December 2011 LSAT Study Group Forum

[GoldenGloves]

Oh cool. Lots of old faces in here today.

[LSAT Blog]

debating...

to retake or not to retake?

Mickey, a 174 URM? Unless your GPA is 2.0 I think you'll be ok. Not that I wouldn't like you to stick around and facilitate my becoming an LG wizard like you did.

Haha I fear the beast that is "averaging." And I would be glad to stick around and cheer you all on! To be honest I miss studying

Ah, I don't think we need to fear the beast as much nowadays. I think that USNWR changed the rankings so that schools only need to report your highest score. Besides with your #s even if they did average...still. URM with a 174 - you're good. Accept your fate.

[img]

Some of the top law schools do average or "consider" multiple scores, but most don't.

Scroll down in this link for school-specific policies, and check the schools' websites for the latest info:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/retaking-the-lsat.html

[moopness]

Oh cool. Lots of old faces in here today.

sup GG, you retaking too?

[GoldenGloves]

Oh cool. Lots of old faces in here today.

sup GG, you retaking too?

Yea, I wasn't too involved in the waiting thread cause I already knew I had more studying to do, so I'm not sure how things turned out for everyone.

By the way, anyone in here taking Dave Hall's course? I am.

[noleknight16]

On the final chapter of the Manhattan Logical Reasoning book. On the matching chapter (parallel reasoning) I got every single drill it right but one, so 14/15. That used to be a b**** section for me too. It's too early to tell, but I think I will see LR improvement!!!

After I finish the book, gonna open up the PowerScore Logic Game Bible, master grouping games, and then I'm ready to PT away till December 3rd

[mickeyD]

Some of the top law schools do average or "consider" multiple scores, but most don't.

Scroll down in this link for school-specific policies, and check the schools' websites for the latest info:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/retaking-the-lsat.html

Sadly the ones that average or "consider" are the ones I'm looking at.

Don't want to derail the thread though. Good luck to everyone studying! Eich, let me know if you wanna talk LSAT any time soon. I found that I made my biggest jump by starting from scratch- refreshing the fundamentals and leaving no stone unturned.

[99.9luft]

Eich, Gev, Mickey, Tmon...this feels like home. Miss this.

If any one of you postpones until June, PM me. For some reason, I have a feeling this will be a long winter.

Hi 99! You should hang around here sometimes. Now comes the challenge for me - getting motivated to start studying again. After withdrawing Oct, I stopped studying. I am the worst with breaks. It takes me forever to get the fire back. Bleh. I need grand inspiration.

Hi Eich! I know, i've been bad...log onto G+ more often than onto here (that's says smth!). I have not touched the LSAT since August, if that makes you feel better. Not sure when to start studying for June - Feb or now or Mar? kinda apathetically lost here.

Hope you're not freezing yet and have time to bake.

Best,
99

[ant5do]

PT 19 (june 1996) RC Passage 3 Tropics and Species

can anyone explain where the inference for Q19 comes from? I picked B, and I can see how that might not be supported: "however, ice ages have caused less disruption in some temperate regions than in others.."

But I'm not sure where the textual support for D is.

[SA1928]

Oh cool. Lots of old faces in here today.

sup GG, you retaking too?

Yea, I wasn't too involved in the waiting thread cause I already knew I had more studying to do, so I'm not sure how things turned out for everyone.

By the way, anyone in here taking Dave Hall's course? I am.

How do you like his course so far? All of his free advice on here has been really helpful. I was considering maybe doing just LR or just RC...

[Eichörnchen]

Sadly the ones that average or "consider" are the ones I'm looking at.

Don't want to derail the thread though. Good luck to everyone studying! Eich, let me know if you wanna talk LSAT any time soon. I found that I made my biggest jump by starting from scratch- refreshing the fundamentals and leaving no stone unturned.

