October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[surfermikedude]

Took the LR Sections from PT 10

LR Section 1 -1
22)Must Be True / Formal Logic

LR Section 4 -4
9) Strengthen X
13) Flaw
19)Weaken
25)Parallel

Conclusion - I am still missing the strengthen/weaken/assumption questions. Time to take a break from timed PTs and start relearning the strategies with these types of questions.

Does anyone else find it frustrating finding a balance between timed PTs and untimed questions? I guess I am the stereotypical millennial who is obsessed with instant results. Whenever I sit down to study I feel like I need to take a PT to assess where I am at. UGH!

If you haven't read the logical reasoning bible, I highly recommend it. Their sections on strengthen and weaken questions are very strong.

Ha, funny you mention it because I read the section on weakening questions and then did the 6 practice problems and missed 2. FML.

Thats when I figured it was time to go home...

[3|ink]

Ha, funny you mention it because I read the section on weakening questions and then did the 6 practice problems and missed 2. FML.

Thats when I figured it was time to go home...

They always put hard ones in the practice section.

[Hedwig]

Took the LR Sections from PT 10

LR Section 1 -1
22)Must Be True / Formal Logic

LR Section 4 -4
9) Strengthen X
13) Flaw
19)Weaken
25)Parallel

Conclusion - I am still missing the strengthen/weaken/assumption questions. Time to take a break from timed PTs and start relearning the strategies with these types of questions.

Does anyone else find it frustrating finding a balance between timed PTs and untimed questions? I guess I am the stereotypical millennial who is obsessed with instant results. Whenever I sit down to study I feel like I need to take a PT to assess where I am at. UGH!

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It's really difficult to spend all the time just practicing and going slowly to attain accuracy... when all I want to do is race through and check the answer key, hahaha.

Thankfully, I'm somehow super speedy at LR and RC, and usually end up with 10-12 minutes to spare.... but I need to focus on actually USING these 10-12 minutes to review. Problem is, the answers I DO change upon review are usually changed to the wrong answer from the right one, which has made me leery of review during those 10 minutes.

I actually really love the Logic Games at the moment and I like doing LG sections... my problem is stopping myself from doing a ton without reviewing haha. I let myself race through the 10 Actual, Official LSATs, and now I'm restricting myself to one test, all four sections, and reviewing all four sections (even if I don't necessarily do them as a full timed test) before moving on.

In other news, I got the LR Bible today. I'm hoping this will help me improve my LR from 2-5 wrong to 0-2 wrong, my ultimate goal for each section. I actually just really want a flawless LR section, just once. Just to show it can be done.

[CalBear2011]

I did PT 21 and 22 today, scoring a 167 and 168 respectively. This is with a dismal -6 on both RC's. Up to this point I have never really focused on RC in hopes it would magically improve itself as I do more and more PT's--I haven't even been reviewing my RC sections. Starting tomorrow I am going to try out Voyagers RC method and do a thorough review afterwards. A slight improvement on RC will push me into the 170's. Overall, however, I have been very happy with my improvement going from high 150's to consistent low 160's to consistent mid 160's and now consistent upper 160's. It's only a matter of time until I start getting consistent 170's!

Good Luck Everyone!

[pdukes]

I too will be taking the October test. I have been studying on and off for few months now and ready to turn it up. I have been using mostly older tests dated 2007 and older. Are the newer tests harder as opposed to some of the older ones?

Also, is there a way to get this years June test to study?

[ashtharkun]

I too will be taking the October test. I have been studying on and off for few months now and ready to turn it up. I have been using mostly older tests dated 2007 and older. Are the newer tests harder as opposed to some of the older ones?

Also, is there a way to get this years June test to study?

Yeah, Cambridge LSAT has it --LinkRemoved--

[lparker]

I too will be taking the October test. I have been studying on and off for few months now and ready to turn it up. I have been using mostly older tests dated 2007 and older. Are the newer tests harder as opposed to some of the older ones?

Also, is there a way to get this years June test to study?

RC in recent years (2007 maybe?) has a comparative passage--what do the two speakers agree on, what was listed as evidence in the first passage and not the second, etc.

I'm curious to know about LR. How much has that changed?

[surfermikedude]

I did PT 21 and 22 today, scoring a 167 and 168 respectively. This is with a dismal -6 on both RC's. Up to this point I have never really focused on RC in hopes it would magically improve itself as I do more and more PT's--I haven't even been reviewing my RC sections. Starting tomorrow I am going to try out Voyagers RC method and do a thorough review afterwards. A slight improvement on RC will push me into the 170's. Overall, however, I have been very happy with my improvement going from high 150's to consistent low 160's to consistent mid 160's and now consistent upper 160's. It's only a matter of time until I start getting consistent 170's!

Good Luck Everyone!

2 PTs in one day?! Other than being one of the most masochistic things I have ever heard, I hope you realize that your burning through practice material without reviewing.

