The Official December 2017 Study Group Forum

[kiklavan]

Question. Do you guys ever see a dip in your score on tests that have a -9 curve? I get that the difficulty is supposed to be equal on each test but my worst scores are those with tight curves & I’m wondering if that’s just me

You prob get the same number of questions wrong on every test. Lets say you go -11 on average. That would you put you a ~+/-4 range that can take you out of 170 and into high low 170s. so typically on the tighter curves your overall score will be lower. I think thats pretty common even though the tighter curves are supposed to be "Easier" exams. Also depending on which section is the harder or easier one and where your strenghts lie a harder LR you may get 1 more wrong but if LG is easier youll get 1 more right & then you are still even. The scale can tilt either way, obviously. besides a crazy RC out of left field LR is pretty consistent for most people and LG too. Even RC besides a really bad day is a tight range.

Thank you!! Makes sense. I’ve heard that I should be focusing on how many I miss rather than my score, I just always thought I should be gauging it based on how difficult the test was.

I missed 10 today on my last fresh PT..... and the curve was -9.

No problem mate! And yeah I just worry about how many I miss. that -10 area is def frustrating because you feel like you are doing worse when you are really arent (Just on the cusp of clear 17x Land) but just focus on progressing. I wouldnt stress difficulty level in that overall sense too much. ITll just cause you a headache. I feel like a lot of people in this thread have also mentioned that they get the same amount of questions wrong regardless. It makes more sense too to make your goals based on sections and how many you get wrong.. You know that for 17x you need to be LG -0-2 and so forth. And thats how I gauge. If i usually score -2 in LR and went -5 then i did poorly. If I somehow still managed to score well enough because I made up for it by going -0 in another section or something, so be it, I lucked out, but something still went wrong in that LR section.

Okay, thanks again!

I've gotten my games down to -0/-1 and RC to -3/-4 but LR is that last bit I have to work on because dumb mistakes keep screwing me over. Can't wait for this test to be over with!

[Ayo_mide]

Finally breaking 170
PT 73:

RC: -2
LR1: -2
LG:-1
LR2:-6 (this bummed me out)

Score: 171

I need to get to -2 consistently on LR and maintain/reduce RC. I keep making silly mistakes on LG. I should be getting -0 all the time.
I'll be doing 7sage drills to improve on specific questions. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

[MercW07]

Finally breaking 170
PT 73:

RC: -2
LR1: -6
LG:-1
LR2:-6 (this bummed me out)

Score: 171

I need to get to -2 consistently on LR and maintain/reduce RC. I keep making silly mistakes on LG. I should be getting -0 all the time.
I'll be doing 7sage drills to improve on specific questions. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Might want to regrade/check the conversion chart agin for this. -15 on PT 73 would give you a 168. Not trying to be a dick, just hate when I miss grade and come back later on to find out I didn't do as well as I previously thought.

[littlewing67]

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[Ayo_mide]

Finally breaking 170
PT 73:

RC: -2
LR1: -6
LG:-1
LR2:-6 (this bummed me out)

Score: 171

I need to get to -2 consistently on LR and maintain/reduce RC. I keep making silly mistakes on LG. I should be getting -0 all the time.
I'll be doing 7sage drills to improve on specific questions. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Might want to regrade/check the conversion chart agin for this. -15 on PT 73 would give you a 168. Not trying to be a dick, just hate when I miss grade and come back later on to find out I didn't do as well as I previously thought.

Thanks for pointing that out... -2 on LR1, I mis-typed. That would've hurt lool

[Heluvsme23]

Hey Guys,

Long time lurker over here. I appreciate this thread so much! I am also planning to take the LSAT in December, but I am not so sure right now. I am still struggling with logic games. I have been trying to do the 7sage fool proof method by making multiple copies of a game and working on it until I feel confident. I have done approximately 34 games thus far. My problem is when I see a game for the first time I can't seem to get -0 on any of them. When I take a preptest, I consistently get -1/-2 each game and my timing sucks. The only solution that I can think of is adding a new game to the packet everyday? Before, I would work on the same 5/6 games in my folder before adding any new ones in. Maybe if I add a fresh game everyday or every other day it would help me to not get so stuck? I don't know. Any tips/suggestions on prepping for LG would be greatly appreciated!

I think adding a new game a day would work.

