JUNE 2010...Where are you in your studying? Forum

[Underoath]

I just started studying. I'm waiting on my PowerScore books to arrive, but I have some other books to keep me busy while I wait. Honestly, my weakest section is LG without a doubt. I can't finish those games in 35 min.

UGHHHH!!!!

I hope to score 165+

I haven't taken any diagnostic test, but I will take the test administered by Kaplan on Sunday. I really hope I score a 160 on the PT.

[DaveBear07]

Registered for the test today. Finished the LGB a few days ago. Did the first two chapters of the LRB today. Also drilled the first games section of the 1st Prep Test in the first group of ten. Missed 3 in probably less than 30 minutes. 2 were silly mistakes. You guys can do this!!

[dynomite]

I just started studying. ... I haven't taken any diagnostic test, but I will take the test administered by Kaplan on Sunday. I really hope I score a 160 on the PT.

You're not approaching this constructively.

Diagnostic tests that you take blind are of limited value. Think about if you tried to take the prior year's final in one of your undergrad classes as a "diagnostic" on the first day.

I guess you can take the test as an indication of where you stand now and gain some familiarity with the test. Setting goals for yourself for a cold diagnostic test is counterproductive.

[letsdoit1982]

I just started studying. ... I haven't taken any diagnostic test, but I will take the test administered by Kaplan on Sunday. I really hope I score a 160 on the PT.

You're not approaching this constructively.

Diagnostic tests that you take blind are of limited value. Think about if you tried to take the prior year's final in one of your undergrad classes as a "diagnostic" on the first day.

I guess you can take the test as an indication of where you stand now and gain some familiarity with the test. Setting goals for yourself for a cold diagnostic test is counterproductive.

The reason people put so much stock in their diagnostic is because academic advisers don't know anything about the LSAT - I've heard numerous stories from people saying that their adviser said not to expect to improve for that 2 or 3 points and that 5 points would be highly unusual.

It's funny to listen to people at school who think they know what will get you into law school. Just the other day I overheard one of my classmates say that you forget about getting into Cornell without a double major and a 4.0.

[Underoath]

I just started studying. ... I haven't taken any diagnostic test, but I will take the test administered by Kaplan on Sunday. I really hope I score a 160 on the PT.

You're not approaching this constructively.

Diagnostic tests that you take blind are of limited value. Think about if you tried to take the prior year's final in one of your undergrad classes as a "diagnostic" on the first day.

I guess you can take the test as an indication of where you stand now and gain some familiarity with the test. Setting goals for yourself for a cold diagnostic test is counterproductive.

I agree with what you are saying, but it's a real test under simulated conditions. I just want to see where I am at to really see if I can hit my target. GOD FORBID, but if I'm testing at 140 I will never reach a 165. That's just my opinion. I rather take this test and build from there because I have been studying questions here and there, but not in depth as I should be.

[dynomite]

GOD FORBID, but if I'm testing at 140 I will never reach a 165.

No.

I rather take this test and build from there because I have been studying questions here and there, but not in depth as I should be.

Yes.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of stories of people raising their score from their diagnostic 20+ points. It just takes more time and effort.

Personally, I went from a 156 diagnostic to PTing in the mid-170s after 5 months of study, despite working 50-60 hours a week the entire time.

Setting an arbitrary goal for yourself before you've started studying is a bad idea. But, I'm sure you'll do fine.

[Sandro]

PT 33 tomorrow!!! anyone else doing 2 PT's a week till june?

[Shrimps]

Heh, I'm doing a PT a day at the moment. Not in their entirety, though. I do 3 timed sections (LR, LR, RC) without breaks from each test going from 28 down (currently at PT 16), and then do the logic games separately. Not exactly real test conditions, but I'm still not comfortable taking strictly timed logic games.

After I'm done with the old tests, I'll spend a week doing fake logic games from 'Ace the Logic Games' and Atlas, read Kaplan 180 for hints and do many of the old games the second or even third time. After that I'll do some GMAT LR and RC sections for variety (could be useful if GMAT and LSAT cross-polinate) and keep on doing the old games. Then I will take a one week break.

Then I will have 9 weeks left until the test. I will have 34 PT's left (29-59, Superprep), so it works out to roughly 4 PT's per week for 9 weeks straight. Some people may be intelligent enough to score in the high 170's with barely any studying. I will need to hammer my brain into the right mindset and it'll take a lot of work.

[jpSartre]

PT 33 tomorrow!!! anyone else doing 2 PT's a week till june?

Yessir. Giving myself time off for spring break and finals though, but making up for it with 3 a week 3 weeks before the test. I'm doing PT 41 on Friday.

[CEO]

Doing practice tests right now, but short on time.

Need some advice.

Given the time constraint, is it better to do several sections of a practice test day to day or take full practice tests under test conditions a few times a week?

[Miznitic]

GOD FORBID, but if I'm testing at 140 I will never reach a 165. That's just my opinion. I rather take this test and build from there because I have been studying questions here and there, but not in depth as I should be.

I scored a 141 Feb 2009, and a 179 this past Feb. If I can do it, so can anyone else.

[letsdoit1982]

GOD FORBID, but if I'm testing at 140 I will never reach a 165. That's just my opinion. I rather take this test and build from there because I have been studying questions here and there, but not in depth as I should be.

I scored a 141 Feb 2009, and a 179 this past Feb. If I can do it, so can anyone else.

How did you study?

