[Google Form Link!] September Study Group | PT 49 | Sunday, June 11 @ 7p EDT / 6p CST / 4p PST

Mellow_Z

Please fill out this form so that we know which questions to review

https://goo.gl/forms/rrTrkoiQHoJSn7Ey2

Round 2!

https://media.giphy.com/media/A9KfKenpqNDfa/giphy.gif

Thanks everyone for showing up last night! It was awesome having that many people actively discussing the PT. Hopefully we can keep up the momentum.

This week we are going doing the following :
PT: 49
Experimental Section: LR#2 from PT56
(I recommend inserting the experimental in between sections 2 and 3, or 3 and 4)

Date: Sunday, June 11th
Time: 7:00pm Eastern / 6:00pm Central / 4:00pm Pacific

For our full PT schedule please see the following link : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NqvbW4p83dpFmihrUOeWf6Dx8ETo25rLE1q1nPzOrpg/edit?usp=sharing

Notes:

• PLEASE Don't look at the answers before the call. If you do look at the correct answers, in the spirit of discussion, don't say "I know this is wrong" or "I know this is right", etc.
• Please take the PT under strictly timed conditions.
• BR on a fresh copy and do not check your scores
• We will check the scores at the end of the call together, to see how we all did
• All stages of prep are welcome. Please just show up willing to participate!
• These calls can easily last for a few hours. You are not required to stay for the entire time, but please stay as long as possible to get the most out of the call.

GoToMeeting Details:

September '17 Sunday Study Group

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/410064813

You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (872) 240-3311

Access Code: 410-064-813

First GoToMeeting? Try a test session: https://care.citrixonline.com/g2m/getready

Mellow_Z

@a.ruqaiia @acalzada89 @"Adam Hawks" @aimhigher @AllezAllez21 @alyssamccain0593 @annannann @attalla253 @"becky ried" @beyondsblue-1
@Chrislaw305 @CinnamonTea @couchifer @DinnerAtSix @dupre94 @extramedium
@famjad14 @"grace..." @holmes_j12 @Idil.Beshir @ilee @itsallgood @"J. Tharp"
@Jaervinen @"Jay Bird" @jkatz1488 @jml_2252 @joe.j.ham @JustDoIt @jzzraven
@kfrye150066 @kisham7 @"Lauren L" @lawgikal @leslieh327 @lilo1994 @LsatChic
@Maya0503 @"Michelle Juma" @nasyasmith @nicholasthomas127 @ponica31 @poohbear
@PrepGoals @RafaelBernard @rahulpatel1016 @rainingcats @richellegernan @"Shazia..."
@spitzy11 @StellaBlue @SuuuGeee @sweetsecret @tcookPHL @"Testing..." @TheCubicleEscapee
@TimLSAT180 @tOmAtOes @umbrella7 @"Warren Chu" @MikaAhlecia28 @naychi @SA135790 @studyingforthelsat @bcallahan95 @shindavis16
@denisha @"kristen b" @nathanieljschwartz @leslieh37 @kvbusbee @swenda.capeda @melissaprado091 @AcciObrAin @btsao650 @hnadgauda
@slcaldwell82590 @rochelleb180 @leahbeuk @navacuenca92 @dfletch5 @imhungryimtired

tcookPHL

Thanks everyone! I had to hop off a tad early. I have a wedding this Sunday so I'll be back on the call on Sunday June 18th. Thanks!

Adam Hawks

We do need to break it up, it seemed like that people did 2 sections and then we called it a night/day/Hawai'i luau. Maybe it's early and once people get settled, it'll be more streamlined.

Mellow_Z

@"Adam Hawks" said:
We do need to break it up, it seemed like that people did 2 sections and then we called it a night/day/Hawai'i luau. Maybe it's early and once people get settled, it'll be more streamlined.

Break it up meaning what? Into two days? If this is what you're proposing then my only concern is that we won't have as many people that are able to attend, which would ultimately tear apart the group. I chose late Sunday in order to accommodate as many people as possible. Picking days of the week where people can be committed would be much more difficult unless we chose Saturday, in which case I fear people won't want to give away half of their weekend.

Alternatively, we could push the start time earlier. Maybe 4pm EST instead of 7pm, take a 30 minute break around 6 for dinner/whatever, and then push on. That would let us get through likely all of the test. But this is not necessary if the overwhelming consensus is that we should only do LR. We could also schedule a RC/LG portion earlier, and then do LR at 7pm so that people can choose what they want to attend for. I'm guessing the RC/LG would be a smaller group, but if we did this then we could keep the primary core in tact for LR, which is arguably where we will get the most benefit out of the group.

