Penn is an excellent school with a very strong reputation nationwide. (I also love Philly, so it has that going for it too.)

I had the starter plan and received a 169.

I think it's really important that, if you have the starter package, you also have access to an adequate number of PTs to use for both full tests and drills. I purchased a few (maybe 4 or 5) "1-10 PT" books published by LSAC. I cannibalized older PTs for drills and used the newer tests for full exams.

I don't know if a certificate will be the thing that pushes you into the admitted pile - it certainly won't hurt you, either. Since you'll still be in college for another year, just try to work on getting your GPA up as much as possible and building closer relationships with your professors so that you can have more compelling rec letters.

When I was working through the CC, I would drill by question type using the PowerScore workbook that sorts LR by type. My drills had 15 questions or so - if I didn't get all 15 correct, then I'd do another 15, and so on.

Try to strip away detail and find structure. Reduce arguments to their skeletons and you'll see that so many stimuli are saying the same thing, just gussied up differently. For example, you'll always come across questions that make a conditional statement about a person/place/object and then draw a conclusion about a different person/place/object by flipping the conditionality - the answer is always "mistakes a necessary condition for a sufficient condition." Doesn't matter if it's talking about how all teachers are good with children or how all cats love fish or how every car in Townsville is red, the structure is the same.

For what it's worth, the muscle memory I associate with LR did not come to me while I was amidst the CC - it came afterwards, once I was knee deep in PTs and BRs, because once you're taking 1-2 PTs a week, you'll find the patterns.

Excellent! Just stay on your grind and those PTs will keep going up. :)

Who is pressuring you?

It depends on what their concerns are and what their intentions are -- maybe they're concerned with you burning yourself out or are worried that you might be putting off the test indefinitely because of test anxiety that you need to address.

Or, it could be that they just don't understand the LSAT. I have very well-meaning friends who thought the LSAT was the same thing as the bar exam, or they think it's something you either pass or fail. If that's the case, then just explain that the LSAT is a very challenging, though learnable, test and you need adequate time to prepare to get the score you really want. Everyone who takes the LSAT has a different timeline because everyone has different desires. If you want to go to a law school that has a median LSAT of 160 and you took a diagnostic and received a 154, you probably won't need to study for as long as someone who had a diagnostic of 140 and is aiming for a 170. So it's all super variable and I'd try to explain this to them.

If they're rushing you because they don't like how much time you spend studying and would rather you spend that time with them hanging out, then just say that this test is very important to your future and you'd like to have their support throughout the process, and if they're not happy with that response, then tell them to go kick rocks.

I would discourage you from setting a date before you see the amount of work that lies ahead of you - a jump from a 168 to a 173 might entail a month of shoring up weak points or it might require a more fundamental refinement of your understanding of logic which may take longer.

There isn't really such thing as "too early" when it comes to the LSAT. September is perfectly suitable for any timeline. You can still send in applications early with a Sept. exam. Nov./Dec. is also not too late.

Also, since the March test is undisclosed it's difficult to see what points you missed. Do you have a sense of what was the hardest section? That would be a good indicator of where you should focus your time and energy primarily.

Right now, focus on getting closer to your goal score. There really isn't any way to know for sure how long a 15 point jump might take you. Some ideas are easier (and faster) to grasp than others. Don't impose artificial deadlines/timelines on yourself. Once you are nearing the deadline for September, see where your PT scores are at, and if you're at or around your goal, then register, if not, keep studying.

I kinda like seeing the same topics repeated. Even if the question stem is different, the familiarity makes me more confident in answering it.

It may be a stamina issue or having to quickly switch gears between sections. The more PTs you do, the better you'll get. You have the skills, you just need to get into the right groove.

I used 7Sage in tandem with PowerScore Bibles. I actually read through all of the Bibles before starting 7Sage and I felt like it gave me a good foundational understanding of some concepts in logic.

I definitely think you can make a solid improvement before November but in order to prepare most effectively, you need to ask yourself the following questions about your experience during the September exam:

Did you run out of time on any (or all) sections? Did you feel as though you were rushing towards the end and had to make random or semi-random guesses? If so, timing might be what you want to focus on. If you understand the logic but feel as though you need an extra minute or two on more difficult questions, I recommend doing a lot of timed drills and sections.

Were there certain types of questions you felt you had to go back to or were completely stuck on? Questions where you bounced between two answer choices but couldn't figure out which was wrong and which was correct? If so, that might be an issue with understanding a particular concept. Isolate that concept and study it. Maybe return to the 7Sage Core lesson on it, followed by problem sets.

Did test day make you a lot more anxious than you usually are during a PT? Did you feel "off"? While sometimes test anxiety can't be overcome completely, you can definitely improve the nervousness by taking PTs under rigid testing conditions - that way, when the real deal rolls around in November, it'll only feel (somewhat) like another ole' PT.

