The Official June 2016 Study Group Forum

[somethingElse]

True, but I also warmed up pretty extensively before each LSAT (both directly doing questions/passages/games as well as other shit).

What was your warm-up routine? I go for a short run and meditate a few hours before a test. But I know I should also be doing practice questions, which I'll do before doing pt77 tomorrow.

Breakfast + Coffee
3 sudoku/similar-type puzzles
Read some of my denser-than-LSAT-shit book
Meditate
10-15 LR
2 RC passages
2 LGs

That would be for a 830 am test. For June I would just like sleep in way more and do all that shit plus probably shoot hoops for 30 min or so between the breakfast and coffee and all the other stuff.

What are some of your "denser-than-LSAT-shit book" you recommend?

I read Infinite Jest. Really good book actually and definitely denser than LSAT. You could also try reading Critique of Pure Reason by Kant, but that's translated into english and so while it is definitely very dense in its own right, part of that comes from being translated. There's also Gravity's Rainbow which is VERY dense - much denser than Infinite Jest. You could also just try Googling like "super dense books" or something like that and pick one that seems interesting to you. You can't really go wrong as long as it's significantly denser than RC passages.

lol that's a very unique LSAT warm up book, I dig

Ty Pretzel!!

[longpig]

Lmao I know there's debate over whether earlier PT's are easier, but I just got a 180 on PT55, after getting 171 on PT77. I know it doesn't make sense, but I wish it was 2008 again...

[Rupert Pupkin]

True, but I also warmed up pretty extensively before each LSAT (both directly doing questions/passages/games as well as other shit).

What was your warm-up routine? I go for a short run and meditate a few hours before a test. But I know I should also be doing practice questions, which I'll do before doing pt77 tomorrow.

Breakfast + Coffee
3 sudoku/similar-type puzzles
Read some of my denser-than-LSAT-shit book
Meditate
10-15 LR
2 RC passages
2 LGs

That would be for a 830 am test. For June I would just like sleep in way more and do all that shit plus probably shoot hoops for 30 min or so between the breakfast and coffee and all the other stuff.

What are some of your "denser-than-LSAT-shit book" you recommend?

I read Infinite Jest. Really good book actually and definitely denser than LSAT. You could also try reading Critique of Pure Reason by Kant, but that's translated into english and so while it is definitely very dense in its own right, part of that comes from being translated. There's also Gravity's Rainbow which is VERY dense - much denser than Infinite Jest. You could also just try Googling like "super dense books" or something like that and pick one that seems interesting to you. You can't really go wrong as long as it's significantly denser than RC passages.

Ok i will look those up. Thanks for the advice

[Rupert Pupkin]

What are some of your "denser-than-LSAT-shit book" you recommend?

Capital by Piketty for Econ.

For novels: of course, Ulysses if you can stomach a little "stream of consciousness". Or Cloud Atlas (love that book)...seriously amazing novel. Most relevant is one subplot that uses a lot of "near-english" future-speak intended to simulate divergent linguistic evolution that's heavily phonetic and challenging. Good prep for !Kung-type passages, haha.

Another two modernist novels that prep for something unique would be Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad (the last couple chapters have equally inaccessible dialogue) and, for a real trip, House of Leaves by Danielewski.

I'm a huge book nerd.

Ooo I have heard of Cloud Atlas. Never really look into it, but have always heard good things about it. And I love econ/political philosophy books so I will check out Capital.

[longpig]

What are some of your "denser-than-LSAT-shit book" you recommend?

Capital by Piketty for Econ.

For novels: of course, Ulysses if you can stomach a little "stream of consciousness". Or Cloud Atlas (love that book)...seriously amazing novel. Most relevant is one subplot that uses a lot of "near-english" future-speak intended to simulate divergent linguistic evolution that's heavily phonetic and challenging. Good prep for !Kung-type passages, haha.

Another two modernist novels that prep for something unique would be Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad (the last couple chapters have equally inaccessible dialogue) and, for a real trip, House of Leaves by Danielewski.

I'm a huge book nerd.

Ooo I have heard of Cloud Atlas. Never really look into it, but have always heard good things about it. And I love econ/political philosophy books so I will check out Capital.

Capital is a good one if you're like me and know literally nothing about the economy. Also a good book in its own right.

[ponderingmeerkat]

Lmao I know there's debate over whether earlier PT's are easier, but I just got a 180 on PT55, after getting 171 on PT77. I know it doesn't make sense, but I wish it was 2008 again...

Yea dude...I've been pulling sections from the PT30's to act as my 5th "experimental" section of late. When I aggregate them together, my scores on those tests, taken in the exact same conditions/times as the PT70's test I'm working on, are in the 176-179 range when my PT70's scores are in the 169-173 range.

[somewhatferal]

I have found PT's 71-75 to have more difficult RC's than 64-70. My average for the former is -3.5, and my average for 64-70 is -1.5. It's really fucking my whole vibe up.

