What to do from now until March 29th?

Harvard2020

Hello,

Background: I started studying with 7Sage the first week of November. I started at a 151 diagnostic. I have been studying full time since then and my average is now 168. I have not touched PTs 56-86 except for 67 and 68. Basically, I am back in school full time now working on my masters and am getting pretty tired of the LSAT. However, I want to keep my skills fresh for the March 30th administration. Frankly, I am aiming for 170. I finished with a 4.0 UGPA so I am trying to get into T10 schools. Thus, I am seeking opinions from anyone who might have been/is in in a similar situation. I am debating whether 1PT a week and drilling a few problem types is enough, or if I should be shooting for 2-3 PTs a week? To me, I get a lot more out of drilling the hardest question types of the problems I struggle with in comparison to taking full tests. Any advice is appreciated!

BlindReviewer

I'm also tentatively planning for March, but I'm working full-time so I can only manage one PT a week + BR through the first half of the week and then drill sections the second half of the week (ideally). But if you're studying full-time, you can definitely do 2 PTs a week and thoroughly BR them.

I only started looking at the 60s and beyond starting last month, and though they aren't substantially different, there are quite a few different traps and the "feel" of the questions does change a little, so I would definitely prioritize gaining familiarity over those before the March exam. Also, not sure how many PTs you've done, but learning how to take a full PT with an experimental has also been a harder process than I've thought (e.g. controlling your nerves when you feel like you bombed a section, just gaining endurance etc.)

Just to touch on the final note about wanting to practice with hard questions rather than full tests -- while this is definitely valid for gaining knowledge and mastery, in the actual exam, hard questions are not hard only because of the material but because of the time you might not have to get back to them. Improving on hard questions means learning how to more effectively take a section -- recognizing when you skip or push through, and what to prioritize / cut as lost. For me I'm definitely trying to practice more in terms of process from here to March!

_oshun1_

Not to be discouraging but that 168 average may drop drastically once you get to the newer PTs in the 70s and later. You need to start doing the most recent PTs. It doesn’t matter if you burn through them, do every other PT or every 3rd PT in 70-86 if you’re worried about wasting fresh PTs. Drill the LG in the newer PTs too. You can rip up a few from 60-80 to drill.

Doing 1 PT a week is fine. Since you’re studying full time you probably have time to do 2 but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Harvard2020

Thanks to @oshun1 and @BlindReviewer. Today I wrote PT 72 and scored a 164. So, that does seem to be a significant decrease from my average. However, it seems more important to me that the feel of the questions were different and the RC significantly harder. At this point, I am debating whether to take 3 PTs a week starting at 56 where I left off and get to 86 by the week of the exam, or if I should take 2 a week and start at 70. Any thoughts? Also, how long did it take each of you to get back to your average after starting on the newer tests? Thanks!

_oshun1_

@ata9144 said:
Thanks to @oshun1 and @BlindReviewer. Today I wrote PT 72 and scored a 164. So, that does seem to be a significant decrease from my average. However, it seems more important to me that the feel of the questions were different and the RC significantly harder. At this point, I am debating whether to take 3 PTs a week starting at 56 where I left off and get to 86 by the week of the exam, or if I should take 2 a week and start at 70. Any thoughts? Also, how long did it take each of you to get back to your average after starting on the newer tests? Thanks!

Personally I would skip the 50s and 60s, since you don’t have much time until the exam. You want to be comfortable with the modern LSATs, not scrambling to figure them out a couple weeks before the exam. I’m not sure what other people think about this tho.

BlindReviewer

@ata9144 @oshun1

When I first started taking PTs my "average" was pretty skewed because I wasn't as strict on time (sometimes gave myself a couple extra minutes here and there), so it's hard to tell if my scores dropped more because of applying the pressure of strict time and experimental, or if it's because of the questions/feel of newer exams. I've only taken 2-3 tests in the 70s/80s so I have yet to return to my average from the 60s, but one thing for sure is that my BR score has stayed relatively the same.

So without any exact answers about how long it takes to return to your average, I think my opinion here is to think less about the scores/how long it'll take, and focus more on the BR and self-evaluation that comes with each PT. Sinking your teeth deep into that will be more valuable (at least I think so) than just taking test after test. After all, what are you really gaining from just taking test after test if you aren't changing things up and experimenting as you go?

I think taking 3 PTs a week is too much -- you may gain more familiarity, but I'm not sure you would have enough time to really think about what went wrong / how can you adapt about all three PTs each week. I would focus on taking 2 a week and thoroughly reviewing them -- the scores will come back when they come back, and if you're not ready by March then you may just have to push it back until you're ready. (I've signed up for June and might cancel March if I don't see myself in striking distance by Feb.)