DECEMBER 2012: Daily Study Report! Forum

[echamberlin8]

Since I decided to postpone my LSAT until December, I'm going to start another thread like the one we had for the October LSAT.

Here is a quote from the original post by aena:

"This is a thread for those who plan to take the LSAT during October 2012. Some of us have expressed difficulty with staying motivated, and I thought this MIGHT help.

The members who decide to join this group will/SHOULD post their daily LSAT activities on this thread at the end of EVERYDAY. Write everything you did to prepare for the LSAT's during the day. We can give each other suggestions/tips for studying, shower with encouragement, SUFFER TOGETHER, and keep track of our progress. I mean, ultimtely, this will somehow lead us to feel publicly ashamed of our procrastination and thus become more motivated."


I will start first: Last night I read the Causality chapter in the Logical Reasoning Bible. I'm going to start switching off my days between LR, RC, and LG, because I've gotten to the point where I'm about equally good at each. For a long time I was by far the worst at LGs, but after completing the Manhattan LG book (recommended to everyone), I've improved a fair amount on those (still have to drill them more because my timing is a bit slow on LGs).

I'm wondering if the new Manhattan book will be so good as to warrant me buying it even though I have the old one. Is it out yet? I forget.

Going to start the RCB tonight. Not sure if I should start that or the Manhattan RC book actually, but my goal is to read both, and usually the Bible books are the best for beginning reading. I will read the Manhattan book next.

Has anyone practiced at all for the essay at the end of the test? I think I bought a book about it, but I haven't cracked it yet.

Anyways, my goal for the LsAT is a 175 or higher. My highest PT so far is a 165, which I got at the beginning of September (got 2 in a row). I have only taken one PT since then, since I've been so busy at work (I got a 164 this past weekend on PT 62), but I'm looking to start PTing more seriously in the coming months in preparation for December. I have yet to have a real LSAT score, and if necessary I will retake next year and apply in the next cycle to get that mid-170s score. I really want to get into Harvard or Columbia, which I think I have a shot at with a high enough LSAT (I have a 3.73 GPA).

Anyways, I wish the best of luck to all of you guys taking the December test. Even though I just postponed, I feel like December is still right around the corner. And I've been studying for a good six months now probably!

[d0rklord]

Come join us, over here:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=192515

[echamberlin8]

Come join us, over here:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=192515

I checked in yesterday. Whoop whoop!

[echamberlin8]

Yesterday I began the Reading Comprehension Bible again. Got half into Chapter 2, which just outlines the basic practices of RC.

Before this point, I haven't really seriously studied RC. Since my early PTs averaged -4 or less on RC, I decided that I was naturally "gifted" at it, so focused mainly on LG (and, to a lesser extent, on LR), which I was having plenty of problems on. But the latest PT I took (from a later test--62) I got a -7 on RC, so I realized I need just as much help here getting a high score as I do in the other sections.

What do you guys recommend in terms of studying RC? Doing a lot of timed sections? Before I was only doing them as part of the full-length PTs, but probably I should also focus on full-length timed sections (same with LR).

[echamberlin8]

Last night was my Logic Games night. I did a full section from one of the early PTs (I believe PT 14 or something like that?). I did one game at a time, and kept track of the time for each game. I got all of the questions right in the section, however one game took much longer than it should have. Most of the games were 8:45 or less (one was 10:00, but one was 7:40), but the third game took me TWENTY MINUTES! It was one of the rare LGs with 8 questions, but still.... It was some sort of grouping game. I forget if it was binary grouping (two groups) or more.

I am going to continue this one-game-at-a-time drill for the new few LG days, but after that I will move onto stringing together two LGs at a time, and timing how long it takes to do two. After that I will start timing and going at full sections without stopping.

One of my biggest issues as an LSAT-taker is the timing of the LG section. That is what is currently keeping me out of the 170s. I've gotten a 165 while missing literally half of the LG section, so I know that if I get my timing issues down, that I can get up there into the 170s.

Does anyone here have any tips for improving timing on LGs? I try to make as good a diagram as possible, while as being as quick and as neat as possible. Oftentimes, if it's a somewhat complex grouping game, the diagram and initial inferences can take as long as 3-4 minutes, which I suspect might be what's costing me some time. However, I do like to make as many inferences up front as possible (this can be hard, though). Also, doing trial-and-error (or, as the LGB calls it...you know what? It's been so long since I looked at the LGB that I forgot what they called the trial-and-error method of figuring out LG questions) tends to take up a lot of my time. I really feel like LG timing is the single biggest hurdle I have to get over to get the score I want.

More tomorrow. Tonight I will be doing LR.

