- Sat Mar 02, 2019 7:13 pm
#63138
Little embarrassing... forgot i had this up lol. I promise I didn't quit after just a few posts, I was actually do this on TSL. TSL seems to have little to no activity, and Dave just commented on my Reddit post which reminded me of this. I'm just gonna copy and paste all my posts, the formatting will probably be weird. Please don't pay attention to grammar, each post is immediately following a PT when my brain is fried.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Fri Dec 07, 2018 12:31 pm
I might just turn this thread into my lsat story for my own personal motivation. I will not disappear. Anyways, I took another practice test, the first one in 2 or 3 three months. 150 lol. I had taken three before, but for this one i actually included an experimental section as well as a proctor. I completely froze on games and didnt even get to attempt the last one. It was crushing at first but i honestly feel great again. I plan on taking a test a weekend until Jan then I will be taking minimum of 2 a week. I'm pumped. Feels like I have been waiting months to finally start consistently taking PTs. I plan on taking em all.
Hoping all those who took in November did well.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:42 pm
QContinuum wrote:
It sounds to me like you should be focusing more on mastering LG first instead of just brute-forcing your way through whole PT after whole PT. You aren't yet at the stage where that might help. Since you're shooting for the top, you must focus on getting your LG to -0 consistently. So long as you're still at risk of freezing on LG, you shouldn't be just drilling PTs. You have more work to do first to master LG.
Ugh thank you!! I had a small suspicion of this but really wasn't quite sure. I should have asked this, but I am glad you pointed it out. It seems like most people are doing the 7 sage method or something similar. I'm definitely gonna start focusing on drilling. I've read different methods for what to use for drilling, some say PTs 1-40 for drilling LG, I've also seen 20-50 in a few threads. Do you have a recommendation or a number you see often? I'm about to buy all of the prep tests I don't currently have off amazon. Also, im guessing that people use all of these PTs for drilling? That is, they don't simply disregard the other sections that arent LG?
I also took another practice test last sunday before I read this. I got 151. never feels good seeing these scores but I'm gonna celebrate every gained point no matter how small. I did slightly better on games as i was able to start each one, but again, i feel so mentally fatigued by the time i get there I just cant get my setups right. Once I am fresh and review it seems so obvious. I also wasn't able to reach the last RC section. On my other PT i finished every section with time to spare, other than LG, while with this one I didn't finish a single section on time. I think I'm gonna stick with the slow approach.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Wed Dec 26, 2018 11:59 am
Last Saturday I took another practice test and scored a 161 on Dec 1999. This score was actually inflated as I had already taken the first two Powerscore practice test packets, and the last LR section I had already done in one of the previous Powerscore tests. Nonetheless I was really happy. The advice to focus on games is so golden. I spent a week fullproofing the two previous Powerscore practice test LG sections as well as the LG from pt 8 and 9. I still got 8 wrong on the section but it was such a confidence boost to be able to attempt them and figure out my errors easily through blind review. Even without the inflation I still had my best scores yet for all the sections. I think this was most likely due to the confidence boost I got, LG was section 1. I definitely plan on full proofing every game out there, it is beginning to be my favorite section. I don't think I have technically 'cracked' 160 but I definitely hit a jump and a better mindset.
Jan is when I will have a lot more time to devote to 2 PT's a week as well as more lg mastering. I can't wait!
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:14 pm
I'm back! Was at a wedding last week and with the Holidays I couldn't do much. I'm taking in March and kind of figured the Holidays and wedding to be my last times drinking and staying out late.
I took another practice test yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to score a 162. It feels really good to finally break into the 160's since my first time was inflated. I was shocked too because I bombed games. I thought I was improving but I just took another step back. My plan was to take another practice test this Sunday which would give me Thursday Friday and Saturday to review and make up for lost time during the holidays, but now I think I will focus on games. The sections for the test are below:
LR: +41, -9
RC: +21, -6
LG: +13, -11
Pretty abysmal for LG honestly. I am yet to get below -8. Everyone says it is the most learn-able so I am considering just focusing on drilling it only for the next week in hopes of getting it to at least less than -5 on my next test. By test day I need it to be -0. Anyways, for the guy suggesting I lower my expectations I totally get it. Statistically it is a very rare thing to do to improve that much. To be honest that is the sort of person I am. I just grind things out. In high school I got horrible grades and in college I just decided I would be the hardest working student there and ended up with great grades. My intellect is completely average but I am very proud of my work ethic. I just claw and scrape my way to whatever goal I have. At the very least I have to believe this if I am going to reach my full potential on the LSAT, even if it doesn't mean I can get 170. I honestly believe that even though I don't have the dazzling diagnostic that most high scorers start off with, with lots of hard work I can raise my ceiling to match those 170 scorers despite an average start. Anyways, sorry for rambling, I hope whoever reading this had a nice holiday.
As always, thank you for any suggestions , advise or encouragement!
