The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

JackelJ · Post by **JackelJ** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:04 pm

whacka wrote:Last night I was doing LR in my sleep... I don't even remember what the questions were or anything, I just remember I woke up three times in the middle of the night and remembered the last thing in my dream before I woke up was just me drilling LR. This shit isn't healthy. I had better not be doing LG in my sleep tonight, that would be even worse.

I was doing logic games in my dreams on a regular basis when I was prepping for last Septembers test. It was awful and I was stressed all the time. I've only had one night where I was doing logic games in my dreams this time around, so I guess that's better

JackelJ · Post by **JackelJ** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:07 pm

zacboro wrote:PS, is it just me or was the Feb group so much more active? Especially this close to game day..

This thread's tl;dr: OP refused to PW so the thread became lame and everyone left

DeathByLSATWasTaken · Post by **DeathByLSATWasTaken** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:13 pm

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a while, but this is my first post. I was wondering if I could get some input on whether or not to postpone and, if I do postpone, how to continue studying for four months when I've seen most of the material already.

A little over a month ago, I was scoring around 172-174, but my score has been dropping and I haven't broken 170 in almost a month. I just took another practice test tonight (October 2013, if it matters) and scored a 167. I would not be happy with a 167 and would probably retake with anything under a 172. Do you think it's possible to get back up to the 174 range in under 2 weeks, or should I postpone? I'd say my wrong answers are 60% RC, 35% LR, and 5% LG.

And if I do postpone, how should I study for four more months? Recently, my study method has just been taking practice tests and reviewing my wrong answers along with the ones I wasn't 100% sure about. I see you all talk about "drilling" a lot, which I assume means practicing a particular type of question over and over, so can someone tell me 1) Is that helpful? 2) How do you sort and compile groups of questions? and 3) Do you find that detrimental when you recognize questions that you've drilled on practice tests? At this point I feel like I've seen most of the questions LSAC has administered in the past 10 years.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:42 pm

JackelJ wrote:
whacka wrote:Last night I was doing LR in my sleep... I don't even remember what the questions were or anything, I just remember I woke up three times in the middle of the night and remembered the last thing in my dream before I woke up was just me drilling LR. This shit isn't healthy. I had better not be doing LG in my sleep tonight, that would be even worse.
I was doing logic games in my dreams on a regular basis when I was prepping for last Septembers test. It was awful and I was stressed all the time. I've only had one night where I was doing logic games in my dreams this time around, so I guess that's better

wth guys...I also had a LR dream a couple nights ago...We all need to chill out.

NL2424 · Post by **NL2424** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:46 pm

Oskosh · Post by **Oskosh** » Wed May 27, 2015 12:43 am

Really inconsistent... Took PT 72.. Got rocked by LR and RC, but did well on the games. Pt 72 isn't so bad...the last game is the easiest of them all... And the first game is irregular but doable... Nevertheless got -3 on LG because of laziness and those stupid substitution rules. I just want to perform well on test day... I'm able to answer the questions but need to find a perfect balance between speed and accuracy... Especially with reading comp

TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Wed May 27, 2015 10:15 am

DeathByLSATWasTaken wrote:And if I do postpone, how should I study for four more months? Recently, my study method has just been taking practice tests and reviewing my wrong answers along with the ones I wasn't 100% sure about. I see you all talk about "drilling" a lot, which I assume means practicing a particular type of question over and over, so can someone tell me 1) Is that helpful? 2) How do you sort and compile groups of questions? and 3) Do you find that detrimental when you recognize questions that you've drilled on practice tests? At this point I feel like I've seen most of the questions LSAC has administered in the past 10 years.

Most common form of drilling involves getting the Cambridge packets for the question/difficulty/section you're focusing on, such as: http://www.cambridgelsat.com/problem-se ... reasoning/. Personally, I haven't worked through any of the LR packets, but fully intend to for my next take. Drilling the Difficult Games packet was incredibly helpful (and a confidence booster). Most of the packets just include questions from PTs 1-38 (38 is from 2002, so you're working from older tests you're less likely to be familiar with).

TheWalkingDebt · Post by **TheWalkingDebt** » Wed May 27, 2015 11:31 am

Took PT 57 yesterday after taking too many days off.

