OCTOBER 2011 RETAKERS THREAD Forum

[clouds101]

The proverbial clock is ticking. 67 days until the Oct LSAT.

I started studying in June and plan to be done drilling LR, LG, and RC by question type (PT 1-20) this week. Starting next week, my game plan is to take practice tests three times a week and during off-days, drill and review those PTs to death.


Any one else retaking in October?

[gavinstevens]

I'm on board clouds.

I got a 164 in June after three months pithypike prep. 164 was my PT average, but LR was my worst section and I never properly addressed it. Nor did I ever have the LG "matrix moment" and get to -0 consistently.

I'm reading through Manhattan's LR guide and am drilling by type, in addition to six games a day. I'm solid on RC. The last six weeks will be a PT a week with intensive review. I'd like to do more, but I'm short on materials and long on academic work. I also burned out doing three a week in May.

Hoping to pick up any points. 168 is my realistic goal. Still reaching for that damn 170 though.

[emkay625]

Retaking a 169.

Sigh.

Only need 1 point to be satisfied.

Doing LG and LR bibles along with the Manhattan RC guide. Taking every single prep test available.

Here's hoping it's enough for the one point.

Is anyone else afraid of doing worse? I am terrified I will do worse.

[Hogwild]

I'm there with ya. Trying to increase a 158 to a 163-165 range. Just started studying again. Probably shouldn't have put it off after I got my score from June, but woulda shoulda coulda. Time to buckle down again.

[Bobeo]

I'm in the middle of the PitheyPike Method. In the middle of drilling grouping games and currently doing Method of Reasoning LR questions. I took SuperPrep B yesterday and scored a 176 (yay).

[flexityflex86]

Make sure to review PT's, people. You don't wanna have a "weak" section. Ideally, you should hate every section equally.

Props to anyone retaking a score in the 160s+. It takes a winner to not settle for being what society calls acceptable.

[Hogwild]

RC has been my weak section (sometimes missing more than 10 and its what absolutely kills my score). I picked up the manhattan RC guide and I feel like I have learned more in the first 80 pages than I did in the PS RC. Maybe its just been a while since I have read any theory about it. Gonna finish this up by the end of the week and then review the PS LR and PS LG and start doing PT's again hopefully by the end of the week next week.

[clouds101]

I'm on board clouds.

I got a 164 in June after three months pithypike prep. 164 was my PT average, but LR was my worst section and I never properly addressed it. Nor did I ever have the LG "matrix moment" and get to -0 consistently.

I'm reading through Manhattan's LR guide and am drilling by type, in addition to six games a day. I'm solid on RC. The last six weeks will be a PT a week with intensive review. I'd like to do more, but I'm short on materials and long on academic work. I also burned out doing three a week in May.

Hoping to pick up any points. 168 is my realistic goal. Still reaching for that damn 170 though.

Were you in school or had other obligations during May? My current plan is to do nothing but the LSAT until Oct so hopefully 3 a week won't burn me out-- but thanks for sharing, I'll be careful! I'm also aiming for that "damn 170"

[clouds101]

Retaking a 169.

Sigh.

Only need 1 point to be satisfied.

Doing LG and LR bibles along with the Manhattan RC guide. Taking every single prep test available.

Here's hoping it's enough for the one point.

Is anyone else afraid of doing worse? I am terrified I will do worse.

::raises hand:: Me, me!
But I'm hoping that all this drilling and general devotion to the LSAT will pay off in the end. No regrets!

[clouds101]

RC has been my weak section (sometimes missing more than 10 and its what absolutely kills my score). I picked up the manhattan RC guide and I feel like I have learned more in the first 80 pages than I did in the PS RC. Maybe its just been a while since I have read any theory about it. Gonna finish this up by the end of the week and then review the PS LR and PS LG and start doing PT's again hopefully by the end of the week next week.

