December 2013 LSAT Study Group Forum

[ManoftheHour]

Any thoughts on reading the stem before the stimulus? Good/bad?

Always. ALWAYS DO IT

Seriously. How do you know what your task is without reading the stem? If the question stem asks you, "What is the main point," you can just browse through all the content of the premise shit and just pay attention to structure. Once you identify the main point, circle your answer and move on. No need to think about what the potential flaws are or anything. This is one tool I didn't have on my previous LSATs.

[tofuspeedstar]

Any thoughts on reading the stem before the stimulus? Good/bad?

Always. It saves time. After reading the stem you know what you need to look for. Versus if you read the stimulus first, then the stem you have to go back and see what's what.

[tbesancon]

Hey Fellow December test takers I'm joining the party. How many days do we have left?? can't wait to get this shit over with....again (Took june 2012).

[argh]

Hey all,
First post, also checking in.
This is my first time around, I started studying a couple of weeks ago and I just started a testmasters course this week.

[toshiroh]

Hey Fellow December test takers I'm joining the party. How many days do we have left?? can't wait to get this shit over with....again (Took june 2012).

I took in October 2012, so ready as well. Here's to our last time taking the test

[toshiroh]

Thoughts on diagramming in LR. I didn't do any diagramming in LR on my last test because I felt it took to much time. Does anyone here diagram the heavy conditional statement questions?

[dosto]

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[dosto]

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[cookiecrisp]

Hey Fellow December test takers I'm joining the party. How many days do we have left?? can't wait to get this shit over with....again (Took june 2012).

60 days.

[tbesancon]

Hey Fellow December test takers I'm joining the party. How many days do we have left?? can't wait to get this shit over with....again (Took june 2012).

I took in October 2012, so ready as well. Here's to our last time taking the test

Thank God! Are you applying this cycle as well?

[tbesancon]

Hey Fellow December test takers I'm joining the party. How many days do we have left?? can't wait to get this shit over with....again (Took june 2012).

60 days.

I wish we could speed it up.

[toshiroh]

Hey Fellow December test takers I'm joining the party. How many days do we have left?? can't wait to get this shit over with....again (Took june 2012).

I took in October 2012, so ready as well. Here's to our last time taking the test

Thank God! Are you applying this cycle as well?

Yes, I am, ready to get it all over with.

[Miracle]

Does anyone have any tips for improving on must be true/inference question? I always get every must be true/inference question wrong.

[vicpin5190]

Does anyone have any tips for improving on must be true/inference question? I always get every must be true/inference question wrong.

i'm hit and miss on them as well, but i've found they are often conditional statements or based off formal logic, so the answer that must be true is either like an extension of the conditionals or a contrapositive of an inference. Or it tests how well you know formal logic relationships. I tend to get thumped on these when it presents a lot of statements and forces you to weed out one of them in the answer choices.

someone let me know if i'm right on this or how off i am...you may help me too!

[Balthy]

Joining.

I know we don't have to worry about this for a while, but what are your guys' plans for the final week of prep? I feel like both of the most common approaches (tapering down/relaxing vs. making no changes at all) both make sense, so I'm not so sure what to do. For October I relaxed a lot the final week and I'm not so sure it helped me. Maybe this is a very person-specific issue.

[TheMostDangerousLG]

Does anyone have any tips for improving on must be true/inference question? I always get every must be true/inference question wrong.

i'm hit and miss on them as well, but i've found they are often conditional statements or based off formal logic, so the answer that must be true is either like an extension of the conditionals or a contrapositive of an inference. Or it tests how well you know formal logic relationships. I tend to get thumped on these when it presents a lot of statements and forces you to weed out one of them in the answer choices.

someone let me know if i'm right on this or how off i am...you may help me too!

Must be true questions turned around for me when I started thinking about them like logic game questions. In the same way that LG Qs that ask "Which must be true" mean MUST be true, i.e., CANNOT BE FALSE, these questions are asking for what necessarily logically follows from the stimulus. So all of the ACs you read that could be true, or even probably are true, are not right. You need to choose the AC that is by default true, if you accept everything in the stimulus to be true. Don't bring in any logic. Read the stimulus like a robot, compute, and instantly rule out anything that you don't know *has* to be true from the ACs.

