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New_Spice180

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Fri Jun 24, 2016 6:20 pm

Could I get an explanation for two questions PT 35 section 4 question 11 and PT 24 section 3 question 24.
In regards to PT 35, I'm totally at a loss for why B is correct, I'm not sure if it's because I lost the conditional logic or what, but this was quite dense and complicated.
Additionally PT 24's question has a very complex conditional statement that I'm having a hard time dissecting.

Thanks!

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Wed Jul 06, 2016 1:38 pm

New_Spice180 wrote:Could I get an explanation for two questions PT 35 section 4 question 11 and PT 24 section 3 question 24.
In regards to PT 35, I'm totally at a loss for why B is correct, I'm not sure if it's because I lost the conditional logic or what, but this was quite dense and complicated.
Additionally PT 24's question has a very complex conditional statement that I'm having a hard time dissecting.

Thanks!

Hey New_Spice! Apologies for the late response, I was away on vacation for a couple of weeks and just got back.

First off, PT35, Q11. This is one of those ugly stimuli that consists of mostly jargon, and I think that's why it confused you. The actual argument structure here, however, is not too complicated.

We're try to justify the argument that a certain approach is flawed, an approach claiming that: only entities posited by the most powerful theory of a science are real.

The speaker gives us another premise, that most scientific theories contain entities posited solely on theoretical grounds. Therefore, the approach is flawed.

Why would this premise make that approach flawed? We need an answer that, combined with that premise, would invalidate or seriously question the approach.

(B) claims that objects posited solely for theoretical reasons should NEVER be called real. If this were true, then according to our premise, MOST scientific theories are bogus, as they discuss objects that aren't real. An approach to codifying science that essentially destroys the validity of most scientific theories could certainly be called flawed, so B works.

Next, PT24 Q24. I'm going to break down the stimulus for you, but see if you can use it to find the answer yourself.

The first statement is that in a just society, everyone must have an equal right to basic liberties. So JS --> ERL.

The second statement is a bit more dense. It contains an unless statement. At Blueprint, we recommend dealing with unless by treating it as equivalent to "if not." Take the statement following unless as your if statement/sufficient condition, but negate it. This will always work, and avoids potential confusion arising from dense unless statements.

So in this case, we would apply "if not" to inequalities are to everyone's advantage and are attached to jobs open to everyone. There is an "AND" here, so in addition to negating the two statements, we need to also turn the AND into an OR. So the resulting statement is "If the inequalities are not to everyone's advantage OR they are not attached to jobs open to everyone, then inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth are not tolerated." I'm going to flip that into its contrapositive, because I find that a little easier to deal with: IDWT --> IEA & IAJE.

Now here's where it might get a little confusing - this last statements is itself a necessary condition of a just society. As the stimulus states it is our second requirement. So a full diagram of the stimulus might look like:

JS --> ERL + (IDT --> IEA & IAJE).

So there is a condition within a condition here. See if you can find the answer now.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by WeightliftingThinker » Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:43 pm

Blueprint Mithun, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions on the threads.

I would like your feedback on my current situation.

I am scheduled to take the exam in September. My weakest section is LG. I answer about 8 questions under test day conditions whereas under BR, I can get a near-perfect score.

My plan was to complete and review two PTs under simulated conditions per week. I would take them then review them.

I am already noticing patterns on the exam, particularly with LR. Out of scope or irrelevant choices are easier to spot.

I get about 10 questions wrong per LR section (under test day conditions).

RC is my strongest section, but there is still room for improvement. I get anywhere from 3-8 wrong under test day conditions.

One part of me says to drill LG by game type repetitively and drill LR questions that are troublesome. Then, do timed sections, not tests, slowly building up to full tests.

The other side says drill LG, but continue test day conditions (2 tests per week) and my comprehension, accuracy, and speed will improve by test day.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Jul 07, 2016 6:46 pm

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Blueprint Mithun, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions on the threads.

I would like your feedback on my current situation.

I am scheduled to take the exam in September. My weakest section is LG. I answer about 8 questions under test day conditions whereas under BR, I can get a near-perfect score.

