Self-study
I've taken ~5 practice tests now, with a range of 171-180 and an average of 176 (slightly stronger on LR but not as consistent as I'd like to be for either). I'm really struggling with how to effectively study with the goal of getting more consistent at the high end of my range.
(For context, I took the LSAT a few years ago, was in a similar spot in terms of upper range but low consistency on preptests, and ended up getting a lower score on test day so I'd really like to shift my strategy this time.)
Partly in response to that, I've been focusing heavily on drilling sections + PTs and reviewing the questions I get wrong, which I think is helping but it's a little hard to say -- there are a few times where after zeroing in a question I got wrong that I still don't feel like I sufficiently understand why the right answer is right.
Would really appreciate any general tips on gaining consistency in a high range -- maybe any recs on good bang-for-buck books or forums that focus on the trickiest qs?
Thank you!!
3
3 comments
Are you identifying why you missed each question? What patterns are you seeing? Changing answers last minute? Getting it down to two and not being able to differentiate? Without more specifics, I think key things are keeping in mind what type of language you want for answers to certain question types, how to "double check" the answer against the stimulus, and making sure you are looking at all 5 to help catch if you've jumped on an answer too quickly. But it's hard to say in a vacuum. At the upper levels you're not missing much and it's usually pretty individual from student to student.
@julielamberth thank you that’s helpful! For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed two main patterns — (1) somewhat “silly” mistakes where I don’t read the ACs closely enough but will get it on blind review— the “jumping on an answer too quickly” that you mention and (2) ones where I narrow it down to two answers and really struggle to understand why the right one is right, even with unlimited time — slightly more common on RC than LR questions for me. I’m more concerned about (2) because I’m less sure how to tackle it on my own plus I worry that I won’t get enough reps at those types of really tricky Qs if I just focus on drilling full exams.
@tigerlily with 2, make sure you are connecting to the text. "I know C is right because at line 23 it says this is a problem." Wrong RC answers are generally wrong because they just aren't supported by the text. Think about the scope of the stimulus in LR, what type of language you want for that question type, and how to "plug the answer back in" to double check.