[Sandro]

I'd love to believe you went from a Feb 2009 141 to a 179 in Feb 2010.... but you said in a previous post you took 2 PT's, got 170 and 176, and then wound up with a 141 on Feb. I'm sorry, but a 20 point decrease from any PT is absurd, especially from missing 10 or less to missing 60. You also said you went from a 140 to a 169.... ???

[Miznitic]

I'd love to believe you went from a Feb 2009 141 to a 179 in Feb 2010.... but you said in a previous post you took 2 PT's, got 170 and 176, and then wound up with a 141 on Feb. I'm sorry, but a 20 point decrease from any PT is absurd, especially from missing 10 or less to missing 60. You also said you went from a 140 to a 169.... ???

I did. And that was the extent of my studying for that first test. Nothing else. I was exceedingly confident in my abilities, and then I took the real LSAT and I was met with questions I was unprepared for and I tanked. Simple. You can't practice enough.

How did you study?

Worked the bibles. Practiced obsessively for about eight months, took a "mock" LSAT almost every saturday a months before the real test. For anyone who did as poorly as me, study obsessively. Make the LSAT something you're comfortable doing, routinely.

[Sandro]

Okay... that still doesn't make sense because its not like one LSAT would have 10 question types you didn't know how to handle, and then the next would have 50 more of those and you got them all wrong? I'm just trying to grasp how you had the ability to score in the 99th percentile on one test, yet the next you scored in the sub 20th percentile?

Whatever though.

[Miznitic]

Simple. Artificial conditions. No stress, plenty of bathroom breaks, cup of coffee, etc. To truly ace it, you need to practice obsessively under realistic conditions.

[dynomite]

take full practice tests under test conditions a few times a week?

It sounds like you're falling into a common trap -- you're scrimmaging instead of practicing.

Unless you have a TON of free time or are getting near perfect scores, there is no way that you would have time to take 2+ full length practice tests in a week and spend sufficient time reviewing them.

A lot of people follow the following (poor) schedule:

1. Take a practice test (often under unrealistic conditions -- bathroom breaks, etc.)
2. Figure out scaled score
3. Disappointed with score, they watch a few episodes of House/The Wire, building up enough confidence to...
4. Take a practice test (often under unrealistic conditions -- bathroom breaks, etc.)

And so on. This is a waste of PTs and your time.

You should be figuring out which question types you're struggling with and other flaws. Are you taking too long on logic games? You should be doing the drills in the Logic Games Bible or others you can find online. So on and so forth.

You're 3 months out from the June LSAT -- this isn't the time to refine your skills only through full length PTs (though I'd recommend you take one every Saturday morning)

There's an old thread around here somewhere in which someone suggests a great way to force yourself to really study your PTs:

1. Take PT under strict time
2. BEFORE LOOKING AT ANSWERS, go back through the entire test and review every answer completely untimed. Take all the time you need, and fix every wrong answer you find.
3. Check answers, and make sure to super star anything you got wrong, while paying very serious attention to the mistakes you caught.

[CEO]

Thanks dynomite!

Timing on the LG games is toughest for me.

On the Feb test, I guessed on at least 1-2 questions of every game to have time to move on and then the last game was purely a process of a elimination (was down to 5 minutes for the whole game which I have to say was an improvement for me)

The experimental section was even worse, hopefully it was experimental

[quasi-stellar]

I scored a 141 Feb 2009, and a 179 this past Feb. If I can do it, so can anyone else.

Lol, this reminds me of that Legally blond movie

[crossingforHYS]

Hey everyone,

I cant seem to break a -6 on RC. I have gone from -11 on the section to now -6...anyone have any tips?

[Knock]

Hey everyone,

I cant seem to break a -6 on RC. I have gone from -11 on the section to now -6...anyone have any tips?

What i've heard a lot on these boards is to read some dense material closely everyday, such as The Economist.

[OklahomasOK]

I'm about 1/2 way finished with the LR Bible, LG is coming in the mail along with a few more prep test. I start Testmasters this Thursday.

I'm hoping to score >158 on the diagnostic, >168 on the real thing.

I'm spending about 3-4 hours during the week on prep, sometimes more. On the weekend I'm spending closer to 6-8 hours per day. Really going to start to grind this week. I need to finish both bibles, and have at least 5 full practice tests finished by April 10th.

[theZeigs]

take full practice tests under test conditions a few times a week?

It sounds like you're falling into a common trap -- you're scrimmaging instead of practicing.

Unless you have a TON of free time or are getting near perfect scores, there is no way that you would have time to take 2+ full length practice tests in a week and spend sufficient time reviewing them.

A lot of people follow the following (poor) schedule:

1. Take a practice test (often under unrealistic conditions -- bathroom breaks, etc.)
2. Figure out scaled score
3. Disappointed with score, they watch a few episodes of House/The Wire, building up enough confidence to...
4. Take a practice test (often under unrealistic conditions -- bathroom breaks, etc.)

And so on. This is a waste of PTs and your time.

You should be figuring out which question types you're struggling with and other flaws. Are you taking too long on logic games? You should be doing the drills in the Logic Games Bible or others you can find online. So on and so forth.

You're 3 months out from the June LSAT -- this isn't the time to refine your skills only through full length PTs (though I'd recommend you take one every Saturday morning)

There's an old thread around here somewhere in which someone suggests a great way to force yourself to really study your PTs:

1. Take PT under strict time
2. BEFORE LOOKING AT ANSWERS, go back through the entire test and review every answer completely untimed. Take all the time you need, and fix every wrong answer you find.
3. Check answers, and make sure to super star anything you got wrong, while paying very serious attention to the mistakes you caught.

linky: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=36512

It's a gem.