Sharing my LSAT knowledge - ask my anything Forum

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Both as an LSAT student and instructor, I've found TLS to be really useful, so I wanted to give something back. This may be a mistake, but I'm going to answer every question posted to this thread.

General LSAT strategy, questions about specific LSAT questions, anything goes.

A bit about me: I scored a 177 in June 2007, I'm the creator of Reddit's LSAT forum, the VP of Curriculum development at 7Sage LSAT, and the author of Hacking the LSAT which is a book of explanations for LSATs 29-38.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, what do you want to know?

----------------
UPDATE

This thread is old, and locked. I no longer work for 7Sage. I've made a new AMA thread here. If you want to ask me a question or ask about anything I wrote here, please go check it out: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=235369

[NoodleyOne]

Just curious about you personally... did you go to law school? If not, why, and if so, why are you not practicing now?

[theprophet89]

How big of a role does psychology play in maintaining discipline and confidence in studying?

I see many people derailed by bad PT scores and I myself have experienced this as well. I am considering doing 3 PTs a week for 3 weeks prior to December, but marking them all at the end of the week so they don't effect my psyche.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Just curious about you personally... did you go to law school? If not, why, and if so, why are you not practicing now?

I went to the University of Toronto for a year, and McGill university for half a year (I'm Canadian). After working with a firm for a summer, I started to think that I wouldn't like being a lawyer. Meanwhile, I had restarted LSAT tutoring, and remembered how much fun it was.

I hurt my arm and couldn't type while I was at McGill. That made it harder to do school, and I decided to take time off and try making a living from the LSAT instead. Since that worked out, I haven't looked back.

What made me not want to be a lawyer was:

• Long hours
  Tedious research
  Not that much work with people

The profession is pretty varied, so I could have found a job that avoided those pitfalls. But I saw it would be easier to create my own job doing LSAT work, so I did that.

As with any professional school, law school is a great choice if you want to be a lawyer. It's (usually) a terrible choice if you don't want to be a lawyer, any a risky choice if you're not sure.

note: there are a few cases where it makes sense to get a law degree when you don't want to be a lawyer. Generally, they involve having a specific goal that requires the degree.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

How big of a role does psychology play in maintaining discipline and confidence in studying?

I see many people derailed by bad PT scores and I myself have experienced this as well. I am considering doing 3 PTs a week for 3 weeks prior to December, but marking them all at the end of the week so they don't effect my psyche.

Psychology is huge. I remember tutoring a student who was normally pretty good - but that day, she just was NOT getting the game we were working on. She said it felt like pulling teeth. I called time out, and talked to her for two minutes about a book she was reading.

Had her look at the game again, and she aced it.

The same student, the same game. The only difference was that she relaxed for two minutes. This happens to you too, I guarantee it.

During the test, if you notice yourself spacing out from stress, I recommend meditating for 5-10 deep breathes. Breath in and out through your stomach, and close your eyes. The LSAT prompts the fight or flight stress response, and stomach breathing is a manual override. Your improved mental state will more than make up for the time required.

If you can handle it, I think your PT plan is a worthy experiment. I'd also recommend trying "Blind Review". You review the questions BEFORE checking the answers. I've experimented with this in my classes, and found it helps a lot. It's especially effective if you can do it with a partner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPhj7pUiVS8

[Theopliske8711]

Hey Graeme,

I was wondering about using material. I have about 10 preptests left or so and am aiming for the Dec LSAT. I aiming for a 171 for NYU but have only reached about a 164. I feel very confident when I study, but during tests what you mentioned above seems to kick in very consistently, giving me errors that I should easily notice otherwise. With a month and a half left, do you think being at my current stage is good for aiming a 171 for December? I know that is hard to determine, but what does your experience say regarding this? I take a preptest a week right now (on Sunday) and plan to step it up in the weeks just prior to the test, but I am afraid of killing all of my remaining material before I can reach a goal (people recommend going significantly above what your aiming on test day). Is it a big deal to run out of material and then refresh others?

