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chantelleselina102

Joined: Apr 2025
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chantelleselina102

Saturday, Jan 30 2016

@ I don't think there's an easy place to purchase the bundle anymore, but you can get the games from PTs 1-40 through PowerScore or you can search online for companies still selling them as PDFs (here's one link: https://www.cambridgelsat.com/bundles/logic-games-by-type/). Just rearrange them so that they're not by type.

General · Did you convert from self-study (i.e. Powerscore) to 7Sage?

chantelleselina102

Monday, Feb 29 2016

I studied for 5-6 months. I used both PowerScore and 7Sage. I would recommend against switching back and forth between lessons. I think that would be unnecessarily confusing. Overall, 7Sage is stronger, so complete that first. Honestly, I would put the PowerScore material to the side for now.

For RC and especially LG, I didn't find PowerScore particularly helpful. In fact, I would suggest that you completely ignore PowerScore's LG books (i.e. never consult them). 7sage's LG material is so much better. However, PowerScore's LR Bible clicked well with me and I prefer PowerScore's approach to LR.

General · Logic Games Crisis

chantelleselina102

Friday, Jan 29 2016

I had a similar problem. It was because I just wasn't good at LG. It remained my most volatile section. If I got lucky, I could go -0, but if I didn't I could have a potential disaster because I wasn't comfortable with all of the game types. If you complete the bundle, your timing will improve because you'll become more comfortable with everything and you should be fine. :)

LSAT · PT35.S4.Q11 - one approach to the question

chantelleselina102

Friday, Jan 29 2016

The stimulus is a bit confusing, but we need to find out why it claims the approach it discusses is flawed.

The approach basically states that if something is posited by one of the most powerful theories (in terms of explaining things) then the objects posited by that theory should be said to be real.

The stim. goes on to say that this flawed because most theories contain elements that are posited only on theoretical grounds.

So we have to make some kind of connection between things posited only on theoretical grounds and the approach/realness.

A does not help us make that connection. In other words, it doesn't justify the stim.'s claim that the approach is flawed at all because it says absolutely nothing about theories with elements posited only on theoretical grounds. It's too broad.

C - Like A, this says absolutely nothing about theories with elements posited only on theoretical grounds.

E - Like A and C, this says absolutely nothing about theories with elements posited only on theoretical grounds.

D - This mentions theoretical grounds but it doesn't make a proper connection that justifies why the stim's author has an issue with the approach. The approach is about what should be thought of as real, not what theories should contain. Regardless of whether scientific theories should be grounded on non-theoretical things or not, the author claims that most of them are and because they are there's a problem with the approach.

B - This is the one that makes the connection. It's not perfect, but it mentions the "realness" discussed in the approach and the theoretical grounds that are supposedly causing the approach's flaw. We have to assume that there's a bit of an overlap between the most explanatory theories and those with elements based on only theoretical grounds, but that's okay. There could just as easily not be, but the task that we're given with this question is to justify the reasoning in the stim. which B does. We don't have to make the argument foolproof, just get it on the right track as much as the answer choices will let us. B clearly helps us with this task the most.

Admissions · In at Northwestern!

chantelleselina102

Sunday, Mar 27 2016

Yay! Congrats. :D

General · looking for advice (top scorers please help!)- stuck in score range for 6 months.

chantelleselina102

Friday, Feb 26 2016

If you're studying 8+ hours a day, when are you taking your PTs? At the beginning of that study session or towards the end? If it's towards the end, fatigue could be an issue. Regardless, I think you may be doing too much as well as putting too much pressure on yourself.

If you're at 157-159 and the low 160s are your goal, you can afford to calm down a bit. You're going to get there. When you PT, you may need to work on your confidence/mindset because it seems like you make a lot of mistakes due to panicking. With LG, perhaps focus on being calm, reading carefully, and not letting any particular section or question throw you. If you encounter problems, you have to be able to put them behind you and move on to the other questions with a calm mindset.