I'm just spit-balling here, I'd love to hear some other opinions.

btsao650

It was awesome reviewing with you all! Our discussions definitely helped me engage with the material on a far deeper level. Can't wait to see you guys next week!

tcookPHL

I vote either earlier start time or break it up into sections, earlier RC/LG and later LR. I think LR would give us the greatest benefit to discuss, it's hard to keep momentum on RC when there's so much you have to review beforehand within the text to have a concrete discussion.

Mellow_Z

@tcookPHL said:
I vote either earlier start time or break it up into sections, earlier RC/LG and later LR. I think LR would give us the greatest benefit to discuss, it's hard to keep momentum on RC when there's so much you have to review beforehand within the text to have a concrete discussion.

I threw another poll up there in place of the other one. I think it should encompass the last poll's general feeler as well as pull more info

btsao650

@Mellow_Z said:

@"Adam Hawks" said:
We do need to break it up, it seemed like that people did 2 sections and then we called it a night/day/Hawai'i luau. Maybe it's early and once people get settled, it'll be more streamlined.

Break it up meaning what? Into two days? If this is what you're proposing then my only concern is that we won't have as many people that are able to attend, which would ultimately tear apart the group. I chose late Sunday in order to accommodate as many people as possible. Picking days of the week where people can be committed would be much more difficult unless we chose Saturday, in which case I fear people won't want to give away half of their weekend.

Alternatively, we could push the start time earlier. Maybe 4pm EST instead of 7pm, take a 30 minute break around 6 for dinner/whatever, and then push on. That would let us get through likely all of the test. But this is not necessary if the overwhelming consensus is that we should only do LR. We could also schedule a RC/LG portion earlier, and then do LR at 7pm so that people can choose what they want to attend for. I'm guessing the RC/LG would be a smaller group, but if we did this then we could keep the primary core in tact for LR, which is arguably where we will get the most benefit out of the group.

I'm just spit-balling here, I'd love to hear some other opinions.

I agree with @Mellow_Z 's point that splitting the review into two days might divide the group. I feel that it's important that we are all present when going over specific kinds of problems so that we don't have to repeat ourselves in the future.

If the review sessions continue to take 5.5+ hours, I like @Mellow_Z 's idea of splitting into an earlier RC/LG group and a later LR group on the same day. This "time-splitting" can keep us accountable with time management (at least for the first group).

Another thing to consider is that we might become WAY more streamlined as our group condenses and evolves. We might not even have to implement major scheduling changes (although I'm thinking we should still move up the meeting time earlier by at least 1 hour).

I would wait to see how we perform time-wise next Sunday to decide on a final plan of action.

Any other thoughts?

spitzy11

One thing I would like to add is the earlier we get in on Sundays, the more difficult it will be for those under PST with religious obligations. Nonetheless, I still like the Sunday review at 5 pm with a hard cut off at 7 pm (EST). I don't think that's too early.

Seriousbird

I would be down for an earlier start time on Sundays if people wanted to review more of the material i.e. RC + LG. Personally I'm more interested in solely LR.

Also, I think in order to do a really in depth RC review, we would need to break down the passage AND go through the questions which I think could take up some time for just one passage. I could be in the minority on this issue though..

Mellow_Z

@sweetsecret said:
I would be down for an earlier start time on Sundays if people wanted to review more of the material i.e. RC + LG. Personally I'm more interested in solely LR.

Yeah that's why I don't want to change the core timing. I want to keep the main group in tact because we already vetted that start time with a large number of people. This would let the earlier session be entirely optional for those who want to attend, whereas the LR group can still just show up at 7 like normal.

aimhigher

I actually stayed from the beginning to the end for yesterday's session from 7PM EST to around 11PM and I think we can actually fit the entire BR into one session if we streamlined the process a little bit.

For starters, I noticed that there were a lot of pauses during the session where we weren't sure what questions people had, or who wanted to go over what. I propose that before each session, we have a shared poll or Google docs/sheet and people can list or vote on which questions they wanted to go over per session. That way, we have a general idea of how much material we need to cover before the session even starts. And of course, if anyone during the session suddenly realizes that they have a question they forgot to put in, they can just list it in the chat. I think it might also be helpful perhaps to prioritize which questions to go over based on which questions people seem to be struggling with on most from the Google docs/sheet.

Yesterday, we managed to cover both LR session and RC. Someone said that LG used to be covered, but because of the nature of LG, it would be better to just watch the videos provided by 7Sage. And even if people did want to go over strategies, (correct me if I'm wrong) someone said that it would take a max of like 5 minutes just to go over strategies and such.

