The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

tapenade · Post by **tapenade** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:23 pm

Sorry to interrupt the shenanigans, but can anyone recommend a starting point in terms of studying? I've taken a class before, perused the PS bibles, etc. So I'd like to study but don't really know where to dive in. It would be easier if I was beginning to study for the first time.

Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards October at this point, but still want to get a head start.

Thanks

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:39 pm

The Trainer by Mike Kim is the hot new thing in the LSAT prep world and covers every section. I'd recommend that as a jumping off point.

tapenade · Post by **tapenade** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:41 pm

RZ5646 wrote:The Trainer by Mike Kim is the hot new thing in the LSAT prep world and covers every section. I'd recommend that as a jumping off point.

Thanks! I actually had that book, loaned it to my LSAT tutor, and never got it back. Is it worth buying another copy? I don't remember being too impressed.

Shakawkaw · Post by **Shakawkaw** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:44 pm

tapenade wrote: I actually had that book, loaned it to my LSAT tutor, and never got it back.

Funniest line ITT. Get it back! I recommend doing Manhattan LSAT, and then doing The Trainer if you need more guidance.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:48 pm

tapenade wrote:
RZ5646 wrote:The Trainer by Mike Kim is the hot new thing in the LSAT prep world and covers every section. I'd recommend that as a jumping off point.
Thanks! I actually had that book, loaned it to my LSAT tutor, and never got it back. Is it worth buying another copy? I don't remember being too impressed.

Honestly I only read like 75 pages of it so idk. The LR seemed like a good introduction, but it's nowhere near as detailed as Manhattan. I'm probably going to read the RC parts... if I do that soon, I'll get back to you with what I think of them.

Smallville · Post by **Smallville** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:10 pm

RZ5646 wrote:I know you fuckers don't care, but LG is kicking my ass right now. Postponing until October is looking more and more likely. I don't want to sprint through my study materials only to still be mediocre at LG in June.

of course we care! What have you been doing in your prep to try and fix your issues? And what kind of issues are they? Are you figuring everything out but taking too long? making the diagram? the inferences? adapting to each question in the game?

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:25 pm

You can definitley master LG in 2.5 months if you want to.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:28 pm

Smallville wrote:
RZ5646 wrote:I know you fuckers don't care, but LG is kicking my ass right now. Postponing until October is looking more and more likely. I don't want to sprint through my study materials only to still be mediocre at LG in June.
of course we care! What have you been doing in your prep to try and fix your issues? And what kind of issues are they? Are you figuring everything out but taking too long? making the diagram? the inferences? adapting to each question in the game?

I might just be rusty because I was making strides for a while, but I'm slow and today there was one question I just couldn't answer even after staring at it for 15 minutes and drawing out all the possibilities, and that really pissed me off.

I'm going through the LGB again and drilling hard. If after a couple week I'm still not consistently getting -3 or better on LG I'm probably going to postpone. There's no point in burning through my PTs now if my LG skills won't be good enough by June.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:41 pm

The LSAT ability of a TLS regular over time:

Smallville · Post by **Smallville** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:49 pm

RZ5646 wrote:
Smallville wrote:
RZ5646 wrote:I know you fuckers don't care, but LG is kicking my ass right now. Postponing until October is looking more and more likely. I don't want to sprint through my study materials only to still be mediocre at LG in June.
of course we care! What have you been doing in your prep to try and fix your issues? And what kind of issues are they? Are you figuring everything out but taking too long? making the diagram? the inferences? adapting to each question in the game?
I might just be rusty because I was making strides for a while, but I'm slow and today there was one question I just couldn't answer even after staring at it for 15 minutes and drawing out all the possibilities, and that really pissed me off.

I'm going through the LGB again and drilling hard. If after a couple week I'm still not consistently getting -3 or better on LG I'm probably going to postpone. There's no point in burning through my PTs now if my LG skills won't be good enough by June.

happens to me if I ignore LG for a bit, take forever and sometimes can't even figure out a few questions... so I watch the first minute of JY (until it clicks) and go back, after a bit I fall back into the flow of things, don't get too frustrated bc of a bad day, we all have um

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:51 pm

RZ5646 wrote:The LSAT ability of a TLS regular over time:

Can confirm. My PT's are in the 130's now.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:55 pm

