The Official June 2017 Study Group Forum

[Platopus]

DAMN I felt good today. Except with LG. I made a big mistake there. I looked over the section before I started and I decided to go in the order the games were presented - bad idea. Should have done the third one first (or last?) because that one took me like 15 minutes because I missed an inference on the first go. Had like 3 minutes remaining when I turned to the fourth game and had to guess on all 4. Missed them all.

PT 64

LR: -1
LG: -4 (I need to budget my time better. That third game stopped my cold and I had to guess on the last four questions of the last game. Missed all 4.)
LR2: -1
RC: -1( )

175

Ridiculously happy. I've taken 5 PTs so far and they've been 172 172 172 174 175. On cloud nine RN but watch me get like 168 next time around and fall hard back to earth.

Congrats, looks like you're on a roll. Keep it up. That LG has to be frustrating, a little smoother and you'd be in the 177+ territory

[InterLaw]

Hey guys I was wondering... I created some days ago an Excel sheet I use to keep track of my improvements. I just fill in the columns after every PT I take specifying the section scores, scaled and percentile, and it elaborates the 5 PT average on every date and the graphics showing single section trends, Score trend and average - percentiles trend.
This is what it looks alike (casual data inserted):

http://imgur.com/a/iF95P

If someone is interested, I could share it here!
If not, peace and love

Google doc it. I'm sure some others have similar documents, but for those who don't, it's well worth it. Easy way to see weaknesses and where to spend time touching up weak spots.

7Sage has free analytics software that does this.

I know it does, however, I prefer to have all in one page my single section trends and my overall score trend. It's very easy to see correlations between the trend of a section and the trend of your score... In my case, on last 6 PTs the LG trend and the Score trend are very very similar. It is useful then to have the chart with the section scores PT by PT, and I can see that I hit 170 only if I go -1 or -0 in LG, while every other section is more or less constant.

On 7sage I have an overall average, I prefer to keep a 5 PTs average and draw that graphic too, which is with the same trend of the normal scores trend, but more accurate on your current situation!

Anyway, the 7sage analysis per kind of question is absolutely great!

Edit: The spreadsheet does look nice, though.

Thank you, appreciate it!

[Barry grandpapy]

.

[InterLaw]

Can it be June 12th already?

Here's what's funny: in Italy it will be on June 13th. So I will probably panic out on that night between 12th and 13th, reading on this thread that you all will be done, and I won't.
It might be better for me to loose myself in the ancient streets of Rome and not to look at the web at all...

[dm1683]

Can it be June 12th already?

Here's what's funny: in Italy it will be on June 13th. So I will probably panic out on that night between 12th and 13th, reading on this thread that you all will be done, and I won't.
It might be better for me to loose myself in the ancient streets of Rome and not to look at the web at all...

taking test in rome >>>>>> taking test in wisconsin

[Platopus]

Can it be June 12th already?

Here's what's funny: in Italy it will be on June 13th. So I will probably panic out on that night between 12th and 13th, reading on this thread that you all will be done, and I won't.
It might be better for me to loose myself in the ancient streets of Rome and not to look at the web at all...

taking test in rome >>>>>> taking test in wisconsin

Which center in Wisconsin? I'll be at UW Rock County

[Platopus]

Can it be June 12th already?

[InterLaw]

Can it be June 12th already?

Here's what's funny: in Italy it will be on June 13th. So I will probably panic out on that night between 12th and 13th, reading on this thread that you all will be done, and I won't.
It might be better for me to loose myself in the ancient streets of Rome and not to look at the web at all...

taking test in rome >>>>>> taking test in wisconsin

I'll post some pic

OT

I must admit that living in Italy, the worst part of all this Law School thing is the perspective of living in like Ann Arbor (MI) or Ithaca (NY) (I'm clearly overestimating myself now), St. Louis (never and ever) or Austin (sorry but no).
I spent 6 months out of LA and I could tolerate it just because of the weather. Maybe. But doing undergrad in Venice made me fell inadequate everywhere else. There's probably just one city that could be worth it from this point of view (NY) but it seems that the 2 worth-the-cost law school there are not exactly the most prodigal speaking of scholarships, and the living cost doesn't help. Maybe I should reconsider the Cardozo fee waiver I received by post, on the other side of the world, with annex personalized brochure on their International Law offer and address (55 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003, US) in capital letters. I won't make any inference between the fact that a #65 USNWR Law School has the financial capacity to afford a freaking skyscraper on the holy 5th Ave (as well as print and send all over the world their brochures to international students), and the religious affiliation of such a university, because in doing so I would assume without warrant that a correlation is a causal correlation.

