@yasmeenchahade653 said:

@scottmilam205 said:

I think I would need more information to give you any advice! For example, how much do you study each day/week? Are you getting through the entire section or guessing on a number of questions? Have you went through the CC or any outside books?

Thank you for answering !!! I study roughly 20 maybe more hours a week! As I work full time and have a part time job. So I do my best. The thing is I am not struggling to get through the section I come done to 2 answer choices and ultimately choose the wrong one. I did finish the CC and I am currently utilizing “The Loophole” by Ellen Cassidy.

I am not sure what other tactics to employ. Because BR does not work for me.

Well, I can definitely respond to this directly. Getting stuck between two ACs can mean two things:

You didn't fully understand the stimulus to be able to make the proper distinction.

There is a single word (maybe a few) that invalidates one of the ACs.

To the first point, you may have to read slower, make better predictions, and hone in on the right AC instead of focusing on elimination. To the second point, I always found it helpful to ask myself "what single word makes this AC wrong?" Most of the time, it actually worked. Now, if you are simply spending too much time differentiating between two ACs, it may be helpful to skip and come back since your best odds of getting the AC right is 50%. Whereas spending too much time and missing questions at the end guarantees you will get them wrong.

Remember, there are natural variations in the difficulty of tests depending on what your strengths are. Depending on that 158 PT, it could just be that you are terrible at RC and that was a difficult RC. BUT, it could also do with luck. You just happened to make a few good guesses on the 166 PT that made the jump. To settle your variation, you have to be more consistent in your approach to the sections/questions. Without this standardization, you will continue having variance!

So, I take a really unique approach that may divorce from JY's methods -- although, they are definitely great. I typically build a single game board in a horizontal fashion like such:

__ __ __ | __ __ __ | __ __ __

From here, I stack my worlds vertically and cross out any worlds I realize are inoperable. This way, I can quickly scan up or down and see which worlds worked and which didn't. Of course, if I notice that games can be split into two distinct types of worlds, I might draw out two different game boards for that purpose. I hope this helps and this way you can avoid using pencil!

This is the biggest mistake I made during my studies. Yes, your problem is speed but why is that? Is it because you aren't focused or aren't reading quickly enough? No, it's because you're not familiar enough with the material. Learn to use your BR efficiently and review the questions you did get to thoroughly. Even when you are completing a section, don't speed through simply to complete the section. You should give each question your all and be fully confident in your answer choice before moving forward. This way, you build familiarity and learn how to get the questions right and not just complete them. After that, the speed will come naturally.

@claremont525 Agree with this so much. I don't think people realize how reactive this test is. Practice, practice, practice until everything comes natural

It depends, are you running out of time and that's why you're missing questions? I can only speak for me personally but I found simplifying my RC approach was the most effective way to combat variability. With all of the strategies out there, there are really only a handful of things you need to read for:

Main Point

Author's attitude

Structure

Identify the parties (authors, scientists, historians, etc) and what their opinions are

Outside of these things, actively engaging in the text is paramount. You'll notice that many/most of the questions about a passage ask for inferences. So, think about these inferences as you're reading and what the text might be or could be implying. Specifically to the variability, come up with a solid approach to these passages. If you're just going into the passage haywire, then developing a consistent approach will help reduce variability. Lastly, RC variability might simply come down to variability in difficult among PTs.

It sounds like you might be too focused on strategies and not taking the time to relax. When your mind is bogged down by strategy, you become inflexible during the test. This test is not about memorization but about adaptability. To that end, I would suggest taking a short break and coming back to the test. This will help clear your strategies landfill clogging your memory. When I did this, I saw a 7-point improvement between my two final official LSATs!

As already stated, I found meditation (simple breath work) to be helpful. Also, just having something to distract you. In terms of PTs, I always took mine at my school library on the weekends -- no one was there. However, before my PT, I would take a walk around the campus to clear my head and just look around. Lastly, when I take PTs, the whole day is dedicated to that test up until I take it and really nothing else. I didn't work before, have plans, etc.

I think I would need more information to give you any advice! For example, how much do you study each day/week? Are you getting through the entire section or guessing on a number of questions? Have you went through the CC or any outside books?

It is the LSAC GPA but only the "cumulative" GPA listed on LSAC. The degree GPA is not reported.

As @rachelhorton254 mentioned, it really depends on the curve of the particular test. For example, I scored a 173 on the January test, which if you give PowerScore's curve prediction any weight, would be around a -4.

First, make sure you don't get bogged down in strategies. Before anything else, you need to have clear conception of what the stimulus is telling you and what the question stem is asking. Now, about the strategies. It's much easier to recount things in categories. So, I found writing out the different question types and understanding strategies as a subcategory was helpful. Also, grouping question types together can be helpful. For example, necessary assumption and sufficient assumption; weaken and strengthen; or point of agreement/disagreement. Lastly, when you do LR sections, DO NOT read the question stem first. Practice reading the stimulus carefully and attempting to recount the question type before you look at the question stem. When you read a flaw stimulus, you will ideally recognize a flaw BEFORE you get to the question stem. I hope this helps and feel free to reach out for more clarification!

It depends on the school so carefully read the conditions of the seat deposit. Some require that you withdraw all other applications. If there is no agreement that you must withdraw (or anything equal), then you only lose out on the money.

The biggest problem for me was overemphasis on standardizing this section. For example, I would learn all of the different approaches and try to explicitly implement them during the test/section. I found my greatest improvement came from taking a break, internalizing those different strategies, and I was left with only the important stuff! I ultimately ended up scoring anywhere from -0 to -2 by the time I took my last official test. Feel free to DM for anymore advice!

Not sure what the exact percentages are but if you are looking for a more mature class, Northwestern certainly loves people with work experience!

Just speculating, but it could be the application you are using. I have found using Safari produces some problems. Using Google Chrome usually fixed this!

Practice! For me, I found doing a set of games everyday not only built stamina but quick reactivity to interpreting the rules. You can use the rule diagrams that JY likes to use in his videos on here or you can start to develop your own as you encounter types of rules. For example, you may choose to write a subscript "At 1" next to a rule to denote "at least one." Feel free to message me for more clarification!

Just because you have scarcity of time does not mean scarcity of opportunity. Like some have said here, study efficiently for an hour each day! Also, you can choose to study in the mornings so that you are not fatigued when you study after work. On the weekends, try to do a PT and review. During the week, try to do problem sets/sections. Hope this helps!

@45823-resistance28 yes it was!

@juliet7sage I also used the LSAT Demon to study as well. In that respect, I found mixing prep materials allowed me to pick and choose strategies I found the most helpful. So, it’s really up to you but it worked for me! I don’t really see an issue with going to PowerScore if you’re already using 7Sage. In terms of motivation, I am very independent and treated this test like my only way out of poverty. Outside of that, I think being happy and rewarding yourself with progress was fun. I would also suggest finding someone you can celebrate your achievements with that understands this process

A diagnostic score means nothing in my book. It might be loosely correlative to final scores but is in no way necessary for a good score. I know it is nearly impossible to do but try to take your score with a grain of salt.

@21646 @selenesteelman792 @adrianjavierito722

Thank you for all of your advice! It is certainly a tricky landscape for first-generation college students to maneuver through but hopefully people like you all will help me get through it!