Thanks MickeyD. I'm thinking my approach will be all drilling for a while. For LG, I'm still a little hazy about how to best prepare. I don't know if I should be going through games super slowly and picking them apart as I go, followed by reviewing the game or if I should be trying to do them faster and then reviewing what I screw up. I'm trying to remember your sage advice that I need to review LG after I do them like I do for LR, yet for some reason I find LG harder to review. Maybe it's because it's much easier for me to articulate LR explanations, ie - "the AC makes a subtle shift with the word 'most' to create a new unsupported statement"... vs. "One of Q, R or S must always be in so T or W is always in...ZZZzzzzzz"

Hi 99! You should hang around here sometimes. Now comes the challenge for me - getting motivated to start studying again. After withdrawing Oct, I stopped studying. I am the worst with breaks. It takes me forever to get the fire back. Bleh. I need grand inspiration.

Hi Eich! I know, i've been bad...log onto G+ more often than onto here (that's says smth!). I have not touched the LSAT since August, if that makes you feel better. Not sure when to start studying for June - Feb or now or Mar? kinda apathetically lost here.

Hope you're not freezing yet and have time to bake.

Best,
99

It's 40 degrees and raining so I am freezing, but I plan on making all sorts of pumpkin spice treats, so it evens out Forget about the LSAT until March and enjoy real life!

[lhess218]

t's 40 degrees and raining so I am freezing, but I plan on making all sorts of pumpkin spice treats, so it evens out Forget about the LSAT until March and enjoy real life!

Completely off-topic and not even remotely LSAT/law school related, but pumpkin spice treats sounds absolutely delicious. Especially since where I am, it is also 40 degrees and raining. If it wouldn't be creepy, I'd ask you for a recipe and then proceed to eat my feelings.

[barneytrouble]

75 and sunny here. Great weather for studying.

[Eichörnchen]

t's 40 degrees and raining so I am freezing, but I plan on making all sorts of pumpkin spice treats, so it evens out Forget about the LSAT until March and enjoy real life!

Completely off-topic and not even remotely LSAT/law school related, but pumpkin spice treats sounds absolutely delicious. Especially since where I am, it is also 40 degrees and raining. If it wouldn't be creepy, I'd ask you for a recipe and then proceed to eat my feelings.

Haha I've had multiple people ask me for recipes on TLS and I've always obliged

Except my red velvet cupcakes. That stays close to my chest.

[soj]

Sadly the ones that average or "consider" are the ones I'm looking at.

Many schools claim to average or consider multiple scores, but I'm skeptical.

For example, I have a hard time believing Harvard, Columbia, and NYU average when I look at their LSN graphs.

[Strange]

double

[Strange]

Has anyone used this watch for the LSAT?

http://lsatwatch.webs.com/

Yes. Good buy.

I'll offer some caution on the lsat watch. I ordered it and after using it for definitely less than 10 sittings it broke. The pin you pull out came all the way out and it wouldn't work any more. I will say that the maker of these is very kind and I think she was going to offer me discount on a second or something, but I ended up with a much nicer watch for free by chance. However, I'll honestly say that I wouldn't get another for fear of it breaking on test day after what happened with it. That would do too much to screw with my head.

I recommended it before but I would also advise caution, or at least maybe get two or bring a backup. I think those watches are GREAT helps during the test because it's so easy to reset after each section. But there is a risk they will break down. My first watch was defective and she sent me a free one to replace it. So I would perhaps buy two, or bring your real watch as a backup (which is what I did).

[lhess218]

Haha I've had multiple people ask me for recipes on TLS and I've always obliged

Except my red velvet cupcakes. That stays close to my chest.

Then I would like some pumpkin spice recipes please!

[GoldenGloves]

Oh cool. Lots of old faces in here today.

sup GG, you retaking too?

Yea, I wasn't too involved in the waiting thread cause I already knew I had more studying to do, so I'm not sure how things turned out for everyone.

By the way, anyone in here taking Dave Hall's course? I am.

How do you like his course so far? All of his free advice on here has been really helpful. I was considering maybe doing just LR or just RC...

RC hasn't been helpful for me. This may be due largely to me already using a similar strategy to Dave's, but his RC book is pretty much just a few pages with an introduction, then tons of passages that he talks about in his videos. LR seems great though; I'm about 4 chapters into it.

[barneytrouble]

Speaking of RC does anyone have any good tips for Main Point questions? 99% of the questions I miss are ones where I cross out 3 and then pick the one wrong out of the remaining 2, but Main Points in RC are the only ones where like 50% of the time, TCR will be one that I crossed off. So far I have noticed that the right answer is almost never A lol. That's about it.

