needing solid study advice

standardizedcanbelearned

Hi everyone. I am looking for some general honest/helpful advice from those who have a similar story to me, and who eventually learned this test:

I started studying for this test about 6 months ago, and have increased my score 17 points from my cold diagnostic to my most recently highest scored PT. However, since I have started my PT phase (about one month ago until now), I haven't seen any real change in that score. I linger around the low 150's and can't break out of it with my current prep. I also linger around mid to high 160's with BR. I don't want to keep breezing through PT's when I don't feel as though I am utilizing them well (reflected in my consistent low scores). My main frustration right now is my -10 to -11 average scoring on my LR sections. When I take my full PT's, I feel so slow and uncertain when I complete the LR sections. It is so frustrating when I am that inaccurate and then miss around -3 to -5 when I blind review. I type out explanations for the LR questions I flag, foolproof logic games everyday, and continue to reuse passages to train myself to read for reasoning structure (utilizing the LSAT trainer method, which has increased my RC greatly). However, my scores when I actually take my PT's are still horrible, so I need some guidance on how to study efficiently and how to stop wasting my PT's because my BR method is clearly not sufficient as of now, since I can't break out of the low 150's. I should also note that this is based off of the 6 PT's that I have taken over the past month and a half.

I have another full year to devote to this test, and will sit for the test probably next July. I have about 45 PT's left to utilize and have the drive to learn this test. I just need to learn how to efficiently study for it. I really do believe that this test is completely learnable and that I can increase my score another 20 points, I just also know that it will take a long time with a lot of hard work. If you have any real advice for me, I would greatly appreciate it if you would either message me privately or just comment on here.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and reply back to this.

MIT_2017

For Logic Games, try solving them along with J.Y.

So read the game and do your set up. Then open up his video explanation and see how he did his set up. Then do this question by question. This can be much more helpful, as it will help you identify each step where you made a mistake, as opposed to just doing a game poorly, then watching his video and being like "oh great, I did a million things wrong." That will just get you down on yourself and isn't nearly as helpful early on in your studying when you're still trying to get the hang of games.

Habeas Porpoise

Great work improving your score so far! It's clear you have a drive and commitment, which I think are important foundations to any solid score improvement!

It's normal to feel slow and unsure in the beginning; in fact, I think it's good to have healthy skepticism because you've only just learned and started applying the foundations. You can't completely trust your gut yet--that comes later.

So, I first highly, highly recommend checking out this webinar: https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/
This will help you assess where you are in your studying, and give you some drilling strategies to move you on to the next stage of prep. It gave me a sense of direction when I was studying.

You'll see this in the webinar, but when I was where you are, I focused on weaknesses in knowledge and didn't worry about strategy. Sure, strategy will need improvement, but the cause of most of your misses is likely the gap between theory (the stuff in the CC) and application.

Sorta going from there, I have a few questions: How much time do you have left at the end of each section (just to get a sense where you are)? What do your analytics say about the question types you're missing? Any patterns? Also, how are you drilling LR (not just BRing/writing explanations, but actively working on LR questions outside of PTs)?

standardizedcanbelearned

@MIT_2017 Yeah, I have pretty much been doing the latter, which doesn't help recognize the specific inference holes in my reasoning, now that I think about it. Thank you so much for the advice.

standardizedcanbelearned

@"Habeas Porpoise" said:
Great work improving your score so far! It's clear you have a drive and commitment, which I think are important foundations to any solid score improvement!

It's normal to feel slow and unsure in the beginning; in fact, I think it's good to have healthy skepticism because you've only just learned and started applying the foundations. You can't completely trust your gut yet--that comes later.

So, I first highly, highly recommend checking out this webinar: https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/
This will help you assess where you are in your studying, and give you some drilling strategies to move you on to the next stage of prep. It gave me a sense of direction when I was studying.

You'll see this in the webinar, but when I was where you are, I focused on weaknesses in knowledge and didn't worry about strategy. Sure, strategy will need improvement, but the cause of most of your misses is likely the gap between theory (the stuff in the CC) and application.

