Feeling so discouraged

CASEYMWINDSOR

So I have a 157 on file from July and I’ve been studying since then for the February test but haven’t been able to score over a 164. I just took a pt and blinded reviewed and scored a 158 on both the pt and br. I’ve been drilling sections and question types with both 7sage and power score. I thought I did so well on the reading comp and LR sections too. I cancelled the September test and I think I’m going to have a cancel February too.

The Judges

I had a similar situation and also had a bad November test. It hurts but keep going. Also, it could be a bad test the LSAT is not uniform some tests will resonate with you more than others. Like on my november test i had a grid logic game. never trained those so it hurt essentially luck is involved as much as skill. Also, what I tell myself worst comes to worst can just get an MBA. Right now im studying for the April exam so I will have studied a year and 3 months

lsat8709

@CASEYMWINDSOR JY put this up on his homepage and it really helped me through my LSAT experience. "I made every mistake that could be made. But I kept pushing..." -Descartes. When I was studying for the LSAT, I wrote that on a piece of paper and hung it up on the wall in front of my desk. It helped me get through the discouraging times you are describing. I hope this helps. Good luck!!

Michael.Cinco

It takes time to study and improve for the LSAT, everyone has to go at their own pace.

You seem to have hit a plateau though. Ask yourself, is there something in your approach to the test that has changed? If you can score over 164 your knowledge on the test is probably not lacking, but your execution needs to be tweaked.

Have you tried fullproofing logic games?

Have you looked at other LSAT material like the LSAT Trainer, Loophole or Manhatten prep?

Have you considered hiring a tutor or working in groups?

All these could help break the plateau you are currently on.

CASEYMWINDSOR

@michael.cinco I have fullproofed logic games and that's my best section. I also have read and practiced with the Loophole - i thought it was helpful but on the test I feel like there isn't enough time to go through her steps. I also hired a powerscore tutor before my 157 but didn't think he was helpful.

Sami

@CASEYMWINDSOR

It's hard to know just from a score what could be going on. It would be helpful to answer more questions such as: do you usually finish your LR and RC section? what's your accuracy rate for the questions you do complete? Do you miss easy questions as well? Do you spend a lot of time on the hard questions? Do you write your explanations for each question for blind review? When you compare your write ups to explanations, what did you think was the issue that made you miss the question? Same for RC...

People score a certain score for multiple reasons. Their fundamental knowledge of logic could be bad or if they know they may not know how to apply that knowledge. They could be spending a lot of time on hard questions and missing later easy questions. They may not know how to navigate difficult situations such as 50-50. I suspect because of your score band, it could be a combination of two or more of these things.

Cant Get Right

The thing that’s most concerning for me is that your BR score isn’t any higher than your timed score. Got to raise that up. Are you really doing BR thoroughly and following the correct methodology?

Whatever the issue, take your next steps forward by honing in on your BR and raising that up.

One exercise you should do in addition to BR:

After you’ve BR’d and then graded the test and seen what you got wrong, do a write up on every error you made. Each error will have a different quality depending on exactly what happened. As a rough guideline, you can look at your timed and BR answers to categorize.

If you missed a question under time and got it right in BR:

You probably understand the fundamentals necessary for picking up that point. Your write up should include a break down of the correct reasoning, followed by a detailing of your original reasoning. Your timed reasoning is hard to remember sometimes, so you may need to reverse engineer it by answering “What would someone who chose this wrong AC have been thinking? What misinterpretations on this question would make this AC correct?” From there, analyze and compare the two write-ups and try to ID the exact moment where your original reasoning went wrong. At that nexus will be something critical. Working through this process effectively will diagnose your problems with precision. When you know precisely what your problems are, you can correct them surgically.

If you miss a question in BR it gets a little more complicated:

Assuming a good faith effort in BR, this means you’re missing something fundamental. These are difficult to diagnose because you don’t know what you’re looking at. This is where supplementing with external sources can be most critical. Stubbornly stick with it though. Go back to the CC, go back to the LR Bible (No LG Bible, please) go to JY’s explanations, go to the forums, go to a tutor—but figure it out. Remember that whatever the problem is, there is something essential about it if you dig deep enough. The issue did not just cost you the question in front of you but rather every question where it comes up. I’ve spent entire study sessions on individual questions. It seems extreme, but I made the investment because I understood that the problem was so much bigger than that one point.

Okay, the hard part is over, but one more step:

Give the issue a name. Write that name on an index card. Write a concise explanation, defining what it is, how it’s used, and why it complicated things. On the back of the card, write down the PT/Section/Question number for reference. Pin the card to a cork board, and reference it, and add to it, as you come across more examples in the future.

For example, I’ve got a card labeled:

Conditional Conclusions

When the conclusion is itself conditional, the conclusion is not either term but simply the relationship between them. Don’t mistake the NA as needing to follow UNLESS the sufficient is triggered!

On the back:

61.2.16
63.1.10
78.1.21.A
69.4.21
53.1.8

These gave me a lot of trouble. I missed points and, worse, sunk a lot of time when I’d come across them. Now that I’ve ID’d the issue, I’ve learned the tricks to handling it and I’ve learned to recognize it when I come across it. Now, I get these really tricky questions right, and, more importantly, I get them fast. That’s turning a weakness into a strength, and that’s what it’s all about.

