I also find disagree questions to be the most difficult. Here's my analysis, make of it what you will:

Let's examine why the right answer was correct by taking stock of what we know: we know from Amar's statement that he thinks that direct personal contact is a necessary condition of real social bonds and therefore a necessary condition for intimacy, so email alone cannot create intimacy in the first place because it would fail to meet the necessary criterion of direct personal contact. We know from Pat's response that he thinks that self-revelation fostered by anonymity could create a sense of intimacy between two people that would take years of direct personal contact to foster. He therefore thinks that it is possible for two people who communicate solely by e-mail to develop a sense of intimacy -- heck, he actually thinks that email-only communication could possibly create intimacy, but that it would actually help speed up the process! He clearly does not think that direct personal contact is a necessary condition for intimacy. Pat and Amar therefore have to disagree over whether or not intimacy is possible solely by email.

Now let's look at why the wrong answer is incorrect. Do our speakers HAVE TO disagree about whether or not emails between friends can increase intimacy? (remember also that they could agree that email DOES NOT increase intimacy between friends -- the are still in agreement on the subject even though they have negated the position.) It seems to me that both parties could either affirm, negate, or be agnostic on this subject, because there's nothing that I can detect in either one's stated position that compels him towards taking any stance on that matter. Amar could agree that though e-mail only contact cannot create intimacy, perhaps emails between existing friends could increase intimacy -- or perhaps not. At this point alone we know enough to know that they don't HAVE TO disagree about the subject, since one of the parties could go either way. Furthermore, the incorrect answer choice says "emails can increase intimacy between friends" but we know nothing about friends as a subset of all email senders based on either Frank or Amar's statements. This introduces a claim about a specific subset of email senders that the stimulus didn't tell us about, so it's hard to see how they would have to disagree about it.

Here's a method I use for disagree questions when the going gets tough: First, look at an answer choice and ask yourself if both parties HAVE TO have a position on it one way or another. You can eliminate any answer choices in which at least one speaker does not have to take a position on the answer choice either way based on their statement. Once you've done that, look at the remaining answer choices and decide if the statement made by each speaker puts them in agreement on the issue. Eliminate those, because our question is about disagreement. Your remaining answer will be the correct response.

Sorry about the long post, but sometimes I find it helps to think this stuff out, perhaps beyond what is necessary.

Certainly not. Think of it this way: it's not as if you have a predetermined amount of correct answers on each test and hence that the only question is how you distribute them (which would mean higher on LG = lower on RC/LR). You can increase your skills on grouping games without decreasing your score on RC or LR. It's kind of like building muscle: getting a stronger back doesn't mean that you'll end up with weak legs or arms. The only way you'd see a drop in the scores for your other sections would be to neglect them for a long, long time.

LSAT answer choices are usually so dry and sterile that I'd be surprised if you found any humor in them.

Hi Lewis

I could concur with the above posters, but I would note that if it's been a while since you've looked at an old backtest, it might benefit you to take it again. At least, that's been my experience.

It can be any of the five sections. It used to be that it was always one of the first three sections, but this enabled some people to figure out which of the first three sections was experimental. LSAT wised up to this and changed the format, so now it can be any of the five multiple choice sections.

I got exactly a 165 in Feb. and I'd be down to talk. I have to install Skype but I'll be in touch!