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acta_non_verba

I started taking the course in January and am now two PTs in. The first was on Monday, a 153 which was 6 points higher than my diagnostic, giving me a much needed confidence boost. However, my LG score was -10, definitely a black spot. Yesterday, however, I scored an abysmal 150 mainly because I scored a -15 (!) on the LG section. The worst is that when I watch the video explanations I can immediately tell why I messed up: my diagramming. I simply did not illustrate the rules well, which was disheartening since once I knew how to diagram I can get almost every question right obviously.

I don't know what to do right now. Do I stop my PTing until I have a firm grasp on LG? If so, how exactly do I go about improving? Should I still take my PT next week? My self esteem and confidence have sunk. My goal is to break the 160 barrier by test day, a score that I hope is within my reach. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Petrichor

Are you done with the course already? if not I suggest finishing up the curriculum before doing anymore PTs. If you have finished the course, you can/should start drilling LGs from earlier exams (you have 40+ PTs, I think you can spare 10 for drilling purposes).

Not Ralph Nader

STOP WASTING PT. I think one should not take PTs until one is getting -2 in LGI am terrible at LG. I asked the same question and was refereed to Pacifico's strategy (https://7sage.com/discussion#/discussion/2737/logic-games-attack-strategy) I am following it and I highly recommend it.

runiggyrun

The foolproof for games following @Pacifico 's strategy, all the way.
Especially if your biggest problem is confusing notation, spending a few solid weeks - a month going through the games in the early PT's (1-38), repeatedly as detailed in the link @nader.parham posted above should yield significant improvements.
You can start with single games, but you should progress to drilling entire sections, just because it helps to develop a timing/skipping strategy and shows you very clearly how being able to complete an easy sequencing game in 5 minutes (instead of 8.5, which would be 1/4 of the total time) can yield valuable minutes to be spent on a head scratcher.
Another good point that @allison.gill.sanford made in a number of threads was to take a minute to double check your rules before diving into the questions (especially if that's your Achille's heel) and to use the "orientation" question to check whether you have your rules down correctly. If you can eliminate 4 answers based on one rule, you know you've written it down wrong. If you are left with 2 answers you can't eliminate, you know you've written a rule wrong - that would be the time to go back and check, rather than power ahead.
I wouldn't do any more fresh PT's until you have the games under control (I'd think <-2 on easy sections, <-4 on the harder ones - other people might suggest more stringent criteria). The good news is that you should see significant improvement quickly.
If you are done with the curriculum, you can do some problem sets or drill some LR/LC sections from the same old PT's(1-38) if you feel you need that to keep your knowledge fresh before going back to PT's. You can even drill as full PTs from those old ones, if you feel that you would benefit overall by practicing under pressure. The caveat is that the scores are going to be inflated by having seen a number of the questions in the curriculum, and you absolutely need to BR everything carefully to get all the learning benefits you would from drilling.
You can conquer the LG beast, that's what 7Sagers do best!

acta_non_verba

Thanks for your comments, everyone! Today I determined that I am going to go through each LG section from 1-35 and hone in on the games that I have a difficult time with by printing out copies and hashing them out until I master them. A pattern I've noticed is that at most I may miss two on relatively easier games, but I become paralyzed on the super difficult ones. Hopefully I can get this under control soon, I'm somewhat anxious about the June exam.

acta_non_verba

@runiggyrun Another question. Do I have to go through 1-38, or can I use 62-72 as well since I will be taking PTs 36-58 and have heard that the more recent LGs are better representatives? Last night I drilled PT 62's games and then started on 63. Should I not use them?

stepharizona

@"acta_non_verba" said:
Last night I drilled PT 62's games and then started on 63. Should I not use them?

You want to save 63-77 for your practice exams. These test are the most recent ones and will prepare you best for the what your actual score would be. The reason why everyone recommends 1-38 is that these are the older, "less modern" tests, but will help you have an extremely strong foundational basis.

The games in 62+ are more representational, which is why you want to use these as practice tests (under test day conditions) so that you are best prepared for your LSAT.

runiggyrun

I'd only use 62-72 for drilling games if you've already taken those exams as full PT's.
I used the early games for initial drilling, and then added new sections as I was done with the respective PT. By now I've accumulated ~55 game sections that I've proofed or am in the process of proofing, but I didn't do any of the ones beyond 38 until I took those PT's.
If you want to be exposed to the newer games sooner, most people don't do the PT's in order, so you can do one in the 50's, one in the 60's, one in the 70's, rinse and repeat, and add those games to the pile you drill from. It's more about the repeated practice of the common game types than it is about trying to get prepared for the occasional oddball you might get. The common game types haven't changed that much over the years, and the oddballs get tackled by saving up precious minutes because you've killed the easy games with time to spare and you can brute force the difficult ones.

acta_non_verba

@runiggyrun The only PTs I've completely done are 37 and 38. I suppose I'm still trying to find a method that works for me. I've began organizing them the way Pacifico suggested, yet I still have to determine when I should start drilling full sections. I think I'm going to try and tackle maybe the first 10 or so tests focusing on single questions, and then move to drilling complete sections from there (11-36). There's so many different suggestions/tips since everyone learns differently that it can be a bit of a mess trying to sort things out.

Right now, something I've noticed just in the past 24 hours, is that I am awful when it comes to a miscellaneous game, or one that doesn't quite fit the pattern from the one's I've seen so far. If I see a new game, one that I cannot adapt to what I've learned easily or that doesn't fit into a certain type, I become paralyzed and it takes me forever to diagram. The easier games I can breeze through. Essentially I think my problem might be seeing the patterns amongst all the games.

MrSamIam

Save your PTs. My biggest mistake was PTing before I had a tight grasp on the fundamentals. I ended up wasting 11 precious, semi-recent tests. Until you take the LSAT and accept an offer, those PTs should be treated like gold.
Once you're consistently scoring -3 or less on timed LG drills (full section), start PTing again. Note, -3 is an arbitrary number, but a fair one to use.

acta_non_verba

@MrSamIam Thanks for the input. That score seems like such a reach right now. I can't wait until I can get to that point. Should I drill sections with games that I've seen already (stupid question I know).

stepharizona

@"acta_non_verba" said:
Should I drill sections with games that I've seen already (stupid question I know).

Yes... you want to drill the games and repeat them until you have them perfect. While the contents of the games change, the essence of how you do them does not. If you master the past games, you will be able to (in theory) execute future games with ease. Hey @"Dillon A. Wright" this link is giving a 404 error "https://7sage.com/how-to-get-a-perfect-score-on-the-logic-games/" also this one too (but its not relevant to this convo https://7sage.com/lsat-study-schedule-10-week-day-by-day-version/)

MrSamIam

@stepharizona pretty much covered it. Yes, drill with games that you've done. Remember, LG is incredibly repetitive. On the surface some of the games may look novel, but at the end of the day they all test the same thing in a similar manner - your ability to see and make inferences.

Do them over and over until you can confidently complete a game under the recommended time limit.

inactive

@stepharizona said:
Hey @"Dillon A. Wright" this link is giving a 404 error

Thanks, looking into it!