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

[appind]

welp, just got my lowest PT score, even lower than my diagnostic. PT 67:

Score 164

RC -8
LR -4
LG -4
LR -3

knew I wasn't going to do well on this before I even finished it, felt off my game the whole time. I would read an LR stimulus then just stare at the problem like I had no clue what I read. idk, just gonna brush it off and take tomorrow off, then look over it on Monday. the !Kung passage and Subzones game didn't help either. the -10 curve also felt really unfair.

Stuff like this is what worries me. It seems like as much as you study, if they make the test a certain way or if you're feeling a little off, all that prep you did goes out the window.

67 has very tough rc. its -10 curve is puzzling.

[proteinshake]

welp, just got my lowest PT score, even lower than my diagnostic. PT 67:

Score 164

RC -8
LR -4
LG -4
LR -3

knew I wasn't going to do well on this before I even finished it, felt off my game the whole time. I would read an LR stimulus then just stare at the problem like I had no clue what I read. idk, just gonna brush it off and take tomorrow off, then look over it on Monday. the !Kung passage and Subzones game didn't help either. the -10 curve also felt really unfair.

Stuff like this is what worries me. It seems like as much as you study, if they make the test a certain way or if you're feeling a little off, all that prep you did goes out the window.

67 has very tough rc. its -10 curve is puzzling.

i think I was just out of it. I interpreted the word "secrete" as exiting the body instead of being released by the body (like a horomone), so I missed a really easy question. also it's the first time I used a watch on a full PT (mastermind watch) and it feels way different from a regular timer, especially on LR since I track by the minute.

[Mikey]

RC is about to make me go to Cooley, seriously. I just don't get why I suck so much at it lol, it's pretty freaking sad honestly.

[StopLawying]

RC is about to make me go to Cooley, seriously. I just don't get why I suck so much at it lol, it's pretty freaking sad honestly.

Do you BR? This is so important for RC. If you think you did poorly on a passage write up in a word doc what each paragraph is saying. Then write a short passage map, just like two lines. Afterwards go through each and every question and make sure you have the correct answer by eliminating the 4 incorrect ones. Do not move on until you're 100% sure you have the correct answer. Yes, this is incredibly time consuming but it's worth it. You'll start to see patterns about what the test makers ask about, and also you'll be able to intuitively spot incorrect answers. Do this for like 10 RC passages, and then go back and do a full section timed. I promise you'll see some real improvement. There are really no shortcuts for improving in this section, you just gotta sit down and really analyze the passages untimed.Hope this helps, it's hard to see you keep struggling with this section. Just sit down and do it, then report back. You'll be happy with the results.

[Alexandros]

RC is about to make me go to Cooley, seriously. I just don't get why I suck so much at it lol, it's pretty freaking sad honestly.

I was legit just thinking... even if I fuck this up completely, AT LEAST COOLEY WILL ACCEPT ME.

regarding RC, don't give up man. This is probably something you already do, but hardcore repeating passages has helped me a lot.

[Alexandros]

On a fresh PT I use most or all of my time. Today I took 30 and 33 minutes on LR, 34 minutes on LG, and ran out of time and guessed incorrectly on the last question of RC. I've been doing a lot of LG in the past two weeks because I was having some timing problems, but I think I am getting better. I'm going to do a fair amount of work on RC in the next couple weeks.

That's actually good to hear. I think it's a common misconception that high scorers tend to finish well before time. Unless it's seriously impeding you from finishing in time, accuracy >>> speed. (*cough*...note to self... )

[Shemp]

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

[Instrumental]

For me, RC has been the most wildly inconsistent. Sometimes I'll go -1 or 2, sometimes I'll go -7 or 8. I've been graphing out my progress in excel and it's definitely shown the slowest in improvement.

[Mikey]

RC is about to make me go to Cooley, seriously. I just don't get why I suck so much at it lol, it's pretty freaking sad honestly.

Do you BR? This is so important for RC. If you think you did poorly on a passage write up in a word doc what each paragraph is saying. Then write a short passage map, just like two lines. Afterwards go through each and every question and make sure you have the correct answer by eliminating the 4 incorrect ones. Do not move on until you're 100% sure you have the correct answer. Yes, this is incredibly time consuming but it's worth it. You'll start to see patterns about what the test makers ask about, and also you'll be able to intuitively spot incorrect answers. Do this for like 10 RC passages, and then go back and do a full section timed. I promise you'll see some real improvement. There are really no shortcuts for improving in this section, you just gotta sit down and really analyze the passages untimed.Hope this helps, it's hard to see you keep struggling with this section. Just sit down and do it, then report back. You'll be happy with the results.

I do BR, I just suck at RC no matter what. BR has helped me in a huge amount with LR but I've done so many passages and RC sections and I feel like BR does nothing for me, but I still do it. I'm going to keep going at it and hopefully I improve by test day.

It sucks that I still let the topic of a passage get to me even though I focus 99% on structure, lol. I think I'm going to go back and redo every single passage I've done so far and just breakdown each passage itself and try to anticipate what kind of questions/answers will appear. Even though I'll probably remember some stuff, I think this might be beneficial. Idk.