My plan was to complete and review two PTs under simulated conditions per week. I would take them then review them.

I am already noticing patterns on the exam, particularly with LR. Out of scope or irrelevant choices are easier to spot.

I get about 10 questions wrong per LR section (under test day conditions).

RC is my strongest section, but there is still room for improvement. I get anywhere from 3-8 wrong under test day conditions.

One part of me says to drill LG by game type repetitively and drill LR questions that are troublesome. Then, do timed sections, not tests, slowly building up to full tests.

The other side says drill LG, but continue test day conditions (2 tests per week) and my comprehension, accuracy, and speed will improve by test day.

Based on your current results, I think it's safe to say that it's too early for you to be focusing on preptests. You still have a lot of room for improvement in terms of accuracy, and it's hard to improve on that front under test day conditions. Continue to drill questions and focus on carefully reviewing them.

It sounds like timing is giving you a lot of trouble. It takes a while to get used to the pressure of working under a time limit, and there are various timing strategies that you need to develop as well. One, for example, is setting a benchmark for questions on the LR section. You should work towards being able to complete the first 10 questions, for example, in 10-12 minutes. Since the later questions in LR are more difficult and thus require more time to accurately complete, you'll want to develop this approach.

I'd definitely recommend doing timed sections over full PTs. When I started out working on timing, I wouldn't even set a 35-minute limit, I'd just record how long the section took me, while working under the pressure of knowing that I was being timed. Then, I'd compare this time to the 35 minute benchmark to see how far off my pace was. Building speed shouldn't come at the cost of sacrificing accuracy, so it needs to be approached gradually, in my opinion.

Keep practicing as you are and incorporate some timed sections as well. Don't feel the need to rush to taking frequent preptests. TLS posts tend to overstress the importance of doing a ton of preptests before you reach the LSAT. While PTs are definitely valuable, as they're the best indicator of how you'll actually do, and the best way to build familiarity with the actual test, they're better for showing you what your weaknesses are, rather than improving your accuracy. Drilling and careful, methodical review are the best way to improve accuracy and comprehension.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by WeightliftingThinker » Thu Jul 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Blueprint Mithun wrote:
WeightliftingThinker wrote:Blueprint Mithun, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions on the threads.

I would like your feedback on my current situation.

I am scheduled to take the exam in September. My weakest section is LG. I answer about 8 questions under test day conditions whereas under BR, I can get a near-perfect score.

My plan was to complete and review two PTs under simulated conditions per week. I would take them then review them.

I am already noticing patterns on the exam, particularly with LR. Out of scope or irrelevant choices are easier to spot.

I get about 10 questions wrong per LR section (under test day conditions).

RC is my strongest section, but there is still room for improvement. I get anywhere from 3-8 wrong under test day conditions.

One part of me says to drill LG by game type repetitively and drill LR questions that are troublesome. Then, do timed sections, not tests, slowly building up to full tests.

The other side says drill LG, but continue test day conditions (2 tests per week) and my comprehension, accuracy, and speed will improve by test day.

Based on your current results, I think it's safe to say that it's too early for you to be focusing on preptests. You still have a lot of room for improvement in terms of accuracy, and it's hard to improve on that front under test day conditions. Continue to drill questions and focus on carefully reviewing them.

It sounds like timing is giving you a lot of trouble. It takes a while to get used to the pressure of working under a time limit, and there are various timing strategies that you need to develop as well. One, for example, is setting a benchmark for questions on the LR section. You should work towards being able to complete the first 10 questions, for example, in 10-12 minutes. Since the later questions in LR are more difficult and thus require more time to accurately complete, you'll want to develop this approach.

I'd definitely recommend doing timed sections over full PTs. When I started out working on timing, I wouldn't even set a 35-minute limit, I'd just record how long the section took me, while working under the pressure of knowing that I was being timed. Then, I'd compare this time to the 35 minute benchmark to see how far off my pace was. Building speed shouldn't come at the cost of sacrificing accuracy, so it needs to be approached gradually, in my opinion.

