Grrr! I Hate LR! Forum

[DrackedaryMaster]

Hi forum, long time lurker, first-time poster looking towards Oct.

So after three painstakingly weeks of going through the LRB, I've managed to significantly reduce my errors by figuring out what I wasn't seeing or missing. The next phase of my study plan is doing all the prep-tests (7-38) in the 3 books as practice and examine my answers/wrong choices/patterns, and then take the last 20 prep-tests in Sep/Oct (exception of the Jun 07 Freebie which I used for practice also).

For the most part, it's been pretty exciting because I've finally learned to see questions in the LSAT mode and feel like I'm more prepared to answer the questions because I greatly increased my knowledge of understanding the question types and the types of wrong answer choices. Specifically for me, I've learned that reading closely is essential (something I wasn’t doing before)

So I wanted to see how far I'd come by doing the two free LR sections from the June 07 test. Did them un-timed, and tried to focus on getting the correct answer, but also kept some awareness of time because I wanted to see how far off I was on getting under 35 minutes. In the first LR section, I took just under 55 minutes. I was surprised at that speed thinking it would take even longer, but the LRB has really helped me in focusing on what to be looking for and I used this un-timed part to convince myself I had selected the credited response.

I was -5 on the first section, which I guess is an improvement from the typical -12 I've received on the June 08 LSAT, but I'm not satisfied. If I've learned anything, its that familiarity is not enough for this test, and it's like you have to study for a 170 just to ensure you can comfortably get to 160 (which is my goal, which would be a nice increase from the dismal 149). And its embarrassing that I didn’t do this amount of work the first time around.

Anyway, when I grade a section, I divide them up by 7’s going down the column and marking each column total of the number wrong. My ultimate goal is to have -0 on the first two columns (#1-14), no more than -2 in the third column (#15-21), and no more than -1 in the last (#22-?). While I’d love to get -0 on the entire section, there’s just some Cat 5 questions that are going to drive me for a loop and I’m trying to be realistic.

Anyway, the Q’s I missed from the first LR section were:
#8 - I said (E), the answer is (A). Obviously, the stimulus didn’t say anything that a net reduction wouldn’t occur, just it wouldn’t be as great as the proponents assumed which is perfectly what (A) says. Why I’d pick E? A misread.

#14 I said (A), the answer is (E). When I read the answer choices, I had a brain-lapse and forgot that “any liquid” includes Milk! Also not a scientist and thought microwaves remained constant regardless of temperature, which made me think heat was destroying the enzyme in A, but A doesn’t weaken the argument about microwaves being the cause whatsoever. Interpreting the language is something I’m going to have to work on.

#20 I said (C) , the answer is (E). I was torn between these two choices. I see why E is TCR, I just can’t figure out what’s up with C. My guess is that somehow I confused the conclusion C was referring to as Munoz’s statement and not Gamba’s conclusion’s about overwhelming support?

#22 I said (E) the answer is (D). I’m still struggling on the diagramming questions. Does someone have the correct diagram for this?

#24 I said (D), the answer is (A). It doesn’t say unappealing features would occur, doesn’t even mention that, just that consumer input is helpful. What threw me off from (A) was I was planning on seeing some type of answer contrasting customer interaction/survey data and thought A was too general.

On the second LR section, I was going significantly faster. There seemed to be a lot of easy no-brainers in the first part (thank you LRB), but unfortunately I still got a -6 on this section. Considering I only got 50% of the LR’s on the real LSAT from June 08, I guess 39 out of 50 isn’t too bad.

#10, I said ( C) the answer is (E). Don’t ask me why I chose C. E perfectly fit’s the information in the stimulus. Not to mention, don’t magazines have pictures too??? So C makes no sense at all.

#15 I said (B), the answer is (C). Here is where I noticed a pattern even from the LRB practice questions I was doing, that on weaken questions, when the answer involves an “alternate cause”, I’m not able to pick it out. (B) doesn’t weaken at all, but C bases the “feelings” of the patient on the treatment as staying in it rather than the actual treatment itself being the reason to stay in it.

#18 I said (A), the answer is (B). I see why B is correct. My reasoning for A was the single-type example (hiding child based on the universal law of no harm) and the broad generalization was that this could equate to widely being accepted that its okay to obstruct police investigations. Help Please?

