Need help making sense of the logic lessons - How useful and practical they are?

MimilaTor

Hi, there! I'm what some universities call a "mature student". I have a full time job, I have two small kids, a house to take care of. So my "free" time, even before deciding to take the LSAT, is close to nothing. Main point is: I need to make sure the time I actually have to study is used very effectively.

I've been watching all the lessons, but, at this point, I'm questioning if all the logic lessons are worthy it. I like them (in what now feels like a previous time, I briefly went to "Math School", so I really like numbers, logic and all that), I understand them and I even see how I can apply them to solve LR questions IF I don't have the time limitation imposed by the LSAT. Maybe if I were able to take and retake the tests a hundred times I would start to see all that "structure" coming naturally, but I don't. I barely have one hour a day to study, including the weekends.

Adding to my doubts, I took a LR session this week in a more relaxed, go with my guts way. Results were not great (they never are for me at this point), but they were much better than when I try to highlight the conclusion, identify the premises, do some logic "board" and so on.

Conclusion: I'm not sure if I should keep investing my time in watching the logic lessons or if I should skip to another part of the curriculum, or maybe just take test after test.

I would love to "hear" your opinion. I guess my other, more direct question is: if you had just one hour a day until your test (I'm taking the September one), how would you use your time?

Thank you in advance! :-)

Cant Get Right

Wow that’s a tough question. In a general sense, the lessons you’re talking about are some of the most absolutely essential lessons of the whole course. With your time limits, however, you’re going to be missing out on a lot of essentials. I’m not sure I even know how to go about navigating that, but I’ll do my best!

So, you simply can’t neglect LR, it’s half your score. You’ve also got to game some Games, as this is the area where folks tend to see the most improvement. As much as it pains me to say it, gloss over RC. You just don’t have time, and it generally reflects the least improvement from diagnostic anyway.

On LR, you simply must learn the logic. The best single use of your time is going to be to see the entire LR curriculum. Work a problem set or two until you feel comfortable with a concept and then move on to the next section. Just see everything.

Until you’re done, don’t take any more full sections. When you’re finished, then you can start drilling again. Do a mix of timed and untimed drills. And don’t work everything out the way JY does in the videos. Those videos are meant to reflect the internal thought process, not what you need to be actually writing out on the test. Your goal is to learn the logic well enough that you can do all of JY’s stuff in your head. In a sense, the process is to integrate the logic with your “go with your guts way,” which is really just to say your “just kind of thinking about it way.” The logic informs this way, it does not necessarily replace it.

Also, lose the highlighter. There is no time to switch between writing tools. I don’t even like to lose the second it takes me to switch to a sharp pencil!

For games, same thing. Run through the curriculum. You won’t be able to go through it as much as I’d like, but just make sure to lay eyes on everything. Then start fool proofing. Work a game until you’re -0 and under the recommended time. Revisit it in about a week and again in about a month if you can squeeze it in. Take as many games as you possibly can through this process.

When you start doing full length PTs, less is definitely going to be more for you. It will be better for you to take only 10 PTs that you are able to thoroughly BR than to take 100 PTs with no BR.

I hope this helps and good luck! Mad respect for taking on the LSAT on top of everything else.

MrSamIam

@"Cant Get Right" pretty much covered everything. The way I see it, every lesson taught on 7Sage is taught in order to provide you with additional tools to add to your LSAT toolbox. Some of these tools are absolutely necessary, and some may not be.
Don't simply ignore the lessons.

You'll notice that as you get further into your studies, much of what is taught in the lessons will start to come naturally. For instance, when I first started studying, I would consciously and actively locate and mark the premises, conclusion, and context. Now that I've been doing it for so long, my brain naturally keeps track of the aforementioned. Instead of physically marking them on my paper, I do so in my mind.

