Congrats!!! (:

Did you take the proctored version of this test? I understand that there were a lot of problems for people who took the online version of the LSAT in August... if you were one of the people who had issues, that may be the culprit.

I'm 23, working full-time, and also planning to take Oct/Nov LSAT. I try to study in the morning before work, or at lunch time because my job is flexible. I think the earlier, the better. I take practice tests on the weekends because I have more time.

@ said:

@ Yes, you can drill PTs on the 7Sage site! You just need to create a custom drill under the "Practice" tab in the "Advanced Builder" of the "Drills" section. Here are the steps to do this:

Navigate to Drills and select "Use Advanced Builder"

Filter PrepTests to show

Filter Sections (LG, RC, or LR)

Filter tags by tapping (optional)

5 Filter further by typing keywords like "pt40 s2" (optional)

Tap the plus icon at the leftmost column to add all the questions, or scroll down and mark the questions you want to include with the plus icon on the left

Finally, tap on "Create Problem Set with ... questions" located at the bottom of the page

See the sample GIF below:

Alternatively, you can use the "Auto Builder" mode for creating PT drills on the same tab. Here are the steps to do this:

Navigate to Drills and select "Use Auto Builder (beta)" (No need to select "Use Auto Builder (beta)" if you're automatically routed to this drill version)

Filter drills per section (LR, LG, or RC)

Select how many questions/games/passages you would like to take

Filter drills limited to Particular tags that will pull questions from the drilling pool or based on the specific question types from any PrepTests, create drills for questions you've gotten incorrect previously, or let 7Sage Virtual Pick select items based on your most recently completed PrepTests.

Once you've decided what options you would like to take, you can then tap the blue button "Create Drill."

I hope that helps! Let us know if you have any further questions.

Amazing, thank you so much!

@ said:

So there are (at least) two ways of reading the flaw in this argument--

The gov could have alternate reasons for not releasing this info that have nothing to do with the validity of UFO sightings

Looking closely at the conclusion, it leaps to saying the UFOs come from extraterrestrials--as opposed to say unrecognized military planes from foreign countries.

A is an attempt to get at flaw 1, but it's just not great at latching on. It presumes the extra step that info on UFOs is 'secure information' (terminology not used in the stimulus), and even then saying they're 'generally' not forthcoming is not great for bolstering why they're not forthcoming in this particular case.

B is getting at flaw 2--we have no evidence from the argument that the UFOs are necessarily from other planets, and this fills that gap by saying the gov would only withhold the info if they were from other planets, hence strengthening the arg.

Thank you!

I think this is where BR comes in, which you should be doing even during drills.

I believe the common way to answer questions when timed is to use process of elimination. Trust yourself here, and then use BR to review and really mull the questions you're not sure of over. When you're just starting out, you might get more questions wrong than you'd like, but don't be discouraged. The more you blind review each day, the more accurate you'll become and the quicker you'll answer more questions correctly.

And you don't have to do a lot, especially at first. Maybe try doing 5 at a time, then work your way up to 10, then full sections regularly. You got this!

@ said:

Yes, speed certainly comes as you get more comfortable with the way the LSAT is written and the things questions typically expect you to pay attention to. Additionally, it's normal to feel anxious at the start of timed sections and, as a result, possibly perform worse than you perform when you're practicing untimed/feel like there's no pressure. I've found that, though this feeling may never totally go away, it gets much better as you do more timed sections. Eventually, you get used to the timer, you get a sense of what pace you need to be going to complete a section on time, you see good results that encourage you and build your confidence, etc.

As for specific strategies to speed up in LR, I've found that really pushing myself to move quickly through the first 15 questions has helped a lot. Typically, the first 10 questions are the easiest, questions 11-15 are easier with some medium-difficulty questions sprinkled in, and questions 16-25/26 are more difficult. While there are certainly some exceptions to this rule, as you'll occasionally see one or two difficult questions put towards the front of the section, LR sections have always followed the trend of starting easier and ending harder. It's been like that since the very first released prep test. Therefore, I've found that trying to get through the first 15 questions quickly usually gives me valuable time to spend on the last 10 questions. Just as an example, you could try to complete the first 15 questions in ~15 minutes, which would give you ~2 minutes for each of the last 10 questions.

To be clear, I don't think it's advisable to always force yourself to finish the first 15 in 15 minutes. That's just an arbitrary time goal I came up with. Some sections have harder 1st halves than others, and 15 minutes isn't enough time to accurately complete the first 15 questions. Just trying to generally move quickly through the first 15 has helped me a bunch with speed, however. My thought process is this: hard questions are hard. There's no way around that. Inevitably, some of the questions between 16 and 25/26 in any LR section are going to be tough. No matter how good you are at the test, you'll still have to spend some time thinking to figure out certain questions. Therefore, instead of trying to speed through those tougher questions, just accept that they're tough and try to give yourself more time to complete them. Sure, speeding through the first 15 questions is a bit of a gamble, as you may accidentally make a mistake and miss a relatively easy question, but, in my opinion, that's a totally worthwhile tradeoff to make sure I've got extra time for those tougher questions.

A drill I've seen recommended to practice this method is taking the first 10 or 15 questions in an LR section and doing them as quickly as possible. Seriously. Force yourself to go about as quick as you can. It may not feel comfortable, but there's a chance you'll be surprised by how accurate you are. If you're missing a bunch then slow down a bit, but see how quickly you can go through the first 10 or 15 questions in a few LR sections without sacrificing accuracy. Once you figure out your general "sweet spot," you can start implementing the timing strategy on PTs. I found that just doing the first 10 or 15 questions from some LR sections super quickly and repeatedly seeing myself doing well was a huge confidence booster. It gave me faith in the strategy which, when approaching every section of the test, is super important.

Sorry for the long-winded response but I wanted to make sure to thoroughly convey my thoughts! This isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, of course, so if it doesn't work for you then definitely seek out other strategies!

Thank you so much for the in-depth response! This is extremely helpful. (:

@ said:

Always think of what type of evidence the author is using. For any type of evidence, there is some sort of inherent flaw within it. The evidence type used here is an analogy. An argument by analogy is inherently flawed because it assumes that two different scenarios are comparable. So, when you see an argument by analogy ask yourself "but are they really the same thing? "Can we really say that one's freedom is always worth risking one's life based on the analogy of living in an impenetrable box? It is bad practice to argue for a general principle using an extreme case. The flaw will always be about the way the author uses premises to reach their conclusion. Answer choice A takes issue with the conclusion itself - whereas we need an AC that takes issue with the relationship between the premises and the conclusion.

Thank you so much!

A strategy that I just learned about is to drill yourself by doing the first 10-15 questions in a LR section as quickly as you can, if you're looking to increase your time. Perhaps try doing this every single day, multiple times/day. This is the strategy I've found the most helpful when it comes to increasing endurance/speed. Ideally, spending the first 15 q's in 15 min, then spending ~2 min on the last half of the section.