1st post CC PrepTest: 156, 158 BR (12 point jump), Can I get to 165 by the April test date?

kkumar7

Longtime lurker and first-time poster here,

I am scheduled to take the April LSAT assuming Coronavirus doesn’t get it canceled and I’ve been studying exclusively with 7sage since October. I work full time so I just completed the core curriculum this past week after going through every single video/problem set. After completing the CC and watching the 'Post Curriculum Study Strategies' video, I decided to take PrepTest 36 today to see if I was anywhere near my goals even though I know drilling is recommended.

Surprisingly, even with this being my first practice test after CC and my second practice test ever, I scored 156 timed and 158 BR. The 156 is an improvement of 12 points from my diagnostic and less than 10 points my overall goal of 165 for the actual test.

If I understand correctly from past forum questions, my next step is to religiously drill. My percentage breakdown on PrepTest 36 was:

-58% LR
-88% RC
-88% LR
-30% LG (big sad)

I did CC in order so my LG exposure has been very limited to this point and I understand it is my biggest curable weakness. I’m wondering if any sages/members of the community have ideas on which types of games and what sort of LG drilling I should do at this point to bring my LG up to the 60% range in a month.

Another question I have is that I had originally been intending to take the April LSAT as a practice run then sign up for the summer circuit of June/July/August as my serious takes. But now, my goal of 165 seems attainable if I study rigorously for the next month. Is that actually the case or is the transition into the 160s a lot more difficult than I think?

And a final question, if I’m serious about the April take, should I start doing more recent practice tests? My original plan was to do 36-42 before the April test but should I do something like 78-84 instead to reflect the increased difficulty of recent LSATs? Also, I’m just guessing 6 tests is enough but I’m also not sure about that and would love any recommendations on how exactly I should prep for this final month.

I hope this isn’t too long of a post, thank you from a recent CC graduate who is very overwhelmed by the PT world.

Cant Get Right

Hey, congrats on the +12! That’s an enormous jump and you should be really encouraged. That said, April is way too soon if you’re prioritizing your score over test date. If your BR were where it needed to be, maybe. But a +2 BR means you’ve got a lot of work to do on the fundamentals.

Also, I cannot stress this enough: Now that there are limits to the number of takes you get, “practice runs” are no longer allowed for students who want to do this right.

If you watched the Post-CC webinar, you should recognize you’re still early in the process. Your first major undertaking is to raise your BR score. For a 165 target score, you ideally want to be regularly breaking 170 in BR. Short term goals will include Foolproofing for sure (Search for “Logic Games Attack Strategy” for an excellent guide by @Pacifico on how to do that effectively). You’ll also be returning to CC for LR and RC. Exactly what to return to depends on your analysis of why you missed the questions you missed. And definitely don’t burn high value PT’s at this point! Enter those into the rotation in Phase 2.

Again, great job so far. Keep at it!

kkumar7

@"Cant Get Right" , Thank you for responding! I read your response yesterday morning and spent most of the day coming to terms with it. You're definitely right that my ceiling isn't high enough for what my score aspirations are.

Instead of stubbornly moving ahead (which I thought about for a few seconds), I have switched my test date from April to June and am revising my study plan. It was weirdly sad letting go of the April 25th idea because I set that test date last September as my goal but I trust your advice.

Here's what my plan looks like now, any tips to optimize it/change it?

Weekly PT every Saturday, PT37-50
Blind Review/analytics every Sunday
Drilling: Monday - Friday

-Focus on foolproofing LG with the "Logic Games Attack Strategy", create problem sets of game types I struggle with most and use the attack strategy on those as well.

Foolproof LR questions with the "one redo" method for each missed LR question on my PT for that given week.

I'm not too worried about RC because it's come naturally until this point, I still think it makes sense to do a difficult science/art/philosophy per week.

Then as I get closer to June, re-evaluating and seeing if my scores are aligning with my goals.

Did I miss anything crucial?

zaney learner

May I ask how you plan on drilling Monday-Friday? I'm in the same boat

kkumar7

@"zaney learner" said:
May I ask how you plan on drilling Monday-Friday? I'm in the same boat

Yeah definitely, right now my plan is:

Pacifico method for LG. I am really struggling with games so my plan is to do the process for all 4 games on each PT I take:
-watch the video
-do the game
-watch the video
-do the game
Then repeat that process the next day for a total of 4 attempts on each of the games.
(Monday - Tuesday)

Then throughout the rest of the week I'll make practice sets with different types of sequencing/grouping games and do the process for those games. (Wednesday - Thursday)

For LR, I'm planning on watching the video explanation for every question I missed then redoing the question with my revised train of thought.

For RC, I'm just going to create practice sets with the most difficult passages from PT 1-35 to build endurance.

I'll defer to anyone who's actually drilled successfully but that's my plan for now, I hope that's helpful

Cant Get Right

Yeah, delaying a test stings, but not as much as the alternative. Sounds like you’ve got a good plan for LG. For LR, what is the one redo method? Not familiar with that, at least not by that name.

One really important aspect of your work for LR and RC both should simply be BRing your PT’s. Early on, that took me a solid couple of days for one PT, sometimes longer. If that amount of time seems wildly excessive, you can almost certainly benefit from reviewing the BR section in the CC. If there were one thing I wish I could just get through to everyone, it would be to do strict, thorough BR and analysis. If your BR isn’t all blood sweat and tears, be sure to fix that!

kkumar7

@"Cant Get Right" Wanted to say thank you (and update this thread for anyone in the future). One week of consistently doing the Pacifico method has definitely had a tangible effect.

My weekly PT (37) this past Saturday was 157 timed and 161 blind review. My LG score 46%.

46% feels like a huge bump especially because I couldn't even do an entire game during my first PT (36) and guessed on basically every LG question. This time it felt like my only limitation was time constraints which is a much better problem to have.

You asked about the one repeat method I'm using for LR. I can't remember if I pulled it from 7sage or the LSAT reddit page but it's basically this:

"One redo. Do the question, review the explanation, walk back through it. If it was particularly tough, maybe put it aside and come back to it."

I'm also considering making practice sets out of all my missed LR questions and doing them intermittently throughout the week. Another weakness I've found is question steam identification. It's so different from CC with having to change your mindset slightly on each LR question.

Anyway thank you again and I'll probably post new comments on this post as updates on my progression unless that's discouraged by mods.

nije472ls

Just wanted to drop a line and say great job! You got this!

studyingandrestudying

Thankfully it wasn't the real thing. Practice leads to improvement. Just about every time I redo a game I find something new that helps. Stay in the game. You're on the right track.