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Hey Graeme,

I was wondering about using material. I have about 10 preptests left or so and am aiming for the Dec LSAT. I aiming for a 171 for NYU but have only reached about a 164. I feel very confident when I study, but during tests what you mentioned above seems to kick in very consistently, giving me errors that I should easily notice otherwise. With a month and a half left, do you think being at my current stage is good for aiming a 171 for December? I know that is hard to determine, but what does your experience say regarding this? I take a preptest a week right now (on Sunday) and plan to step it up in the weeks just prior to the test, but I am afraid to killing all of my remaining material before I can reach a goal (people recommend going significantly above what your aiming on test day). Is it a big deal to run out of material and then refresh others?

Hmm, tough question. Whether you write now, or write later, you haven't got much material left. I would give it your best shot for December, rather than save the material for a later date.

Re-doing material can still be useful. It's actually the best strategy for logic games. I got good at them because for a time all my students used LSATs 29-38. So I have taught every game in that book multiple times. For the first five times through a game, I kept noticing new things, and re-doing those games made me a lot better at new games.

One of the reasons I joined 7Sage was because they shared this philosophy. You can check out our video on getting a perfect logic games score for more on repetition.

LR and RC are less useful to repeat, but they're still useful. Again, I learned a lot teaching the questions in LSATs 29-38 questions to multiple students. I later went through every question in those tests when I wrote Hacking the LSAT. I learned a lot by analyzing each question in detail.

Often, you'll get a question right BUT you misunderstood part of it. On another question, that misunderstanding will cost you a point. So thoroughly reviewing questions to the point where you can explain them to others will improve your understanding. So repeating LR can help with that.

When you repeat RC, try to see how questions can be answered with line references, and get a sense of what parts of the passage are important, and what can be ignored. Once you build an intuition for this, it will work on new tests, too.

To put this all more concisely: I would bet money on someone who has taken the time to throughly understand every question in 52-61, rather than on someone who has done every test, once.

Hope that helps. I'm suggesting December because that works better for the application cycle. Otherwise you'll have to wait a year.

[Theopliske8711]

Thank you. It's actually the Logic games that really seem to tank me when I take the tests. Although I need strong improvement on LRs and RCs (to some extent), its the logic games that can send my score reeling. I miss a lot of inferences and deductions while I am timing myself and tend to screw up those must or could.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Thank you. It's actually the Logic games that really seem to tank me when I take the tests. Although I need strong improvement on LRs and RCs (to some extent), its the logic games that can send my score reeling. I miss a lot of inferences and deductions while I am timing myself and tend to screw up those must or could.

For must be true LG questions, focus on disproving the answer choices. For could be true, it's usually faster to narrow it down to 1-2 answers using the rules and then make a scenario that confirms it could be true.

[tepper]

Both as an LSAT student and instructor, I've found TLS to be really useful, so I wanted to give something back. This may be a mistake, but I'm going to answer every question posted to this thread.

General LSAT strategy, questions about specific LSAT questions, anything goes.

A bit about me: I scored a 177 in June 2007, I'm the creator of Reddit's LSAT forum, the VP of Curriculum development at 7Sage LSAT, and the author of LSAT explanations that sell on LSAT Blog, Cambridge LSAT and amazon.com

Ok, now that that's out of the way, what do you want to know?

lol, what wisdom can you possibly share? another attention seeking thread

[Cerebro]

Both as an LSAT student and instructor, I've found TLS to be really useful, so I wanted to give something back. This may be a mistake, but I'm going to answer every question posted to this thread.

General LSAT strategy, questions about specific LSAT questions, anything goes.

A bit about me: I scored a 177 in June 2007, I'm the creator of Reddit's LSAT forum, the VP of Curriculum development at 7Sage LSAT, and the author of LSAT explanations that sell on LSAT Blog, Cambridge LSAT and amazon.com

Ok, now that that's out of the way, what do you want to know?

Graeme, one question I've been wondering about is to what extent does the LSAC adapt the test to the type and effectiveness of preparation materials available? Obviously the test has changed over the years, but do you think that these changes are in direct response to people getting better at LG or LR because of better preparation materials? Or is it merely a reflection of the LSAC tweaking the test in response to something else? If the former, in what ways do you think the LSAT will be changing over the next few years?

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Both as an LSAT student and instructor, I've found TLS to be really useful, so I wanted to give something back. This may be a mistake, but I'm going to answer every question posted to this thread.

General LSAT strategy, questions about specific LSAT questions, anything goes.

