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Ran across a sentence that went something like this the other day....
"If the DDA thinks it is, then jail time is sufficient."
My LSAT logic board almost had a meltdown.
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wpedwardsiv680
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wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Sep 26 2014
This is a pretty personal question. I can't tell you what will or won't upset your own stomach. I'll throw some broad suggestions out there though.
-Eat some high-fiber carbs like beans, oatmeal or whole-wheat toast. This will give you sustained energy and help you stay full.
-Complement that with some protein and a little fat, like eggs. Again, this will help you stay full longer. Also, I find I'm not really awake until I have some sort of protein in the morning. If you are vegan, try tofu/tempeh/seitan with some avocado for the added fat. I also like eggs with avocado.
-Drink some juice. When you just wake up, you haven't eaten for about 8 hours and probably haven't drank much in that time either, so you needs some simple carbs and water to restart your body. Make sure to drink some plain water as well, since juice has a lot of sugar in it.
-Piece of fruit. Hey it's like juice with fiber!
-Coffee if you take it normally.
-Dark Chocolate. Because it's delicious. And there is some evidence that it helps you think. But mostly because it's delicious.
-Plan to finish eating your main breakfast about an hour before the test starts, so that you don't feel too full.
Good luck!
wpedwardsiv680
Thursday, Sep 25 2014
I notice that the 3rd LG is usually the hardest for me. Other than that, ditto what TheMusa said.
wpedwardsiv680
Thursday, Sep 25 2014
Personally, I'm going to continue to do some light studying up until the test. I'm going to try to relax too, if that is at all possible. I think I would be more distracted and nervous if I neglected to do some LSAT stuff.
wpedwardsiv680
Monday, Aug 24 2015
At one point in my studies, I reviewed every single question on the test, not just the ones I circled. I feel like this really helped me cement my reasoning, because I went through all the questions I had reasoned correctly on and reaffirmed the good reasoning. I still circled questions I found hard. I also eventually went back to a standard blind review. But I think it was a critical point in my studies, maybe give it a shot for a test or two.
Also, you don't mention it, but how much time do you leave between the prep test and BR? Give it at least a day or else your mind will easily slip back into the same logical traps.
Lastly, if your BR is wrong, use the video explanation as a last resort. Give yourself that third shot at figuring it out for yourself and come up with your own explanation for how you were tricked. It will help solidify everything and is personally rewarding :)
wpedwardsiv680
Monday, Jun 23 2014
Hi Kodzina, when you first get into the site, go to the syllabus. It lets you select individual lessons and pick up right where you left off. The study schedule does match the syllabus, but it doesn't list individual lessons, just the lesson topics. Use it just to make sure you are staying on schedule.
wpedwardsiv680
Sunday, Jun 22 2014
While the older LR questions may be a little different (or hey, maybe very different), you will still be practicing the same skills needed to answer later LR questions. You are practicing your ability to quickly read and parse English, identify argument structure and validity, identify assumptions and weaknesses and recognize correct answer choices. These skills will transfer no matter how the question is structured. And if they are harder for you, then that's great really. Better to train harder than you will be tested.
wpedwardsiv680
Monday, Sep 22 2014
I second what Amanda is saying, background is key. You can also try checking out an Art History book from the library. I read something like Art History of the 19th Century when I was having similar problems. Took the mystery out of it for me.
wpedwardsiv680
Monday, Sep 22 2014
Yeah. Pattern of reasoning and parallel flaw are some of the most mechanical questions out there. I typically draw out the stimulus, then read the AC's, usually you can get rid of two or three pretty quick, then draw out the remaining AC's. Or sometimes one just jumps out at me as correct and I'll draw it real quick to confirm.
wpedwardsiv680
Sunday, Sep 21 2014
The hidden bills don't need to come out and play for this to be accurate. The reason it works is they are measuring what percentage of a certain printing of hundreds goes out of the country or "into hiding." From there you can extrapolate for all the printings in a certain amount of time and come up with a rough figure.
wpedwardsiv680
Saturday, Sep 20 2014
If you are consistently scoring around 155 on PTs, and you are nervous and your goal is 160-162, then I think you should cancel. Or at least plan on writing it again. How long have you been studying for and how? I'm sure you can improve your score into your goal range, it is going to take more than a week though.
wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Jun 20 2014
I agree with vandyzach's main point, you can't blindly follow rules without understanding in English. But you could put the above statement in conditional logic and follow the rules. It would look something like this...
