Fell Behind in LSAT Prep - Dec 2

dkm169207

Hey Folks,

I made the classic mistake of not sticking to my schedule and fell behind my LSAT prep. At this point I’ve taken 3 PTs and have done progressively better but still have a ways to go before I reach my target score. I’ve covered the fundamentals of LR and LG. Any tips on how to finish strong over the next month?

BlbbrNggt

Push back your test to February ? In my honest opinion 3 exams is not a very safe bet to gauge your performance nor is it anywhere near your true scoring potential. I have been advised from my pre-law advisor, many other sources and learned from my own experience that you need about 30 pretests under your belt to put your best foot forward on exam day. If you absolutely must take the exam in December and Feb. is not an option, I'd take this time to master games and drill Flaw, Necessary assumption, and Sufficient Assumption as these questions types are very numerous, and if you understand these 3 well, you should be able to figure out parallel flaw questions,simmilar reasoning structure questions. In this month leading up to the exam, I'd seriously consider taking 3 exams a week. Correct the exam with blind review method the same day and the next day, then take another exam and repeat. On the LSAT it is really important to practice taking the test itself so you can handle finishing the sections, recovering after exceptionally difficult questions or sections, and practicing pacing. Do all of your tests with the official proctor, bubble sheets, and use an experimental section pulled from some old test to simulate the test to the best of your ability. Not sure where you are now, but I think if you really bust ass you can see some significant gains. Don't get discouraged. Just stick to the process and aim for perfect practice.

Alex

The prudent thing to do is to accept you messed up and re-adjust your timeline. Unless you're within a few points of your score goal, I'd probably say to plan on taking the test at a later date and applying next cycle. Learning the fundamentals is an integral part of this exam, but spending time applying it is just as important. I think almost everyone, in spending most of their energies on learning the skills that the LSAT explicitly requires, misses the simple fact that the LSAT is a performance. Another way to put this would be that there are really two sets of skill that the LSAT tests, one explicit set and one implicit set. The first set is what you’re already spending time on: strategies to answer questions correctly, strategies to get points. Learning all the necessary strategies means becoming able to answer every kind of LSAT question correctly in the time allotted. This is where PTs come in.

So it's my opinion that a month is almost certainly not enough time to practice both of these skills sets properly.