Wondering what your strategy is regarding RC review and JYs video that breaks down the passage. I understand the passage, but usually dont watch his video that reads through the passage. RC is my worst section and I wonder if I'm missing out by not watching the video. Thanks!

Premise

~Nobility -----> ~ Tragedy

(~ = negative)

Conclusion

~Fate -------> ~ Tragedy

It is obvious we must link the concept of Nobility and Fate. Making D right.

My question isn't D backwards? We need an answer choice going from premise to conclusion

~nobility ------> ~ fate

Fate ------>Nobility

Instead D says

~Fate ------> ~Nobility.

Nobility -----> Fate.

Technically wouldn't this be unnecessary since it is a reversal? I know some people might say o just ignore this or look at the contrapositive, but I've seen a few questions where the contrapositive usage of it was considered wrong over the actual way. Ie. the way D had it was wrong when another answer choice said fate > nobility.

just a heads up so that y'all have extra time to PT (lookin at you @pujals ). BR group for PT71 will be TUESDAY at 7pm ET as opposed to the usual Wednesday.

On a morning so close to test day with a PT to take and BR to follow, this is what I say to myself: "I'm alive, alert, awake, joyous and enthusiastic about life! I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm to do that which is mine to do today!" GiddyUp!

Why is the answer e?? I thought the best was a. I don't understand why sulfur 33 is rarely found. I thought what they had found were HIGHER THAN NORMAL concentration. Meaning today's diamond could still have s33 but less of it.

Halp.

I am aiming for a 170 on the October LSAT, but for at least the past month, my score has consistently been 161-163, despite taking the time to go over answers I was unsure about and/or got incorrect and practicing those types of questions.

I have been self-studying for the LSAT since May, I had a tutor work intensively with me on logic games from May-July, and I have been in a TestMasters class since July. I only use the official PrepTests and books with official questions (PowerScore bibles, The LSAT Trainer). I have taken about 10 practice tests in total under timed, realistic conditions.

It seems on every practice exam I either have a major problem with RC (-7) and one of the logic games (while getting 100% on the other 3 games) but only get 4 wrong per LR section or the RC and logic games sections are fine (-2 or -3 each) but then I get about 9 wrong per LR section. Basically, I either have a problem with one half of the exam or the other. Recently, I did one practice exam where I gave myself 10 minute breaks in between sections and got a 172. I know this doesn't mean much, but it does show that I do have the necessary skills and strategies.

This is very frustrating, especially since in my practice I feel confident about the questions I am working on. I study about 3 hours per day, sometimes more, and based on the above, feel my studying is of good quality. I have a 3.95 GPA from a top 15 undergrad and don't see why for the amount and quality of studying I have done I shouldn't be able to get a 170.

Any advice for how to overcome this? Is it even realistic to expect this big of a jump in my score with only 3 weeks left? I know the obvious answer would be to just keep in mind retaking the exam in December, but I really don't want to resort to that if I don't absolutely have to.

Has anyone taken the never-before-disclosed PT from Superprep 2?

I am planning to take the Oct. test and using this month to work on endurance. I find it difficult to stay focus for the duration of the test which I am sure effects my overall score. I read somewhere that to help endurance you take two PT back to back. I have been taking two PT back to back with 15 minute breaks between them but at the end of the first PT and at points during the second I get unfocused or tired. For example today the first PT I got a 153 (personal best) and the second I got a 144 (personal worst). I don't know if this way is working and I don't want to waste a good PT on the second test so was thinking about using a new PT for only first best and old PT for second test. How do you guys stay focused and increase endurance?

I have been studying since March. Up until lately I have felt very confident in my ability for taking the October LSAT. However, I have not been taking very many PT. I am starting to really struggle with LR and am concerned I may not be ready to take the October test. How can I make a firm decision whether I am just over analyzing or if it would actually be a better idea to postpone until the December test?

Anyone ever done this? I'm taking the October test here in Okinawa on a military base. The good part is I think i'm the only taker, so it will just be me and the proctor. I'm just hoping the test isn't crazy. From what i've read on other forums it sounds like I'll probably be taking a nondisclosed test from a prior year. Curious as to the process afterwards for anyone that's done this. Do the scores get released at the same time for those taking overseas and nondisclosed?

Thanks!

Well I've finished all of the 7sage curriculum and started PT 6 days ago. I've been doing one PT a day, and thanks for my job, I had pretty much time at work to BR.

But disappointedly and scary is that my PT plateau kept unchange around 154. Usually I got about 90% on LG, 60% on LR, which sometimes the passages and too rocket science to me to apply memory method. And 70% on LR. Recent PTs showed I am pretty confident for those questions with 3-star difficulty or less. But those hard questions are still huge challenging time-consuming monster to me. I will take my entire next week off and will fully devote my self to PT.

Any suggetions? Thanks.

I know we are suppose to go back and do them, but for scoring purposes in the analytical tools, do we leave them as blanks or do we put our guess answer choice? Ie. my guess answer choice for questions is D. So for question 25, do I put in D, or should I leave it blank, so that in the odd chance it is right I don't get a false sense of knowing something I do not?

