* Why it's important to fully answer everything on your application related to Character and Fitness. [ABA Journal]
* In 2001, Michael Lewis wrote this article about a 15-year-old who represented himself as a legal expert on an Internet message board. [NYTimes]
* The Hangover 2 is sued by Louis Vuitton for using fake luggage. [Gawker]
* The 7 books in the life cycle of any president. [The Smoking Jacket]
* I only insert one space after a period myself, but I don't believe that this 1000+ word article on the topic is necessary. [Slate]
"About the LSAT" Video From LSAC
James Lorié, a senior test developer at LSAC, has put together a great PowerPoint video giving a general overview of the LSAT. It's called "About the LSAT" and is just under 19 minutes long.You can watch it on YouTube, but it's also embedded below.
LSAT Diary: Preparing for an LSAT Retake
This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Anne, who retook the LSAT and increased her score from 150 to 164 using my day-by-day study plan!She's got some great LSAT advice for you about she prepared the second time around.
If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
Anne's LSAT Diary:
It took me a while to decide that I actually wanted to go to law school. I had the idea in the back of my head for quite some time, but it wasn’t until the then-current admissions cycle had come and gone until I actually got my act together. I was a 22-year-old go-getting business major with a 3.81 GPA but no real knack for standardized tests or real life law know-how other than taking a few business law classes in which the teachers suggested I might give it a try. I honestly was just good at being a student—and it was this attribute that I probably owe most to my success in my law school journey.
I graduated a semester early from my mediocre-ly good and medium sized private school, and it was then I decided my next “semester” off would be a good time to focus my LSAT studies and get the application process underway. I was still living in a college house with four other friends, and I still pretty much considered myself a student during this time because essentially, I still spent all my time studying, on campus, or working. Most of—scratch that—all of the people I knew took prep courses. In my formative LSAT studying stages, I started researching different prep courses to weigh my options. I did a lot of research.
For some reason I just didn’t want to cough up the couple grand it would cost for a prep course, and saw one of my roommates going to the four hour biweekly sessions and didn’t really feel like subjecting myself to the same thing. I had flashbacks of my SAT prep course back in high school, and how I had wasted the better part of a thousand dollars not really paying attention or getting anything out of it.
Now don’t get me wrong: I’m sure a lot of people reap huge benefits from these courses. Given unlimited funds, I would most likely take one too. It was more the perceived value to me. For me, it just simply wasn’t the right choice. I’m not dirt poor, but I do largely support myself and paying that much for a class would be a stretch. I reasoned with myself, wondering if there was any possible way I could do it on my own. I really did look at all of my options. I was an extremely hard worker, as evidenced by my almost straight A record, early graduation, and working my way through college, and on and on and on. Could I do this on my own?
During my research, I found Steve’s LSAT blog. This is how I finally figured I’d give it a try and see how I did studying on my own. What’s the worst that could happen, right? Find out that maybe law school really isn’t for me? I bought the books and PrepTests he recommended and followed his study plan. I started studying far in advance—February for the June exam. I had the time, and I wanted to build up layers of studying over this period. I intermittently did PrepTests, timed or not, whole tests or sections.
I made myself study pretty much every single day, but tried not to pressure myself other than that. No time restrictions, and to be honest, probably not enough restrictions overall. I was pretty casual about the whole thing, telling myself I wanted something around a 160 or above (I used the free June 2007 LSAT PDF for a diagnostic exam before even cracking open a single LSAT book, and scored something like a 150). I took the June LSAT and was pretty complacent when I received my 159. It was so close… but just not quite there.
I swore to myself I’d never take it again, but I gave it a month or two, asked a few very wise people for advice, and finally decided I’d go for it. I’d always been very ambitious, and the pre-law advisor at my school told me that if I was willing to really crack down, I should go for it. So I did. I was a little harder on myself this time around, making myself do more five section tests, timing myself more strictly, and overall being more realistic. I didn’t baby myself this time, and was more committed to what I was doing. I went over every single question that I missed until I got it (okay… for the most part—and especially logic games), and tried to score more consistently on each test rather than the random 167 mixed in with the 158 two days later. Also, I think I was just refreshed. I had a new take and outlook on the test, and I was able to clear my head.