Hogwild, could you give a review of the MLSAT RC once you're done? This week I'm trying out different methods while drilling RC but I'd be curious to know if the MLSAT (why the hell do I keep writing MSALT?) is unique or if its methods are more on the intuitive side.

[clouds101]

I'm in the middle of the PitheyPike Method. In the middle of drilling grouping games and currently doing Method of Reasoning LR questions. I took SuperPrep B yesterday and scored a 176 (yay).

Congrats!

[clouds101]

Make sure to review PT's, people. You don't wanna have a "weak" section. Ideally, you should hate every section equally.

Props to anyone retaking a score in the 160s+. It takes a winner to not settle for being what society calls acceptable.

I like how you phrased that. I hate drilling all three sections since I seem to be "fine" on RC, but if you want a top score, you cannot neglect any of the sections.

[gavinstevens]

I'm on board clouds.

I got a 164 in June after three months pithypike prep. 164 was my PT average, but LR was my worst section and I never properly addressed it. Nor did I ever have the LG "matrix moment" and get to -0 consistently.

I'm reading through Manhattan's LR guide and am drilling by type, in addition to six games a day. I'm solid on RC. The last six weeks will be a PT a week with intensive review. I'd like to do more, but I'm short on materials and long on academic work. I also burned out doing three a week in May.

Hoping to pick up any points. 168 is my realistic goal. Still reaching for that damn 170 though.

Were you in school or had other obligations during May? My current plan is to do nothing but the LSAT until Oct so hopefully 3 a week won't burn me out-- but thanks for sharing, I'll be careful! I'm also aiming for that "damn 170"

May was pretty much all LSAT and no real obligations, which actually might be more of a reason for burnout. Many people keep up that kind of schedule without burning out, so I might just have a lower threshold.

I will say, my highest PT score (167) was the last one I took before starting my three a week routine. Every PT prior to May brought improvement (153 diagnostic, then 162, 163, 165, 167 from March to late April). After that I stayed in the 163-165 range for a month up to test day. I reviewed all of my PTs intensively, re-worked games, and wrote explanations for LR. My theory is that I burned out. I could have plateaued and that 167 was a fluke though. Let's hope not.

It made me re-think my study schedule. Some benefit from four or five PTs a week, not me though.

My PT range was very consistent during that time, but my breakdowns were all over the place. LG:-0 to -11, RC -2 to -10, and LR -3 to -13. This is why I think I have room for improvement. I also experimented with different RC strategies before settling on Manhattan two weeks prior to the test. I got down to -3 consistently after that.

[wildcat25]

Glad to see this thread was made.

Scored a 165 in June and hoping to boost that to 170+ this October. My pt AVERAGE for June was a 172 (took about 3 a week throughout May), so I think I let the stress of it all mess with my head on game day.

I just finished working the the LR/LG Bibles to go over some theory and am starting the RC Bible, planning on starting practice tests on August 1st.

How are you guys treating pt's that you already took? Are you waiting awhile so that you aren't affected by any memory? Is it a mistake to take them at all?

Good luck to everyone!

[doukycats]

Retaking a 168 from last October...

I'm 97% confident I won't do worse based on what I'm doing in my prep now, but all the people on this forum who harp on how much harder recent PTs are than older ones freak me out a little.

<-- has yet to take a PT more recent than 37. I didn't discover TLS until just before the test last year; I thought I was doing well to be prepping with my Next 10 book at all. I was wrong..

[justonemoregame]

Retaking a June 160 after Kap. course, found TLS the week after the test, duly noting kaplan's LR deficiencies during review. Glad to see some other Manhattan RC people out there; I'll be reading that one in a couple weeks after a thorough review of each LR question type. Drilling LG after that and timing in Sept.

[cany]

Glad to see this thread!!Retaker from Dec 2010.
My MRC and MLR books will be arriving any time this week.Going to drill the Superprep A,B and C in week and a half.Thrilled!!!!