[MarcusAurelius]

[SumStalwart]

Hey echamberlin8,

It seems like you are on the right track! Just keep practicing those logic games. It used to be my worst section, now I frequently go -0, -1. Today, I ended up finishing the AR section with 10 minutes left and got -0. Just keep practicing and don't yield. If you get stumped on a question, move on (but guess so that you have a chance of getting it correct if you run out of time). That's my position. Good luck in December!

[SumStalwart]

Also, I noticed that you use the hypothetical/diagram method. I don't use that. I simply write out the rules, connect the rules that can be connected, and then jump into the questions. The newer games tend to have more localized questions that you can't map out initially. Furthermore, the games tend to unfold themselves. Why waste your time trying to predict what's going to happen when you can diagram when presented with the questions? It might be something to consider..

[hallbd16]

I can dig this. I'll jump on the train. WE CAN ROCK THIS SHIT.

Since I decided to postpone my LSAT until December, I'm going to start another thread like the one we had for the October LSAT.

Here is a quote from the original post by aena:

"This is a thread for those who plan to take the LSAT during October 2012. Some of us have expressed difficulty with staying motivated, and I thought this MIGHT help.

The members who decide to join this group will/SHOULD post their daily LSAT activities on this thread at the end of EVERYDAY. Write everything you did to prepare for the LSAT's during the day. We can give each other suggestions/tips for studying, shower with encouragement, SUFFER TOGETHER, and keep track of our progress. I mean, ultimtely, this will somehow lead us to feel publicly ashamed of our procrastination and thus become more motivated."

My details:
I am at averaging a 166 right now with my highest PT at a 169 at about 5 PTs taken. I am shooting for a 175 average before the test to make sure I get a 170+ on the test. Interesting fact is that I am taking the test from China, thankfully I only work ~25 hours/week so I have ample study time.

My averages to date by section:
LG: ~(-1)
LR: ~ (-9/10) this includes both sections combined
RC: ~ (-5) but this is a extremely volatile score for me. I have swung from -0 to -10 on my PTs... Despise my inconsistency.

My current plan:
LG- Drilling according to Pithypike's advice. Currently getting close to finishing all drilling of LG
LR- Also following Pithypike's advice using the LRB. Have a 4 questions types to study and then drill (non are high frequency question types).
However, I think this is the most critical area for me to attack the next two months. This is the area I can most easily improve- LG is pretty strong and RC is a F@##ing B--
I am going to start going through the Manhattan LR book after I finish the Powerscore Bible.
RC- Meh. Need to figure something out to build consistency, gonna give Manhattan RC study guide a try.
Section drilling- I am doing a lot of mind training for how to approach answer question types of LR right now. Using Mike Kim's suggestion on this and as a general approach to building skills:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=192589
(Personally recommend these strategies as it is dramatically improving my awareness of the test)

2) Have a very clearly defined process for each of the different question types. Write these processes out on notecards if need be, and hold them up each time you do a problem until the correct process becomes habit. Different questions require vastly different strategies (for example, if a question asks about a specific detail, I will go into the text, find the detail, learn everything I can about it, then go into the answer choices, but if a question is about the passage as a whole, I will anticipate the right answer, eliminate wrong choices, then go into the text at the end to confirm my right answer), and yet most test-takers don't work to develop question-specific habits -- make sure you focus on this.

PT- Take oneish PTs a week until November and then up it too x3 a week. Using this method by, 7sage, to review problems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYCNtfLV ... ure=relmfu

Note: To those who join the thread I am very interested in the details of how you study and why you study that way. I am a big believer that it is not taking PTs that determines how big our gains are, but rather it is how intelligently we use the PTs to develope of mental approaches to solving problems that will determine how much our scores improve. Obviously, I would appreciate any advice/thoughts/suggestions you shared along those lines.


First Daily Update
Took a PT today with an experimental as the 1st section that I did.
LG (-2) -Never thrilled to miss any on this section...
Experimental LR (-5)
LR: (-12) Yeah, got drilled on last section I did, the 2nd LR. Got final 5 questions wrong. Need to build endurance. Later re-did problems before checking answers and got 4 out of those 5 correct in a timely manner
RC- Haven't finished reviewing yet... but ok with a -4 for now.

Big take away from today is that I need to make sure my endurance gets better. Will monitor this to see if it was a one day thing, or a trend.


@echamberlin8- Good call on this thread. I hear you don't really need to prep for the written test, just read a few examples, maybe try one or two on PTs. Don't worry about it. Interested to hear how the RC Bible goes for you, I'll share my thoughts on the Manhattan RC when I finish

@sumstalwart- You are taking both the Oct and Dec test right? If so, good luck tomorrow!