One of the biggest mistakes I made the first time around was focusing far too much on formal logic. If I have one piece of concrete advice for someone taking the LSAT, it would be not to focus too much on this. Sure, the contrapositive is important and useful, but this only scratches the surface of all the things you could get tangled up in. It’s not that you should wholly ignore it at all, just make sure you get the general idea and don’t worry about the details. I found almost no use for all the studying I did of these sections on the actual LSAT. Additionally, I did not focus nearly enough on reading. I thought “I can read! I don’t need to study this!” before my first test administration. WRONG. You need to learn to get into the head of the author. Become enthusiastic about the passage, just like Steve says. Mark up passages lightly, if that helps. Experiment with pre-reading or not pre-reading questions. In the end, I lightly marked up to save time and didn’t pre-read questions as it increased my time too much.
I also really found myself refreshed and with a new outlook on the wording of questions. I began to think like an LSAT writer, to get inside the head of the LSAT. I would start to pick up on nuances in wrong answer choices such as absolutes (ie an answer choice that states something such as “ALL scientists believe that the ozone layer will soon be depleted” versus a correct answer choice of “The general consensus of scientists at the conference seem to think that if action is not taken soon, the ozone will be in danger”) or wrong answer choices that didn’t refer back to the sources cited in the argument, ie choosing a wrong answer choice of “Aliens will invade the earth” vs. “The astronomers surveyed think that aliens will soon invade the earth” when astronomers were referred to in the original prompt. If you can start to have an eye for small things like this, something will click, and the LSAT will soon become a little bit simpler, if that’s possible.
Finally, I would say my last piece of advice is to go with your gut. I missed many questions on the first LSAT (yes—they give you your entire answer sheet to obsess over after, complete with erasure marks) from changing my correct answers to incorrect answers. This time around, I was a lot more confident. I tried not to change answers too much. Obviously, this comes with a caveat. Definitely go over a section if you have more time. But your first instinct is usually correct.
Maybe it was just having more time, maybe it was the 40-dollar tutor I found on Craigslist and met with once that I’m pretty convinced was actually a homeless man, or maybe it was my refreshed outlook. Maybe it’s because the June test is an afternoon test and the test I did better on was a morning test. Maybe it’s because I had more confidence, got dressed that second time instead of wearing sweats, and believed in myself. There are a million large and tiny factors that changed between the two administrations, but I do know that I simply could not have done what I did without Steve’s blog. It gave me the resources I needed to embark on this journey alone. I took the administration in October, and this time scored a 164, and I’ll take it! Thank you Steve for your tireless work, your response to e-mails when you have never even met me nor received much money from me, and your passion for the LSAT. Your blog has truly been an asset.
Photo by bobaubuchon
Logic and Games
* Answers to a variety of questions about law school. [NYTimes]
* UC Irvine School of Law claims impressive results for its first graduating class. [Reuters]
* The origins of Occupy Wall Street. [New Yorker]
* Data mining comes to the college classroom. [Chronicle]
* A landlord in Cincinnati has a creative excuse for a "Whites Only" pool sign. [Gawker]
* Somali insurgents are on Twitter, and the U.S wants to shut down their account. [NYTimes; NYTimes; Twitter]
* Do you ever feel like Marshall from How I Met Your Mother? [YouTube]
* UC Irvine School of Law claims impressive results for its first graduating class. [Reuters]
* The origins of Occupy Wall Street. [New Yorker]
* Data mining comes to the college classroom. [Chronicle]
* A landlord in Cincinnati has a creative excuse for a "Whites Only" pool sign. [Gawker]
* Somali insurgents are on Twitter, and the U.S wants to shut down their account. [NYTimes; NYTimes; Twitter]
* Do you ever feel like Marshall from How I Met Your Mother? [YouTube]
LSAT Reading Comp Explanations PDF
I've written explanations for over 1,000 LSAT questions.
You can get the full LSAT PrepTest explanations for TONS of exams HERE.
