The October 2010 LSAT might seem far off, but it'll be here before you know it. What would you like to see on the blog between now and then?Please leave your questions for me (and for each other) in the comments, I'll do my best to answer as many of your questions as possible between now and October 9th.
Quick request: please leave a name rather than posting as "Anonymous." It makes it easier for everyone to respond to specific comments. Thanks!
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Also see previous Questions and Answers posts.
Photo by lwr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Hey Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks for making this blog happen. I am studying for the October LSAT, and finding your blog has really made my study plan an actual plan :)
One thing I could use some specific help on is speeding up my Logic Games speed without sacrificing accuracy. Some points I would love for you to cover (and please tell me if you already have) are techniques such as erasing, what exactly to write down and where, or any additional techniques not covered in the LG Bible.
One of the main reasons I ask about erasing is because the LG Bible is adamant about not doing actual work on your main diagram and about not erasing, but it seems to me that creating a bunch of mini-diagrams slows me down.
Anyway, comments on this as well as any other speed maneuvers would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Craig
Hi Steve - Appreciate very much the time you take to do this. It truly has given my studying the structure it needs.
ReplyDeleteIm studying for Oct LSAT's. I am a little nervous about having sufficient time to study between now and Oct. Im not the best test-taker, thus I feel I should give myself more time to study than the average test taker.
Other than the prep tests, LGB and a one month-long class in Sept, is there anything else you might recommend I incorporate into my studying (additional book, software, flashcards ect..)?
Also, I would agree, as the previous post did, to welcome any tips for improving speed with logic games.
Again, I appreciate your help!
Thank you
Kon
To get the perfect 4 month study period, I should start Monday of next week, correct? The week of June 13.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how many hours a week or a day should I be averaging? I will be using your 4 month schedule and plan to follow it by the weeks that you set out. But about how long should that take me in hours?
Thanks,
Thomas
Hi Steve - thanks for all your work on this blog; it's been really helpful!
ReplyDeleteAs I'm studying for the October exam, I'm noticing that I'm having a lot of trouble improving on the LR section. I keep missing anywhere between 2 and 5 questions per section for LR and can't seem to get that down with any amount of practice. I've used the LRbible already, so I would love any tips on how I might improve...or if I should just keep doing practice sections in the hopes of seeing those scores raised!
Thanks!
Lucy
Hey Steve!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Craig. I would love some concrete tips about how to get faster at logic games. With unlimited time, "understanding" them isn't a problem for me. But under time constraints and pressure, I can seldom finish more than 3 games in 35 minutes. Of course, I'm going to practice practice practice, but I wonder if there are some tried and true strategies for improving speed.
-Jason
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem as Jason above. On June test, I only got through 2 games, they were really hard. I got tutored by your dad,so I don't know if there is hope. Also, the reading comp is a killer. I can only do 3 passages in the time, and struggling with main point and inferencing questions.
Susan
Hi Steve!
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this, really appreciate it. I know the writing sample isn't scored on the LSAT and is just general essay writing but I was wondering if there any helpful hints/advice regarding such as should it be a basic "hamburger" style essay or could we go straight to our thesis as the first section.
Also I second what Lucy said regarding LR however my main thing is Evaluate the Argument questions and Parallel Reasoning. What would be helpful in saving time when coming to those types of questions
Amy
Hello Steve!
ReplyDeleteI have a LOT of LSAT prep material: about 45-50 PrepTests (10 Actual, 10 More, The next 10, SuperPrep and a lot of individual PrepTests), Kaplan's Mastery/Lesson/Endurance/Pacing/Homework (2008), LSAT 180, Logic Games workbook, and PowerScore's Logic Games Ultimate Setup. Additionally, I have complete explanations for the first 53 PrepTests. Plus, a friend of mine is going to give me two Bibles. And yes, I took a prep course in 2008.
My (big) problem is that I do not know where to start and I do not know when to take the LSAT. So, I'm giving myself at least a year to study/prepare. My official score is 138 from October 2010. I'm giving it another try.
If you could create a one-year plan on this blog, that would be great. Please help me to start. Completely lost here!
Thanks,
Leo
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI'm taking the Oct 2010 exam and would like to know how many hours (a day) I should be averaging from now until the exam. I have been reading my paper, a book every 2 weeks, and also completing 50 questions a day. I'm currently working on the reading comp section and am struggling with inference questions.