[echamberlin8]

Is that drunk history storytelling? I remember my friends always made me watch some YouTube vids of drunk people explaining historical stories. And that guy looks damn drunk.

[echamberlin8]

Hey echamberlin8,

It seems like you are on the right track! Just keep practicing those logic games. It used to be my worst section, now I frequently go -0, -1. Today, I ended up finishing the AR section with 10 minutes left and got -0. Just keep practicing and don't yield. If you get stumped on a question, move on (but guess so that you have a chance of getting it correct if you run out of time). That's my position. Good luck in December!

Finish an AR section with 10 minutes left is cuh-razy. I'm impressed, man. I predict a good score for you. How are your other sections going?

Have you taken the LSAT before.

Plus, I'd like to get to know the visitors in this thread. Where are you interested in going to law school?

[echamberlin8]

Also, I noticed that you use the hypothetical/diagram method. I don't use that. I simply write out the rules, connect the rules that can be connected, and then jump into the questions. The newer games tend to have more localized questions that you can't map out initially. Furthermore, the games tend to unfold themselves. Why waste your time trying to predict what's going to happen when you can diagram when presented with the questions? It might be something to consider..

Sounds like a solid idea, but I'll definitely have to practice that before the real thing. That sounds a bit intimidating to be honest, but I suspect that it will save a lot of time. And yeah, I suppose it would work on doing the newer LSATs. I've been practicing the older LGs lately, and most of those actually don't use hypotheticals, so it's nice to have a full diagram up.

[echamberlin8]

@hallbd, great post! I think we are somewhat near each other in what we are shooting for and where we are right now (although 165 is my top score, while you've hit 169 [impressive!]). That's cool you will be taking the test from China. What are you doing out there? Where do you want to go to law school?

I will tell you how the RC Bible is. I too plan to use the Manhattan RC book after finishing the RC Bible.

For Logical Reasoning I'm going through the LRB, and after each chapter detailing a type of question, I answer all of the LR questions in the Kaplan LSAT Mastery Practice for that question type. I'm not really sure how I should be timing these, and haven't been yet. What do you guys think? (After finishing the LRB, I will go through the Manhattan LR book.)

For Reading Comprehension all I'm doing at the moment is going through the RC Bible. I suppose I will start doing the questions from the Kaplan LSAT Mastery Book for each question type once I get to those parts of the RC Bible (I'm assuming they list each chapter by question type?). After this, I will go through the Manhattan RC book.

I'm trying to focus a bit more on Logic Games, as I said in my initial post. I've been trying to (starting from the beginning...or at least the first book of the full-length PTs which has ten of them in it) go through all of the LGs from PTs, doing them multiple times each. At the moment, I'm doing one at a time and timing them. Then I will do 2 at a time, then full sections at a time. I have already finished the LGB and the Manhattan LG book (the latter of which is a significant help over the LGB). I'm wondering if I should get the new Manhattan LG book? I've heard it's a big improvement.

After I'm done with the steps above, I will move to taking PTs 3-4 times a week. At the moment, I will try to take one a week (on weekends), or possibly two. My goal for taking it 4 times a week will be take it on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I got this idea from someone else on this board--you review on Wednesdays and Fridays the tests you took the day before, and on the weekends you review the tests after you take them. Monday can be an all-purpose review day.

Daily Update:

Last night I read through the Strengthen question section of the LRB. Next I will do the Strengthen questions in the Kaplan LSAT Mastery "Big Blue Book" (a handy reference suggested by, I believe, Pithypike). I've already done the Weaken questions in it, which were in the same section. It has some pretty tough questions in the later star difficulties (3-4-5 [forget if it has 5 stars or not]). Tonight, I will do some Logic Games.

I think what I'm going to try to start working on now for LGs is doing the LG sections from PTs 29-38, and then reviewing them using the explanations for these PTs from LSATBlog.com. I purchased his six-month study guide a long time ago, and a lot of it is based on this technique. Have any of you guys used his explanations? Do you find them worthwhile?

Edward

Edit: Do you guys suggest I start taking 5-section tests now? How should I figure out what to put in for the experimental section? My guess is that I should start taking 5-section tests as early as possible, as that will get me used to endurance. I want to eventually take a few "double tests" (8-10-section tests) prior to the real thing in December, as this will build some strong endurance. I think endurance is probably one of the most important things I need to work on, since I have a problem concentrating for long periods of time, and I never study for more than two hours straight really (usually 1.5 or so).