Best of luck! I'm hoping to make a jump this November too, so I'm right there with ya. :)

Drill LR by type. There are books - like the PowerScore LR type training book - which take all of the LR questions from an old subset of PTs and categorize them according to "type." If you find yourself struggling on a certain type - drill those questions until you can comfortably answer a wide array of them with little, if any, errors.

AN: I only have 7Sage Starter so I don't have access to things like the question bank - I'm sure the question bank could accomplish the above. But the main advice holds - drill by type.

Using a stopwatch instead of a timer is a good start; for some reason I think seeing the clock approaching 35:00 is less stressful than seeing it approach 0.

Perhaps you should try doing specific problem sets timed, rather than entire PT sections. Instead of trying to tackle an entire LR section in 35 minutes, maybe try to tackle the first 10 questions in 10 minutes. You could try doing individual games or individual RC passages in under 9 minutes as well. Once you get comfortable with timing the smaller parts, you can work your way up to entire sections and eventually entire timed PTs.

I wouldn't say that ranking matters so much as employment does; rankings are just an easy way to estimate roughly how well a school can employ its graduates. However - the actual employment #s and %s, what region(s) or markets graduates end up working in, and the nature of that work (large firm, PI, small firm, solo, etc.) matter a lot.

I found that my performance improved immensely once I started consciously pausing between paragraphs (and sometimes in the middle of a paragraph) so I can sit and absorb what I just read. I also try to anticipate what the next paragraph will say - not because I'm good at predicting it (I'm actually not) but it forces my brain to think about the material in a more rigorous way.

Your main goal should be comprehension rather than rote memory. When I really understand a passage, I can breeze through passages. For passages with more foreign subject material, I remind myself that I only need to understand exactly what the passage is describing - I don't need any background info.

Not to beat a dead horse but it really is imperative that you responsibly prepare for the LSAT. It is difficult to overstate how important the LSAT is in shaping the course of the rest of your life. Your LSAT score can mean the difference between massive debt and minimal debt, gainful employment and un(der)employment, as well as a whole list of other very important things which impact your quality of life.

The fact of the matter is that most people, bar those individuals who can finesse a 165+ diagnostic, need a lot longer than 6 weeks to get the sort of score one should have when applying to law school. Sure, you can make some pretty big jumps early on when starting out in the 130s, but to consistently score in the 150s requires a level of foundational understanding that is difficult to cobble together in a month and a half.

You don't have to apply this cycle -- and the fact that you insist that you must apply now makes me question why you began preparing for the exam so recently.

Just as an update - I took a full PT (5 sections, timed -- I only took 4 section PTs before the September test) and then I blind reviewed.

PT: 171

Blind Review: 180

I got -6 on LG which is typical because I have a timing issue when I reach the fourth game. I know to work on LG.

I attended the LSAC forum last year and the year previously even though I knew that this year would be the earliest cycle I'd apply to -- I definitely think it's worth it to go. They're pretty interesting, the panels provide some useful info, and it's nice to hear about different programs at various law schools (scholarship programs, resources for URM/first gen students, etc.) Also, the forums are great if you're a big fan of glossy brochures.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that you'll learn anything groundbreaking but at the very least, I find the forums very motivating and energizing. I remember one panel in particular where attorneys discussed their day-to-day lives in their respective careers ranging from a corporate attorney at a large firm to a municipal judge to a solo practitioner. Very valuable insight.

@oshun1 Thanks so much for the advice! I think my last two PTs were late 70s/80s. All of my previous PTs were in the 50s. I think it was the Sept 2017 PT that I got a 170 on. I'm planning on taking a very recent test (possibly one administered in 2017/2018) as a new diagnostic tomorrow. I'll see where I stand and try to identify weaknesses.

I'm not adamant about applying this cycle. It would be nice to be able to apply this cycle but I value sending in the strongest application possible rather than starting law school by a certain date.

I usually do very well on LR - normally only get anywhere from 1 to 3 wrong on any given section; test day? -9 and -6. I BOMBED.

I was anticipating a 165+ - ended up with a 162. Disappointed but not terribly so. Retaking in Nov.

Admittedly, I didn't prepare the way I knew I should've. I should've taken far more PTs than I did and I never really committed myself to blind review or fool proofing. For my retake in Nov, I'm gonna double down and make sure I don't repeat those same mistakes.

@ Thank you for sharing your experience, I greatly appreciate it. I am worried about getting into a weird rut where I just continuously postpone the test (and drain my bank account in the process lol). I may just cancel the June test and then register for the next test whenever I feel comfortable.

I am not opposed to delaying my cycle by a year. I am not in a rush to apply to law school since I just graduated from college a few months ago and I am interested in possibly getting some work experience as a paralegal.