Smallville wrote: happens to me if I ignore LG for a bit, take forever and sometimes can't even figure out a few questions... so I watch the first minute of JY (until it clicks) and go back, after a bit I fall back into the flow of things, don't get too frustrated bc of a bad day, we all have um

Yeah it seems like LG is very likely "like riding a bike," so hopefully I'll get back up to speed soon and then get to work on locking down those -0s.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:16 pm

Figured out my problem earlier: I skipped over a rule that immediately eliminated one of the answer choices I couldn't decide between. Not sure if that makes me more or less of an idiot.

santoki · Post by **santoki** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:16 pm

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McJimJam · Post by **McJimJam** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 11:27 pm

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RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:28 am

New poll: Should OP just do October? That would give me all summer to study for a 175+. Or should I just study intensely for the next 2.5 months and see what happens? Note that these are somewhat mutually exclusive because I don't want to burn through study materials now if I end up deciding to wait.

Supposedly there is some advantage to submitting your application as soon as possible, but I don't think October would be harmful. Even a December retake would probably be okay.

Changing your test date costs $85, which is ridiculous, but still better than retaking June, which would cost $170 and put a black mark on my file.

I need real talk. No snarkiness please.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:15 pm

I think you're already scoring high and if you can't master LG in 2.5 months of intense drilling, then you never will.

On the other hand, October isn't late at all and your apps will still be part lf the pre-Thanksgiving "early" wave.

I'd say go for it in June, but you're not going to. I can sense your sloth and defeatist attitude. Maybe you're just in a rut. Be careful if you postpone though. Mentally, that will just encourage you to continue being lazy since the sense of urgency is lessened.

Dr. Nefario · Post by **Dr. Nefario** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:25 pm

RZ5646 wrote:New poll: Should OP just do October? That would give me all summer to study for a 175+. Or should I just study intensely for the next 2.5 months and see what happens? Note that these are somewhat mutually exclusive because I don't want to burn through study materials now if I end up deciding to wait.

Supposedly there is some advantage to submitting your application as soon as possible, but I don't think October would be harmful. Even a December retake would probably be okay.

Changing your test date costs $85, which is ridiculous, but still better than retaking June, which would cost $170 and put a black mark on my file.

I need real talk. No snarkiness please.

Take June. If LG is really all that is stopping you from scoring that high, you can master LG in 2.5 months. It took me a month to get to -0 on LG crossing LGB and Kaplan methods because I took Kaplan before discovering TLS. If you can't master LG with intense studying in that time frame, you probably won't be getting it ever. Also, many people do require retakes and I would suggest June because it gives you the opportunity to retake and still apply early, if you have to.

TLDR: Take June. Focus on LG while still drilling the others for 2.5 months. If you can't get -0 in that time frame, you never will.

McJimJam · Post by **McJimJam** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:29 pm

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RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:19 pm

I can't change my test date until the middle of May anyway so I guess I'll keep studying for June and see how that goes. But if I'm not consistently over 175 by whenever the date change deadline is (probably end of May), I'll switch to October.

Initially my goal was 180, but that seems like a waste of time/energy.

You guys who are saying I should be able to master LG in 2 months, what sort of study plan do you recommend? Right now my goal is to redo the LGB while doing as many games per day (by type) as I can stand. Then I'll switch to doing LG sections from the earliest tests.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:23 pm

Please explicitly talk about your LG woes. Timing/game difficulty/etc.
What happens in a typical LG section for you?

McJimJam · Post by **McJimJam** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:27 pm

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RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:30 pm

Rigo wrote:Please explicitly talk about your LG woes. Timing/game difficulty/etc.
What happens in a typical LG section for you?

I almost always go -0 but I take too long (I think... I haven't timed my drills lately). I know all the basic techniques from the LGB and 7sage, but I can't always apply them in a time-efficient manner or make subtle inferences.

The answer is probably just that I need to drill a lot more.

Rigo · Post by **Rigo** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:31 pm

Are you watching 7Sage?
I think the LGB's fetish for not-laws wastes a lot of time and isn't particularly helpful.

RZ5646 · Post by **RZ5646** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:34 pm

Rigo wrote:Are you watching 7Sage?
I think the LGB's fetish for not-laws wastes a lot of time and isn't particularly helpful.

Yeah I was. Not recently, but I'll start doing that again. It takes forever but I often pick up something useful from JY.

I think this week will be spent doing section drilling for RC and LR too, and then next week I'll start doing 3 PTs per week. That should expose me to a decent volume of material by June.