First/Lowest PT: 150 Highest PT: 171 - Encouragement

seharris14seharris14 Alum Member
in General 100 karma

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share a bit of my experience and hopefully encourage someone. After 3 months of prepping I was PTing around 150, 153 or so. My biggest issue was that I would only get half way through each section before time was called, thus only getting half the potential points each time (and that would depend on what I answered correctly). I was using a number of study materials, one of which was a book which (though I didn't realize it at the time) was poisonous to my mentality. It said things which led me to believe that the scores I was getting at the time in the low 150's were the highest I would ever be capable of regardless of study efforts. It said that a person was unlikely to ever improve more than 10 points or so from their first PT score, and even those 10 points would be brutal to earn. I thought its advice to "accept" your capabilities and your limits was a "wake up call" of sorts, that I would never get the score I had hoped for when I first began studying (a 170+).

As I approached the September 2017 test, I felt unprepared, and I knew I hadn't done my best. My sister helped me to see that I am capable of anything I want. With hard work, I am capable of a 180. I withdrew the night before the exam. I stopped using that particular book, enrolled in 7Sage, and started working independently on fixing my timing issue so that I could get to more questions. My 7Sage diagnostic PT soon after beginning the course was a 162. I continued to work through the course and studied harder than before, and smarter than before, learning more about timing strategies and what approaches to take to specific questions. This made me faster, and improved my ability to find correct answer choices and pass over trap answer choices, sometimes with a laugh to myself.

Over time, I ended up seeing scores of 165, 168, 170, and 171. Once I broke through the 170 mark, I did not always stay there, and would sometimes see a 164 or 168 again. However at that point, it would be the result of fatigue during the test, moving too slowly on a harder section, silly mistakes like thinking the question had asked what do Sally and Jim "agree" on rather than "disagree" on, or being intimidated by an innovative (but doable) LG, and that score change would be the difference of about 2 to 5 individual LSAT questions. I knew what I was doing, I just had to practice and fine tune, continue foolproofing games and blind reviewing my exams.

I sat for the LSAT a few days ago (December exam) and I, of course, do not know what my score is. However, I said all this to say that if you are getting scores on your PT's that you are not happy with, and you feel that you are capable of more, than I believe you are. It takes a lot of hard work, and it takes the will to dedicate yourself to this even in spite of a particularly discouraging PT score or a question type that seems to get you every time. But by understanding the correct approach, meticulously analyzing every mistake, and thoroughly confirming correct, successful lines of thinking, you, dear reader, are just as capable of the score you want as anyone else.

I know that there may be some debate in the world about what undergraduate courses might help someone be better equipped for this test, or how a super genius might study one month or less and ace the test. I'm not going to fully go into that, but what I will say is this: it may not be easy for you (it was not easy for me at all), but you are more than capable of the hard work it takes to achieve what you want.

I was very nervous to share my story but, if I have encouraged someone, it's worth it. A big thank you to 7Sage for the wonderful curriculum and all the lovely motivational quotes! Fellow testers, I wish you the best!

TL; DR: After my months of improved preparation following the September LSAT date, on my absolute worst day I PT'd 14 points above my first LSAT score of 150, on my best day I PT'd 21 points above my first LSAT score. Be encouraged! "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." -Winnie the Pooh

Comments

  • LSATcantwinLSATcantwin Alum Member Sage ⭐
    13286 karma

    https://media1.tenor.com/images/44b56a3ffc7de9f23b2fb461165e9d62/tenor.gif?itemid=4445019

  • SprinklesSprinkles Alum Member ⭐
    11542 karma

    Beautiful.

  • greybrownbluegreybrownblue Member
    87 karma

    May I ask you, how many hours per day and how many days per week did you study? Thanks!

  • beezmoofbeezmoof Alum Member
    555 karma

    Bless you.

  • seharris14seharris14 Alum Member
    100 karma

    @greybrownblue Sure! It's tough to say, because I tended to focus on daily goals based on what I wanted to accomplish that day (Finish X lessons of the Core Curriculum, or BR Y section of my latest PT) as opposed to how long it would take. I also tend to take breaks when I study and practice, with the exception of full timed PT's. Overall though, I studied pretty much every day, with a rare day off doing nothing LSAT related and an occasional "break day" on which I would study, but only for 30 minutes or so foolproofing a few games and such. On the average day I'd say I spent about 3 hours. My longest day was maybe 6 hours, but again, I'm not sure due to the breaks. Nearing the end of my prep after I finished the Core Curriculum, I liked to take a PT, then take a few days reviewing intensely, and sometimes a day off before doing my next PT the following day. I took no days off in the weeks following the September almost-take because I was coming to terms with how serious a challenge the LSAT is, and then as I moved forward in my practice and improved I eased up a little bit. This ease up was also the result of full timed PT's being more fatiguing than problem sets and lessons which I could do day after day. I hope this helps! Best to you :)

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