I'm finishing with extra time to spare on all sections. But then for LR when I go back to tough questions that I was shaky on I'm still not getting most of them. So I guess since timing is not an issue for me (I finished all sections with at least 5 minutes to spare for some reason) I think I need to drill LR a lot.

That appears to be on the nastier side of the curve.

[Mikey]

quickly running through argument part lr lessons on 7sage. i tend to miss the harder side of these q types which is completely unnecessary

eta: although i've gone through the lessons before, i think it's helpful af to see J.Y's use of bracketing/underlining for these Q types again

[galeatus]

How to you all wake your brains up in the morning?
Waking up the 6 o clock hour but still feeling foggy in the 9 o clock hour, even with a warm-up. I'm realizing this has the potential to seriously impact my scores.

went -3 on RC this morning, in a set which was half old passage, at over 30 min. Nevermind about sidelining RC I guess.

I find that 10-15 mins of quiet reading of a philosophy/science book plus a double espresso works pretty well

[ngogirl12]

I feel so ready to go! I got 8 hours of sleep, hit the gym this morning (didn't really do machines some light weights, and a exercise challenge I'm doing), had a nice breakfast, and feel so alive right now lol.

About to hit up the LG lesson, really excited because it's not RC.

[Alexandros]

How to you all wake your brains up in the morning?
Waking up the 6 o clock hour but still feeling foggy in the 9 o clock hour, even with a warm-up. I'm realizing this has the potential to seriously impact my scores.

went -3 on RC this morning, in a set which was half old passage, at over 30 min. Nevermind about sidelining RC I guess.

I find that 10-15 mins of quiet reading of a philosophy/science book plus a double espresso works pretty well

Ohh that's a good idea. Will give it a shot!

(I got a few science-ish books for preliminary thesis research out of the library, and they honestly read just like an extended RC passage.)

[Alexandros]

Took my third PT last night. Can't remember which number. Somewhere in the low 60s:

RC: -2
LR1:-1
LG: -1
LR2: -4 (was tough)
Raw: 92
Scaled: 172

Still not where I need to be but I'm satisfied with my progress so far. I've only been focusing on LG the past 2 weeks using the 7sage fool proofed method and it's REALLY helped me a lot I think. I should've gone -0 for LG but I made a small error on game 1. The thing that 7sage has helped me the most with is actually using the diagrams to make inferences. Before I was thinking too hard instead of just visually following the diagram. Rote memorization of past games is surprisingly helpful.

Now I just need to do something about LR. I'm finishing with extra time to spare on all sections. But then for LR when I go back to tough questions that I was shaky on I'm still not getting most of them. So I guess since timing is not an issue for me (I finished all sections with at least 5 minutes to spare for some reason) I think I need to drill LR a lot.

Great job!!
And yeah, nastier curve - that would have been scaled higher on many tests.

[ngogirl12]

So in the LG lesson, JY said something to the extent of "every LG you see will have a genetic twin of some sort in another LG."

That's actually a relief for me to hear bc I've been scared to try the more recent games (which I obviously will when I start PTing) after all the horror stories I have heard on the threads.

[34iplaw]

So in the LG lesson, JY said something to the extent of "every LG you see will have a genetic twin of some sort in another LG."

That's actually a relief for me to hear bc I've been scared to try the more recent games (which I obviously will when I start PTing) after all the horror stories I have heard on the threads.

They're pretty much identical, but, occasionally, you may need to accommodate some type of twist. Typically, they aren't that hard, but they can be a little hard to see if you are too rigid in your approach.