Sorta going from there, I have a few questions: How much time do you have left at the end of each section (just to get a sense where you are)? What do your analytics say about the question types you're missing? Any patterns? Also, how are you drilling LR (not just BRing/writing explanations, but actively working on LR questions outside of PTs)?

Ah, just reading this is making me feel better. Yeah, the skepticism feeling is tough to deal with, but I have to keep reminding myself that I am basically learning a new language, and didn't start with a "leg up" in this new language. So, it is going to take time for me to get comfortable and acquainted with it.

Thank you also for the webinar suggestion. I love the 7sage podcasts, so this is great. Yeah, I am falling into the process of "if I just read enough passages, or foolproof enough games, or go over enough LR," then my score will automatically increase. But my problem completely is the gap between theory and application of that theory during the timed test.

Re. Questions: I have about a minute left at the end of each LR section (where I scramble to finish a question I skipped), usually no time left over during LG, and about 1-2 minutes left on RC. For LR, my main misses are SA, PSA, MBF, MSS, MBT, and Weakening questions. For LG, Grouping w/ a chart and miscellaneous. For RC, the "what is stated" questions.

I don't have a real method of drilling LR outside of PT's, which is a main question I had on here for other students. It seems like those successful with the test adopted an efficient way of drilling LR consistently. What was your strategy? Did you just reuse old LR sections, or focus on specific question types in old LR sections?

Habeas Porpoise

Exactly! It's gonna take some time, but you'll get there!

Yeah, you definitely don't want to get into that trap. It's so easy to burn through PTs that way. I know it feels good to think we're "doing a lot", but it honestly is important to be efficient and make sure we use material effectively. It's why I read about so many people having "already done like 30+ PTs" and barely seeing improvement on other forums. The stuff you do in between PTs to bridge the gap will make the greatest difference. It's great that you're reviewing well, but you need to put your learnings from review into practice in context (i.e. drilling) before you take another PT.

Right, so with LR. Having even a minute left is pretty great; I used to run out of time when I first started out after the CC. But the first step would be to address your issues with question types. Use PTs 1-35 and begin drilling by question type. Something like PTs 1-20 for question type drilling, and you could save 20-35 for full-length LR practice (like strategy drills) once you have question types down better. Note down any key tips from review videos, such as when JY says "this is common" or "this is a cookie-cutter" or "a lot of X questions will ask..." I'd write these down in a notebook for future reference. Also, don't be afraid to go back to rewatch videos from the CC. I've rewatched the CC videos multiple times--the videos can be dense and it takes time to absorb everything.

For LG, you'll get better as you foolproof. I believe that misc games draw on general skills that are improved through exposure to a variety of games. As a tip, when I review LG I don't immediately watch the entirety of JY's explanation. I pause after the board setup, see where I went wrong with my board, and then try and redo the questions with the new board. Then, I watch the rest of the explanations and see where my strategies were off and where I went wrong. After that, I mark the game for retake the next week, and space it out further and further every time I take the game and get everything right under the suggested time.

RC--wow, a whole minute or two? Nice. How do your scores look there overall? I think "what is stated" questions are the easiest to improve on. It seems simple, but during BR mark the location/specific lines in the paragraph that provide evidence for the question, regardless of the question type. Every question will have support in the stimulus, so identifying the support will improve your ability to wade through fluff to get to key points the questions are referencing during a timed take.

Also, tell yourself that full PTs are off-limits for the next two to three weeks while you focus on drilling!

standardizedcanbelearned

@"Habeas Porpoise" said:
Exactly! It's gonna take some time, but you'll get there!

Yeah, you definitely don't want to get into that trap. It's so easy to burn through PTs that way. I know it feels good to think we're "doing a lot", but it honestly is important to be efficient and make sure we use material effectively. It's why I read about so many people having "already done like 30+ PTs" and barely seeing improvement on other forums. The stuff you do in between PTs to bridge the gap will make the greatest difference. It's great that you're reviewing well, but you need to put your learnings from review into practice in context (i.e. drilling) before you take another PT.