Also, since what you're doing isn't working for you, try something different like taking time off. Maybe come back after a week long break and then study a maximum of 3-5 hours a day instead of 8.

General · Accepted at Berkeley! =)

chantelleselina102

Friday, Feb 26 2016

Congratulations! That's great.

General · It's time

chantelleselina102

Friday, Feb 26 2016

I'm glad to hear that your studying is going well. Keep it up! :) A lot of people may read this and find it encouraging.

General · Stuck (largely) in the low-170s over long period of time - focus on PTs and BR-ing or drills?

chantelleselina102

Friday, Mar 25 2016

I think everyone here has given good advice, so I would recommend following theirs first...

but I experienced something similar. I was making stupid LR mistakes due to lapses in concentration/misreading. What immediately fixed it for me was reading the stimulus (not the question) first. BRing was no help.

I also made LG mistakes, but I never got to a point with that where I was consistently missing 0. With LG, I just didn't have enough to time foolproof things. If I had, I think I would have gotten there.

If you take a break and then come back to what you're doing, I think you'll be fine.

General · Studying while exhausted?

chantelleselina102

Sunday, Jan 24 2016

@ Go to bed.

+1.

I found preparing for the LSAT much more mentally draining than most other things. Most of the time, I can ignore being exhausted, but with the LSAT, pushing through became almost pointless. I made careless errors, stopped absorbing information, had to reread things, etc. I was wasting material instead of progressing, so I stopped.

General · Consistent average score, but varied sections...?

chantelleselina102

Sunday, Feb 21 2016

My chart looked similar. I was consistently around 170, but I had some crazy fluctuations. For me, I think it was for a few reasons. First, my grasp of LG wasn't super strong. I didn't have enough practice with it. I never finished the bundle, so sometimes I went - 0, but I couldn't do it consistently. If you're able, really work on that.

My second issue was that I was distracted when doing LR because I was reading the questions first. I do better when I read the stimulus first. When I read the question first, I randomly misread/couldn't focus, so I made stupid mistakes. When I stopped doing that my LR instantly improved and became more consistent.

With RC, I had to be well rested and focused, if I wasn't...

One of the biggest things for me, though, is that I was getting my studying in when I could, which often meant that it was absurdly late at night and that I wasn't at the top of my game. I did 12 PTs in about 15 days in all kinds of situations, which also contributed to my score fluctuations. (I wouldn't advise doing so many in such a short time, but it really helped me.) I figured out what my issues were (not just in terms of understanding the test's material, but also in terms of what I needed to do to have the right mentality). Before the actual LSAT, I got some rest, so I did better than I had when practicing.

With my practice PTs, I feel like I went through several worst case scenarios. What happens if I'm really tired (RC is going to be horrible, but LR/LG might be okay), what happens if it's really noisy (again RC is going to be horrible, but LR/LG is going to be okay), what happens if I approach LR this way...

Whether you BR or not, you should invest time into figuring out what's going on with LR. Reviewing question types will help, but are you also making careless mistakes due to rushing, fatigue, frustration etc? Going -8 in one LR section and -1 in the other is odd.

LSAT · PT52.S3.Q19 - one theory to explain the sudden

chantelleselina102

Thursday, Feb 18 2016

I hope that I explain this clearly.

B does not weaken the argument. It's possible for something to be both nutritious (if consumed in small quantities) and deadly (if consumed in high quantities). B does not tell us that angiosperms aren't deadly.

A weakens the argument by hinting at another explanation for why dinosaurs were found in weird positions. The idea is that mammals didn't become extinct due to overdosing on angiosperms (some don't like the bitter taste and/or have livers that can handle it), but many were still found in weird positions - so perhaps there's some other (non-angiosperm) cause that made dinosaurs and large mammal fossils have this position.

General · Law school solicitations vs. acceptances

chantelleselina102

Thursday, Feb 18 2016

If your numbers are above their 75th and they're coupling the fee waivers with enticements to visit such as offers to cover the cost of your transportation/accommodation, then their interest is probably genuine. But beware, especially if your numbers aren't impressive when compared to their medians.