As you build your board, reference it often. I’d even look at it during timed PT’s. With just a glance to remind me of these issues, I’d often recognize snags and be able to quickly untangle myself. This helped to internalize everything and eventually I just never needed reference my board anymore. At that point, I put it away and tested without it. But when I hit a snag, I can still look through my catalogue. I can access that entire history, and with that, the LSAT writers simply have nothing to challenge me with anymore.

lexxx745

@"Cant Get Right" said:
The thing that’s most concerning for me is that your BR score isn’t any higher than your timed score. Got to raise that up. Are you really doing BR thoroughly and following the correct methodology?

Whatever the issue, take your next steps forward by honing in on your BR and raising that up.

One exercise you should do in addition to BR:

After you’ve BR’d and then graded the test and seen what you got wrong, do a write up on every error you made. Each error will have a different quality depending on exactly what happened. As a rough guideline, you can look at your timed and BR answers to categorize.

If you missed a question under time and got it right in BR:

You probably understand the fundamentals necessary for picking up that point. Your write up should include a break down of the correct reasoning, followed by a detailing of your original reasoning. Your timed reasoning is hard to remember sometimes, so you may need to reverse engineer it by answering “What would someone who chose this wrong AC have been thinking? What misinterpretations on this question would make this AC correct?” From there, analyze and compare the two write-ups and try to ID the exact moment where your original reasoning went wrong. At that nexus will be something critical. Working through this process effectively will diagnose your problems with precision. When you know precisely what your problems are, you can correct them surgically.

If you miss a question in BR it gets a little more complicated:

Assuming a good faith effort in BR, this means you’re missing something fundamental. These are difficult to diagnose because you don’t know what you’re looking at. This is where supplementing with external sources can be most critical. Stubbornly stick with it though. Go back to the CC, go back to the LR Bible (No LG Bible, please) go to JY’s explanations, go to the forums, go to a tutor—but figure it out. Remember that whatever the problem is, there is something essential about it if you dig deep enough. The issue did not just cost you the question in front of you but rather every question where it comes up. I’ve spent entire study sessions on individual questions. It seems extreme, but I made the investment because I understood that the problem was so much bigger than that one point.

Okay, the hard part is over, but one more step:

Give the issue a name. Write that name on an index card. Write a concise explanation, defining what it is, how it’s used, and why it complicated things. On the back of the card, write down the PT/Section/Question number for reference. Pin the card to a cork board, and reference it, and add to it, as you come across more examples in the future.

For example, I’ve got a card labeled:

Conditional Conclusions

When the conclusion is itself conditional, the conclusion is not either term but simply the relationship between them. Don’t mistake the NA as needing to follow UNLESS the sufficient is triggered!

On the back:

61.2.16
63.1.10
78.1.21.A
69.4.21
53.1.8

These gave me a lot of trouble. I missed points and, worse, sunk a lot of time when I’d come across them. Now that I’ve ID’d the issue, I’ve learned the tricks to handling it and I’ve learned to recognize it when I come across it. Now, I get these really tricky questions right, and, more importantly, I get them fast. That’s turning a weakness into a strength, and that’s what it’s all about.

As you build your board, reference it often. I’d even look at it during timed PT’s. With just a glance to remind me of these issues, I’d often recognize snags and be able to quickly untangle myself. This helped to internalize everything and eventually I just never needed reference my board anymore. At that point, I put it away and tested without it. But when I hit a snag, I can still look through my catalogue. I can access that entire history, and with that, the LSAT writers simply have nothing to challenge me with anymore.

so extensive. Really gives a reality check on how thorough and meticulous BR needs to be for a high score

boredmantaray

Hi there,

My first LSAT was at a 157 and I raised it to 170+ the second time around. Most of my change in score came during the ~ 3 months of intensive studying on my own. My method worked for me, it may work for you too.

1) Take individual sections (esp. LR and RC) and do them untimed. You should be shooting for 100% accuracy - time is no longer a limitation. During your BR when you are choosing a new choice, you must reason out why your initial choice was incorrect, why the other 3 choices are incorrect, and why your new choice is the BEST answer.

2) After reaching near 100% accuracy in untimed sections, you must now practice reaching 100% accuracy in timed sections. Once again, you will follow a similar BR process as in step one, but due to your previous untimed work you should find you make MANY less mistakes.

3) There are only so many logic games that they can throw at you. Become familiar with them and you'll be able to take on any variation they throw at you. On my LSAT, I got all but 2 of them incorrect. The 2 incorrect were the last 2 of the section I was unable to complete. Don't be me, get them ALL correct.

4) Take full lengths (including the 5th ungraded sections) every 2 weeks. The final week leading up to the exam, take full lengths everyday except for the day before.

Your early untimed practice sections should begin with the earliest exams available. Your full lengths should be the latest exams available. The LSAT, like the SAT, like the MCAT, like the GRE are simply games that you teach your brain to understand and get good at. You don't need to be a genius, you simply need to put in the time and energy. High test scores on these exams are highly correlated with the amount of time spent going through the material. You can do this.

Good luck!