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Hi all,

I have decided I want to take the LSAT in September. I am currently a junior with a 3.8 gpa. I thought 6 months is plenty of time to study. I have never been good at standardized tests. It took me 5 times to get a 20 on the ACT. I am currently gathering my documentation to send off to LSAC to get extended time, a scribe, and a wheelchair accessible desk. I have cerebral Palsy. I use a wheelchair, and have limited use of my hands. that's why I need the accommodations.

I will be getting a tutor because I cant write so i need someone 1 on 1 to help me study.

what are the best books out there for each section that I can read and study with?
what are the best ways to study/tackle each section?

I was thinking of working on 1 section at a time.

I won't take it until i can get at least a 170

.

Hi there --

I'm Mike Kim, author of the LSAT Trainer -- for obvious reasons, I'll refrain from making suggestions about what study materials to use --

I had just one thought I wanted to mention that I thought might be useful to you --

I think the section that's going to be the biggest uphill challenge for you is probably going to be Logic Games --

Logic Games present you with a basic situation (8 friends split up into two different cars, for example) and then rules that define how that situation can play out (Tim won't be in the same car as Sally, for example). The questions then test your understanding of how these rules come together.

Most test takers rely heavily on shorthand diagramming systems to help visualize and organize games. This shorthand helps these test takers think about multiple rules at once, and makes it much easier to see the various relationships, possible inferences, and so on. Every major LSAT learning system that I know of heavily endorses diagramming because for the vast majority of test takers the ability to diagram well makes games markedly easier.

I don't know the exact specifics of your situation, but I think that creating these diagrams and using these types of methods may be particularly challenging for you.

So instead, what you may need to do in order to overcome this challenge is
a) become expert and awesome at understanding rules clearly and keeping them organized mentally
b) develop very strong backend systems so that, instead of being reliant on bringing together the rules of a game all right at the beginning before answering q's, or being able to use the simpler shorthand notations, you are cycling through rules as they are written and "reconnecting" them as you need to on a question by question basis. I'm sure you've had to develop similar sorts of systems to overcome similar challenges in the past, and I imagine you'd developed some very successful methods.

It's much harder to do well at Logic Games without being able to draw a big picture diagram, but it is possible, and I've met a few students who have gotten very good at solving games questions with minimal upfront diagramming.

A good tutor should be able to help you adapt the strategies in the books and such to your particular situation -- I do have some experience with this, so if your tutor wants to talk with someone about how to go about it, please have him/her pm me and I'll be happy to help in any way I can --

Hope that's useful, and again I wish you the best -- Mike

Thank you, I am in the process of looking for a tutor. I'm worried about all the sections but because of my limitations Logic games are my biggest concern. I will definitely contact you if I can't figure something out!

The LSAT Trainer wrote:Hi there --

I'm Mike Kim, author of the LSAT Trainer -- for obvious reasons, I'll refrain from making suggestions about what study materials to use --

I had just one thought I wanted to mention that I thought might be useful to you --

I think the section that's going to be the biggest uphill challenge for you is probably going to be Logic Games --

Logic Games present you with a basic situation (8 friends split up into two different cars, for example) and then rules that define how that situation can play out (Tim won't be in the same car as Sally, for example). The questions then test your understanding of how these rules come together.

Most test takers rely heavily on shorthand diagramming systems to help visualize and organize games. This shorthand helps these test takers think about multiple rules at once, and makes it much easier to see the various relationships, possible inferences, and so on. Every major LSAT learning system that I know of heavily endorses diagramming because for the vast majority of test takers the ability to diagram well makes games markedly easier.

I don't know the exact specifics of your situation, but I think that creating these diagrams and using these types of methods may be particularly challenging for you.

So instead, what you may need to do in order to overcome this challenge is
a) become expert and awesome at understanding rules clearly and keeping them organized mentally
b) develop very strong backend systems so that, instead of being reliant on bringing together the rules of a game all right at the beginning before answering q's, or being able to use the simpler shorthand notations, you are cycling through rules as they are written and "reconnecting" them as you need to on a question by question basis. I'm sure you've had to develop similar sorts of systems to overcome similar challenges in the past, and I imagine you'd developed some very successful methods.

It's much harder to do well at Logic Games without being able to draw a big picture diagram, but it is possible, and I've met a few students who have gotten very good at solving games questions with minimal upfront diagramming.

A good tutor should be able to help you adapt the strategies in the books and such to your particular situation -- I do have some experience with this, so if your tutor wants to talk with someone about how to go about it, please have him/her pm me and I'll be happy to help in any way I can --

Hope that's useful, and again I wish you the best -- Mike