[cany]

RC has been my weak section (sometimes missing more than 10 and its what absolutely kills my score). I picked up the manhattan RC guide and I feel like I have learned more in the first 80 pages than I did in the PS RC. Maybe its just been a while since I have read any theory about it. Gonna finish this up by the end of the week and then review the PS LR and PS LG and start doing PT's again hopefully by the end of the week next week.

Thats awesome.How much time did you put down to finish MRC ?

[emkay625]

Retaking a 168 from last October...

I'm 97% confident I won't do worse based on what I'm doing in my prep now, but all the people on this forum who harp on how much harder recent PTs are than older ones freak me out a little.

<-- has yet to take a PT more recent than 37. I didn't discover TLS until just before the test last year; I thought I was doing well to be prepping with my Next 10 book at all. I was wrong..

This is my largest fear, too. In my opinion it is getting harder. Particularly RC. This is also why I'm terrified of doing worse than my first score, which was from a year and a half ago.

[JamMasterJ]

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[clouds101]

May was pretty much all LSAT and no real obligations, which actually might be more of a reason for burnout. Many people keep up that kind of schedule without burning out, so I might just have a lower threshold.

I will say, my highest PT score (167) was the last one I took before starting my three a week routine. Every PT prior to May brought improvement (153 diagnostic, then 162, 163, 165, 167 from March to late April). After that I stayed in the 163-165 range for a month up to test day. I reviewed all of my PTs intensively, re-worked games, and wrote explanations for LR. My theory is that I burned out. I could have plateaued and that 167 was a fluke though. Let's hope not.

It made me re-think my study schedule. Some benefit from four or five PTs a week, not me though.

My PT range was very consistent during that time, but my breakdowns were all over the place. LG:-0 to -11, RC -2 to -10, and LR -3 to -13. This is why I think I have room for improvement. I also experimented with different RC strategies before settling on Manhattan two weeks prior to the test. I got down to -3 consistently after that.

That's impressive that you were able to go from -10 to -3 on RC. Thanks for the motivation. I'm going to be experimenting with RC methods tomorrow. Different strokes for different folks-- hopefully I can find one that suits me! I used to be -0 or -1 on RC but lately, I've been -2 or -3.

[clouds101]

Glad to see this thread was made.

Scored a 165 in June and hoping to boost that to 170+ this October. My pt AVERAGE for June was a 172 (took about 3 a week throughout May), so I think I let the stress of it all mess with my head on game day.

I just finished working the the LR/LG Bibles to go over some theory and am starting the RC Bible, planning on starting practice tests on August 1st.

How are you guys treating pt's that you already took? Are you waiting awhile so that you aren't affected by any memory? Is it a mistake to take them at all?

Good luck to everyone!

So this is my third retake and I've seen almost all the PTs at least once. The last time I saw a PT, though, was in October 2010 and even though I can faintly remember some questions, the majority seem fresh to me (I didn't really review PTs seriously...bad decision, obvi). So I might be an exception, but I find that retaking tests (plus LOTS of reviewing) to be beneficial.

I've only taken A, B, and C (169, 169, 170) so far. To make myself accountable when reviewing, I made a spreadsheet for each PT. I don't think it's important that it's fancy schmancy, as long as it has enough detail to help me see patterns in my weaknesses.

[Dr. Filth]

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do you have to pay for this?

[Ginj]

I'm there with ya. Trying to increase a 158 to a 163-165 range. Just started studying again. Probably shouldn't have put it off after I got my score from June, but woulda shoulda coulda. Time to buckle down again.

WOO PIG!

[gavinstevens]

That's impressive that you were able to go from -10 to -3 on RC. Thanks for the motivation. I'm going to be experimenting with RC methods tomorrow. Different strokes for different folks-- hopefully I can find one that suits me! I used to be -0 or -1 on RC but lately, I've been -2 or -3.

It was really more like consistently -4 or -5 with no real plan, experimenting with strategies that focused too much on structure resulting in -10, and then synthesizing Manhattan's framework method with my own tendency towards details for a consistent -3.