Day 1 of LSAT prep (LG Powerscore Bible) Forum

[raspberries]

Hey everyone,

I have finally started preparing for the LSAT. Today was my first official day and I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed with myself. I did poorly on the chapter 3 assessments in the book. I guess what I'm wondering is what's the pace of success when using these books? I don't expect to be a pro my first time going through the book, I just finished page 71 and did the Linear Games Rule Diagramming Drill. I guess my concern is that I can't yet pin down all of the rules and apply them where I'm supposed to. I got overwhelmed and confused some of the steps (for example, when to use blocks, etc). I'd like to know if I'm worried without a reason and whether or not this has been common for those of you that have prepared for the LSAT or are preparing now. How many times did you go through the LG Bible? or whatever other sources used for logic games? And what was it like your first day studying for LG?

I am looking to break 170. I know that the LSAT is a test that can be learned and that it might be silly to try and gauge ANYTHING after my first day, but my personality is one that nags the question --> should I have been able to complete the exercises in chapter 3 easily after one read of the pages so far? I'm not sure.

Thank you to anyone with insight!!

[PrayFor170]

You overreacted a bit. Rest assured, I've never heard of anyone not making huge progress after tons of drilling.

Personally, I don't like the LG Bible very much, although I admit it might be a must-read for beginners. I hate the way they deal with sequencing games, and some of the ways they diagram suck, because they don't pay enough attention to the general setup, and the way they mark the main diagram is just really inefficient.

I suggest after having some basic ideas about the types of LG by reading PS Bible, you can start using Manhattan LG (I think they've done a far better job in diagramming) and The LSAT Trainer. And then start drilling Cambridge By Type 1-38, do each of the games on your own and watch 7sage videos to see how JY Ping deals with it. Gradually you'll find the best way that works for you.

For my cold diagnostic I missed -16 on LG and now I always miss -0 to -1.

[Phoenix97]

Post removed...

[Stardust84]

If I could go back to the beginning of my study, I would just do whole sections of logic games and then watch the 7sage videos. And then repeat the games until I mastered them. I started off at -16 to -14ish and made my way to -2 or -3. (mostly from skipping the substitute the rule type questions) I made the most progress doing real games, not reading about how to do games. Just my two cents.

[raspberries]

I will be responding to all of you individually tomorrow- thank you so much for your input! This has put me at such ease. I was so disheartened, really! I look forward to exploring the resources you guys have provided me and certainly welcome advice!

[raspberries]

You overreacted a bit. Rest assured, I've never heard of anyone not making huge progress after tons of drilling.

Personally, I don't like the LG Bible very much, although I admit it might be a must-read for beginners. I hate the way they deal with sequencing games, and some of the ways they diagram suck, because they don't pay enough attention to the general setup, and the way they mark the main diagram is just really inefficient.

I suggest after having some basic ideas about the types of LG by reading PS Bible, you can start using Manhattan LG (I think they've done a far better job in diagramming) and The LSAT Trainer. And then start drilling Cambridge By Type 1-38, do each of the games on your own and watch 7sage videos to see how JY Ping deals with it. Gradually you'll find the best way that works for you.

For my cold diagnostic I missed -16 on LG and now I always miss -0 to -1.

Thank you for responding. I agree with you on the LG Bible so far. I mate notecards to write down what I thought the main rules were (sequencing rules, block rules, Necessary vs Sufficient, etc). And I understood them in their basic form, but when it came time to do some of the examples, I felt the examples were tricky and included rules that the LG Bible didn't really elaborate on, yet I was meant to 'figure out'. I'm worried that if I'm already having trouble, 76 pages into the book. I will be even more lost moving forward. But I must say that I did learn a lot that I didn't understand before at all.

I will look into the sources you provided. But you would recommend then that I do all of the LG bible since this is my first right? Do all of these books do the set ups and diagrams differently? And do you recommend that I start with LR before LG? Since I hear most of the test consists of LR?

Is there any way to get some of these prep materials for free? I've spent a good amount of money on the Bibles so far (got them for all three). I'll definitely spend the money if I have to but was wondering if anything is available freely outside of the obvious youtube videos.

Thanks again!

[raspberries]

If I could go back to the beginning of my study, I would just do whole sections of logic games and then watch the 7sage videos. And then repeat the games until I mastered them. I started off at -16 to -14ish and made my way to -2 or -3. (mostly from skipping the substitute the rule type questions) I made the most progress doing real games, not reading about how to do games. Just my two cents.

Thanks for your insight. I didn't try the games section at all to get a cold score because I just knew I would have no idea how to do them. I just started prepping. Everyone mentions the 7sage videos so I definitely will do that. I just didn't know if it was worth it to go through the entire LG bible FIRST considering that I didn't get all the questions they asked me after their lesson in the chapter 3 assessment. I imagine it all only gets more complicated from there.

