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⚖ Official October 2019 LSAT Discussion Thread ⚖

2

Comments

  • skuffs__skuffs__ Alum Member
    edited October 2019 15 karma

    Had the experimental RC first and thought it was SO HARD. Barely finished. The second RC (post-break) I thought was much easier. The volcano/glacier thing was kinda weird, and the IP comparison seemed a bit tougher than usual, but not AWFUL. I had time left over which I typical for RC for me.

    I think I got 3/4 Logic Games down pretty well--probably should've attempted more of the third game but something just wasn't clicking for me. Either the other 3 were really easy or I really screwed them up.

    LR was...LR? I've never been good at determining if an LR section is difficult or not. Finished both of them with some time to review.

    But, RE: proctors, I was in a MASSIVE atrium/ballroom in a federal building and even with like 9 proctors I feel like they couldn't police things like tablet height. As a matter of fact, when the head proctor was reading the rules about that, he stopped, mumbled something like "that doesn't make sense," and told us we could use whatever angle we wanted. So I guess that's good? I found an angle that mostly reduced glare and turned the brightness up almost to max.

    The scratch paper was fine; watermark was at the bottom instead of across the whole sheet like I'd read before. Stylus worked fine, but the pen was TRASH--glad I brought pencils to do the LG.

    The weirdest thing for me will be actually being able to...do nothing and relax for at least a few weeks? Hopefully I'm done with this test forever tbh.

  • RuffianxRuffianx Alum Member
    68 karma

    1RC: HARD - total bomb. Thankfully this turned out to be the expiremental section.
    1LR: Went into this section rattled from the expiremental, but overall this section felt okay.
    LG: Not great. First two games were very easy. Goofed around too long on shelf game and didn't manage to finish the fourth game in time.
    2RC: Much easier than first RC. The only passage I felt was difficult was the last one.
    2LR: average difficulty.

    Overall, I'm feeling pretty good. Disappointed with LG but definitely content with how the other sections went.

  • CRLSUUUUCRLSUUUU Member
    162 karma

    Hi guys, can anyone tell me if the LR section with the question about some BU17 government employee some of them work in the Hanson building was the real or experimental LR? It was the SA one where you needed to map it out to figure out the most/some arrows. That's the only question I can really remember from that section and it would help me decide if I'm going to cancel or not.. >.<

  • zacharytsmith26-1zacharytsmith26-1 Alum Member
    849 karma

    Did anybody else really enjoy the bike passage? And also feel that the bikers were right? It's just outrageous that they should be cut off from the path while the walkers and equestrians are not.

  • avelamb111avelamb111 Alum Member
    44 karma

    @"Jay Tee" I noticed that during the first three sections I was unable to eliminate answer choice E and sometimes unable to eliminate answer choice D, although I was able to select those answer choices if I wanted to. It was pretty annoying and I was a little distracted by the problem.

    At the break I told the proctor and she called LSAC. They told her the only way to fix it was to start section 4 for everyone else and then switch my tablet with a new tablet. Oddly, no one else in my test center seemed to have this problem, although others remarked that highlighting was difficult. I was a bit reluctant to do this since I was worried it would disrupt my/others' concentration, but once I started section 4 I noticed that I was unable to eliminate ANY answer choices, so I requested that she switch my tablet with a different one. The switch took about 1 min and the extra time was added to the end of my section. I had already answered question 1 in that section and when I got the new tablet I saw it had saved my answer for question 1. I was able to pick up easily where I left off. I'm happy I ended up switching because the second tablet worked much better than the first one (it was easier to highlight and select/eliminate answer choices).

    The proctor said that when she spoke to LSAC, it seemed like they were familiar with this problem, so it probably happens to a number of students. If you're having problems with the tablet I'd encourage you to speak with the proctor, and hopefully they can be as helpful as mine was in this case. The problem is that during the first three sections, there isn't an ideal opportunity to speak with the proctor and troubleshoot the problem at length. Hopefully they'll have figured out by the November test.

    For all future test takers, I would really encourage practicing the digital format before sitting for the exam. I prepped with a combination of paper and purchased the more recent tests in digital format from 7sage and found them to be remarkably close to the actual testing experience. I didn't have the resources to purchase a tablet so I used my laptop, which prepared me well enough.