That's why overall, made an exception for the two t14 located in the places above, I'll send my applications based also on the locations: Bay Area / Silicon Valley (don't hold your breath ), NY (worth a try + as before), DC, LA, Boston (I said Boston, not Cambridge, Boston. I know. I'm telling you I KNOW OK? I won't get to H. Like I didn't know that. I said Boston and I meant Boston. That's it. What? I'm fine. These? These are not tears dude! Just some stupid allergy shit. It happens. I'M TELLING YOU IT HAPPENS!), plus some catchy forgotten-by-god place (I think that Williamsburgh could be the right place to finally write my book, best-sell it, become rich and famous, start jumping bed to bed and finally forget everything about this debt - applications - 1L/2L/3L - Big Law perspective which will either fail to happen or make me understand the evanescence of a life spent to earn money with which I won't be able to buy another life to use them - the main purpose of the author while speaking of the Early Paleolithic mammals rests' discover.

Which is to say: if I get another -5 on LG, I swear I'll enroll at Cooley, I'll pass the BAR on the 13th try, and I'll sue LSAC for attempting my health. So tell them to find a lawyer.

[Barry grandpapy]

.

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

It's 90 and I am not prepared for this

[MediocreAtBest]

On that note, who else hates the fact that Miami doesn't have a t14 school?

With my GPA, I'm shooting Miami an application anyway and hoping for decent money. Living in Miami would alleviate any issues I'd have with going to a safety school.

[MediocreAtBest]

And I apologize for the double post, but I encountered a weird issue for the first time yesterday: I had too much time left on LG. By the last game I had 12:30 left on the clock (only a 5 question game), and I guess I got overzealous because I did end up missing 3 in the section, although I was dealing with some distractions too. I feel kind of good about this actually since timing used to be a problem for me on LG. Really hoping for that 175+ on test day.

[zkyggi]

And I apologize for the double post, but I encountered a weird issue for the first time yesterday: I had too much time left on LG. By the last game I had 12:30 left on the clock (only a 5 question game), and I guess I got overzealous because I did end up missing 3 in the section, although I was dealing with some distractions too. I feel kind of good about this actually since timing used to be a problem for me on LG. Really hoping for that 175+ on test day.

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

[Platopus]

And I apologize for the double post, but I encountered a weird issue for the first time yesterday: I had too much time left on LG. By the last game I had 12:30 left on the clock (only a 5 question game), and I guess I got overzealous because I did end up missing 3 in the section, although I was dealing with some distractions too. I feel kind of good about this actually since timing used to be a problem for me on LG. Really hoping for that 175+ on test day.

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

Yeah, LG is one of those sections where it just keeps getting faster and faster. I've notice the same thing happening with RC, too. I've been hovering around the -3 mark, but now I'm going -3 with 3-5 minutes to spare. The trick is finding that sweet spot, especially on RC. It's much harder to go back and check a question on RC, since you have to totally switch mental gears and remember what the hell the passage was talking about.

[zkyggi]

And I apologize for the double post, but I encountered a weird issue for the first time yesterday: I had too much time left on LG. By the last game I had 12:30 left on the clock (only a 5 question game), and I guess I got overzealous because I did end up missing 3 in the section, although I was dealing with some distractions too. I feel kind of good about this actually since timing used to be a problem for me on LG. Really hoping for that 175+ on test day.

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

Yeah, LG is one of those sections where it just keeps getting faster and faster. I've notice the same thing happening with RC, too. I've been hovering around the -3 mark, but now I'm going -3 with 3-5 minutes to spare. The trick is finding that sweet spot, especially on RC. It's much harder to go back and check a question on RC, since you have to totally switch mental gears and remember what the hell the passage was talking about.

I think RC is really where having a watch helps. I try to make sure I don't shortchange myself on time while eliminating answer choices.

[InterLaw]

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

So what's the trick, for someone who is still stuck in a -3/-4 avg because getting to the last game with 3/4 minutes left?

[principalagent]

A couple fully timed, simulated conditions practice tests this weekend led to less than ideal results that could have been buoyed a bit if it weren't for atypical performances on RC and LG. It's going to be a fairly heavy week of drilling and continuing in the LSAT Trainer, along with review of the questions I missed. Thankful to have a setback 6 weeks out rather than 6 days.

[principalagent]

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

So what's the trick, for someone who is still stuck in a -3/-4 avg because getting to the last game with 3/4 minutes left?

One good strategy is to see if any prior diagramming or answer choices can help you at least narrow down answer choices in questions you don't have time for. You may have to guess, but your probability goes up and your guess is more informed (this strategy actually helped on a practice test I did today).

[zkyggi]

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

So what's the trick, for someone who is still stuck in a -3/-4 avg because getting to the last game with 3/4 minutes left?

Different people approach the questions differently, but I stand by the up-front approach. For most games, I'll make multiple diagrams with the most restrictive rule(s). Usually your set-up will allow you to focus on a couple of variables, so that each question can be done fast (except for local questions, which take a little more time). If you have to look at all the answer choices to figure out the correct answer for LG, you need to work on diagramming. This is really why LG can feel like a relaxing section, it's is so mechanical barring a weird game.

