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Retakers have different needs, and it's confusing to flood the Oct 2012 study thread.

Figured we all could talk here.


I can't be the only one who has a great memory and unfortunately remembers the answers to every single LR question I've ever done.
It's already causing problems.

Good idea, espresso, thanks! I created a new chat as well, even though I know most of us won't be able to chat too much prior to the test.

Yeah, that's a fair point, at least this far from the test. A lot of the other study thread is with people just getting started, so the needs are definitely different.

I was meaning to ask you retakers, what do you think a good strategy is for studying? I only exhausted PTs 52-61, so I have the newest ones still able to take and of course all the old ones. I was thinking of doing the following (starting ~July 16th when I can afford to purchase new study materials).

Go through the Manhattan Guides concurrently (as in, read one chapter in LR, then one in LG, then one in RC) and drill those types with Cambridge bundles. Probably go through the Bibles a bit too, although since I already went through those and Manhattan sems well respected, I'll spend more time with Manhattan. Do this until probably middle-late August.

Starting in late August begin PTing again at about 2 a week, using 39-51 until about ten days before the test, reviewing each test to the max. Also analyze the type of questions I'm getting wrong and refresh/redrill from the guides as necessary.

Last ten days: The last PTs with relentless review. Take the day off before the test and then test day, knock this bitch out of the park.



How does this sound?

Unfortunately, I have taken every PT in some shape or form from 20-64.

My plan is, however, to get through the velocity prep by August (PTs on the weekends), going to go through it slowly and make sure I learn everything, then hit straight PT drilling like I did before. 3 a week and timed sections on off days.

Honey_Badger wrote:Good idea, espresso, thanks! I created a new chat as well, even though I know most of us won't be able to chat too much prior to the test.

Chat?

MillerTheThriller wrote:Unfortunately, I have taken every PT in some shape or form from 20-64.

My plan is, however, to get through the velocity prep by August (PTs on the weekends), going to go through it slowly and make sure I learn everything, then hit straight PT drilling like I did before. 3 a week and timed sections on off days.

I've taken at least one section from each of these PT's.

I think reducing the time limit might be a good way to do it. And when you're doing the questions, just be sure you're going through the mental work instead of focusing on your memory. Might work?

And I'll check in to this thread. FML.

NoodleyOne wrote:Yeah, that's a fair point, at least this far from the test. A lot of the other study thread is with people just getting started, so the needs are definitely different.

I was meaning to ask you retakers, what do you think a good strategy is for studying? I only exhausted PTs 52-61, so I have the newest ones still able to take and of course all the old ones. I was thinking of doing the following (starting ~July 16th when I can afford to purchase new study materials).

Go through the Manhattan Guides concurrently (as in, read one chapter in LR, then one in LG, then one in RC) and drill those types with Cambridge bundles. Probably go through the Bibles a bit too, although since I already went through those and Manhattan sems well respected, I'll spend more time with Manhattan. Do this until probably middle-late August.

Starting in late August begin PTing again at about 2 a week, using 39-51 until about ten days before the test, reviewing each test to the max. Also analyze the type of questions I'm getting wrong and refresh/redrill from the guides as necessary.

Last ten days: The last PTs with relentless review. Take the day off before the test and then test day, knock this bitch out of the park.



How does this sound?

Personally, I'm going to take more than a day off before the test. I drilled until Saturday and was still brain dead on Monday.
So I'll stop on Tuesday or so.

Manhattan LR is what I'm focusing on this time around, as well as obsessive drilling. RC and LG will be a bit neglected in my plan, but only because LR is what I need to tackle.

I'd still go over 52-61 just for the hell of it, I prefer the newer stuff for studying.

Honey_Badger wrote:Good idea, espresso, thanks! I created a new chat as well, even though I know most of us won't be able to chat too much prior to the test.

Link?

I'll have time to panic

...

Checking in.

ninetails wrote:Thanks for making this thread.

I am a bit lost as to how to go about studying this time. I have used up pretty much all of the preptests past 20 or so. The oldest ones seem too different to really be useful. I think the LGs are fine to retake after some time has passed (still have to go through all the motions) but OP I also am having trouble with remembering the answers or passages in LR/RC.