Is there a more efficient way to approach my study schedule so that I get maximum results with the time I have left?
-Nefertiti
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this. Like everyone else I am struggling with timing and pacing. What strategy do you have for moving through the Reading Comp and Arguments within the allotted time, 35 mins each?
Patricia
@craig
ReplyDeleteGlad you're enjoying the blog!
Don't erase. Mini-diagrams are worth it. It's very difficult to hold everything in your head, and you want to be able to refer back to work from previous questions.
My blog is full of tips and strategies not covered in the LG Bible. Some of them are in the explanations for Logic Games I've written.
@konkastens
Do everything you can to be ready by October. Otherwise, postpone to December.
I do have other book recommendations.
@Thomas
Full 16-week study period (for my 4-month study plan) starts 6/19.
Do whatever is necessary. Everyone requires different numbers of hours. 15-20 hours/week may be sufficient.
@Lucy
Glad you're enjoying the blog! I've written plenty of Logical Reasoning tips and will continue to write more. Poke around, read them, then practice more.
@Jason
Yes, there are. See my response to craig.
@Amy
See my LSAT Writing Sample tips. That's all you really need to know.
I'll cover those types of questions more between now and October.
@Leo
I'll probably write a 1-year plan eventually.
Until then, look at my LSAT study schedules and modify the 6-month schedule to include more PrepTests and expand it to 1 year.
@Nefertiti
See the link I provided Leo above for study schedules.
Everyone requires different numbers of hours. 15-20 hours/week may be sufficient.
Here are tips on Reading Comp inference questions.
@Patricia
Glad you're enjoying the blog!
Here are some tips on speeding up on Logical Reasoning and Reading Comp.
Steve -
ReplyDeleteJust stumbled on the blog last week and really enjoyed it. You affirmed a lot of what I thought about my 4 month schedule (taking it in October).
I guess my concern is that I'm "wasting" more recent tests by doing practice problems out of 29-38 instead of 19-28. What's your response to that? Also, how do you feel about doing practice problems for LG and LR (with the bibles) from 19-28 and then using sections from 29-38 to create experimental/extra sections while testing 39-60?
Your idea is fine. I wrote it this way because most people aren't going to want to do 20+ timed PTs.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to, that's great. Just be sure to space out the full-lengths so that you're not doing most of them on consecutive days. Wouldn't want you to burn out.
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI have already studied for the LSAT since last January (on and off). I have taken all the practice tests available starting on number 29. On my practice tests, I was scoring on the 165-175 range; in essence, I was fluctuating too much and wasn't too comfortable taking the June LSAT, which I ended up canceling. Seeing that I have already taken a number of tests, what can I do to prepare for the October LSAT? I have already gone through the bibles, but in all honesty, they don't help much. My performance on the logic games varies with the type of games I get on the test, so the LR Bible doesn't help much. I usually miss only 1 or 2 on the logical reasoning, and surprisingly, my performance on the reading section has gone down: I am missing 5 or 6 whereas before I was not missing any or at most, I was missing 1 or 2. What do you recommend I do to prepare? After all, your four month study plans cover material I have already seen. I would greatly appreciate any tips I could get.
Best,
Pierre
Hi, Steve
ReplyDeleteI need the most help with Reading Comp. I came to the conclusion that I am only able to complete 3/4 but I NEED to get all of them correct in order to dramatically improve my grade. Any tips???
Hello!! I was just searching on your blog trying to find some help with conditional reasoning. I've already gone through the Logical Reasoning Bible and I'm over half way through the Logic Games one, and I have a small understanding on the concepts, but I feel like I need to better understand it-- I'm about to search on the web, but you just spell things out so plainly I figured it would be best to ask for your help!! I have the most trouble differentiating between sufficient and necessary conditions-- I can define them but I do not truly understand this-- any help would be greatly appreciated!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all of this!!
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all all of your responses.
I'm working through the LGB and although I find their way of boxing variables and making inferences/deductions helpful, I'm not convinced that diagramming right next to Local/Specific questions works for me. Contrary to what the book says, I usually find less space near these questions for diagramming especially when the question could require hypothetical plug-ins in order to get a correct answer. (See Game #3: June 2003 Questions 1-5).
