What Exactly is an Intensive?

JustDoIt

I see them mentioned on here a lot, but, aside from @"Cant Get Right"'s webinars, I rarely see them discussed or practiced much. Could someone explain what they are and how you use them?

Thanks!

BinghamtonDave

An intensive is generally when, during the process of evaluating one's weaknesses and strengths (sometimes after a PT) one decides to focus intensively on one specific area of the exam. So if you notice that you missed 4/5 of the flaw questions on a specific PT, it might yield dividends to focus specially on flaw questions for a period of time, maybe going back to the CC and reviewing flaws etc.

I have done several intensives for RC in general, seeing my RC scores around -6/-5 and going back to the drilling sets and redoing them over the course of specific period of time: say, 5 days straight. It is my estimation that the process of focusing one's efforts on a specific aspect of the exam aids towards the end of either mitigating or eliminating one's weaknesses within that area.

The first intensive I took was 4 straight days of sufficient assumption questions. These were a real pain for me and will probably be something I have to return to in the near future.

Ultimately, you know what clicks and what does not better than anyone. If you miss several necessary assumption questions, an intensive might be in order. The length, speed and depth of which should be something that is tailored to your specific needs.

I hope this helps
David

BinghamtonDave

You know, I once took an intensive over about 4-5 days for necessary assumption questions. One of the things I discovered and therefore assimilated into my approach is that sometimes, with necessary assumption questions: nothing is too petty for the LSAT to consider a necessary assumption. Consider: PT 39-Section 4 Question 19. While I started scrambling on this problem to put together disparate pieces of the stimulus in a way that outlined something that must be true the AC actually goes after a profoundly obvious assumption that absolutely must be true in order for the argument to hold.

Another example of this is 37-4-19. These two (among others) point out something I started getting a firmer grasp on after an intensive of my own.

I write this as testament to the fact that what we generally call "intensives" have worked for me in not only expanding my understanding of specific questions, but also in my general approach.

David

Cant Get Right

Great explanation @BinghamtonDave .

JustDoIt

Thanks so much for the explanation @BinghamtonDave! I am considering doing an RC intensive next week and was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on what you did for yours.

Thanks again!

twssmith

Hey Jordan:)
Love @BinghamtonDave's explanation!!

"Intensive" = when you know enough to stop wasting PTs and direct focus on weaknesses and/or test taking strategies

Depending on the phase of PT experience ---
i.e. Earlier phases can include

using analytics to focus on specific LR Qtype/Flaw drills
LG specific game issues
RC drills to recognize argument structure

i.e. Later phases can include...

Skipping strategies in LR
Revisit fool-proof LG
Determining RC notation and timing
Evaluating video performance

Just as David said, it is about your individual experience and goals:)

@BinghamtonDave said:
Ultimately, you know what clicks and what does not better than anyone. The length, speed and depth of which should be something that is tailored to your specific needs.