The video explanation was a bit murky here. I'm not so sure why the answer choice is C. I have a good theory on why people likely mistakenly pick C even though it is the right a/c. There are some issues I have with it.

1. its trying to say that if the number of science and engineering students in university programs has increased in the last 5 years then that is somehow proof or strengthening the idea of there being no shortage of scientist and engineers. This is a problematic shift, it requires us to assume they stay in that program, graduate it, AND work in that field. There is no evidence that these people have even graduated never mind ward off an IMMINENT and CATASTROPHIC shortage. Imminent means about to happen, how can people who entered university 3 years ago and are not even employed ward off and IMMINENT shortage? we don't even know when in the last 5 years this increase happened. We just know generally

2. It is also using a raw number to address a question about a total proportion. In otherwords, the correct answer choice here, C, is a percents and numbers FLAW! It would be like saying ok you have a shortage of 90% of workers. C is saying but you have a significant increase in the NUMBER of science grads, so what, you went from 10,000 to 50,000, that doesn't ward of the IMMINENT AND CATASTROPHIC shortage of 400,000 science grads needed. This matters because shortage means proportion it is a ratio not a raw number. It is the amount of jobs to job seeker ratio. You cannot solve this question with a total number.

3. I try to see how C could at least be right, but I have a real problem with it. I suspect most people don't recognize it as a ratio issue and just say yeah more students ----> more grads -----> -more job seekers ----->avert shortage and therefore Strengthen conclusion. There is a problem at literally everyone of these jumps but the worse one is you can have a significant increase of students, grads, job seekers, and still not avert an IMMINENT and catastrophic shortage. Maybe I am just not seeing where he is trying to strengthen correctly.

4. So which a/c would I have chosen? Probably D? Why, it is the only question who addresses the issue in the argument and thus has the POTENTIAL to strengthen. If certain science fields have an oversupply and others have a shortage. That indicates 2 thins. 1) For the oversupply field clearly there is no imminent and catastrophic shortage, supporting the conclusion. 2) For the shortage field there is also no imminent and catastrophic shortage, it is a shortage but its not described as imminent or catastrophic, so it indeed also supports the conclusion.

PT12 S1 Q24- I Have no idea how the writers of the test came up with this answer. I lack understanding of why C is wrong. (I purposely left out the answer just in case someone wanted to do it on their own first.)

PT14 S4 Q9- I Just plain out do not understand how to approach this question. can someone explain?

PT9 S2 Q22- Does the answer to this question rely on the distinction between the term "city-wide" and "city residents" or is there something I am not seeing?

PT11 S4 Q19- I got the answer to this question right, but only because of POE, but I want to know why this answer is right. Can someone please assist me in articulating why this answer is right?

Hi everyone! Because of other commitments, I have to take the October lsat in Spain. Has anyone taken or read about the Spain test center? I assume it won't be that different... Thanks!

Out of curiosity, do people generally label the LR passages (i.e. Premises, conclusions, etc.) or just do it mentally? I'm considering labeling the premises and conclusions in every passage to improve my overall speed at identifying these things, but I'm not sure if that's something that people use as an actual test strategy.

Took PT 38 Friday and finished BR today..

One thing that I've just realized up to this point in my studies: it's better to confidently complete 20 LR questions in a section than trying to rush through the entire thing half-assed... I tested this out and my LR really improved (5 more questions correct than my average, a big jump for me IMO). I bubble in D for the rest, but during BR I've gotten the correct answer for some.

I'm hoping that with time my speed will get better and I'll be able to answer all questions in a given LR section with a high degree of confidence.

Will there be, for example, scratch paper provided? Or should we bring our own? Pencils?

About a month ago, a user posted that they had scored in the high 170s on a fresh PT. Their method of studying was to take and retake a group of modern PTs. Does anyone know where I can find this post and/or can you tell me what the benefits of retaking PTs are? I have simply been taking new PTs.

i have done 10pts in total and im taking LSAT in october and december.

currently plateaud at 155

So throughout my (definitely rocky) studying process I've made lots of gains in the various sections of the test while also hitting various hiccups (many of which I've come here to complain or ask about). However, the PTing I've done in the last week exemplifies the worries I have for the October test coming up very soon.

So up until mid last week I was in a huge slump for a while, having really hard times on LR particularly (which had always been my good section), missing way more questions than usual (peaking at like -5 or -6, up from the usual -1 or -2, which I posted here about). At the same time, however I had made some definite gains on LG (missing between 0 or 1 per test) and RC (which shocked me because I heard it was very hard to improve on and I went from consistent -4's to -1's or -2's). So I was super stressed about that and being able to improve in time. Around this time I was fluctuating pretty heavily around 171ish a low of 170 to a high of 174 (so obviously still not bad at all, but what was worrying me more was the weird distribution where I was doing so badly on a section that I had historically done really well on)

Something suddenly clicked last week though. After two particularly rough tests at the beginning of last week, I had some kind of breakthrough and scored two 178s in a row. Obviously I was ecstatic. It was the first LR that had gone back to "normal" for me while I maintained my gains in LG and RC. This week's PTs started on Monday and I got a THIRD 178 in a row (again, ecstatic) while still maintaining consistency on all three sections (missing only 1 LR question, 1 RC question, and 1 or 2 LGs).