[Gemini]

Hey guys, how's it going?

I'm feeling pretty well mentally right now, like I can tackle anything. I finished the Cambridge "Must be True" question types and got -18 out of 154 questions. 1/3 were 4 stars. Not too bad overall, but I'll definitely be reviewing those later.

Did 6 LG games a la Pithypike and only got -2. I'm off to do some RC work, but thought I'd drop in to say hi.

And Calbear, congrats on the scores! I'm amazed you did two in a row! I would totally advise against that... Who knows how well you'd have done on the second exam if you were fresher? But what a way to build endurance!!!

[jwaters]

This week I did all of the grouping, linear, and advanced linear games in The Next 10...around 24 games I think. Missed a total of 8 questions mostly due to stupid mistakes like misreading a question. I had already done most of the games once before, in June. I feel a lot more comfortable with the games now and will probably just do timed sections from now on.

I'm taking PT 40 in the morning...hoping for around a 167.

[northwood]

is anyone going through something similar? I have been drilling arguments and games by type for a couple of weeks now. I have done necessary and sufficient assumption questions, conclusion, some flaw, and inference questions, linear games, 2d spatial , and some grouping games. When I work on these, i find myself making only careless mistakes ( not reading an except, finding a necessary assumption for a sufficient assumption question, or vice versa)and feeling confident about myself. I am able to get through the games, sometimes in as little as 5 minutes, other times as long as 18 ( grouping games take forever) However, i just took a prep test and scored a 150. WHen i looked at my results, i was 85% accurate in sections 1 and 2 ( the first lr, and the lg section). the first rc section ( was the exp) i was able to get through 3 passages, missing a total of 4 questions in the ones that i attempted, and guessed on the rest. ( still good percentage) However, sections 4 and 5 ( rc that counted, and lr number 2) my accuracy rate plummeted like the stock market on black tuesday.( 75% accuracy on questions attempted in section 4, and a horrendous 61% in section 5) I felt myself just guessing a lot, and not really paying attention to the task at hand.

Has anyone else gone through this? If so, what are some strategies to use to combat the end of the test fatigue( i took a 15 minute break after section 3, took the test while roomates were watching tv and talking loudly on the phone in the other room to simulate test day annoyances) I havent really looked at the specific questions I missed ( do that tomorrow or sunday) so im not sure what types i got wrong. How common is it to see a very gradual increase ( arctic cold diag of 145) in the beginning, then see the scores increase. My goal is 163 on october.

Thanks for reading through this and for any suggestions. Cheers

[xqhp82]

i just did my first timed test (Superprep A) after exactly 1 month of preparation and got a 159 i felt that under time pressure i seem to have forgotten many strategies and things that i should focus on, and sometimes i just chose the 'probably right' answer and moved on. i must say the guesses i made seem more accurate than before, but i just had no idea how i did afterwards...

with about 11 weeks left, how should i dedicate my time to improve my score if i'm aiming for 168+? i have finished LGB, RCB, half of LRB, and most questions from pt1-20, and RC is my worst section (-9).

[lastch2]

just getting back into studying after having my appendix out pretty suddenly...i wonder if the pain meds interfered with all that i've been studying?? about to take PT 14, hopefully a week off of everything will give me a pretty realistic assessment of the past month or so of review, here's to it!!

[CurlyKat]

I feel your pain!!! I've been studying more than a month, although not as much as I should have and I got 157 on my first proper PT (timed, PT 20 the newer version with comparative reading). It sucks! I really hope I can pull it up at least 12 points.
I'm starting the LRB today, and gonna have to really focus now.

Btw- It sounds like an excuse, but I'm not a morning person at all.. my brain starts to work after lunch... then I can work hard and well till late at night. But the test is so early, I think it's really going to be a disadvantage. I'm trying to reset my body clock but I'm failing miserably so far. Anybody else got that problem?

I started the test at 10am and my first two sections were bad, even though I'm not bad at games I got stuck on one and didn't answer 7 questions... and on first LR I missed 11, on the second I missed 2 (that was the last section)! That seems to be the trend for me. Whenever I do two LR sections close together, I miss 7-11 in the first and 2-5 in the second. Is the second LR easier or is it just me? I feel like my concentration is much better after the first two sections.

[jwaters]

Took PT 40 earlier this morning....got a 163.

LR: -6
LG: -3
LR: -6
RC: -4

Its a little lower than what I was hoping for, but its still decent considering we still have 2 months of studying.
This is the worst I've ever done on LR and its really disappointing. I don't miss any specific questions types more than others, so I'm not really sure what I should do in order to improve.

[Patriot1208]

So 166 today on Preptest 51 with an RC experimental from one of the first tests. So far it has been 159 cold diagnostic, 163, 165, now 166. This has been in the last month. I plan on upping my practice tests the closer I get to October to eventually take around 20-25 tests. I'm a little pissed that i'm still haven't broken 170. And now i'm becoming increasingly worried about reaching my goal of 170.