#19, I said (E), the answer is (A). I focused too much on the first sentence of the stimulus and not the second. Somehow, in my mind, the word “promise” got attached to the first sentence of the stimulus as well, which wasn’t the case. Another case of not reading clearly enough.

#22 I said (D), the answer is C. My diagram is screwed up, somewhere. I have to go back and look more at this.

#25 I said C the answer is (A). Messed up the S/N diagram. This should have been easy considering it was the only option that mentioned it.

Anyway, lots more work to do and practice, especially with the diagramming. I’ll also be starting the LGB this week and begin working all. Just wondering if I'm actually making any progress or is this all futile?

[sumus romani]

Yes, you are making progress, but you are right not to be satisfied with your current performance.

[Hedwig]

I definitely made a couple of the same mistakes that you lined out up there. It's definitely a good idea to be going over your mistakes (and your right answers) with a fine toothed comb to figure out what's going on there. Your scores seem to have improved, so I'd say that yes, that's progress.

Familiarity may not be "enough" for the test, but you'll find there's only so many ways to repeat each question, so you do get a couple freebies if you're really familiar with the material. While doing a practice test yesterday, I almost felt like I was cheating on one question because it was so similar to another question format and I knew what to look for in the answer (and got the question right).

When going through your questions, do you mark the questions right/wrong, then turn back to the questions you got wrong and try to figure out the right answer? I find it helpful to try to find the right answer from the other four before actually looking at the right answer. This also shows you if you completely don't understand the question/answers, if you can't get it right the second time with one answer eliminated, and you know you need to work on that section.

[gdane]

I dont want to be a penis, but your -5 on the first LR section from the June 2007 means nothing. Anyone can get -5 or even -0 if they took just under 55 minutes on the section. You need to do the sections timed. When I first started prep I did one section at a time and took my sweet time on it. Needless to say I thought I could get a 170 on the LSAT after I got -2 on a LG section I took close to an hour to finish. When I stuck to the 35 minute limit my -2 turned to -10 and I quickly realized I was an idiot for taking the results of an untimed section seriously.

You are making progress, but its difficult to tell how much since youre not timing yourself. You have two good books at your disposal (LRB, LGB) and if you put in the necessary work you'll do great on the LSAT.

Good luck!

[Anaconda]

Accuracy before timing though. Speed will increase naturally once you master the game/question type, assuming it's his first time seriously studying the LR questions.

[DrackedaryMaster]

I dont want to be a penis, but your -5 on the first LR section from the June 2007 means nothing. Anyone can get -5 or even -0 if they took just under 55 minutes on the section. You need to do the sections timed. When I first started prep I did one section at a time and took my sweet time on it. Needless to say I thought I could get a 170 on the LSAT after I got -2 on a LG section I took close to an hour to finish. When I stuck to the 35 minute limit my -2 turned to -10 and I quickly realized I was an idiot for taking the results of an untimed section seriously.

You are making progress, but its difficult to tell how much since youre not timing yourself. You have two good books at your disposal (LRB, LGB) and if you put in the necessary work you'll do great on the LSAT.

Good luck!

I hear you. Let me stress these are these two sections were the first ones I've done since reading the LRB. I'm just trying to get everything with the mechanics and accuracy down first, which I need help. My plan is to work through all 3 Real LSAT books untimed during July/Aug, and then in Sept/Early Oct, take the Preptests 39-60 timed. Depending where I am at by then, I'll determine if I need to reschedule for Dec or not.


I know that it doesn't say much since I'm just starting out, but it does make me feel better that I'm not looking at the questions and saying "WTF?" and that I have an actual plan of attack.

[gdane]

I definitely agree with you. The biggest mistake I made during my first LSAT prep was not getting the fundamentals and mechanics down. I did PT after PT without really knowing what I was doing. Needless to say my first LSAT score was a disaster. What I'm doing now is working through the LGB, doing all the logic games from all the previous LSAT's according to the section im working on (Linear, Grouping, etc) and then repeating this with LR. I wont touch a PT until late Aug probably. Hopefully by this time I'll have an understanding of the question types and how to solve them.

In any case, you definitely want accuracy, but eventually you need to start timing yourself to see where you really are.

Good luck!