That said, I have found the LR to be easier lately.

[longpig]

Lmao I know there's debate over whether earlier PT's are easier, but I just got a 180 on PT55, after getting 171 on PT77. I know it doesn't make sense, but I wish it was 2008 again...

Yea dude...I've been pulling sections from the PT30's to act as my 5th "experimental" section of late. When I aggregate them together, my scores on those tests, taken in the exact same conditions/times as the PT70's test I'm working on, are in the 176-179 range when my PT70's scores are in the 169-173 range.

Yeah, it sucks, but I guess it must be possible to defeat these tests somehow if there's still that 1% of test takers scoring higher?

[Rupert Pupkin]

Lmao I know there's debate over whether earlier PT's are easier, but I just got a 180 on PT55, after getting 171 on PT77. I know it doesn't make sense, but I wish it was 2008 again...

Yea dude...I've been pulling sections from the PT30's to act as my 5th "experimental" section of late. When I aggregate them together, my scores on those tests, taken in the exact same conditions/times as the PT70's test I'm working on, are in the 176-179 range when my PT70's scores are in the 169-173 range.

Yeah, it sucks, but I guess it must be possible to defeat these tests somehow if there's still that 1% of test takers scoring higher?

Although you technically are scoring lower, im sure LSAC weighs the scores the same because i bet the percentile would be very close. Could be wrong, but just a positive thought haha

[Keilz]

Feeling confused and dismayed right now. First 3 sections of PT 75 went great. (Meaning two real sections and the "experimental.") After the break I'm doing section 4 and it's like I feel my brain slowing down; reading and logical thinking are becoming more tedious, but I push through and finish that section well.

Then section 5, logic games. It's like I'm running through molasses. Reading is hard, my vision was slightly blurry, deductions aren't coming to me, I can't see the structure of the games. Games 2-4 feel nonstandard. I tried closing my eyes to settle myself, but I still couldn't think clearly. I might have been headed for a 177+ before games but now I might drop into the 160s.

I don't get it. My breakfast didn't change, I ate and drank during the break, and this has never happened to me before. My stamina has always been fine. I don't know what the hell just happened, how to prevent it in the future, or how to correct it on test day if it resurfaces.

You gotta take a few days of nothing LSAT related (that includes TLS).

Yea man this. Worked for me. Literally like hitting the reset button. It's like mind steroids.

Take the weekend. Don't do shit. Go get drunk and laid (on a kayak), eat a big steak and mashed potatoes with your boys, and do something...anything...other than this shit for two fucking whole days. I promise, you won't regret it.

tbh I don't even know if it's worth taking full PTs under proper testing conditions all that often. I take and review individual sections pretty often, but for my last LSAT I think I only did about ~9 proper PTs as part of my prep and I ended up with a 172. Could just be my personal preference, but im skeptical about how much short-term "stamina building" a person needs to do. Not doing full PTs has kept me completely free from burnout.

idk if i'm going back a bunch of pages bc i'm catching up on this threat, but I agree completely. I was soooo worried my first time that my stamina or something would be noticeable on the day of the test, but you have so much adrenaline in you that it goes by in a blink. I was pretty tired when taking it too. this makes me happy that someone else feels the same way because I haven't done any full length tests this time around. one more section doesn't kill you if you've been doing sections for months. (or over a year like me :'()

[Keilz]

Here's my anecdotal evidence that the 70s PTs are harder (or at least different) from earlier modern PTs.

PTs 54-59, 61, 62, 65, 66 (Not cherry picking, these are just the tests I've done from these series):

Avg. score: 174.5 (high 177 [thrice], low 170 [once])
Avg. RC: -2.3
Avg. LR: -2.4
Avg. LG: -2.6

PTs 70-77 (excluding PT 76):

Avg. score: 171.1 (high 174 [once], low 169 [twice])
Avg. RC: -2.7
Avg. LR: -4.8
Avg. LG: -2.9

For me at least, this is clear evidence that the LSAT has evolved. For me, that evolution has made the test noticeably harder.

A couple interesting data points:
[*] I once got three consecutive -0 RCs in the 50s. Haven't gotten a single one since.
[*] I'm now getting twice as many questions wrong on LR. I think it's because they're using less formal logic and more complex grammar forms and/or extremely subtly wrong trap answer choices.

Anyone else seen a similar trend? I found this exercise simultaneously interesting and depressing.

Thanks for doing this. Agree 100% that they are using more complex grammar forms and extremely wordy questions and answer choices. I've noticed it with the most recent 70s.

[Keilz]

Just did PT77, strangely got only -1 on LG (despite having no idea what was happening in game 3). I think it helped that I did a bunch of hard misc games this week where I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

Got -4 on RC even though I've been drilling/trying to read really hard passages. Sigh... maybe I should just give it a rest and avoid burn out?

