Self-study
Hi, today I took a practice test and scored a 155, previously having scored 151 and 153, but it has been two months. Am I studying wrong? It is especially frustrating as I have been drilling very well and the score predictions on my drills are averaging in the mid-160s. I really want to take the August LSAT as it will be easier to take it at home rather than at college where I don't have a car. I am a reverse splitter as my GPA is in the 3.9 range (I still need to calculate CAS GPA based on last semester but I got all As and A+s and only one A-). I am okay not going to a T14 or even T25, in fact at this point I just want to be in Chicago. One school I would qualify for their honors full ride if I can get a 161, but even that seems so far off. Can I get some study advice, reverse splitter advice, and August LSAT advice? I feel like I should have improved more, I am especially frustrated because it seems Logic Reasoning has barely gone up at all despite practicing it everyday and going through the core curriculum. It seems every time someone posts about score increases it is either in one month or two years, and a gap year is not an option for me. Even just paying for 7Sage for another year is not an option. Please provide any advice you can!
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12 comments
have you finished the core curriculum completely? i had a 12 point jump from the start of the curicculum (154-157ish?) to the end of it (166-169)
are you keeping a wrong answer journal? this was the biggest difference for me. im working full time and i have very limited time to study, so focusing only on the kinds of answers i get wrong does the most for me. i take one prep test a week, and spend the rest of the week reviewing the answers i got wrong, and what i takeaway from them. on BR i write down my thought process for the questions marked for BR, then i review that thought process against the explanation.
how often do you do drills? i literally do drills whenever i am free and feel mentally clear. on a drive if someones driving me, at work in the bathroom, whenever im scrolling on my phone and realize i feel clear enough to study, in the morning when im having breakfast. then i review those wrong answers too. use the analytics page to see the questions you need to figure out the most.
@ionicinstinct Hi, thanks for the advice!
I haven't finished it completely, I have been going back and forth between that and drilling as I keep getting told that drilling is the way to go, but I'll definitely complete it then. A lot of it was somewhat repetitive as I had done the loophole (not a bad thing though as hearing it twice has locked it in better), but I have begun doing the diagraming while drilling.
Yes, but I'm not sure if I am actually doing it correctly. After a drill I write down what the answer is and why its that in my own words, and I usually flag the questions I get wrong and am confused about to look at with a fresh brain the next day. I don't think I do it to the extent you do which is probably not good, do you have a recommendation of somewhere I can get a better look at what a proper wrong answer journal would look like?
I do them everyday, I try not to do them to much on the go as I get distracted fairly easily and don't love doing it on the phone. Do you feel like it has been helpful to do it when on the go like that? I have been trying to do most of my drills in an environment that would be more similar to a testing environment. I am also wondering if maybe the new games feature would be helpful for on the go? As it is more fast paced, I struggle with flaw and there's a game on that which may be helpful on the go or when my brain isn't feeling clear.
Thanks again for the response and the advice, I am readjusting what my studying looks like and this is super helpful!
@KatrinaFurman
I'll just share what I did. but I actively took notes throughout the curriculum along with the drills that happen alongside it, which is the best part of the curicculum honestly. If I got a question right, I wrote the summary of the lesson down and moved on without watching the video. If I got it wrong, I stayed and tried to understand the logic that made me get it wrong. This helped me move through it faster, especially since I dislike learning by video. I'd really reccommend that and the 7sage cheatsheet for how to approach each question type. https://coda.io/d/7Sage-LSATs-LR-Cheat-Sheet_di5c3yhdxZY/7Sage-LSAT-LR-Cheat-Sheet_sug4mZW-. I look at it before I practice my drills to incorporate the techniques.
I don't have a resource on how to do answer journals, I just came up with my own method. Here's an image of an answer I got wrong recently. on the right are the notes I took during BR (but I got it wrong twice), then my understanding of it thru the video + my takeaways from it, and then things i found interesting from the comment section. I try to phrase in my own words what specific issues I had so they actually go through my head.
