Hi! I started at a 155 diagnostic, self-studied my way to an official 166, and then worked my way to an official 177. My LR was consistently -1 to -3 by the 166 test, but RC could swing anywhere down to -7 depending on the day. I told myself for a while it was just an off section, bad luck, whatever. It wasn't. I was avoiding it because it was the section I was worst at, which meant I wasn't putting in the reps that would have actually fixed it. And that avoidance makes sense. LR is more fun to sit down and do. RC is slower, drier, and less satisfying question to question, even when you're doing everything right. Neither section is a blast, but RC loses the fun contest every time, and that's exactly why people under-practice it.
Once I stopped letting my LR strength cover for my RC weakness and started treating RC like the section that actually needed the work, my score went from 166 to 177. Getting from the 160s into the mid-to-high 170s is where a lot of people stall out. It's where I struggled the most too. That's the part I want to help other students with: figuring out where they're actually losing points, being honest about the sections they're avoiding, and turning those weaknesses into something predictable and manageable.
This isn't just for people already in the 160s, though. If you're just starting out, or you're still in the 140s or 150s and the test feels like a foreign language, that's fine too. A lot of the habits that get someone from 166 to 177 are the same habits that should be built from day one, so you don't spend your first year of studying picking up things you'll have to unlearn later.
Two things I'll drill into every student, whatever your level:
Blind review and wrong answer journal everything you miss. If it's a single section, do it that day or the next. If it's a full PT, wait until the next day so you're not just running on adrenaline and you don't exhaust yourself that day.
Learn what to do when you're down to two answer choices. Everyone goes through this. You've read the stimulus or passage, read the question, eliminated three, and you're staring at two that both feel defensible. This is where people burn way too much time and sometimes still end up guessing wrong, and then run out of time on the questions after it. What I recommend is to read both one more time, figure out which one is more wrong, pick the other, and move on. The LSAT itself tells you this is going to happen; the instructions say: "For some questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, choose the response that most accurately and completely answers the question." Tutoring won't make this scenario disappear completely, but it should make it rare, and it should make you fast when it does happen.
My actual goal is to get the test to feel second nature, no matter where you're starting from. Not just accurate, but familiar, to the point where you can feel how a section is going while you're still in it. You should know you're having a good LR section as you're going through it, not find out three weeks later when the score comes back.
Sessions are meant to be a conversation, not a lecture. I want to work through problems with you, figure out where the actual gaps are, and build a plan from there. I don't want to just talk at you for an hour. I also genuinely believe this test is learnable. A lot of people feel like they've hit a ceiling, like their score is just who they are at this point. I don't buy that, and I want to convince you of it too.
I'm charging $40/hour right now. Comment below or message me and I'll set up a free intro call.
2 comments
Interested!
Interested!