I took a quick Princeton Review course, but found that I was still struggling with completing the games in a timely manner (only getting through 3 per section). Because this is a concern, do you think I would be compromising my learning and pacing potential if I stuck with a chart for diagramming?
Thanks.
Hello Steve!
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else, I greatly appreciate the work you do here. My question is along the same lines as Pierre's. I took the June LSAT, but I still plan on retaking in October. I still have quite a few PTs I can do, but I have already completed most of the LRB and all of the LGB (twice!). I'm not sure where to go from here and how to start RE-studying...!
Also, I see a lot of people asking for timing help on Logic Games. Your recommendation to do sudoku in my spare time definitely helped with my speed and accuracy for LG!
Thank you so much for everything!
Glad folks are enjoying the blog!
ReplyDelete@Pierre and @Nicole - Check out my retakers' study schedule.
@Nicole - speeding up on LG comes from mastering and applying strategies
@Erick - tons of Reading Comp tips on the blog.
@hkinsaul - check out the outlines. I've done several posts related to your questions.
@fmbrooks - you have to do what works for you. I like drawing locals next to the question, but if you want to do everything at the bottom of the page, and you can do this without compromising accuracy or efficiency, that's fine. Do what feels right (that's a good principle for life in general, actually).
I had a question related to the LSAT, but not about its content. I’m wondering why LSAT scores have a five-year expiration mark to them? I understand that the scores are valid for five years, but I am wondering why; is it assumed, for instance, that a person’s cognition changes after 5 years so that a score outside the 5 year range could not accurately measure an applicant’s present skills?
ReplyDeleteThere needs to be some sort of cutoff point at which scores expire. I mean, the line does need to be drawn somewhere. Cognition abilities CAN change over time (for example, if someone does a lot of drugs and losing some reasoning ability).
ReplyDeleteHi Steve and thanks. My name is Patricia btw. Firstly, thank you for making this blog! Secondly, I am starting an intense 3 month schedule tomorrow, I've been studying (barely) on and off since December of last year. And while I don't totally suck, I'm not that great either. I typically get the work done with proper explanation and examples. And I am able to get things done in a short amount of time and remember the strategy. So my question is does the three-months give me enough time to study? I plan on completing practice exams and study questions between times but I fear my procrastination these past months will somehow hinder me. Am I right? Or is it just nerves? Any tips would be helpful, especially about Logic games. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia,
ReplyDeleteGlad you're enjoying the blog! There are plenty of LG tips here. Poke around a bit.
There are about 14 weeks until the October LSAT. You have plenty of time to get ready, regardless of previous procrastination.
Hey! Great Blog!
ReplyDeleteI'll be taking the LSAT in October 2010 and I'm at a loss for what to do. I have the LGB as well as the LR Bible and my plan was to understand the fundamentals for June and July and then do some intense practice tests in August and September. Its already the second week of July and when I do LR questions, some of the harder ones especially, I'm finding that none of the techniques are really concrete enough to work for me.
I seem to keep resorting to my own methods because the recommendations by the book are so many and yet they don't seem concrete enough to work as a technique for each question type. Ex: In Must Be True questions, they recommend you to "paraphrase, restating portions of the stimulus in different terms". That just sort of seems logical, not exactly a technique.
I've reviewed the book twice, made small flash cards of the main ideas for each question type, but there doesn't seem to be any improvement. Should I figure out a different way to approach these questions?
Thanks so much! Any help would be extremely helpful!
Thanks Steve!
ReplyDelete-Patricia
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI have been working through your 4-month plan (it has kept me sane and made me realize that I can conquer this exam) and just finished doing Grouping and Combination games. I did all of the relevant games in Preptests 29-38, and then did them over again because the concepts weren't coming to me as easily as with Linear games.
From reviewing my wrong answers, I frequently miss Global Must Be True questions. I suspect that this means that I am missing several key inferences in my diagram set up. From the Grouping Games I have done on your blog and in the LGB this is consistently the case as I am missing one or two inferences in the diagram, according to the answers. After reviewing I understand the presence, but upon encountering a new game I can't always "see" all the inferences.
Essentially, do you have any tips about how to look for inferences beyond the stated rules, to make the most complete diagram possible for grouping games? Or is the only way to improve on this to keep practising?
