Hi all — I’m looking for some advice!
I took the LSAT in June after roughly 8 months of studying, but unfortunately fell approx 10 pts shy of my desired score. RIP
Since then, I’ve taken an almost 3 month hiatus from studying. I’m not in a huge rush to apply, so I’d rather take the time to prepare properly and really push myself toward a score in the high 160s before taking it again.
For some additional context, during those 8 months, I only took about four or five full-length practice tests. Looking back, I think one of my biggest issues on test day was mental endurance. By the time I reached the end of sections, I found myself feeling so mentally fatigued that it was almost like I couldn’t read English anymore — obviously not ideal.
I also didn’t drill full sections nearly as much as I probably should have, particularly in RC. A lot of this came from a fear of “running out” of material, so I spent a significant amount of time on individual questions trying to really dig into and understand them rather than prioritizing volume and timed practice.
I’m starting to get the itch to begin studying again. Ideally, I’d like to retake the LSAT early next year, although I don’t plan to schedule an exam until my PT scores are consistently where I want them to be.
I’d really appreciate hearing your advice on where you think my time would be best spent at this point…Specifically:
Whether it would be worthwhile to redo the core curriculum from the beginning
How much emphasis I should place on drilling versus full-length PTs
How to get past the fear of “running out” of practice material
Strategies for improving mental endurance and managing fatigue during sections/the full test
Anything else you think could be particularly valuable given my situation
If you’ve been in a similar position, I’d love to hear what worked for you.
Thanks so much if you’ve read this far!
4 comments
I can only tell you what my LSAT tutor tells me—don't place too much emphasis on PTs. It's imperative that you do enough of them to know your strengths, weaknesses, and any time management concerns. Quality over quantity. Repetitive practice isn't enough—really lean into the explanations and why you were wrong. Practice along with thoughtful review is what builds skill, and building skill is the most important part of it all. If you want to DM me, I can give you some of his info if you're interested in tutoring with him. He really changed the way I THINK, which is so rare (he built Kaplan's LSAT prep in the early 90s I believe and has been doing this over forty years. Got enough 180s that LSAC told him to move on). I'd really love to just have an accountability buddy, so if you or anyone else reading this needs the same, that would be great. Not to necessarily study or review with, but at least to check with each other and make sure we're doing what we should be.
I would think if you've taken it already you probably don't need to do the whole curriculum over, you should probably just focus on what you aren't confident/strong on.
I think neither, prioritize review! But between the two, drilling. PTs just tell you where you are, and what you do under the time constraint, drilling will help you to target weak points and focus on the individual questions so that you can perform better in the full test. Not to say never take PTs but when you do you should be doing some pretty serious review of those too to make sure you understand what mistakes you made and all
I have this fear too! I've been studying for a little over 6 months and I'm figuring if I do start to run out of material I'll go back and reuse material I used when I first started studying since I won't really remember it. Plus, if you play your cards right, there's plenty of material! i also started focusing on watching videos and reading articles/posts about things I was noticing I was struggling with so that I was focused on learning new information rather than just drilling brute force until I got it
I think tbh that for RC the best way to improve stamina is to do full sections, and for LR its to get more comfortable with the material. When you have an easily repeatable strategy you can use for all of the questions (RC and LR) then even when you're fatigued you can just repeat your strategy and you'll still hit the right answers
Be calm and trust yourself! It's hard to do this with the LSAT I feel like but remembering that the test is a learned skill, and it is possible to conquer, and you have time is all very helpful. positive affirmations have been my friend throughout this whole process!
not a tutor or anything, im really just a guy lol but these are my thoughts based on my experience, I hope some of this helps!
Addendum: My practice test scores were reflective and on par with my PTs. I scheduled my test before I started studying. I’m fairly certain my study method was the problem. 8 months was plenty of time. RIP. SAVE ME
@TCL I also noticed with a few friends that their first real attempt seemed to be, on average, 8-10 points lower than their regular PTs. I think that's why it's important not to get too hung up on them, because you don't know how you're going to do in the actual testing environment. For instance, one of my friends had a 152 diagnostic, practiced a little more than you (10 months to a year) and was regularly scoring in the low to mid 170s on PTs. Got a 165 on the first attempt. Second attempt got a 169. Third attempt got a 173. All of those scores are great, but she needed to break 170 for Georgetown. Not saying this happens with everyone—but my LSAT tutor noted he's seen it quite a bit as well. It's encouraging because yes, it is highly likely that you did worse on your first attempt than PTs due to stress. Now you know what to expect. (Sorry, my dog is climbing all over me due to a thunderstorm, so if I'm repeating myself, that's not my intention!)