Take a break from full PT or keep going?

J. Tharp

So, unless I just totally crushed it in December and scored 5 points higher than my average score (not anticipating this outcome) I'm going to be retaking the LSAT. That said, I have long completed the CC and have taken about 25 PT. However, I am still failing miserably at LG. I usually can complete 2 and on my best days 3, but I've never completed all 4 games during a timed PT. I had one of my better days during the December test completing 2.5 games, but that's beside the point.

So, obviously I'm focusing on LG. Starting in a week, I'm going to use the fool-proof method on every LG from 1-39. My question is, should I still be taking one full PT every week and BR so that I don't regress on the other sections? Or, should I just focus on LG and start taking full PT again after completing the FPM on games 1-39?

J. Tharp

Btw, I have been taking a break from all things LSAT (other than this forum) since the December test and it has been magical and restorative.

Cant Get Right

@"J. Tharp" said:
should I still be taking one full PT every week and BR so that I don't regress on the other sections? Or, should I just focus on LG and start taking full PT again after completing the FPM on games 1-39?

Just focus on LG. Start PTing again when you feel like you've addressed your major issues. Sounds like you've got a lot of room to improve. As frustrating as I'm sure it is, that's actually really encouraging.

lawschoolstuff16

Take a look at your PTs first, and make a list of your weaknesses. If I was in your position, I would then target those weaknesses either by drilling or just taking section tests, and then trying to improve on those weaknesses. Then, work your way back up to taking full PTs There's no use in moving on if you're not using the PTs to fix what you're doing wrong.

lawschoolstuff16

Also I should add that I've been in this position before, and sometimes even if you've finished the CC that you should try to look at supplementary material that might help explain the fundamentals more. I liked using the power score books I felt that those really helped.

Or, if you're struggling on LG, then you could go through each PT 1-38 (or others, I just like to use these for practice) and finish each game on your own, then see how JY solves them. Compare your notes on what he did right vs what you did wrong, and then do them two more times after that following his strategy.
Another thing to note: I actually tutor the LSAT on the side, and the one thing that I've found with my students who struggle to get through LG is that they fail to make important inferences while mapping it/before getting to the questions. Make sure to make inferences a priority -- they add more implicit rules to your game map and help you fly through the questions.

I also sometimes I find that when it comes to mapping the game that I sometimes need to map it differently than JY does because his strategy just doesn't work for me. This is totally okay to do as long as you're not doing something that's slowing you down, and as long as your map lets you come to the inferences you need and answer the questions quickly and accurately.

Hope this helps.

J. Tharp

@lawschoolstuff16 @"Cant Get Right" Thanks guys! This does indeed help. Maybe I will do one LR and RC section a week of the older tests just to keep fresh, but otherwise focus on LG. I'm doing pretty well on LR/RC, usually -2 to -4, but obviously there is still room for improvement there as well.

I'm actually excited to get started again! But first, I'm going on vacation to New Orleans Then, it begins again.

Creasey LSAT

@"J. Tharp" said:
So, obviously I'm focusing on LG. Starting in a week, I'm going to use the fool-proof method on every LG from 1-39. My question is, should I still be taking one full PT every week and BR so that I don't regress on the other sections?

I had the same problem a few months ago and it was frustrating as hell. For the first 2-3 months of prepping (I began in June of this year) I was going -10 on LG practice sets and averaging 13 minutes per game. In September, I decided to forgo all LR and RC to focus exclusively on LG. Now I'm averaging -3.5 per set and 9.5 mins. For what it's worth, here's a breakdown of my approach:

- I joined 7Sage and watched the CC videos multiple times and recorded notes on everything. I would often pause, rewind, re-do, and re-think the videos.
- I downloaded Cambridge's LG tracker spreadsheet. Source: https://www.cambridgelsat.com/resources/spreadsheets/lsat-logic-games-tracker/. This allowed me to track and see my progress very clearly.
- I retained the original pieces of paper for every game I've ever done, bought another notebook to copy JY's solutions, and compared what I did versus what I should be doing. I did not move on to another game until EVERYTHING made sense.
- For the first month, I ignored the whole aspect of time. I started fool-proofing games individually (no more sets of 4).
- I started small and focused on the easy "1 star" games. I ignored prior advice to focus on particular game types in sets. I intentionally mixed it up so that a basic sequencing game was followed by a basic grouping game, and so on.
- After about 4-5 weeks, I gained some confidence in my ability to accurately diagram every rule thrown my way (minus the hardest tricky "Misc." games) and how to draw the appropriate game board. After this, my speed increased almost naturally.
- I then stepped up the difficulty of the games incrementally, began focusing again on timing, and resumed doing multiple games.
- After 2 months, I had my first -0 PT.
- I follow the same basic method to this day. Rinse, repeat.

Alex

@"Creasey LSAT" said:
I downloaded Cambridge's LG tracker spreadsheet. Source: https://www.cambridgelsat.com/resources/spreadsheets/lsat-logic-games-tracker/. This allowed me to track and see my progress very clearly.

Yeah - I like this spreadsheet a lot.

Also, congrats on making that improvement on LG man!