The Official February 2015 Study Group Forum

[leslieknope]

Off topic but has anyone been able to get the Georgetown COA calculator to load? It won't on my dads computer or on my phone.

This one? It's not loading for me either.

[gamerish]

Post removed...

[leslieknope]

Oh man, now I'll be refreshing it too so I can figure out all the ways I'm too broke for GULC.

[Rigo]

[nlee10]

Going to a wedding in a little bit. Maybe I'll post a PW later today.

[ilikebaseball]

Going to a wedding in a little bit. Maybe I'll post a PW later today.

maybe you can respond to your emails too...

[m27]

Classic Dave tangent about causal arguments:
"You know, the classic chicken and the egg scenario... Have I ever told you the joke about the chicken and the egg? Chicken and egg lying in bed; egg is smoking a cigarette, the chicken goes, 'Well, guess that settles that'"

Noice
http://www.velocitylsat.com/video/secti ... ions-1-7-0
@ 2:35

[NL2424]

..

[ilikebaseball]

So this week my PT scores have been pretty consistent with 171, 168, 168. All though, every time once I'm done scoring my PT I feel like I can do better, and I always make an excuse like "oh today I should've warmed up LR" or "I was super burnt out today" or like "Well I didn't get enough sleep last night." ... But I feel like maybe I should just accept that these are my scores and to stop making excuses. (I still drill and review as hard no matter what). But like does anyone else find themselves doing this? Every PT using some excuse that very well could be valid, but nonetheless attributing your lack luster score to some other factor than your own inadequacies?

I did when I was first starting out, but I learned to accept it because I think that's just part of the whole deal. You're taking a mentally taxing test. So improper sleep or "wow I narrowed it down to two so I was really close!" or "man I had it but I changed answers" or "I was really hungry the entire test" are all part of the experience. I won't be able to make excuses on test day for myself, so I try not to in practice.

Almost corresponds with the "try to simulate test conditions" deal. On test day, you're gonna go out of your way to make sure you are energized, well fed, warmed up, etc. If you can somehow make PTs seem harder than the actual test, I think its only to one's benefit to do so. Sorta like the military. They train their ass off for situations that half of them may not be thrown into. However, when they ARE thrown into that situation, it feels like cake because they've trained over and over and over in far more intense situations to prepare for it.

[ilikebaseball]

Updated with BR

PT 173

RC-2 (1)
LR-4 (2)
LG-1 (0)
LR-5 (1)

170 (179)

If I made a mistake in LR, it was misreading the question stem. So damn petty. JFC its like a 6th grade mistake or something

[Dr. Nefario]

Since everyone is posting their study setups

[img]baby%20groot%20adds%20plus%205%20to%20logic[/img]

[leslieknope]

This necessary vs. sufficient assumption drill in Manhattan LR is on point. I've been making mistakes here that I didn't even realize I was making. :/

[ilikebaseball]

This necessary vs. sufficient assumption drill in Manhattan LR is on point. I've been making mistakes here that I didn't even realize I was making. :/

What type of drill is it? Just assump. questions?

[NL2424]

..

[leslieknope]

This necessary vs. sufficient assumption drill in Manhattan LR is on point. I've been making mistakes here that I didn't even realize I was making. :/

What type of drill is it? Just assump. questions?

Identifying how the characteristics of the AC in a sufficient assumption question differ from the characteristics of an AC in a necessary assumption question, and how something can be correct for a sufficient assumption but incorrect for a necessary assumption. I've kind of been treating all assumption questions the same, and it and PR are probably the places I drop points most often.

[mizu]

Hi everyone. I'm taking the test in June so I'm still drilling the Cambridge LR packets, but I was wondering if any seasoned LR masters here can explain why choice D is incorrect in PT1 S4 Q13? This is Q77 in the Necessary Assumption packet.

The Manhattan forum explanations make no sense to me. If we negate D, then voters are paying enough attention to the election to be able to make informed decisions. Doesn't this negation imply that voters are able to make informed decisions (via alternative sources of information such as attending town halls)? Or does this reasoning not stand because it contradicts the part of the stimulus that says "They are deprived of the information they need to make informed decisions because the press is ignoring..."?

Been debugging my thought process for the past 20 minutes. Help would be much appreciated! Thank you.

[Shakawkaw]

Classic Dave tangent about causal arguments:
"You know, the classic chicken and the egg scenario... Have I ever told you the joke about the chicken and the egg? Chicken and egg lying in bed; egg is smoking a cigarette, the chicken goes, 'Well, guess that settles that'"

Noice
http://www.velocitylsat.com/video/secti ... ions-1-7-0
@ 2:35

And my perpetual lady boner for Dave Hall is further validated. He's the fucking man.

[brusselsprouts]

Did PT 64 today. I felt so terrible I almost didn't finish..but I scored a 170!

