Help me schedule the next 3 months PLS Forum

[laww]

June's about to end.

I've spent about 4 weeks prepping for the LSAT and right now I'm averaging about -0 LGs, -5/-7 LR, and -4/-5 RC.

I have all of July, August, and September to devote to the LSAT. LR is my biggest weakness and I'm getting WORSE at it the more I've done it so I'm really worried. When I started I was averaging like 174-176 on the tests but now I'm just getting killed on the LR on the later tests....

RC is mostly stupid mistakes...

What are your suggestions for utilizing this time as best as possible?

I have the following resources:

Cambridge LSAT bundles 1-68 LGs, 1-38 LR, 1-68 PTs
MLSAT LR
PS LR, LG, RC
7sage/LSAT blog for LGs (free)

Thanks

edit: I should mention that I have referred to LSAT blog's study plan but I am wondering how to apply that to my case when I have already worked through the LGs and gotten it down but need to focus on LR and RC.

[Clyde Frog]

June's about to end.

I've spent about 4 weeks prepping for the LSAT and right now I'm averaging about -0 LGs, -5/-7 LR, and -4/-5 RC.

I have all of July, August, and September to devote to the LSAT. LR is my biggest weakness and I'm getting WORSE at it the more I've done it so I'm really worried. When I started I was averaging like 174-176 on the tests but now I'm just getting killed on the LR on the later tests....

RC is mostly stupid mistakes...

What are your suggestions for utilizing this time as best as possible?

I have the following resources:

Cambridge LSAT bundles 1-68 LGs, 1-38 LR, 1-68 PTs
MLSAT LR
PS LR, LG, RC
7sage/LSAT blog for LGs (free)

Thanks

edit: I should mention that I have referred to LSAT blog's study plan but I am wondering how to apply that to my case when I have already worked through the LGs and gotten it down but need to focus on LR and RC.

You posted that you got a 2280 on your SAT and a 35 on your ACT. You're probably pretty smart, so I'm guessing you probably know what you need to do to increase your score.

Regardless, the best way that I learned LR was by downloading a PDF file of the Cambridge packets onto my IPad and constantly looking over questions that have given me trouble in the past. I know TLS1776 would keep cutouts of answers he had gotten wrong and would constantly review them. Instead of cutouts, I keep the pages bookmarked so I can constantly review them.

I hate the whole schedule thing, so I just carry my iPad around and do studying when I'm mentally up for it. I think a lot of people go through the motions with LSAT studying, just as you see when people do the same during sports practices and never really improve. It's funny to see people on here talking about how they study for 8-10 hours a day ect., but aren't seeing improvements. Just remember it's not about how much time that you put into something, but rather what you put into that time.

[LSAT Blog]

I should mention that I have referred to LSAT blog's study plan but I am wondering how to apply that to my case when I have already worked through the LGs and gotten it down but need to focus on LR and RC.

Here's how I'd recommend applying my study plan to your situation:

Since you feel like you've got LGs down pretty well, just skip ahead to the portions of the schedule that are focused more on LR and RC. I'd suggest getting the 5-month (20-week) plan so that you can fill your July, August, and September with more LR and RC work and do a bit of LG work to stay fresh it (as well as full sections and timed exams at the end.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the study plan.

[laww]

Thanks guys.

LSAT Blog I love your site!

I want to nail a 180 man. Nothing less. 90+ days is a lot of time and I just want to be able to increase my speed and accuracy @ LR.

[Ambitious1]

Drill the balls out of flaw, assumption, weaken and strengthen questions. Lockdown Manhattan's core approach and focus and fine tune your process on LR when you are answering questions. The goal on LR, at least initially, is to understand why 4 wrong answers are wrong moreso than why one answer is credited.

You will FLY through LR sections once you have a firm grasp of why certain answers are wrong, and you will start seeing patterns within these question stems. For example weaken question stems "some" statements are usually red flags and weak but on necessary assumption questions and even strengthen they can help plug in an assumption that supports the argument. In strengthen questions with causality the correct AC will often be a "not" answer that helps plug in a hole in the argument. For example if I say eating chocolate causes cancer, a correct AC would be like, radiation from the sun's gamma rays is not a significant contributor to cancer. Or it would strengthen that initial supposition "sugar in chocolate is known to have an adverse effect on white blood cells which fight off cancer" lol you get the point. It's the little subtleties in LR that will take your score to the next level and you can only obtain this by putting in significant hours drilling and drilling and learning by trial and error. Your goal after each stim. is to know exactly what to expect and to anticipate flaws, and if not put yourself in an active position to eliminate some very (and often obvious) wrong answers.

I strongly recommend putting timed practice on hold for a few weeks, and focusing almost exclusively on Cambridge LR drilling and working on a consistent approach to each question. Miguel Cabrera is great every year because of his approach at the plate. Your process defines everything on this exam and is what will give you consistency.

After you drill and have a much stronger and firmer grasp on LR, start pushing yourself to go a bit faster. Try to answer 18 questions in 15 minutes. Then 17. Then 15 in 15 minutes. Eventually you want to get to the point where the easy questions at the beginning and end of the section just become a breeze and the rest of your time is allocated to 3-5 hard LR questions in each section.

Long post but hope this helps.

[Typhoon24]

Commit Manhattan LR book to memory. If you successfully apply everything manhattan says to do in the book, you should be down to -3 or -4. The remaining 3 or 4 out of 51 LR questions in a PT are solved using personal experience and judgment. That experience and judgment is best gained from drilling questions by type like a mad man, getting a bunch wrong, and then learning from your mistakes.

[Daily_Double]

Here's my retake schedule. Whether or not I follow through with it will depend entirely upon my June score.

JUNE: DRILLING

Drilling:
LR - Assumption Family
• N/A, S/A, Flaw, Strengthen, Weaken, Evaluate the Argument, Principle (Identify)
LG - Ordering
• Relative Ordering, Simple Ordering, and Complex Ordering
RC - Sections
• Sections from 1- 20

JULY: DRILLING & PTS

Drilling:
LR - Inference
• MBT, MSS, Complete the Passage, Cannot be True, Main Conclusion, Point at Issue, Paradox, and Principle (Apply)
LG - Grouping
• In/Out, Grouping (Distribution), Determined Assignment, Undetermined Assignment
RC - Sections
• Sections from 21 - 30.

PTs – All of the 60s

AUGUST: DRILLING AND PTS

Drilling
LR - Structure
• Method (Argument), Method (Statement), Parallel (Reasoning), Parallel (Flaw)
LG – Miscellaneous
RC – Sections
o Sections from 31 - 39

PTs - All of the 40s and 1/2 of the 50s

SEPTEMBER: PTS

PTs – 1/2 of the 50s and redoing the 60s

OCTOBER: REVIEW

[laww]

thx all

[CourCour]

I had same issues where I started just doing worse and worse on the LRs for no reason. I did the LR bible and downloaded the most difficult LRs from Cambridge LSAT. I was getting on average worse than when I started. Thats when I decided to put the LRs aside for a week. By doing that I let what I had learned sink in and use it from a more instinctual place. So, if you get to a point where you are bashing yourself over the head with your LRs take some space and focus on RC and LG.

One thing I did that I thought helped (more for the LG because starting out it was my most difficult section) was to journal about my practice sections. I'd do a practice set and then write 2 or 3 sentences on each Q that included the questions type, why I chose the answer, why it was right or if wrong, why it was wrong and what made it appealing (why I chose the wrong answer). I have 2 moleskine notebooks full of these notes. For me, externalizing the process helped me understand why I was making the mistakes I made.