The Official September 2017 Study Group Forum

[Barry grandpapy]

It's a garbage omelete kind of day.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Finally feeling better today..Ready to get back on track and crush it

[CottonHarvest]

People say the newer tests can be more difficult, but is there a rough range of PTs where it begins to change? My average on PTs 62-65 is a whole 4 points lower than my average from 58-61.

[creed]

Thanks for the responses.

Just PT'd

PT 42: 172

LG: -1 (finally)
LR1: -3
RC: -4
LR2: -1

Thoughts:

LG: Very happy that I've gotten LG down to the -1 range. I dinged the last question because of time, unfortunately.

LR: Didn't make any dumb mistakes, which is good. Two of the four I missed were flaw questions, so I'm going to drill those this upcoming week.

RC: Frustrating. This is my first test in the 40's, so I believe this is around when RC began to change (though not when it picked up comparative). I missed 3 of my 4 on a brutal art section. (Not sure if anyone remembers it, but it's the section about the comic book-ish art guy who apparently had some relationship with abstract expressionism that I couldn't comprehend well enough). But I think this was likely to happen-- I started around -1/-2 on RC and have ignored it so far. So it looks like it's back on the RC grindstone for me.

Overall: Changed a couple answers that I shouldn't have. Not happy that I'm down from a 174 on my last test, but I'm glad it's within a range I'm happy with. My last few tests have indicated that the shift I'd like to make into the upper 170's may be more a matter of stamina than anything else. Happy Saturday!

And today I present: My #1 Dumbest LSAT Studying Moment.

Upon review, I realized that I missed 2 LR questions because I understood the phrase "for granted" in its colloquial sense-- when you treat something ungratefully-- rather than its literal sense-- when you accept a proposition without question.

What a life!

[caramelizedgod]

Going to try and finish both the lg and lr bibles today by 5ish, got 2-3 chapters for each. Got a big wedding reception in the evening, bless indian weddings and endless open bars. oh and the food

[HesusChrist]

:

I'm with ya. I'm a few points behind on that LR, but RC is the bane of my existence. Did you find that constant RC drilling helped at all? I feel like there's something that I need to change fundamentally before RC will really start improving, but I'm at a loss for what to do

I don't really know but I probably gonna keep drilling a bit, since timing is a huge problem for me. If I could improve speed then I have at least some damage limitation.
Also I find that RC before PT70 or even before PT65 are not as challenging as the recent ones. I have some deep fear for the 70s RC...

Don't fear it. It's maybe a little different, but you'll adjust. I think people blow new RC out of proportion. There are plenty of really tough passages in older PTs.

[Barry grandpapy]

PT 69
LR 1: -0
LG: -1
RC: -1
LR 2: -2

177

I'm never eating a garbage omelette again.

[littlewing67]

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[HesusChrist]

PT 69: LR1: -3, LG:-0, RC: -0, LR2: -1. 177. Couple dumb mistakes in LR1. Overall though, feels good as we come towards final approach.

[Barry grandpapy]

PT 69: LR1: -3, LG:-0, RC: -0, LR2: -1. 177. Couple dumb mistakes in LR1. Overall though, feels good as we come towards final approach.

We're PT twins

[abujabal]

PT 66

RC: -2 (-1 BR)
LR1: -2 (-1 BR)
LG: -4 (No BR)
LR2: -2 (-1 BR)

170 (BR 173)

That LG killed me. So frustrating, but it's a score I'm happy with. Need to get that LG under control though (-3 on the first 3 questions, including the super easy "which one could be true" question. Really just rushing through for no good reason cost me a 173. So that's annoying. But I'm very happy that I'm back in the 170 zone (if barely) and that my LR is -2, because holy hell that's where I need to be permanently

[Platopus]

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[Platopus]

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[creed]

How beautiful that in the thick of LSAT studying Rick and Morty starts up again.

[Gluteus]

Can't wait to begin PTing.

My LG schedule got pushed back a bit after my eyes apparently failed me. Had to go a bit lighter than usual for a few days. Looked up some techniques to reduce eye strain and will implement them in the future.

Took today off because I had to finish up a brutal assignment for a class I'm doing this summer

Decided that I'm going to take my first PT in over a year on August 10th. This date will give me enough time to finish up the main portion of my LG preparation, as well as reacquaint myself with all of the LR types (and drill at least 500 questions).

I want to begin putting a number to my progress

[tapenade]

So I took a complete, timed, 4-section PT. Feeling pretty devastated!

PT 26

LG: -11
LR: -9
LR: -11
RC: -2
157

On the one hand, the scores reflect the strengths and weaknesses I was aware of. On the other, I thought I had improved upon those weaknesses significantly.