LSAT Video: Hitler Reacts to Getting His LSAT Score
LSAT Blog reader kmalina7 created this great LSAT-themed parody of the movie Downfall and graciously allowed me to share it with all of you:
Please thank kmalina7 and post your thoughts in the comments below!
Please thank kmalina7 and post your thoughts in the comments below!
Logic and Games
* Must-read article describing how ABA requirements keep the cost of legal education high. [NYTimes]
* Did you know that Kim Jong-il didn't defecate? Some fun facts about the Dear Leader. [Herald Sun]
* If the TSA finds weed in your carry-on bag and lets it slide, don't tweet about it like Freddie Gibbs did. [Forbes]
* Great law school exam question: would zombie Abraham Lincoln be eligible for the presidency? [Dorf on Law]
* In case you missed this gem, Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney claims he showered with young boys because "he was teaching them hygiene skills." [Daily News]
* Scientists conduct experiments to determine why some people learn from their mistakes while others don't. [Wired]
* A critical look at Freakonomics. [American Scientist]
* Did you know that Kim Jong-il didn't defecate? Some fun facts about the Dear Leader. [Herald Sun]
* If the TSA finds weed in your carry-on bag and lets it slide, don't tweet about it like Freddie Gibbs did. [Forbes]
* Great law school exam question: would zombie Abraham Lincoln be eligible for the presidency? [Dorf on Law]
* In case you missed this gem, Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney claims he showered with young boys because "he was teaching them hygiene skills." [Daily News]
* Scientists conduct experiments to determine why some people learn from their mistakes while others don't. [Wired]
* A critical look at Freakonomics. [American Scientist]
February 2012 LSAT Questions / Answers
The February 2012 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 February.
Also, if you're looking for general advice on improving in Logic Games, Logical Reasoning, or Reading Comprehension, please note that I've already written plenty of blog posts on these topics and have integrated them into my LSAT study schedules.
Quick request: please leave a name rather than posting as "Anonymous." It makes it easier for everyone to respond to specific comments. Thanks!
Photo by lwr
LSAT Diary: Retaking the LSAT
This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Sarah, who took the December 2011 LSAT and is currently waiting for her score.She's got some great LSAT advice for you about she prepared the second time around.
If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
Sarah's LSAT Diary:
Before I took the LSAT the first time, in October 2011, I was scared out of my mind.
I'm usually a very good test taker: my first time taking a practice LSAT I scored a 163. I set up what I thought was a good schedule, bought the necessary books, and settled in for a solid 2-month study period.
What I noticed as the two months went by really threw me: I was doing worse and worse on Logical Reasoning. I started out with around a -2 or -3 on the section. This, I thought, was very good, but since it wasn't perfect I got out my handy books and looked through them for any tips or tricks I might use to narrow my margin of error. I went through the questions in the book, worked on the LSAT PrepTests, and looked over my mistakes, making sure I understood where I went wrong. The whole time I kept making more and more errors. I went from a -3 to a -5, and at my worst I made 11 mistakes on a single section.
Finally, it was the day of the LSAT. I had done a PrepTest the day before, and scared myself silly because I scored a 159, not finishing the Reading Comprehension section and scoring a -9 on an LR section. I was completely frazzled when I walked in to the test room. When I finished, I was so relieved to have it done and behind me that I couldn't stop talking or smiling for at least an hour.
Three weeks later came the bad news: I scored a 158. This was the worst score I had ever gotten on an LSAT. After a ten minute crying jag and asking the cosmos “why me?”, I pulled myself together, signed up for the December sitting, and prepared to study for a re-take.
This time, I corrected exactly where I went wrong in my previous round of study. First, I did not take enough practice tests, or if I did, I took one section at a time. Second, when I did write a section of the test, I often did not time myself doing it. Third, I did not fill in a bubble sheet when I wrote practice tests. Lastly, I concentrated far too much on the questions in the book, which were NOT actual LSAT questions. This in particular, I think, is what made my score decrease progressively on the Logical Reasoning section.