LG is my best section (although I mess up sometimes) and I went -2 in September (but have hit multiple -0's on fresh tests) so take my advice with a grain of salt if you will. What I did was do new games, yes, but I used kind of like a tweaked version of the fool proof method. What I did:

1. do an LG section with a stopwatch. it's good to see how long it takes you to do games, but if I went over 35 mins I would keep going and just finish the section

2. if I went over 35 mins AND/OR went -1 on any game in that section, I printed out the entire section and did it either the next day or 2 days after. I would keep doing that until I went -0 on that section and was under 35 mins.

3. repeat a million times

the point was to force myself to be quicker even though the material wasn't new and I was able to just practice seeing how rules play out together, inferences, how to approach questions, etc. also by doing this, it allowed me to just know that I can finish LG in under 35 mins (even if the ones I was doing were repeats), but nonetheless was able to eventually do LG with time left and going like -0 to like -3 consistently.

also a tip for timing, which in my opinion is kind of important for LG is to not check every single answer choice. Once you find the right answer, move on. it's a risk but it's a risk you should take. if you watch 7sage vids, J.Y. himself even emphasizes this, and I too think it is important. the only exception I think for this would be miscellaneous games in which its kind of weird so maybe you should go through each AC and maybe POE but for all normal games you need to pick and move on!

I will definitely try this method. Thanks!

[MercW07]

First admit today into W&M! This is such a confidence booster and motivates me to kill it in December so there are more acceptances to come! I haven't been strictly following my PT 3 x a week schedule and have been doing mostly drills, and trying to finish this Manhattan book. They are retakes anyways so not sure how helpful they will be.

Congrats!! I also originally planned on 3 PTs a week but found it to be a little bit too much. Right now Im on a 2 per week schedule and its significantly better.

[Mikey]

First admit today into W&M! This is such a confidence booster and motivates me to kill it in December so there are more acceptances to come! I haven't been strictly following my PT 3 x a week schedule and have been doing mostly drills, and trying to finish this Manhattan book. They are retakes anyways so not sure how helpful they will be.

oh shit! congrats!

[Experiment626]

First admit today into W&M! This is such a confidence booster and motivates me to kill it in December so there are more acceptances to come! I haven't been strictly following my PT 3 x a week schedule and have been doing mostly drills, and trying to finish this Manhattan book. They are retakes anyways so not sure how helpful they will be.

Congrats!! I also originally planned on 3 PTs a week but found it to be a little bit too much. Right now Im on a 2 per week schedule and its significantly better.

Congrats man!

[Rupert Pupkin]

First admit today into W&M! This is such a confidence booster and motivates me to kill it in December so there are more acceptances to come! I haven't been strictly following my PT 3 x a week schedule and have been doing mostly drills, and trying to finish this Manhattan book. They are retakes anyways so not sure how helpful they will be.

Awesome work! They'll keep coming.

[littlewing67]

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[PhiladelphiaCollins]

Seriously appreciate the love from you guys. I only wish you guys the best in every part of this process

Because I got all excited about my admit I started my PT late and so decided to forego an experimental section. I did redo PT 80 LG untimed just to figure our buildings game. I want to prepare for the worst >:( Anyways, just took PT 32. RC was completely new. LG I think was a redo. Half of LR was new, half I've seen. Scored a 177

You're a beast. And congrats on W&M!!

[Mikey]

Seriously appreciate the love from you guys. I only wish you guys the best in every part of this process

Because I got all excited about my admit I started my PT late and so decided to forego an experimental section. I did redo PT 80 LG untimed just to figure our buildings game. I want to prepare for the worst >:( Anyways, just took PT 32. RC was completely new. LG I think was a redo. Half of LR was new, half I've seen. Scored a 177

BOOOOOM!

I applied to some school as well, still waiting to hear back but 1 of them held me due to being registered for December. the others don't seem to care.

