TLDR:

The first time I took the LSAT (my diagnostic test) I literally scored a 45. No, you didn’t read that wrong, no it wasn’t a 145, quite literally it was 45. For reference I have never done well at standardized tests, (I'm both dyslexic and have ADHD) I did so embarrassingly bad on the SAT that I didn’t send my scores to universities. But after religiously studying with the 7sage curriculum and receiving the accommodations I desperately needed, I was able to earn a 145 on my second exam roughly four months after my diagnostic! While it was a significant improvement, it wasn’t anywhere near where I wanted to be. I wanted a 170.

I knew that the higher the score I received the more scholarships I could potentially get. I’m an immigrant and first generation college graduate and knew my parents wouldn’t be able to help me financially during law school. I also knew I wanted to go into civil rights work, so I couldn’t rely on any big law money to pay off loans. So I got to work GRINDING on studying for this test.

I worked full time at a law office and every night after work I would come home and study for 2-3 hours each night, except for Fridays which were my rest days. I would take a practice test Saturday mornings and spend Sundays reviewing the results. My mindset for this exam was it is a marathon, not a sprint. I would still go out and have fun with my friends on Saturday nights but instead of drinking tequila sodas like everyone else, I was drinking seltzer water with lemon because I knew I had to be up the next day to study. For an entire year I was primarily sober at parties and events, and still had a great time!

I started studying in January 2023, convinced that I could pull my score up to at least the high 160s by August, and boy was I delusional. I’m sure others would be able to do that, but I most certainly was not. I decided to defer applying for a year to get my score up. I ended up scoring a 161 on the November LSAT. While it wasn’t my dream score and I knew I would have to take the test again, I was still INCREDIBLY proud of myself. Up to that point I had been scoring in the high 150s, so this was a major win. You need to celebrate the small wins along the way.

I used my law firm bonus to pay for tutoring through 7Sage and it was some of the best money I ever spent. They helped me break down what I was missing and I began scoring in the high 160s and had my first 170! I was signed up for the April 2024 LSAT ready to absolutely crush it, and then got laid off from my law firm job (rip) two weeks beforehand. I ended up choking on the test and got a 163. While happy my score had gone up, I was devaaaaastated it didn’t reflect my practice tests. I decided to take a break from studying and took two months off because I was burned out. I started studying again in June 2024 while starting to write my applications and took the September LSAT scoring a 168 in the 95 percentile!

While I had scored higher on practice tests before (I only got to that 170 once) I was still so unbelievably proud of myself because I knew I had given this test everything I could have. I sent out my applications this past fall and am eagerly waiting to hear back from schools (3(/p)