Haha I've come across this sort of thing myself. I remember an article like this telling me to stop saying "just" in emails... just wondering, just checking, just thinking... and I also read how saying "honestly" before anything tarnishes your credibility. That's been hard to take out of the speech drawer, but I try! You're not alone!

Thanks for making this list by the way! I might look these ones over myself :)

You're a superhero. And you have the best story to tell your child so they know how badass you are in the future

Dave, big congratulations. I, like many others, watched your webinar and took both crucial insight and inspiration from it.

After watching your webinar, I kept an eye out for your comments under LR video explanations, often referencing your thought processes with my own. This website is mired in your LR comments, and it is completely for the better. Your efforts here will help hundreds of students in the years to come.

Don’t forget about the little folk when you go out and conquer the world! I’d say good luck, but you don’t need it. Have a great time in Bahstahn.

@ said:

@ said:

Why can’t they all be administered at the same time ...

It's more fun this way.

(Seriously, though, I think it has something to do with server power and the sheer number of emails/documents being released, sent out, uploaded, etc. It is simply impractical to release everything at once.)

Ugh...

If that Nigerian prince can email millions of people by himself LSAC can surely dish out 25 000 emails in an hour. Cmon guys!

Why can’t they all be administered at the same time ...

@ said:

Congrats! I also just got into U of T this week and it feels pretty surreal. Maybe I'll see you this fall! (If I don' t end up going to Osgoode)

Already feel like kin to a fellow 7Sager :) and both schools are great but, other than the extra debt factor, I couldn’t give an argument for York over Toronto!

Thank you so much everyone! For those who have contributed so much to these boards and are writing in the near future, I’m wishing the absolute best for you. I’m looking at you @ and @ ;)

@ said:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you @ :) that sick desk pose is one of the many profiles that’ll be stuck in my head for the foreseeable future ;)

Stem first. Here's why:

(1) it can save you time, specifically on the first 10 or so easier questions and on about half or more of the questions following that. Since you know what you have to do while reading, you can go right into hunt mode after reading the stimulus. You also put your brain in a different "mode" pending on which type of question you're reading which helps you get to the right answer faster (e.g. "SA mode," looking for connecting dots). Now @ has an interesting point. And in essence it's true; a 170+ scorer should have a holistic grasp on any stimulus (to the point where they can guess what type of stem follows). Further, the aforementioned advantage has diminishing returns on more difficult questions (i.e. the second half of the set). However, I'd still advocate reading the stem first...

(2) this second point starts with an opposing consideration... on the harder half of the LR section, the advantage given in (1) has diminishing returns. It would seem that difficult questions (e.g. convoluted wording, abstract ideas, etc.) provide enough for your brain to juggle with that keeping the stem in consideration is just another hassle that you don't need. HOWEVER, there's a simple solution to this: (a) read the stem first (takes one second to skim), (b) read the stimulus and realize this question is very difficult (which you couldn't have known before reading it anyway), (c) forget the stem for now and just focus your brain power on understanding the argument, and (d) REREAD the stem (which takes another whopping second -- maybe two if you're being careful). Here, your first read of the stem might have seemed redundant, since you had to reread it. But the upside is you saved yourself time and mental effort on all the other questions where you didn't have to reread anything because there wasn't that much to "juggle" with.

In short, I think the pros outweigh the cons... Also, I also don't think it matters much which method you choose! Despite what my embarrassingly long novel suggests...

@ Interesting.. I'm surprised I didn't catch this over the past few months

@ said:

If you're applying to schools in the states, I don't think you have much to worry about. All the experts seems to agree that most schools only care about your highest score. If you're applying in Canada, you might be negatively impacted.

Where did you hear this?

@ said:

@ said:

It was a MBF question, I think? Actually you know what, I have no idea lol. I gotta stop worrying about how I did...God help me please.

@ said:

@ said:

0> @ said:

This was not the Greek play one, was it?

@ said:

@ said:

@ said:

Did anyone remember one of the LR questions that was like "which is the LEAST likely to be disproved/rejected/something like that"? Please say that was experimental bc I've never seen a question like that

That was experimental. My experimental was "which is LEAST like the reasoning above?" So that was an interesting take on a parallel reasoning question... I wish that experimental LR counted though. It was so obviously easy compared to the other two. This test's LR was pretty tough.

I think they are talking about another question. It wasn’t parallel. The stem was like “which of the following is least likely to be rejected based on the reasoning above?” Or something like that. It was like a MSS question in disguise or something. I remember reading that stem and thinking “wtf?” But I can not remember the topic at all.

Haha I have no clue, I don't even remember a Greek play question :wink: my poor memory of this test just doesn't work rn.

Ohhhhhhhhh, yeah! The Greek one was kind of like a "MSS/CBF" type thing haha. That one was real!

Right?! Why do we care so much, we can't change our answers. Our scores are already set in stone. There is no point in worrying, and yet here we are!

