I just came here to vent, but also look for help. I've been studying since last August, and it feels like I'm stuck in the same place. I've read the books, I've done the wrong answer journals, and I did the fundamentals on 7Sage, but it feels like nothing is working. On the drills, I feel way more comfortable, consistently getting just one or two wrong depending on how many, and even level 4/5 questions I get right every time. My diagnostic was a 148, but since then I've only had PT scores that are 153-155. Whenever I do sections for LR, I get about -9 to -7 on the first go, but on my Blind Reviews I'm consistently getting -3 to -2. The same goes for my PTs, where my blind reviews have been improving as I went from 165 to now scoring consistently in the 168 to 170 range. I've spent months trying to close this gap, but literally nothing is doing it. I'm already taking a gap year and plan to test in November; however, with my new full-time job, it's even harder to study. If I wasn't improving before, I don't see how I would now with this new schedule. At this point, I want to give up.
Has anyone felt this way? What are some tips, and how did you close your gap or motivate yourself?
14 comments
I've been there. First, make sure you're not burning yourself out... maybe take a week off just to reset. Second, the one thing that has really helped me is learning how to flag and move on with questions that I'm unsure about. For these, I pick the answer that first stood out to me (my gut reaction), flag, and go on to the next. This way, you still have time to get all the questions you do understand correct, and then if you have extra time, you can go back to the flagged ones. Even if you don't end up having time at the end, you at least know that you were able to read all the questions without panic-guessing at the end—ensuring you get as many right as possible. Not only that, this strategy has been super encouraging for me because I've found that, more often than not, my first instinct on a tough question was correct, and overthinking made me choose the wrong answer. My mid-170s BR scores prove that I know how to do the questions, but the timed conditions stress me out. This strategy has boosted my confidence a lot and made sure I don't spend 3-4 whole minutes on a question that I end up getting wrong anyway. I would suggest trying out an entire section where you just trust your gut and try not to overthink. On tough questions, choose the answer you felt could be right and move on immediately. It feels weird at first, and your brain will want to stay on it and try to figure it out 100%, but trust me, it gets easier! I was scoring in the mid-150s for a year, and finally I've broken into the mid-160s! You got this!
@sydneybouwman Thank you for your advice! It really means a lot!
@shanice7 you are very welcome!
Hi OP! I was in a similar place and am still working on it. I started around like 150 timed/170BR, and now I'm around 165 timed/178BR. A few things that I've found worked for me are:
Thought process analysis: During BR, I would do a thought process analysis of how it lead me to the wrong answer, and then how I should think to get to the right answer. I'd also do this for the questions that took me longer. This helped me to identify areas of improvement in my skills (e.g. I discovered I was slow in negations, so doing Necessary Assumption Qs are harder for me). This also helped me to identify the pattern of the traps I tend to fall into.
Weakness area superset: Drilling a mix of about 20 easy-hard questions (e.g. 5 easy, 7 medium, 8 hard) untimed, and then do the review in step #1. I found that sometimes if I only drill the harder Qs I forget/overcomplicate the easy questions.
With FT job, 1-hr of LSAT practice in the morning: I found it extremely draining to study at the end of the day after a long day of work and had like 3 burnouts in 12 months...so I shifted my study hours to the morning. This lessened my mental load and even if I didn't finish everything in the morning, I know what's left is just review, so it's less of a lift when I get home at night.
Trust the process: It took me about 8 months of studying when things start to click (for reference, I spend about 10-12 hrs/week studying). The fact that you are getting good scores in BR shows you understand the materials - it's just a matter of practicing & making them more intuitive so you can go faster. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other - you'll get there!
@HazelNi Thank you for responding. This is all super helpful!
It took me a while to close the gap as well, about 8 months. You have studied for longer and might benefit from a longer break if you are burnt out. I took a 3 week break after my first exam attempt and it made a huge difference.
My diagnostic was 160, then PTed in the mid 160s for ~10 PTs in a row but was BRing in the 170s. You just have to keep pushing, BRing, and timed drill your priority areas. You will see the "jump" happen. It took 10+ PTs, 1 real exam attempt, and 300+ hours total studying for me, but i finally got a 173 on a PT. Just keep pushing and hope it finally clicks! Have faith in your process.
Like you as well I did this with a full time job, working 60hr weeks. During the week 1hr of quality drilling is enough imo. On the weekends take one PT and rlly review it well.
@ADizzle Thank you for the encouragement, and I love that you were able to get such a good PT score with a full-time job. I'll focus on devoting a full hour of quality studying and maybe that will make a difference.
@shanice7 Np. last thing id say is the only way to get better at the exam is to take the exam. If you are drilling 4-5stars correctly but your PTs are not going up, there is a fundamental issue happening. Consider doing way more sections and exams for practice and try to understand why you are not executing under time pressure. The 7sage AI is great for breaking down your analytics and making a plan as well. You got this!
I'm precisely in the same place! Diagnostic 147, and 155 for about a year since then. I recently started to get 157s, but doesn't seem to be budging beyond that. Curriculum, PTs, tons of BR (consistently at 168-170), solid amount of timed drills/sections. So, I'm feeling this way, too :/ I suppose I am proud in that I am doing my best, but it's frustrating when your best isn't where you want to be!! New full time job, too, and planning to apply this cycle. WOOF is all I've got to say. Wishing you luck! It's tough!!
@HaleyJ Ugh, yes, it's so frustrating when you're doing your best, but it's not what you want it to be. Praying that we both can close the gap soon.
Look, heres my advice. I'm no expert, take it or leave it. You need to focus primarily on untimed sections, the only thing you should worry about is your accuracy. Until you get that accuracy pinned down, you're never going to get that score you want. If you already got that figured out and can get a near perfect score on every question in a section, then start doing sections timed. If you really have everything all figured out, then speed should come to you with time. Also, as with the job, try going to bed early and waking up even earlier to get 1-2 hours before work. If you find you can't do that and your work is cutting into that, you need to pick between your job and your future. If you need the money, I recommend part time. Best of luck, I wish you well!
@NickMcCloskey Thank you for responding, this is great advice!
I'm sorry you're experiencing this - it's a frustrating (but not uncommon) situation with the LSAT. The fact that you are scoring so well on untimed work is encouraging, as that shows your mastery of the material. Give yourself credit for the progress you've made so far!
Translating untimed accuracy into timed practice can require a few things:
1) Familiarity and pattern recognition. Speed on the LSAT comes from realizing that the test asks the same questions over and over (different words, same reasoning). To some extent this happens naturally over time and with more practice, but you can also start to look for those patterns. Think back to other questions you've seen. Try to be purposeful in spotting similarities.
2) Purposeful section management. On logical reasoning, aim for about 10 minutes for the first ten questions. As you move through the section, make sure you capture the "low hanging fruit" first - skip strategically so that high difficulty questions don't become time traps. When you flag questions, jot a note on your scratch paper to keep track of which questions you want to prioritize returning to.
3) Time awareness. Watching the clock closely can really hijack your brain - it's easy to get distracted enough by the countdown that you can't give your full concentration to the questions. Start doing more timed practice so that you get a better feel for what 1 minute or 2 minutes feels like. As you get more adept at pacing, you may find it's easier to give your full attention to the questions.
Hope this is helpful - best of luck with your studying!
@JulieMallinger Thank you so much. I will shift my approach to studying!!