!!! A little desperate!! Study advice needed from all you high scorers!

empocrates

I took my very first diagnostic test back in Feb 2019 and scored 140. Took an in person class, but didn't really study much because I'm working full time as well. That ended in March, and after that, just been studying-ish by doing drills, but didn't really fully internalize and understand my mistakes.

I just started the 7sage CC last Sunday, and took the June 2007 diagnostic and scored 146 and BR is 154, not that much a difference which really sucks . I guess the 6 points improvement from my first diagnostic is good, but I was hoping to break 150 this time, though realistically I haven't been studying the right way or putting dedicated hours, so maaaybe 150 was a little to much to ask lol. I just started aggressively studying last Monday. I'm registered for the July test (first time ever), and July is just my test run to get myself familiar with the test environment and everything. I'm betting on the October 2019 to be my actual one.

I'm just thinking of following the CC, but I'm also thinking of taking 1 PT every week to track my progress. is that a good idea to do while I'm still doing the CC?

My goal is 165-170 by the time I write my October, and I have requested 3 months off (hopefully it'll get approved!!) to study before the October write. For those of you who started from a lower score and reached your goal, any advice?? feeling a litttle discourage tbh. I tend to set high standards for myself, and want to see improve ASAP. Ahhhh, honestly any advice would help!!!

Nicolekh

Have you read the trainer? What helped me is seeing questions that you have to be critical of (like strengthening, weakening, NA, SA) as flawed and looking for the assumption the author is making. Practice LG every single day, and do a lot of drilling with question types, and you will start seeing patterns. Don't lose hope, you can do this.

Cant Get Right

Hi,
Upper 140's range diagnostic to 176 here.
Going to lay some tough love on you.

You don't get to say both

@empocrates said:
didn't really study much
just been studying-ish
I haven't been studying the right way or putting dedicated hours

and

@empocrates said:
My goal is 165-170 by . . . October
feeling a litttle discourage tbh.
I tend to set high standards for myself
[I] want to see improve ASAP

These are utterly contradictory sets of statements, so which is it? Do you set high standards for yourself or do you not work towards your goals? You can pick one and only one.

And I get that you work full time. That means this is going to be harder for you (though hopefully you'll get that time off!). I made my way into the lower-mid 160's range during a study period when I was working 70 hours a week, and I've known many people who've made meaningful progress while working one or more jobs. You can't let an obstacle become an excuse. There will always be obstacles.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, lol, your timeline is cutting it really close. I don't think it's impossible for a fully committed and disciplined student though. Start by going through the CC. Don't take any PT's, I don't see much to be gained by that. Until you've learn the fundamental concepts being tested, I struggle to think of a whole lot of benefit coming from that.

Because your timeline is so tight for your goal score--and this is absolutely not ideal--I think I'd recommend stacking the CC with fool proofing LG. Do the lessons on conditional logic from LR, then jump straight to the LG. Finish LG and begin fool proofing games using Pacifico's methodology detailed here: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737
While fool proofing slow-and-steady, begin working through the LR section of the CC before moving on to RC. That is really intensive work, and you will likely finish up fool-proofing and the CC at about the same time. This should put you entering into the PT phase still with time to get in a few tests before the real thing. (Again, all of this is far from ideal, but I think it's your best chance for October. I'll try to talk you out of that in a bit, haha.) Once you're done with the CC, watch this webinar I did on how to study effectively once you're into the PT phase https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/ and that'll pretty much sum up my views from there.

As I've said at various points, this timeline is extremely aggressive for the kind of improvement you're trying to make. The LSAT always seems to take people both longer than they expect, and longer than it has to. We tend to all start the LSAT in the same place--really ambitious goals with really unreasonable amounts of time allotted for achieving them. I like ambitious goals, but far too often, the restricted timeline makes people cut corners and push through material that they've not mastered to the level their goals require. When we fall short, we then have to either accept the lesser outcome or else go back to the start and do it right. So why not do it right the first time? It will absolutely take longer than you are currently imagining, but it will ultimately be much quicker than falling flat and then having to start over.

So my recommendation is to aim for October, but don't force it if you're learning at a rate that is not keeping up to the schedule. Work patiently; master the material; there is no reward for completing the CC; you really have to learn it and understand it. If in doing that you stay on schedule for the October test then that's fantastic. If not, then there's just nothing you can do anyway. You'll either have to settle for taking the test unprepared to achieve your target score or else delay the test. So just do it right the first time.

Best.Yet.2.Come

Great advice @"Cant Get Right"! It was something I needed to read today.