Set in stone? Or etched in a Greek Tablet

There's some great advice in here. Here's a short direct tidbit -- stop brute forcing games. I'm assuming you are, since you're running out of time consistently. You're scoring good for someone who is missing potentially a whole game in an LG section; don't cut yourself short by not working LG efficiently. More often than not, when a question asks what MBT or CBT, you should take a second to think about the game board and see what answer choices are suspect.

I'll go an entire LG section where I've barely POE'd any answer choices because I learned how to do LG more efficiently through the advice JY gives in the CC. It sounds like you aren't fully utilizing that advice. You gotta

@ said:

0> @ said:

This was not the Greek play one, was it?

@ said:

@ said:

@ said:

Did anyone remember one of the LR questions that was like "which is the LEAST likely to be disproved/rejected/something like that"? Please say that was experimental bc I've never seen a question like that

That was experimental. My experimental was "which is LEAST like the reasoning above?" So that was an interesting take on a parallel reasoning question... I wish that experimental LR counted though. It was so obviously easy compared to the other two. This test's LR was pretty tough.

I think they are talking about another question. It wasn’t parallel. The stem was like “which of the following is least likely to be rejected based on the reasoning above?” Or something like that. It was like a MSS question in disguise or something. I remember reading that stem and thinking “wtf?” But I can not remember the topic at all.

Haha I have no clue, I don't even remember a Greek play question :wink: my poor memory of this test just doesn't work rn.

Ohhhhhhhhh, yeah! The Greek one was kind of like a "MSS/CBF" type thing haha. That one was real!

@ said:

Did anyone remember one of the LR questions that was like "which is the LEAST likely to be disproved/rejected/something like that"? Please say that was experimental bc I've never seen a question like that

That was experimental. My experimental was "which is LEAST like the reasoning above?" So that was an interesting take on a parallel reasoning question... I wish that experimental LR counted though. It was so obviously easy compared to the other two. This test's LR was pretty tough.

@ said:

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Six-figure scholarships!

Five acceptances,

Four easy passages,

Three logic games,

Two fee wavers,

And a score of at least one seventy!

That was fire.

Hey Leah,

Someone just asked this at David's admissions webinar and his advice was basically what you put in your second option on the survey -- apply to safety and target schools and hold off on applying to reach schools until you know your score. Even if you are planning on taking the Feb test, they may dismiss you early with your December score. He even considered the benefits of applying before Christmas break and still said this.

So, I'm going against the grain with what most people have told you here on account of that guy proooooooobably knows what he's talking about!

@ said:

@ said:

Important Distinction. There were 2 tests with the same format but different Q#s.

LR25, RC, LR25, LR26, LG

AND

LR25, RC, LR26, LR26, LG

If you had two LR26s then the 3rd section was experimental.

If you had two LR25 then the 1st section was experimental.

So no matter what, the 2nd LR for everyone with this format was real, right??

If you had two 26 LRs, then the 2nd LR (3rd section) will be experimental.

@ said:

I keep asking about this one but did anyone else get tripped up by 3rd LG real game? I literally brute forced my way through. Something about the language (this one is closing this one is not) and then it being switched around in the questions really confused me and it's giving me nightmares post test.

I don't wanna violate rules going into specifics but it was crucial you know your "not both" rules. Like writing them on your board visually (e.g. A/B) rather than just writing the rule out.

Your "obvious weakness" is LG.

-2 or -3 on RC is amazing. -2 on LR is really good; odds are you're usually just missing curve breakers. Get that LG score perfect like it should be. It'd be a shame for someone scoring as high as you to not have a perfect logic games score.

For those getting pain in their neck and traps from all the studying!!!

Grab a dense rubber ball (or tennis ball), stand against a wall facing away from it, place the ball between your neck and the wall, and roll that bad boy against your muscles for some nice crunching relief

In both scenarios, February is your saving grace. However, if you keep your score and those questions were bubbled incorrectly, I'd be hesitant to assume that your application won't be written off early by schools with median scores in the mid to high 160s.

It's a gamble. I'd probably cancel and look at the silver lining -- you put yourself in a real test setting scenario, and you'll be more ready to tackle it come Feb. Also, come February, you'll be more wary of taking the extra seconds to make sure you bubble correctly to begin with. By spending the extra time to do this, maybe you lose a minute per section that you could have used on one question. That's a good trade-off if you ask me.

I only want to add that David's personal statement is the shortest I've seen to date. I think you're in good company with that mentality

If you're talking about your time spent reading the passage when you say 3:30 - 4, that's fine (I've heard a lot of people say 3:30 is the "sweet spot"; it's my typical time too). But those times are only fine if you understand the passage after reading it.

I'm just assuming that's what you mean at this point... and if it is what you mean, but you're still not hitting target times for the whole passage (e.g. 7 or 9 minutes) that's because you're spending too much time on questions. And the reason you're spending too much time on questions is likely because... you're going back to the passage. And the reason you're going back to the passage is likely because... you haven't understood the passage (clearly).

My advice, spend a minute or so more up front on the passage (or whatever you need; practice will get this down) so that, when you do the questions, you don't need to go back to the passage for them. Going back to the passage is the real time sink, and it's really not necessary for 90% of RC questions.