Please Advise

parkervukich

Taking suggestions on the following dilemma:

I started studying in late June - I worked through 1 lesson per day of the LSAT trainer, did the prescribed drills, and completed that in about 2 months. From there I have done mostly timed sections (all of 72-81) and 62-68; however, I have only taken approximately 5 or 6 full length exams. I started at a 143 cold diagnostic and my scores are 156, 154, 158, 161, and 154. I got logic games down to avg -4 (some later PTs killed this average with the miscellaneous games). I feel confident there now. I do not feel confident in LR although I feel much more prepared than I did 1 month ago.

Here's the dilemma - I am taking the test Saturday. My goal when this all started was to get a 162. I really would like to start law school next fall and not wait a whole year; however, I absolutely know I am capable of a significantly higher score than what I will get on Saturday.I really think I can get 170+ if I did the 40 plus tests took all the time, but is it worth waiting another year? I am 25, turn 26 in March, and a life underwriter (risk selection for a big company) so work is very draining - lots of reading and critical thinking throughout the day. So, studying has felt rushed and stressful. Money is also a big factor in this equation due to lots of undergrad debt from a private institution.

If I take the nov test and continue to study for the January, do you all think that 10ish weeks would be sufficient to get to the 165 mark? Obviously I am nowhere close to the prescribed 40 PTs though. So say I'd do 1 PT per weekend for 10 weeks and some sort of light drill work during the week on LR. Do you think that would give me a good shot at 165?

This is incredibly scattered and non linear - forgive me for that. I'm in full stress/evaluation mode.

Thanks for feedback.

-P

jurislaw

It all depends on your target school. What are the stats required by your ideal school-scenario?
I'm the living proof of the notion that taking many PTs doesn't automatically increase your score. Going back to fundamentals and learn from your mistakes is the way to go.
LG is definitely improvable, you can get to -0, it's the only section where repetition is key: print 100+ games, take note of your timing and mistakes for each game. Put the whole thing in a designated folder and then retake the games that gave you trouble + watch JY videos on that specific game.

drbrown2

Taking the practice tests is such a small part of improving. Sure, the more tests you take, the more familiar you are with different question types and the faster you are. However, the review after each test is crucial to actually getting better.

Take it in November but if you decide to retake, you should probably skip January and wait until next cycle given your demanding work schedule. Each practice test should be accompanied by several hours of detailed review and then drills to shore up your weaknesses. That is tough to do in a short amount of time for anyone, but especially for students who have jobs. That would be my strategy at least. If you think you are capable of doing better than your minimum goal score then go for it.

LSAT_Wrecker

Something that might help you is to shift away from using sections and PTs as scored events within themselves to instead using them as diagnostic tools. Using a section or PT as a diagnostic tool allows you to identify areas of weakness and then return to instructional materials to attack those weaknesses, by both education (reading and theory) and practice (drilling and language parsing/stimulus and answer choice analysis). I think this process is much more valuable as a means to improve your score (a long term outcome) instead of just piling more sections and PTs on the "I've done those" pile. There is no magic sauce squeezed from taking more and more sections. There is no magic sauce gained by some arbitrary number (40) of PTs you may have found recommended somewhere on the interwebs. You need to do the specific work to improve your specific weaknesses.

Good luck.

parkervukich

Okay thanks everyone. So when you suggest using the PTs/sections as diagnostic, then what would be used to drill? Previous problem sets?

drbrown2

@parkervukich said:
Okay thanks everyone. So when you suggest using the PTs/sections as diagnostic, then what would be used to drill? Previous problem sets?

If you struggle with one particular question type or get stuck on a game or feel lost on science RC passages on any of your previous tests you can just work on those specific question/game/passage types in between prep tests. If you don’t understand the concepts you return to the lessons and try to internalize the logic.