So my worries are mainly to do with what happened on yesterday and today's PTs which were radically different from the three 178s. Yesterday I went from only -1 on the previous 6 or 7 RCs to getting a whopping -6. At the same time, I got -4 on the LG section which, though admittedly harder, was still way more than I'm used to. Today basically the same thing happened, with another huge -5 on RC and -3 on LG (which was particularly frustrating because it is supposedly only a level 2 RC and the game that basically made me run out of time was only a level 3). The good news was that I maintained my LR strength and only missed 2 on each of yesterday and today, which was fantastic and in line with what I was doing before my huge slump. So yesterday's score was a 172 (obviously not bad at all, but admittedly lower than I'm comfortable with) and today was even worse, a 170 (one of my lowest scores I've had in a long time).

Now, obviously my scores have not been bad. I'm fully aware that my scores, even my so-called bad day today of 170, are incredible scores that are approaching the high 90th percentiles. So, I'm not trying to complain about them at all. What my primary concern is is my inconsistency this close to the test day. My personal goal is to come away from the actual test with a 175. If I could score a 175 on test day I would be over the moon, so it's not like I'm aiming for a perfect 180 here or anything. But with my GPA and the school's I'm looking at, a 175 would obviously be ideal and put me in an incredibly comfortable position. And the thing is is that the three 178s (plus the fact that after every test I blind review at or near 180) I just score tell me that I am at least CAPABLE of doing really well on test day and achieving my goal, but the fact that I can vary by sometimes up to 8 points in the span of a day, and the fact that I can go nearly 10 tests with an average RC score of only -1 or -2 max and then suddenly have two full tests in a row where I go -6 scares the living hell out of me and stresses me out. Obviously every test is different, people have bad days, and even a great LSAT taker's scores are going to fluctuate test to test, but it just seems that such a drastic difference, particularly in RC these last two days, is something other than that.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much, this forum has been a really great resource for when this test has gotten me really stressed!

I feel like I am not grasping the fundamentals properly, I am rarely able to predict what the answer choice will be until I get to the answer choices, although I have this general idea of what could be wrong with the argument. I am also missing a ton of level 4 and 5 questions. After 4 PT's I have narrowed down my weaknesses to Flaw, NA, SA, and even though it does not happen often MBT questions. I want to add that even when I am BR'ing I don't I still lack the ability of choosing the correct answers for those questions. Do you guys think this is a fundamentals issue, or it is lack of experience since I have only done 4 PT's?

I thought B was right during PT, but decided to try negating the answer choices during BR, and got distracted by C.

If you negate C, the gist of it would be that "optimism is NOT better than pessimism," which I think ruins the argument. If optimism is not better than pessimism, then why try to enable young people to believe in a better future? Or is it the "illusory vision" aspect of C that makes this irrelevant?

What am I missing here?

Okkkayyy. So. I just wrote #72 and received a 160, which is on the lower end of my scoring, as I have found I typically score in the mid-160s. The 4th logic game ruined my life haha.

Anyways. Earlier in July I was scoring in the high 160s, but I've since seen a decrease in my score. I also have found I've increased my stress/anxiety when testing a LOT and that really interferes with my ability to stay clam and continue on through the sections when I encounter a tough problem. I think that my problem really lies in a combination of that, and lacking a firm strategy as I'm moving through the exam.

I'm wondering what you think is best moving forward. I do plan to write in October, with the intent of re-writing in December, or just not writing in October at all. I did write last December and received a 155.

My RC is consistently between -8 and -11 with the lowest a -5.

My LR sits between -4 and -6 wrong each section.

My LG is between -2 and 0.

What do you suggest to do at this point? Right now, I think it's too close to game time to really change anything drastically. Should I continue drilling my weaker LR areas (flaw, SA, NA)? Should I focus more on trying to improve my reading comprehension?

Also. I had read on here that sometimes... people just read 3 passages with the most questions and then guess on all the remaining answer choices for the last passage. Is that a good strategy for me moving forward? I know that RC is a big problem for me, so maybe I should focus all of the 35 minutes on making sure I can get 3 passages all correct, and then take a change with the last 5-6 questions in a passage I don't answer?

Thoughts! Thanks. Feeling pretty discouraged, but trying to just push on. I also should mention that my BR average on my last 7 exams has been a 170.

Guyssss I took my 10th pt today and I got the same as my 2nd ever score!!! And thst one was basically a diagnostic. Is this normal?? I did feel like I was not very concentrated but even when I feel like I didn't concentrate I don't do this bad!! So sad especially cuz I have been studying a lot :(((((( *cries*