If you aren't able to pick the correct answer, one trick that may net you a couple points is when you see two choices that are governed by the same rule. If the same rule restricts two different answer choices, then you know that both are incorrect. For example: On a "must" question, if A and X are both "floating," then you know that if both A and X are answer choices, you can eliminate them both. This can help if a question, has you stumped.

[PrezRand]

Im not ready at all for this and im really mad

[Platopus]

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

So what's the trick, for someone who is still stuck in a -3/-4 avg because getting to the last game with 3/4 minutes left?

Different people approach the questions differently, but I stand by the up-front approach. For most games, I'll make multiple diagrams with the most restrictive rule(s). Usually your set-up will allow you to focus on a couple of variables, so that each question can be done fast (except for local questions, which take a little more time). If you have to look at all the answer choices to figure out the correct answer for LG, you need to work on diagramming. This is really why LG can feel like a relaxing section, it's is so mechanical barring a weird game.

If you aren't able to pick the correct answer, one trick that may net you a couple points is when you see two choices that are governed by the same rule. If the same rule restricts two different answer choices, then you know that both are incorrect. For example: On a "must" question, if A and X are both "floating," then you know that if both A and X are answer choices, you can eliminate them both. This can help if a question, has you stumped.

Agreed with the above. I don't usually do complete diagrams for all the possibilities, but I spend a considerable amount of time making sure I really understand how everything interacts. I also think jumping around on questions is pretty helpful. There's no reason to work out the solution to a Must Be True question right away, since through the course of the game you'll likely make a couple of mini diagrams that definitely negate a handful of answer choices for that MBT question. The same logical applies for could be true questions. Additionally, if you haven't already, you shouldn't be proving answer choices incorrect. If you get A, and you have reasonable faith in your diagram, there's no need to check B,C,D,E. Of course, when you grade the test, make sure you actually got A correct.

[PrezRand]

For the people who have been scoring above 170+, how long did it take you to reach that range?

[Platopus]

For the people who have been scoring above 170+, how long did it take you to reach that range?

Been PTing around 172, so just barely qualified here, but haven't scored below 170 in my last 5 tests. I had a 160 diagnostic with a least a basic understanding of the test. After about 1 1/2 months of studying hit a 167, and then a month after that 172. Managed a handful of 175+, but most have been in the low 170's since then. Saw a lot of improvement in LG very quickly, and kept it up with minimal work. Very slow progress in LR. Started off going -8/-10 combined, and down to around -5/-6 combined, but still a problem. RC was -6 on diagnostic, and now down to -3 very, very consistently (-3 on last 4 tests in a row). Haven't seen much improvement on RC lately, but I have a feeling it will click soon as I've been drilling at around -1; I can feel the RC wheels turning as I get more and more used to the test. When drilling, I tend to do a bit better. If I take the sections independently and add up the scores I'm drilling at 176+ for tests 42-51.

[Neil_Gorsuch]

It seems common I have lots of time with LG as test day approaches if your prep is going as planned. I look at my notes from a couple months ago and it is crazy to see that games were taking me 10-12 minutes each.

If only we could transfer the time to other sections...

So what's the trick, for someone who is still stuck in a -3/-4 avg because getting to the last game with 3/4 minutes left?

One good strategy is to see if any prior diagramming or answer choices can help you at least narrow down answer choices in questions you don't have time for. You may have to guess, but your probability goes up and your guess is more informed (this strategy actually helped on a practice test I did today).

Do local questions first to answer global questions later on. Even when you are doing local questions, briefly scan your previous diagrams to see whether you've actually already answered the question. This can lead to finishing a subsequent question in literally 5 seconds.

Also, have enough confidence and skill to pick out the answer when you first find it. If you have found the correct answer, don't look through the rest of the answers, just move on to the next question. This strategy typically cuts down answer times for games in half if done correctly.

Also, try to make the process of questions as process-driven as possible. Figure out which set of steps works best for you and apply them rigorously in all situations.

[PrezRand]

For the people who have been scoring above 170+, how long did it take you to reach that range?

Been PTing around 172, so just barely qualified here, but haven't scored below 170 in my last 5 tests. I had a 160 diagnostic with a least a basic understanding of the test. After about 1 1/2 months of studying hit a 167, and then a month after that 172. Managed a handful of 175+, but most have been in the low 170's since then. Saw a lot of improvement in LG very quickly, and kept it up with minimal work. Very slow progress in LR. Started off going -8/-10 combined, and down to around -5/-6 combined, but still a problem. RC was -6 on diagnostic, and now down to -3 very, very consistently (-3 on last 4 tests in a row). Haven't seen much improvement on RC lately, but I have a feeling it will click soon as I've been drilling at around -1; I can feel the RC wheels turning as I get more and more used to the test. When drilling, I tend to do a bit better. If I take the sections independently and add up the scores I'm drilling at 176+ for tests 42-51.

Nice. I keep hitting the -5/-7 range on LR sections and i really dont know how to improve in a short time. The same for RC. LG is usually -1/-3 unless i hit a game where i dont know how to approach it and implode