Keep practicing as you are and incorporate some timed sections as well. Don't feel the need to rush to taking frequent preptests. TLS posts tend to overstress the importance of doing a ton of preptests before you reach the LSAT. While PTs are definitely valuable, as they're the best indicator of how you'll actually do, and the best way to build familiarity with the actual test, they're better for showing you what your weaknesses are, rather than improving your accuracy. Drilling and careful, methodical review are the best way to improve accuracy and comprehension.
Thank you. My concern is that my score will not be where it needs to be before test day. I am even considering taking the exam in December, but I would like to avoid that.

Nevertheless, do you think it's appropriate to PT twice a week a month before test day?

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Fri Jul 08, 2016 12:09 pm

Hey Mithun,

I have a really funky question to throw at you. So maybe it's because I'm jetlagged( currently in paris) but this question answer choice just flew over my head. I think it's actually one of the more comical ones: PT 20 section 1 18. And the answer choice was D, but I chose A. I read it over again and thought wow so the LSAT really wanted us to make the connection that if you're in the mirror you'll see something different than what another person would see if they saw you in the mirror! I feel like that type of common sense assumption was way too common sensical....How would you have approached this problem?

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:37 pm

New_Spice180 wrote:Hey Mithun,

I have a really funky question to throw at you. So maybe it's because I'm jetlagged( currently in paris) but this question answer choice just flew over my head. I think it's actually one of the more comical ones: PT 20 section 1 18. And the answer choice was D, but I chose A. I read it over again and thought wow so the LSAT really wanted us to make the connection that if you're in the mirror you'll see something different than what another person would see if they saw you in the mirror! I feel like that type of common sense assumption was way too common sensical....How would you have approached this problem?
Are you sure you quoted the right question? I'm looking at PT20, S1 Q18 and it's about climate changes in northern Asia.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Sat Jul 16, 2016 7:06 am

Blueprint Mithun wrote:
New_Spice180 wrote:Hey Mithun,

I have a really funky question to throw at you. So maybe it's because I'm jetlagged( currently in paris) but this question answer choice just flew over my head. I think it's actually one of the more comical ones: PT 20 section 1 18. And the answer choice was D, but I chose A. I read it over again and thought wow so the LSAT really wanted us to make the connection that if you're in the mirror you'll see something different than what another person would see if they saw you in the mirror! I feel like that type of common sense assumption was way too common sensical....How would you have approached this problem?
Are you sure you quoted the right question? I'm looking at PT20, S1 Q18 and it's about climate changes in northern Asia.
Sorry misquoted, the correct question is PT 21 section 3 question 7. Also I've been having some trouble with Method of Argument questions, particularly higher level questions. I found my problem to be looking at each answer choice, narrowing my choices down to 2 choices, and then choosing one and during blind review I'll spend so much time looking at the answer that I'll switch for fear that it might be wrong or I'm just missing something. Part of it is a problem with being deceived by convincing language that the answer choices offer, but another part may be not understanding the argument, although I feel as I though I have a good grasp of the argument!

What methods helped you with this question type? (Strangely enough I though that this would be an "easy" question type to drill.)

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Mon Jul 18, 2016 10:55 pm

New_Spice180 wrote:
Blueprint Mithun wrote:
New_Spice180 wrote:Hey Mithun,

I have a really funky question to throw at you. So maybe it's because I'm jetlagged( currently in paris) but this question answer choice just flew over my head. I think it's actually one of the more comical ones: PT 20 section 1 18. And the answer choice was D, but I chose A. I read it over again and thought wow so the LSAT really wanted us to make the connection that if you're in the mirror you'll see something different than what another person would see if they saw you in the mirror! I feel like that type of common sense assumption was way too common sensical....How would you have approached this problem?
Are you sure you quoted the right question? I'm looking at PT20, S1 Q18 and it's about climate changes in northern Asia.
Sorry misquoted, the correct question is PT 21 section 3 question 7. Also I've been having some trouble with Method of Argument questions, particularly higher level questions. I found my problem to be looking at each answer choice, narrowing my choices down to 2 choices, and then choosing one and during blind review I'll spend so much time looking at the answer that I'll switch for fear that it might be wrong or I'm just missing something. Part of it is a problem with being deceived by convincing language that the answer choices offer, but another part may be not understanding the argument, although I feel as I though I have a good grasp of the argument!

