The Official February 2015 Study Group Forum

[Gray]

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[Dr. Nefario]

Pretty sure I got a serious spam message last night.

I see that you got your December 2014 LSAT score. Would you perhaps be able to send me the PDFs of all the 4 sections? I’m writing the February 2014 LSAT and I would love to take a peak and see as to how this test was! I don't need your answer / score sheet; just the questions will do.

Thanks a lot!

My e-mail: aldenbrown69 (at) gmail (dot) com

I didn't even take December. First ever spam on TLS.

[nlee10]

Turned on the alarm for the wrong day....slept in an extra 2 hours. -_-

[Shakawkaw]

Turned on the alarm for the wrong day....slept in an extra 2 hours. -_-

I hit the snooze button like 6 times this morning. It was so nice.

[GreenTee]

Just my opinion on the timing discussion:

I really disagree with the idea that you should be practicing with 30-32 minute sections. I used this strategy before September because I was afraid of running out of time on test day, but the exact opposite happened. I raced through the actual test because nerves put my brain on overdrive. I finished RC/LR under 30 mins, and I missed a staggering number of questions that I never should have missed. It destroyed my score.

During my prep for December, I made a game out of trying to finish as close to 35 minutes as possible, whether I felt I needed the time or not. It's a much better strategy, since you are never as efficient with those remaining minutes at the end as you would have been if you slowed down and spent time on the tough questions the first time around, while you were still in that head space.

If you're worried about being able to finish any of the sections on time, I recommend you postpone. To score at your max potential, you should be 100% confident that you can finish every section under 35, and your goal should be slowing down and allocating your time effectively, rather than speeding up to finish.

[PeanutsNJam]

Any email I get between now and the day I submit my deposit for law school is unsubscribe/spam. I don't care about your coupons Chipotle.

And to be completely honest, after witnessing 4 Study Threads (I sat twice), I have to say this whole "How do I get better at the LSAT" discussion is the most sisyphean discussion ever.

For some people, 8 section PTs work well. For others, 5 section PTs in the freezing cold butt naked with 25 min sections works well. For others, untimed drills work well. Etc.

These are the time-test only universal rules for improvement on the LSAT:

Take practice tests that are real previous LSAT questions

Review

Do these two things to perfection and you will score well. I didn't use bubble sheets until 2 weeks before the test, because I don't have a problem with bubbling things. I've never misbubbled, never lost time due to bubbling, etc. Other dumbs (like Rigo) may need this crutch. jk<3uRigo There is no magical "trick". You just have to:

1.) Be smart
2.) Work hard
3.) Don't be stupid

[Shakawkaw]

Just my opinion on the timing discussion:

I really disagree with the idea that you should be practicing with 30-32 minute sections. I used this strategy before September because I was afraid of running out of time on test day, but the exact opposite happened. I raced through the actual test because nerves put my brain on overdrive. I finished RC/LR under 30 mins, and I missed a staggering number of questions that I never should have missed. It destroyed my score.

During my prep for December, I made a game out of trying to finish as close to 35 minutes as possible, whether I felt I needed the time or not. It's a much better strategy, since you are never as efficient with those remaining minutes at the end as you would have been if you slowed down and spent time on the tough questions the first time around, while you were still in that head space.

If you're worried about being able to finish any of the sections on time, I recommend you postpone. To score at your max potential, you should be 100% confident that you can finish every section under 35, and your goal should be slowing down and allocating your time effectively, rather than speeding up to finish.

How did you figure out a way to slow down?

Also - for me, in September (first take) - I was fine with timing. The only issue I had was test day nerves got the best of me. I was racing through sections. In December, I made a conscious effort to slow down. I also changed my bubbling technique - In Sept: I bubbled after every question because I was crazy. I also was not skipping around so I had no worries of misbubbling. In December: I bubbled after each game, every two pages for LG and every RC passage (in chunks, basically). I got this suggestion from my boi Dave Hall and it was nice because it gave me a few seconds to catch my breath.

[GreenTee]

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[Shakawkaw]

Since shak loves asking questions to which the answer is self-evident:

I slowed down through the miracle of fapping.

Well, this I knew. I was curious as to whether you had a real person response to my inquiry.

[Rigo]

[gamerish]

Post removed...

[Rigo]

[GreenTee]

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[Rigo]

[GreenTee]

I got to the point where I had a really strong internal sense of timing, and I never allowed myself to move on unless I knew that I fully understood the question and the answer choices. On harder questions, I felt totally free to spend as much time as I needed to get them right, since I knew I would finish the section no matter what.

[Shakawkaw]

Since shak loves asking questions to which the answer is self-evident:

I slowed down through the miracle of fapping.

Well, this I knew. I was curious as to whether you had a real person response to my inquiry.

Real response: I fapped a lot.

But also, I got to the point where I had a really strong internal sense of timing, and I never allowed myself to move on unless I knew that I fully understood the question and the answer choices. On harder questions, I felt totally free to spend as much time as I needed to get them right, since I knew I would finish the section no matter what.

How were you able to distinguish from easier questions vs. harder ones? Referencing how in Sept, a lot of harder questions were veiled and seemed easy.