  • LSATTT4765LSATTT4765 Free Trial Member
    20 karma

    Does anyone remember what the experimental RC section topics were? I feel like it was the economic theory passage and something about buildings

  • Jay TeeJay Tee Alum Member
    298 karma

    @ChelseyE said:
    A girl in line told me she had difficulty with the stylus last time she took the lSAT and used her finger instead for highlighting. So I started out in RC trying to use my finger to highlight and it kept highlighting the line below what I wanted. I switched over to the stylus and found that much more precise to highlight, although it would sometimes still highlight more than what I actually wanted. At one point while answering a question the whole paragraph become highlighted. As a work around, I tried to make sure I set it to "erase" while answering questions.

    Occasionally the tablet would skip ahead a couple questions and then I would notice the previous question had not been answered yet even though I never saw it.

    Other than those small annoyances, I really enjoyed the digital test format. I found it much easier to focus on each question and preferred it to switching back and forth from scantron to test book. I also liked the visibility of the questions I had flagged so I could quickly go back and review them if/when I had time as opposed to flipping frantically through a test book.

    Thank you for the detailed response! I'm currently not highlighting with a stylus or finger during timed takes in anticipation of these issues. The first digital PT I took with my iPad and Apple pencil caused the same thing to happen (not highlighting where I wanted and highlighting more or less than I actually wanted -- the whole paragraph sometimes too!) and it totally threw me off. I was wondering if the same thing could happen with the real test so I'm glad I know now! The back and forth between choosing a highlighter color and eraser also just eats up too much time & concentration for me. 🥴

  • Jay TeeJay Tee Alum Member
    298 karma

    @"KB Mamba" said:
    No technical issues with the tablet & stylus itself but we had administrative issues with assigning tablets/seats. We started our test about 45 min AFTER the scheduled time 😡

    Boo that sucks. The same happened to me during the July test but we had the paper version, so it's great to see they still don't know how to be on schedule! 🙄

  • Jay TeeJay Tee Alum Member
    298 karma

    @babridger17 said:
    lol that thing was a JOKE. The stylus had no integrity so it makes it a royal pain to use. I just used my finger.

    Good to know since that's what I was planning on doing anyway just to be safe!

  • stargirlstargirl Alum Member
    74 karma

    Is it uncommon for the test to be out of 102 questions? Have only seen it be out of 100 or 101 before

  • Jay TeeJay Tee Alum Member
    298 karma

    @avelamb111 said:
    @"Jay Tee" I noticed that during the first three sections I was unable to eliminate answer choice E and sometimes unable to eliminate answer choice D, although I was able to select those answer choices if I wanted to. It was pretty annoying and I was a little distracted by the problem.

    At the break I told the proctor and she called LSAC. They told her the only way to fix it was to start section 4 for everyone else and then switch my tablet with a new tablet. Oddly, no one else in my test center seemed to have this problem, although others remarked that highlighting was difficult. I was a bit reluctant to do this since I was worried it would disrupt my/others' concentration, but once I started section 4 I noticed that I was unable to eliminate ANY answer choices, so I requested that she switch my tablet with a different one. The switch took about 1 min and the extra time was added to the end of my section. I had already answered question 1 in that section and when I got the new tablet I saw it had saved my answer for question 1. I was able to pick up easily where I left off. I'm happy I ended up switching because the second tablet worked much better than the first one (it was easier to highlight and select/eliminate answer choices).

    The proctor said that when she spoke to LSAC, it seemed like they were familiar with this problem, so it probably happens to a number of students. If you're having problems with the tablet I'd encourage you to speak with the proctor, and hopefully they can be as helpful as mine was in this case. The problem is that during the first three sections, there isn't an ideal opportunity to speak with the proctor and troubleshoot the problem at length. Hopefully they'll have figured out by the November test.

    For all future test takers, I would really encourage practicing the digital format before sitting for the exam. I prepped with a combination of paper and purchased the more recent tests in digital format from 7sage and found them to be remarkably close to the actual testing experience. I didn't have the resources to purchase a tablet so I used my laptop, which prepared me well enough.

    Thanks a lot for this! I probably would've waited until the break like you did to make them aware of the issue, and then panicked when the 2nd one was even worse lol. I'll make sure not to shy away from speaking up!

  • Trust the ProcessTrust the Process Alum Member
    304 karma

    @"Prudenter Discere" said:
    LG was easy but weird. I skipped the first game after first read, because it was not a usual game, did the second game, finished it well. Read the third game, it was unusual, so i skipped it, Did the fourth game, it was easy. Reread the first LG, and it was easy, and I understood it. Then did the 3rd game, it was easy, but did not finish the last 2 questions in time. I am feeling like a -3 on this LG. Not happy. RC felt really hard, and RC tends to be my strongest section. It felt really hard. I had to trust my low resolution, because my high resolution was not good. LR, I was hoping the one with 25 was not experimental. But oh well. the first LR with 26 was hard.