A bit about me: I scored a 177 in June 2007, I'm the creator of Reddit's LSAT forum, the VP of Curriculum development at 7Sage LSAT, and the author of LSAT explanations that sell on LSAT Blog, Cambridge LSAT and amazon.com

Ok, now that that's out of the way, what do you want to know?

Graeme, one question I've been wondering about is to what extent does the LSAC adapt the test to the type and effectiveness of preparation materials available? Obviously the test has changed over the years, but do you think that these changes are in direct response to people getting better at LG or LR because of better preparation materials? Or is it merely a reflection of the LSAC tweaking the test in response to something else? If the former, in what ways do you think the LSAT will be changing over the next few years?

This is heavy speculation. But I've noticed two big changes from the older tests.

* LR uses less formal logic
* Games are less dependent on creating an elaborate setup, and more dependent on internalizing rules.

Both work against prep companies. Powerscore, in particular, overemphasizes formal logic. I've had to deprogram some Powerscore students who end up trying to diagram every question, even when there is no logic to draw. Though mind you, 52-61 seem to have a bit more formal logic than 29-38.

As to where the test will go, I'm not sure. It's already pretty subtle, and can be difficult in a general sense. I find most progress depends on finding questions that are tough for you, and figuring out why they are tough, to reverse engineer your mistakes. It's a very individual process, and so hard to teach in the same way to all students, compared to say, math.

Meaning, I'm not sure what there is left to thwart. I'd expect that any "standard" games will start to get little twists. Pure sequencing is a good example. They used to be difficult for newcomers, but incredibly easy once you mastered 1-2. Now they have a lot of conditional rules to make them harder.

[PDaddy]

LSAT instructors are becoming like acting coaches. They'd often rather teach because they just don't like dealing with the field as much as they thought. In a lot of cases, drama instructors are still actors, but they aren't going for the careers full-bore like they otherwise would.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with teaching the LSAT. You are providing a great service to people who need it. It's only wrong if you wind up teaching by default.

[bobbypin]

I am still struggling with sufficient / necessary. When I get the answer right, it's usually because my common sense found the right answer. On the more difficult questions, I am choosing the "mistaken reversal" (from Powerscore). Other than repetition, any other tips for attacking these questions?

Repetition just seems to keep me making the same damn mistake.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

I am still struggling with sufficient / necessary. When I get the answer right, it's usually because my common sense found the right answer. On the more difficult questions, I am choosing the "mistaken reversal" (from Powerscore). Other than repetition, any other tips for attacking these questions?

Repetition just seems to keep me making the same damn mistake.

Do you mean, sufficient and necessary assumption questions, or identifying sufficient and necessary conditions in conditional statements?

There aren't actually many LR questions that ask you to use conditional statements. Generally it's just these:

• Sufficient Assumption
  Parallel Reasoning
  Inference/Must Be True
  Some Principle Questions
  The *Occasional* Flawed Reasonign question

Necessary assumption questions should *not* be answered using conditional diagrams. Instead, you "negate" the right answer and see if the negated sentence wrecks the argument. For example:

"John Killed a man, therefore John is going to jail"

Some necessary assumptions and their negations:

There is a jail John can go to --> There is no jail John can go to
John won't permanently escape to a foreign country --> John will permanently escape to a foreign country

This video has more on negations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKw_7wsTPgY

On sufficient assumption questions, you have to connect the conclusion to the premise. For example:

Premises: A --> B --> C
Conclusion: A --D

Possible right answers C --> D OR ~D --> ~C

Sufficient assumption questions can be more complex than that, but they usually aren't. It's a matter of identifying the premises, seeing where the conclusion is trying to go, and finding the statement that takes you from existing premises to the conclusion.

If your problem was with conditional statements in general, describe it a bit more.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

LSAT instructors are becoming like acting coaches. They'd often rather teach because they just don't like dealing with the field as much as they thought. In a lot of cases, drama instructors are still actors, but they aren't going for the careers full-bore like they otherwise would.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with teaching the LSAT. You are providing a great service to people who need it. It's only wrong if you wind up teaching by default.

Thanks. It's a really fun profession, and it's very satisfying when I can help someone get over a plateau and permanently boost their PT scores. There are so many little traps thrown into the LSAT that it never really gets old - everyone has different issues.

[AbhiJ]

To put this all more concisely: I would bet money on someone who has taken the time to throughly understand every question in 52-61, rather than on someone who has done every test, once.

