Hi All,

As the title states, I'm torn on whether or not to take the February or June LSAT. I'm out of undergrad and working full time, planning on applying to schools in 2018-19 and enrolling Fall '19.

That said, I've been studying a decent amount (comparable to a light jog) for the past few weeks with the idea of ramping up to a full sprint for about 3-4 months.

I've taken a blind diagnostic and got a 150, and then took a prep test after studying for a few weeks and got a 155.

Any insight on when to take the test would be greatly appreciated!

So.... I'm having a hard time finishing more than 17-19 Questions in LR Sections and about 15 in RC.... I always thought I was a fast reader... until now :( .. How do I become faster at reading all of this and yet have time to answer the questions?

English IS my second language, but still I'm a faster reader than some of my american friends... so I'm not sure if that has something to do with me not being able to read fast enough for LSAT.... Its really stressful... How did you guys become fast in those sections???

So, I signed up for the September LSAT and although I have been studying for a couple months, I know I won't be ready. I have a 3.8 GPA and right now am around a 157 LSAT score. I may increase it a little before the test, but I think it's time I make the decision to postpone until December. Do you guys think I'm making the right call on this? Just wanted some insight before making the final decision.

Thanks!

When I go to print PT 81 out, the cover says "Sept 2017". While it would be amazing to see the entire Sept test before I take it, I think we have a clerical error here.

@"Dillon A. Wright"

Hello all,

After finishing the CC and attempting about 5-6 PTs , I noticed I was still hovering around 158-160 so I revisited the CC and that same day, decided to take PT41 untimed and scored a 166. Huge confidence boost because that's the highest I've ever scored (June test scored a 156 so 166 is quite the improvement). I've done a few more untimed PTs after that thinking that perhaps it was a timing issue but still have returned back to the 160 score :( my motivation is a little shot because it's a little frustrating to know that I may be capable of scoring 166 but keep on scoring in the low 160s... My goal for Sept is to PT at least 165+.

The PTs besides PT41 (post and pre) have been around -8 to -9 on RC, -6 each on LR and 0 to -2 on LG. I know my RC needs work and I've adopted the no notation strategy and have noticed a slight improvement in comprehension and understanding the questions a bit better. The Infer Author Perspective is usually the ones that I get wrong though. For LR, I've noticed a huge improvement in understanding after revisiting the CC but the questions I now get wrong are usually the level 4 or 5 difficulty questions (usually flaw or parallel flaw). Also, I've noticed I struggle a bit more with principle questions, does anyone have any tips to proceed with these?

PT41 was -4 on each LR, -6 on RC and -2 on LG.

So close yet so far away! Help :'(

I've heard repeatedly on this forum and others that someone should expect to drop 3 or 4 points from their Testing average on the actual test day (because of nerves, new environment, etc).

I just want to suggest that this is a really self-defeating thought to have in your mind. I'm not saying don't be prepared to potentially do worse, but also don't go in assuming a 3 to 4 point drop in score. I've met at least 5 people that have told me they PEAKED on test day. That is, they scored their highest on test day, sometimes 2 or 3 points over their normal prep test score.

I'm not saying you should go in assuming you will score 2-3 points higher on test day, but I would suggest orienting oneself around a goal of peak performance instead of an assumption of dropping points.

The mind is a powerful thing.

Consider an Olympic athlete. Many athletes have "Peak" performance on the actual day of the Olympics, getting better and faster times than they ever did in practice. Some get nervous and do worse. Point is, it can go either way. I'd aim for thinking about Test Day as your peak day.

Of course work hard and get the best average score you can before test day, and be prepared for anything, but go into the test aiming to peak.

Just my 2 cents.

Hi, can someone please tell me which PTs have five sections? I checked that PT 72 doesn't. I have only been doing PTs with four sections so far.

So i sparingly take PTs, i see a huge benefit in taking timed sections bc of the ability to BR directly after and to work on skipping, implementing section strategies, and a multitude of other reasons. I take a PT every 1.5 to 2 weeks.

I was wondering if it is indicative of my score if i were to calculate my overall score for those individual timed sections?

My average on the timed sections is a 172.

I would just calculate my PT scores, but i dont really have enough tests to properly average. Iv taken 5 PTs in the past 2 months but they are so spaced out my first was a 160,166,174,173,169 (165 which im not counting due to circumstances) . The most recent was 3 weeks ago bc i took some time off and am working on a perfected skipping strategy.