[hallbd16]

@echamberlin
-I use the diagrams and insight provided on Manhattan's forum quite a bit. I like those the most. Next best is the LSAT Blog by Steve imo.
-Not sure about when is the best time to start 5 section tests, but x1 a week now wouldn't hurt. Two things, make sure you have gone through all LRB and done all drilling types by the end of the month.... so if you are tight on time, that is the priority and then do as many PTs as possible with that in mind. The other consideration is to do as many PTs as possible such that you don't run out of before December... ideally coming as close to exhausting all material by Dec 1. But make sure you aren't just taking a lot of tests, you already know they need to be thoroughly reviewed.
-I am teaching high school math in China now. A place called Zhengzhou, just another 8 million person city no one in the US has heard of. Was teaching for a couple years after college and wanted to here before going into law.

Daily Update
L- Working on my second time through grouping defined, fixed, and overloaded games from PTs 20-40. I am making too many mistakes not making inferences and creating options/frames after the the initial diagramming and before attacking the questions. I do this well on linear games, need to do this for grouping games too.

LR- Practiced by drilling Parallel reasoning and resolve the paradox. Found jotting down the contradictory points real quickly for paradox questions to be a good strategy, allows me to eliminate questions easier as I can visually see if an AC explains both points. Parallel reasoning is challenging, but an extremely valuable question to study because it really helps build my ability to identify the reasoning structure.

RC-started reading MRC

[hallbd16]

Took PT 60 today

My downward trend continues

LG: (-5)... Freaked out on the first game, missed 2, didn't have enough time for the final game and missed 3 there
LR 1: (-4) Felt pretty good, missed both parellel reasoning/flaw ?s, misread an easy one and a principle justify ?
LR 2: (-8) In an absolute fog, need to increase stamina
RC: (-7) Need to be a closer reader of questions and ACs

I looped back after the test before knowing which ones I missed. Redid many problems and only missed 5 for the entire test... So the only bright thing I can take from this is that it was an untimed test with a score of 175.

Gonna stick to my plan. Happy that I get to drill principle questions this week. Need it.

[SumStalwart]

Thanks, hallbd16. It went alright. I am sure that you have seen what the TLS October 2012 test takers think of this round xD. I am going to wait until the score comes out before taking on December 2012 (if I get 17x, I don't think that I'm going to retake-- we'll see).

Don't worry about the downward trend-- you're using LSAT books (Manhattan, powerscore, kaplan, etc.), right? Every time that I was reading a new book, I saw my score drop. However, once I finished the book, my scores would jump up. It just takes time to get used to the strategies that the books suggest. Try using older PT's to fine tune those strategies-- it'll enable you to use the newer tests to get a more solid handle on their wording, once you've gotten the basics down.

Keep up the good work!

[finnandjake2]

Is that drunk history storytelling? I remember my friends always made me watch some YouTube vids of drunk people explaining historical stories. And that guy looks damn drunk.

This is from a show called Ancient Aliens. I hypothesize that they if there is an alien currently hiding on the Earth that it is residing on top of this guy's head.

He looks drunk but if you watch the show he sounds like he is on something other than alcohol.

[hallbd16]

E-Chamb, where you at? Hope you're killing everyday.

Today:
LG- Grouping Games
LR- Evaluate the Arg. from LRB and drilled question type
- Did a LR section from PT 41. Focusing on building consistency on how I solve/attack each problem type. After my first turn through in a timed section, went through again. Looked at the respective notecard on a specific question type before solving each problem (I have cards for each question type and they outline my strategy for solving each question type). Changed 3 answers: 2 from egregious reading errors, 1 b/c AC scope didn't apply to conclusion in a weakening quesiton. Changed them all to the correct answer. When grading, saw I missed two more, a atrocious parallel flaw (# 23) and also a principle question I don't understand (#17, I chose B, correct answer is C). If you know #17, send me some advice.
RC- Nada

[echamberlin8]

Hey, hallbd. I tend not to post on weekends, since I'm almost never on the computer. Wasn't able to study a huge amount this weekend until Sunday, because it was the Waterford Fair, which is a historical crafts-type fair in my hometown which I go to every year, and I had to volunteer there this year. Tried to study, but my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces were visiting, and it was a very distracting environment.

Do you study all 3 sections every day? At the moment I'm doing LR one day, RC the next, and then LG the next. I have a hard time studying over 2 hours a day because of work, so it's hard to fit in more than one section of studying per day.

Yesterday I finished chapter 2 in the RCB (basic RC stuff, like the VIEWSTAMP method of identifying the basic characteristics of an RC passage), as well as doing something Strengthen problems from the Kaplan LSAT Mastery book. I got all of the 1-star questions right quickly, but I missed the first two 2-star ones I took. I cut them out and will look at and analyze them later. I'm starting to do that for all LR questions I miss. I read that various high-scorers do this with LR questions, so hopefully I can learn a thing or two from them. I missed these questions because of misreading and rushing through them, which I'm not happy about.