What methods helped you with this question type? (Strangely enough I though that this would be an "easy" question type to drill.)

First off, regarding PT21/S3/Q7: what we're looking for here is an answer that explains why John had a differing perspective on this photo from his friends. (A) doesn't work because if it showed John in the style of clothes that he and his friends usually wear, why would their opinions on it differ? It seems like his friends would also agree that it looked like John.

B and C don't work because even though they give a reason for why the photo is unique, they don't explain why he and friends would have those differing opinions on it. D is our answer, and it is for a fair common sensical reason. We're used to seeing ourselves in the mirror, but other people are not. So it makes sense that John would think that this photo looked like him, and it's not much of a stretch to say that his friends would find it a little irregular.

It's not the most technical question, and perhaps not the best-written one, but if you stick to the basic approach for a Resolve question, you shouldn't have much trouble here.

Now let's talk about Describe/Method of Argument questions. As with most LR questions, I'll start by breaking down the argument into premises, conclusion, etc. My specific focus will be to answer the question "how?" How do the premises insinuate the conclusion. Do they set up multiple options, and eliminate all but one? Do they use a counterexample to prove their point? Do they use an analogy? I try to describe it the best I can before moving on to the answer choices.

If I've got it narrowed down to two, I'll compare their differences and start scrutinizing them even further. With higher level Method questions, the answers tend to be more dense and include multiple parts. Is each part of the answer accurate? Or is it mostly right but potentially a bit off? Those minute details are harder to see, but it becomes easier with practice.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Tue Jul 26, 2016 7:24 am

So I just finished my one of first timed sections after completely drilling every type, and I was slow as a drying bones. I felt fluid as I moved on past question 10, but then onward I was spending more time on the stimulus and so on. What is the best way to improve your feeling of time? I ended up finishing around the 55 min mark, which is totally unacceptable.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by mjay58 » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:22 am

Hi,

Could you please explain Oct 2010: Sec 4: 24 "Long term friendship" question? Why is the answer E as opposed to B?

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:58 am

New_Spice180 wrote:So I just finished my one of first timed sections after completely drilling every type, and I was slow as a drying bones. I felt fluid as I moved on past question 10, but then onward I was spending more time on the stimulus and so on. What is the best way to improve your feeling of time? I ended up finishing around the 55 min mark, which is totally unacceptable.
First off, timing is tricky when you're just starting to work on it, so don't stress yourself too much. If it's taking you 55 minutes, then yes, you have a bunch of work to do, but it's not going to happen in just a few days.

I assume you're talking about LR, so I've copied out some pointers from an article I wrote about LR timing a while back. Let me know if you need any more clarification.

Pacing is the name of the game here. Unlike LG and RC, which are split up into four chunks (games or passages) which have 5-8 questions associated with them, every single LR question is independent. No previous LR questions are connected. As a result, you shouldn't feel hesitant about skipping questions that give you trouble. If a question completely stumps you, or you read a stimulus and the sentences just don't seem to be registering in your brain, it's smarter to SKIP and come back to that question if you have time than to slog through it in a state of semi-panic. O rly, you ask? Let me explain why.

For one, the LSAT is a marathon, and it's important to keep your confidence and energy level as high as possible throughout the whole test. Skipping a tough question will save you stress, and probably time as well. Second, every question on LR is worth exactly the same amount of points, no matter how long or short, difficult or easy it is. That Parallel Reasoning question that takes up half a page is worth the same as the simple flaw question you answered in 30 seconds. Since hard questions aren't worth any more than easy ones, you should always ideally be doing as many of the easy/medium questions as possible.

However, if you're aiming for a high LSAT score, you have no choice but to work on answering the hard questions as well. Hard questions typically take more time to solve. LR sections are also laid out such that the questions generally get hard later in the section. The first 10 questions tend to be fairly easy, but from question 16 on, the majority of them will be difficult.

