The Official June 2016 Study Group Forum

[carasrook]

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.

The same thing happened to me today....... except an even worse score... but my average is around 169/170 and I got a fucking 163 on PT76. I had a full fledged panic attack about it but BRed and got a 173, so I'm chalking it up to a fluke/burnout. I haven't scored lower than 169 in at least a month and a half. I took 75 literally two days ago and got a 171.

I still have PT 77 left though, and I can't decide - should I take it some time this week to boost my confidence or just take it easy and drill lightly after this major drop today (to avoid more burnout)? Meehhhhh

[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

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.

The same thing happened to me today....... except an even worse score... but my average is around 169/170 and I got a fucking 163 on PT76. I had a full fledged panic attack about it but BRed and got a 173, so I'm chalking it up to a fluke/burnout. I haven't scored lower than 169 in at least a month and a half. I took 75 literally two days ago and got a 171.

I still have PT 77 left though, and I can't decide - should I take it some time this week to boost my confidence or just take it easy and drill lightly after this major drop today (to avoid more burnout)? Meehhhhh

I think I did approach it a little too casually... Gotta be as focused and sharp as possible. Also I tried to do the last RC passage first just to see if it helped and that was a major mistake for me. I still have 76 and 77 and I'm going to take them both before next Monday.

[HaveMercy]

.

[carasrook]

Hey guys, I literally made an account to just ask this question after lurking and reading all your advice/convos for the past couple of weeks:

So I have been stuck in the mid 160s for the past month now and the think thats holding me back is LR. Example for PT 75 I just took today:

LR: 8
RC: 2
LR: 7
LG: 1

I realize if I could get down that number I would be in a much better situation. Do you all have any last minute practice advice you can offer me as to how to better tackle LR questions (especially necessary assumptions, flaw, and parallel reasoning)? I would really appreciate anything!!

I feel like this is something sort of difficult to grasp until it clicks with you, but I used to have the same problem with LR, and what really turned things around for me was the ability to prephrase answers. I stopped being so concerned with each individual question type and focused instead on the flaws within the stimuli (on flaw-driven questions of course), and my LR scores shot up.

I'm jealous of your RC score!! Share your RC ways!

[R. Jeeves]

can someone give me a good explanation of the TTTTTT limestone dwelling question? (pt 55 section 3 q 14). Its the only question that I've been entirely unable to fully understand.

[appind]

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.

i read capital earlier this year and that tome is really a meditation on class inequality. it also has a slightly pessimistic vibe in that odds are that "renters" like most of us here except those who are privileged wouldn't reach what piketty calls the top rentier class of 0.1%. i wouldn't call capital dense for it's very very verbose, but def a solid read.

edit: typo

[ponderingmeerkat]

I swear to god, we are in synch on this forum.

I TOO had an absolutely abysmal cry-in-the-bathtub day with PT 73. I feel full blown emo-kid right now.

165. -3/-3 LR, -5 RC, -8 LG (<---- Just fucking lol No inferences were coming to me today. It was like thinking through a cloud.)

I guess this is what you get when you take five practice tests in five days with full blind reviews on all. My scores, in order, have been 175, 173, 169, 170, 165. Straight line down.

[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 -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.

Oops that should read only 2 total misses on LR, so more of a normal curve. Thanks y'all! Definitely feels good

[forum_user]

Alright we are officially in LSAT score territory!!! Only 60 more pages to go! (That's like 9 pages per day lol let's get on it guys)

[appind]

can someone give me a good explanation of the TTTTTT limestone dwelling question? (pt 55 section 3 q 14). Its the only question that I've been entirely unable to fully understand.

i remember this q from a few months ago, and i found the credited choice to be, um unsatisfactory, to say the least. the choice never clearly strengthened the stim. what issue did you have with this q?

[R. Jeeves]

can someone give me a good explanation of the TTTTTT limestone dwelling question? (pt 55 section 3 q 14). Its the only question that I've been entirely unable to fully understand.

i remember this q from a few months ago, and i found the credited choice to be, um unsatisfactory, to say the least. the choice never clearly strengthened the stim. what issue did you have with this q?

same issue as you - that the choice didnt clearly strengthen the stim - or so I felt anyway

[ponderingmeerkat]

can someone give me a good explanation of the TTTTTT limestone dwelling question? (pt 55 section 3 q 14). Its the only question that I've been entirely unable to fully understand.

