Wondering if anyone has any advice on LSAT or GRE. My goal is to either be accepted into an urban T14; or to receive some merit scholarship funding from one of two in-state schools. (ASU or University of Arizona). [GPA 3.6 - University of Chicago; 6 Years of strong local/national/international public policy management positions, including some but limited overlap with legal clinic intake/advocacy litigation]
The three questions:
1.) Is an above-median LSAT is crucial to get merit scholarship funding at state schools? -e.g. is raising their LSAT stats is one of the main considerations in allocating merit funding? (I think I can score above median at U Arizona and ASU).
2.) Would a 25percentile to median T14 LSAT score, and a 97+% [overall bracket] GRE score, significantly reduce my T14 chances over just a 97+% [overall bracket] GRE score? Would taking the LSATs screw over my chances on getting into a T14?
3.) Is it worth 400 hours of studying to get in the high 160s or low 170s on the LSATs, rather than just a strong GRE score?
I am pretty sure, even if I spend 400 hours intelligently studying for the LSATs, I am going to score in the 25-50th%, \
Here is my situation:
*I scored in the 99th% on all sections of the SATs, with only one 1.5 hour SAT tip crash seminar that was offered by my high school.
*I think I can confidently score in the 97th+% on Verbal, and in the 95+% on Quantitative, on the GRE, with 1/10 of the amount of studying it would take to confidently score at least a 164 on the LSATs.
*I think that I can, with immense practice, confidently score around 165 on the LSAT; 170 as a reach. (On the October 2015 LSAT (my only LSAT test) - I scored 159 after at least 50 hours of study (admittedly less than intelligent. I did not diligently practice pacing; did not tailor practice towards my weakest areas.) I will be applying fall 2020, so I don't think this score will be reported? Then and now, with 1.5 time, I can reliably score 168-178. Now, timed, I am capping out between I 162 and 164. I think I can improve this some but, regardless of how much I study, do not think I can even confidently score 170+.)
Thanks for any suggestions or commentary!!!
#Help !!
I have had similar timing issues.
Okay. You have limited time; and the main issue you are having is on LR. so, I would say...start by figuring out how long different question types take you. (Time yourself NOW. On EACH type of question, going as fast as you can while also being confident in your answer choice)
This will give you a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses: What can you confidently answer in a way you feel is efficient, and in under 1 min 15 seconds? What can you confidently answer with extra time? What do you still struggle with regardless of time?
Then, you can:
1.) Focus on studying several (3-5?) high-frequency LR question types that you are reliably getting right with the shortest amount of extra time. (There really isn't enough time to develop complete, confident instant recall understanding of all the question types. So I think it's better to be totally confident on a core group that'll make up the vast majority of questions than trying to do everything.)
2.) Slowly reduce the time you spend on those types of question. You have max 1 minute 15 seconds for each LR question.. Then do bulk sets of 10 questions -- reducing by 5-10 seconds each time until you get to the 1.25 minute point.
3.) On practice tests, and on the test day, definitely SKIP and RETURN to questions that you consistently take longer to answer. (For me, they're the parallel reasoning).
4.) Once you are down to time, pace yourself using an analog watch...(this screwed me over when I went from practicing with my cell phone timer to using a crappy analog watch!)
5.) Think of the test like throwing free throws. For each section, you have 25 free throws in 35 minutes. Stick to pace, each new question is a whole new free throw worth the same number of points. If you think of each individually, then you won't psych yourself out based on any challenges you had on previous sections or questions.
Beyond that...I'm not sure if there really are any fast and dirty shortcuts. Reliably answering questions quickly comes with familiarity with basic core concepts -- (e.g. - It's been 13 years since I took pre-calculus or hard math! Right now, I could answer all the GRE questions quickly...but I'd be re-digging up my knowledge from 13 years ago, and each question would take me 5 minutes; rather than 30 seconds if I intuitively knew the answer); Reliably answering quickly after 4 sections comes with building stamina to stay focused and engaged.
(If your issues were on LG & RC -- I might suggest figuring out if just spending 12.5 minutes on only 3 games/passaged would give a higher score; and then focusing on concepts to make sure you can get 95 or 100% of those right)