Since we want to leave more time for answering the later, harder questions, the best strategy is to work through the early questions quickly, without sacrificing accuracy. Do just the first 10 questions of an LR section while timing yourself. If you completed them all in under 10 minutes, you're in excellent shape. If not, 10 within 10 is a great benchmark to aim for. If that seems impossible, 7 or 8 questions is still solid. However, you shouldn't be moving so fast that you're getting any of these questions wrong. That would defeat the point, as these 10 questions are worth just as much as the hard questions you're trying to get to.

Once you've practiced under these benchmarks for long enough, it will become natural for you to work at that pace. Your sense of when you've worked too long on a question will also improve. This is the step that you need to focus on in particular - it will take some time to internalize the ideal pace, but that is the goal.

Most students usually have a couple of question types that they struggle with. Spend extra time reviewing and practicing these question types. Review the methods for how to solve them and see if there's a step in the strategy that you're skipping or doing incorrectly. If Parallel questions take you a ton of time, it might be a good idea to skip them as soon as you see that prompt come up. If you really want that elite score, however, at some point you're going to have buckle down and study!

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:15 pm

mjay58 wrote:Hi,

Could you please explain Oct 2010: Sec 4: 24 "Long term friendship" question? Why is the answer E as opposed to B?
Sure! So, the argument presented in this stimulus is missing something. It tells us that people are likely to feel comfortable approaching strangers if they are of the same age. It also gives us another premise: that most long-term friendships began because someone felt comfortable approaching a stranger. These are premises, so we accept them as facts - it's the jump to the conclusion that is faulty. Therefore, the argument concludes, most long-term friends are of approximately the same age.

It's all well and good that people are usually comfortable approaching strangers of the same age, but this doesn't give us enough evidence to support that conclusion. For one, it never tells us if people are likely to be uncomfortable approaching strangers of a different age. If this were true, then the argument would have more support, but without any information about when are people are not likely to approach strangers, we don't have enough info to conclude something about most long term friendships. (E) addresses this concern nicely.

(B) is tempting, but if you compare the facts and conclusion closely, it doesn't line up. If we translate that language to this situation, it's saying that we're inferring that most long-term friends are of the same age because that is true of most long-term friendships. But we don't know if that's true - we just know that most long-term friendships began because someone felt comfortable approaching a stranger. And while we know that one is likely to approach a stranger if they are of the same age, that isn't enough to conclude that most long term friendships are between people of the same age.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:55 am

Blueprint Mithun wrote:
New_Spice180 wrote:So I just finished my one of first timed sections after completely drilling every type, and I was slow as a drying bones. I felt fluid as I moved on past question 10, but then onward I was spending more time on the stimulus and so on. What is the best way to improve your feeling of time? I ended up finishing around the 55 min mark, which is totally unacceptable.
First off, timing is tricky when you're just starting to work on it, so don't stress yourself too much. If it's taking you 55 minutes, then yes, you have a bunch of work to do, but it's not going to happen in just a few days.

I assume you're talking about LR, so I've copied out some pointers from an article I wrote about LR timing a while back. Let me know if you need any more clarification.

Pacing is the name of the game here. Unlike LG and RC, which are split up into four chunks (games or passages) which have 5-8 questions associated with them, every single LR question is independent. No previous LR questions are connected. As a result, you shouldn't feel hesitant about skipping questions that give you trouble. If a question completely stumps you, or you read a stimulus and the sentences just don't seem to be registering in your brain, it's smarter to SKIP and come back to that question if you have time than to slog through it in a state of semi-panic. O rly, you ask? Let me explain why.

For one, the LSAT is a marathon, and it's important to keep your confidence and energy level as high as possible throughout the whole test. Skipping a tough question will save you stress, and probably time as well. Second, every question on LR is worth exactly the same amount of points, no matter how long or short, difficult or easy it is. That Parallel Reasoning question that takes up half a page is worth the same as the simple flaw question you answered in 30 seconds. Since hard questions aren't worth any more than easy ones, you should always ideally be doing as many of the easy/medium questions as possible.

