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Hey folks, I figured this would be a not bad place to put this, since I know there are several people here who are in law school / have done quite well on the LSAT. I'm taking the June 7 LSAT. I've been slowly increasing the rate of study, and I'm going to start going into super-cram mode for the next two weeks, I.E. not going to be touching Starcraft, or doing anything SC related, and I'll probably only come on here to check this blog once in awhile.
Anyways, my goal is basically to get anywhere from a 172-175, I'm figuring that's about missing 1-2 per section. I've been taking lots of timed tests and had the following experiences. I'm able to consistently reach my goal in the critical reasoning section and logic games, missing only 1-2 per section. My biggest problem area is the logic reasoning section. I've been missing 5-6 on each section (which sucks because there are 2 logic reasoning sections). In all but 1-2 of them I'm able to get it down to two choices, and usually end up picking the wrong one.
Timing isn't my issue, I'm able to finish all the sections with 2-3 minutes to spare. I'm wondering, to people who have taken the LSAT and done well on it, how did you go about learning the logic reasoning section. I feel like I'm THIS close to "getting it" but I'm missing some fundamental piece that keeps me coming up short each time.
I think uh "parallel reasoning" (like, which one of the following exhibits the same pattern of flawed reasoning) and formal logic problems are my biggest concern, those ones I usually miss outright. Anyways, any general tips on how you approached logic reasoning, or maybe how you overcame some struggles in this section would be helpful. Let me know!
<3
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Braavos36375 Posts
have you been scoring in the 175-180?
i got a 170, and i took maybe 20ish practice tests in the month before (under real test conditions, all sections at once), and i averaged around 175 in the practice tests. performing on the test itself, imo, was harder than my practice. i felt i did just about as well as i could.
if you practice a section at a time, expect to score lower on the later sections because your brain is fatigued toward the end of the test. or, hope the experimental section is the last one 
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Power to ya to do well on the critical reading.
Mini Rant
I took it a year ago and did pretty well on the games (-1)& logic(-2/-2) but got fucking raped on the critical reading (-9) and ended up with a 166. Still got in a decent lower t14 so meh.
Anyway...I took a testmaster course, and they had all these "strategies" that you could employ, but I didn't use 'em. It's a single paragraph so I could just internalize the entire thing with a reading then answer the damn question. Now that I think of it, that's prolly why I performed so poorly on crit read; pretty hard to do with a page long excerpt. Fucking math ruined my reading skills from grade school up through college.
Some Strat
You shouldn't really be getting it down to two choices then guessing...the right answer is usually pretty clear cut. When reviewing your answers, make sure you understand not only why the answer is correct but also why the alternatives are incorrect. It's just as important to understand the whys of both right and wrong.
I also know there are certain types of logic questions...but I didn't really utilize that aspect much so can't help you there.
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Awesome to see that your taking the LSATS!
Sorry, I dont have any input, but I am just wondering what schools you are looking in getting into!
I am a freshman in undergrad right now - hopefully walking down the same path sometime in the future.
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On May 24 2010 14:16 Hot_Bid wrote:have you been scoring in the 175-180? i got a 170, and i took maybe 20ish practice tests in the month before (under real test conditions, all sections at once), and i averaged around 175 in the practice tests. performing on the test itself, imo, was harder than my practice. i felt i did just about as well as i could. if you practice a section at a time, expect to score lower on the later sections because your brain is fatigued toward the end of the test. or, hope the experimental section is the last one
I've been getting between 169-172 on my practices , but we'll see if two weeks of hardcore studying will bump me up a bit.
And ... I guess my top choice would be Georgetown or NYU, since those two places have the best international law programs... although I hate NY with a passsion. I'm just hoping if I get like 172 or something that will be good enough to get me into those schools.
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Georgetown FTW! 
I can't really help other than saying good luck Duran!
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post a specific question that youre having problems with
did you use the thing i sent you at all?? the explanations were pretty good in there
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On May 25 2010 01:30 Hawk wrote:
post a specific question that youre having problems with
did you use the thing i sent you at all?? the explanations were pretty good in there
I am using it =D
gonna take a practice after the Orlando-Boston game tonight... I'll post some questions after that
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got a 173 tonight, only missed 1 on the critical readings, and finally did much better on the logic reasoning... missed only 3 on each section rather than 5-6 that I usually miss. yarrrrrrrrrrr
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MURICA15980 Posts
Haha, I'm gonna LSAT this summer too and take it on Oct. GL dude.
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Braavos36375 Posts
On May 25 2010 00:44 Xeris wrote:Show nested quote +On May 24 2010 14:16 Hot_Bid wrote:have you been scoring in the 175-180? i got a 170, and i took maybe 20ish practice tests in the month before (under real test conditions, all sections at once), and i averaged around 175 in the practice tests. performing on the test itself, imo, was harder than my practice. i felt i did just about as well as i could. if you practice a section at a time, expect to score lower on the later sections because your brain is fatigued toward the end of the test. or, hope the experimental section is the last one I've been getting between 169-172 on my practices , but we'll see if two weeks of hardcore studying will bump me up a bit. And ... I guess my top choice would be Georgetown or NYU, since those two places have the best international law programs... although I hate NY with a passsion. I'm just hoping if I get like 172 or something that will be good enough to get me into those schools.
good luck man, its pretty hard to score as well as you do in practice. if i wanted a 175+ i would expect to get near-perfects on my practice tests, especially if i wasn't taking all the sections in one sitting.
i think you'd have a good shot at nyu with a 172 if you had a 3.8 or higher from a decent undergrad, and you would definitely get into georgetown with those stats
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Hey, I'm also studying for the LSAT right now.
Anyways, it sounds like you're doing all the right preparation for the test (mimic test taking conditions, timed etc). My worst section is also LR, and what I've been doing so far is taking note of what type of questions I get wrong, ie. Weaken, Strengthen, Parallel..., then reviewing those sections in the Powerscore LRB, as well as drilling those type of questions everyday.
Writing down your reasoning for each wrong LR question helps a lot as well. That way, you have a clearer picture of where you went wrong in your thinking, and you can take note of that next time you see a similar type of question.
I'll be taking the October test, and I've been hitting 165 to 170s so far last week. Using my method I've jumped 8 points from my first PT.
Good luck!
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United States2095 Posts
I'm not studying for the LSAT, but I just wanted to say You can do it! I have faith in ya bud
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Just curious, having just wrote the June LSAT, how did you find it? I thought the last question in the reading comprehension to be unusually hard. Really hope there was a generous curve, I thought I did much worse than practice.
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EPT
