Just took my first diagnostic since I started the course on Monday ( the recommended one by LSAC). Boooooyyyyy am I humbled.
153.
-6 LG
-10/-11 LR
-8 RC
Why am I posting this? I guess I would rather have it out there since I was a bit disappointed. 170 is the goal and I am 2 and a half months out from December/ 4 and half from February.
I thought I would have gotten at least a 160 considering I have been averaging about 75 to 80 percent on the Curriculum timed questions. Still, even an at home simulated exam felt a bit different. Those connections weren't coming as easily as they should. That's why we practice. Had to vent. Thank you for giving me the space to do so
Comments
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Anyway- I am going to keep my head up.
A 153 isn't bad at all - especially if you've only been prepping for a week. My diagnostic was a 151 and I was equally bummed.
I would recommend not taking any more full tests until you finish the CC. They won't do you very much good and you'll want to save the full tests for after you finish the course...
Keep working on those problem sets. I would also suggest re-doing the ones that gave you trouble and make sure you do blind review of the timed question sets after you are done. That is where I think I made a lot of my progress insofar as beginning to understand the argument structures of the different question types.
You'll get to your goal! Just keep on keepin' on!
Alex- I feel like that wasn't too bad in retrospect. I just started off so well in logic games ( I got 4 of my 6 incorrect on the last question set), and I assumed I may have had something going.
Also, to be fair, I have been doing on and off studying for the past month and a half ( about 10 to 12 hours per week). It was lazy though. Put many things in front of it (presidential conventions, speeches, whatever sporting event). I have only begun the true studying phase recently.
I expect the 153 is a product of the small amount of time I put in to it. The diagnostics I took back when I graduated college (4 years ago) had me hovering at 149/150.
So for me, I studied around 20 hours a week for the first six months or so. I studied extremely poorly. This was before I came to 7Sage, and I had no clue what I was doing really. I took two LSATs during this time, lol. Needless to say, I was not happy with my scores. I've been on 7Sage for 10 months now, so I guess whenever that was, I started on the 7Sage curriculum. In about March, I became a full time LSAT student. I do not think my improvement since then has been primarily due to the amount of time I've been able to devote to LSAT though. That has certainly accelerated my progress, but it was really the high level study strategies I learned through the 7Sage curriculum and forums that made the difference. This is something I've learned consistently from top scorers: If you're serious about a target score of 170+, you must commit to the process, not to the test date.
I have told myself that I won't let the pressure force me to take or apply for the next cycle. If I don't get the score I want, I will push it back until I beat it. I think I get that now. The law school will appreciate more, and I will certainly appreciate it more when I do apply. So, I will study my ass off for December. If I average out where I need to, I will take. If not, I will push in February and definitely take. If it's not a great score I will complete the process in June.
Also, how do you salvage PT's. I am already going to use 24 PT's spanning from 40 to 78. Are retakes a good idea?