Thoughts on split up sections vs timed PTs?

For months now I have been scoring virtually perfectly on logical reasoning, missing 1 to 3 questions on reading and endeavoring to avoid all out disaster on logic games.

I have been progressing through the tests and took PT's 70 and 71 this morning. I recieved a 175 and 176 respectively. The overall score was fine. I'm retaking a 172 and a 175 or 176 is about the neighborhood of score that I am hoping for.

The strange part was that on both tests I was perfect on Games and Reading. All my mistakes came on LR. I just had my best ever logic games and reading comp combination on a test and then sat down and did it again. But both times I ended up right in my normal range overall because I had my worst logical reasoning test in months twice in a row.

Anyways, I caught most of the logical reasoning mistakes in blind review. But, at this point I'm suddenly no longer confident of a couple point increase over my 172. It feels like I could get anything from a score lower than a 170 up to a 180. After all, my LR's could return to their norm and the logic games could maintain this new level or my games could return to their norm and my LR sections could stay in their slump from today.

Maybe tests 70 and 71 were different? Maybe I was in the mood for games? I'll see what it's like tommorow.

I was really planning to cram in as many PT's as I can through this weekend and just prep by reviewing them while I'm in school which starts next week for me. So there isn't much time for much of a fix other than to review all of the LR problems with even more attention.

Has anyone else experienced such a flip in which sections are their strengths? How did you settle it if you did?

I'll receive a study buddy request, approve it, then click on the message icon to contact them and then I'll get an error message saying the user doesn't exist. This has happened about 3 times so far. Anyone else having the problem?

We were oversubscribed.

There will be another one soon—and we'll post a recording of tonight's. Stay tuned!

[Edit]

Recording of the session here:

https://classic.7sage.com/webinar/personal-statement-workshop/

So I woke up extra early this morning before work and took PT58. I haven't finished BR'ing it, so I haven't looked at my score, but did anyone else find this test unusually easy? I'm wondering if my confidence is just playing tricks on me because I was able to finish both LR sections and LG with quite a bit of extra time. RC didn't really seem all that hard either. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance on it.

Anyone else who recently took PT58 find it on the easier side?

Hey everyone,

Just having some trouble that I thought someone here could clarify. I'm looking at my online LSAT registration for September on the LSAC site, but I don't see any information there on where exactly the room is I'm taking the test etc. I know it is at UofT, but no idea what room and don't see an address. I also don't see times listed. I'm wondering if this is what you get info for when you print out your ticket? Which I can't do till August 30th.

I'm confused

Interesting article especially for those who want to score 170+. I find it very helpful and in some way validates the advice about trusting your gut feeling after mastering the test.

https://www.1843magazine.com/content/ideas/ian-leslie/non-cogito-ergo-sum

To any other slow readers out there--what strategies have you used to understand LR and RC stimuli and passages well? I find myself needing to go through a significant number of LR stimuli and answer choices twice, and I often need 5+ minutes to get through RC passages (let alone decode the questions and answer choices.) I've done well with these sections outside of timed conditions, but I'm really feeling the crunch when the clock is running. What has worked for other people?

For the past week, when I try to print a test, it "prepares" the pages, and never progresses past the last few (ie 41/45). It just sits there...Anyone else have this problem? I've tried in Chrome and Internet Explorer.

...I haven't asked for advice on here yet (but always derive some good suggestions from others' questions), but I was wondering if anyone had any study tips for breaking past a last hurdle concerning the scoring on new PTs.

I originally didn't have any particular scoring goal in mind, but just had a kind of floor--that I didn't want to drop below--of 167-168. However, I'm now at a point where I'm trying to decide whether to take the September test or to cancel and take it in December (but at this point, I think I'll probably stick with the former) and am currently hovering around on the recent PTs (later than 65) at 172-173 (I admit that I have not BR'd these tests--right now, a terrible habit). As for the breakdowns, I usually get LR -1 to -4 total, RC -1 to -3, and LG -2 to -4, with the total amount wrong for any given (recent) test being around 8. Granted, these are better scores than I had in mind when starting out. However, it seems that it would be worthwhile to try to push beyond this final little plateau (to scores of 175 and above) if at all possible.

Now I know that I should foolproof the LG, and have really been just doing games the past 3 weeks while not studying the other sections, but I was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge of a plan of attack that would, over the course of 2 weeks or so, consistently yield a two or three point improvement?

