What to do when you get stuck in a score range?

justrandom

I've been studying for the LSAT for about 2 months now. I started off at 146 and now I am around 157/158. Occasionally I drop down to a 155. In the recent PTs I've been stuck in this same score range (156-159). My reading section continues to be relatively low, I usually get -9. My goal is to get a 165. I am thinking of signing up for the 7sage course. Do you think if I continue studying and add the course, my course would increase? It's frustrating because I have been studying every day usually about from 9am-5pm. What is your advice on moving up when stuck in the same score range? Any tactics? And do you think raising my score to 165 is feasible. Thank you in advance!

danielznelson

I would focus on sections and questions rather than entire LSATs. Typically, I go over nothing but say, games for an entire week before taking another exam. Often, a week's worth of work on a section I need improvement in helps, especially for the RC and LR sections.

Perhaps take a day or two off and do some of your favorite problems/sections and come back to the section you're struggling with. So much of this is psychological, and your score will never increase if you face any test with discouragement.

A 165 is perfectly feasible, by the way. I started with a 150 (a score attained by bubbling in the many questions I was unable to answer) and have risen to about a 162-164, on average with a high of 168. I do, however, have much more to do insofar as studying.

For many and perhaps even most, progress does not find itself on a steady and perfect correlation with time spent studying - that is, there will be random dips and surges when you least expect it. Putting in more hours of work is necessary but on its own not a guarantee that you will improve your score. Improving your score does not always involve an increase of knowledge in the mechanics of diagramming or the various questions stems, but may be the result of something as simple as a more optimistic mindset or determination and focus during your prep tests.

Hope this helps. This is in many ways my story of my LSAT studying, so I hope this translates well enough to make sense for you.

Gracelover

What the above poster said was true! Focus on certain sections...or on certain areas within sections. For example, if you suck at inferences in RC, then just do a week of going over RC passages and writing a bunch of inferences based on the passage...this helped me with my RC score tremendously...

justrandom

Wow! Thank you both for the advice. I did not even think about that and I am definitely going to try that method. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.