Right, so with LR. Having even a minute left is pretty great; I used to run out of time when I first started out after the CC. But the first step would be to address your issues with question types. Use PTs 1-35 and begin drilling by question type. Something like PTs 1-20 for question type drilling, and you could save 20-35 for full-length LR practice (like strategy drills) once you have question types down better. Note down any key tips from review videos, such as when JY says "this is common" or "this is a cookie-cutter" or "a lot of X questions will ask..." I'd write these down in a notebook for future reference. Also, don't be afraid to go back to rewatch videos from the CC. I've rewatched the CC videos multiple times--the videos can be dense and it takes time to absorb everything.

For LG, you'll get better as you foolproof. I believe that misc games draw on general skills that are improved through exposure to a variety of games. As a tip, when I review LG I don't immediately watch the entirety of JY's explanation. I pause after the board setup, see where I went wrong with my board, and then try and redo the questions with the new board. Then, I watch the rest of the explanations and see where my strategies were off and where I went wrong. After that, I mark the game for retake the next week, and space it out further and further every time I take the game and get everything right under the suggested time.

RC--wow, a whole minute or two? Nice. How do your scores look there overall? I think "what is stated" questions are the easiest to improve on. It seems simple, but during BR mark the location/specific lines in the paragraph that provide evidence for the question, regardless of the question type. Every question will have support in the stimulus, so identifying the support will improve your ability to wade through fluff to get to key points the questions are referencing during a timed take.

Also, tell yourself that full PTs are off-limits for the next two to three weeks while you focus on drilling!

Seriously, thank you so much for all of this. I am going to take a good three weeks of from taking another PT and I am just going to focus on drilling! That technique (using the older PT's to drill with) was something I hadn't thought about, but is a great way to drill. I listened to the webinar you suggested to me yesterday, and it really stood out to me how a lot of the stimuli are reused over and over (the logic of them, that is) and how once you realize that and are able to recognize those redundant patterns, the test is so much easier to read. The common consensus I am coming to understand that it really just takes time and drilling to reinforce those patters. Despite me being a philosophy major with my main interest in formal logic, I am so intimidated by SA and PSA questions on the lsat because of the convoluted language on the test.

Re. LG: Great way to go about foolproofing, esp. in how you utilize JY's explanations and space out the games in order to really test whether or not you have them down.

RC- Yeah, this was a very recent occurrence though! RC was by far my worst section, and most of the time I couldn't even get to the last passage. I ended up missing 12-15 on my PT's consistently. It wasn't until I read the lsat trainer about 2 weeks ago and took a test afterward; I finished all 4 passages with about 2 minutes left, and got my score down to -8. Not the score I am ultimately aiming for, but that was a huge improvement in my book. The bulk of my misses happened to be on one passage, so I just didn't have a good grasp on that passage. The only change in my approach was that I read for reading structure instead of trying to absorb and retain all of the information in the passage.

Again, thank you so much for the detailed responses and suggestions. I am starting to employ them starting today, and I don't feel so aimless or like I am burning through PT's! I'm glad I spoke up earlier rather than later; I would have wasted so much more material.

Habeas Porpoise

@standardizedcanbelearned Of course, no problem! Like I said, I was exactly where you are and it's easy to get overwhelmed. It's honestly great that you're assessing your progress early to figure out where to improve your study methods. You'll likely have to do this several times through the course of your study as you get better and better and create new goals for yourself, but just keep at it!

standardizedcanbelearned

@"Habeas Porpoise" said:
@standardizedcanbelearned Of course, no problem! Like I said, I was exactly where you are and it's easy to get overwhelmed. It's honestly great that you're assessing your progress early to figure out where to improve your study methods. You'll likely have to do this several times through the course of your study as you get better and better and create new goals for yourself, but just keep at it!

So, when you mean "drill" question types, did you time yourself with a specific question type, or did you just go through the older PT's and do one question type in the LR section without the timing constraint?

Habeas Porpoise

@standardizedcanbelearned said:
So, when you mean "drill" question types, did you time yourself with a specific question type, or did you just go through the older PT's and do one question type in the LR section without the timing constraint?

