My target score was 180. I never thought I should ever shoot for anything less. I never reached it on any prep test but I hit 177 after about 10 months.

I would build a problem set (or two) of question types I was struggling with before beginning a prep test. This would simulate the real world experience of maintaining focus through at least five sections. I think it helps for the real exam.

Thanks for the info. I received a message from LSAC this morning acknowledging the mistake.

@

Thank you! I have replied to LSAC. I sincerely hope I have the option to keep the score.

My only record score was 5 points below my PT average. Of course, that was September when a rogue LG section owned my soul. I scored at or better than my PT average on the rest of the exam. I just took Monday’s exam and feel like I nailed it so...I’ll let you know in a few weeks?

“The Loophole” by Ellen Cassidy. Got me from -7/-9 to -1/-3. Best money I spent on prep material (besides ultimate+, of course.)

First, 158 isn’t exactly “bombing” the LSAT. A lot of people would be very happy with that score. You, however, have high expectations and I relate to that and respect it. I always tell people who need a few extra points to focus on LR translation drills (the best resource for this is the book “The Loophole”) and skip/flag your problem questions and come back to them after you successfully nail the rest of the section. Additionally, foolproof LG every day. Be relentless in your efforts to score 23/23 every time because LG is the most learnable section there is. Practice low-res memorization with RC passages and you will see improvement there as well.

If you won’t get into your target school without a higher score then, yes, plan to retake and go hard HARD on your studies. I was scoring mid/high 170s on PTs and I’d be happy to help if you have questions; feel free to PM me.

I failed this Q because I made the assumption that anyone who was on the board would therefore be referred to as an administrator.

In Army Basic training, when first learning a new skill, we would practice through the steps "by the numbers." For example, in formation movements, we would drill each step of the movement until we could retain muscle memory well enough to do it at full speed. After my initial diagnostic I took four more full prep tests, one per week, un-timed. Just like military training, I rehearsed each step. For example, in LR I would 1. read the question stem 2. define what it is specifically asking for 3. carefully read the stimulus 4. restate the stimulus in my own words 5. predict the answer 6. carefully evaluate the answer choices.

Practice does not make perfect - practice makes permanent. Be very, very demanding of yourself to employ the specific way you want to attack each question. Eventually you will be able to be very fast while still retaining a high degree of accuracy. By the end of my studies I was able to finish each section with 7-10 minutes remaining to go back over any question of which I was uncertain. Use the study methods taught here at 7Sage or choose PowerScore, LSAT Trainer, the Loophole, Manhattan, Fox or any combination of courses or books (as long as they use official LSAC material.)

In summary: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Add the time constraint after you've mastered the material and have developed your strategy.

@ I started out where you did - in the high 150s and slowly built from there with a singular, gnawing goal: to score 180 on the LSAT. I never made it that high but I did get into the consistent 170s before sitting for the November exam. I’d like to give you a little encouragement.

First, I think scoring in the high 150s on a diagnostic is considerably above average. So, at least when it comes to mental gears, I think you definitely have what it takes to achieve the 99th percentile. The real trick is the hard work: relentless, consistent, persistence. When I studied, I served active duty military and compensated for my lack of available time by waking up 2 hours earlier than normal and devoting those hours strictly to mastering whatever my weakest LSAT area was. I also committed to at least 2 additional hours of daily study after work - and at least 5 hours each weekend day.

The point is, you have what it takes and you can do it! Focus on your weaknesses while taking the time to retain your strengths. Your numbers tell me you can improve everywhere and I would advise to start with LG since you’ll see the fastest improvement there. Feel free to PM if you would like any specific tips or strategies.

My e-mail from LSAC said December 19th.

Awesome! So excited for you! I can't wait to get an acceptance or two!

If you didn't cancel and you had no issues, you need to contact LSAC and find out what's going on. I received a re-test notification from LSAC after November (my test went well) and when I contacted them they told me it was a mistake and to disregard.

Bottom line: if you didn't cancel, your should have a score unless something major went wrong at the test center - in which case they'd owe you a free re-test ASAP.

Can anyone speak to the notion of GPA cutoffs? i.e. where an admissions board won't even bother with applications below X.XX GPA? I've heard this is a thing and, if so, I may need to work on raising my own GPA even though I am looking forward to a high LSAT coming back from November.

When I started studying, getting through all 4 RC passages seemed impossible. I was consistently missing 7 - 11 per RC section and I knew I needed to improve efficiency. I tried learning speed-reading techniques, reading the first sentence of each paragraph before going back and reading the whole passage, and several annotation strategies - none of which were very effective methods for me.

