The Official June 2016 Study Group Forum

[patttt]

I'm really glad that so many people are interested in reviewing Cambridge LR/LR questions together!! So, it looks like Sunday night is what we are moving towards, anyone know how we are going to meet virtually and what time works for everyone? Should we do 5pm PST, 8pm EST (or is that too late for east coast ppl?, my life is this exam currently so I'm ok with any time PST). Bing mentioned blackboard awhile back, otherwise we could just do a group skype call. I like the idea of blackboard though so we can diagram questions or illustrate our reasoning while we talk it through, with skype we are limited to typing and talking.



Thoughts?

My school switched away from blackboard last year, so I don't think ill be able to use it. Skype should work though.

Same thing here with the test being my life, so pretty much any time works for me as well.

[sephora_addict]

Legit starting Monday morning.

Same here. Can't wait for my books to finally get here. I feel like I've been waiting forever for them. Is it weird that I'm excited to get more LSAT prep books?

[sephora_addict]

I wanted to share with everyone that I use the site listed below to warm up in the mornings that I do logic-games. I've been doing LG in 4 hour blocks straight, but when I wake up I usually hit the following website to get my brain moving. It's a logic-puzzle community, where you can play games. One of the fundamental things the site has taught me is an instinct of what can't go where in certain games. For instance, if there are days listed Monday-Saturday and you know that 2 objects (say appointments) follow a certain object then you can say with certainty that the object cannot go in Friday or Saturday (because doing so would force the 2 followers off the board.) This tells us certain inferences that have become very easy for me to spot, namely where is the earliest an object can go and where it can't go. I write these inferences down automatically on my master game board, sometimes the LSAT rewards this up-front work with questions like

[+] Spoiler

62-2-12

and it takes me less than 8 seconds to answer the question. Time is money on this test.

P.S. the site is free and I have no material interest in attracting traffic to the site. I'm merely showing the site to the followers of this thread to compliment their studies and hopefully score -0 on the LG section.


http://logic-puzzles.org/init.php

Thanks for sharing! I will start doing the same in the morning before drilling LG's. Will let you know how it goes for me. I like anything that can help me improve and go -0 on LG. That is the dream.

[aghassemi91]

These next three Sundays won't work for me, but after that I definitely want to join you guys in the review sessions. I know you're planning on doing the LR bundles, but I didn't see any mention of RC review. Would anyone be interested in that as well?

[sephora_addict]

These next three Sundays won't work for me, but after that I definitely want to join you guys in the review sessions. I know you're planning on doing the LR bundles, but I didn't see any mention of RC review. Would anyone be interested in that as well?

I think we should review all 3 sections. Not all at once but spread out over the next few months.

[aghassemi91]

These next three Sundays won't work for me, but after that I definitely want to join you guys in the review sessions. I know you're planning on doing the LR bundles, but I didn't see any mention of RC review. Would anyone be interested in that as well?

I think we should review all 3 sections. Not all at once but spread out over the next few months.

That would be perfect if everyone else is up for it.

[Gluteus]

Time to drill LG for 4 hours

Woohoo

[somethingElse]

Time to drill LG for 4 hours

Woohoo

Appropriate avatar

[ngogirl12]

These next three Sundays won't work for me, but after that I definitely want to join you guys in the review sessions. I know you're planning on doing the LR bundles, but I didn't see any mention of RC review. Would anyone be interested in that as well?

I think we should review all 3 sections. Not all at once but spread out over the next few months.

I'd be down to do LR and RC, but I'm planning on drilling LG through the Cambridge LG bundles I have (volumes 1 and 2) and cross checking with 7Sage and their fool proof guide to games, and then when I do PT's 39-77 cross checking it with 7Sage again. I think prior to taking the actual PT's I'm going to make copies of the LG's so I can practice them after the fact..

[ngogirl12]

So I spent the day reviewing MSS questions, surprise surprise.

One thing I noticed is that they are broken into 3 types of questions:

1. Provide limited information in the stimulus, and you find a conclusion which is supported by a premise or some premises in the answer choice.
2. Resolve a discrepancy between two different facts i.e. apples are sour but apples are not sour (this is an extreme example, I couldn't think of a better one lol) and find the explanation in the answer choices.
3. The stimulus is a set of facts, the answer choice is either paraphrasing one of the premises and ignoring the rest, or somehow tangentially supporting the premises.

Another thing I noticed is the questions I am getting wrong are all statistics related, I wish there was some way I could deal with this. I am hoping the 7Sage curriculum will help me with this OR should I read a statistics for dummies book? I took Statistics in undergrad, but it was an easy A class and it was a long time ago, so I don't really remember much..

[sephora_addict]

So I spent the day reviewing MSS questions, surprise surprise.

