This is great advice! I wholeheartedly agree with the notion of not holding yourself to other people's standards. 171 might be cruddy for someone who took a year off to prep for the LSAT, who aspires to go to one of the top 5 schools or get a free ride through scholarships. To some people, a 171 might come completely naturally, and the test just made more sense to them. Perhaps those people do a lot of adjacent activities that build the same kind of skills needed to tackle this test? I've been scoring a 150-153 consistently from my diagnostic over the 2 months of part-time studying I've been able to invest. I can't tell you how demoralizing it's been to see people constantly gloating that they're consistently hitting 175-180 on PTs. I'm aiming for a 160, which has been difficult because I'm still investing most of my efforts and time into my undergraduate degree and maintaining a part-time job. Someone may have more external obligations to this test, like a full-time job and family to attend to. The point is that everybody's circumstances are different, and this test should be subjective to your goals. I'm not trying to go to Yale or Harvard, so a 170, while it would be nice, is frankly overkill. And to those who put that pressure on themselves to attain the consistent 170+, realize that stressing about it and drilling 6+ hours of BR everyday is probably not going to get you there. I've only hit improvements to my score when I approach them well-rested, fresh, and with my own subjective goals in mind - any improvement, however marginal, is cause to be proud of yourself. Getting frustrated that you're hitting 160 and NEED to hit 170+ will detrimentally affect your ability to approach this test, since setting such stringent expectations will only serve to frustrate you and cause you to make careless errors.
If it's any consolation to anyone else, my attorney friend and mentor, as well as many other attorneys I have spoken to on this matter, gave me some great advice that I found to be encouraging and relieving; a T14 school doesn't necessitate a great attorney. Neither will getting a 180 on the LSAT. What matters is your motivation to do the best you can muster on this test, try your absolute hardest in law school, and want it more than those who might've had an easier time with the overall process in getting to the goal line.
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This is great advice! I wholeheartedly agree with the notion of not holding yourself to other people's standards. 171 might be cruddy for someone who took a year off to prep for the LSAT, who aspires to go to one of the top 5 schools or get a free ride through scholarships. To some people, a 171 might come completely naturally, and the test just made more sense to them. Perhaps those people do a lot of adjacent activities that build the same kind of skills needed to tackle this test? I've been scoring a 150-153 consistently from my diagnostic over the 2 months of part-time studying I've been able to invest. I can't tell you how demoralizing it's been to see people constantly gloating that they're consistently hitting 175-180 on PTs. I'm aiming for a 160, which has been difficult because I'm still investing most of my efforts and time into my undergraduate degree and maintaining a part-time job. Someone may have more external obligations to this test, like a full-time job and family to attend to. The point is that everybody's circumstances are different, and this test should be subjective to your goals. I'm not trying to go to Yale or Harvard, so a 170, while it would be nice, is frankly overkill. And to those who put that pressure on themselves to attain the consistent 170+, realize that stressing about it and drilling 6+ hours of BR everyday is probably not going to get you there. I've only hit improvements to my score when I approach them well-rested, fresh, and with my own subjective goals in mind - any improvement, however marginal, is cause to be proud of yourself. Getting frustrated that you're hitting 160 and NEED to hit 170+ will detrimentally affect your ability to approach this test, since setting such stringent expectations will only serve to frustrate you and cause you to make careless errors.
If it's any consolation to anyone else, my attorney friend and mentor, as well as many other attorneys I have spoken to on this matter, gave me some great advice that I found to be encouraging and relieving; a T14 school doesn't necessitate a great attorney. Neither will getting a 180 on the LSAT. What matters is your motivation to do the best you can muster on this test, try your absolute hardest in law school, and want it more than those who might've had an easier time with the overall process in getting to the goal line.