General

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Tuesday, Nov 17 2015

chantelleselina102

PT/BR Strategy

I'm trying to figure out the best way to prepare for the LSAT between now and December. Now, I feel as if I'm doing BR wrong. My BR scores and my PT scores are very close. On the last test I did, there was a difference of just one point (for reference I'm PTing in the low/mid-170s).

But one thing that the BR process has taught me is that I make a lot of confidence errors due to misreading and timing pressure. I'm considering BRing the entire test to address this, but my gut tells me that that would be a poor use of time because it seems like I would be better off actively practicing to improve timing instead of going over 20+ questions to find that I missed one due to forgetting that it included the word "except." The only thing I seem to be learning is that I need to read more carefully?

With that said, though, I do BR the LG section in its entirety, because I'm not -0 in LG. I'm getting there but...

Also, since December is rapidly approaching, I feel as if I should emphasize going through more PTs instead of BR, but going through PTs quickly seems to be looked down upon by the LSAT experts here, so before I went through with my atypical plan of quickly progressing through PTs while continuing to BR as I already am, I thought I would double check with all of the wise people here.

LSAT · PT75.S1.Q19 - economist: although average hourly wages

chantelleselina102

Tuesday, Feb 16 2016

Try imagining two regions: Region X and Region Y.

In Region X, the average changed from 1 to 2. In Region Y, it changed from 2 to 4. So it increased in both places. However, since Region Y's average is significantly higher than Region X's, if a bunch of people from Region Y move to Region X, the overall average can go down while still allowing for that of the individual regions to increase.

The situation in choice B allows for this (the increase individually and the decrease overall) to happen.

If you need numbers to make it clearer, perhaps imagine that at first there were 50 workers in both regions, but that changed to 95 workers in Region X and 5 in Region Y. So, overall, the average went from 3 to 2.1. It decreased. But in Region X and Y individually it still went up from 1 to 2 and 2 to 4 respectively.

I hope this helps.

General · Variance of scores for 170+ scorers

chantelleselina102

Tuesday, Feb 16 2016

I think the range is going to be the same as it is for anyone else. I never experienced any plateaus, but I generally scored in the low 170s. Once, I dropped down to 166 because I took that PT while extremely tired and misread game rules.

If you have one odd score, don't worry about it. Just figure out what happened and try make sure it doesn't happen again. While doing PTs, I felt that I was constantly testing worse case scenarios (what happens if I'm really tired, what happens if there's a ridiculous amount of noise, what happens if I lose confidence in a section/how can I avoid that, what happens if I change my strategy), which really helped me on test day.

LSAT · PT59.S3.Q19 - if understanding a word

chantelleselina102

Wednesday, Jan 13 2016

@ Reading the stimulus, I noticed the "But clearly..." but still failed to understand what was being asked (e.g., couldn't babies imitate words/sounds they do not understand?) Therefore, moved on to the answers hoping to infer a clue. Scanning the answers eliminated B and D as obvious Losers.

What do you mean when you say you didn't understand what was being asked? Why do you think you didn't understand it? Your key to approaching these types of questions might be related to not understanding the stim.

I try to avoid diagramming because it feels abstract and like a bit of a time sink to me. I didn't diagram this question. I didn't move on from the stimulus until I had a strong grasp of what it was saying. I read it more than once and mentally noted that it left the issue of babies' understanding open as the last sentence was about what babies say, not what they understand.

A - This feels like a trap. We don't know what babies understand. Maybe they do this, maybe they don't.

B - I quickly moved on.

C - I quickly moved on. Intuitively, this strikes me as "backwards." Just because some words can be understood without knowing the definitions, doesn't mean that babies understand anything. They could be repeating sounds.

D - I quickly moved on. This goes beyond the scope of the stimulus, with its talk of any other word.

E - Okay. This is what I was thinking from the beginning.

I went through the answer choices aggressively and quickly, but only after I understood the stimulus, which I had to reread. While practicing, I worked to develop a "sense" so that I wouldn't have to diagram.

