This is really common! It's important to note that even if you're getting something right on BR, it's worth paying attention to that question type. Speed accompanies proficiency; if you were totally comfortable with that question type, you would have been able to get it the first go around under timed conditions. When you do a Wrong Answer Journal (I'd recommend it if you don't already), really take the time to understand why you chose the answer you did, and why that answer isn't right.

Most of your study time should be spent drilling; focus on one question type at a time!

Finally, I'd also take a look at your testing strategy! How do you approach timing? What's your system for making sure you don't get caught up on one question?

Congrats! That's incredible. I hope you're taking some time to celebrate yourself and all the hard work you put in :)

For me, the majority of my study time would come from drilling. I'd take one PT a week, making sure I'm saving the most recent PTs for closer to the test. From those PTs, I'd note which question types I was missing, even if I got them right on BR, as well as the question types that I guessed on, took extra long on, or toggled between ACs on. I'd do a WAJ for all of those.

Then, I'd target each question type one by one with small drills (no more than 5 questions). I'd do elimination drilling: not only picking the right answer, but eliminating every other AC and explaining why. I'd start by doing drills of 3* questions, untimed at first. When I was consistently hitting 100% accuracy, I'd move up to 4*, and repeat. I wouldn't consider that question type mastered unless I was consistently hitting 100% in every timed drill of 4-5* questions. but if I could feel myself getting frustrated and seeing diminishing returns, I'd switch to another question type for awhile.

Timing-wise, I'd do one day of a PT, one day of reviewing/wrong answer journaling, and four days of mainly drilling. I might do LR days and RC days, or I might do both on a given day depending on how I was feeling.

I would make sure that whenever I was studying, I was locked in. If I felt myself starting to phone it in, I'd take a break or call it for the day. For me, depending on the day, that could be after anywhere from 2-4 hours. If you're not getting quality study time in, the quantity doesn't matter. 1 or two great, focused hours is worth way more than 4-6 hours of 70%.

I'd also make sure I still had a life: seeing friends, going for a walk, hitting the gym, goofing around. This test can get in your head, so keeping everything in perspective helps.

No pity, but congrats on no longer having a job you hate!

That's so exciting, and 170 is totally possible!

!!! We love to see it.

That's so exciting! I hope you're proud of yourself.

For RC:

A general rule of thumb is to finish your second passage with 20 minutes left so you have 10 minutes each for your last 2, which are usually harder.

Practice "full-send" drills: once you read the passage and make your low-res summaries, you're not allowed to look back at the passage (the exception being questions that reference specific words or sentences). This forces you to a) get in the habit of retaining more on the first go around and b) use reasoning to get rid of answer choices (RC is ultimately just big LR). Pre-phrasing answers as much as possible is also helpful!

Good luck, and happy studying!

-Elimination drilling! It's good to know why the right answer is right, but it's even better to also know why each wrong answer is wrong. This helps reduce your likelihood of falling for trap answers.

-Looking at your test-taking strategy! Are you wavering between answers a lot? Do you have enough time at the end, or are you rushing? Touchstones like the first 10 in 10 are good, but also knowing how you want to use flagging, if you want to structure your time so you're able to go back and check, etc.

-I'm not sure what your RC is like, but full-send drills (after you read the passage, you can't look back once you go to the questions) are also really effective for retaining information, improving timing, and forcing you to use reason rather than just brute-force memorization. Also: the point of RC is not for you to learn about X topic. The point of RC is to analyze an argument. Your north star is, "what is the author trying to convince me of? How do they try to do it?"

The below is excellent advice! I'd also recommend taking an LR pass over your answer choices. There could be multiple ACs that seem compatible with the passage, but there might be a single word that makes an AC inaccurate or difficult to support. Maybe the author is in favor of method X, but do you have support that they believe it's the most effective method? Is it really that A will always result in B?

Unless you're sending your application in at the actual last minute, the benefits of applying earlier are negligible compared to the benefits of applying with a higher LSAT score. Higher score in January >> lower score in October every time!

I've never heard of this strategy, and it's an interesting one! My only hesitation would be that if you're taking too long on a "harder" question, that's sucking up a lot more time than taking too long on an easier question. So you'll be rushing easier questions, but you'll really be rushing them, be frazzled from the lack of time, and leaving easy points on the board. Still, it's worth trying out in a PT to see if it changes anything!

As someone who also struggled with letting go, developing a liberal flagging system helped. If I was less than 90% sure about an AC, I would flag the question and move on. If I was feeling really lost on it, I would go with my gut and write the question number down. This meant by the end of the section, I had about a dozen questions flagged, but only a couple written down that really needed another look and about 8-12 minutes left to go back and do them. For the other flagged ones, coming back with a fresh head really just helped me confirm I was right the first time.

I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.

Highlighting the premise and conclusions are great! It's also help to pause after the stimulus and ask yourself what you know for sure to be true, and where you have to end up.

Ex:

Law enforcement experts, as well as most citizens, have finally come to recognize that legal prohibitions against gambling all share a common flaw: no matter how diligent the effort, the laws are impossible to enforce. Ethical qualms notwithstanding, when a law fails to be effective, it should not be a law. That is why there should be no legal prohibition against gambling.

facts:

-impossible to enforce legal gambling prohibition

-if it isn't effective, it shouldn't be a law

where you have to end up: there shouldn't be a prohibition against gambling

Rephrase things into your own words when possible to make sure you're digesting what's being said.

