TLS1776's Thoughts on the LSAT Forum

[she&him]

I am so sad that I didn't read this prior to taking the LSAT. That being said, it was so helpful and well written that I went ahead and read the whole thing anyway. What a great job! I think one of the most important things that I wished I'd thought of before is actually pretty simple - the idea of being motivated to get that 180. I think my biggest mistake the first time I took the LSAT was that I didn't take it seriously enough. My first PT ever I also got a 161 so I thought it'd be really easy. I actually got lower on the first time I ever took the LSAT for real than on that first PT ever. Although there were few other contributing factors to this -- being in a test center far away, dad had avian flu at the time... there was nothing that wasn't my fault. I thought "oh I can just aim for 165" ... "oh I can just aim for a 170"... I definitely should've thought from the beginning - "oh i need to aim for that perfect score."

[minnbills]

tagged-

great stuff- much appreciated.

[db616]

Awesome guide. Thanks!

[jbates14]

Thank you very much for this.

[rmansoor]

This was - to put it bluntly - AMAZING.

Thank goodness I've read this before I even started prepping for the LSAT! A quick question - you said you spent about 1 year prepping for the LSAT. How did you not burn through material quickly? Just asking because it seems that people use the same amount of material you do but they compress their studying into 3 months.

Thanks again for a great article!

[TLS1776]

Thank you for the kind words! To answer your question: As soon as I formulated my plan to study for a year I realized that I risked burning through the material too quickly, so I purposely limited the amount of material I used per week / month / etc. For example, the summer when I first started studying (so...12-10 months out) I went through the PS Bible logic games multiple times each so that I wouldn't spoil future games. You can actually learn a LOT from just one game or one LR question if you go through it very slowly and try to understand how it works (i.e. from the test-maker's perspective). To be honest, though, I'm not so sure it really matters whether you burn through the material or not; I think the key thing to aim for is getting used to the patterns in the test. If you read the "400 Points in 400 Days" article I link to, you'll notice that the guy went through the same 1000 chess problems something like 8 times. It didn't matter that he'd already seen the puzzles before because all he cared about was learning to recognize the patterns.

[gavinstevens]

Much appreciated 1776. I'm surprised this hasn't been stickied.

I was curious about the list of flaws from the SLS student, but the link doesn't work. Would you mind posting a new link or pm'ing me? I appreciate it.

[TLS1776]

Much appreciated 1776. I'm surprised this hasn't been stickied.

I was curious about the list of flaws from the SLS student, but the link doesn't work. Would you mind posting a new link or pm'ing me? I appreciate it.

Hmm...the link works for me...here's a Google Docs mirror: [disabled]
To be honest, I went through the list once and never used it again; it may be more helpful for some people.

[gavinstevens]

Yeah, I run some old software so that might be the issue.

The google doc works, I appreciate it!

[LawSchoolGuru]

Thanks so much for your guide TLS1776!

[xssch]

TLS1776, thanks for the detailed notes; i'm finding all the different parts hugely helpful! i just want to ask; could you elaborate on the list of LR mistakes? maybe give examples?

[Geetar Man]

TLS1776, thanks for the detailed notes; i'm finding all the different parts hugely helpful! i just want to ask; could you elaborate on the list of LR mistakes? maybe give examples?

Great write up!!! Tagged for myself and bumped so others can read this.

[062914123]

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[KingofSplitters55]

Thank you so much for such a wonderful and comprehensive guide! As a person who is just beginning one's LSAT study plan, this was and will be very helpful.

[rftdd888]

thanks for the guide, i appreciate it. you seem like a pretty hard worker.

there's a lot of stuff in the guide about LR and i appreciate that. i've just began my formal LSAT prep for the june 2013 test; i am giving myself a year because i don't have to work and 174+ puts me in HYSCC range easily. i'm creaming through the logic games by type drilling with the LG bible and the other resources listed in your guide (i've been reading about LSAT prep for about two years). next up is LR, and i wanted to ask you for some specific advice

i have all of the LR stuff in preptest form, individual sections, or all in a row by type (all strengthen, all weaken) for pretty much all of the stuff released. my question is this: what do you think is the ideal way to begin learning LR? i'm already fairly good at both LR and RC, but i want to take the opportunity to ask someone who has a.) proven they can put in the work i would like to put in ideally and b.) actually got the results on test day.

should i begin taking individual sections and tracking my weaknesses? should i drill all of the question types (something that could be a waste of time and material for when i blow through the weaken and other sections that come fairly easy to me)?

i have a modest background in logic, formal logic etc. so the stuff is a little intuitive for me. at the same time, if there is a better way from a more experienced guy out there than me i'm going to ask.

again, thanks a lot for the time you've put in.