I thought the dinosaur game was pretty straightforward, albeit time consuming comparatively. The big inference seemed to be about the distribution of numbers and recognizing the in/out nature with the fact that only two of the toys could be out at any given time, which I figured out almost immediately. Went -0 on it and -1 on LG, but then proceeded to go -6 on the other 3 sections for a 164. Made some silly over-thinking mistakes on both LR sections and RC is just confounding because I'll go -0 on the first two passages and then somehow just tank on the last two. I'm getting the sense that I need to slow down on tech/science passages. Drilling a bit to start today and hoping that gets my mind going and taking PT 58.

I realllllllly need to see 170+ a lot over these next two weeks or I may also postpone/sign up for October in addition to June.

Generally · Post by **Generally** » Wed May 27, 2015 12:13 pm

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sox49 · Post by **sox49** » Wed May 27, 2015 2:50 pm

TheWalkingDebt wrote:Took PT 57 yesterday after taking too many days off.

I thought the dinosaur game was pretty straightforward, albeit time consuming comparatively. The big inference seemed to be about the distribution of numbers and recognizing the in/out nature with the fact that only two of the toys could be out at any given time, which I figured out almost immediately. .

i agree about the dino game. i really didnt think it was very difficult. it wasnt easy or anything, just not really killer. i also thought the stain glass windows game wasnt that bad either, just really open ended. ive had more trouble with some of the tricky little linear games in the mid 60s. i hate complicated linear games. id much rather have a complex grouping game. for me its way easier to put 8 things in 3 spots, for example, than 7 things in 7 spots. just me. anyways back to doing stuff

TheWalkingDebt · Post by **TheWalkingDebt** » Wed May 27, 2015 3:08 pm

I am not BRing any more.

PT 58

Timed: 171
LR1 (-3)
RC (-0)
LG (-3) - time issues, last game got me and guessed on 2.
LR2 (-4)

ETA: observable differences in routine are waking up earlier, eating earlier, and drilling before taking timed PT all done today as opposed to previous 6-7 tests.

ChillTomG · Post by **ChillTomG** » Wed May 27, 2015 4:24 pm

Finished PT 62. Freaking -4 RC

, -0 games, -1/-2 LR. 176.

Happy that I have moved up from [-8,-14] in RC to [-1,-4] and [-6,-10] LR to [-2,-4] but still.

Thinking that the only way to keep pushing up is to cancel (but take) the June score. It seems that there is no way I will hit my goal of routine 180s on PTs with <2 weeks to go.

buckiguy_sucks · Post by **buckiguy_sucks** » Wed May 27, 2015 4:30 pm

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nlee10 · Post by **nlee10** » Wed May 27, 2015 5:33 pm

buckiguy_sucks wrote:
ChillTomG wrote:Finished PT 62. Freaking -4 RC , -0 games, -1/-2 LR. 176.

Happy that I have moved up from [-8,-14] in RC to [-1,-4] and [-6,-10] LR to [-2,-4] but still.

Thinking that the only way to keep pushing up is to cancel (but take) the June score. It seems that there is no way I will hit my goal of routine 180s on PTs with <2 weeks to go.
What will a 180 get you that a 176 wouldn't? Sorry for turning this into a point about admissions and not LSAT studying but the difference seems pretty negligible IMO

pride

TheProdigal · Post by **TheProdigal** » Wed May 27, 2015 5:52 pm

buckiguy_sucks wrote:
ChillTomG wrote:Finished PT 62. Freaking -4 RC , -0 games, -1/-2 LR. 176.

Happy that I have moved up from [-8,-14] in RC to [-1,-4] and [-6,-10] LR to [-2,-4] but still.

Thinking that the only way to keep pushing up is to cancel (but take) the June score. It seems that there is no way I will hit my goal of routine 180s on PTs with <2 weeks to go.
What will a 180 get you that a 176 wouldn't? Sorry for turning this into a point about admissions and not LSAT studying but the difference seems pretty negligible IMO

Better question might be what would a [cancel, 180] get you that a [176, 180] wouldn't?

TheWalkingDebt wrote:I am not BRing any more.

PT 58

Timed: 171
LR1 (-3)
RC (-0)
LG (-3) - time issues, last game got me and guessed on 2.
LR2 (-4)

ETA: observable differences in routine are waking up earlier, eating earlier, and drilling before taking timed PT all done today as opposed to previous 6-7 tests.

Congrats! That's awesome on RC.

buckiguy_sucks · Post by **buckiguy_sucks** » Wed May 27, 2015 9:33 pm

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TheWalkingDebt · Post by **TheWalkingDebt** » Wed May 27, 2015 9:58 pm

TheProdigal wrote: Congrats! That's awesome on RC.