I guess blind review should be the next step? Maybe I just need more practice with timing... I had to guess on at least 4-5 questions because I didn't want to pause the proctor app.

[Barry grandpapy]

Floating trip round 2!!!

What flavor should my morning jello shot be: blue, green, or red?

[littlewing67]

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[abujabal]

So I took a complete, timed, 4-section PT. Feeling pretty devastated!

PT 26

LG: -11
LR: -9
LR: -11
RC: -2
157

On the one hand, the scores reflect the strengths and weaknesses I was aware of. On the other, I thought I had improved upon those weaknesses significantly.

I guess blind review should be the next step? Maybe I just need more practice with timing... I had to guess on at least 4-5 questions because I didn't want to pause the proctor app.

I'm not sure that you should be taking timed PTs at this point. On the one hand, you have a great RC score, so pat yourself on the back. That said, your LG and LR scores indicate that it could be worth taking some more time to learn the nuances of the test and some foundational approaches. What methods are you using for prep? I would focus on just getting the questions down before trying to figure out timing.

[saf18hornet]

People say the newer tests can be more difficult, but is there a rough range of PTs where it begins to change? My average on PTs 62-65 is a whole 4 points lower than my average from 58-61.

I saw no real difficulty shift at any point. If anything, the tests in the 30's are the most difficult to me.

[saf18hornet]

So I took a complete, timed, 4-section PT. Feeling pretty devastated!

PT 26

LG: -11
LR: -9
LR: -11
RC: -2
157

On the one hand, the scores reflect the strengths and weaknesses I was aware of. On the other, I thought I had improved upon those weaknesses significantly.

I guess blind review should be the next step? Maybe I just need more practice with timing... I had to guess on at least 4-5 questions because I didn't want to pause the proctor app.

Regarding timing, i think you need to slowwwww down. your score would be significantly better if you had only gotten through 3 of 4 games and only even attempted 17 or 18 questions in LR with 100% accuracy. Time is not your issue. When you are going -2 in each of these sections and it's because you didn't get to the last 2 questions, then, time is your issue.

You need to do untimed drilling and shoot for 100% accuracy.

[Mikey]

So I took a complete, timed, 4-section PT. Feeling pretty devastated!

PT 26

LG: -11
LR: -9
LR: -11
RC: -2
157

On the one hand, the scores reflect the strengths and weaknesses I was aware of. On the other, I thought I had improved upon those weaknesses significantly.

I guess blind review should be the next step? Maybe I just need more practice with timing... I had to guess on at least 4-5 questions because I didn't want to pause the proctor app.

That RC though!!!

I for sure agree with others though. Do untimed drilling and try to be as accurate as possible. Figure out and come up with a detailed explanation of why there are 4 wrong answer choices. I know this advice is usually thrown around here a lot, but it really is a useful thing to do in order to get better.

[sev]

i REALLY felt myself hunker down and focus on that last LR, but i don't know how i did it. reached question 18, thought to myself, "wow, you're flying," checked my watch and sure enough i had 20 minutes left. i wish i know what i did to turn things around mentally. that ever happen to anyone else? any tricks for putting yourself in that state of mind/turning things around that aren't just dumb luck?

Actually just felt this yesterday. Realized I had about 6:30 left as I flipped to the last RC passage after a brutal literature passage.

Couple things I noticed: my posture changed/back got straighter, my eyes physically focused harder, and my breathing got more controlled and tight. I'm speaking in passive terms because I wouldn't really say that I really made the decision to do those things--it was just my reaction to realizing that RC was about to screw me over again. (ended up -0ing the last passage with 45 seconds to spare)

Used to happen all the time in the college library about 3AM--sometime after the "I wonder what so-and-so is doing" phase and before the "why am I spending my life doing this right now" phase of an all-nighter.

[sev]

PT55: 174, BR: 175 LR1: -1, RC: -3 (missed Q4. ), LR2: -0, LG: -2 (tried to do much in my head) LR3 from PT31: -1

Based on some of the comments shortly above and recent experiences, I think I may skip the rest of the <60 PTs and knock out all of 60-80 until test day. The comparative RC passage in PT55 took me a while--it was only the second one I've seen in a full section and I'm worried there's other quirks I'm going to miss out on more recent tests.

My initial cold diagnostic was a 148.... in May. I just took test 59 today (July 28) and got a 174. I've seen tremendous progress and really grinded. I'm wondering if anyone who scores in the 170's has any feedback on how to keep the score going up... / on test day not drop lower.

50 Days till September Test legooooo

First off, that's a super impressive climb. Congrats. And I can only parrot the advice (earlier in the thread?)--"an RC section a day keeps the 160s away."

(Also interested in this question, if anyone has a more specific answer. )

[littlewing67]

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