I'm all for splitting the BR into two different sessions if that's what the majority of people want, but I think it might end up alienating people who have tighter schedules. I used to study for the LSAT while having an internship/job and being a full time student so I understand putting aside two giant blocks of time could be really difficult for some people. Thankfully I'm fortunate enough to have just graduated and be allowed to just study for the LSATs until September without a full time job, but I understand the struggles of people who are unable to do so, and I think streamlining the process would be better than splitting the BR session into two. Just my two cents.

SuuuGeee

I really like @aimhigher 's suggestion of doing the poll so we know pretty much what we are covering ahead of time.
Also knowing around when we will start covering what would be beneficial for people that want to cover that section and don't have time for the rest. (e.g. LR starts at 6 CST, RC at 8 CST or etc.)

Mellow_Z

If you guys are all cool for staying until 11, I like that idea. I got the feeling that a lot of people wanted to split at 10 (which was when I had to go as well due to work stuff early this morning), but I think we can do it in 4 hours as well.

I think this week I'll post a google sheet link and people can enter which questions/passages they want to cover so we get a general idea of what we have ahead of us (so we don't get blindsided by doing every passage of RC at 10:30pm for example). This seems simplest. Thanks for the recommendation @aimhigher

Adam Hawks

I do have a class to teach at 7:55pm EST, but it's only for 50 minutes and I can come back. The 5pm EST start time sounds great and if we can finish by 11pm, even better!

imhungryimtired

I would also prefer keeping everything on Sunday. Missed out last week but very excited to attend this Sunday's meeting.

Daniel.Sieradzki

I think starting at 5 p.m. EST, doing 2 hours of RC, and then doing LR starting at 7 p.m. with everyone is a great idea. With a streamlined process we can get RC done in 2 hours and finish LR in 3 hours so that the call wraps by 10 p.m. EST.

I really like @aimhigher's suggestions. I have found that one of the main logistical challenges on BR calls is keeping track of the questions that everyone wants to go over. By doing that ahead of time with a spreadsheet or something like that, we would not only save time but also know who wants to go over which questions and what questions are most in demand (priority questions), which are the questions we prioritize in the event of limited remaining time.

I was really impressed by how quickly we went through RC (about 1.5 hours). I agree with @sweetsecret that a full RC BR call would require going over each passage in detail and doing a low-res/high-res analysis. However, I think we could compromise with 2 hours. We could go over everyone's priority questions and maybe do a full review of the most difficult passage. I think this would be very helpful.

As for LG, that section takes only like 5 minutes to review. For almost all questions, J.Y.'s videos can provide the answer/strategy you need. That being said, there are times when a student discovers a key insight or strategy that J.Y. did not cover. I have benefited from that in past BR calls. However, sharing that takes only like a minute or two. The other three minutes of the review usually consist of people sharing some tips they used to avoid making silly mistakes or things like that. LG review serves as a nice break between reviewing other sections, but it is so short that we should not worry about setting aside any noticeable amount of time for it.

I also agree that people seem to drift off at around 10 p.m. EST. I think this will become even more common as the September test approaches. People will start getting very serious about their sleep schedules.

This is a really awesome group! And there are some great suggestions on this thread. I am really looking forward to how things will progress and grow.

shindavis16

@Mellow_Z This may have been asked, so if so, I apologize. Is there a way to do some of the PT's 1-35 at least half of the time, rather than the clean PT's 36-80 that we are saving for closer to the test date (for those of us taking in December)? I really want to take part,but I don't want to screw myself by not being able to work through BR alone on some of the newer tests.
I have so many questions, and there are a lot of question types I would love to work through with a group. Is this possible for this particular study group? If not, I completely get it... we are all at different stages in our CC.

Thanks in advance for considering the possibilities and working so hard to organize this.

~S

Mellow_Z

@shindavis16 said:
@Mellow_Z This may have been asked, so if so, I apologize. Is there a way to do some of the PT's 1-35 at least half of the time, rather than the clean PT's 36-80 that we are saving for closer to the test date (for those of us taking in December)? I really want to take part,but I don't want to screw myself by not being able to work through BR alone on some of the newer tests.
I have so many questions, and there are a lot of question types I would love to work through with a group. Is this possible for this particular study group? If not, I completely get it... we are all at different stages in our CC.

Thanks in advance for considering the possibilities and working so hard to organize this.

