144 Baseline (149 BR) Comparison?

victoriaf

Hi all,

I'm at the beginning of a career transition from professional film production to law. I received a journalism degree in 2018, but otherwise have zero pre-law experience. I took the diagnostic prep test tonight and got a 144 with a 149 BR. Can anyone give me context or comparison on whether this is a reasonable score to move up from in the next four months before the August 29 test? I'm having a hard time finding any information online about good vs not so good baseline scores.

Thanks in advance!

Climb_to_170

Hi there, victoriaf!

A 144 allows for a lot of room for quick improvement before the August test but that timeline could be rushed depending upon your goal score and how much time you have available to dedicate to studying. To clarify, are you asking if your BR of a 149 is achievable by August?

EagerestBeaver

One of the main things 7sage and LSAT gurus recommends is to do the studying first, then sign up for the test date when your PT scores are equal to your target scores. Therefore, it may be advisable to remove that time pressure of having to be ready by August. That being said, if your schedule is non-negotiable, yeah there is enough time for tons of improvement in four months. Start with the core curriculum, and go from there.

TheresaAnn

You can typically look at your BR score as your untimed potential, however timing is one of the biggest obstacles yo will face. It sounds like you took the PT and BR'ed in the same day. Typically you want to take the rest of the day off before BR'ing, it will be more representative when you are not burnt out and you spend time on it. You wont find reliable context because so many factors go into improving a score. It comes down to you personally (learning style, motivation) and the time you have to study. Like @Climb_to_170 said, 144 leaves room for substantial initial improvement once you get a better handle on core concepts and timing strategy. Four months does not leave a ton of time to get through the core curriculum, take a number of practice tests, and work a fulltime job. For example, I did not have any improvement in my score of 149 after taking two months to go through the core curriculum. I had definitely learned a lot but timing is that big of a factor. After taking PT's once a week and working on specific skills for 3-4 more months I jumped from 149 to 156 to 160 (working fulltime). If you want to improve that quickly you will need to spend a lot of time studying and try not to burn out at the same time. It is possible, but you would probably want to continue working on LR section timing as you go through the core curriculum. Typically you want to start with untimed LR sections, with your timeline I would suggest moving on to timed as soon as you feel comfortable and practice a question skipping strategy from the get-go (something I didn't catch onto at first). With this timeline I would say you also need to have a knack for reading comp or games. I was able to improve on games substantially with a week of hard studying, RC is less my thing but I have seen improvements on it by just studying LR. Good luck!

victoriaf

Thank you all for your feedback and comments! It's super helpful! I'm making my way through Logic Games and am picking them up pretty quick. Haven't dipped into the RC yet, but I think giving myself more flexibiltiy in the timeline while working full time is going to help overall.

For context, my target score is a 165 (which I realize is a big jump from 144).

lexxx745

I dont think baseline scores are a good measure. Ive seen both little and huge improvement. As long as you put in the work I think you can improve