    I had the same ex> @"nicholas.venora" said:

    Does anyone remember what the experimental RC section topics were? I feel like it was the economic theory passage and something about buildings

    Yeah the first was about the Watts building and the second about Indian astronomers whether they borrowed from Greek astronomers and the A/B was economic theory about utility and the fourth I dont remember....But I thought that the experiemental was wayy easier than the real one.

  • benjaminwood33benjaminwood33 Alum Member
    44 karma

    @"nicholas.venora" said:
    Does anyone remember what the experimental RC section topics were? I feel like it was the economic theory passage and something about buildings

    It was about the “Jazz Cathedral”, Indian astronomy, economic theory, and can’t think of the other one for the life of me.

  • benjaminwood33benjaminwood33 Alum Member
    44 karma

    Man I could not figure out the shelving game setup for the life of me! I swear to god Pam and her shelving superiority will haunt me in my sleep.

  • AndybrewAndybrew Member
    41 karma

    Does anyone know which LR was the experimental??
    i had LR 1, 3, 4
    2 was LG
    and 5 was RC

  • zacharytsmith26-1zacharytsmith26-1 Alum Member
    849 karma

    @Andybrew said:
    Does anyone know which LR was the experimental??
    i had LR 1, 3, 4
    2 was LG
    and 5 was RC

    I had that test, section 4 was experimental

  • Jan20prepJan20prep Member
    edited October 2019 21 karma

    @"kristina.chemareva" said:
    I wish someone prepared me for the kind of stylus they provided. It worked somewhat fine (albeit not every time) for picking the right answer choice (basically tapping on the screen), but it failed me every time I tried to highlight or scroll down. I wasted too much time trying to get it to work. At the end of the test, we were told to keep it as a souvenir :wink: In addition, they only let us raise the tablets like two inches off the desk surface so I couldn't see anything because of the glare. Little that I knew, you can't change your seat after you get assigned to a specific seat number. These "minor" difficulties threw me completely off balance, and I think I am bound for the January LSAT now. Otherwise, 7sage digital tester is pretty much identical to the one LSAC has. So, I would recommend using it to practice instead of printing prep tests. There is absolutely no need to buy a watch. Digital LSAT has a timer.

    Do you have to use a stylus or is it responsive to your finger too? TY

    P.S. Asked this question too soon! I got the answer to my question from the newer comments. TY!

  • AndybrewAndybrew Member
    41 karma

    @"KB Mamba" said:

    @"Jay Tee" said:
    Did anyone experience any technical issues with the tablet & stylus?

    No technical issues with the tablet & stylus itself but we had administrative issues with assigning tablets/seats. We started our test about 45 min AFTER the scheduled time 😡

    We started over an hour after scheduled time because LSAC did not send them the roster. It was painful.

  • AndybrewAndybrew Member
    41 karma

    Did anyone find one of the LG questions about the Uruguay and Venezuela super hard?? The one where O& P were to be in the same month. It took me 5 minutes and I still ended up guessing. I wonder if i missed anything.

  • AndybrewAndybrew Member
    41 karma

    @itsalex559 said:
    I didnt count questions in my LR so im not sure which was experimental!
    Im worried because I had two pretty difficult ones, and one that I felt I did extremely well on. Can someone please let me know if they also had LR experimental, and if they know if it was the easier one or not? I want to figure out if my easier LR is going to at least be counted.

    The experimental LR was the one with a bunch of disagree & no parallel reasoning

  • rogantrevorrogantrevor Free Trial Member
    6 karma

    Anyone know of any logic games that have been administered that are similar to the shelves game? I've never seen anything like that and I could not figure it out during the test...not sure how to prepare for something I've never encountered.

  • ReachingFor180ReachingFor180 Alum Member
    53 karma

    Proctors were all over the place and our 100+ person room got overflow folks from another room which made the delay worse... didn't start until 2pm. Anyway:

    I got: RC (experimental, thank god), LR, LG, RC, LR

    Can confirm the following:

    Real RC: Latin/jazz music, Indonesia/volcanoes/ice core drilling, cycling/trails, and intellectual property [RC wasn't too difficult, but ran out of time since I got tripped up by the stylus/highlighting function]

    Real LG: Uruguay/Venezuela tours, shelving, etc. [LG wasn't too bad either, but one of the games threw me off and I didn't get to finish]

    LRs: Honestly these were a blur to me, but nothing too crazy.