One thing I noticed is that they are broken into 3 types of questions:

1. Provide limited information in the stimulus, and you find a conclusion which is supported by a premise or some premises in the answer choice.
2. Resolve a discrepancy between two different facts i.e. apples are sour but apples are not sour (this is an extreme example, I couldn't think of a better one lol) and find the explanation in the answer choices.
3. The stimulus is a set of facts, the answer choice is either paraphrasing one of the premises and ignoring the rest, or somehow tangentially supporting the premises.

Another thing I noticed is the questions I am getting wrong are all statistics related, I wish there was some way I could deal with this. I am hoping the 7Sage curriculum will help me with this OR should I read a statistics for dummies book? I took Statistics in undergrad, but it was an easy A class and it was a long time ago, so I don't really remember much..

You definitely do not need to read any book on statistics. 7Sage will help you improve on MSS questions as well as all other LR question types. If you don't understand a lesson, review it again and again until you understand MSS questions. If you get a question wrong, read through the answer choices until you understand why a question is wrong and what makes the correct answer choice right. It is the reason i'm -1 or -0 on LR. I started using 7Sage in September and then got discouraged a bit due to some life events going on.. Anyway i'm back to studying now and ready to get to that 180! Let me know if you improve or need any help with LR questions

[kgm1990]

Anyone here into chess and want to get a game going on the side?

I hear chess is great for the brain, and I'm sure it would be great to get your brain in shape. Personally, I'm just eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle i.e. enough sleep and exercise to get my brain in shape.

Halo 4 is also great for the brain; it's quite stimulating. 0_o

What is Halo 4? A game?

My inner teenage boy's heart is breaking. But yes, it is a game--and I might have just come off a four day binge. But hey, someone's gotta beat the master chief collection.

[guppiesbaby]

Hey folks. I am retaking in June -- just took the December test and dropped 9 points compared to my latest PT averages. Yikes!

Anyway, I have a lot of time to study for the June test...I am going to follow a retake plan but is it too soon to start? I'm worried about burning through all of the materials (again) or just not timing it right. Any other retakers have a plan? Any thoughts are appreciated!

[Rigo]

Not too soon to start whatsoever.
Starting to drill for a few hours each morning with 2 PT's a week starting end of month or February.

[guppiesbaby]

Not too soon to start whatsoever.
Starting to drill for a few hours each morning with 2 PT's a week starting end of month or February.

Awesome, thank you for the input

[maraschino]

161 is great from this point. What was your diag?

My first and only PT was 158 I believe. It was a few years ago.

The next few months should be fun. I'm looking forward to digging deep.

[maraschino]

I have Tests 53-77, I'm planning to go through them for the 7 weeks leading up to the test. 3 per week then 4 per week alternating so I don't get burnt out.

January-April will be dedicated to the LSAT Trainer, Powerscore LGB and LRB.

Does this sound like a reasonable study schedule?

[guppiesbaby]

I wanted to share with everyone that I use the site listed below to warm up in the mornings that I do logic-games. I've been doing LG in 4 hour blocks straight, but when I wake up I usually hit the following website to get my brain moving. It's a logic-puzzle community, where you can play games. One of the fundamental things the site has taught me is an instinct of what can't go where in certain games. For instance, if there are days listed Monday-Saturday and you know that 2 objects (say appointments) follow a certain object then you can say with certainty that the object cannot go in Friday or Saturday (because doing so would force the 2 followers off the board.) This tells us certain inferences that have become very easy for me to spot, namely where is the earliest an object can go and where it can't go. I write these inferences down automatically on my master game board, sometimes the LSAT rewards this up-front work with questions like

[+] Spoiler

62-2-12

and it takes me less than 8 seconds to answer the question. Time is money on this test.

P.S. the site is free and I have no material interest in attracting traffic to the site. I'm merely showing the site to the followers of this thread to compliment their studies and hopefully score -0 on the LG section.


http://logic-puzzles.org/init.php

Crap. Even the easy one is making my head hurt! Will keep at them though.

[dvc5240]

Looking for study materials recommendations...

I've already completed all of the bibles and practice books that go with them. What's the next best thing/a good alternative?

Received a 156 my first time around (after studying 6+ months) so I'm definitely looking to try a new approach!

[sephora_addict]

Looking for study materials recommendations...

I've already completed all of the bibles and practice books that go with them. What's the next best thing/a good alternative?

Received a 156 my first time around (after studying 6+ months) so I'm definitely looking to try a new approach!

Manhattan LR, Manhattan RC, and Blueprint LG. Also if you haven't already I would purchase Cambridge packets by question type so after you learn about a specific question type, like MSS or Flaw questions for example, you can then drill those question types and get better at them. Review every question you answer until you understand why wrong answers are wrong and why the right answer is right. Practice makes perfect and drilling truly is key to a 180.

