Motivation post for any doubters

Pride Only Hurts

After over a year of prep, I finally broke into the 170s on my PTs! My diagnostic was a 147 and for a very long time I was convinced a 170 was well beyond my reach. While PT scores don't necessarily predict how well you'll do on the real thing, breaking a plateau I've been sitting at for months is huge for me. These plateaus have a way of tricking you into believing you have reached your LSAT potential. But this test really does reward patience and methodical blind review. My journey is far from over but thanks to 7Sage and its wonderful community I already accomplished something I once assumed was impossible.

MissChanandler

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiA5cuxm7ThAhVLXK0KHdy6DiAQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https://gfycat.com/gifs/search/thanks+you%27re+awesome&psig=AOvVaw3A0MdoWuUjuY_mjyGAIuCF&ust=1554390851606327

LawyerBarbie

Needed that because June is coming up and I still haven't been able to break into my goal

theLSATdreamer

OHHHH SHIT I just got that feeling we all get after a Rocky movie montage, I need to break some plateaus!!!

Pride Only Hurts

@KR_RealEstateJD said:
Needed that because June is coming up and I still haven't been able to break into my goal

Keep at it! If you're at that point where you're BR score is strong but your actual timed score is short of your goal I'd recommend recording yourself. $12 investment for the phone stand on Amazon but being able to see where you're wasting time is so incredibly valuable. Recording myself was 100% what got me over my last plateau.

Princess

Congratulations! I wanted to ask how you studied for the logical reasoning and what your best tips are. I feel like I struggle with breaking higher into the LR and I do get discouraged sometimes.

Pride Only Hurts

@Princess said:
Congratulations! I wanted to ask how you studied for the logical reasoning and what your best tips are. I feel like I struggle with breaking higher into the LR and I do get discouraged sometimes.

LR takes time for sure but there are probably at least a dozen ways you can improve. I think, first and foremost, make sure your logic fundamentals are solid. Everything that is discussed in the early CC lessons should be second nature. That will get you pretty far by itself. Next, assuming you've already done the lessons, I'd focus on mastering the most common LR question types first. If you have a habit of missing flaw, strengthen, weaken, NA, SA or PSA questions then drill that question type until you can handle even the more difficult 5 star questions in a reasonable amount of time. Analytics is really helpful because it shows you what question types ought to be your priority. Really prioritize them.

Once I drilled all my weakest question types and was pretty comfortable handling every kinds of LR question, I think the final improvements come from perfecting your time management. For me this meant first learning how to do 15 in 15. That means being comfortable answering a lot of those early questions in under a minute. I found strong fundamentals was key for 15 in 15. The next best thing you can do is learn to recognize difficult questions and knowing when to skip them. (I'm still working on this piece). Ideally, you want to have 3-5 minutes at the end of the section to go over any problems you skipped or narrowed down to 2 answer choices. Recording yourself is probably the most valuable way to make improvements once you're averaging around -3 on LR. I only recently started doing that and it's really helped me pick apart my decision making throughout the sections.

ExcludedMiddle

Congrats! Saved this for motivation.

Lawster9

Really inspiring, my diagnostic was around there as well. Thanks for sharing!

akats1027

Thanks for this!!! You have given me a bit of hope that I can reach my goal that feels so out of my reach!!!