[liupang]

Much appreciated 1776. I'm surprised this hasn't been stickied.

I was curious about the list of flaws from the SLS student, but the link doesn't work. Would you mind posting a new link or pm'ing me? I appreciate it.

Hmm...the link works for me...here's a Google Docs mirror: [disabled]
To be honest, I went through the list once and never used it again; it may be more helpful for some people.

Thanks 1776 for your great writeup. However, after reading several "180tips" including yours, I find little to none tips on how to work on improving RC scores, which unfortunately is my weakest link. Just like you, I have set my aim at scoring a perfect score; and it seems LR is very natural for me--get a -1 on my first PT try; For LG I have a bit time issue but it seems quite solvable with a little bit more practice. Yet RC I am constantly scoring around -4 to -7, and I have devoted most of my LSAT preparation time on RC for one and half a month now with no noticeable improvement. Obviously, you can't expect to score a 180 if you can't do 0 to -1 consistently on your RC, no?

I would really appreciate some tips on how to improve your RC. It seems I can read the passage alright, with decent retention, but I usually stuck in some difficult-wording questions and answers , and waste much time trying to understand those answer's meaning and end up use about 30 mins on first 3 passages. Then I have to do a super-fast reading of passage#4 and end up lose 2-5 points on that passage alone, depend on my luck.

Does it have to do with that English is not my native language? Cuz it seems most high scorers here on TLS doesn't talk about RC that much at all , as if it was the easiest part and everybody should easily ace it. But it is really hard for me and so hard to make any progress....

[TLS1776]

Thanks everyone for the compliments! They really mean a lot to me.

i just want to ask; could you elaborate on the list of LR mistakes? maybe give examples?

I wanted to do that from the beginning, but it would take time to gather the examples, and I just haven't been able to motivate myself to do it. The only reason I wrote up the guide to begin with was b/c they were offering a $500 prize for first place in an article-writing competition; otherwise I doubt I would've been motivated to put in the time to write all this stuff out (it was a LOT of work).

what do you think is the ideal way to begin learning LR? should i begin taking individual sections and tracking my weaknesses? should i drill all of the question types (something that could be a waste of time and material for when i blow through the weaken and other sections that come fairly easy to me)?

Honestly, I found the PowerScore LR Bible to be a great introduction to LR, hence why I went through it twice. Drilling the question types may be helpful (I think I remember hearing some people found it very helpful); I didn't do it personally b/c I didn't want to spoil practice tests but in hindsight I'm not sure it makes a big difference either way. After I went through the LR Bible I was doing individual sections with my in-person partner for a while, and then I started doing full practice tests. You just need to look very carefully at all the questions you get wrong, and spend a LOT of time trying to figure out what you could have done differently to get the right answer. Again, I recommend the flash card method and the "list of possible mistakes" methods (eg looking at it like a race car driver would).

[tortellini]

This was insanely detailed, but thank you so much for this. You are a real source of motivation!

[bates2013]

Thank you so much!

[John_rizzy_rawls]

Best guide ever. Thanks for this. I just read this thing, in full, twice - all before I go into full LSAT prep mode. I went 167 ice cold (never having seen or known anything about the LSAT). After 4 PTs I hit 170.

I have a long background in policy debate, formal logic, puzzles, and complex reading analysis. As a result much of the test feels intuitive - particularly LR. 8 years of debate, 100+ tournaments at the highest levels is insanely good prep for this.

However, I'm having trouble garnering a plan (or rough roadmap) to get from 170 ---> 177-180. This seems like the most difficult of jumps.

Given your incredibly insightful views, what advice would you have for me in this regard? Feel free to PM me as well.

And again, thanks for this guide, really well done - to say the least.

[jrsbaseball5]

Tagged. This guide is great!

[TLS1776]

Thanks for the praise!

I'm having trouble garnering a plan (or rough roadmap) to get from 170 ---> 177-180. This seems like the most difficult of jumps.

Given your incredibly insightful views, what advice would you have for me in this regard?

As I say in the guide, you have to read and reread the available books to learn everything they can teach you, and then you have to strike out on your own and spend a lot of time thinking about your mistakes and try to figure out ways to avoid those mistakes in the future. There's no Pithypike-style guide that works for everyone because everyone has different problems they need to overcome.

Usually when I contact someone successful to ask for their advice I really just want their encouragement, so I'm going to pass along the favor: You guys can do it! It may take a lot of time, but if you keep at it, you can do it! Now go do it! Find a partner to keep you motivated!

[jetsfan1]

tagging- great guide!

[b797531]

This guide is the cat's pajamas for anyone studying for the LSAT. Not only does it show Nathan's outstanding work ethic and ingenuity, it is also a model for those of us aiming for the same goals.

[Njdeh]

Huge sigh of relief when this came back.