Looking for some guidance with limited time

DieFledermaus

Hello everyone,

I know that this type of posts are rather cliche, as most people likely have experienced similar episodes during their LSAT prep processes. Normally, I would just keep to myself and try to adjust my prep methods, but with the actual test date creeping up, and little to no progress, I desperately need some guidance/suggestions on studying before my time runs out. The other factors of my student profile is rather strong compared to the LSAT, and improving my score is currently the priority.

Currently, I am aiming for a 165+ on the June 2019 test, I have started studying for the LSAT about 10 months ago without doing a diagnostic test, self-studied using a Kaplan book. But it wasn't consistent, as I have classes, and a job during the semester. The first PT I did after finishing the material, I got a 160, non-strictly timed and included more, longer rest periods than the actual testing conditions.

For the past few weeks, I have been doing 3 full length LSAT PT's every week, and the scores ranged from 157-163. Also, I just started doing Blind Review last week, and there is probably little to no improvements, just yet. I will continue to do BR from now and on, but I would like to look at other factors that I could improve on, making sure that I am approaching my problems with the correct methods. Keeping track of the records, my scores still average out around 160. The typical PT for me would be -5 to -7 on each LR, -3< on LG, and -6 to -8 on RC. LG is by far my strongest section, I usually fall victim to misreading the question or trying to speed through the section under time pressure; On LR sections, I usually find that I will do much worse on one than the other, and they generally balance each other out. (Flaw, Strengthen/Weaken questions are usually the problems); RC is often the nightmare for me, and the one that I run out of time on relatively frequent. English is my not my native language (L3, in fact), and I struggle to catch all the important elements in the passage clearly, especially the ones that have a lot of viewpoints and filled with technical terms (Scientific Passages). The hardest type of questions in this section would be Inference, and Author's attitude towards x (A lot of the times, I don't understand all the words listed, and forced to guess between two)

Ideally, I would keep to the current testing date for a few reasons: 1. I already paid for the admission ticket; 2. The new digital LSAT is rolling out in July, and fully implemented by September. Personally, I find that I would lose attention faster on a digital platform than regular paper tests (I tried the free Khan prep course for a bit, and I regularly lose focus while doing the questions). Thus, I would try to avoid taking the digital one as much as possible. 3. I am finishing my undergrad this year, and I can't afford to take a gap year, so catching the upcoming admission cycle would be important.

With little over 2 months left, I am already spending all the time I could to study, but I don't think I am using my resources effectively, and keep taking PT at this rate probably won't give me the improvements that I am hoping for. I would like to change up my schedules, but not really sure where to start at this point... If anyone can provide me with suggestions, it would be much appreciated! Thanks for your time in advance!

Cant Get Right

If your BR is not any better than your timed score, that can only mean one of two things. The first is that you take the test with what is effectively perfect efficiency. That means that the timing obstacle doesn’t impede your performance, you are getting every point you are capable of getting. The solution to this can only be to improve your potential: Learn new skills to take advantage of. The other possibility is that you aren’t doing BR correctly. In my experience, this is overwhelmingly the more likely probability.

So my first question would be: what are you doing to BR? Based on that answer, I expect to suggest more careful BR.

The next thing I’d add is, once or if your BR is effective, don’t stop with good BR. BR is correcting your understanding of the content. That is essential, but you need to get a little more meta. Once you’ve got the correct understanding of the question, you now need to study your own reasoning. What, precisely, is the difference between the correct reasoning and your reasoning? What are the implications of your exact misunderstanding? This is where the forward applications come from; how you you’ll learn to recognize the lesson inherent in one question on the next.

DieFledermaus

Hi there! Thanks for responding! I am sorry that I wasn't being clear with doing BR. By "Little to no improvements", I meant that I have yet to see improvements in my timed score, from redoing the questions in BR. That being said, I have only done BR on two PT's, it would probably be a miracle if I can see a score change that quickly. From the first one, I got a 161 timed, and 165 BR (5 more questions); on the second one, I got a 158 timed, and 162 BR (7 more questions).

From the limited experience I have with BR, I realized that there are questions I thought was 100% certain, but turns out to be wrong (likely because I have a pre-phrased answer that wasn't right), and there are also ones that I initially got right, but convinced myself to choose a wrong answer in BR. I probably will have to be more careful with being "100% certain" in future PT's.

Otherwise, I would say that my BR procedures are rather standard: I do the full timed test, after taking a break, go back to the circled question and redo them using a pen, and either change my answer, or keep the original one. After I finish the section, I grade both the timed answers, and then the BR ones.

Cant Get Right

Two PT’s definitely isn’t enough to begin seeing results, but plenty of room to improve BR. Your BR scores are higher, but not significantly, so I think everything I said from before stands. To improve your BR:

You should BR using a clean copy of the test with no record of your timed work. All that should be transferred is the record of which questions you marked for review.

Next, it’s usually not enough to just rework the question. Write out a question report explaining every facet of what’s going on. The report should: ID the question type, deconstruct the logic, deconstruct the grammar, ID the method of reasoning if applicable, ID any red flag words—little things with big implications, explain in depth and with as specific a reference to the stimulus as possible why each incorrect answer is wrong, and provide precise confirmation for why the correct answer is right.

From there you can do the BR continuation which I discussed above.

If you can do three PT’s a week, you’re not doing it right! When I was scoring fairly consistently in the low 170’s, I could manage this process for two PT’s a week maximum. If you can manage one a week, I think that would be a really good pace.

DieFledermaus

Thank you for the tips! Tomorrow, I am going to do another PT, and BR following your instructions. I knew that I was doing something wrong, after doing all those PT's and saw no increase on my scores. That, in fact, is my biggest concern with self-studying, it is very easy to go down one rabbit hole and waste too much time & energy on the wrong methods.

If my schedules reserved for the previous plans don't change, I should still have enough time to do 1-2 PT's, the right way, of course. For the 10 weeks I have left, hopefully I can make some progress and get the scores that I am for. However, I am not terribly optimistic about my scores will somehow miraculously jump up. Anyway, thanks again! I will keep you updated on any future progress!