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Hello, everyone.
I've done the core curriculum and am (trying) to solve all the LG problems from PT 1-70 but things are not looking up.
I've done 40 PTs so far. This is what usually happens. First, I will try to solve the problems on my own. I will probably get the sequencing and simple in-out games and make all the inferences. On a good PT, three sets with maybe 4-5 wrong. On a particularly bad one I might get two or even one set properly done, missing up to two digits. The latter has been happening a lot and on the September LSAT, I did not fare well on this section and had to randomly guess for about twelve of the questions.
I understand JY's explanations and they have been very helpful. But are you supposedly to go over EVERY single game set with explanations? For me, that seems to be the reality. And even with 40 PTs down, I am not making the leap I had been hoping for.
The Games are holding me back and I have not done anything else for some time. It's making me really depressed, guys. I hope to hear some words of wisdom. Thanks and have a nice one.
Comments
When you fool proof them are you making sure to follow the steps correctly? I feel like being 40PTs in, if done right, you should be seeing some pretty major improvement.
Can you describe your fool proofing process?
It's not entirely clear from your description whether you are doing this or not, but the normal foolproofing strategy is to do the games section or individual game (I did them by section for timing, but individual games might be better at first), then watch the explanation video, and then do the game again on a clean copy. If you comfortably solve the game and make all the inferences the second time, then you are done with the game for then. If not rewatch the video and redo the game until you are comfortable. Then come back to said game the next day for the same process. Usually, you will still remember the inferences and won't need to watch the video that day, but if you struggle with an inference watch the video and redo the game. Then come back to the game a week or so later and do the same thing. This foolproofing takes a minimum of 4 copies of every game and more on games that you struggle with. That means it is at least 2 hours and 20 minutes per game section once you are testing as fast as the real test and some amount of time with the explanation videos.
Basically, foolproofing is incredibly time consuming. That makes sense. Imagine all the time you have spent over the course of your lifetime reading (studying reading comp) or arguing using words (studying logical reasoning). There is a lot of catching up to do for the Games for most of us.
I just retook the LSAT in September after failing to complete the games section in February and primarily foolproofing games all summer to study along with doing some PTs . I don’t know for sure if I did well enough on the other sections since despite the unfinished games I scored a 172 in February which I'm now trying to beat, but I finished the games section and rarely miss many games questions when I finish the section.
Like @"Seeking Perfection" said I think JY describes fool proofing as doing games individually. I just started fool proofing in the LG section of the CC and I am taking it one game at at time. And yes it is time consuming as a mother but like JY said it's going to take a loooong time to get to your goal. It took me 1.5 hours to fool proof just one game board.
So I was basically having a similar problem, however I realized that I wasn't taking the time to draw inferences after drawing the game board and writing out the rules. I would often just rush to the questions because I would try to finish the game on time, however this only hurt my score at the end. This often led me to take a long time on doing games since I would realize when doing questions that I had missed a key inference that could have saved me a lot of time. I honestly think you should try to identify what you are missing or doing incorrectly. Once you do this, you will see huge improvements!
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Thank you for all your input. I've read over all comments and they have given me a huge insight into my problem.
As Jenny said, I was extremely focused on the solving the problems when I should have been focused on diagramming the game! Naturally, few things clicked and I would forget all about the logical inferences. I also feel that I rushed through too many games, not spending enough time going over and re-doing the games that gave me trouble.
I have gone over 30-70PTs and do not intend to go into 1-29 until I have REALLY understood the problems I have already solved. I guess I was trying to rush into things and simply do as many games as possible when I should have invested enough time into each and every one of them.
Can't say enough thanks, guys.
Have a nice day and hope your journey goes well.