I appreciate your help and thank-you so much for this blog. I have recommended it to all of my friends taking the LSAT in October and even to some of my friends who aren't taking the LSAT but really like Arrested Development.
Hi Steve!
ReplyDeleteIf you have time can you please check out Game # 2 from October 2004 test, questions 13-17. This game is in the LG bible, page 153.
Even after reading the explanation I feel as though there is a mistake in the game. For instance, last rule explains "the site visited third dates from a more recent century than does either the site visited first or that visited fourth".
By stating the words 'either' and 'OR'..I thought it meant that the 3rd site only has to be a more recent date than the first site, or the fourth site, but not necessarily both. However the explanation says that due to this rule "the first and fourth sites cannot date from the 10th century" ..meaning the most recent. I would think this is not necessarily true, and that atleast one of them could be 10 since the 3rd site only had to be more recent than one site (either first or fourth).
The second part of this game that confuses me, is the last question which asks how many sites at most could be discovered by F?
It is clear looking at the diagram that the max by f is four. However, I assumed that due to the numerical distribution of 3, 1, 1..that F could only discover 3 sites max. (If he discovered 4 like the book says, than what about O? Does O not need to have discovered any sites even though the game scenerio states "each site was discovered by exactly one of the following archeologists, F, G, O".
Sorry for this LONG post, just sitting here baffled. If you could even re-direct me to someone else who could answer the question, that would be great!
Thanks!!
Hi Steve!!
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the book Master Th LSAT, how do you rate it?
Thanks a lot!
I absolutely love your blog!! It is sooo helpful, especially as I am a Canadian currently living abroad and taking the LSAT from abroad. This means that even if I wanted to do a prep course in person, I couldn't. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across your blog! I don't know if you have had any other people who use your blog who are taking their test overseas, but it is a difficult process! For example, in the UK there is only one testing centre for the entire country, in London. Aberdeen Scotland is about 8 hours away from London. I have to spend tons of money just to get to the test centre, and I also can't really visit the testing centre before I take it because it is such an ordeal in the first place. I don't know what this long rant was about but I basically just wanted to give a voice to all those taking the LSAT in overseas locations and possibly running into the same difficulties/inconveniences that I am. But thank you once again for your blog which makes it so much easier to study in the middle of nowhere in Scotland!
ReplyDeleteMy question is, why are some of you taking the October exam, and should I be following suit?
ReplyDeleteI am debating about taking the October exam. I have a diagnostic score of 155, and I think I could get my score higher within a month. Taking the October exam allows me to apply to schools with rolling admissions sooner, boosting my chances of getting admitted.
On the other hand, is it a bad thing to wait until the December exam? I would love to have more breathing room and hopefully, I can study well enough that a late admission won't even matter!
Thanks a lot for your opinions in advance!
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThis blog has been godsend, I've been following your 4 month schedule since June.
I started on PT 1, just got done with PT 11. Should I expect a drop in my scores when I'm done with test 18 and I jump to test 39? If so, how can I compensate and adjust?
October 9th test 2010 vs october 12th test
ReplyDeleteAre they the same test? If so what would be a good forum to check Saturday afternoon? Maybe one where a test taker would post results hints or tips?
lsatfailure@hotmail.com
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteSo I've been taking the practice tests for two weeks now on and off. And my score was actually rising at the beginning from 163-165- 168 and then 171 !!! (test 51)which was the highest score I achieved. (those were all 5 section tests) And then I decided to do a 6 section test, which turned out to be around 163. Since then I've been unable to get back up to 171. Even though I have stopped taking the 6 section tests and focused only on the five sectioned ones. I have been consistently at 165ish, which is annoying because my score was 163 without any committed studying and adequate preparation- the first time I took the lsat. And this time around I've prepped way more. I've been finding the logic games in tests 56 and 58 (the more recent ones) especially difficult for some reason. And the reasoning questions I'm getting wrong don't seem to have a pattern. Do you think it would look very bad to law schools if I took the test on sat and it turned out to be the same score as last time? Have you come across instances like this where people seem to be increasing their score, take one test where their score decreases and then cannot increase their score again? Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Do u have the answer key for oct 2010? Can u please email me or post online? Thank youuuuuu!!!!
ReplyDelete