Looking back at my notes here:

(FWIW, I went with POE to get the right answer.)

Premise1: The building we are studying is made with three kinds of stone. Q, G and L.
Premise 2: L occurs locally
Premise 3: Most buildings were only built with L
Premise 4: Most buildings were human dwellings.

Conclusion: The building being studied was probably not a human dwelling.

Task: Strengthen

B: Strengthens the leap from premise to conclusion by suggesting the building's construction is consistent with other structures that are not human dwellings in that it is made with stones from outside the local area (not L in other words). Basically, it says this conclusion wasn't pulled out of our asses. It has been determined that this culture constructed buildings that aren't houses with exotic materials. Since that's been determined it's reasonable to extrapolate this building fits the same paradigm. Obviously doesn't prove shit, but does strengthen.

A: Wrong because we don't give a shit that most houses are made of limestone. Ok, so what? What does this info do for me? The building being discussed is made of exotic/non-local materials. This info doesn't get me anywhere close to answering the question of why we made the leap from assuming non-standard construction (inclusion of exotic materials) makes this not a home.

C: Out of scope. Fucking don't care. Ok, so our building isn't special. Apparently, all sorts of buildings are made with weird shit from all over. If anything this weakens. Now there's nothing special at all about this house other than the inclusion of G and L. It's just like all the others. Everyone is bedazzling their buildings with weird rocks. Doesn't help me.

D: First of all, just a premise booster. Almost word for word Premise 4. And on some level, this also weakens. If most buildings on the whole site (throughout time) have been dwellings, why the fuck do we think Q and G being used in its construction makes it special? Maybe a hipster lived there and wanted it to be different and unique...a one of a kind. I dunno. But it would be weird to take a leap from,"this building is made differently" to "this building can't be a house" if most buildings in the area for all time have been houses. Now I need even more evidence to convince me this fancy decoration makes this building not a house. Where's the info we need to justify this? Not here.

E: Zero fucks given bro. Doesn't get me from "weird building" to "not a house". Totally out of scope.

[ponderingmeerkat]

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

Congrats man! I missed this earlier. That's damn impressive work.

[appind]

can someone give me a good explanation of the TTTTTT limestone dwelling question? (pt 55 section 3 q 14). Its the only question that I've been entirely unable to fully understand.

i remember this q from a few months ago, and i found the credited choice to be, um unsatisfactory, to say the least. the choice never clearly strengthened the stim. what issue did you have with this q?

same issue as you - that the choice didnt clearly strengthen the stim - or so I felt anyway

usually i find that for str questions, the correct choice will str without requiring any additional assumptions. but this q really runs counter to that LSAT philosophy, if you will.

the stim says:
bldgs are likely onlyL
bldgs are likely dwellings
bldg B is ~onlyL

conclusion: bldg B is likely ~dwelling

if 95% of bldgs are dwellings and 55% of bldgs are onlyL, then clearly the conclusion is unlikely even after incorporating the credited choice.

this is what i think isn't very standardized about lsat.

[somethingElse]

can someone give me a good explanation of the TTTTTT limestone dwelling question? (pt 55 section 3 q 14). Its the only question that I've been entirely unable to fully understand.

i remember this q from a few months ago, and i found the credited choice to be, um unsatisfactory, to say the least. the choice never clearly strengthened the stim. what issue did you have with this q?

same issue as you - that the choice didnt clearly strengthen the stim - or so I felt anyway

Edit: Scooped but w/e I typed it up and am posting it, lol.

Bg 1: Building A is made of quartz, granite and limestone.
Bg 2: Only limestone occurs naturally in the area.
Bg 3: Most of the buildings at the site from the same time period as Building A only had limestone.
Bg 4: Most of these buildings (the ones from the same time period) were human dwellings.
C: Building A was not a dwelling.

Reasoning: Since Building A has types of stone that dwellings from the same time period don't have, it is probably not a dwelling.

Answer choice A: Definitely does not strengthen the argument. We are trying to find support that Building A is not a dwelling. This AC basically just makes another background statement about the rest of the site. But it doesn't do anything to connect non-dwellings with the other types of stones.
Answer choice C: This AC just makes Building A even more rare relative to other buildings on the site. But it could still be a rare dwelling. Irrelevant to the argument.
Answer choice D: Has no bearing on the argument. We're trying to find support that Building A is not a dwelling. Knowing that most buildings on the site are dwellings is certainly not going to strengthen this conclusion.
Answer choice E: Basically the same as C.