Thanks. I am doing better overall when I am not marking the passage and just reading through it quickly to get a sense of where information is while retaining whatever I can. I'm tearing through most passages at 5-6 minutes a piece including questions. I think the approach of marking the sides was distracting me from the actual content.

ChillTomG · Post by **ChillTomG** » Wed May 27, 2015 11:33 pm

buckiguy_sucks wrote:
TheProdigal wrote:
Better question might be what would a [cancel, 180] get you that a [176, 180] wouldn't?
An excellent point

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

I guess I am operating under three assumptions:

1) My game day score will be a few points lower than the PTs. Right now my best scores are 174, 176 out of six tests total (granted these were the most recent). So it may be a 170, close to 180 as with as much probability as 176, close 180.

2) Don't most schools look and consider all of your scores? I know that for USNWR rankings they only consider the highest score, but my impression was that adcoms look with more favor on a singleton high score.

3) I have been studying for under a month. I have raised my PT score already from the diagnostic from 162 to mid 170s. I assume I can reach 180 consistently on PTs to allow for the possibility of a dip into upper 170s.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

buckiguy_sucks · Post by **buckiguy_sucks** » Wed May 27, 2015 11:41 pm

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Generally · Post by **Generally** » Thu May 28, 2015 7:21 am

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Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Thu May 28, 2015 10:21 am

Hey ya'll. Reporting my latest results after being AFK since February (167 on that test).

I think I've seen every game ever by now and have mastered them!

I just took June 2009 test and got a 174 on it!
Perfect games,
-4 on LR
-3 on RC

My recent tests have been a 171, 173, 176, 171, 168(-2 LR -1 LG -11 in reading comp), 174(just yesterday).

That 168 was me punting the first passage and then running out of time before reaching the fourth passage because I spent so much time on thIs new urbanism passage and still had no idea what the passage was doing.

I'm a 3.5gpa MA from DFW who wants to go to Harvard Columbia or NYU. Very first diagnostic was a 154 so I'm pretty excited to take this June test and finally be done!

whacka · Post by **whacka** » Thu May 28, 2015 2:08 pm

equang · Post by **equang** » Thu May 28, 2015 3:12 pm

whacka wrote:PT 70: this one was kinda unorthodox because I've been working full time and can't do LG in the office so I have to dedicate all of my time at home to LG. This means I split this PT up and did it at work, sections 1 and 2 yesterday and 3 and 4 today. Not ideal, obviously, but it is what it is. The office is also substantially more distracting so it's good practice for my concentration!

LR1: -2
RC: -3
LG: -1
LR2: -2

-8 for 173

Not sure how to feel about this. LR is still not what it was on my old PTs and I'm not quite sure why. Both of my misses in section 1 were due completely to a skipped or misread word, which actually makes me feel better. Both of the other 2 were bona fide wrong answers that even BR wouldn't have helped. RC is RC, I'll take what I can get. LG was due to running out of time. I've got an ill and the only cure is more drilling.

Took 70 yesterday as well, we are pretty close:
Lr -1
RC-3
Lg-0
Lr-3

My mistakes were all comical....

Did all 4 sections without any break lol.

Anyone have tips/links to share for weaken or assumption? Did the trainer and manhattan for lr, they are boring when re-reading. I think I need to look for alternative explanations on some of the causal q's.

What is comforting to know at this stage is that every (or a large majority)wrong answer is solidly wrong.

whacka · Post by **whacka** » Thu May 28, 2015 3:22 pm

JackelJ · Post by **JackelJ** » Thu May 28, 2015 4:29 pm

ccordero wrote:
msp8 wrote:Btw, I wanted to ask earlier as you were talking about making changes to your RC approach ... what sort of things did you change? And is it still going well?
Also curious to see what Jackel did to switch up the RC approach

Re RC: I haven't changed my approach too much. I basically read the passage actively, taking note of what the main purpose of each paragraph is and the authors attitude. I guess I changed my approach in that I really try to be actively reading and processing the information. I don't take too many notes or mark up the passage other than underlining parts that I think are very important (ie main points, authors view, etc). I've also really tried to internalize the passage before going to the questions. Then I go through the questions and use POE for most of them. I only check back with the text if there's a specific line reference or if I'm down to two AC's after eliminating the rest. I went -4 in RC on my PT today, which is an improvement for me.

Ymmv, I'm a slower reader with a good memory and this is what I've found to be best for me so far.