  • Trust the ProcessTrust the Process Alum Member
    edited October 2019 304 karma

    @rogantrevor said:
    Anyone know of any logic games that have been administered that are similar to the shelves game? I've never seen anything like that and I could not figure it out during the test...not sure how to prepare for something I've never encountered.

    I've done every single game released by LSAC and I can confirm I have never before seen a game like the shelving game. However, it wasnt unusual in that the game is rule-driven and as long as you do not violate any rules then anything goes. So I solved the game by just trying out different possible game boards.

  • holdsaudreyholdsaudrey Alum Member
    10 karma

    @"Jay Tee" said:
    Did anyone experience any technical issues with the tablet & stylus?

    I originally had a tablet that the bottom half of the screen only worked half of the time if I literally stabbed the thing. They almost started before I was able to change it, but luckily I kind of yelled out that I needed a new one. So I guess I highly recommend that the tablet is super responsive before starting. They'll replace it.

    Two other peoples froze beforehand. Luckily, no issues during the test. But apparently the girl sitting next to me said that someone during the September test, their tablet died in the middle of the section.

  • MJGspiceMJGspice Alum Member
    147 karma

    For me the key to a lot of the unusual logic games on the October test was running the numbers. Keeping track of what the various numerical possibilities could be, helped in games 1 and 3 which had pretty vague gameboards in my opinion.

  • ashr_613ashr_613 Alum Member
    45 karma

    @"KB Mamba" said:

    @"Jay Tee" said:
    Did anyone experience any technical issues with the tablet & stylus?

    No technical issues with the tablet & stylus itself but we had administrative issues with assigning tablets/seats. We started our test about 45 min AFTER the scheduled time 😡

    we started 2 1/2 hrs late

  • AndrewLeeAndrewLee Member
    9 karma

    @ashr_613 said:

    @"KB Mamba" said:

    @"Jay Tee" said:
    Did anyone experience any technical issues with the tablet & stylus?

    No technical issues with the tablet & stylus itself but we had administrative issues with assigning tablets/seats. We started our test about 45 min AFTER the scheduled time 😡

    we started 2 1/2 hrs late

    Were you in the Boston testing center by any chance?

  • lulululu Alum Member
    91 karma

    @ashr_613 at Backbay Hilton?

  • nat2tulanat2tula Alum Member
    75 karma

    I had 3 LR sections (all 26 questions I believe). The order was LR LG LR- LR RC

    The first section for LR was harder than the other two. I think there was a question about fish with upwards eyes, but I honestly can't remember because that could have been in one of the other sections. The other two LRs were more manageable in my opinion. The LG seemed easier, although the format wasn't typical for LSAT games. The game with tour guides gave me the most trouble, ended up guessing on one question there.

    RC I thought was tough on two passages, okay on the other two. The volcanoes and I property gave me the most trouble.

    Overall, I was happy because I answered almost all the questions, and because I did much better than I performed in July. I'm not really sure which LR section was experimental for me, but that's fine! Hopefully I won't have to retake in November!

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    @zacharytsmith26 said:
    Did anybody else really enjoy the bike passage? And also feel that the bikers were right? It's just outrageous that they should be cut off from the path while the walkers and equestrians are not.

    LOL. For some crazy reason, this was my favorite passage ever. :)

  • zacharytsmith26-1zacharytsmith26-1 Alum Member
    849 karma

    @2ndTimestheCharm said:

    @zacharytsmith26 said:
    Did anybody else really enjoy the bike passage? And also feel that the bikers were right? It's just outrageous that they should be cut off from the path while the walkers and equestrians are not.

    LOL. For some crazy reason, this was my favorite passage ever. :)

    Me too! I enjoyed 3/4 of the passages (save the science one). Although I think the questions were hard for the intellectual property passage. It reminded me of the comparative IP passage where they talked about Chefs and Comedians... <------- This is when you know you've been doing this for too long.

  • TrademarkTTrademarkT Alum Member
    edited October 2019 10 karma

    I noticed on break that I was the only one that chose a black background with white text. This was such a relief on my eyes. I noticed my eyes did not feel strained like they normally are after screen time. I read this tip somewhere and decided to try it and I’m glad I did. I believe you only have the option up front but I didn’t bother to look for settings later. Highly recommended. On a side note my picture was also inverted on the tablet (looked like a film negative) because I chose an inverted color scheme... so when they check you in after break they absolutely cannot tell who is in the picture on the tablet but they still look at the ID and pretend to make a positive identification.

  • Chingona18Chingona18 Member
    edited October 2019 14 karma

    @"KB Mamba" I had the same thing @CalWestern ... the proctor did a wrong seating chart for a different class room and had to create a new seating chart and re-administer the previously assigned tablets. frustrating ha

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    @markallentaylor I really dig the inverted colors too!