Studying for the re-take in December consisted entirely of taking timed LSATs. I saw my score in Logical Reasoning, and the test itself, rise considerably. At one point I actually had a perfect LR section, and scored about a third of my tests in the 170's (my highest was a 173), which I never managed to do the first time around.
This time, I walked in to the test feeling nervous, but under control. I hadn't done a test the day before. I had drunk my weak hotel coffee, ate my homemade muffin, taped my picture to the LSAT ticket, and was ready to roll.
What I really want to stress with this whole experience is that re-taking the test is hard, but not the end of the world. If you did not score as well as you had hoped, try again. Try a different strategy, look for a person or a community to help you get through, look at where you went wrong the first time around.This time, you will know exactly what to expect.
Photo by bdorfman
Logic and Games
* UChicago Law posts detailed employment data. [Above The Law]
* A white Forbes columnist writes a column called "If I were a poor black kid." [Forbes, Scientific American, WNYC, GOOD]
* You probably haven't ever been as embarrassed as this TV reporter. [Gawker]
* However, these Fox News reporters face some surprising results on camera, too. [YouTube]
* For the ladies in the house, the latest Ryan Gosling tumblr. [Law School Ryan Gosling]
* A white Forbes columnist writes a column called "If I were a poor black kid." [Forbes, Scientific American, WNYC, GOOD]
* You probably haven't ever been as embarrassed as this TV reporter. [Gawker]
* However, these Fox News reporters face some surprising results on camera, too. [YouTube]
* For the ladies in the house, the latest Ryan Gosling tumblr. [Law School Ryan Gosling]
GROUPED By Type LSAT PDF Download
I've linked to my reviews of each of the GROUPED books below:
LSAT Diary: LSAT Studying With A Family
This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Jon in Richmond, Virginia. He writes:I'm a bit of a non-traditional, 32, PhD in chemistry, married, two (little) kids. I work for a Big Pharma company. Oh, and my younger brother is currently in law school. I very much want to beat his LSAT score (161). Well, I really want to crush it.If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
***
(Quick note: Below, LG=Logic Games, LR=Logical Reasoning, and RC=Reading Comprehension.)
Jon's LSAT Diary:
Day 1:
7:09: Rise and Shine
8:10: The wife and kids are out the door. I toast a Pop-Tart, grab a snack for the kids, pick up my computer bag, and head out myself. My bag is lighter without The Next 10 LSATs book. I finally got a chance to photocopy a couple of games sections. The photocopies are in the bag. I'm going to try to take a couple of ten minute breaks during my day to do a puzzle or two.
5:00: I've been very busy in the lab for the last couple of weeks and today was no different. All morning was spent getting four experiments going. The afternoon was filled with documenting the experiments and attending a meeting that was actually fairly productive. No chance to squeeze in a quick game.
5:10: I took a few minutes to search my email for a message that I have from my brother about his LSAT score. I'm trying to find which test he took. My brother's a 2L at a Boston law school (not Harvard). I have every intention of destroying his LSAT score. I know it's immature, but competition is a good motivator for me. So is shame. He got a 161. I'm aiming for 171+. December 2006. I'll have to find out which PrepTest that is. I plan on taking that test right before my official test in June. He was practicing in the low 170's but only scored a 161? I'll have to ask him about that later.
5:25: I leave work to pick up my two kids and head home for dinner and some family time.
8:50: With the kids in bed and my wife in the garage using our treadmill, I have some time to study. I usually study at the kitchen table, but I'm just not feeling it tonight. I decided to sit in a comfortable chair and review Grouping games. The games are my weakest section in the test. It just takes me too long to to work through them. My chemistry background has trained me to be very deliberate and careful in approaching problems. The time limit's killing me. I've been getting better and am working on improving my pace. I managed to get through a few games.
11:30: I decided to do a quick workout myself instead of getting right to studying after the wife went to bed. Given the progress I made during the early evening, I decide to do Section 1 of PrepTest 34. Ah, reading comprehension (RC). Easily my best section on the test. I whip through it with a minus 2. I'm alright with missing one of them, but I should have gotten the question about the anteaters.