I hope that helps! Happy studying

Congrats! I'd go hard on your WAJ, even for the ones you got right in BR. This is a lot of useful data. Take a look at the question types you were getting wrong, and focus on drilling one question type at a time. I recommend doing smaller drills (5-6 questions) so that you can lock in and be intentional about your process. Elimination drilling is also a great way to make sure you're leaving no stone unturned: in addition to choosing the right answer, you also have to eliminate all the other ACs and explain to yourself why it's wrong. It's also worth looking at the questions that you may have gotten right, but took a little extra time on, or were back and forth between answers.

I hope that helps, and happy studying!

That's incredible and so exciting! Those are excellent strategies, although it looks like you don't need me to tell you that :)

You are very justified in feeling proud of this score! Congrats :)

I'm no expert, but I would think about the dimension that each (potential) additional letter would add. Will the other college professor be able to gas you up in a different way than the first professor and debate coach, or would it be a lot of repeated information?

As for number of letters, it seems cliche, but quality over quantity is always the guide. If you think a letter would add something substantive, go for it!

Hey there! In that score bracket, the vast majority of your studying should come from targeted drilling. Take a look at the PTs you've done recently and do an in-depth wrong answer journal of all the questions you initially got wrong, even if you got them right on BR. Then you can move onto drilling the question types you missed. Focus on one at a time, making smaller (5-10 question) drills of just one question type. Start with them all at the 3* level, when you're consistently getting 100% on them, you can move on to drills of the same question type mixing in 4 and 5* questions.

If you're not planning on taking your test until October, try taking a pause on PTing until August. PTs aren't the most efficient use of study time as the majority of the questions you encounter are ones you have a good handle on. If you've ever played a sport, the same training principles apply: you wouldn't show up to practice and scrimmage the whole time; you'd work on different skills individually, and then put them all together later. Sections are a good way to find areas of improvement, but you probably only really need to do 1 each of RC and LR/week.

Finally, plateaus are incredibly frustrating and very, very normal. It sounds like it might be time to switch up your methods, but that doesn't mean all the time you've put in was time wasted. You've got this!

I don't think an addendum is necessary! You're demonstrating clear improvement, which is huge, and speaks for itself. You studied hard, and your scores improved! That's all they need to know; the why/how doesn't really add anything.

Congrats on the 165! That's a great score and a significant point jump, and it sounds like you worked really hard to achieve it.

With for sure! It's good to build up that stamina, and even the questions in the experimental sections are still good practice.

Hi! I would take an extra look at the questions that you're getting wrong the initial time around, and right on BR. You may understand the concepts, but aren't comfortable enough with them to get the results under a time crunch. That tells us there's still more work to do!

I'd also take a look at your testing strategy, specifically with regards to timing and flagging. Lowering your bar for flagging and moving on helps you break away from being caught in feedback loops, and ultimately leads to time leftover so you can go back and approach questions that were giving you trouble with fresh eyes.

I hope that helps, and good luck!

I'd echo the below! That's a high diagnostic, and points are higher to come by in that range. You're probably improving a lot more than you think; it's just obscured by question distribution variation.

At this point, most of your studying should come from drills! Sections and tests are great for uncovering question types that you should be working on. Reviewing why you chose wrong answers is a great start, but if you're not hitting 100% in drilling that question type, there's something that's not quite clicking. A PT/week + maybe a section/week is enough: the real gains at this point will come from specific, targeted drills. I'd also recommend elimination drilling: rather than just picking the right answer, you also have to eliminate every other AC and explain why they don't work.

Last thing: the high 160s plateau is real, and very common. The dam will break; you've just got to grind a little while longer.

Good luck, and happy studying!

Hey there! I can relate to your plight :) A couple things helped me:

Recognizing limits. If you hit that point in the day where you're having to re-read simple stimuli multiple times, check in with yourself about if you're still doing quality studying. For me, depending on the day, I would it that wall anywhere from 2-4 hours in. LSAT studying is all about quality over quantity. If you're not able to lock in, take a step back!

Being a person. Volunteering is excellent! So is hanging with your friends, going to a movie, taking a walk, whatever it is that gives you joy or makes you feel like yourself. You had an entire life before you started studying for the LSAT. There are people in your life who love you and could not care less where you're PTing. This test, though the stakes may be high, is a tiny fraction of a much larger, richer, and more interesting life.

As someone said below, reflecting on why you're doing this. Not even "I want to go to X school" or "I need a good scholarship." Why do you want a law degree? What good will ultimately, big-picture come of doing well on this test?

Staying off of reddit.

I hope that helps, and happy studying!

All best,

Phoebe

Congrats! Don't forget about that 176 BR either -- that's huge :)

Sick work!

Hey there!

All of those results would be something to be proud of, let alone the fact that you've pulled it all off with such a wild schedule. Given your limited time, I'd recommend looking at the questions you've gotten wrong on all of those tests, identifying why you chose those answers and why those answers weren't correct, and then drilling the specific question types you're missing. PT'ing once a week would be ideal, but for other days, most of your studying should come from drilling your areas of improvement (and maybe mix in a section or two).

The last bit of advice I'd give would be to take it easy studying-wise for the couple days leading up to the test. Give your brain a second to reset.

I hope that helps, and good luck!

Happy birthday!