Here's another image of my wrong and right answer journal from the curriculum, if it helps.
i stand by answer journals bcs if you self study and cant afford a tutor, they are THE best thing you can do to teach yourself. the amount of engagement it takes to understand how you got just one question wrong is enough to make sure you never do it agian
i do my preptests in a test like environment but i do drills on the go. however i dont let myself do another drill until i look at the ones i got wrong and understand why. otherwise its like continuing to run races when you keep getting stitches from not learning the right breathing technique, you're never going to progress without understanding that first. make it your goal that once you ID one logical error you make to never do it again
I also recommend keeping a written journal for the most important takeaways, especially if you're someone who enjoys journalling. I keep my journal on me and study from it when I'm out at the park or coffee shop at times.
I hope that helps a little bit!!
@ionicinstinct This is so helpful, thank you so much for taking the time to reply and help me out, it truly means so much!
@MichaelWright Hi, thanks for the response and advice!
Is there a way I should structure my scheduling? Ex. Untimed in the morning, timed at night, certain number of questions?
As far as timing, I have definitely gotten slower as I have incorporated diagraming, I am not so worried as in I know that the more I do it the faster I'll get, is there something else I should focus on regarding timing?
Stamina is definitely a big issue for me. Especially on longer sections and full length tests, I really struggle staying focused. I have visual processing disorder and have specific tinted glasses to help with focus (it definitely helps), but I do still feel like I'm really struggling with this and staying focused and clearheaded towards the end of each section. Do you have recommendations as to how I can improve on stamina? Should I do more PTs for stamina, or is there another method I should incorporate? I definitely think I am experiencing test fatigue, but I am not sure what I can do to fix it or help it.
Thank you again! It is very helpful to hear this advice and help clear my brain to solve the problems. I think that a lot of the issues I know internally, but it is helpful to hear it from someone else. Let me know if there is anything else you recommend! Thank you so much!
@KatrinaFurman You're already off to a great start -- over the course of your participation in this post, the way you've articulated the difficulties you're facing has gotten much more precise.
Generally speaking, you practice [blah] by isolating [blah] and doing [blah] intentionally, marking your success in these drills not by # of questions answered correctly but by whether you did [blah] well.
1: I don't have a particular opinion on daily scheduling aside from "be thoughtful and intentional and play around with different configs."
2: See the note on [blah] above -- do timed drills where the pure focus is on spending a certain amount of time on various problems. Like do questions 1-10 of a section in 10mins, then do them in 5mins, then 13mins. Mark success based on whether you in fact took that long.
3: You seem to qualify for accommodations, so I'd recommend you apply for those. Use the extra time to take breaks, or apply specifically for a start/stop accommodation, which gives you (I think around) 30mins over the course of the test of break time you can take at will, even within sections.
are you doing your drills timed?
@andyychacon timing is not an issue, I have timed them and done unlimited yet gotten the same scores on drills, even on my diagnostic I was in time so I’m not worried about that, my issue is more so accuracy on full tests.
@KatrinaFurman I was also told to do drills untimed, do you recommend doing them timed instead? I was told to do them untimed until I got 100 percent every time, is there another method you suggest?
@KatrinaFurman I am literally in the exact same boat and I’ve been studying for a while. My blind reviews are coming back at like 165 but I routinely PT at 150-157. I wonder if I should just start taking a PT everyday since I am taking the test in October?? I also have the same GPA and affordability issues - and Chicago is on my short list of where I want to practice so maybe I’ll see you somewhere up there lol ???
@BettyBishop Kind of nice to see I'm not alone, but definitely feeling for you. Maybe we'll see each other in Chicago haha! A PT everyday seems like a lot since you still have a good amount of time, but maybe it would work for you. I'm going to adjust how I'm studying, especially based on the advice I'm receiving and I am looking into some tutoring as well to possibly help me with the questions I'm consistently getting wrong and for accountability. Good luck to you, hopefully it works out for both of us!