Advice for Improvement?

kwantalope

I've taken two LSAT practice tests, and both times I've scored in the upper 150s. I'm hoping to get at least 170 in February 2018. My issue is that once I know a question is wrong, I can get the right answer without any kind of explanation (i.e. I see that my answer is red on 7Sage's score/review so I go back to the question without seeing the green, correct choice). It seems like most of my mistakes are from carelessness (perhaps reading too quickly or feeling short on time). I haven't actually run out of time on either practice test, though, so I'm wondering if I should slow down and focus on accuracy before timing myself?

LR is my weakest subject, but I can't pinpoint an exact question type that I need to drill more. I tried drilling specific question types for improvement (mainly flaw, NA, and SA) using 7Sage videos, but I typically get over 90% correct when it's only practicing one kind of question. Since I also only have two months left for improvement, it feels tedious reviewing every LR question type.

Does anyone have suggestions for improving my score? My LG is nearly perfect, RC is iffy (-5 and -7), and LR is the worst. I'm tempted to just do 3-4 practice tests every week to better pace and familiarize myself with seeing a bunch of different LR questions at once. I know most people recommend 2 practice tests max per week, though, with drilling in between, so I'm not sure what to do.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Alex

Hey!

Be wary about writing off mistakes as just being careless or short on time. Most mistakes we make on this test are by design.

Don't take 4 PTs a week because blind review is much more important than just grinding out PTs, which, without a bunch of accompanying review, is a pretty big waste of time and effort. The purpose of a PT is to get a snapshot of your weaknesses, so that you can spend time working on those weaknesses and hammering out your technique. Most of your improvement will not happen while you're PTing, it will happen when you review and drill things that, in your review, you find out needs work.

For LR improvement, how are you conditional logic skills? Since you can't seem to pinpoint specifics, it may be a macro-skill you need work in.

goingfor99th

You should drill LR question types, untimed. Don't move on from them or check answers until you're "sure" you have the correct answer and justify every single choice in writing.

kwantalope

Thank you both!