/research -> most people in stock market
/most people in stock market -> research
and translate back to something like, "If you don't do your own research, then you are like most people in the stock market,"
and
"If you are like most people in the stock market, then you don't do your own research."
It's not the most elegant, but it works.
Where you got screwed up is that -m-> is not a sufficient/necessary relationship. If you say hey, "Most dogs are cute," is it necessary to be cute to be a dog? Nope. Is it necessary to be a dog to be cute? Nope. You are just indicating that hey, there are these things, dogs, where 51% or more fall into the category of cute. So you can't go applying rules about negating the sufficient, etc, into the -most-> relationship, because in a most relationship, there is no such thing as the sufficient or necessary. I hope this clears up this question as well as some general concepts. :)
wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Sep 19 2014
Miguel, I'm glad you found my advice helpful, I know it was somewhat of a rant. Seems like you are doing well on the rest of the LSAT, so let that be a confidence boost to you. We are all working on something in these last couple of weeks before the test, you can bet I'm trying to get my LG score more consistent. If you want to talk through some RC passages feel free to personally message me. Best of luck!
T - I hope your endorsement means you rocked RC in your last PT!
wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Sep 19 2014
Do you notice a certain question type that you are getting wrong? If you do you can focus on those.
Something else that I like to do during blind review is to really dissect all the questions I marked. For a SA question for instance, I'll mark the MC and write out all the inferences in logic, then write out all the AC's in logic. Doing that helps me out during timed conditions. When I recognize a hard question under timed conditions I'll take the time to do some of those things, maybe just underline the MC and write the premises in logic. Good luck!
wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Sep 19 2014
Setting aside a day of review is certainly not a bad idea and will help solidify concepts in your mind. I wouldn't want to progress too far without grasping the basics. That said, there are somethings that you may just forget and need to review later, it's no big deal to need to do that and I think everyone does at some point.
Also, if you don't have a perfect score for all the problem sets, that doesn't necessarily mean you haven't understood the concept, so don't stress if you miss a couple, it just means they are hard questions.
wpedwardsiv680
Thursday, Sep 18 2014
Miguel, how long have you been working on this? Seems like you have used a lot of different programs and I feel like that might be part of your problem. If you skip around on programs, you'll never give any of them the chance to succeed. Reading Comp is hard and improving it is the hardest of all LSAT tasks. I feel like there aren't easy lessons to learn or tips that will make your score go up.
Where are you scoring on a whole? That is the only thing that really matters. With two weeks left you are much better off focusing on LG's or LR than Reading Comp.
If you do wait, or decide to retake, my advice would be this:
1. Figure out if there are particular subjects that are hard for you, then go read some books (not articles) about those subjects.
2. Try picking up some extra-hard or esoteric books and read those, including all the notes. If you pick up Plato's The Republic, for instance, and you read the notes, you will be flipping from your place to the back of the book every minute or two. This is going to force you to remember what you were reading in the first place (which is going to be something ridiculous about whether you should hire a shoemaker to tame horses or something) and put it together about why some Greek word has 3 different meanings, one of which applies here. If you are from a Western background, maybe pick up The Analects (Confucius), it will make you learn all sorts of different names and concepts just to make sense of the work. Again read all the notes. All this makes you better at retaining what you read, staying focused through hard reading and picking up on new concepts (it'll also broaden your horizons and is quite enjoyable).
3. Figure out a way to make notes that makes sense to you. It has to make sense to you. You can try on others' styles, but in the end you have to break them all into pieces and take the pieces that work for you and make your own thing. Maybe you are excellent about remembering details and you need to pay attention to tone and voice or the other way around. Maybe you need to make notes of each. Personally I underline what I think are important details and make notes of the structure of the passage. But you have to figure out what works for you and that takes time and practice and repetition.
I know that's a ton. The obstacle is the way. Good luck.
wpedwardsiv680
Monday, Jun 16 2014
I second eraser_bits, MC identification is a part of many question types, so just keep pushing, keep paying attention, keep blind reviewing your quizzes and you will get better.
wpedwardsiv680
Tuesday, Sep 16 2014
What I'm going to suggest is not a two-week solution, but maybe you can implement part of it or save it for next time if you re-take. Or maybe it'll help someone else who is studying for December.