However, if you're aiming for a high LSAT score, you have no choice but to work on answering the hard questions as well. Hard questions typically take more time to solve. LR sections are also laid out such that the questions generally get hard later in the section. The first 10 questions tend to be fairly easy, but from question 16 on, the majority of them will be difficult.

Since we want to leave more time for answering the later, harder questions, the best strategy is to work through the early questions quickly, without sacrificing accuracy. Do just the first 10 questions of an LR section while timing yourself. If you completed them all in under 10 minutes, you're in excellent shape. If not, 10 within 10 is a great benchmark to aim for. If that seems impossible, 7 or 8 questions is still solid. However, you shouldn't be moving so fast that you're getting any of these questions wrong. That would defeat the point, as these 10 questions are worth just as much as the hard questions you're trying to get to.

Once you've practiced under these benchmarks for long enough, it will become natural for you to work at that pace. Your sense of when you've worked too long on a question will also improve. This is the step that you need to focus on in particular - it will take some time to internalize the ideal pace, but that is the goal.

Most students usually have a couple of question types that they struggle with. Spend extra time reviewing and practicing these question types. Review the methods for how to solve them and see if there's a step in the strategy that you're skipping or doing incorrectly. If Parallel questions take you a ton of time, it might be a good idea to skip them as soon as you see that prompt come up. If you really want that elite score, however, at some point you're going to have buckle down and study!
Phew! So what I can draw from this is that you're suggesting setting the timer and try to go for the pace 10 in 10 mins with the hope that that will set a pace for the rest of my questions? Sounds like a plan, I just took another timed LR section, and I fell short again. How many timed sections did you do before you saw improvement in pacing?

Another couple things,I feel as though I have a good foundation in all LR types, but I find myself fumbling under time, so pressure when the clock is on definitely effects me currently. Hopefully with this pacing system I'll be able to effectively and clearly answer questions. Additionally, I feel fatigued after doing a section under timing constraints even though I didn't even finish the section on time, perhaps this is the stress/pressure from applying time?

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:36 pm

New_Spice180 wrote: Phew! So what I can draw from this is that you're suggesting setting the timer and try to go for the pace 10 in 10 mins with the hope that that will set a pace for the rest of my questions? Sounds like a plan, I just took another timed LR section, and I fell short again. How many timed sections did you do before you saw improvement in pacing?

Another couple things,I feel as though I have a good foundation in all LR types, but I find myself fumbling under time, so pressure when the clock is on definitely effects me currently. Hopefully with this pacing system I'll be able to effectively and clearly answer questions. Additionally, I feel fatigued after doing a section under timing constraints even though I didn't even finish the section on time, perhaps this is the stress/pressure from applying time?
The idea behind doing 10 in 10 is that it teaches you to work very quickly for the first set of questions, which are the easiest. This will leave 25 minutes for the next 15 questions, which is a good spot to be in. You'll still have to exercise discretion as you move through the section. Skip questions that baffle you or that you know will take a lot of time. For example, if I came across a parallel question, I'd skim it, and unless it seemed fairly straightforward, I'd skip it and come back at the end, because I knew that these would take a while to do. Don't spend too long on any single question - you have to eventually draw the line, pick your best guess, and move on. Mark that question somehow so that you'll know to come back to it if you have time at the end.

How often are you bubbling? My advice is to bubble after you complete every page or two pages. It's not a good idea to bubble after every question, as that is time-consuming, and leaving all your bubbling for the very end can be risky.

That's definitely stress from working under a time constraint. It's a new factor that you haven't had to deal with before, and can make the test seem a lot more menacing. This is one of the reasons that maintaining a clear head is so important for the LSAT. Do you practice any mindful meditation? I'd recommend learning some basic breathing exercises and practicing them for 10-15 minutes a day. These can be useful in a testing situation if you ever feel overwhelmed by pressure.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:01 pm

Blueprint Mithun wrote:
New_Spice180 wrote: Phew! So what I can draw from this is that you're suggesting setting the timer and try to go for the pace 10 in 10 mins with the hope that that will set a pace for the rest of my questions? Sounds like a plan, I just took another timed LR section, and I fell short again. How many timed sections did you do before you saw improvement in pacing?