Any recommendations for other prep resources, especially for RC? I have heard Manhattan is decent. Not sure if it will be as helpful for a re-taker though.

I'm also not sure how much of a break to give myself. I don't want to get too rusty but I don't want to burn myself out either (which I think I did a bit in June). I'm thinking of easing back into it by just doing a few sections a week for now.

This is my first post in this thread but I'm retaking too

As far as remembering questions I took testmasters the first time and there were a few times where I'd take a PT (not one of the ones they provided) and I'd see a question we did in class or I'd just done in the homework or something and I'd just go through the steps of answering the question, looking at all the answer choices, figuring out why the wrong answers are wrong and crossing them out and then picking the one I think is right. It's pretty much the same thing I do for every question but I feel like it's better than going, "The answer is C and I know that because I already answered this and got it right." I'm planning on doing that this time too since some of these questions I'll be seeing for the third time. It may different for you but for me most of the time when I see a question I remember I remember the stimulus more than the answer choices, if you remember the answer choices then I'm sure that's different and harder to deal with.

As for other materials and when to start I just picked up the Powerscore Bibles and new PTs, if the Bibles don't work I'll probably get the Manhattan stuff. My Testmasters stuff is pretty much useless since I'm locked out the website and can't see the correct answers. I'm starting studying again today since all of my new books just came in the mail today, I spent the past 3 weeks relaxing and I know if I keep putting it off it'll wind up being September before I start anything.

...

.

sjwest wrote:

Honey_Badger wrote:Good idea, espresso, thanks! I created a new chat as well, even though I know most of us won't be able to chat too much prior to the test.

Chat?

http://www.tinychat.com/octoberchat

checking in!

Checking in. Postponed last October's retake until now. Waiting another year the best decision I've ever made. Feeling so much more refreshed and ready to get it done.

Good luck to everyone out there!

Hey all. I'm checking in too. I'm going to try and shift my study plan to focus on what tripped me up on the June test by analyzing the specific questions I missed.
I think my study plan before was too general.

So that's about it.
I wish you all luck!

I'll follow the pithypike study guide going through the bibles instead of studying again from the PS course books. However, since I know the basics I might start taking 2 tests a week a bit earlier and from the results analyze my deficiencies. Essentially, I'll cover almost all available material that has been released of the LSAT.

I would like to know if I'm making the right decision here maybe you guys can help..

Before June's test I was getting low 160s consistently and on the real test I scored 158. I was thinking that in order for this test to be worth retaking I should be scoring consistently at least 163 on prep tests at the beginning of September. Few test scoring lower than 163 doesn't give me much assurance I'll score at least 162 in October and makes me think even scoring below 158 is possible.

So below 163 no retake
above 163 retake

espressocream wrote:
Manhattan LR is what I'm focusing on this time around, as well as obsessive drilling. RC and LG will be a bit neglected in my plan, but only because LR is what I need to tackle.

This is similar to my plan. LR is my only problem right now so I'm planning to spend the rest of July working through Manhattan LR and drilling primarily LR sections/types. I really don't know what else to do at this point.

Also checking in. Going to refine games (I spent a long time on this for June, and it paid off from the beginning of my studying - still got some kinks to work out), but my RC and LR were under par. Best of luck to all.

Checking in! Here's to one final try.

Sup

Quick question... is delaying full PTing a good or bad idea, considering I'm going to be drilling instead? I am already familiar with the test (obviously), so I thought tightening up the weaknesses before I begin full PT-work would probably show the most growth. Should I still do maybe ~1 per week to see if any other problems creep in and keep me sharp for the full thing?

NoodleyOne wrote:Quick question... is delaying full PTing a good or bad idea, considering I'm going to be drilling instead? I am already familiar with the test (obviously), so I thought tightening up the weaknesses before I begin full PT-work would probably show the most growth. Should I still do maybe ~1 per week to see if any other problems creep in and keep me sharp for the full thing?

This is pretty much what I was planning on. My mistakes last time was not focusing prep enough and just doing a shitton of tests.

Dude, don't read Scientific American to study for RC. Read it because it's fucking awesome.