I'm calling Harvard for you in a few months

[Rupert Pupkin]

idk if its causation or correlation (LAWLz), but i started BR'ing like a week or 2 ago and it seems to be helping. Took PT73 yest and got a 171 and BR 173 but the last section of LR I guess i was just out of it and went -5 and 3 questions i got wrong I didnt circle for BR that I totally would have corrected in BR because they were half questions i should have gotten right in the first place. I was just out of focus in this section yest. Im getting better at paying attention to my confidence in my answer selection and/whether or not to circle for BR so-to-speak and this is also forcing me to revisit tougher AC and knowing WHY i should be crossing out an answer choice. Def helps hammering the true fool-proof methodical LR approach into my head. Its not hard to circle questions I am not 100% sure of but takes some time adjusting to do this, hence why i got some questions wrong i didnt circle to br. Usually I just mark a question to come back to if im MOSTly uncertain, not just simply, not 100%. This change in mindset is very beneficial i think in the long-run

Im OK with PT 73 performance because RC:-3 and LR-2 and LG:-1, but if I didnt drop the ball on the last section I would have been right on my par with where I am happy being 2 weeks out. Tomorrow ill be consistent in both LRs. In addition to BR, Im finding my "fool-proof" RC method to be helping ingrain the proper RC mindset in me. This RC was the first section which i think is ideal wil see if i can hold this consistency when its section 5. Gonna do an RC experimental tomorrow. Ive done that well in RC several times but in the last two weeks its been very consistent (PLEASE HOLD OUT CONSISTENCY) Lol. Consistency has been an issue for me and this shift in my study approach seems to help that level out, even if right now, my score is slightly lower than my PR performances over the summer, i think its more justified and will correlate to how i do on DeC 2 (D-DAY)

[littlewing67]

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[Mikey]

BOOOOOM!

I applied to some school as well, still waiting to hear back but 1 of them held me due to being registered for December. the others don't seem to care.

I'm calling Harvard for you in a few months

Do you know if they will consider w/o Dec score or they hold for everyone regardless? The 5 schools I applied to so far don't mind reviewing me w/o Dec score - I called and emailed them requesting not to hold: BC, Irvine, UNC, W&M, W&L

LOL Harvard is eager to ding me unless I get a 174+, which is realistically extremely unlikely for me. But appreciate your enthusiasm!

You can hit that 174+

And yeah I think I can just email the school that held me but.. ehh.. fuck it lol they prob won't give me a decision until after the dec. scores regardless.

I was thinking of applying to BC and BU but not sure.

[littlewing67]

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[Mikey]

You can hit that 174+

And yeah I think I can just email the school that held me but.. ehh.. fuck it lol they prob won't give me a decision until after the dec. scores regardless.

I was thinking of applying to BC and BU but not sure.

If anything you can submit now and have them hold your app! I visited BC and BU a couple years ago and fell in love with BC.

I know someone at BU and they love it! I've never thought of Boston as an area I'd like to live in, but either way i'm most likely not applying to any more schools until after the December scores come out!

[barcafan202]

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[barcafan202]

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[peege]

What's your best advice for warming up?? Obviously with PTs you can do the experimental section first, but in terms of test day I'm not sure to what extent I should do it. I do way better on the later sections of a test, but feel weird about doing an entire LR section before the actual test.

[Experiment626]

LG from PT 74 is my worst nightmare.

Sounds like I'm doing PT 74 as drills this week since it's been 5 months since I looked at that test!

Drilled the first two sections of 74.

LR -4, should have been -1 because I was careless in reading.
LG -0 finished right at the buzzer. The last two games were interesting, definitely not fun if you tried to solve in order and didn't jump around to do ones that were easier and then use the work to solve others....

[Experiment626]

What's your best advice for warming up?? Obviously with PTs you can do the experimental section first, but in terms of test day I'm not sure to what extent I should do it. I do way better on the later sections of a test, but feel weird about doing an entire LR section before the actual test.

take stuff with you and do it while you're waiting to check in.

I plan on getting to my center at 6:45ish so by the time I find where I'm supposed to be so I can warmup until 8:15 then scarf a quick snack and bio before checking in.

[Experiment626]

PT 69's LR might be the easiest I've seen yet

it's up there. Not sure if it's easier than 81...

[AvatarMeelo]

Taking a little break and resuming on Saturday. Since I’m off from work for the next two weeks, I’m rushing to get some stuff done within the next two days so I don’t come back to chaos on December 4th. I’d feel guilty about not spending this time studying but 1) my eyes are swimming whenever I try to study and 2) at this point all I have to do is PT a few times. Man, I can’t believe it’s two weeks til d-day but I feel hell of a lot better than I did the two weeks before September test.