This was Oct 2000 btw.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:18 pm
I just finished another PT around five minutes ago (DEC 2000). This time I got a 161. I got -6 on LG which is a huge improvement for me. I spent nearly all week working through 1993-1995 logic game sections. Still not where I want to me but I'm liking the trajectory. This test was slightly frustrating.. I've been taking them all in the library and during my reading comp section a man next to me fell asleep and starting snoring extremely loud. It was sort of funny but then people came over and tried to wake him and couldn't. People were actually dropping books from eye level and yelling in his ear in order to wake him up and stop his snoring. It was honestly pretty funny but distracting none the less. I got my one of my worst RC scores thus far and got -4 on the last section when everyone was trying to wake him up right before my break. Pretty funny honestly.
I was hoping for a score increase but at least I am figuring out my average. I think someone UBET, the lsat tutor posted above that i should learn the different LR question types. I actually think I have those down pretty decent to be honest. I'm usually good at recognizing I just make silly errors or don't process something correctly. I am also still skipping parallel reasoning questions if they arent in the first ten and don't always have time to get back to them.
A couple of random thoughts, as I am working on mastering the beginning LG sections I get a little frustrated because I always do well on 3/4 of the sections until I come to a game that just seems so strange and is unlikely to come up on future lsats again. I always do worse on them but I try to include them in the reps anyways, I figure it can't hurt and could possibly come up again.
Another is that I've actually been taking all my lsats in public libraries. I've come to learn that there are a lot of interesting people who tend to come through and a lot of times can make some interesting noises that they don't realize are loud. I actually sort of like it (Excluding the sleeping man) as I think it helps to create distractions. The only issue is they don't open until 10am and my test is at 8. From now on I plan on waking up at 6 to mimic the time it will take to eat breakfast and drive to the testing center. This means I'll be testing in my apartment though and will no longer have the quite noises of the library.
I've also noticed how much my diet affects things. I'm pretty big into weights and for the last two months was cutting. I was heavily restricting carbs and this past week I actually ended that cut. I made sure to eat hasbrowns this morning before my test and it is remarkable how much more endurance I have. Normally as soon as I am done with a test I grade it and speed out the library but I think I am going to go ahead and review a section or too. Maybe it's just by endurance building up naturally through repetition, more score didn't really reflect it. I think I will still stick with carbs in the mornings anyways.
Sorry for rambling, my head is always weird immediately following test. Thx for reading if you've made it this far!
LR: +38/-12
RC: +19/-9
LG: +17/-6 (-4 were all from one game)
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:16 pm
Yesterday I took June 2016, I sort of skipped ahead. I plan on doing around 1 pt every 10 days or so, so continuing to do the early 2000's seemed a little silly when I am taking in March. I will save a good amount of the newest ones in case of June or July as well. This way I can keep taking PT's and keep mastering games in between. I ended up with 163, as I've said before I will celebrated every point earned! Below was how it went.
LR: +39/-12
RC: +22/-5
LG: +19/-4
By far my best LG score yet! I didn't sit in the library this time which was nice but the wifi got stuck so for one section my online proctor couldn't work. Luckily I realized this and just ended as soon as my watch said 35 mins so I don't think it really had an affect on my score. I'm now pretty much two months out and I told my self I would start to take my weekends very seriously from this point on. Before I had really slowed my drinking and staying out late but was still spending Fridays/ Saturdays usually doing something with friends. From here on out I think I'll replace that with a second study session in the afternoon. I think I'll be able to review tests quicker and add more supplemental drilling for games and LR that way.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Sun Feb 03, 2019 12:22 pm
Woa... Just took June 2014 and got a 156... Really kind of hit me hard when I saw that huge dip. I prefer to blind review without seeing how many I got wrong each section but I couldn't help myself and I did much worse across the board in all sections. Immediately went and looked at just the logic games portion and looking at each answer could identify a dumb mistake I did. Definitely a mental battle coming back from this test but I am not deterred. Just telling myself it is a data point in the overall experiment and not indicative of my skills.
Gonna brush myself and make sure I review a section today.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:19 pm
I just took Sept 2014 and scored a 159. I met with my tutor since the last test and he thinks there is a reason my score has been dropping. My test on March 30th is scheduled for 8 am. All my previous tests had been taken between 11am to 1pm. He thinks that since those are the hours I typically am productive and am studying/taking tests that my body isn't adjusted to the earlier time. My last test when I scored a 156 was the first time I had gotten up at 6am and mimicked the timing of test day and took it immediately at 8am. I did the same for today. I'm sort of skeptical of this as much as I hope it is true. Does anyone have any experience with this or heard of how earlier test times can affect scores? I can't seem to figure out why I am back in the 150s and it's becoming a source of anxiety as I am only a month and a half out. I definitely wanted my scores to be higher when I planned out my study schedule so long ago.
Thank you,
Also, my tutor points out that the earlier test time may be an advantage. If his theory is true and I can adjust my body to the earlier time he believes that most of test takers who have been studying have not been consistently practicing that early and that the time will throw them off. Could this be true too?