[dvc5240]

Looking for study materials recommendations...

I've already completed all of the bibles and practice books that go with them. What's the next best thing/a good alternative?

Received a 156 my first time around (after studying 6+ months) so I'm definitely looking to try a new approach!

Manhattan LR, Manhattan RC, and Blueprint LG. Also if you haven't already I would purchase Cambridge packets by question type so after you learn about a specific question type, like MSS or Flaw questions for example, you can then drill those question types and get better at them. Review every question you answer until you understand why wrong answers are wrong and why the right answer is right. Practice makes perfect and drilling truly is key to a 180.

Thank you so much! Purchasing my materials tomorrow and getting started ASAP

[sephora_addict]

Looking for study materials recommendations...

I've already completed all of the bibles and practice books that go with them. What's the next best thing/a good alternative?

Received a 156 my first time around (after studying 6+ months) so I'm definitely looking to try a new approach!

Manhattan LR, Manhattan RC, and Blueprint LG. Also if you haven't already I would purchase Cambridge packets by question type so after you learn about a specific question type, like MSS or Flaw questions for example, you can then drill those question types and get better at them. Review every question you answer until you understand why wrong answers are wrong and why the right answer is right. Practice makes perfect and drilling truly is key to a 180.

Thank you so much! Purchasing my materials tomorrow and getting started ASAP

Good luck! if you need any help just pm me! I myself am a retaker and am restarting from the beginning with the basics. I signed up for Blueprints online course, as well as purchased the Manhattan LR and RC books for after I finish the online course. As for drilling, a group of us in this thread are thinking of getting together on skype to go over LR questions and possibly LG and RC questions. You should join! It's not set in stone yet but once it is you will see posts about it on here as well as meeting times!

[Binghamton1018]

Took an entire day off yesterday from LSAT (I did just one LR problem) and woke up this morning feeling excited and hungry for test prep! A day off can go a long way my friends! Going to do my Flaw, Main Point, MBT, Suff warm up and then some MSS.

[Binghamton1018]

I wanted to share with everyone that I use the site listed below to warm up in the mornings that I do logic-games. I've been doing LG in 4 hour blocks straight, but when I wake up I usually hit the following website to get my brain moving. It's a logic-puzzle community, where you can play games. One of the fundamental things the site has taught me is an instinct of what can't go where in certain games. For instance, if there are days listed Monday-Saturday and you know that 2 objects (say appointments) follow a certain object then you can say with certainty that the object cannot go in Friday or Saturday (because doing so would force the 2 followers off the board.) This tells us certain inferences that have become very easy for me to spot, namely where is the earliest an object can go and where it can't go. I write these inferences down automatically on my master game board, sometimes the LSAT rewards this up-front work with questions like

[+] Spoiler

62-2-12

and it takes me less than 8 seconds to answer the question. Time is money on this test.

P.S. the site is free and I have no material interest in attracting traffic to the site. I'm merely showing the site to the followers of this thread to compliment their studies and hopefully score -0 on the LG section.


http://logic-puzzles.org/init.php

Crap. Even the easy one is making my head hurt! Will keep at them though.

There are some users on that site that constantly solve those problems in about 35 seconds. I've gotten "very fast" just twice. lol! I envision the people that can do these in less than a minute to all day be like "Neo" at the end of the Matrix, hahahah, just knowing exactly what to do hahaha.

[Binghamton1018]

I wanted to ask if anyone wanted to do the same block of LG prep Tuesday or Thursday of this week with me. I’m doing a 4 hour and 15 minute block on Tuesday and a 5 hour block on Thursday. It might sound daunting, but if you break the packet up into 2 hour sections and maybe eat lunch or something in the middle, it’s cake. Tuesday I am doing (7-2-3), (26-1-3), (23-1-3), (13-1-1), (14-1-3),(12-2-2), (38-2-3), (19-1-4), (14-1-3)again,(12-2-2)again, (5-2-4*), (27-2-3), (37-3-3),(19-1-3),(16-1-1), (23-1-3)again, (13-1-1)again, (7-2-3)again, (26-1-3)again. The 4 hour and 15 minutes is for me, just about enough to do them all and watch the 7sage videos-even if I feel confident in them (it might be less time for you.) A few are repeats (which I grade together and see if any of my answers changed-try to understand where my head was at when I changed them/see if I got an answer wrong TWICE) and the one marked with a * is the only one not found in the Cambridge “grouping game” packet-oddly enough, the one marked with a * is a 3 board basic linear in which the 3 boards interact with each other- a nice way to break-up a few hours of grouping games. Remember everyone, with practice like this, come this June: “when it’s too tough for them, it’ll be just right for us."