[JustHawkin]

Checking in.
Would love to be able to be able to get a real study group/partner going IRL.
Anyone from New England?

[Miracle]

Does anyone have any tips for improving on must be true/inference question? I always get every must be true/inference question wrong.

i'm hit and miss on them as well, but i've found they are often conditional statements or based off formal logic, so the answer that must be true is either like an extension of the conditionals or a contrapositive of an inference. Or it tests how well you know formal logic relationships. I tend to get thumped on these when it presents a lot of statements and forces you to weed out one of them in the answer choices.

someone let me know if i'm right on this or how off i am...you may help me too!

Must be true questions turned around for me when I started thinking about them like logic game questions. In the same way that LG Qs that ask "Which must be true" mean MUST be true, i.e., CANNOT BE FALSE, these questions are asking for what necessarily logically follows from the stimulus. So all of the ACs you read that could be true, or even probably are true, are not right. You need to choose the AC that is by default true, if you accept everything in the stimulus to be true. Don't bring in any logic. Read the stimulus like a robot, compute, and instantly rule out anything that you don't know *has* to be true from the ACs.

Thank you for trying to help, however I still don't understand it. I feel like you have to be focused when you attempt these questions, and despite focusing extensively I still get lost. I don't know what to look for, and everything looks the same. Honestly I can spend up to 5-6 minutes on these questions (per question), and i still get it wrong. I don't know why i don't get it, why its not connecting for me.

I did ten questions today (difficulty level 1). I spent an hour on them; digesting, trying to understand and I still got them wrong.

[vicpin5190]

PT 64 today after work. Had to hold strong despite a long day with a deadline looming, but overall went pretty well i guess, still a little bit frustrated.

Scored 164, Going -7 LR#1, -3 LG's (2 careless errors, still kicking myself over), -5 LR#2, -7 RC.

Keep on this grind, still pretty far off where i want to be.

[alpha kenny body]

Not feeling well most definitely affects your performance...never taking a preptest with a stuffy nose and head cold ever again.

[Hotguy]

Not feeling well most definitely affects your performance...never taking a preptest with a stuffy nose and head cold ever again.

Oh yeah, what if u have a stuffy nose and head cold on test day?

[alpha kenny body]

Not feeling well most definitely affects your performance...never taking a preptest with a stuffy nose and head cold ever again.

Oh yeah, what if u have a stuffy nose and head cold on test day?

Walk out and cancel duh bro, but that's not going to happen, I just changed climates recently and it's taking some time to get adjusted. I'm rarely ever sick or under the weather.

[Hotguy]

Not feeling well most definitely affects your performance...never taking a preptest with a stuffy nose and head cold ever again.

Oh yeah, what if u have a stuffy nose and head cold on test day?

Walk out and cancel duh bro, but that's not going to happen, I just changed climates recently and it's taking some time to get adjusted. I'm rarely ever sick or under the weather.

Keep a stack of vit c for the last few weeks of prep

[alpha kenny body]

Not feeling well most definitely affects your performance...never taking a preptest with a stuffy nose and head cold ever again.

Oh yeah, what if u have a stuffy nose and head cold on test day?

Walk out and cancel duh bro, but that's not going to happen, I just changed climates recently and it's taking some time to get adjusted. I'm rarely ever sick or under the weather.

Keep a stack of vit c for the last few weeks of prep

Most definitely, I take multivitamins everyday regardless. I think it's mostly just the pollen count and dust are insane since a lot of farmers are harvesting around my weekday house.

[goldenboy514]

Joining.

I know we don't have to worry about this for a while, but what are your guys' plans for the final week of prep? I feel like both of the most common approaches (tapering down/relaxing vs. making no changes at all) both make sense, so I'm not so sure what to do. For October I relaxed a lot the final week and I'm not so sure it helped me. Maybe this is a very person-specific issue.

Took october 13 and definately tapered off in last week or so. Dont recommend this IMO. was pting once or twice a week before, and took last pt about 8 days before the real thing. When I got to the test i felt the test seemed extremely foreign to me. If this is your first test and you didnt take many pts, then maybe ease off so you lose the jitters. But if your a retaker, and/or youve taken enough pts...i see no reason to taper off at the end. Just my opinion, would have felt more comfortable if I did a PT 2 days before real thing. If you dont wanna score that last PT so you dont have a soul crushing experience, fair enough.