October 2012 Retakers Forum

[MsAvocadoPit]

...but I was sneezing a lot and my test proctor app was turned all the way to full annoyance which featured sneezing, coughing, pencil tapping and jolts of noise every 15 seconds (way worse than it could ever be on test day) so I found it really hard to focus so I'm calling this one an aberration)

What's this app called? Maybe I'll give it a try!

PT56 today - 9 point increase from June score woot

[Br3v]

PT 59

LG -6 (had time expire so missed 3 off the bat)
LR -1
Experimental LR -1
LR -1
RC -2

Scaled: 173 (it doesnt matter but I played out the rest of LG with extra 3 minutes, score would be 176)

I have to get used to the new LG again!

another poster said that this LR was tough, I am better at LR consistently than any other section however i did notice that the LR1 in PT 59 was tough indeed.

[VasaVasori]

.

[052220151]

Just took a PT. I thought I totally shit the bed and was clawing my eyes out. Then I was surprisingly okay with my score.

PT 54

RC -5 (Jesus christ)
LR X (I don't have the answer key to it, so I'll never know)
LR -2

15 Minute Break

LG - 0
LR -3

Then with a pretty tough curve of -10, I managed to get a 170. I am going crazy with these things and I can no longer gauge how I did on each section. I always know LG is -0 or -1, but I though I killed the RC and bombed the last LR (like -10). Turns out it was the reverse. I really wish October 6th would just get here, but I am going to use every last day to get more consistent and hopefully continually break the 175 mark until it I get it on PT 67.

[chadbrochill]

Just took a PT. I thought I totally shit the bed and was clawing my eyes out. Then I was surprisingly okay with my score.

PT 54

RC -5 (Jesus christ)
LR X (I don't have the answer key to it, so I'll never know)
LR -2

15 Minute Break

LG - 0
LR -3

Then with a pretty tough curve of -10, I managed to get a 170. I am going crazy with these things and I can no longer gauge how I did on each section. I always know LG is -0 or -1, but I though I killed the RC and bombed the last LR (like -10). Turns out it was the reverse. I really wish October 6th would just get here, but I am going to use every last day to get more consistent and hopefully continually break the 175 mark until it I get it on PT 67.

Your situation seems similar to mine and has me so worried. On any given day I could easily drop -5 RC and all of a sudden I'm possibly sub-170, out of T14, not going to law school, reconsidering my life...ARGHHH!

[RCinDNA]

Just took PT55. Got my first 180 in this round of prep - the only question I missed was in LR on the only question I retroactively changed. Missed 2 on the X (LR from PT31).

I have taken the PT twice before, but not since November 2011. Though not much of the LR was familiar, all 4 RC passages were. Oh well, I'm peaking, which goes without saying. So if I continue like this I'll be happy. If my score didn't inflate today by 10+ points, I'll be very happy with Oct's score.

-

I'm trying to find trends - what makes me peak. After two days off, I studied ~2 hours yesterday and took a 5-section PT today. Crucially, I am very relaxed, not stressed. Unfortunately, this probably won't be the case on test day no matter what I do.

-

Another point I should make is to urge everyone to rethink taking the Friday before the test off. I think it varies from my person to person.

For both Dec. 2011 and June 2012 I took the day before off. I have noticed in this round of prep that this doesn't play to my strengths and weaknesses. I don't need to feel motivated (which taking the day before off helps), it's more important that I am focused, practiced, and well-rehearsed before I take a PT. I'm going to take the Thursday off, and prep for ~2 on the Friday. I am very confident that my performance will improve as a result.

I PT'd the day before June and it felt pretty good, so I'll probably do that again. I think taking a day off prep usually takes me out of the zone and takes a day of drilling to get back in.

I'm thinking to finish taking/retaking PTs I had planned up until the last week, then do four 7-section retakes of 60-66 in the four days preceding the big day.

What did you get in June?

[Volforlife]

Finally got my first 180 on PT 60

LR - 1
LG -0
LR -0
RC -1
LRx -3

Feels good, but can't stop here. Two more weeks.

[arcanecircle]

holy shit at that proctor app, had the distraction noise cranked up to max and the eraser noise almost made me

[NoodleyOne]

holy shit at that proctor app, had the distraction noise cranked up to max and the eraser noise almost made me

Is it for android?

[RCinDNA]

holy shit at that proctor app, had the distraction noise cranked up to max and the eraser noise almost made me

Is it for android?

I have it for iPhone/iPad. Might be available on droid.

Where'd you get it? Is it free or available from the market?

[sinfiery]

RC:
PT#55 -1 (33:30)
PT#40 -3 (35 minutes) (Library loudspeakers started going off saying they were closing during last passage, 3 questions missed: #s: 25, 26, and 27. lol.)
PT#45 -1 (34 minutes
PT#41 -1 (33:30)
PT#56 -0 (34:30)
PT#54 -1 (36)

Well, I would feel confident if I didn't take all of these tests roughly 1 year ago. I hate RC with a passion.

Time to take a fresh PT in the coming days and see if any of this studying actually helped.

[Pocahontas]

A little motivation from the Class Sizes and Medians thread to get us through these last two weeks.

Hey, I think Harvard's new numbers are out here http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/ ... ofile.html I think what we're seeing is good news for us applicants

ETA:
Harvard
170 (-1) 175 (-1)
3.77 (-0.01) 3.95 (-0.02)
557 (-2)

Keep pushing folks!

[sinfiery]

A little motivation from the Class Sizes and Medians thread to get us through these last two weeks.