12:20: I decide to call it a night. This is an early night for me.
Day 2:
6:50: My daughter is making sure we get an early start this morning.
8:30: I should have pretty much the same routine at work today. All morning will be at the lab bench with the afternoon full of paperwork. I may be able to find 10 minutes or so to tackle a game.
5:00: I've done all that I need to do today. I'm going to do the first game from PrepTest31. Let's figure out everyone's locker assignments!
5:10: Wow, I zipped through that in 5 minutes. I had done it before, but I didn't really remember it all that well. I'm pleased with how that went.
7:15: I manage to read a few pages of a book about the Seven Days campaign during the Civil War around Richmond, Va while my son is watching Scooby-Doo before heading upstairs to bed. I tell myself I'm doing RC prep.
8:30: I was just sitting down to study when my wife came back in from the garage. She's having some problem with her iPod. It's dead. I wanted a new iPod but it looks like she's going to get one instead. I guess the practice with grouping games will have to wait.
11:30: That's twice. Just as I was getting situated my daughter started crying. I'm at the kitchen table and ready to go again. I'll be really quiet so I don't wake anybody up.
1:00 am: I worked through the grouping game setup exercises and moved onto the first practice game. I have done the PrepTest the game is from already, but the material wasn't too fresh. I made it through the game in about 11 minutes with one stupid mistake. There are 7 or 8 questions so an extra minute or two might not be a real show stopper. It's bedtime.
Day 3:
6:50: This is getting old. I like getting up at 7:10 better.
8:36: My brother's replied to my email about the disparity between his practice LSAT scores and his official score. His story is that some guy next to him was flipping test booklet pages pretty quickly while he was stuck in the same section. He started freaking out that he was going too slow so he started to hurry through his first section (games). It took him a few minutes to remember that the order of the sections aren't the same for everybody. I guess he righted the ship after that, but the damage was already done.
You can only turn the pages a couple of times in the games section, but I guess his mental energies were too focused on the task at hand to realize that. He took the test once before, but he refuses to tell anybody his score. I'm sure that dismal performance was probably on his mind as well.
You can only turn the pages a couple of times in the games section, but I guess his mental energies were too focused on the task at hand to realize that. He took the test once before, but he refuses to tell anybody his score. I'm sure that dismal performance was probably on his mind as well.
Noon: I'm going to take the first 15 minutes of my lunch to do game 2 in PrepTest 31, the CD store. I didn't like this game the first time I did it...
12:15: I still don't like it. I just have a hard time managing all of that information. I'm going to stay positive though. I've found something that I'm not good at so that means getting better at it should help my score. I see a good opportunity to to crack a piece of the LSAT code by figuring this one out. That will have to wait for later. I'm hungry.
4:30: I went to a chemistry seminar today. It was pretty boring (surprise), but seeing that I spend pretty much all of my free time on LSAT prep, my mind shifted into that mode during the presentation. I couldn't help but think about how the figures the speaker was using to tell us about his research were similar to games diagrams. Thinking about it during the talk, I realized that I've been so focused on getting the games questions answered in under 35 minutes that I've totally overlooked the key of the section. It's all about understanding how different pieces of information relate to one another.
I was reminded of instances where I've been stuck on a problem at work. I have all of this data in front of me. I know the answer is in the data somewhere, but I just couldn't see it. By changing how I look at the data, the answer I was looking for just jumps out at me. These games are basically the same thing. Once you take those random rules and put them into an order that really makes sense, inferences and question answers are much easier to find. Maybe I can take what I know about how I like to look at problems and add a wrinkle that will improve my score.
5:10: Back at work with a few minutes left until I have to leave to get my kids. There's plenty of time to do game 4 in PrepTest 31, building a partition.
5:25: I worked through this one with an eye to time and did alright, but after I looked at it a second time, I elaborated on one of my diagrams and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. I looked back over the questions and the answers were very easy to find with my improved diagram. I've known that the setup is key, but this example has really shown me that I need to look for ways to make the rules more visual. We'll see if it helps improve my score. Must beat the little bro.