  • kam78555kam78555 Member
    13 karma

    Does anyone recall how many questions were in the last game (South American tours)?

  • MJGspiceMJGspice Alum Member
    147 karma

    @kam78555 said:
    Does anyone recall how many questions were in the last game (South American tours)?

    I think six, but not positive

  • zacharytsmith26-1zacharytsmith26-1 Alum Member
    849 karma

    @kam78555 said:
    Does anyone recall how many questions were in the last game (South American tours)?

    I think game 1 had 5 and all the others had 6

  • connerkelsey1632connerkelsey1632 Free Trial Member
    2 karma

    I had LR, LG, LR, LR, RC. I don’t remember how many questions I had in each LR section. Was the experimental the third LR section? I think the first question in that section was about a road being added to a city and how it would make more traffic or something to that affect??

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    The consensus seems to be that the last LR was experimental. I thought they were all at the same level, and I welcomed the unusual abundance of disagree questions.

  • akarjekerakarjeker Alum Member
    15 karma

    How soon should we know our scores? Does the digital aspect make it go faster?

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    Nope. Nov. 20, for some crazy reason. Hoping I can sleep until then!

  • AndrewLeeAndrewLee Member
    9 karma

    @AndrewLee said:

    @ashr_613 said:

    @"KB Mamba" said:

    @"Jay Tee" said:
    Did anyone experience any technical issues with the tablet & stylus?

    No technical issues with the tablet & stylus itself but we had administrative issues with assigning tablets/seats. We started our test about 45 min AFTER the scheduled time 😡

    we started 2 1/2 hrs late

    Were you in the Boston testing center by any chance?

    Nope I was in the Boston Convention Center ... took it at Back Bay Hilton last time and it was awful. Hope yours went well!

  • art_vandelayart_vandelay Free Trial Member
    9 karma

    My tablet froze with 5 minutes left in the final section! The proctors issued me a new tablet but we were unable to gain access again to that section. They called LSAC and we had to leave my test incomplete. The test center and I both filed separate complaints. LSAC is reviewing.

    Any guesses as to what LSAC will decide? Will I have to retake the entire test ? The lead administrator said that LSAC might try and score it anyways and give me an option to see my score and accept or reject plus retake for free.

    The anticipation is killing me.

  • PreWorkoutPreWorkout Alum Member
    198 karma

    @art_vandelay said:
    My tablet froze with 5 minutes left in the final section! The proctors issued me a new tablet but we were unable to gain access again to that section. They called LSAC and we had to leave my test incomplete. The test center and I both filed separate complaints. LSAC is reviewing.

    Any guesses as to what LSAC will decide? Will I have to retake the entire test ? The lead administrator said that LSAC might try and score it anyways and give me an option to see my score and accept or reject plus retake for free.

    The anticipation is killing me.

    Similar thing happened to me! I submitted a complaint too and it’s killing me a bit everyday lol

  • J.B. JD ASAPJ.B. JD ASAP Member
    137 karma

    I've done every single game released by LSAC and I can confirm I have never before seen a game like the shelving game. However, it wasnt unusual in that the game is rule-driven and as long as you do not violate any rules then anything goes. So I solved the game by just trying out different possible game boards.

    Can someone tell me how you ultimately set up the board for the shelving question? So curious if I was way off......

  • itskidactiveitskidactive Alum Member
    93 karma

    @alumna18 said:
    @"KB Mamba" I had the same thing @CalWestern ... the proctor did a wrong seating chart for a different class room and had to create a new seating chart and re-administer the previously assigned tablets. frustrating ha

    LOL! I was in there

  • gof3____gof3____ Alum Member
    6 karma

    @2ndTimestheCharm - you mentioned a lot of disagree questions - wanted to confirm if that was on the experimental section or real section?

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    @gof3____ said:
    @2ndTimestheCharm - you mentioned a lot of disagree questions - wanted to confirm if that was on the experimental section or real section?

    As far as I remember there were a ton of disagree questions, just in general, spread across all 3 LR sections that I had.

  • PianobarPianobar Free Trial Member
    24 karma

    I’m so anxious on waiting for the results. Hope everybody went well!!!!

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    edited November 2019 1810 karma

    OK, guys. Let's take deep breaths today and remember that score day is NOT as stressful as test day. If it's good news, there will be MUCH celebration and joy, and if it's bad news, it's back to the drawing board. Either way, all we have to do is brace ourselves and open an e-mail...

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