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I wrote the lsat before and scored a 146 (Jan 2025). I'm rewriting it again and have been studying since end of June/start of July. I've done two pt's, and scored 139 and 144. I have been keeping wrong answer journal and have been drilling, however, I see zero improvement and feel highly unmotivated and scared for what may be to come. Does anyone have any advice as to how I can actually see improvements? Because it feels as though nothing is working. I don't have the money for a tutor but maybe anyone who has advice or been in the same boat who could help me would be great.
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Also keep a wrong answer journal. You'll start to see patterns of why you usually miss stuff. For me its not targeting what the conclusion says fully
I have gone from 145 diagnostic to 162. What helped me the most was before doing timed drills, for each untimed question I would write out:
The main point/conclusion
Why/a general summary of the evidence
When I did this I found my foundational reasoning greatly improved. I often found common mistakes are not specifically targeting the conclusion enough, targeting something in the argument that ISN'T THERE, and not truly fully understanding what it's saying. Once you keep doing this you'll find for all question types the common trend is directly targeting the exact wording of the argument and understanding the exact wording of the evidence. You'll start the see with the questions you miss "oh! I wasn't paying close enough attention to what the conclusion EXACTLY says". Or "Oh I only targeted half the conclusion but didn't fully encompass its details enough"
Once you bring this foundational skill up, you can do timed drills and then your mistakes will be more minor mistakes such as mixing up conditional reasoning, misreading, misunderstanding a single word, etc. Your score indicates you are missing a foundational skill. Please do this for several untimed drills FIRST and then dive into timed once you can fully understand these two points without having to write them out.
Try to make sure you're fully understanding every question you read! I wouldn't do PTs yet, just dissect questions (without ANY time pressure, so untimed drills too) down until what the stimulus says is 100% clear and what the answer choices say are also 100% clear. For conditional reasoning, definitely take the time to learn how to diagram -- this itself can take a few weeks to become proficient at! Then become totally solid at common wrong answers, like recognizing mistaken negations and mistaken reversals. I noticed you mentioned your errors could be resolved by "pay attention more," but instead of just chalking it up to that, try to notice patterns in what often escapes your attention, and when you're dissecting questions/stimuli as you practice, give attention to every little thing, especially those consistent with the patterns you've historically tended to overlook. Being attentive can and should be practiced! Furthermore, for every wrong answer choice, always go find the word(s) in it that make it wrong.
My first score back in November 2024 in an untimed PT was 139. I have been studying diligently on a 5-7 day basis for a minimum of an hour each study session. I made improvements up to the high 140's but then was stuck at a 148 on a timed PT. Once I dedicated my summer to studying on LSAC LawHub and signed up for 7Sage to take zoom classes, I began to actual grasp the concept of LR and my score made the latest jump which was to 155 on a timed PT! Another key is to divide your studying time between doing timed sections and taking time to sit back and go to class at 7Sage to watch the question types you had issues with be broken down and explained in detail. This will make a difference. Practice and deligence is key!
I took a diagnostics PT last weekend and scored a 136. I took another this weekend and scored 128 (and then took ANOTHER ONE and scored 142.) You going from a 139 to 144 IS IMPROVEMENT! The way I see it, as long as I improve each weekend I am making progress. And so are you!
I've also been here! I was stuck scoring the same for months and was so frustrated but now my most recent PTs were in the 170s. These are the things that really helped:
I wrote out the approach to every LR question type in a step by step list to remind me what I should be looking out for. I printed it out and reference it while I'm drilling. Now I feel much more confident about "where to look" when approaching a question. (disclaimer for this: obviously not every question will follow a template but I just use it as a general guide)
I did untimed drilling for weeks -- going through each question painstakingly slow until I could justify why each answer choice was wrong/right
I started re reading my wrong answer journal before each time I studied so I was reminded of what mistakes I made and how I planned on not doing the same again
I went back to the core curriculum and redid all of the conditional reasoning lessons because formal logic was (and still is) my biggest weakness
I hope this helps & you got this!
I've been there. What helped me immensely was joining a (free) discord group and joining in on study sessions/ creating study groups. It helped to see how other people do problems which helped me to make my own improvements and joining these groups forced me to explain problems out loud which helped to show me my gaps and improve my internal thinking when approaching problems. It made studying so much more enjoyable and brought the words to life if that makes sense. People always say just find opportunities to explain LSAT problems to someone and as someone who does not have access to that in my own personal life, having a study group was a lifeline for me to be able to make those breakthroughs. Good luck!
Did you go through the core curriculum carefully? There may be some fundamental misunderstandings about the test still lingering. Good luck! :)