9:30: With the wife in the garage, the kids in bed, and The Office over, I'm back at my study spot, the kitchen table, to work on that CD store game again.
9:50: After flailing around with the arrows in Logic Games and not making much progress, I tried applying my new insight into arranging the game info into a way that helps me see the connections better and get a better sense of how the different rules are connected. I was using the photocopy that I used to do the game earlier in the day so it was all marked up. My previous work was distracting me when I tried to answer the questions. I'll try it again tomorrow night with a new copy. (I need to remember to take "The Next 10" with me to work tomorrow and make some more copies.)
11:30: I'm feeling a little sleepy and my body is tired from the workout that I just finished, but I'll take a crack at a Logical Reasoning (LR) section tonight just to mix things up a little (PrepTest 34 Section 2).
12:30: I should have listened to my gut and gone to bed. I made some very careless mistakes. That's kind of par for the course for me on this section though. I did better back when I first started studying. For whatever reason, I'm not reading the questions and answer options as carefully as I did back then, and I'm really making some stupid mistakes. I went back and looked at one that I missed. I totally skipped the correct answer choice when I was going through them the first time. On another question an assumption in the argument jumped right out at me the second time I read the question, but I totally missed it the first time. I'm going to chalk this -6 performance up to fatigue, but I'm going to take away the lesson that I need to be very deliberate in my reading.
Day 4:
8:05: I'm sure to grab my Next 10 book so I can photocopy some more games for practice. I've decided that's the only thing that will really help me at this point. Practice, practice, practice.
1:15: I had a few things to take care of before I went downstairs to get my experiments up and running again so I'm really behind. I have plenty of other things to do besides run these routine experiments. I need to catch up on some other work, write an abstract for a poster that I plan to present at a national meeting, and get started on a training presentation that will cover some pretty technical information, but getting these experiments going is my top priority everyday. I could work on my abstract or presentation at home in the evening, but I need all the time I can get for studying. Anyway, there is no time to do a game during my lunch.
5:15: I was able to make new copies of a few games. The photocopier is in a lab where only a few people work, all of whom are already out the door. Using the photocopier for non-work purposes isn't why I'm trying to keep people out of my business. I don't want people to start talking about my plans to take the LSAT. Info like that tends to get more distorted the higher up the management ladder it goes. I don't need to deal with rumors right now. I have enough on my plate. These new copies won't be used tonight though. I have other plans for my study time.
10:00: The wife ran out to buy a new iPod, so I decide to take this rare chunk of time in the early evening to do the second LR section of PrepTest 34. I was ruminating about my crappy performance all day so this is my chance to take another crack at an LR section to see if I can improve on my sub-par performance from the night before. It's still pretty early in the evening so I figured I would be a little sharper. I was in the final few difficult questions when my wife got back home. She didn't say anything to me, but I found it harder to concentrate once she was back.
It was another -6 performance. I don't feel like I made any careless mistakes like I did the night before. I actually resisted the temptation to take the trap answer on a couple of questions and worked to the right answer. Nevertheless, it's less than comforting to be stuck in this range. I just keep telling myself that I have plenty of time. Getting over this hump is probably going to be tough so I just have to keep on plugging.
1:00: I pushed the LR frustration back for an hour and a half or so and did a few practice Logic Games. Improving in this section will be the biggest benefit to my score so I need to keep doing what I can to improve. Like I said in this morning's post, practice, practice, practice.
Day 5:
9:00: Today is Saturday and Saturday always starts with a trip out with the family for breakfast followed by our weekly grocery shopping. These trips are usually pretty crazy, remember my kids are 3 and 1 and a half. This morning is no exception. I was up with my daughter for about an hour while we were waiting for some Motrin to kick in to help her with some teething pain. I was up until 1 studying, up with my daughter from 2:30 to 3:30, and up and getting ready for the day at 7:45. I'm should be alright for a little while, but I'm thinking that I'll take a nap while the kids are napping today. I really need the rest. My daughter needs the rest too. She's stubborn on a good day, but she's impossible on a night after she's hasn't slept well. I'm already looking forward to nap time.