[Manhattan LSAT Noah]

If you're struggling with main idea questions then it generally means you're not keeping an eye on the big picture while you read. If you have our book, then you know what I mean that you need to get back to reading for the scale. If it's a balanced scale, you should see both sides mentioned in the answer, if it's heavily weighted to one side, you might just find that side mentioned.

Try prephrasing the answer to these questions, and, when you're stuck between a couple of answers, boil them down to their subject and predicate and see which ones match what you see as the main idea.

I hope that helps.

[man_utd_4l]

Hey all,

I'm realistically looking at February for my sitting, but I figured this would be the best place to come. I have been drilling Must be True questions throughout the week, mainly from the Cambridge packet. Although I was able to cruise through the first three sections, the fourth is giving me some trouble. I can't quite pinpoint where I'm going wrong. I have a feeling that it comes down to fundamentals (recognizing conditional reasoning in a timely manner, etc.). Does anyone have any suggestions on Must be True questions after doing the drill themselves?

Cheers

[Eichörnchen]

Haha I've had multiple people ask me for recipes on TLS and I've always obliged

Except my red velvet cupcakes. That stays close to my chest.

Then I would like some pumpkin spice recipes please!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow Topping and Tasty Tasty Crust

Crust:

* Nonstick spray
* 2 cups gingersnap crumbs
* 1 cup pecans
* 1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
* 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted


For filling:

* 4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin ( or 15 oz fresh pureed pumpkin if you wanna do it up right)
* 5 eggs
* 3 tablespoons AP flour
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

For topping:

* 2 cups mini marshmallows (or cut-up large marshmallows)
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup sour cream

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Grind cookie crumbs, pecans, brown sugar, and ginger in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter; using on/off turns, process to blend. Transfer mixture to prepared pan; press onto bottom and 2 inches up sides of pan. Bake crust until set and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool.

Filling:
Preheat to 350°. Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on low speed. Add flour, spices, and salt; beat just to blend. Add in vanilla. Transfer filling to cooled crust. Bake until filling is just set in center and edges begin to crack (filling will move slightly when pan is gently shaken), about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool 1 hour. Run knife around sides of pan to release crust. Chill cheesecake uncovered in pan overnight.

Topping:
Stir marshmallows and milk in medium saucepan over low heat until marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt. Cool marshmallow mixture to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Add sour cream to marshmallow mixture; fold just to blend. Pour topping over cheesecake and spread evenly, leaving 1/2 inch uncovered around edges. Chill to set topping, (~1 hour).

Another easy pumpkin spice idea - Cut a few slices of sugar pumpkin and put it in a jar with two cinnamon sticks, a vanilla bean, a nutmeg, a couple cardamom seeds and a star of anise and then fill the jar with vodka. Let it sit for a few days until it is to the strength you want, and viola - pumpkin spice vodka!

[now back to regularly scheduled LSAT programming]

[99.9luft]

It's 40 degrees and raining so I am freezing, but I plan on making all sorts of pumpkin spice treats, so it evens out Forget about the LSAT until March and enjoy real life!

pumpkin spice treats sound delish and a good way to cozy up inside/combat the freezing. yeah you're right about march...but watch, i bet i will start PTing for fun next month...this is a serious withdrawal, i'm afraid.

[Maye]

I am only giving myself 30 minutes on each section I do. Taking the training wheels off and hope the handicap allows me to out perform my PT's on game day.

Good on you, Gev. I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to do too. Some people suggested this when I was studying for October but I never really went through with it for fear that it would just make me rush and kill my accuracy. Hopefully I can adapt, and you too!

So I've started doing 30 min sections and my accuracy is hurt--I'm missing about 3 more on LR than I used to. I'm not timing myself on games bc I have a strange love/hate relationship w games. Either I get them or I don't, and I don't see a pattern. It happens even on regular linear games. I guess that means I should drill games more? I don't really know, and the inconsistency scares me a little.

I am hoping that my LR will get better again when I get used to the time constraints.

[GoldenGloves]

Eich, your new photo looks more like you now. Good job.