[Mikey]

RC is about to make me go to Cooley, seriously. I just don't get why I suck so much at it lol, it's pretty freaking sad honestly.

I was legit just thinking... even if I fuck this up completely, AT LEAST COOLEY WILL ACCEPT ME.

regarding RC, don't give up man. This is probably something you already do, but hardcore repeating passages has helped me a lot.

Cooley is my reach school

[appind]

finished 28 RC today

-3 in 35 min

i take about 5-6 minutes to do the initial read of a passage. is that too long?
it cuts time for questions a little, but not enough.

[Instrumental]

I think it's too long, especially considering that some questions are basically going to force you to go back and look at the passage again.

[Rupert Pupkin]

For me, RC has been the most wildly inconsistent. Sometimes I'll go -1 or 2, sometimes I'll go -7 or 8. I've been graphing out my progress in excel and it's definitely shown the slowest in improvement.

I have historically been all over the place too (sometimes in other sections) and for me,at least, when I did poorly I would rush or just not fully focus on reading carefully and analyzing the question/passage. For whatever reason, I wouldn't take my time and just rush to get an answer. After I picked up on this - when i noticed I would get to the point of losing focus- I would just take a second to re-set and slow down a bit.

Not sure if thats what you are experiencing, but I've seen improvement once I recognized it. Or... you may not be 100% confident in the methods of approaching the problem...Sometimes you do it right (luck of the draw) and other times you do it wrong. Consistency improves with practice and thus, confidence.

[PhiladelphiaCollins]

Turns out I punched in the first 2 answers of my PT this morning the wrong way around on 7sage, so my 164 was actually a 165...now I go crazy as I get stuck at 164 for 2 weeks before seeing any other increases smh

[Mikey]

Currently heading to the Starbucks where I got freaked out by that crazy woman. I hope she isn't there. If she is, I'm fucking GONE.

[Mikey]

Haven't gotten fucked up by an LG section in a while.. Thanks PT 50. Don't know why I struggled so much with it, anyone else think it was a difficult section or do I just suck at games?

[20170322]

Decided to wait a year until applying. Takes some of the pressure off of this test. Also decided to donate a kidney, so now the LSAT doesn't seem as scary in comparison. Haha

[StopLawying]

Decided to wait a year until applying. Takes some of the pressure off of this test. Also decided to donate a kidney, so now the LSAT doesn't seem as scary in comparison. Haha

That's awesome man, lots of respect for you.

[Shemp]

Decided to wait a year until applying. Takes some of the pressure off of this test. Also decided to donate a kidney, so now the LSAT doesn't seem as scary in comparison. Haha

That's awesome man, lots of respect for you.

The necessary assumption is that SweetTort is talking about his own kidney and not one of his extensive collection of kidneys ripped from homeless guys.

[tofuspeedstar]

Haven't gotten fucked up by an LG section in a while.. Thanks PT 50. Don't know why I struggled so much with it, anyone else think it was a difficult section or do I just suck at games?

Nope, 50 was stupid.

[Mikey]

Haven't gotten fucked up by an LG section in a while.. Thanks PT 50. Don't know why I struggled so much with it, anyone else think it was a difficult section or do I just suck at games?

Nope, 50 was stupid.

I checked 7sage's LG difficulty thing. PT 50 LG has the difficulty of "easiest". Now I feel like shit.

Dead ass, Cooley early decision here I come.

[Mikey]

Sitting at Starbucks doing some LSAT shizz and I see the guy next to me reading his case book, aww shitttt da bro is in lawl school OR he is just insane and likes to read cases idk

[carasrook]

ughhh guys. ever since i started studying again, i haven't scored lower than 169 in the past like 7 full PTs i've taken. then today i got a 166 on PT 68. super discouraged - and worried bc this is what happened last time leading up to June. i really struggled with PT 68 for some reason. got wrecked by RC and really struggled on LR for some reason. hate to have my confidence shaken

[YupSports]

Just wrapped up PT 72:

RC: - 4
LR1: -10 (?)
LR2: -1
LG: -3

Score: 166

No idea what happened on that LR1. A quick glance at 7Sage and it appears I got wrecked by the last 7 questions (I checked for misbubbling and it was not the case).

Also, the last LG in the section really threw me for a loop. I wound up guessing on a few, but I think even with unlimited time I would've struggled handily.

PTs will slow down a bit in the next few weeks - I've got 2 weddings to go that will take away my entire weekends.

Time to BR and figure out what was going on in my head!

[carasrook]

Haven't gotten fucked up by an LG section in a while.. Thanks PT 50. Don't know why I struggled so much with it, anyone else think it was a difficult section or do I just suck at games?

Nope, 50 was stupid.

I checked 7sage's LG difficulty thing. PT 50 LG has the difficulty of "easiest". Now I feel like shit.

Dead ass, Cooley early decision here I come.

tbh games i often feel are easy are marked as 'medium' and games i struggle with are marked as 'easy' on 7sage, so i've stopped looking at 7sage's rating bc it just upsets me lol