12:30: I was falling asleep while I was watching Scooby-Doo with my son before his nap (I used to watch Scooby-Doo when I was his age, it's a strange experience to watch it again with my own kid.). I'm thinking I need to sleep more than I need to do logic games practice.
4:00: Yes, I did need to sleep. Bless my wife for letting me sleep for 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon!
12:00 am: Most of the night has been spent on Daddy duty. My son is getting a bike from the Easter bunny tomorrow and I need to finish putting it together. I'm waiting for the cheap pump that we bought to inflate the tires to cool down from taking care of the front tire before I do the reat tire. I'm tackling the next grouping practice game. It's about researchers learning new languages.
Day 6:
10:45: All day was spent doing family stuff. I'm hoping to do 4 or 5 practice games tonight. I'm planning on doing a timed games section as part of my diary grand finale tomorrow night. Must practice, practice, practice, practice.
12:45: I worked through the last couple grouping games and two grouping/linear combination games. I've discovered that I'm really bad at grouping games where the position of the variables are not defined. I'm not a systematic enough thinker to work through all of the inferences that are the key to that kind of game. Identifying that weakness gives me something very targeted and specific to work on. I have also realized that I take too much time making sure I have the correct answer. I identify an answer that I am confident in, but then I take another minute or two to convince myself that it's correct before moving on to the next one. I'm losing a big chunk of time in that one activity alone. I'll have to pay better attention to that tendency the next time I do a timed section.
Day 7:
8:30: I had a horrible time getting to sleep last night. Right after I feel asleep, my wife woke me up to help her get my daughter settled. I feel asleep holding her in a glider that we keep in her room. I got back in bed around 5. I got 4 fragmented hours of sleep last night. There will be plenty of caffeine in my day. At least I'll be plenty busy at work.
12 pm: I have game 3 from PrepTest 31 in my bag. I know how to do it pretty quickly, but I'm curious to see just how long it will take.
12:10: It took me 5 minutes, and that's after spending way too much time confirming that I had the correct choice identified on one of the questions.
Midnight: I tackled section 4 of PrepTest 31. I am encouraged by my performance. I only missed 2 that I answered and didn't get to 8 of them. This doesn't sound great, but it's an improvement over where I was a month or so ago. The practice is helping. I skipped most of the first game after not being able to make much headway with the questions. When I went back to review the questions I quickly identified that I missed the key rule. I figured everything out pretty quickly after that insight.
I have a good feeling that seeing my mistake will allow me to identify a similar rule in a game that much faster the next time I encounter a similar game. The practice is already helping (I need to make that my mantra for the next couple of weeks). This process of seeing how the rules relate to one another and how to best attack the questions is definitely coming much faster. I could spend 45 minutes trying to figure out one game a few weeks ago. Now I can usually find the key to the game in a minute or two.
You would think my advanced degree (I have a PhD in chemistry) would help me out in this situation, but the way I think about chemistry is much different than the way I have to think about these questions. I am basically training myself to think in an entirely different way. It's definitely a challenge, but I know that I'm up to it. I just have to keep practicing because...The practice is already helping.
As for my pseudo-score on PrepTest 31, a 163. A solid RC section, two alright but could have been better LR sections, and a not so great but better than I've been doing games section. The score is right where I've been for the last couple of PrepTests, but I feel like my grasp of the test is improving. I try not to worry too much about the score at this point. I only calculate it to gauge my progress and to acclimate myself for how the raw score relates to the scaled score. I'll put more value in my score when I start taking four or five sections in a row. I'll probably have to start the test at 10 pm or so some night. I'll wrap up around 12:30. I'm going to take a couple of Saturday afternoons to take a full PrepTest with a fake experimental section, but as this diary shows, I just don't have the luxury of big chunks of time. That's just the reality of my life.
I still need to order PrepTest 51 (that's the test my brother took to get his 161). I know there are plenty of good reasons to study hard, but I am highly motivated by competition. I'll keep practicing whenever I can find the time. Thanks for reading.
Photo by sterlic