Can you eloborate on a general process on how to analyze a CR/RC question.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

To put this all more concisely: I would bet money on someone who has taken the time to throughly understand every question in 52-61, rather than on someone who has done every test, once.

Can you eloborate on a general process on how to analyze a CR/RC question.

By CR, do you mean LR? There is no "critical reasoning" section on the LSAT. Anyway, here's what I do on both sections.

----------------

LR

1. Read the stimulus
2. If I wasn't sure about something, read it again.
3. Read the question.
4. If I don't immediately know the answer, reread the stimulus while thinking about the question
5. Go through the answer choices. Eliminate what I can, settle on 1-2.
6. If stuck between more than one answer, go back to the stimulus to see what I missed.
7. If still not sure after looking back, go with gut, flag question for review, move on.

In practice, "reread" often means "skim". But you should definitely spend the bulk of your time on the stimulus. Understand that, and the answers come quickly and easily. Fail to understand the stimulus, and you'll get bogged down in the answers.

Note: Rereading the stimulus is a lot faster than reading it the first time.

-------------

RC

1. Read the Passage
2. Pause after each paragraph, and ask what the main theme of that paragraph was, in 3-5 words
3. At the end of the passage, make sure I know the following: main point, author's opinion
4. Skim over the passage to refresh myself on the structure, the location of details (for later reference) and the theme of each paragraph
5. On any questions that reference a specific detail or section, reread that section.

On RC, most questions can be answered with 100% certainty if you find the right line in the passage. This isn't true for all questions - it doesn't work for Main Point, Primary Purpose, Tone, etc.

But it works for most. So if you can find the right lines quickly, you can cut through the wrong answers and be sure of your choices. With practice, you can learn to locate a specific fact within 5 seconds, if you have a good mental map of the passage.

I wrote a blog post about how to drill your retention and mapping skills: http://7sage.com/lsat-reading-comprehen ... ry-method/ (This is for practice, not for use during a timed test)

[BlueJeanBaby]

It seems that I am a completely different test taker on test day than when I take practice tests. I never have issues on LG (-1 max) and bomb LR (-9 today in one section, ugh!) when I take practice tests. On the real test (which I've taken more than once) I did very, very well on all the LR sections but LG killed me. It makes it really difficult to study since I am having absolutely no problems with the games in my studying. Any recommendations to help my practice tests become a better indicator of my performance on test day?

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

It seems that I am a completely different test taker on test day than when I take practice tests. I never have issues on LG (-1 max) and bomb LR (-9 today in one section, ugh!) when I take practice tests. On the real test (which I've taken more than once) I did very, very well on all the LR sections but LG killed me. It makes it really difficult to study since I am having absolutely no problems with the games in my studying. Any recommendations to help my practice tests become a better indicator of my performance on test day?

Interesting. Thanks for mentioning that it's happened a couple of times. This is an unusual result, so that helps rule out a fluke.

I might be able to give you a better answer if I knew more about how you study, but my first thought is that it's either something to do with how you take the tests, or related to test day anxiety (though the increased LR score makes is odd).

A lot depends on how you're taking practice tests. If you're alone in a quiet room, that can be quite different from a noisy test center. Where do you normally take tests?

Likewise, are you doing all of the following?:

• Marking your scores on the answer sheets
  Timing yourself with an external timer + only monitoring your time with an analog watch
  Drawing all LG diagrams on the test itself
  Taking the proper break structure (10-15 min break after third section, no other breaks)
  Do you take the tests using a wooden pencil and eraser?
  Do you add experimental sections? (if stamina is an issue)

None of those are that significant on their own, but if you're missing several it creates a bit of a different experience. Here are a couple of ways to mimic test day conditions:

1. Sign up for the free practice tests companies such as Kaplan offer in your area. If you're in a big city they're competing for your attention and there should be plenty
2. Try taking the test in different place. A cafe, the library. Experiment with using an external proctor.

If you're doing all that right, and you've tried proctored tests, let me know a bit about whether things felt different on test day, that may provide a clue.

[Purplebootyfox]

I have noticed that I struggle with conditional logic. I haven't begun the practice test phase of my prep but I have a question about LR. When I am doing a LR question that has conditional logic involved, should I actually write out a conditional statement next to the question? I realize that everyone is different, but I really don't know if this is a good strategy or how pervasive it is. I feel like the time constraint make it risky but it could be beneficial. Just looking to get some perspective from a top test taker, thanks.