Another couple things,I feel as though I have a good foundation in all LR types, but I find myself fumbling under time, so pressure when the clock is on definitely effects me currently. Hopefully with this pacing system I'll be able to effectively and clearly answer questions. Additionally, I feel fatigued after doing a section under timing constraints even though I didn't even finish the section on time, perhaps this is the stress/pressure from applying time?
The idea behind doing 10 in 10 is that it teaches you to work very quickly for the first set of questions, which are the easiest. This will leave 25 minutes for the next 15 questions, which is a good spot to be in. You'll still have to exercise discretion as you move through the section. Skip questions that baffle you or that you know will take a lot of time. For example, if I came across a parallel question, I'd skim it, and unless it seemed fairly straightforward, I'd skip it and come back at the end, because I knew that these would take a while to do. Don't spend too long on any single question - you have to eventually draw the line, pick your best guess, and move on. Mark that question somehow so that you'll know to come back to it if you have time at the end.

How often are you bubbling? My advice is to bubble after you complete every page or two pages. It's not a good idea to bubble after every question, as that is time-consuming, and leaving all your bubbling for the very end can be risky.

That's definitely stress from working under a time constraint. It's a new factor that you haven't had to deal with before, and can make the test seem a lot more menacing. This is one of the reasons that maintaining a clear head is so important for the LSAT. Do you practice any mindful meditation? I'd recommend learning some basic breathing exercises and practicing them for 10-15 minutes a day. These can be useful in a testing situation if you ever feel overwhelmed by pressure.
I meditate for an hour a day actually, but it's this test! So much riding on this one test that it makes me so frustrated when I don't perform how I think I should on a timed section. For example, today my pacing was horrible and that frustrated me to the point where I scored way below my average...I'm chill when it comes to other things, but this test man...

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proteinshake

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by proteinshake » Mon Aug 08, 2016 10:38 am

currently going through BP RC. is there anywhere I can find a list of which PTs the passages came from? I want to see how many PTs from the 52+ I'd have left where I wouldn't have seen any of the passages. asking this because I know the book uses more recent passages. also are any of the passages pulled from PT 70+? thanks!

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by proteinshake » Tue Aug 09, 2016 7:28 pm

for #4 of BP RC on pg 69, how is 'anglerfish have an unusual way of ensuring procreation' not the conclusion? the rest seems to support this statement.

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by New_Spice180 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:46 am

Would it be possible to explain PT 47.S3.Q23 and particularly why E is incorrect and what E is referring to? I'm having some difficulty seeing what exactly they're trying to get at with this.

Additionally PT47.S3.Q23, Answer D troubles me with its double use of standard in terms of moral standard and standard in reference to the act that the first magazine committed.

Thanks!

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Deardevil » Wed Aug 10, 2016 6:59 pm

Hi, Mithun.

I was wondering if you can elaborate on the correct answer in PT 12 (S4, Q6).
I was down to C and D, but neither seemed to work with the negation test.
B seems weirdly phrased with "more likely."
Okay, so if it's not more likely, so what? Not sure how that destroys the argument;
if equally likely or even less likely, it's still likely, no?

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Blueprint Mithun

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Aug 11, 2016 11:07 am

proteinshake wrote:currently going through BP RC. is there anywhere I can find a list of which PTs the passages came from? I want to see how many PTs from the 52+ I'd have left where I wouldn't have seen any of the passages. asking this because I know the book uses more recent passages. also are any of the passages pulled from PT 70+? thanks!
The passages should be marked with the date + passage number, so for example "June 2004, passage 3". You can use this link to figure out which preptest number that corresponds to, or Google it:

https://www.cambridgelsat.com/resources ... ers-dates/

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Blueprint Mithun

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Aug 11, 2016 11:09 am

proteinshake wrote:for #4 of BP RC on pg 69, how is 'anglerfish have an unusual way of ensuring procreation' not the conclusion? the rest seems to support this statement.
I actually don't own a personal copy of the RC book :shock: - do you mind telling me the passage date + number?

