162 -> 161 > 169 >163 > 166...How can I hit 170 for June LSAT?

j.bambury

Those are the five diagnostics I've taken. I've got about 5 weeks.

I'm pretty consistently about -5 on RC, when I got a 169 I got -1 and -2 on LR, on the others that has fluctuated around -3/-4.

LG usually around -3 > -5.

Do you guys think I can hit 170 in five weeks?

If so, what steps do you think I should start taking?

I know I need to get my LG to -2 at most, hopefully I can do a bit better on RC, and if I can reduce my mistakes on LR to the -1/-2 that I've achieved, I think I'll be in good shape. I just can't seem to remain focused throughout the entirety of the test enough to consistently score well in EVERY section, like I do when I just do individual sections.

amatthews304

I would honestly try meditation! I started doing a quick 5-10 minute meditation before studying every day and I think it's helped me during testing to take a second to stop and "reset" my brain so I can refocus.
I just downloaded the Headspace app and use the free version.

Alex

Nice progress! I'll be honest... I found it incredibly hard to hit the 170 mark without becoming very consistent with LG. It's almost like whether or not my PT is going to be a high 160s vs. a 170+ always come down to if I kill logic games or not.

It's really worth putting the time into to get down. It really is possible to go -0/-1 on almost every game set if you really put the effort in.

You can probably knock 1-2 points off your RC misses too if you focus some time there.

Good luck

j.bambury

Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve just downloaded head space, going to be running daily as well as that always helps me focus.

Any tips on places to start to get LG to -0? Should I just keep doing games? Run back through the curriculum?

Seeking Perfection

@"j.bambury" said:
Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve just downloaded head space, going to be running daily as well as that always helps me focus.

Any tips on places to start to get LG to -0? Should I just keep doing games? Run back through the curriculum?

Have you foolproofed tests 1-35 yet? If not I would work on that till the test. Until I had games foolproofed I had to worry about bombing a game and having big score fluctuations.

Alex

@"j.bambury" said:
Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve just downloaded head space, going to be running daily as well as that always helps me focus.

Any tips on places to start to get LG to -0? Should I just keep doing games? Run back through the curriculum?

@"j.bambury" said:
Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve just downloaded head space, going to be running daily as well as that always helps me focus.

Any tips on places to start to get LG to -0? Should I just keep doing games? Run back through the curriculum?

I was stuck missing -3/-4 on games for... well, for a long long time haha

I think a big part of getting LG down to -0 or close when you're at the point where you're only missing a few per section is about mastery & confidence. That might sound obvious, but simply FP'ing/doing more and more games didn't really help me reach that mastery or instill confidence in myself. I worked with a tutor, sent him footage of me doing several sections, and together we came up with a system that I would implement on each and every game. Trivial things like how you write your rules out or how you decide to approach a CBT question can make all the difference when you're aiming for a perfect LG score.

For example, If you've watched JY's amazing LG explanations/live LG videos, you'll often see that when he is faced with a hard question he rarely brute forces. He knows which ones to try first. You need to develop that intuition. You need to be looking at your rules to see which game pieces are most restricted and try out potential answer chances accordingly.

Another example is your ability to quickly and accurately sketch out hypos for questions. If you can apply the rules and sketch them out quickly, you can get very good at games. If you get a CBT, you need to be ready to try out some answers choices, and do it quickly.

There's a lot more to the mastery, but I would suggest watching some of JY's live LG takes. Don't worry about burning tests imo. It's not burnt if it is helping you. Those helped me more than I could ever express. And take notes!

Now, the confidence part is also important and it comes from the mastery. A big part of games is making sure you bank enough time for the harder games in any given set. And to do that you need to be confident. You need to be able to trust yourself and move on when you think you've found the answer. One thing I realized from going over the footage with my tutor was that I would often get the right answer but not feel confident until I proved at least 1-2 of the other ACs were wrong. That wasted too much time. Now when I find the answer, I move on. If you followed all of the rules and made the right inferences, you don't need to worry about running afoul of the rules.

If you're taking the test in June/July I would say to fool proof the games from 52 and on. I got from -4 to -0 (not always consistently, but damn close) by doing a section of 52 and on each day for a few weeks. I would do them once (as a full section, 35 mins) and then watch JY's explanations and analyze what I could have done better. Getting something right isn't enough when you want that perfect LG score I learned. There's a better, more efficient way to do it and you need to learn how. I also did not FP in the traditional way because after I watched JY's explanation I re-did the game and then put it away. Then I would finish all the other games from PT 52-61 first before I cycled back through.

My reasoning: I think fool proofing in the traditional way or Pacifico Method is the BEST way to learn games. Heck, it's what took me from missing 16 on my first LG section down to about -3. But I don't think it's the best/most efficient way to master them. At least it wasn't for me. Redoing the games 3-4 times in a week made me get sloppy and really hindered my ability to make inferences on my own. After a while of FP'ing that way I plateaued and felt like no amount of FP'ing was going to be able to help me go -0 on a fresh set of games.

Also the games from 1-35 that everyone fool proofs aren't a good representation of the newer tests. The underlying skills are the same, but the games, the frequency which they show up, the questions, and many other things are a bit different. For instance, the standard acceptable situation questions are now more frequently designed to be more difficult. It's not uncommon for me to get down to 2 and have to sketch them out to get them. There are also rule replacement questions you need to get good on. And those are not easy haha.

Here is my LG strategy sheet my tutor and I came up with. I hope it helps.

Setup:
-Read with pencil down, use finger to skim and scan to get a good idea of set up.
-Look at first question (standard acceptable situation) to get an idea/clue for what the game board will look like.
-Write out rules neatly/check them off as you represent them on master game board
-As you write each rule out, eliminate answer choices from standard acceptable situation question.

Questions:
-Do questions that give an additional premise first, then global questions.
-Draw game boards where there will be enough space; don’t back self into corner
-Refer back to previous work/set ups to help eliminate answer choices to avoid needlessly brute forcing.
-If you need to brute force, be strategic!
-Skip questions and come back at end with fresh eyes.

Strategies:
-Use left hand to cover up spent rules/focus attention on rules that are un-spent.
-Take stock of remaining game pieces when stuck
-Pay attention to all relationships on relative ordering games. Look at what relationships need to maintained vs. where game pieces can float.

Alex

There was one more thing I forgot to add that I now do that I think is immensely helpful: Do your best to memorize the rules upfront. It's worth taking an extra 20 seconds after your initial set up to really try to commit them to memory. This can do a lot for your speed and consequently your score. It's nice not to have to keep looking back at the first page when writing out game boards. There's going to be times when you'll have to look back and check, and on some games the rules might be too complex to fully memorize, but even just having a clearer idea of them in your head can go a long way.

j.bambury

Thank you so much for your words of wisdom, Alex!!