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I just finished CC across the span of about three to four months (very on and off) and did my first timed PT (Prep Test 62) yesterday. I scored a 154 and BRed a 159 (admittedly, I gave up on some of the Logic Games).
My score by section was:
-13 RC. (-6 BR)
-8 LR. (-5 BR)
-10 LG. (I just completely freeze on Logic Games).
-11 LR. (-9 BR)
I got most questions right on the first two RC passages, but I completely ran out of time by the third and fourth which were far harder.
For Logic Games, I plan on using Pacifico's Logic Games Attack Strategy beginning today so hopefully I'll become a lot more familiar with them soon.
I honestly think I'm just straight up bad at LR. It's a huge hit or miss for me mostly and it's all over the place.
I'm just really worried at this point because I really want to attend Law School next cycle which means the November test is pretty much my only shot. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on how to make the most use of my time from now until then? Currently, I'm not working either due to family issues so I have pretty much the entire day to focus on prepping. Thank you so much!
Comments
Don't be. It's hard to put everything you learned into practice perfectly right away. You're like a diamond in the rough right now. You need time and experience to chisel yourself into a shining gem. You need time to slowly put everything you learned into practice. Hopefully, you increased your score from your diagnostic test by a few points, but now is the time to refine your techniques and place things into practice that you've learned.
Go on the forums often and look at other hints and insight on PTs and test taking methods in general. Check out some of JY's live recordings for a good idea how how a good timing and skipping method looks like. I wish you the best of luck.
@Bamboosprout Thank you for the encouraging comment! I'll definitely be looking up other threads for similar advice. I just find it crazy when I think I can spend an entire day wisely and then I look up and the sun is already going down and I feel like I haven't improved at all.
Hahahaha, coincidentally, I just made a comment on another discussion about this. Let me see if I can find it, here it is:
"Don't get overwhelmed, and don't overwhelm yourself mentally. Be sure to take breaks, and have hobbies. Find contentment and happiness in routine, hard work, and slow, systematic growth. Wish you the best of luck."
To succeed in LSAT and law school, I think one has to rewire his or her brain to abscond short term or tangible rewards, and instead, learn to appreciate long term, gradual, and systematic rewards and growth. I honestly think the LSAT has trained me to be more zen, hahahaha. Don't let things get you down because you can't see immediate improvements. Constantly try to improve, and even if you don't see results immediately, believe in yourself that the efforts will pay off eventually.
Take two more tests over the course of the next week. Then classify all of your LR misses by question type. You're likely to see one or two specific question types that stand out above the others. Re-do that core curriculum. Then go to the video explanations for those questions and see if what you learns tracks with the way JY explains the answers on those questions. Those video explanations are, for me, both the best and worst things about 7Sage. They're the best in that they provide a way to answer that one person good at the LSAT solves. They're the worst because they can't answer follow-up questions or provide an alternate approach. Having said that, there are usually follow-ups in the comment section below where people will have asked the same question you have over the course of the last few years.
Also, that 154 is your first timed test. You have nothing to compare it to. It sounds like most of the questions you had time and energy to try you got right. That's great! Speed doesn't typically come from concerted efforts to "go faster". It comes with increased levels of comprehension that allow you to find correct answer choices and eliminate incorrect answer choices more confidently. My first timed test was below yours and I broke 170. It just took an hour a day (not on and off) and a full test each weekend over the course of 5 more months to get the result I wanted. That test is a data point. When you have 10 you can start tracking them. When you have 20 you can start to ask some harder questions of yourself with enough data to back up options.
Do not be discouraged at all. There is a ton of information in the CC. now that you have a basic understanding, take your time through LR, LG RC one bite at a time. I find using the question bank in the resources and narrowing down your area of study is a really great way to study/train. As you keep going through the material your will start to see patterns and it will get easier. Be as consistent as possible this next 2 months, every day plug ahead, you will do this!!!!!!
It's really, really normal to not do your best on your first PT after the CC. I cried after my first CC. My guess is that if you took another PT, you'd do better just because it's not your first try. However, I wouldn't suggest burning through PTs. Also, PTing post-CC is not the final stage of your studying. Now is the time to look at patterns of weaknesses in your PT and drill those. Drill a few concepts, then PT again. Keep up with this process and stay active in the discussion forum. Make sure you are doing thorough blind reviews, too.
This is super great advice. Definitely use the things under the resources tab, and check the analytics. What kind of studying did you do in your 1 hours a day session?
What is your BR process? Are you identifying the conclusion? Do you understand the relationship between the premises and the conclusion? What is wrong with the author's argument? Can you pre-phrase a right answer?
I mean you're taking a test untimed now. So you can do 5 problems, eat a bagel, do 5 more, play some street-ball in NBA 2k, 5 more, etc. So getting -10 wrong in LG means something is not going right at all. LG usually has two relatively easy games, one game of medium difficulty, and one that is reasonably difficult.
It sounds like your process to attacking problems is highlighted your review. This test is not only a test of logic and reasoning, it's also a test of humility. @loosekanen has the right idea, 1 hour a day with a full test on the weekend. Understand why you're missing the problems, and if you don't understand, don't move on until you do.
If you're humble, you'll get it eventually. So...sit down, be humble.
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Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who responded. I struggled with posting this thread initially because there are so many sources out there originally and I'm just one of the thousands of students going through the same process, but all of you are so great and I really hope to be able to give back someday.
@Bamboosprout For sure. The LSAT isn't some magical thing you overcome in one day, it'll take months of dedication and I guess time was just going so fast for me from the time I wanted to take the test until now. I'll definitely have to take things slowly and put everything I've learned into the test over time and get better.
@loosekanen I haven't taken two more tests yet, but I'll certainly be doing so! My Logic Games are the weakest right now and I really hope I can improve soon. I've printed out some of the Logic Games Bundle so I'm planning to start with that using Pacifico's strategy. The core curriculum definitely took me about three to four months, but I also did a lot of it during my senior year as well as a harrowing internship so I don't think I was always in the proper mindset to absorb all of the information. I will have to revisit it for sure. Do you mind me asking how you spent your one hour a day? I want to make sure that I'm using my time wisely as well.
@cdaddario2 Thank you so much! I will do my best.
@samantha.ashley92 Retaining everything from the core curriculum didn't go as well as expected so I will have to be revisiting it soon. For some reason, I thought the core curriculum would have changed things a lot, but it's a matter of practice and exposure. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for patterns of weakness and thank you so much for the encouragement! I hope you're doing great too!
@"Adam Hawks" I completely froze on BR during Logic Games so that's something I need to work on. Do you mind me asking how you did BR? Did you keep a notebook and physically write down why answers were right or wrong? And did you always identify the premise and conclusion whenever possible? I guess I'm not doing it fully or correctly so I'm not learning as well as I should. Also, you're 100% correct. Finishing the CC means nothing if I can't put it into practice and hard work! Thank you for the reminder!
For the one hour a day, that seems too little, unfortunately. If I have the time to spare, which I do now for a bit, do you have any advice on how to make the best use of it? (And you're right on playing street-ball in NBA 2k, I'll just replace that with a bit of Dark Souls instead, haha.) Also, thank you for heartfelt response as well!