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by proteinshake » Thu Aug 11, 2016 11:16 am

Blueprint Mithun wrote:
proteinshake wrote:for #4 of BP RC on pg 69, how is 'anglerfish have an unusual way of ensuring procreation' not the conclusion? the rest seems to support this statement.
I actually don't own a personal copy of the RC book :shock: - do you mind telling me the passage date + number?
oh it's a BP created question! can I post it here or PM you?

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Blueprint Mithun

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Aug 11, 2016 11:32 am

New_Spice180 wrote:Would it be possible to explain PT 47.S3.Q23 and particularly why E is incorrect and what E is referring to? I'm having some difficulty seeing what exactly they're trying to get at with this.

Additionally PT47.S3.Q23, Answer D troubles me with its double use of standard in terms of moral standard and standard in reference to the act that the first magazine committed.

Thanks!
Scientists: The pervasiveness of TV shows showing paranormal incidents is impeding the public's scientific understanding.

TV exec: That's stupid. People have used ghosts and spirits in their stories for a long time, yet scientific knowledge has steadily advanced.

The problem with the executive's argument is that it doesn't disprove that these shows are impeding, i.e. slowing down or limiting, the public's scientific knowledge. Just because ghosts have appeared in stories before doesn't mean that they didn't impede scientific knowledge - it's possible that human scientific understanding would have advanced even further if these stories never existed.

So A is our answer.

E is talking about a cause and effect relationship - the one presented here is: shows about ghosts cause impediment of scientific knowledge. But the answer says that the C&E chain must be baseless if the latter phenomenon (limiting of scientific knowledge) persisted despite increases in the former (shows about ghosts). But the exec never argues that the limiting of scientific knowledge persisted - he's claiming that scientific knowledge advanced despite the continued presence of ghost stories. So this doesn't accurately describe his argument.


I'm assuming you're talking about #26 regarding answer choice D.

Essentially we have two magazines that posted some offensive content. Magazine 1 screens its ads and refuses to publish those featuring offensive content. Magazine 2 just publishes all ads. We're looking for an answer that proves that M1 was morally delinquent, while M2 was not. So by anticipating a correct answer, I know that we probably need something that morally condemns a publisher for failing to exclude an ad if they were committed to screening it, but not otherwise.

D says that "failure to uphold a moral standard is not necessarily a moral failing except for those who have specifically committed themselves to upholding that standard." We know that M1 committed itself to upholding the moral standard of screening and rejecting offensive content; therefore, M1 has committed a moral failing. M2, however, has not committed itself to upholding any moral standard regarding screening, so we can't necessarily say that it failed morally.

Hope that helps!

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Re: Blueprint LSAT Prep's ongoing ask-an-instructor extravaganza

Post by Blueprint Mithun » Thu Aug 11, 2016 11:45 am

Deardevil wrote:Hi, Mithun.

I was wondering if you can elaborate on the correct answer in PT 12 (S4, Q6).
I was down to C and D, but neither seemed to work with the negation test.
B seems weirdly phrased with "more likely."
Okay, so if it's not more likely, so what? Not sure how that destroys the argument;
if equally likely or even less likely, it's still likely, no?
Sure! So the new drug lessened all the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and the argument is interpreting this to be evidence that CFS is caused by a single virus, rather than multiple ones. So something about the new drug's antiviral functions must suggest that it counteracts on a single virus rather than multiple.

I can see how "more likely" is confusing, but B still works. If we negate it, it becomes "it is not more likely that the new drugs counteracts one virus than that it counteracts several viruses." Well, if it's not more likely, then it's either just as likely or less likely that it counteracts one vs several viruses, as you said. If two things are equally likely, that means they both have an equal chance of happening, so there's no reason to believe that one might occur and not the other. If the drug counteracting one virus is less likely than it counteracting several, then we'd expect the conclusion to be the opposite - that CFS is probably caused by multiple viruses.

So either way, if the negation of B were true, then there would be no evidence suggesting that CFS is caused by a single virus, so the argument's conclusion becomes baseless and falls apart.

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