What did work was to think of each paragraph kind of like it was its own LR stimulus. In the same way I learned to translate LR questions I would make a simple mental summary after each paragraph telling myself what its point was as well as its role within the passage. I would make these summaries very simple to remember, like this: "P1, background, two perspectives on law," "P2, perspective 1 support," "P3, perspective 2 support," P4, author supports third perspective."

Understanding an RC passage in this way is what will get you the points far better than attempting to memorize all the information contained. Why? Because you'll tend to retain enough for the broad questions while having a mental map outlining where to quickly locate specific information. I found this is the only thing that sped up my RC time and improved my scores to a -2 average. Warning: learning to do this was frustrating at first because it goes against the way most of us have been reading all our lives. However, with diligence, the payoff should be worth your efforts.

Hope this helps.

@ said:

Hi someone tagged me in this and your advice is pretty sound. I was wondering what tips do suggest for when deciding when to skip and question? I found that when I try to skip, in my head theres a voice saying "just try it, it may be easier than you think" or "you've already read the stimulus twice and waisted the time, might as well look through and pick an ac." But what ends up happening is by the time I'm at question 18 short of time I panic and I CAN'T think straight at all and my mind goes in shambles and that the end of it for me. So pretty much any advice on deciding when to skip I would really appreciate.

For some reason I have this notion that if I skip It will be detrimental and I will end up skipping and still not have enough time to go back which clearly is incorrect , please any advice would be great thank you!!!!!

How to know when to skip ahead in LR:

My experience was to use 7Sage's analytics to understand my weaknesses. I attacked my deficiencies as hard as I could but, even after extensive study there were just some question types that took me longer to "get" than others. For example - I knew that any "parallel" question was an automatic skip. If I came to one of those question types I would automatically flag it, mark answer choice "C" and know I was going to come back to it if I had time.

Additionally, I would skip any question if I was still working on it after about two minutes. Why? Because the other questions count for the same amount of points as that one and why waste the same time getting one hard question wrong when I can use that same time to get two easier questions right? If I was feeling "stuck" or like I wasn't understanding the material, that was my cue to flag, mark, and skip.

What was consistent for me was that, using this method, I would always have only three to six flagged questions to come back to and, usually, there would be one or more that turned out to be not-so-difficult. Plus, when you come back to review three flagged questions and there are still ten minutes left on the clock, it's a great psychological confidence-booster.

The bottom line is that, while at first it seems counter-intuitive to purposely skip questions, it's a method that resulted in several immediate benefits for me. First, it instantly and permanently improved my scores. Next, it enabled me to finish LR sections much faster than before. Finally, it reduced my anxiety about the LR sections in general which helped conquer my stress about the LSAT as a whole.

"Let's LSAT" by Jacob Erez is a bunch of tips from top scorers and is about three hours long. "A Cadre of Experts" by the same author is an LSAT guide in the form of a novel. I did quite a few other ones too but these two were the only ones I'd recommend. I listened to "Let's LSAT" four times and each time I found several new ideas to employ in my studies.

This happened to me last Thursday. LSAC responded to my puzzled e-mail saying since I was able to take the exam I wasn't "eligible" for a retake (good deal, LSAC, I didn't want one!)

However, like you, I am still scheduled for a retake according to my LSAC account and it has me worried that they won't score my November exam. I'd love to know if anyone has anything more definitive.

Score to guarantee T14? 180. Seriously, I never saw the point in aiming lower than the top. Even if you don’t ever hit such heights, make it your goal anyway.

@ said:

Hi guys,

I had a quick question. I am struggling with timings when it comes to LR questions. So when there is an LR question that is long, I tend to skip it. I was wondering, are there any specific strategies that you guys apply to deal with long text LR questions.

Thanks

Get “The Loophole” by Ellen Cassidy. It’s the single best money I spent on prep (besides 7Sage Ultimate+, of course.)

Did you score better the second time than the first?

Did you score near your Prep Test average?

What is your target score?

Answer choice D is wrong because of the word “most.” Had it said “some species of flowering plant,” it may have been a better choice. However, answer choice E is a perfect fit so there’s no room for another correct choice...

What are the chances of you re-taking the LSAT and getting that 160 a little higher? If I were you (and we’re in similar predicaments as far as Undergrad is concerned) I’d be spending my every waking spare moment preparing for a January retake. A 165+ will change your situation significantly if you can swing it.

I don’t think you can fake the LSAT well enough to be disadvantaged. In theory, the same level of reasoning will be required by the same test to get the same score. While studying for the exam we actually are improving critical reasoning, short-term memory, fluid intelligence, and spacial reasoning skills. The test measures these qualities and, while I’m sure there are a handful of lucky flukes who score above their abilities, I would bet that two people with similar scores will have similar reasoning skills.

I’ve taken it three times.