Retaking the Test

Amrina96k

Hi everyone!

I just took the November Lsat, and although we haven't received our scores yet, I am strongly considering taking the Jan Lsat. I have registered for it alreay because I am sure I can increase my score from wherever it is right now, and I would like to guarantee a spot in law school for Fall 2019.
So while preparing for my November Lsat, I noticed that my strongest area is LG. However, i'm never able to finish all 4 games. I have a strong grasp of most rules, but is there a way I can get around to completing all 4 games on time? I'm not sure how i can do this, i've been practicing and practicing and practicing. (I've been studying on and off for the Lsat since April, and wrote my first lsat in September)

Another area I'm looking to improve on is LR. I have gone through the CC and understand all the concepts, i have even read the powerscore book, however I can't seem to improve when I do the actual questions (i always get approx. -8 to -11). There aren't any specific questions i get wrong, it's different kind every time, a mix of everything. So i'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or missing something because i can't seem to get better at LR. Any tips?

My RC is alright, i haven't focused too much on this sections because it's the hardest to improve for me. So i've put all of my efforts on my improving on LG and LR.

My PT have been in the low 150s and I'm still waiting on my November Lsat score.
I'm aiming to get a score of 155-160 for the january lsat.

lorenposs

Your scenario literally sounds exactly like where I am at right now, except for sitting for the Sept test, (I was originally supposed to take this test but missed the registration deadline) Nov was my first administration. LG is also my strongest section and by far where I rely on my points... with LR being one of my sections I am waiting/hoping to see improvements for the Jan test. The only thing I have seen that helps me improve on LR so far is to take a few timed LR sections in between full PTs and then BR those to get an idea of the questions types that are giving me the most trouble. Along with the timed sections results, my PT results also give me a solid glimpse at the types I need more work on. Then, from there I might go review the CC for that type or do a page or two of that question type from my powerscore workbook, just to really practice what I just reviewed from CC.

I really like this way of reviewing and have seen quite an improvement in my understanding of NA and Flaw questions just in time for the Nov administration, and hoping will be successful in understanding a few more before the Jan test. Now about RC you are in the exact same spot as I, I didn't go through the CC thoroughly because I assumed that where I was at, scoring wise, would never improve since I had heard that its the most difficult to raise. However, I started actually doing timed passages (one at a time) and then reviewing those to see where I have the most problems when approaching the passages, how many passages I can actually complete accurately, my reading/note-taking that helps most, etc. So, my advice on RC is to not completely look over it, I like to think that if I can improve my RC by only 5 points that it will definitely be there to help me wherever I may have a slip up on my LR/LG.

Amrina96k

@lorenposs Thank you so much for all that!
I practiced a lot of timed LR sections before the November Lsat, i did different LR sections over and over again, and BR the questions I got wrong. However, unlike you unfortunately, i wasn't able to get an understanding of what question types i need to work on. It's always a mix of everything and my score is always around the same number. I keep getting anywhere from -8 to -11 on this section.

So at this point, in order to improve my score for Jan i really need to be able to improve significantly on the LR sections, which I've tried but can't seem to.
Or i need to be able to finish all 4 logic games. At this point i can only finish 3 of the games.

turnercm

Are you skipping questions? Something that dramatically helped me was skipping questions that I had no clue about and coming back to them at the end of the section. Same for LG. If the issue is timing, then skipping and returning may give you that extra bit of thinking time that you need.

When you BR LR, are you missing -8 before or after BR? When you come back to them, have you adequately identified the conclusion/premises in each stimulus? Part of doing LR well is knowing the connections between what the question stem is asking for and how the premises relate to the conclusions. For me, whenever I skipped a question and returned, identifying the conclusion and asking questions about support helped me remember what I was looking for and ignore extraneous information.

Lastly, I would highly suggest tutoring to identify issue areas. And I agree with @lorenposs in making sure that you are drilling question types to bring that accuracy up to timed sections.

Amrina96k

Thankyou so much @turnercm
I can try the skipping method, my only concern is that i won't have enough time to come back to the skipped questions because i never have any time left at the end.
In terms of BR, I get -8 to -11 wrong when I'm doing regular timed sections. When i do BR then i usually get about half of that, -4 to -5.
I usually have no trouble identifying the conclusion and premises, so I'm not sure what the exact issue is.
In terms of reviewing each question type, the questions i get wrong are always a mix of everything, so i have no clue as to what specific question type i should review. If i get SA wrong in one test, i get it right in the second one.
I've done many timed LR sections only, and BR them as well. But my score was always in the same range.

keets993

So the first thing I would recommend is to videotape your next timed PT. Have it setup so that you are filming what your hands are doing through the take and you can see all the material on the pages clearly. After you take the test, review the footage. Make sure to record on spreadsheets how much time you spent for each question and do this for each section. Be sure to make thorough notations of "took 30 seconds to read stimulus, eliminated 3 answer choices by 1:02...then stared between AC D and E for 50 seconds" or something to that effect. That's the type of notes I made during my first few PT footages because I didn't know how inefficient I was with my time. This footage will make it glaringly obvious as to how you are mismanaging time on each section. There are always two things to address after each PT: first, how to best maximize your test-taking strategy; and second, addressing fundamentals.

What @turnercm suggested about skipping questions seems counter-productive but is really helpful. You'll eventually start to notice which questions you spend far too long on (should never reach 2 minutes on the first time you read a question) and which easy questions you miss because you didn't have enough time for them. This will aid you in your future tests because you'll start skipping these tough questions on your first run through (or not attempt them altogether during timed sections) and come back to them aftwards, when you've banked time through effective test-taking strategy.

However, i'm never able to finish all 4 games. I have a strong grasp of most rules, but is there a way I can get around to completing all 4 games on time?

This is a common issue most people have when preparing for the test. Video footage will also help here but I would suggest doing the questions that have additional premises in the question stem before attempting naked questions (blank "must be true" types). Make sure to label your sub-diagrams for each question (q16) and do these first so that when you do go back to the naked questions you have diagrams to draw on to eliminate as many answer choices as you can off the bat. Leave the game that looks the most time-consuming until the end, you don't need to get every question correct.

As for LR

In terms of BR, I get -8 to -11 wrong when I'm doing regular timed sections. When i do BR then i usually get about half of that, -4 to -5.

I think the issue might be (along with timing) that you are not fully grasping the support. Being able to correctly identify premise and conclusion during timed conditions is a great achievement but you need to be able to go beyond that and the toughest questions are very subtle in terms of how they affect the support structure. Make sure you are doing a very thorough BR. When you do a question, be sure to anticipate what the answer choice could look like for that question before relooking at the answer choices. Play around with the stimulus a bit and make it into different question types. A weaken question can easily be made into a method of reasoning, flaw, strengthen, NA question etc. Understand clearly what each answer choice is attempting to do to the structure of the stimulus as well. Is it really addressing the issue or is it something that sounds right but has no bearing on the likelihood of the conclusion? Type or write these things out if you aren't already. The more you do these practices during BR the more intuitive they become during timed conditions.

If you could give an average of your BR breakdown per section and average of score per section then it will help folks come up with strategies specifically tailored towards you.

Hope that helps!