I think the best way to get better at RC (particularly specific subject matter) is to read some books that offer a broad review of a subject. This type of book will cover a lot of ground quickly and get you introduced to the concepts of a subject and how they relate to each other. It helps to not be hitting totally new material in the RC. You don't need to know all about it, but if you are familiar with the concepts discussed, you can concentrate on structure and arguments in the passage more easily.
Articles on the other hand discuss a particular issue in depth. This is what RC passages often do themselves, so it isn't bad to read articles, but chances are against you that you will bump up against the same subject matter in RC.
wpedwardsiv680
Saturday, Jun 14 2014
Thanks! Glad it was helpful.
wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Mar 13 2015
Shine,
Think of it this way, a PT will test ALL of your LSAT skills, as well as some meta test taking skills along with them. If you just want to test some of your LSAT skills, you can just drill. You can even put a bunch of drills together into a fake PT or mini-PT. But why test skills you haven't worked on yet? You've (presumably) already taken a diagnostic test. You already have an idea of how good those skills are. PTs are gold. They will help you spot issues in your whole skill range as well as any broader issues you have with the test. Don't waste one. Follow your thoughts and spend time strengthening the skills you have and developing the rest of your skill set before testing the whole thing.
There isn't any reward for finishing the 7sage course early. There are huge rewards for crushing the LSAT. Study well and crush the LSAT.
wpedwardsiv680
Friday, Mar 13 2015
@ - I began studying in February 2014 and took the September/October test. My diagnostic was a little higher than yours, but that could be for any number of reasons on both of our ends. So I think it is possible for you to take the October test and do well based on where you are now. However, definitely heed the advice of JY, Dillon and the other 7sage instructors. You cannot cram. You have to actually learn the skills of the LSAT. Don't get burned out. And definitely do not waste practice tests. Remember, you can always push your test date back if you think that you are not at 100% of your potential yet. That can be frustrating but getting the best LSAT score you can is well worth it.
wpedwardsiv680
Saturday, Sep 13 2014
The other thread has great advice, especially the part about repeating games multiple times. Games were my worst section starting out, then when I began to study them I quickly improved by repeating games several times. Then they were my best section and I focused on LR and RC more. After a while my LG scores began to drop again, so I have now refocused on LGs. I have no doubt you and I can bring that score up in two weeks.
wpedwardsiv680
Wednesday, Jul 09 2014
Monica, I would relax a little bit. I applaud you for your commitment to the environment, but your paper use isn't destroying the rainforest. When you buy printer paper, look for stuff that has a FSC logo on it. That's the Forestry Stewardship Council. They certify that the products with their logo come from responsibly managed forests. The paper that you use is going to come from the US and Canada, a lot of it from pine "plantations" in the Southern US. The trees here are thinned as they grow, the thinned stuff (they call it slash) becomes paper, the stuff that grows up becomes lumber.
It has also been shown that studying with pencil and paper is more helpful than using a computer, you aren't imagining things.
If you want to really help the rainforest, most of it is cut for exotic wood used in fancy furniture. Or it is cut simply to clear the land and farm beef. So don't eat McDonald's and when you become that big shot attorney, make sure your nice desk is made from some kind of sustainable wood, preferably grown and milled in the US/Canada.
wpedwardsiv680
Wednesday, Oct 01 2014
Follow the curriculum. Strengthening and weakening questions have to do with support, flaw questions have to do with argument mechanics. You don't have to see a flaw to weaken or strengthen an argument.
wpedwardsiv680
Wednesday, Oct 01 2014
This happens for everyone. It just takes practice. And then in the end, it is still little stupid mistakes that you make, but hopefully not very many.
I agree with vandyzach and Christian, there isn't really a trend, but like you I noticed a dip in my scores for the games in the tests you mention. It was really frustrating because I had been doing extremely well in the LG sections, between -0 and -2 tops and went down to something like -4/5, running out of time before the section was over.
I attributed what happened to the fact that I had been doing so well, I had stopped practicing LG's in my spare time, instead focusing on LR and RC. But I believe now that the LG's are very much muscle-memory and you have to keep them fresh in your mind. Good news is I started practicing LG's regularly again and my scores went back up to pretty much where they were.