Hey, I think Harvard's new numbers are out here http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/ ... ofile.html I think what we're seeing is good news for us applicants

ETA:
Harvard
170 (-1) 175 (-1)
3.77 (-0.01) 3.95 (-0.02)
557 (-2)

Keep pushing folks!

Ah damn.
That's some motivation right there..........

Now if only they didn't "claim" they average LSAT scores even if we aren't really sure they do when judging applicants (obviously not reporting)

[GATA1989]

PT52 this morning:
LRI:-1
LG:-0
LRII:-7 (not sure what happened here, most I've ever missed on a LR section, reviewing my misses tonight)
RC:-3
89 raw, 170 scaled

I used a highlighter on RC for the first time ever and I found it helpful, I did not miss a single detail question cause I think it helped me navigate the passage when I looked back for answers, I missed a Main Point question I shouldn't have and two author's view questions I shouldn't have, but I'm working on those.

I took a Kaplan class before June and they said do not use a highlighter but I liked it for RC and I am going to continue using it for my remaining PTs, does any one else use one? Is there a reason why I shouldn't use one?

[NoodleyOne]

Bleedthrough on the newsprint and the time it takes to switch would be the main factors, I imagine.

[Br3v]

PT 60

LR: -0
LG: -4 (still have to work on new games with the time, i missed these due to time because i rushed them)
LR: -1
RC: -0 (wow, i faintly remembered the passages from doing this PT in June so im sure that helped)

Scaled: 177

I am in a very good mood right now. I knew I was taking too long in LG, so I am not too worried because it isnt like a shock

[dba415]

Hey guys, new here but took the december lsat and got a 163, I'm better this time around, took my first real practice test (never taken before) after drilling for a few months. I did two tests that I have taken before previous to this and got a 173, and a 170.

PT50
RC: -6
LR1: -0
LG: -0
LR2: -2
172

Stupid RC, didn't help that my mom called me right while I was taking it and that lasted like a minute. Even still RC is my worst so not surprised that I missed 6. LG were really easy, which won't happen on the real thing. For LR it was easy, but I changed a right answer I had at the last minute.

For the next 2 weeks, I plan on doing a PT every single day more or less.

[cahwc12]

Bleedthrough on the newsprint and the time it takes to switch would be the main factors, I imagine.

bingo..... highlighter sounds like a death sentence for RC to me.

Not only do you lose time by switching AND anything you mark will bleed through, but why the hell are you highlighting things in the first place? Certainly very few people can remember EVERYTHING in a passage in 8 minutes, but most can at least recall where something was in the text to refer back to.

What exactly are you highlighting that you can't signify with a dash or mark with your pencil??

[chem!]

Bleedthrough on the newsprint and the time it takes to switch would be the main factors, I imagine.

bingo..... highlighter sounds like a death sentence for RC to me.

Not only do you lose time by switching AND anything you mark will bleed through, but why the hell are you highlighting things in the first place? Certainly very few people can remember EVERYTHING in a passage in 8 minutes, but most can at least recall where something was in the text to refer back to.

What exactly are you highlighting that you can't signify with a dash or mark with your pencil??

What I bolded is why I don't highlight. Every second counts for me.

[chadbrochill]

Bleedthrough on the newsprint and the time it takes to switch would be the main factors, I imagine.

bingo..... highlighter sounds like a death sentence for RC to me.

Not only do you lose time by switching AND anything you mark will bleed through, but why the hell are you highlighting things in the first place? Certainly very few people can remember EVERYTHING in a passage in 8 minutes, but most can at least recall where something was in the text to refer back to.

What exactly are you highlighting that you can't signify with a dash or mark with your pencil??

What I bolded is why I don't highlight. Every second counts for me.

I was actually really big on the highlighter until I realized that if you need a highlighter...you're not doing it right. Nowadays...comprehension is king with an occasional underline for a suspicious area (a weird logical indicator I feel might pop up...first/only)..is now my plan of attack.

This was my personal experience, but honestly if it helps you, go for it.

[sinfiery]

PT62 today:

-4 RC
-0 LR
-0 LG
-4 LR
175 (Wtf @ -14 curve, lol)

The -4 RC pissed me off but I could accept it. The -4 on LR just made me sad.

Finally saw the vaunted stained glass game, got my adrenaline rushing.

[cahwc12]

PT62 today:

-4 RC
-0 LR
-0 LG
-4 LR
175 (Wtf @ -14 curve, lol)

The -4 RC pissed me off but I could accept it. The -4 on LR just made me sad.

Finally saw the vaunted stained glass game, got my adrenaline rushing.

It really wasn't that bad, was it? All these games I hear about that are super hard (mauve dinos, island game) really don't seem to be that bad to me. Now seats on a bus... that was actually a hellish game.

[NoodleyOne]

Stained glass' difficulty hinges on making a couple of good inferences and efficiently hypo. It was certainly a time-intensive game... took me around 9 minutes, but that's primarily where the difficulty comes from.

[Honey_Badger]

PT 60

LR: -0
LG: -4 (still have to work on new games with the time, i missed these due to time because i rushed them)
LR: -1
RC: -0 (wow, i faintly remembered the passages from doing this PT in June so im sure that helped)

Scaled: 177

I am in a very good mood right now. I knew I was taking too long in LG, so I am not too worried because it isnt like a shock

That's an awesome score--congrats! I took that one this morning (not nearly as high of a score) and found myself running out of time as well, which caused me to panic on the last game (travel/Tuscany, etc.)
Keep rockin' the mid 170s!

[NoodleyOne]

PT 63 review tomorrow at 8pm EST. Be there or be cubed (didn't want it to be the same post as in the other thread).