You need some answer choice that explains why dried grass clippings have this beneficial effect that fresh ones do not. Answer Choice D offers that in that they kill beneficial bacteria. Answer Choice E provides further context but it still doesn't address what is about fresh grass that's a problem.

Perhaps practice your pacing so you can bank a little extra time for these passages. Not sure if you have the core curriculum but it has a good overview of science RC and a number of practice science passages. In any case, I think just do as many of these type of passages as you can and practice seeing patterns. Just remember, while it never hurts to have some knowledge of the topic you're not expected to be a science person. Focus on structure and the general picture and don't get bogged down in the wonky terminology. If you understand the general outline and where in the passage you should be going back to look for specifics you should be OK.

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Did anyone with only two LRs have a question about different med students, trying to diagnose patients, and being told a specific diagnosis from their first advisor, then trying to diagnose again with a second advisor. Or something along the lines of that. It was a really long stimulus, so I’m sure I’m messing up some of the details.

Yes

Definitely start by watching the 7Sage video

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-79-section-3-game-4/

This requires getting a little deeper into the game but when I see a bunch of questions without additional info and I haven't already solved for all gameboards or have a good understanding of the constraints that's a decent sign I'm missing inferences/not really understanding the game and need to come back.

For questions with additional info I like to feel like inferences will start falling down like dominoes. If that's not happening it's a sign things could be more of a struggle.

During the setup if you've done enough games you should have a pretty good sense when something is going to be super standard. On the other hand, sometimes games will have a weird little quirk that throws you for an initial loop but ends up being manageable after you've thought about it for a second. If I still feel overwhelmed even after taking a second to think through the setup I may be in for a challenge.

And as others have said the hard games tend to come towards the end. If the first two games were a breeze that may also be a sign that a more time consuming one is lurking.

The one time I find it's valuable is when using charts. It's just too time consuming for me to redraw those type of game boards so I like to just add new pieces to my master gameboard (circling them so I can tell them apart from the original pieces) and then just erase them after that question.

A bit frustrated. A one point decline from September. I gambled and decided to apply later in the cycle thinking I had a good shot to improve on September. Didn't work out. Not the end of the world I guess.

Pretty sure the mining game was five Qs. 13-17

I assume its somewhat easier to study for the test now as opposed to 15 years ago given new resources like 7Sage and more material to study from. Given that they are keeping the curves the same with X percent of people scoring over 170, it makes some sense that newer tests would be a bit more challenging. That's been my experience at least.

Anti-theft was real. I thought RC and the two LRs weren’t bad but I really didn’t do great on LG. Disappointing since I’ve spent so much time on that but we’ll see. Did have the experimental LG as my first section and was proud of myself for staying focused even after kinda bombing that.

Unless you absolutely need to take the October test I'd definitely suggest postponing until you have some more time to prepare. If you're set on doing, then taking the most recent tests makes sense since they're likely to be most representative of what to expect in October.

I do think the newer tests are slightly harder. My theory is the scale has become slightly less generous over time as prep materials have gotten better and the games have become more of a science. Someone taking Prep Test 10 is probably better positioned to succeed on that exam today than was somebody taking it for the first time in the 90's.

Was a little surprised reading this thread how many people didn't seem concerned with this at all. I agree with OP that being able to know down to the second, at least for me, is pretty important. I hate the feeling of having to bubble in an answer early because I want to be sure time isn't going to get called. I realize knowing the exact time is only a very marginal advantage but I think it's worth trying to get right. I've gotten pretty good at immediately resetting the bezel at the end of the section so the second hand is at zero. But if I'm off by a bit I just try and make a mental note of where the second hand will be at when it gets to 35:00. I'm thinking about trying to get a second watch as well just to make things a bit easier.

Great. Congrats on the improvement!

Definitely agree with waiting to take until your ready but I do think there's something to be said about shooting for an earlier date and then postponing if you're not at your target score yet to keep a sense of focus. Also as LSAT_Wrecker said good to keep the changing of format in mind.

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@ said:

Hi everyone,

Was looking for a bit of advice. Just got my November score back and unfortunately it wasn't what I was hoping for. I ended up with a 166 while straight up bombing the games. For comparison my last 3 practice tests had been 178 (definitely an outlier but a score nonetheless), 169, and 172 so I know I'm capable of better. After getting my score back I had basically written off this cycle which is discouraging since I'm already 30 and had delayed a previous cycle. I want to do public interest stuff and would like to go T-14 (preferably with money) or get a large scholarship from a T-20.

Anyways, as I said I'd basically written off this cycle but I just saw some of the experts over at Powerscore advising people to apply with a January score. They were saying it should be a slow cycle and it's not too late. I was wondering if anyone had thoughts? All things being equal I'd like to go this year but I don't want to put myself at a sizeable disadvantage. Is it worth trying to take the January LSAT and if I do well sending in apps quite late or is that just putting me at too big a disadvantage? And does anyone have recommendations on consultants or experts that I could try and do a super quick consultation with to get their perspective? Thanks so much!

Hey, where did you see this info from Powerscore?

The stuff about it being a slow/less competitive cycle is here. https://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/this-will-be-a-slow-cycle/

The stuff about January not being too late was based on that but also Dave Killoran's Twitter feed. You can see in the replies to his pinned tweet he was advising people that January LSAT wasn't too late.

https://twitter.com/DaveKilloran

I feel like it's super hard to answer something like this without knowing how many you left blank. Assuming you still have the test I'd just count up how many you didn't answer. If you want to be super conservative you could just say you got 20% of those questions right (random guess). Otherwise, go based on previous practice tests as to what percent of guesses you usually get correctly.

Pretty disappointed. Ended up with a 166 which was pretty far below my PT average. I knew games would be make or break for me and sure enough I bombed them. Really didn't want to sit out another cycle as I'm already 30 but think that's my best option at the point. Congratulations to everyone who hit their goals. On the plus side looking forward to sticking around this community a little longer.

38 has a -13 curve too. I sorta suspect that if some of these earlier tests were given today they would have slightly less forgiving curves since prep materials have gotten better.