Anyways test breakdown

LR - 4 (2 flaw, 1 main point, 1 inference)
RC - 5 (-3 of the 5 were from running out of time)
LG - 0
LR - 7 (struggled a tiny bit with time, 2 inference, 2 assumption, 1 paradox, 1 parallel reasoning, 1 weakener)

Anyways, continuing to freak out about not making gains I want.

[brickman]

So 166 today on Preptest 51 with an RC experimental from one of the first tests. So far it has been 159 cold diagnostic, 163, 165, now 166. This has been in the last month. I plan on upping my practice tests the closer I get to October to eventually take around 20-25 tests. I'm a little pissed that i'm still haven't broken 170. And now i'm becoming increasingly worried about reaching my goal of 170.

Anyways test breakdown

LR - 4 (2 flaw, 1 main point, 1 inference)
RC - 5 (-3 of the 5 were from running out of time)
LG - 0
LR - 7 (struggled a tiny bit with time, 2 inference, 2 assumption, 1 paradox, 1 parallel reasoning, 1 weakener)

Anyways, continuing to freak out about not making gains I want.

75 days, you are fine.

[Gemini]

So 166 today on Preptest 51 with an RC experimental from one of the first tests. So far it has been 159 cold diagnostic, 163, 165, now 166. This has been in the last month. I plan on upping my practice tests the closer I get to October to eventually take around 20-25 tests. I'm a little pissed that i'm still haven't broken 170. And now i'm becoming increasingly worried about reaching my goal of 170.

Anyways test breakdown

LR - 4 (2 flaw, 1 main point, 1 inference)
RC - 5 (-3 of the 5 were from running out of time)
LG - 0
LR - 7 (struggled a tiny bit with time, 2 inference, 2 assumption, 1 paradox, 1 parallel reasoning, 1 weakener)

Anyways, continuing to freak out about not making gains I want.

75 days, you are fine.

+1.

You are doing great!! The LG... WOW. And if your problem is time, which it seems like it is, 75 days is moooore than enough time to perfect that....

[CurbYourEnthusiasm]

Decided to finally make an account and contribute to these boards. Been studying for a month and a half and I'm finally starting to see how much studying pays off. My cold diagnostic was a 148, and I just took an untimed PT 40 today and got a 157.

LR: (-6)
LG: (-5)
LR: (-9)
RC: (-9)

I haven't even looked at RC yet, so I figure if I can progress a little there, and keep improving in arguments (assumption and parallel questions really kill me) I can maybe hit low 160s. I got a -5 in LG, but I forced myself to be timed for that, since games are my strong suit, I need to be timed to really see where I'm at. My only problem with games is not finishing them (In this prep test -4 out of the -5 was because I didn't finish and guessed wrong on every one haha). So hopefully with more practice and repetition I can eliminate that weakness.

If anyone needs some advice, I strongly, STRONGLY recommend the logical games and reasoning bibles. Powerscore is smart, they put the toughest questions in the practice sessions of LRB, so when you actually sit and do a prep test, I was amazed how easy some of the answers came to me. I was already good at games to begin with, but LRG helps refine some of your techniques. These techniques are much, much better than what I learned taking a PR class course last year.

[Hedwig]

The LRB is intimidating me. I zoomed through the LGB but I'm having trouble putting aside time for the LRB. I'm going to go try to power through a chapter or two at least.

EDIT: I am thoroughly amused by Powerscore's attitude and frequent references to LSAT World.

[queenlizzie13]

PT #38 Today - 167. Missed a lot on games, -5 one of my worst in awhile.
Games is normally my best. I find the older games a bit harder than the newer games for some reason and I haven't been concentrating on them since they were my best going into the June LSAT. Getting games back to the -0 and -1 that I'm used to, and I think I will finally start hitting 170's consistently.

Guess I need to hit the LGB a little harder.

On the plus side - reviewing tests is making LR a lot better. Still missing more than I want to be on RC, however...

[Hannibal]

You know what's not great motivation? Jewish family reunions.

I flew over to Jersey this weekend (I live in California), and saw all my east coast family I never see. When I talked to them about law school they started saying stuff like "You should go to NYU" and "You should go to Columbia" like it ain't no thang. Like 4/20 of my family over there are lawyers, two of which went to Columbia.

Somehow thinking of my accomplishments as less special decreases my desire. Hopefully temporarily.

[Precessional]

...

Lecter or Barca?

[Hannibal]

...

Lecter or Barca?

Barca. I also get the A-Team dude sometimes.

[Hedwig]

I really don't like weaken questions.

Also, I HATE HATE HATE falling for the Shell Choice answers! Especially when Powerscore is all... yo, this is the attractive Shell Game answer which most people pick. Haha.