How to Break Plateaus Forum

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stinkygpa

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How to Break Plateaus

Post by stinkygpa » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:21 pm

I need some serious help breaking this plateau that I've been stuck in for the last month. My scores for the last seven diagnostics have all been in the 164-168 zone and I'm starting to get really frustrated and beginning to wonder whether I'm now fighting again my natural capabilities.

My first diagnostic was 151 so I've made some leaps but I really really want to break 170. If anyone is familiar with a situation like this or have any helpful tips, please help!

I usually get about 3-6 wrong on Logic Games, 2-4 wrong on each LR, and similarly 2-5 on RC which always somehow balance out to about 10 or 13 wrong ughh.

I've been prepping since March, took a big break through the last week of May and all of June before starting again.

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Tiago Splitter

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Tiago Splitter » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:23 pm

Games dude. Gotta get 100% there. Your LR and RC scores are already very solid.

Kurst

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Kurst » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:27 pm

stinkygpa wrote:My scores for the last seven diagnostics have all been in the 164-168 zone
stinkygpa wrote:I really really want to break 170. If anyone is familiar with a situation like this or have any helpful tips, please help!
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3#p3970613

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incompetentia

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by incompetentia » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:40 pm

Hit those games hard, take a break, come back and try PTing again. You want to make sure you're not experiencing any burnout (which is a common reason for score plateaus/dips).

Sloth Hero

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Sloth Hero » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:41 pm

Games are the easiest to improve from what I've heard. Maybe focus on that?

Also, you better be taking note of what types of problems in each section you are getting wrong. You might notice a pattern. (Flaw, assumption, parallel etc.)

Work on those

???

points

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stinkygpa

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by stinkygpa » Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:08 pm

This is most definitely helpful. I am now making an excel sheet to chart my progress and all the questions I've gotten wrong.

Sloth Hero

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Sloth Hero » Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:52 pm

Yeah, good idea. Don't do new material until you could explain to elderly people why the correct answer is correct to every problem encountered so far.

rcweedman

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by rcweedman » Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:55 pm

incompetentia wrote:Hit those games hard, take a break, come back and try PTing again. You want to make sure you're not experiencing any burnout (which is a common reason for score plateaus/dips).
+1
Last edited by rcweedman on Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

senorhosh

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by senorhosh » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:00 pm

Same here.
I started off studying by doing Games bible, Master the LSAT games, 5 PT game sections to see where I was at, then Games bible again and 10 more sections. This took me about 2-3 weeks of pure games, no LR, no RC.

I finally got it down to 0-2 mistakes per section (always stupid mistakes), time is now rarely an issue, and I haven't really "studied" for the games section since (besides PTs).

I'd say dedicate a good portion of your time right now to games.

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Sloth Hero

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Sloth Hero » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:04 pm

It's funny how quickly games go from being "That thing that is going to prevent me from getting into a good school" to "That thing that is going to most reliably help me get into a good school".

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Perdevise

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Perdevise » Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:42 pm

Sloth Hero wrote:It's funny how quickly games go from being "That thing that is going to prevent me from getting into a good school" to "That thing that is going to most reliably help me get into a good school".
TITCR. My biggest hurdle was transitioning to timing games, but once the rules become second nature, and unless there is some horribly unfamiliar type, games are your friend.

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incompetentia

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by incompetentia » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:55 pm

Even the unfamiliar game types are not that difficult if you know how to make inferences well enough. Games seem to be getting a little trickier with their rules, but they're still doable.

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glucose101

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by glucose101 » Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:04 pm

incompetentia wrote:Games seem to be getting a little trickier with their rules, but they're still doable.
Can you please expound? (curious)

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incompetentia

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by incompetentia » Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:48 pm

I feel like it's getting slightly more difficult to set the game up correctly under the newest PTs...the inferences are still there, but it seems like misreads/incorrect setups are much more common.

stinkygpa

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by stinkygpa » Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:03 am

Wanted to update to let you guys know that I DID IT. Got a 170 just two days ago on my PT (been celebrating since but will get back to my rigorous regimen soon).

It broke down like this

First LR -3
Logic Games -0 (YES)
Second LR -1
Reading Comp -7

And the last section was because I was so giddy throughout the whole thing. I couldn't get it out of my head that breaking 170 was in reach and couldn't focus.

Thanks guys for the tips. I just hope that I don't get boned with a complex logic game in the real LSAT though... (sigh)

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Verity

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Re: How to Break Plateaus

Post by Verity » Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:41 am

incompetentia wrote:I feel like it's getting slightly more difficult to set the game up correctly under the newest PTs...the inferences are still there, but it seems like misreads/incorrect setups are much more common.
It's a wash too, because the newer PTs are kind of steering clear of weird/unusual game types. Haven't seen a pure pattern game in a while.

But that newer "if you change this rule, but still leave all the others" question that pops up at the end of a lot of games on the newer PTs tends to freak people out.

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