Did you say there is a Manhattan forum? Do you have a link for it? I'd like to take a look.

What was your score on PT 60 before you went back and corrected it?

Oh, and thanks, finnandjake, for telling me what the hell that picture is from. Weird fucking shit, haha.

[hallbd16]

@echamberlin
Here is the manhattan forum: http://www.manhattanlsat.com/forums/?si ... f7a5081154
I think it is great for LR and LG, haven't used it for RC yet though.
-I normally study two sections a day, sometimes on my off days I have the time/energy to study all three. Often RC is just a passage with review or a little from the MRC guide.
-Ah cool about the fair, nice to have family around. I only get to skype with mine at the moment.
- I think it was around 175 untimed/having corrected my mistakes. Probably means I have the ability to solve problems/understand how to solve problems, but clearly what matters is performance on 35 minute times sections

Today
-Drilled LG grouping- Find conditional chains you find on in/out games extremely time consuming. Getting better at linking up conditionals quickly to save time. Don't use the Manhattan method... maybe will try it out later, but it seems damn complex.
-Reviewed LRB Principle Questions and drilled some of them

[echamberlin8]

Hey, all. So last night I did the LG section from PT7 (I did it game by game and timed each game). I had done this a while ago, but I got a -1 on the section, and that was from now seeing an "EXCEPT" in the question stem (dumb mistake). Pretty happy about it, since I also did the games in the time it would've taken me to do the real thing. This week I will continue with the game-by-game timing, and then I will move onto timing two games at a time.

I also did the 2-star Strengthen questions from the big blue Kaplan book. No misses! Woo-hoo!

Also looked at some PowerScore Logic Games Flash Cards. They help me a little bit, and I'm glad I got them. I also have the LR Flash Cards, but have yet to use them.

Just found out about lsatqa.com yesterday. Do you guys have any experience using it? I'm not really sure what it is, but it looks like you submit your LSAT PT scores, and it calculates what sections/kinds of questions you need to strengthen, and tracks all your scores. Sounds amazing. This weekend I plan to take PT 40.

[echamberlin8]

@echamberlin
Here is the manhattan forum: http://www.manhattanlsat.com/forums/?si ... f7a5081154
I think it is great for LR and LG, haven't used it for RC yet though.
-I normally study two sections a day, sometimes on my off days I have the time/energy to study all three. Often RC is just a passage with review or a little from the MRC guide.
-Ah cool about the fair, nice to have family around. I only get to skype with mine at the moment.
- I think it was around 175 untimed/having corrected my mistakes. Probably means I have the ability to solve problems/understand how to solve problems, but clearly what matters is performance on 35 minute times sections

Today
-Drilled LG grouping- Find conditional chains you find on in/out games extremely time consuming. Getting better at linking up conditionals quickly to save time. Don't use the Manhattan method... maybe will try it out later, but it seems damn complex.
-Reviewed LRB Principle Questions and drilled some of them

Yes, linking conditionals can be a pain. You want to know one difference I noticed between the LGB and the Manhattan LG book? It was how they treat compound-conditionals. You know those things like A and B -------> C; Not C -------> Not A OR B.

The LGB just tells you to flip and negate each of the variables, like you would for a normal contrapositive, but in addition to that, you also change "OR" to "AND," and vice versa. However, in the Manhattan LG book, it lists 4 different kinds of compound-conditionals, according to which side of the arrow the compound-variable is on, and which side of the arrow "AND" or "OR" are on. I found their method a bit confusing, since I read through the LGB first, and I was used to just finding the contrapositive and changing "OR" to "AND" (or vice versa). Anyone have any thoughts on this? Do I really have to memorize the four different kinds of compound-conditionals that the ManLG book details?

[ready4180]

Yesterday I...

re-read PS LG chapter 1 and made flashcards
Did 6 drills
Skimmed Kaplan RC chapter 3

This morning I...

started PS LG chapter 2

What else can I do today?

[A.Taarabt7]

today gonna do rc and lg, the 2 type of sections im drilling this week. mostly using voyager rc strat which is helping significantly. then going over manhattan LR specifically flaw and assumption. gonna finish personal statement and review rc and lg very carefully

[hallbd16]

Yesterday I...

re-read PS LG chapter 1 and made flashcards
Did 6 drills
Skimmed Kaplan RC chapter 3

This morning I...

started PS LG chapter 2

What else can I do today?

If I have extra time, I always re-do logic games. They are always accessible and it is easy for my mind to switch to that mindset..