Advice needed - 4 weeks before test day

kpyjekkpyjek Free Trial Member
in General 5 karma

I am registered for the October LSAT and have been studying for the last 3 months. For the most part, I have put 3 to 3.5 hours in daily (sometimes more if I’m able to) and am taking my 5th practice test on Saturday (work full time and am a single mom, so although I’d like to have more under my sleeve by now, it just hasn’t always been possible to get them in).

My first PT I got a 144 and am currently teetering between 146-148. I’d be satisfied if I’m able to walk away with a 155 on test day. With that said, 1) is it possible to obtain in the next 4 weeks, and 2) if so, how would my time be best spent in the next month, keeping in mind that there will be days where I’m just not able to put in as much time as I’d like.

Comments

  • MissChanandlerMissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐
    3256 karma

    When was your first PT? To be quite honest, if you have only made a two point improvement after 3 hours a day studying over the last 3 months, you need to re examine your study methods. It's really unlikely to score six points above your highest practice test on the real thing.

    What does your studying look like right now? Are you using a specific book, etc.?

  • ALLCAA123ALLCAA123 Alum Member
    edited September 2019 125 karma

    If you absolutely have to take the exam in the next 4 weeks, I'd recommend a few things to boost your score--

    1. Logic Games: this is probably the easiest place to get the most points. Barring the September 2019 LSAT (which I was unlucky enough to take), logic games tend to be pretty easy and formulaic. That said, if you have the CC, watch JY's lessons and how he handles logic game problems. If you can get logic games down to -3 or -0 you're in great shape. It takes practice, but have fun doing it-- they are games, after all! Do a game or two every day and master the game types, which shouldn't be too hard with the CC. Don't let yourself off the hook until you get to the -3/-0 threshold. If you're already doing that, then great! onto LR.

    2. Logical Reasoning: The second best place to get the most points. Learn what each question type is asking of you. Most of them are straightforward, but others are not (i.e. you need to know what sufficient and necessary are to get the 'sufficient' or 'necessary' assumption questions right). You need to be able to identify the conclusion and how it's supported. You want to be able to describe flaws in arguments, and strengthen/weaken them. Do a TON of practice problems for these, and at some point, it'll become intuitive for you. However, be able to explain to yourself why the answer you chose is right, and why the other four are wrong. Here's another thing I learned-- almost every stimulus has excess stuff in it, i.e. stuff that isn't important to helping you answer the question correctly. Authors usually give background info (the city wants to build a factory), context (a while ago some phenomenon X happened), opposing viewpoints ("some people say", "it has been argued that"), and so on. None of this is ever relevant to answering the question correctly. I'm not saying you should skip these parts, because you might, and probably will, need them to understand the conclusion. Rather, keep this information in the back of your mind, and let the conclusion itself and the main supporting premise guide you to the correct answer. Remember these two things at all times, and prioritize them: 1. what is the conclusion? 2. how is it supported? if you can understand these two things for every stimulus, even without understanding the rest of the stimulus, you're in prime shape to get the question right. This is generally what you're supposed to do, but for 'must be true' questions and 'argument part' questions, this won't work. Those are more factual questions that are asking for your understanding of certain parts of the stimulus.

    3. Reading comp: The hardest to improve on. I struggle on this myself, but my best advice would be to read more and summarize each paragraph as you go along. Don't memorize every fact/detail, but do understand what's going on in each paragraph. Is the paragraph presenting evidence? is it supporting or going against a theory? is the author giving us a suggestion? As JY teaches, summarize each paragraph in 1 word, 2 words tops (i.e. use words like 'hypothesis', 'disagreement', 'background', etc). Give yourself time to understand what's written in the passage, and the questions will fly by.

    Hope this helps. Good luck!!!!!

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