June 2015 retake approach advice needed!

olennkka

Hello all you LSAT wizards!

Was hoping you could help me figure out a study approach for the June Lsat. I took the test in October and got a 152, then signed up for the 7sage Starter about 5 weeks before the December exam. I completed the curriculum just in time and did about 7 preptests before writing the test. I got a 158. So, June is my last shot to get the best score I can. I upgraded to the LSAT Premium, as I had purchased almost all of the newer preptests through Cambridge, and didn't see the sense in going for the Ultimate right away. I may still upgrade to ultimate tho.

My plan is to review the curriculum from the beginning, and use the foolproof method for games, while taking a preptest a week until June. It's been almost 2 months since I've touched the material, but I hope it'll come back quickly.

Any other retakers out there? Can you offer any tips for retaking?

Many many kindest thanks!

emli1000

Best approach would be to re-do the course and drill/BR every single question. Focus a lot more on the question types you've struggled with and drill from the sets you've purchased through Cambridge. Also, understand why each AC is the right answer and why the 4 other AC are incorrect.

Nilesh S

^^ this and yes material does come back to you quickly... however, go through the fundamentals again... bad habits can creep in quickly and the fundamentals are what keep them at bay... revise LAWGIC, and the basic LR types... keep on practicing games with a day for games each week... and if you don't feel ready by June, don't give it... even with September OR December, you will be in a good position to give the test and apply for the coming cycle.. don't rush it...

TBH.11235

I agree with the comment by @"Nilesh S" about bad habits, but would go even further and say that weeding out bad habits will likely be the biggest way you can impact your score. Consider which of the following buckets your weaknesses fall into and how each bucket can be addressed. This list isn't exhaustive:

1. Psychological Traps:
-Getting on "tilt" when you have issues with early questions/sections, which causes you to perform poorly on other sections. Also, seeing a question type that you expect to have difficulty on can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
-Mental fatigue
2. Difficulty Understanding Arguments
-May be an issue of reading for content instead of the argument structure.
-You may not have a strong enough grasp of argument types and previous questions to be able to anticipate potential answer choices, which is a key to performing well.
3. Answer Choice Traps:
-If you understand the arguments well, but still get answers wrong, you're likely being fooled by the way answers are presented. This is partially addressed by seeing and documenting the many ways LSAC tries to create tricky answers.

Each of these weaknesses require a different plan of attack. Continue doing what you're doing in terms of reviewing the curriculum and other material, but keep in mind that the purpose of most LSAT practice (that isn't learning brand new material) is to diagnose and fix the logical flaws you make while taking the test.

olennkka

Thanks for the tips everyone!