(s)Let the Games begin(/s)

(s)Happy Quarter Quell(/s)

PT 75, we will destroy you.

(May the curve be ever in your favour.)

Heh wouldn't it be so helpful if LSAC put difficulty ratings beside each question stem? even though difficulty is subjective, but still. I also daydream about LSAC messing up and accidentally giving us like twenty five Main Point / Main Conclusion questions (... in a non-experimental section)

Anyway. Such great points. I've become better at taking things in stride -- recently, questions early on have been real jerkhats, and I've learned to just circle "answer choice (F) Yo' mama so fat..." and move on from those little monsters. No, just kidding. obviously LSAT has done wonderful things for my maturity.

@2543.hopkins Happy to chime in!

@ashleyisbadname108 Sometimes one is able to access back issues of Scientific American through academic databases, or if you don't happen to be part of any, some high-profile ones could be found via open-access portals.

Regarding the articles in scientific journals... well, I don't think they're terribly similar to RC passages on the LSAT, tbh. It's more data analysis and citation and procedures, and less argument / reasoning structure, if you get where I'm coming from. But, if the point is to get more material to become more familiar with / less scared of scientific hullabaloo, may I suggest starting with abstracts on interesting topics? Every science article has some sort of 250ish-word abstract / summary of their entire write-up, wherein they communicate their objectives, hypothesis, results, discussions, etc. If, from a couple of those abstracts, you're able to quickly and accurately disseminate key info -- answers to questions such as, "what are we interested in? what are we measuring? why are these measurements relevant? what do they mean in the context of our overall goal? what can we do next to expand on this?" -- then I'd say they're brilliant warm up for not only RC science passages, but some LR stimuli as well.

Science passages, I think, are difficult only on a superficial basis, i.e. they boggle you with annoying, long technical jargon that one could care less about. When you strip away all those superfluous details, it all boils down to the same thing... just ask: what? how? why? why do I care? what's next?... and I think you'll be more than fine. Structure & purpose > content & details, as always.

Anyway, if you are interested in looking up abstracts, they're basically everywhere and always free even if the article itself isn't... I like PLOS.org :-) And if they sound interesting, no harm in tracking down the full article if it's open-access -- then test yourself with the pertinent questions--

What's the research question? Why do we want to know?

What's our hypothesis? How are we testing it?

What did we find? Why is this significant? What do we need to do next?

You might consider looking up review articles that take into account different studies and how they relate to each other in a broader context. Review articles also tend to be written in slightly more general terms on the whole, so that's a plus too. They're not as good as primary sources when you're citing something for your own write-ups, but for general reading / knowledge-gathering purposes I think it's a better bet.

Cheers!

Ack, I feel like I'm so keyed up that if someone poked me with a stick, I'd yell out "necessary but not sufficient!" out of sheer reflex.

Keep happy, keep healthy, keep calm, and punch that LSAT in the face.

@mike253 Hahahahaha that riddle is infuriating, in the way things one can't easily intuit usually are... break our brains right before the LSAT, Mike, why don't you. :-P

Resolutions for this week:

- all the BRs all the time: 72, 71, 68, 69, 64 -- one a day to Sat.

- follow Mike Kim's excellent advice... I like the cue cards! Am gonna try for at least my circled questions.

- sneak in some earlier tests for extra sections to build stamina. Need to make sure I know what it feels like to do 2 RCs back-to-back... never know what will happen on the 8th.

Yup!! PT 72 tonight. All at 7PM eastern.

Tues. PT 72

Wed. PT 71

Thurs. PT 68

Fri. PT 69

Sat. PT 64

Hope to see you there!

@eduanna675 Great! Also, 71 or 72 on Tuesday or Wednesday? Here's what I have right now -- can change it up:

(7pm EST)

Tuesday:_______PT 72

Wednesday:____PT 71

Thursday:______PT 68

Friday:_________PT 69

(Saturday: PT 64)

Calendar updated! Let the PT marathons begin! :-)

Wait, PT 71?? Right! Yeah, I haven't got around to reviewing it as in-depth as I wanted, so I'd actually like to do that on Wednesday if you're free. 4PM PST / 7PM EST sounds good.

Google calendar

Hey @eduanna675, I'm flexible! If Wednesday works better we can switch it up. :-)

CC: @a9wells879

Google calendar

PT 72 I'm thinking. I'm taking it on Monday though, so probably reviewing Tuesday.

With the June test date just around the corner, for the next week I will:

- mostly focus on taking and re-taking PTs continuously to build stamina

- drilling / reviewing marathons at home, campus, etc.

- test day checklist of materials

I plan to take PT 71 this Monday at noon. Others are more than welcome to review with me on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I like 7Sage on its mobile platforms :-) Both my iOS tablet and Android phone work fine with the app and videos. It's great for having something to do in queues and at bus stops.

If you do end up getting a tablet, I highly recommend the Notability app (haven't tried it on Android, but it's great on iOS) -- free installation and works beautifully with a capacitive stylus... it's absolutely invaluable to me for doing drilling exercises over and over again without needing to kill an entire forest or file twenty million binders. Just for exercises and previously answered questions, mind, fresh PTs and problem sets are necessarily confined to the world of pencil and paper.

It's May!! Time to get cracking with the PT and review marathons.

- PT 59 complete review and fool-proof

- PT 60 and 61

- drills and exercises for target areas

Post for upcoming weeks -- here

Calendar of next group BR pts -- here

@mpits001889 View the group BR post here and in calendar form here.

Tonight we're going over Preptest 59 at 8PM EST. You still have time to take it! :-)

May the Fourth be with you all.

Google doc calendar of Nicole's post.

Can comment to suggest PTs, indicate attendance, skype name, etc.

We were also thinking of switching platforms from Skype (we've officially been capped at 25); Google Hangouts was suggested a few times. Good idea? Too much of a hassle to switch? Other suggestions? Let us know your thoughts.

**FOR THE JUNE'RS:

Let's all take PT 72 (Jun 14) and 74 (Dec 14) for Monday May 25 and Monday June 1, respectively, to simulate the test-day time of 12:30pm. I propose that we then add a BR session on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of those weeks.

Here's a doodle to gauge which times will work: http://doodle.com/u994dkx6w44sapgg

Cheers!

Also, I was thinking about setting up a virtual real-time proctor via some medium to really simulate test day (matching by timezone, obvs.), not sure how feasible this is but message me if there's interest!

Maybe play some games... or anything really. I solve the Rubik's, this might sound super lame, but doing the algorithms is a fantastic way to relieve stress. Lol. I totally stress-solved, like, fifty times before my driver's exam and got zero deductions. Would be sweet to repeat with LSAT. Though you may weaken my argument by pointing out the dissimilarity, analogy doesn't hold, correlation =/= causation :-P

@amirican56 You can do it!! Push back if you have to, we're here for you! :-) Not in a creepy way either, but a motivational one. Just keep swimming!

Oui, PT55 @ 8PM EST tonight though I can't join. Because work. Will be on board for PT56 on Saturday!

@wraith985-4026 I'm curious to hear how these run

Planning a violent overthrow of the 7Sage regime, mostly.

I am working through The Trainer as well, and my gosh, this thread is a dream come true. I fantasize about J.Y. and Mike (s)having an LSAT baby(/s) designing the penultimate prep course together, in a totally-not creepy... okay-maybe-a-little-bit creepy kind of way.

But using the book alongside the course is pretty sweet as it is. :-) #LSATDreamTeam ftw

Also, I'm glad the cover change got mentioned! The "MikekiM" thing is so enormously clever, but the little orange fish was so darn adorable too.