[hallbd16]

Question about language on RC passages.

Sometimes you get one or both of these question types in a passage:
1) "Which one of the folowing most completely and accurately states the main point of the passage?

2) "The primary purpose of the passage is most likely to..."

So my question is what is the main difference in identifying between main point and primary purpose? Is there any?

Context: Question stem (1) typically has longer and more summative answer choices.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

I have noticed that I struggle with conditional logic. I haven't begun the practice test phase of my prep but I have a question about LR. When I am doing a LR question that has conditional logic involved, should I actually write out a conditional statement next to the question? I realize that everyone is different, but I really don't know if this is a good strategy or how pervasive it is. I feel like the time constraint make it risky but it could be beneficial. Just looking to get some perspective from a top test taker, thanks.

Conditional logic on LR is over-emphasized. It's only useful for a few question types:

• Sufficient Assumption
  Inference/Must Be True
  Parallel Reasoning
  (some) Principle Questions
  The *occasional* flawed reasoning question

And not *all* of those questions should be diagrammed.

That said, when a question gives you multiple conditional statements that can be diagrammed, you should draw them.

Here's my rule for diagramming: it should make things easier, not harder. I draw questions where drawing helps me keep track of the information. If drawing doesn't seem useful and instead feels hard, I don't do it.

This rule does NOT apply if you're still having trouble getting diagrams right. In that case, when reviewing, draw every conditional statement you see. Post them here to see if you've done it correctly. Diagramming is a skill like any other. It can be learned, but it requires practice to make it intuitive.

Once you get good at it, it becomes a useful tool for LR, to be used occasionally and where appropriate. When appropriate, it helps a lot both with speed and accuracy.

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Question about language on RC passages.

Sometimes you get one or both of these question types in a passage:
1) "Which one of the folowing most completely and accurately states the main point of the passage?

2) "The primary purpose of the passage is most likely to..."

So my question is what is the main difference in identifying between main point and primary purpose? Is there any?

Context: Question stem (1) typically has longer and more summative answer choices.

Main Point: What did the author say?

Primary Purpose: Why did they say it?

In practice, there isn't much difference. They feel about the same to me, and I don't consciously take a different strategy in answering them. While reading the passage, I try to answer both questions (what? and why?). Even if the questions don't ask about both, knowing the answers will help you make sense of the passage.

The LSAC even lumps them together. Check out their Reading Comprehension Page.

"The questions may ask about the following characteristics of a passage or pair of passages:

• The main idea or primary purpose
  Information that is explicitly stated
  Information or ideas that can be inferred
  The meaning or purpose of words or phrases as used in context
  The organization or structure
  The application of information in the selection to a new context
  Principles that function in the selection
  Analogies to claims or arguments in the selection
  An author's attitude as revealed in the tone of a passage or the language used
  The impact of new information on claims or arguments in the selection"

[ElectricSheep]

I'm planning to take the LSAT in Feb. 2013.

Now with that said, I've been doing everything I can in order to study for the LSAT (lsat prep books, online classes, looking through TLS and learning advice, etc). I started at the end of July with a rough start (those PS books were helpful but not helpful enough) Right now I'm in my last semester and I only have two classes which are on Monday and Tuesday. I crammed up my last semester with 21 credits in order for this semester to be free so I could study for the LSAT.

Could you give me some pointers on how exactly to study effectively for the LSAT?

For example, do I just lock myself inside my room when I do not have class and just study for the LSAT until late at night? (Although I tried that it's hard to stay motivated; the only thing that's keeping me motivated at times like those is thinking about me living on the streets if i don't get into a good law school haha)

And how do you stay motivated? Because let's be honest, to some people (including me), on some days, it's just hard to focus because you feel drained.

Do I suck it up and hammer it through?

I want to effectively spend my time preparing for the LSAT and when each night goes by, I reflect and I chastise myself for doing things that demotivate me (like working out and such). This, I know is bad because I don't need to cause myself more unnecessary stress. Or maybe I'm just making more excuses for myself because I just want to make myself feel better. I don't know.

Anyway, back on topic. So like I said, what's the best schedule (or what did you do and if you could go back in time, what could you have done better) to study for the LSAT, for someone with my time schedule.