[RZ5646]

LG is by far the most learnable section of the test. I started out going like -10 and after reading the LG Bible twice, watching some 7sage videos, and doing hundreds of drills from Cambridge packets, I ended up going -1 on games and getting a 99th percentile score.

[raspberries]

LG is by far the most learnable section of the test. I started out going like -10 and after reading the LG Bible twice, watching some 7sage videos, and doing hundreds of drills from Cambridge packets, I ended up going -1 on games and getting a 99th percentile score.

Were you confused along the way of doing any of the LG Bible chapters? even if you kept going I quickly browsed the 7sage videos and it looks like they are all about numbered PTs, so did you do the PT and then refer to the video?

Cambridge packets are mentioned a lot, thanks!

[raspberries]

To everyone that has referenced the 7sage videos. Are you guys paying for the actual class offered through the website?

[RZ5646]

LG is by far the most learnable section of the test. I started out going like -10 and after reading the LG Bible twice, watching some 7sage videos, and doing hundreds of drills from Cambridge packets, I ended up going -1 on games and getting a 99th percentile score.

Were you confused along the way of doing any of the LG Bible chapters? even if you kept going I quickly browsed the 7sage videos and it looks like they are all about numbered PTs, so did you do the PT and then refer to the video?

Cambridge packets are mentioned a lot, thanks!

I was never really confused, but at first I couldn't make deep inferences on my own, so I'd get stuck. Once these inferences were pointed out to me by the LGB or 7sage, I understood them, but on my own I could only make more superficial inferences. You just get better over time by practicing and seeing what you missed. As you may have learned, 95% of logic games follow a few basic patterns and basically repeat past games with small variations, so if you practice a lot you'll see massive gains.

Cambridge packets take questions from the first 30ish PTs and arrange them by type so it's easier to drill them. There are so many PTs that I wouldn't worry about "wasting" those early PTs in that way. Use them for drilling and save the other 40 for timed practice tests. If you're like most people, you'll only end up doing like 10 full PTs anyway.

In the beginning, I would look up the 7sage video for every game I did. (Both the LGB and Cambridge label the games with the PT and game number, or you can just google the stimulus and it will take you to the right page.) This was really useful for two reasons. First, the LGB is of course limited in its explanations, while 7sage explains literally every game you could possibly take. Second, it's helpful to see an alternate approach. There are definitely different styles of doing LG, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, and it's good to familiarize yourself with more than one. I ended up adopting some of JY Ping's notation and techniques and used a hybrid Powerscore/7sage approach.

ETA: I didn't pay for the 7sage class, I just used the free explanation videos.

[raspberries]

LG is by far the most learnable section of the test. I started out going like -10 and after reading the LG Bible twice, watching some 7sage videos, and doing hundreds of drills from Cambridge packets, I ended up going -1 on games and getting a 99th percentile score.

Were you confused along the way of doing any of the LG Bible chapters? even if you kept going I quickly browsed the 7sage videos and it looks like they are all about numbered PTs, so did you do the PT and then refer to the video?

Cambridge packets are mentioned a lot, thanks!

I was never really confused, but at first I couldn't make deep inferences on my own, so I'd get stuck. Once these inferences were pointed out to me by the LGB or 7sage, I understood them, but on my own I could only make more superficial inferences. You just get better over time by practicing and seeing what you missed. As you may have learned, 95% of logic games follow a few basic patterns and basically repeat past games with small variations, so if you practice a lot you'll see massive gains.

Cambridge packets take questions from the first 30ish PTs and arrange them by type so it's easier to drill them. There are so many PTs that I wouldn't worry about "wasting" those early PTs in that way. Use them for drilling and save the other 40 for timed practice tests. If you're like most people, you'll only end up doing like 10 full PTs anyway.

In the beginning, I would look up the 7sage video for every game I did. (Both the LGB and Cambridge label the games with the PT and game number, or you can just google the stimulus and it will take you to the right page.) This was really useful for two reasons. First, the LGB is of course limited in its explanations, while 7sage explains literally every game you could possibly take. Second, it's helpful to see an alternate approach. There are definitely different styles of doing LG, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, and it's good to familiarize yourself with more than one. I ended up adopting some of JY Ping's notation and techniques and used a hybrid Powerscore/7sage approach.

ETA: I didn't pay for the 7sage class, I just used the free explanation videos.

RZ,

Thanks for the info. I actually haven't taken any PTs yet, partly because I read that for LG if you're completely unfamiliar with how to approach games, it's smarter just to dive into the preparation part of it. I am super concerned but I feel that what one of the TLS members said earlier in this thread is accurate, I'm overreacting. I feel some kind of anxiety and necessity to have my prep routine figured out all on day 1 of studying, but I am hoping instead it will evolve according to what I need to work on. I am going to look into getting these cambridge packets too.Are those free?

and just for curiosity what was your Diagnostic and LSAT score? (if you've gotten there yet)

[RZ5646]

LG is by far the most learnable section of the test. I started out going like -10 and after reading the LG Bible twice, watching some 7sage videos, and doing hundreds of drills from Cambridge packets, I ended up going -1 on games and getting a 99th percentile score.