Don't take practice tests until you are ready. Twice now I have made that mistake, and both times I ended up regretting it.

tanes256

I think you need those logic lessons. You don't have much time so I think it would detrimental to find out later on that you need to go back and revisit. I've had to revisit because I was too antsy and wanted to hurry up and skip forward to the PT and BR. I just ended up wasting time because I had to go back and redo everything because I didn't even know what I was screwing up to try and fix. If you feel confident with your level of comprehension then sure move ahead. You need the logic for the whole test but definitely for LR and LG. If you feel at anytime shaky on anything I would stop and revisit the logic lessons. You need to have the logic down solid because things could get convoluted once you start trying to think about things like premise and conclusion and referential phrasing while also keeping in mind what strategy you should be using for which question type. You don't want to have to stop and think about something like a group 3 or a group 4 rule with all that other stuff. It should be second nature. You're gonna be spinning your wheels if not and burning PT in the process. I'm just speaking from experience. I bet a lot of people could get the correct answers on this stuff without the time constraints but we just don't have that luxury. Do you absolutely have to take in September? Not sure how to go about only have 1 hour day?? That's tough. May sound crazy but maybe make flashcards. I have them just above my keyboard at work. If I'm having trouble with something I'll make sure to jot it down and have my flashcards the next day. Good luck with everything!

danilphillips

I'm in the same situation as you (2 kids, job, house, etc.). I skipped the advanced logic, but spent a lot of time on the basic logic. My husband took the LSAT, got an amazing score, and is an 'advanced logician' in most respects, so he helps me out a lot, and in his opinion, one does not need the advanced logic to do well on the LSAT. This being said, I have found that one of my main concerns now, along with doing PT's, is getting a firm grasp of conditional logic, and how to diagram, invalid arguments/ valid arguments, etc. Without knowing this, I find it impossible to do SA questions. Reading in English and not 'Lawgic' can sometimes get me to the right answer, but more often than not, I just get confused and flustered. (I also skipped RC, and it is my highest section by far! I have my English degree to thank for that)

Cant Get Right

@danilphillips said:
I have my English degree to thank

English major, yeah yeah! It seriously is a powerful background! I’ve read a lot of Faulkner and Joyce and all this referential phrasing the LSAT throws in trying to be confusing is child’s play compared to that. And it’s a discipline that has to cover so many different areas, we’ve already been exposed to a lot of different things that come up in RC. Everything from Economics to Psychology, we’ve probably read at least some basics. I came across a passage the other day that I had actually read the book it was taken from. Can’t ask for a better passage than that! Also, if anybody ever wants to put the RC difficulty into some perspective, look up “Signs Taken for Wonders,” by Homi K. Bhabha. If you can comprehend that, there’s nothing LSAT can throw at you that you can’t just utterly destroy. Also if you can comprehend it, please message me and explain it to me.

Pacifico

Don't place artificial time constraints on yourself. If you have only an hour a day to study before September, then don't take it in September. If you have to take a year or two to study for this before your first take them so be it. Trying to take shortcuts will only lead to a bad September test, likely a bad December test, and then next cycle will be almost out the window at that point anyways.

Studying with small children can totally suck so we just do what we can when we can. Go through the whole process and let it take as long as it takes and you'll be much better off.

Pacifico

Also, use the 1.7x speed on the videos.

MimilaTor

Thank you for all the responses! I really appreciate your support :-) I'll follow your advices and focus on the curriculum until I'm done with it. I want to apply early as chances are better, but if I totally fail the September test... then I will have to reconsider things. Or I will have to reconsider before taking the test. Let's see how the next months go. I don't know how much longer I can keep up with this routine. About the video at 1.7x... English is my second language. :-D Yep, there is that too. My mantra is don't think, just do it. Oh, wait. Maybe that is Nike's mantra... not sure of anything anymore. lol

danilphillips

@"Cant Get Right" - yes for sure, having strong reading comprehension skills helps so much on the LSAT, although it's somewhat discouraging that the section I haven't studied for is my strongest!! haha

Nicole Hopkins

Chances being better (to the point of rushing apps) early in the cycle is HIGHLY overemphasized. I got into NU with $90k as a super splitter off of a February score and an app dropped ON the deadline. I was admitted within 2 weeks of going complete on March 9th.

MimilaTor

Great to know that, Nicole! Thanks for sharing!