Gunning for 180

vitesse951

Is anyone else aiming for perfection? I realize this is a very remote possibility, but I feel like it's really helping my prep just to have such a lofty goal, and I'll benefit from it even if I don't actually pull it off on test day. It's forcing me to address every possible weakness.

From Dec '09 to Dec '12 the frequency of the most questions missed to still hit 180 was:
-1 (30% likely)
-2 (40% likely)
-3 (30% likely)

Obviously, this is would take a confluence of skill and luck on the actual test, as well as not getting stuck with a -1 test. I have scored 178 three times over the past 5 tests, but these were PTs in the 20s, and those were raw scores of -5,-7,-4. On the Dec '12 test, those raws would have only been 177,175,178 respectively. So, I still have a long way to go to have a chance at accomplishing the impossible dream. I've got just under 2 months of prep under my belt, and I just signed up for this site a few days ago. I already feel like the "Lawgic" lessons are helping me. Thus far, I have not been diagramming conditionals in LR. I think that is going to net me a question here and there. I'm going to go through the entire curriculum to see what else I can pick up.

I am scoring -0 or -1 on most LG sections, anywhere from -0 to -2 on each LR section, and consistently -2 with a few -1 on RC sections.

In order to pull this off, I will need to first not pull a -1 test, and then on test day come up with a -0 LG and -2 over both LRs and RC (-3 if I am lucky enough to pull a -3 test)

Again, very unlikely, but a handful of people do pull this off every cycle.

James Dean

I have the same goal in mind. It is possible. It is simply a matter of how hard and long you are willing to work. I know a guy who studied for 1 year before taking the LSAT -he scored a 180. Obviously his regiment was one of austerity, and he became pretty "geeked out". So it is very possible if you are willing to put in the effort (and time if necessary) . Now, for the student who wants to score in the high 170's in a month or two- that will probably require the Gods, unless they have a educational background that is heavy in logic. For that student, LSAT thinking may be natural, and thus allow them to score high with little prep.

I am not that student. My initial diagnostic was 155 (I missed nearly every LG Q). I am 80% through 7sage, and I have not taken a PT since my initial. I'm anxious to see where I score now that I've prepped for a couple months.

I have the Oct LSAT on my schedule, but If I'm not consistently scoring in the high 170's, I will wait until Dec.

chrijani7

James,

I am basically in the same boat as you. My initial diagnostic was around 150 as well and I was pretty bummed out about it. I began to question whether I was actually fit for it, but im glad to know that with hard work my goals can still be achieved ( as I would like to get a 170+).

vitesse951

I had a very similar experience as both of you. My initial diagnostic was 155. LG was my big problem. I was decent at LR and RC from the get go, but I just had no clue what I was doing in LG. Even after working on LG extensively, I was stuck around -4 to -6 per section until I found this site by googling each specific game. The free LG explanations really helped get me over the hump there, and ultimately that is what led me to become a paying member. I'm going to take the Oct test, but if I don't get 177+ I'll most likely retake in Dec. I might have the worst GPA on this site, so I need every point I can get.

K

Can you explain what you mean by the curve?

James Dean

Removed* See below

Justin Giles

Technically, people scoring high doesn't affect it, since the curve is set before people ever really "see" the test. It's built off how people do on the experimental versions of it. So, theoretically, everyone could get 180 in one sitting. But, math and probabilities being what they are...

James Dean

Ah, excellent clarification, sir. Thank you.

J K

@Justin Giles then is the rumor that the curves in October/December are the "easiest" because you take it with the people who score low in June/October(thus somehow being low scorers in general) completely baseless? Why do people try to analyze and compare the curves of each month so much?

paulfan2011

I haven taken quite some preptests and in my experience, the December/October scaling tends to be more lenient even though the questions are not that hard