Were you confused along the way of doing any of the LG Bible chapters? even if you kept going I quickly browsed the 7sage videos and it looks like they are all about numbered PTs, so did you do the PT and then refer to the video?

Cambridge packets are mentioned a lot, thanks!

I was never really confused, but at first I couldn't make deep inferences on my own, so I'd get stuck. Once these inferences were pointed out to me by the LGB or 7sage, I understood them, but on my own I could only make more superficial inferences. You just get better over time by practicing and seeing what you missed. As you may have learned, 95% of logic games follow a few basic patterns and basically repeat past games with small variations, so if you practice a lot you'll see massive gains.

Cambridge packets take questions from the first 30ish PTs and arrange them by type so it's easier to drill them. There are so many PTs that I wouldn't worry about "wasting" those early PTs in that way. Use them for drilling and save the other 40 for timed practice tests. If you're like most people, you'll only end up doing like 10 full PTs anyway.

In the beginning, I would look up the 7sage video for every game I did. (Both the LGB and Cambridge label the games with the PT and game number, or you can just google the stimulus and it will take you to the right page.) This was really useful for two reasons. First, the LGB is of course limited in its explanations, while 7sage explains literally every game you could possibly take. Second, it's helpful to see an alternate approach. There are definitely different styles of doing LG, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, and it's good to familiarize yourself with more than one. I ended up adopting some of JY Ping's notation and techniques and used a hybrid Powerscore/7sage approach.

ETA: I didn't pay for the 7sage class, I just used the free explanation videos.

RZ,

Thanks for the info. I actually haven't taken any PTs yet, partly because I read that for LG if you're completely unfamiliar with how to approach games, it's smarter just to dive into the preparation part of it. I am super concerned but I feel that what one of the TLS members said earlier in this thread is accurate, I'm overreacting. I feel some kind of anxiety and necessity to have my prep routine figured out all on day 1 of studying, but I am hoping instead it will evolve according to what I need to work on. I am going to look into getting these cambridge packets too.Are those free?

and just for curiosity what was your Diagnostic and LSAT score? (if you've gotten there yet)

Cambridge packets aren't free, but they're worth the money if you struggle on a particular section (as I did on LG). My best advice is to just do the work. The LSAT is more like a marathon than a puzzle, and the best way to improve is long hours of focussed practice. People waste a lot of time trying to come up with an ideal study plan when ultimately it doesn't really matter which prep book you read first or whatever... just spend a lot of time with the test and you should do fine. My diagnostic was 164 and my official score was 175 (a bit lower than my PT average - towards the end up my prep I got a couple 180s, including one where I went -0 for the whole test).

[PrayFor170]

You overreacted a bit. Rest assured, I've never heard of anyone not making huge progress after tons of drilling.

Personally, I don't like the LG Bible very much, although I admit it might be a must-read for beginners. I hate the way they deal with sequencing games, and some of the ways they diagram suck, because they don't pay enough attention to the general setup, and the way they mark the main diagram is just really inefficient.

I suggest after having some basic ideas about the types of LG by reading PS Bible, you can start using Manhattan LG (I think they've done a far better job in diagramming) and The LSAT Trainer. And then start drilling Cambridge By Type 1-38, do each of the games on your own and watch 7sage videos to see how JY Ping deals with it. Gradually you'll find the best way that works for you.

For my cold diagnostic I missed -16 on LG and now I always miss -0 to -1.

Thank you for responding. I agree with you on the LG Bible so far. I mate notecards to write down what I thought the main rules were (sequencing rules, block rules, Necessary vs Sufficient, etc). And I understood them in their basic form, but when it came time to do some of the examples, I felt the examples were tricky and included rules that the LG Bible didn't really elaborate on, yet I was meant to 'figure out'. I'm worried that if I'm already having trouble, 76 pages into the book. I will be even more lost moving forward. But I must say that I did learn a lot that I didn't understand before at all.

I will look into the sources you provided. But you would recommend then that I do all of the LG bible since this is my first right? Do all of these books do the set ups and diagrams differently? And do you recommend that I start with LR before LG? Since I hear most of the test consists of LR?

Is there any way to get some of these prep materials for free? I've spent a good amount of money on the Bibles so far (got them for all three). I'll definitely spend the money if I have to but was wondering if anything is available freely outside of the obvious youtube videos.

Thanks again!

LG Bible is written in a really confusing way, and the author does not really emphasize on the initial setup, it left me a feeling that LG was totally a mess. I do think it's necessary to finish all the exercise LG Bible provides, untimed, at least to get familiar with the process of tackling a game on your own. You can study LG and LR at the same time, while I start on LG first because it's the most improvable of all the sections. For the test prep materials, I can't think of a legal way to get them for free, but I'll look craigslist or ask your classmates if they have used ones.