Recommended studying for re-takers? Ran out of materials? Forum

[katesearches]

Advice on studying for re-takers? Scheduling, strategies, etc...? What would be the best thing to focus on, taking apart each question/responses, etc...

Also, if you ran out of materials (PT 1-66), what should you do? Especially with the problem of remembering old questions?

[NiceOne]

Not to sound too obvious, but you can just study and re-study all of your wrong answers. The point is, you want to learn how not to make the same mistakes, and the best place to learn that is by studying your past mistakes.

The same holds true for how you choose to prepare this second time; in other words, don't make the same LSAT preparation mistakes that you did in the past.

[katesearches]

Not to sound too obvious, but you can just study and re-study all of your wrong answers. The point is, you want to learn how not to make the same mistakes, and the best place to learn that is by studying your past mistakes.

The same holds true for how you choose to prepare this second time; in other words, don't make the same LSAT preparation mistakes that you did in the past.

Thanks, I definitely don't want to make the same mistakes for my second time taking it, which is why I'm looking to get some better advice.

I ran out of materials for the June sitting too, and the only "strategy" I had was to go back to old problems and to study the right/wrong answers. I still feel like I've been hitting a wall though, so I'm wondering if there's any specific strategies to focus on/work on while studying the old ones

[glucose101]

Sounds obvious, but just review your old answers. What this entails is to really understand the premise, conclusion, assumptions, what the question asks for, what and why each AC is wrong, and why the correct one is correct/how it differs from the wrong ones. Trust me, you will look at the PTs in another light after reviewing each problem meticulously as such.

[Kurst]

Reusing PrepTests Will Not Hurt You!

So you've run out of material and now don't know what to do? This post is for you.

Logical Reasoning: Approach the question as you normally would. When it comes to finding the answers, you're probably going to remember the correct one. So take the time to prove why each answer is correct/incorrect. If you tend toward the lazy side, make yourself write out the reasons (in fact, this is a great idea for everyone, even if you're not lazy. Forcing yourself to verbalize your explanations forces you to find the tiny gaps in your reasoning and fill them in.) Make sure that the reasons are REAL and SUBSTANTIVE. Don't let yourself fly with any "irrelevant" or "outside the scope". Write explanations like "the fact that young akabe drink the tea in only weak form isn't inconsistent with the idea that the tea contains lots of caffeine (wouldn't want the infants hopped up on caffeine and crying all night). Thus, this answer does not call the explanation of the high caffeine amount into question."

Logic Games: Take a game and redo it 10 times in a row, different ways. Find the fastest way to do each question. Figure out what questions you can ask up front to make the big deductions. Figure out what makes the game tick. Does it remind you of another game? Go find that game and compare the two to find the patterns/similar questions.

For an extra dose of fun and understanding, try writing your own logic game. The correct answers are so easy to write; it's the wrong answers that are tricky to create. Give it a go and see what makes a game 'tick'.

Reading Comp: Read a passage and then go to the questions. (You'll probably remember fewer of these questions that with LR). Force yourself to justify each right and wrong answer based on the passage (again, writing out the justification is hugely helpful.) After you've finished, go back and reread the passage again. Were there any important pieces to the argument that you missed the first time around? What could you have looked for in order to understand the passage even better the first time. Does this passage remind you of any other passage you've done? (Structurally, not by content). Pull that passage out and compare them. Look for similar questions. Create strategies for what to look for when asked those types of questions.

For all sections:

Aim for 100% accuracy. If you miss a question, let it bother you for days until you understand it.

Teach the LSAT to others. It'll force you to understand things in a new and more solid way.

Keep a "mistake log", for both substantive mistakes and silly mistakes. Don't brush off the 'silly mistakes'; they're real and can be avoided. Devise strategies, checkpoints, and questions that you can ask to help yourself avoid them. For example, I tend to mix up my right and left. But instead of kicking myself for being stupid, if I have a game that involves right and left, I just label them in the picture. Keeping a log will help you identify your own silly mistakes. Just make sure you devise strategies to overcome them. Simply saying "oh, I won't do that again" won't keep a silly mistake from happening again.

If you have ANY prep tests left that you haven't touched, keep them for the end and have faith that your studying is improving your score. You'll need to keep those tests for the end for a final run-through or if you need to gauge whether to take or postpone. Listen, you're going to want to use them halfway through, but that's just because you don't have enough faith in yourself. If you're worried that your not studying enough/improving enough, then WORK HARDER. Don't waste 3 hours of study time and one of those few remaining practice exams to test whether you're studying enough. You're going to need them for far more important things down the line.

Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, touch the fake stuff. Guys, it is awful, awful, awful. I can't emphasize that enough. There are so many flaws running through the fake stuff, and it can actually endanger your score by making you believe that certain rules apply when they don't (go find the thread on the fake Kaplan question to get a good example). It's far better to have nothing new than to have new questions that could harm your prep.

[katesearches]

I'm sorry for being repetitive, but does anyone have advice other than merely reviewing old answers? Specifically for LR section? I really liked the idea someone gave of trying to make your own game just for fun! Also, just to avoid future confusion (and to clarify the older ones), this was my strategy for the June sitting:

1. LG - I did every single game numerous times and overall, this is looking more on the bright side for me. I averaged about 4-5 minutes on the last 20ish full sections I've done, usually -0. There was one question on the June LG section that threw me off, but overall I think I did the best I could, and other than reviewing previous games, I'm not looking for new strategies for LG (likewise for RC).

2. LR - THIS is my Achille's heel. First I did the LRB, then I tackled problems by type. While I was doing this, I had an excel sheet and literally wrote out right/wrong answers, justified why I chose what I did and why I eliminated what I did. I kept a very detailed log of the mistakes, and analysis of the choices. Then I started doing individual sections (so problems not sorted by type). I noticed an improvement after this, since I could recognize the type of problem and types of answer choices to expect. The problem is, there will always be a handful of questions where I'm stuck on two similar (seemingly just as good as each other) choices, so I'll range from -1 to -4 on each LR section. Towards the sitting of the June test, I reviewed old problems (but I already did thorough analysis of most of the questions so I felt that it was not effective to review any further). I guess I'm trying to seek out strategies that might help me improve the harder LR ones that bring my score down..

[glucose101]

There aren't any new answers because there isn't really much to do aside from that.

[abc12345675]

I would take a different class than I took the first time.