I used a count-up timer, just for reference. I didn't worry about it or focus on it, just used it to get a ballpark of how long each question/the question type was taking me. If you think it will distract you or make you feel rushed, then I'd avoid timing altogether for now--speed doesn't need to be a big concern early on in prep. The goal of this particular drill is to fix the knowledge gap that's causing you to miss certain question types with more frequency.

I first redid the drills under the core-curriculum lesson for the question type I was struggling with. Later on, I just printed off whatever question-type I was practicing from PTs 1-20 (these are already group together in the course):
- https://7sage.com/lesson/lr-questions-by-type-drill-preptest-01-to-09/
- https://7sage.com/lesson/lr-questions-by-type-drill-preptest-10-to-19/

I usually did five to ten questions (depending on difficulty), then checked my answers. If there was a video explanation, I watched it for all of the questions to make sure my reasoning was correct, and, of course, to understand my mistakes. If there wasn't an explanation video, I usually searched the forums for an answer, or checked on Manhattan Prep's forum (https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/forums/logical-reasoning-f4.html). I made sure to note down any key points or tips. Then I moved on to the next set of five to ten questions. The aim wasn't to "finish" everything, but to learn as much as I could about the question-type task and how to tackle it in every single question.

standardizedcanbelearned

@"Habeas Porpoise" said:

@standardizedcanbelearned said:
So, when you mean "drill" question types, did you time yourself with a specific question type, or did you just go through the older PT's and do one question type in the LR section without the timing constraint?

I used a count-up timer, just for reference. I didn't worry about it or focus on it, just used it to get a ballpark of how long each question/the question type was taking me. If you think it will distract you or make you feel rushed, then I'd avoid timing altogether for now--speed doesn't need to be a big concern early on in prep. The goal of this particular drill is to fix the knowledge gap that's causing you to miss certain question types with more frequency.

I first redid the drills under the core-curriculum lesson for the question type I was struggling with. Later on, I just printed off whatever question-type I was practicing from PTs 1-20 (these are already group together in the course):
- https://7sage.com/lesson/lr-questions-by-type-drill-preptest-01-to-09/
- https://7sage.com/lesson/lr-questions-by-type-drill-preptest-10-to-19/

I usually did five to ten questions (depending on difficulty), then checked my answers. If there was a video explanation, I watched it for all of the questions to make sure my reasoning was correct, and, of course, to understand my mistakes. If there wasn't an explanation video, I usually searched the forums for an answer, or checked on Manhattan Prep's forum (https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/forums/logical-reasoning-f4.html). I made sure to note down any key points or tips. Then I moved on to the next set of five to ten questions. The aim wasn't to "finish" everything, but to learn as much as I could about the question-type task and how to tackle it in every single question.

Ah okay, that makes sense. I didn't know what you meant by "drill types" (since I have ultimate and not ultimate+). However, I do have the "10 actuals" books for PT's 7-30, so I figure I can just utilize those for drilling instead of upgrading my entire course for questions I already have access to?

Habeas Porpoise

@standardizedcanbelearned said:
Ah okay, that makes sense. I didn't know what you meant by "drill types" (since I have ultimate and not ultimate+). However, I do have the "10 actuals" books for PT's 7-30, so I figure I can just utilize those for drilling instead of upgrading my entire course for questions I already have access to?

Yeah, of course, use whatever you already have! The idea is the same. Just do questions of one type until you have a good grasp of that type. Then move on to the next one.

standardizedcanbelearned

@"Habeas Porpoise" said:

@standardizedcanbelearned said:
Ah okay, that makes sense. I didn't know what you meant by "drill types" (since I have ultimate and not ultimate+). However, I do have the "10 actuals" books for PT's 7-30, so I figure I can just utilize those for drilling instead of upgrading my entire course for questions I already have access to?

Yeah, of course, use whatever you already have! The idea is the same. Just do questions of one type until you have a good grasp of that type. Then move on to the next one.

Sweet. Thanks again for all the great advice. It feels wonderful to feel like I can truly get that high 160's-170 with hard work and correct studying!