~S

So there's a few options here. First and foremost, Josh's oldies but goodies call basically does exactly this. They go over a new PT every week (starting in the teens, but I think they're up to the mid 20s now) and they just review those in an open format. It isn't a strict timed/BR group like ours, but you could definitely treat it as such.

Second, I reserved a good amount of tests for December as well. I'm neurotic and don't believe in myself so I'm banking on December as a back up plan for when I either 1. Don't perform well in September or 2. I'm not ready because real life nonsense keeps me busy too much. So on the schedule you should be able to see I have a good number of recent PT's available for that.

Since the group is primarily targeted at September takers, I don't think I'm going to change the PT schedule just because it will inhibit the others in the group from being prepared adequately for September.

TL;DR: I think the Oldies but Goodies call is the best way to supplement your studies with PT1-35, and there are enough PT's remaining to last until December (they are included on the calendar in my OP)

imhungryimtired

Yay, my vote is also not to change the schedule!

Seriousbird

I'm with @imhungryimtired I would like to keep the schedule the way it is.

Mellow_Z

@sweetsecret said:
I'm with @imhungryimtired I would like to keep the schedule the way it is.

I think I'm going to start it at 7pm again this week, with the implemented document to track questions that people want to review before hand. We can cover RC/LG at high levels if people have specific questions, but I think we can skip the RC detailed runthrough. I'll ask feedback on Sunday, but if we have a large amount want to go into more depth with RC I think we could start at 6pm with RC/LG and it should still allow everyone to get what they want.

shindavis16

@Mellow_Z Thank you. That gave me a direction to head.

Mellow_Z

Added a google form link in the top of the post - everyone click through which questions you want to review. We can give this a shot and see how it goes to speed up efficiency.

extramedium

@Mellow_Z said:
Added a google form link in the top of the post - everyone click through which questions you want to review. We can give this a shot and see how it goes to speed up efficiency.

Damn good idea sir. Hopefully this will cut down time since the other poll suggests we'll be covering everything that evening.

Gladiator_2017

Hey, thanks for setting up the BR group and the google form @Mellow_Z. I won't be able to join tomorrow, but plan on joining next week and all of the following Sundays up until September.

dml277

@Mellow_Z I'll be there! Please add me to the list of tags. Thanks!

TexAgAaron

Finally got off so I'll be there! Excited to interact and bounce ideas off my fellow 7sagers!

@Mellow_Z please add me to the tags too! Thanks!

SA135790

@Mellow_Z Thanks again for setting up the BR Group and for the additional options outside of the 7pm group! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it tonight but I will join y'all next week and all of the following Sundays until test day! Good luck tonight, team!

GrecoRoman

Thanks for the great review everyone, it was very helpful!

Daniel.Sieradzki

Yeah, this week's session was awesome! This has become the most efficient BR group I have ever seen. We were able to cover all of the most important/difficult questions for LR1, LR2, and RC in just 3.5 hours! More importantly, we really did the questions justice and analyzed them in depth.

If you are on the fence about joining this group, don't be. This is a really efficient, friendly, and super helpful group. There is one guy from Hawaii who talks a little much, but no group is perfect.

Mellow_Z

@"Daniel.Sieradzki" said:
Yeah, this week's session was awesome! This has become the most efficient BR group I have ever seen. We were able to cover all of the most important/difficult questions for LR1, LR2, and RC in just 3.5 hours! More importantly, we really did the questions justice and analyzed them in depth.

If you are on the fence about joining this group, don't be. This is a really efficient, friendly, and super helpful group. There is one guy from Hawaii who talks a little much, but no group is perfect.

Hahahah classic. I'm glad we were able to get through everything! It felt much more productive than last week. Hopefully I'll have more time to be able to review/contribute more adequately this time around. Packing has been a royal PITA

Seriousbird

@Mellow_Z said:

@"Daniel.Sieradzki" said:
Yeah, this week's session was awesome! This has become the most efficient BR group I have ever seen. We were able to cover all of the most important/difficult questions for LR1, LR2, and RC in just 3.5 hours! More importantly, we really did the questions justice and analyzed them in depth.

If you are on the fence about joining this group, don't be. This is a really efficient, friendly, and super helpful group. There is one guy from Hawaii who talks a little much, but no group is perfect.

Hahahah classic. I'm glad we were able to get through everything! It felt much more productive than last week. Hopefully I'll have more time to be able to review/contribute more adequately this time around. Packing has been a royal PITA

Haha this is the BEST BR group ever!! I love it so much!!

@Mellow_Z good luck with your move, I absolutely HATE moving lol but I've done it a lot..