General · It's time

chantelleselina102

Friday, Feb 12 2016

I agree with Nicole Hopkins. You don't have to post them here, but it may help if you define your goals. Thinking long term is good, but in this case (if you still want to become a lawyer), coming up with very simple LSAT goals will probably be beneficial. I could be completely wrong, but I feel that your procrastination stems from something of a perfectionist/self-sabotage impulse.

Take tiny steps just like the experts recommend. Don't think about getting a 180, getting into that dream school, getting that dream job, or even studying in the ideal way. Chill. Try to do something little daily. For instance, "today I'm going to cover 1 lesson" or "today I'm just going to sit down and get my LSAT stuff out as if I'm going to study and we'll see what happens after that." If you do something, anything at all, feel good about it. If you do more, great. If you don't, whatever. Still reward yourself for trying to make the LSAT less scary and stressful. Don't beat yourself up for not studying "perfectly."

For many if they work themselves up into moods where they dislike studying because they're afraid they'll make mistakes and ... making mistakes encourages them to play out various apocalyptic scenarios in their heads. Then, avoiding studying becomes a natural thing. They get stuck. Progress isn't made in any direction.

I seek perfection in my studying,

WHY?

In terms of the LSAT, I don't know what your long-term goals are, but I don't think that sort of attitude is helpful. I suggest that you think critically about why perfection in studying is something you want? How does it even help you?

If you realize that it's not helpful, I think it'll be easier for you to ditch. Simple stupid goals, making mistakes while studying, and being a bit gentle with yourself is probably a more efficient way to go about things. Doing that will also make the LSAT more of a game and less of a chore. This is something you're devoting a lot of time to, so you might as well enjoy it as much as you can.

General · Feb 16 scores

chantelleselina102

Thursday, Feb 11 2016

@ I think that only the June/Oct/Dec North American regular Saturday tests are disclosed. They become the numbered PTs. Everything else is a secret.

You'll be able to see your writing samples.

General · Please help! Need to make a big decision.

chantelleselina102

Thursday, Feb 11 2016

To me it sounds as if you'll be fine. My timeline was more condensed than yours (with almost a PT a day) and while it wasn't ideal, it worked well for me. With 3 PTs a week, I think you'll be fine and if you're not, you can always do 2. You have a good plan. As you work through it, go with what feels comfortable and adjust as necessary. You're in great shape. :)

@ You can still purchase the PDFs for games 1-38 as a bundle here https://www.cambridgelsat.com/bundles/#lsat-logic-games-by-type, but they won't be available long and you'll need rearrange them to put them in order by PT.

General · Title PS?

chantelleselina102

Tuesday, Feb 09 2016

I also didn't. It's not necessary.

General · How Many 5 Sections?

chantelleselina102

Tuesday, Feb 09 2016

I took the LSAT in Oct. and Dec. In September, I did 5 sections. Going along with what @ said, I would always redo old LG sections as my 5th section because I really struggled with LG. But when prepping for the Dec. test, I did not have the time to do 5 full sections, so I did 4 and that was fine. The only issue I had was that on test day my mind wasn't in the right place during the writing section. I was tired.

LSAT · PT44.S2.Q13 - the solution to any

chantelleselina102

Thursday, Feb 04 2016

@ Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that one should use the negation test, but just that something needed to account for the set of problems that were govt. created. Luckily @ explained it well.

LSAT · PT44.S2.Q13 - the solution to any

chantelleselina102

Thursday, Feb 04 2016

If all serious problems are caused by the government, the conclusion is wrecked because their solutions might not need to be economically enticing. Perhaps they could be fixed by electing new officials.

I think A includes that idea. I'm not sure how you're trying to link up the chain.

General · Just got accepted into my goal school.

chantelleselina102

Wednesday, Mar 02 2016

Congrats. It's awesome that you made it into your top choice school.

General · 7sage Love: My 18 point score increase story

chantelleselina102

Wednesday, Mar 02 2016

That's great news! Congratulations.