So that leaves B. We know that Building A has some stones that aren't naturally found in the area. And most of the buildings that don't have these stones (from the same time period - btw the time period shit turns out to be irrelevant) are dwellings. What we don't know is what the non-dwelling buildings are like. Until AC B, which tells us that most of them have stones that aren't naturally found in the area. This gives Building A a unique property that most non-dwellings have as well. That is why B strengthens the argument: It connects the premise part of the 'Reasoning' with the conclusion part.

Hope that helps bros.

[forum_user]

I swear to god, we are in synch on this forum.

I TOO had an absolutely abysmal cry-in-the-bathtub day with PT 73. I feel full blown emo-kid right now.

165. -3/-3 LR, -5 RC, -8 LG (<---- Just fucking lol No inferences were coming to me today. It was like thinking through a cloud.)

I guess this is what you get when you take five practice tests in five days with full blind reviews on all. My scores, in order, have been 175, 173, 169, 170, 165. Straight line down.

Well if you go listen to some Simple Plan you'll feel better, because at least you are not a member of Simple Plan.

I never ever do well when I'm cloudy. Come test day though your adrenaline will be pumping and you'll be crazy alert--don't sweat this little slump.

[ponderingmeerkat]

I swear to god, we are in synch on this forum.

I TOO had an absolutely abysmal cry-in-the-bathtub day with PT 73. I feel full blown emo-kid right now.

165. -3/-3 LR, -5 RC, -8 LG (<---- Just fucking lol No inferences were coming to me today. It was like thinking through a cloud.)

I guess this is what you get when you take five practice tests in five days with full blind reviews on all. My scores, in order, have been 175, 173, 169, 170, 165. Straight line down.

Well if you go listen to some Simple Plan you'll feel better, because at least you are not a member of Simple Plan.

I never ever do well when I'm cloudy. Come test day though your adrenaline will be pumping and you'll be crazy alert--don't sweat this little slump.

Thanks brotha...appreciate it.

[R. Jeeves]

merecat and somethingelse, you guys have different interpretations of premise 4; i was confused about this premise the first time i read this question because i couldnt decide which of two ways to interpret it. you guys have both the interpretations I was considering written - are most buildings at the site human dwellings? or are most limestone-only buildings at the site human dwellings?

[somethingElse]

merecat and somethingelse, you guys have different interpretations of premise 4; i was confused about this premise the first time i read this question because i couldnt decide which of two ways to interpret it. you guys have both the interpretations I was considering written - are most buildings at the site human dwellings? or are most limestone-only buildings at the site human dwellings?

My bad dude. It is this:

Most of the buildings from the same time period were dwellings.

I edited my explanation post to reflect this.

[appind]

merecat and somethingelse, you guys have different interpretations of premise 4; i was confused about this premise the first time i read this question because i couldnt decide which of two ways to interpret it. you guys have both the interpretations I was considering written - are most buildings at the site human dwellings? or are most limestone-only buildings at the site human dwellings?

most bldgs at the site are dwellings. it's written as an independent clause.

[ponderingmeerkat]

merecat and somethingelse, you guys have different interpretations of premise 4; i was confused about this premise the first time i read this question because i couldnt decide which of two ways to interpret it. you guys have both the interpretations I was considering written - are most buildings at the site human dwellings? or are most limestone-only buildings at the site human dwellings?

I'm going to standby my interpretation. As I read it "Most of the buildings at the site from the same time period had limestone as their only stone component, and most were human dwellings" is to be interpreted as "most building had limestone as the only stone component", /break/, and "most of the buildings at the site were human dwellings".

I read it analogously to "most of the kids from the school enjoy reading, and most take physics." This doesn't mean that those taking physics are a subset of those who enjoy reading. You're talking about two unique factors associated with "most kids from the school".

[appind]

after going -2 each in 33lg and 34 lg, just finished 35lg in 32:55 min. still -1.

[somethingElse]

Yeah but it is only ones from the same time period (as opposed to all from the site total). Didn't end up being relevant for TCR, but shit like that definitely COULD have been relevant.

I.e. Most of the buildings at the site from the same time period had two properties: limestone only (property A), human dwellings (property B).

[ponderingmeerkat]

Oh good catch dude. Yup, that's true.

[pretzeltime]

Guys. At this time next week we will be donezo.

So close yet so far

!!!!