LR: -7 (!!!)
LG: -1
RC: -5 (ouch, but it was my last section and I totally rushed)

I also went -0 on my experimental section (LG) which I thought I bombed completely. I was so happy it was the experimental section (I didn't know which one it was)

I'm so happy and relieved right now. As miserable as I was during the test I'm obviously glad I hit 170, but even happier that this shows me I can take the test even when I'm not feeling my best.

Going to BR and do a serious review tomorrow to figure out why I was so thrown off.

[kang]

Going to a wedding in a little bit. Maybe I'll post a PW later today.

Updated with BR

PT 173

RC-2 (1)
LR-4 (2)
LG-1 (0)
LR-5 (1)

170 (179)

If I made a mistake in LR, it was misreading the question stem. So damn petty. JFC its like a 6th grade mistake or something

dude! good job!!

Did PT 64 today. I felt so terrible I almost didn't finish..but I scored a 170!

LR: -7 (!!!)
LG: -1
LR: -5 (ouch, but it was my last section and I totally rushed)

I also went -0 on my experimental section (LG) which I thought I bombed completely. I was so happy it was the experimental section (I didn't know which one it was)

I'm so happy and relieved right now. As miserable as I was during the test I'm obviously glad I hit 170, but even happier that this shows me I can take the test even when I'm not feeling my best.

Going to BR and do a serious review tomorrow to figure out why I was so thrown off.

nice!!! What was your score for RC?

So am I like the only one who did really terribly today?

[brusselsprouts]

nice!!! What was your score for RC?

So am I like the only one who did really terribly today?

oops sorry the -5 is RC...I edited my post to say that

don't get discouraged by a less than stellar day...I've had many this week and every week. I just remind myself how much I've improved, and remind myself that TLS is a great resource, but shouldn't be considered the norm for test takers, so don't get too discouraged.

[kang]

nice!!! What was your score for RC?

So am I like the only one who did really terribly today?

oops sorry the -5 is RC...I edited my post to say that

don't get discouraged by a less than stellar day...I've had many this week and every week. I just remind myself how much I've improved, and remind myself that TLS is a great resource, but shouldn't be considered the norm for test takers, so don't get too discouraged.

Yeah...I suppose lol.

For review, are you doing mostly timed drills or untimed? I've been doing untimed this past week and I think that's what caused the freak out during my LR sections today. I finished my first run through with about 7 minutes left per section. (which I thought was awesome) Then I went back to those questions that I circled, but I'm realizing right now that most of my mistakes were on questions that I didn't circle... lol epitome of confidence error +anxiety...

[m27]

Just finished an exhausting blind review on today's PT. Overall, I'm happy because I'm feeling and seeing improvement with LR but bummed at my less than stellar LG performance today. Misread a rule which caused me to screw up and drop 3 easy questions..plus I couldn't get the rule substitution question right on BR. I also got destroyed by the comparative reading passage (5 wrong), probably because I skipped it and did the Dostoyevsky passage first because it had more questions, leaving me with only ~7 minutes. Definitely going to watch the Dave Hall video for that passage one and do it again in a week. I didn't BR my experimental LR yet, going to do that now. Tomorrow is PT 65!

PT 64
LR1: -3/-2
LG: -4/-1 fuuuuuuuuuuu
LR2: -5/-1
RC: -8/-3
Raw: 81/94

165/175

[brusselsprouts]

nice!!! What was your score for RC?

So am I like the only one who did really terribly today?

oops sorry the -5 is RC...I edited my post to say that

don't get discouraged by a less than stellar day...I've had many this week and every week. I just remind myself how much I've improved, and remind myself that TLS is a great resource, but shouldn't be considered the norm for test takers, so don't get too discouraged.

Yeah...I suppose lol.

For review, are you doing mostly timed drills or untimed? I've been doing untimed this past week and I think that's what caused the freak out during my LR sections today. I finished my first run through with about 7 minutes left per section. (which I thought was awesome) Then I went back to those questions that I circled, but I'm realizing right now that most of my mistakes were on questions that I didn't circle... lol epitome of confidence error +anxiety...

I'm doing mostly timed sections from early PTs and drilling some LR (by type) untimed. I also just started reading Manhattan LR so I'll be doing that as well. I did blueprints online course so I've followed that syllabus until now.

When was your last day off? or at least a light day? I know it's close
to test day but I'm a strong believer in taking time off and would definitely suggest it

[Dr. Nefario]

Read first 4 chapters of Manhattan LR today. Feeling like it is helping me understand LR more. (Thanks Rigo) hopefully at the end of this book I PT and my LR is significantly improved. If I can hit the 167 mark on test day that's all I want. A three point increase and a significant boost for scholarships. I'll be happy with more obviously, but that is my base goal.

[RZ5646]

Read first 4 chapters of Manhattan LR today. Feeling like it is helping me understand LR more. (Thanks Rigo) hopefully at the end of this book I PT and my LR is significantly improved. If I can hit the 167 mark on test day that's all I want. A three point increase and a significant boost for scholarships. I'll be happy with more obviously, but that is my base goal.

Can you compare it to LR Bible?