Advice After a 159 - Very Important

[!@#$%]

Hurley, how are you doing with time on your LR sections?  Are you struggling to get through all the questions in 35 minutes, or do you finish with a few minutes to spare?

My strategy for the LR sections was to read them through in order, and answer the ones that I could get right away or without too much trouble.  The ones that were more difficult or that I was stuck picking between 2 answer choices, I'd eliminate as many wrong answers as I could, mark one of the remaining answers on my answer sheet, and then circle the question really big in my booklet.  If I had time left at the end (which I almost always did), then I could go back and work on that question some more.  That way, I haven't wasted too much time on a question I'm more likely to miss anyway, but at least I have an educated guess recorded.  So in case I run out of time, a 50% or 33% chance of getting it right is better than 0.

I tested in February, which is undisclosed, so I have no idea how I did on each section.  I studied by doing practice tests in bits and pieces.  I work full-time, so I'd do a section during lunch every day.  I only took 2 timed practice tests before the real thing.  I think it's more crucial to take your time and get familiar with the types of questions.  After a while, you'll start to see the pattern.

[russiankitty]

Hurley, how are you doing with time on your LR sections?  Are you struggling to get through all the questions in 35 minutes, or do you finish with a few minutes to spare?

My strategy for the LR sections was to read them through in order, and answer the ones that I could get right away or without too much trouble.  The ones that were more difficult or that I was stuck picking between 2 answer choices, I'd eliminate as many wrong answers as I could, mark one of the remaining answers on my answer sheet, and then circle the question really big in my booklet.  If I had time left at the end (which I almost always did), then I could go back and work on that question some more.  That way, I haven't wasted too much time on a question I'm more likely to miss anyway, but at least I have an educated guess recorded.  So in case I run out of time, a 50% or 33% chance of getting it right is better than 0.

I tested in February, which is undisclosed, so I have no idea how I did on each section.  I studied by doing practice tests in bits and pieces.  I work full-time, so I'd do a section during lunch every day.  I only took 2 timed practice tests before the real thing.  I think it's more crucial to take your time and get familiar with the types of questions.  After a while, you'll start to see the pattern.

I completely agree with your LR strategy. Worked wonders for me in terms of giving me extra time at the end to go back to the five or six hard questions (and if you don't get to the REALLY hard three, it's ok). But I would say that you should not go between your book and the answer sheet too much because that actually wastes time. Circle the ones you don't do, but just skip them on the answer sheet (BUT TRAIN YOURSELF NOT TO FORGET TO SKIP -- i always checked periodically to make sure i was filling out corresponding bubbles... if you mess up too much, tell the proctor, i think they might be able to help). alternatively, you can just put a TINY question mark next to the line where the answer to the question would have gone. erase those questions marks at the end though. for some reason i am now thinking i might be making this more confusing. all in all, i just wanted to say: good strategy, i improved about three points with it, but don't waste time by marking possible answers in several places.

also, for the necessary sufficient questions i had a good mneumonic device, which i now forgot because i don't remember what the testmasters' chant was, but it had something to do with there being an "n" before an "s" in the chant for the N->S or something. i just don't remember any of the techiniques, but might help if you remind me.

lastly, same stragety as for LR should go for the games. pick the ones that look easy and leave the hard ones for the end. if you only get two questions right in one last hard one you're already better off than the others.

also, do guess, and when you guess make sure the answers are pretty evenly distributed.... in the end, there are no more Cs than As or Bs... statistically.

sorry if this is not much help....

[DOWNY]

"Very Important!"?? What? This should have been posted on the DOWNY Advice Thread. That's ok, DOWNY cares so much that he came over here to give you advice anyway. First you need to get wasted beyond anything you've done before, so that you can reach the higher mental plane of the LSAT. DOWNY recommends a healthy dose of PCP.

Mushrooms, obviously, are a must-have for LSAT improvement.

Trust DOWNY. He would never let you down.

[Hurley97]

The problem I seem to be having is right around #11 or #12.  There is usually a gear shift in questioning that takes place around that time in the LR sections and my momentum really slows down. 