I know that this is hard, since I would assume that it requires making a diffuse range of skills incrementally better and that there is no silver bullet to breaking this plateau. It is also not lost on me that this might sound like complaining about a score that I've no right to ask for. However, I still felt that asking was worth a shot from those who have broken a similar plateau or those who are aware of this strategies with this particular barrier.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I just came across this explanation and I realized how much J.Y.'s humor has had a positive impact on keeping me upbeat while studying over this past year. Here's a post to appreciate the Yoda of the LSAT study.

Hopefully other 7sagers can share their favorite explanations too. :)

So I heard some schools prefer applicants to apply once as opposed to updating their application with a second LSAT score for reconsideration of admission. Does anybody know anything about this? I'm considering this for my September/ December prospects as I decide whether to apply to schools after receiving my September score, and potentially updating my application with a December score, or just taking September and December and waiting until my December score to apply.

Also, it seems to me that updating your application with a score is more appropriate for scholarship as opposed to admission prospects. Is this the case?

Hey guys,

Any advice on how can I further close the gap? I score low to mid 160s timed and score mid 170s in BR. It has been like this for about a month now, and the September exam is closing in... In average, I get about 4-5 wrong in each section of LG, LR, and RC.

The weird thing is LR. During BR, 2 or 3 questions that seemed really hard during the timed conditions, were actually pretty simple, and I find the answer relatively quickly. I just have no idea why I never able to do the same thing during timed conditions. I get to the 25th question in around 30 minutes, but have around around 3 omitted and 3 I need to urgently double check on. But 5 minutes just seems so short!

I have been averaging about 8-10 hours of prep (including drilling) daily, with a PT every 2 or 3 days. But despite the time that has passed, seeing the same PT score after PT score for a month is honestly soul-crushing.

So, here goes:

I graduated a little over 6 years ago and when I think about professors I could get strong LORs from, only one really comes to mind, the professor whom I did my senior thesis under. I had a good working relationship with this professor and ended up producing a pretty good thesis, however I did complete the work late and thus was marked down a grade.

As for professional references, I volunteered at a district court clerk's office and I've been working in the field of legal advocacy assisting victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, etc for the last 3 years, which included working at a city prosecutor's office for a year and a community based agency for the last 2 years doing more civil work. During that time through the work I've done on various task forces, community groups, and just generally collaborating and networking with our community partners, I've gained a lot of potential professional LOR possibilities from attorneys, prosecutors, agency directors, clerks, a chief of police, etc.

So I guess my point is, I've seen a lot of people saying education LORs are everything and professional LORs barely count for anything. My problem is that I have a lot more opportunity on the professional side.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I totally screwed if I can't pad my application with outstanding undergrad LORs?

What are good skipping strategies for questions on Logic Games and Reading Comp? Unlike LR, LG and RC sections require a certain investment in either a game or a passage so there's a kind of loss when you skip and come back at the very end to address those questions which are entirely dependent on a game or passage.

Also, is there a cutoff time or something else that goes into your determination for skipping on LG and RC?

Hey all!

I've started PTesting for about a month and a half now after going through the core curriculum. My average PT score is a 169 with lows at 166-167 and highs at 170-173.

After each test, I spend about 2h for BR and I noticed a pattern. Usually, when I score above 169, I am able to BR well and gain about 3-4 LSAT points after BR. However, when I score in my lower range I only am able to get an extra point during BR. I am mostly able to get 0 to -2 in LG so I'd say the BR is more about RC and LR.

I don't really know what to make of this... has anyone experienced the same thing? How were you able to increase your BR score and spot your mistakes?

Thanks so much!!

When you guys take 5 section PrepTests, how do you simulate an experimental section? I've just been putting in a section from an older exam, but because I'm the one inputting it it is easy to just disregard the section.

How do you guys simulate not knowing which section is the experimental section? Is there a way to do it?

Hi guys,

I'm sure the answer to this question is pretty simple (just wake up earlier regularly) but I'm very much a night person and even after a month of waking up at 6am trying to force myself to be mentally active earlier in the day, I still can't write a PT until 11 or noon at the earliest. I just wrote the June 2017 exam and am retaking (set to rewrite in December), but I'm seriously considering deferring law school an entire year to be able to write in June again for the sake of time. Is this extreme?? Should I just wait it out and see if I can adjust??

I should also mention I was PTing in the 166-172 range before getting a 158 (mostly due to test anxiety). So I feel like more time could be beneficial for the sake of my score anyway?

Any advice from reformed night people would be appreciated!