[GreenTee]

How were you able to distinguish from easier questions vs. harder ones? Referencing how in Sept, a lot of harder questions were veiled and seemed easy.

73 was an unusual test, especially in the RC section, where there were a lot of very well veiled trap answers. I can't really comment on that RC section, since I went -7 on test day (in sub 30 mins) and -4 when I retook it before September (using the just-under-35 strategy).

Typically for RC, it's just a matter of spending more time with the passages, and really internalizing how the details fit into the reasoning structure. But for LR, it's always clear to me when I'm dealing with a tough question. Some questions just require you to spend more time upfront figuring out a subtle flaw, for example, or finding a tricky assumption. Also, it's nice to have the luxury of spending the requisite extra time on parallel questions. LG should be automatic, and it's less problematic to finish an LG section early (I finished December in 30 mins--mostly because I had to pee--and went -0), but it should be obvious when you're dealing with a difficult or time consuming game.

[Shakawkaw]

To the high scorers: what were your day of munchies and beverages? Breakfast and snax.

tyia.

ETA: GT, grats on hitting the 1800 mark.

[NL2424]

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[Dr. Nefario]

How were you able to distinguish from easier questions vs. harder ones? Referencing how in Sept, a lot of harder questions were veiled and seemed easy.

September was evil pure evil. It was tricky to distinguish easy from hard questions, but moving through at my normal pace left plenty of time to answer tougher questions. The part of that test that killed me was the LG. I am never worse than -2, usually -1 or 0 and went -6 on test day. Had I got -2 even, would've hit above my PT average. The games weren't even that hard I just felt rushed cause it was the last section.

[Shakawkaw]

I know kind of what you mean with the harder and easier questions in regards to LR. But how do you reconcile spending the extra time you need to on the harder questions in LR if you get them early on? Like for instance, I usually fly through the first 15 or so questions in about 15 minutes or less, and then when it gets harder at the end I know I have the extra time. What kills me is sections where something like question 3 or 4 will really stump me. Because then I don't want to waste the extra time on it even if it is a hard question because I haven't guaranteed that I'll fly through other questions... So I choke up, what do you suggest? Spend the extra time since I typically finish in under 35 minutes with no problems, or mark it and come back?

In Dec., I recall there being one or two questions in the first 10 that were challenging, for me at least. I skipped and came back. Got them correct. For me, I like putting some time in between a first attempt and a second one because by then, I have answered a lot more q's, built up confidence and am able to tackle the harder Q with a fresh pair of eyes. Don't give in to the time sinkers, esp. if they are in the beginning of the section. The only difficulty with skipping around is making sure you are extra careful not to misbubble.

[Rigo]

[Shakawkaw]

How were you able to distinguish from easier questions vs. harder ones? Referencing how in Sept, a lot of harder questions were veiled and seemed easy.

September was evil pure evil. It was tricky to distinguish easy from hard questions, but moving through at my normal pace left plenty of time to answer tougher questions. The part of that test that killed me was the LG. I am never worse than -2, usually -1 or 0 and went -6 on test day. Had I got -2 even, would've hit above my PT average. The games weren't even that hard I just felt rushed cause it was the last section.

I didn't have timing issues with Sept. I just had the dumbs and fell into the pitfalls of the veiled tricky q's.

It's so weird to me that everyone thought Sept was tricky, LG wise. I went -1 in September. I went -6 or 7 in Dec. I usually go -0 or -1.

[GreenTee]

I know kind of what you mean with the harder and easier questions in regards to LR. But how do you reconcile spending the extra time you need to on the harder questions in LR if you get them early on? Like for instance, I usually fly through the first 15 or so questions in about 15 minutes or less, and then when it gets harder at the end I know I have the extra time. What kills me is sections where something like question 3 or 4 will really stump me. Because then I don't want to waste the extra time on it even if it is a hard question because I haven't guaranteed that I'll fly through other questions... So I choke up, what do you suggest? Spend the extra time since I typically finish in under 35 minutes with no problems, or mark it and come back?

There's a new trend in 70s LR which makes the 15 in 15 strategy obsolete. More and more, we're seeing tricky questions in the first half of the section. My only advice would be to not freak out if you're having trouble with a question early on, because the section was probably designed that way.

On 73 LR2, for example, I freaked out on test day when I was running behind the 15 in 15 rule, so nerves kicked in and I missed questions later in the section that were actually very easy. The section was deliberately front-loaded. But just trust the fact that, no matter what order of difficulty the questions come in, every section is designed to take 35 minutes. If you use all of your time efficiently and don't let nerves get the best of you, you should be able to finish the section on time.

[Shakawkaw]

To the high scorers: what were your day of munchies and beverages? Breakfast and snax.

It a high scorer, but water and two chocolate chip granola bars.
Oh and I chewed gum through the whole thing. Fvck rules.

I'm the type of person who gets super tired after I eat so I just wanted to eat enough so my stomach didn't growl.

I had a light breakfast. I forget but I'm guessing eggs, coffee, and maybe a banana.

I took gatorade with me both times and a granola bar + a banana. I think gatorade was a bad idea because of the sugar content. I also chewed gum. TWINZ. That was mostly because if I'm nervous, I get thirsty.