I also have the problem where I just sometimes DON'T GET the stimulus.  Even when I do, then pick up on some other angle or assumption in the correct answer choice so that it looks like a wrong and unrelated answer.  I end up getting pressured and fooled into choosing one of the "could be true/false" questions or something of the like.

My mentality crashes for the latter half of the section.

I lose the bulk of my points on LR between questions 16-25

Some people have told me to jump to the end and do it backwards after question 18, but that doesn't seem to matter much.  Other people tell me to skip questions, but I end up skipping 7 or 8, not 2 or 3.  I get so flustered that I just end up getting them wrong.

You can see where my weaknesses are on page one or two of this thread where I posted my score breakdown.

Thanks for your help everyone.

[DOWNY]

Thanks for your help everyone.

anytime.

[Hurley97]

I just wanted to give this board an update.

I've followed your advice and have been waking up every morning and taking a timed-LR section from various LSATs.  I then score the section and go over all of my correct/incorrect answers.  I have watched my wrong answers go from 10, to 8, to 9, to 6, and this morning FOUR!  A 21 out of 25, my highest ever.  I scored it on the December, section 1 LR.

I've also been doing several games a day and then going over them as well.  Today I scored my highest ever on games:  19 correct out of 23 on the December 2002 games.

I have been a little worried that perhaps these sections would not be representative of the sections I may take next Saturday, but perhaps you folks could give me some insight.

Tomorrow morning I take the December 2001 LSAT in a proctored diagnostic.  Please feel free to offer your advice, but make sure there are no spoilers!  I don't want to know anything about the test before I take it.

So, what do you think?  Is it possible to make a monster increase from my 159 last week??

[superiorlobe]

I'm predicting a 163 for you.

[Hurley97]

You were close.  I scored a 161, yet I am convinced that I could have scored a couple points higher if this girl next to me wasn't so distracting.  She gave up on the test and started making all of these noises.  It drove me crazy on LR2 and I totally lost focus.

Here is my score breakdown for the December 2001 LSAT:

Reading Comp
Correct- 24
Incorrect- 2
(I got all the questions in the science passage correct!)

Logic Games
Correct- 18
Incorrect- 5

Logical Reasoning (section 1)
Correct- 19
Incorrect- 7

Logical Reasoning (section 2)
Correct- 15
Incorrect- 11 



So, what do you guys think?  What should I be doing this week to get things up higher for the LSAT next Saturday?

[Hurley97]

By the way, here is my LR breakdown.  The numbers are listed with the correct number first, followed by the number incorrect.:

Total Raw Score 34 18
Section One Raw Score 19 7 
Section Two Raw Score 15 11 
Type One Questions (1) 9 1 
Type Two Questions (2) 10 5
Type Three Questions (3) 5 4 
Type Four Questions (4) 5 1 
Type Five Questions (5) 1 3
Type Six Questions (6) 2 2  
Two-Three Combination Questions (2-3) 0 1 
Three-Four Combination Questions (3-4) 2 1
Type Three Reversal Questions (3R) 1 0
Type 1M Questions (1M) 3 1 
Type 2N Questions (2N) 3 3  
Type 2S Questions (2S) 3 1
Principle Questions (PR) 2 2  
Point at Issue Questions (PI) 1 0  
Argument Structure Questions (AS) 4 1
Sufficient and Necessary Problems (SN) 10 3  
Cause and Effect Problems (CE) 6 4

[Silversoma]

You know, I understand where you are coming from, and I really think that you should try to relax this week and spend your time convincing yourself that a) you will score in the low-to-mid 160's, and b) that you will feel great about that score. 

After taking Testmasters twice and studying as long as you have, what determines your score on the real thing is going to come down to luck.  You might get a 160 if you encounter a tough LR section and only do a couple of games on the LG.  You might get a 167 if you are on a roll in LR and score some easier games in the LG section.  Either way, no amount of studying you do this week is going to affect the result in a significant way.

I recommend doing 1 to 2 sections each day this week (NO full-length tests), in LG and LR.  I've decided for myself that this schedule, while keeping my brain focused on LSAT all week, will also prevent me from writing a bad preptest within the next five days, and screwing up my mentality for the test.

Good luck, you are going to do just fine!