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Sat Feb 16, 2019 12:19 pm
Took DEC 2014 today: 161.
LR: -11
RC: -7
LG: -8
Thought I honestly did worse on games. I am so inconsistent at it despite giving it the most attention by far. I think I'm worse at grouping games than sequencing so I will giving those way more attention this week. I haven't been posting much I've recently had a lot more going on in my personal life. I promise I am not losing steam for this test. I'm beginning to think I will take March with the mindset to do as best I can and that if it goes well, then great. I will probably retake in June anyways as I will have a few more months to study. If it doesn't go well, same outcome regardless in June.
On reddit I've been seeing a lot of people post their acceptances. very exciting stuff, you can't feel but feel happy for someone when they get the offers they worked so hard for.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Sun Feb 24, 2019 3:35 pm
FINALLY. I cannot tell you how pumped I was. I have spent the last two weeks driving myself insane with logic games. there are around 4 or 5 games I have done twenty times now until I could get it within the recommended time that the 7sage instructor recommends. These past three weeks have been the hardest I have ever worked. I can honestly feel the onset of burnout coming but I just cannot allow myself to walk into march 30th without having a consistent 165+ score. I would go into more detail about all the stuff I have been doing but right now i am just going to try and take an hour off after this test. I think it would take me a while just to summarize it even and i feel completely fried. Diet has definitely been helping though. I make sure to eat at least a gram of protein per day per pound and I really think it helps with my endurance like I mentioned earlier. Working out in between studying seems to offer mental bursts as well. Here's my breakdown of Dec 2015
LR: +42/-9
RC: +24/-3
LG: +19/-4 i got -3 on the last game. Seemed more like a prep tests 1-35 problem, I was bummed it took me so long to understand it, was only able to get a few quick ones before time ran out.
I don't understand my progression at all. All I seem to do is jump back and forth. I Don't remember my tests exactly, I think I've taken around 25 now, but I went from a 148 diagnostic, to 158 after something like 3 or 4 months of studying, then back down to 151, then I think I took some time off and came back and was scoring 161-163, then all of a sudden went back to 156 (had anxiety for two weeks straight cause of that one) then all of a sudden 167??? I'm too tired to try and analyze a pattern or anything but this seems way different than the traditional lsat taker. When I have some time i'm gonna try and look into it more I really am just so confused.
Edit: I also just realized people might think im lying about this score. I promise I am not, I have no problem being embarrassed by low scores. The whole reason I am doing this is for the helpful feedback, which I have gotten a ton. Most of which was telling me to focus on games. Lying would ruin this whole thing for me and I'd get no benefit.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:17 pm
I'm drilling today and I just realized something that seems to have totally changed for me even though I have read this advice a thousand times. I'm going through LR and RC with the same speed and precision I do with BR. I approach every single LR question the same and as I read make a mental note (as well as a light underline with my pencil) of what the conclusion is and after reading the entire thing I sort of look back to the conclusion and locate the premises before and after. I then read the question stem (and identify) and double check to make sure I know If I am adding information from the top down or going through the answer choices and from the bottom up. It's way slower but it really is like what everyone says, after a while you just improve your fundamentals and it allows me to now finish the first 15ish remarkably faster. I've seen this advice a million times but it seems to finally be setting in. Before, I would never finish because I would also miss 1 or 2 in the first 15 and skip the parallel reasoning questions, which I would rarely have enough time to go back to after. Yesterday I only missed 1 question in the first 15 between both LR sections and so far in drilling today I haven't missed any. I pretty much do the same thing for RC honestly and I also seem to be doing better. It's like something weird has clicked or my endurance and speed have gotten better and I have the mental capacity to do this on all the questions now. I honestly feel refreshed all of a sudden and am able to BR nearly a whole test in a day while in the beginning I had trouble BR'ing 1 RC or LR section. I really feel like I'm having my breakthrough. I don't have the time to take 2 PT's a week due to personal stuff, but I'm gonna make sure I get a lot more drilling in and capitalize on this new wave of confidence.
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Re: Taking any/all advice, suggestions and direction
Postby Shredzeppelin240 » Sat Mar 02, 2019 3:08 pm
Just took Sept 2016 and got 167 again:
LR: +41/-10
RC: +25/-2 jeez by far my best but i did think it seemed like a particularly easy one
LG: +19/-4 Virus game!! I had seen it in threads everywhere but I didn't think it was that bad when I was doing it? It's just a harder sequencing game. I must've made an error somewhere that hurt me on multiple questions.
Edit: Is it just me or are older patterns repeating themselves on newer tests? I keep getting ones I feel like I never saw in the mid 2000's. All these weird sequencing an ordering games. It makes sense as I feel like Lg is just so mechanical now that they might want to throw off test takers. Kind of annoying though. Also just just realized 8 of my errors were on the first LR section. I feel like my mind always needs warming up and that is always my worst section. I guess i need to keep waking up early to start studying as to get my mind adjusted to being productive earlier.