Also random question - can you really not bring a phone into the testing room? Do they usually have a place outside where you can lock up your stuff?

Can you share with me the games you worked on? Gonna work on those this week.

[nesterne]

I have just found this thread so I am sorry if this has been previously addressed, but has anyone else noticed a drop in their scores when getting to some of the later 60's and 70's PT. I though I was just having a few off days, then I realized that since I got to the newer tests my average has dropped 8-12 points. Does anyone have suggestions for adjusting to this?

[Hennessy]

Just realized I haven´t done a single practice test with bubbling...been circling the whole time.

Shit

[Hennessy]

I have just found this thread so I am sorry if this has been previously addressed, but has anyone else noticed a drop in their scores when getting to some of the later 60's and 70's PT. I though I was just having a few off days, then I realized that since I got to the newer tests my average has dropped 8-12 points. Does anyone have suggestions for adjusting to this?

Yes the more recent RC and LR sectons are significantly harder than tests 1-59

[somethingElse]

[beenoparte125]

You guys I'm completely freaking out. I just got a 167 on PT 75. I Haven't gotten less than a 170 in MONTHS

[longpig]

Just did PT77, strangely got only -1 on LG (despite having no idea what was happening in game 3). I think it helped that I did a bunch of hard misc games this week where I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

Got -4 on RC even though I've been drilling/trying to read really hard passages. Sigh... maybe I should just give it a rest and avoid burn out?

Also random question - can you really not bring a phone into the testing room? Do they usually have a place outside where you can lock up your stuff?

Can you share with me the games you worked on? Gonna work on those this week.

I did them mostly from the Cambridge packets... Might be missing a couple but they were:
PT16-G4
PT2-G3
PT13-G4
PT11-G4

If I'm remembering correctly, PT50-G3 and PT72-G3 (or 4? - the one with workpieces) are also offbeat and hard.

[forum_user]

Okay following my less than stellar performance on 72, I did 76 today:
LG -0 (exp from 67)
RC -0
LR -2
LG -0
LR -0
180

Honestly don't know how the fuck I pulled a -0 on this RC, that black swan passage was kind of nuts. I think it might've helped that I kind of remembered the topic was something about space, but even then I still felt kind of shaky on the questions. Definitely needed this confidence boost though--feeling ready to tackle PT78 next week

[longpig]

You guys I'm completely freaking out. I just got a 167 on PT 75. I Haven't gotten less than a 170 in MONTHS

Same thing happened to me, but with PT74 - I got a 166 which is lower than the 2nd PT I ever took. Seems like it's happening to a lot of people. Idk what to tell ya (or myself) but I found that it was a pretty severe fluke, have been back up in safe territory ever since, and just tried to take lessons from it for future PT's.

[longpig]

Okay following my less than stellar performance on 72, I did 76 today:
LG -0 (exp from 67)
RC -0
LR -2
LG -0
LR -2
180

Honestly don't know how the fuck I pulled a -0 on this RC, that black swan passage was kind of nuts. I think it might've helped that I kind of remembered the topic was something about space, but even then I still felt kind of shaky on the questions. Definitely needed this confidence boost though--feeling ready to tackle PT78 next week

Dang good job!!

ETA: Also shit, that's quite a curve

[Keilz]

Damn it i just went to print out October 2015 from LSAC (the one I took first) and realized that the test booklet expires 6 mos after the test date :'( and I opened it up when I got my score on another computer of mine but didn't save it, and then deleted my download files :'( I can't run to a store because none of the B&N near me have it in stock. What do I do? :'(

[pretzeltime]

Okay following my less than stellar performance on 72, I did 76 today:
LG -0 (exp from 67)
RC -0
LR -2
LG -0
LR -2
180

Honestly don't know how the fuck I pulled a -0 on this RC, that black swan passage was kind of nuts. I think it might've helped that I kind of remembered the topic was something about space, but even then I still felt kind of shaky on the questions. Definitely needed this confidence boost though--feeling ready to tackle PT78 next week

Dang good job!!

ETA: Also shit, that's quite a curve

Yeah damn that's quite a curve I didn't realize it was quite that good.

That's AWESOME, nothing like a 180 to remind you that you're hot shit!!!

Now you can go into the test easy breezy beautiful Covergirl.

Two thumbs up.

[pretzeltime]

[pretzeltime]

You guys I'm completely freaking out. I just got a 167 on PT 75. I Haven't gotten less than a 170 in MONTHS

Same thing happened to me, but with PT74 - I got a 166 which is lower than the 2nd PT I ever took. Seems like it's happening to a lot of people. Idk what to tell ya (or myself) but I found that it was a pretty severe fluke, have been back up in safe territory ever since, and just tried to take lessons from it for future PT's.

Pretty standard for this to happen. If it's an outlier, there's absolutely no need to sweat it.

If anything, look at it as keeping your ego in check so that you don't go into the test completely sure you have it in the bag.