How to study for the 3rd Retake???

dictronic110

I dreamed about getting a JD in the US before I came here but I didn’t dare to even look at a LSAT question because I wasn’t that confident in English. I came to the US for an LLM degree in 2013 and purchased 7sage ultimate course one week after graduation in May 2014.

My diagnostic was an untimed 159. I went through the curriculum in June and started PTs in July. I did 3 PTs a week. At first I would do 5 sections, then 6 sections, using old tests as experimental sections. On non-PT days I would also drill individual sections from old tests. I always BR.

My first 14 PTs were in the low 160s with the highest being 169. But the last 2 (PT 48 & 49) I got 159. I knew I burned out. I took a one-week vacation, after which I went through the RC/LG part of the LSAT Trainer in a week. I then took PT ABC in the following week. I got 170, 167, 166 respectively.

In September I started doing PT 50s and I was in the low-mid 160s during PT 50-55. I thought it was because the PT ABC were relatively old, so they were easier. But as I got used to the newer tests, I could see incremental improvements to mid-high 160s in PT 55-60, with 2 low 170s.

In October I scored 5 170s consecutively, the highest being 175 in PT64. I then started redoing older PTs, where I usually did 2 PTs back to back in the morning and another 1 in the afternoon. I drilled some sections from the latest PTs, rather than on their entirety. I did the rest PTs in a library with my study buddy. At this stage I would do the PTs at various places, including my desk, library, coffee shop, supermarket and so on. But I only had 5 170s out of my most recent 10 PTs, others being mid-high 160s.

When I went to the test room in December, I had done all 78 available PTs (PT 1-73, ABC, June 07, Feb 97). But the test didn’t go so well. I usually had little trouble with LG but for some reason the last two games were just so weird to me that I literally thought about cancelling during the first section. I barely finished them in the last second. I had two RCs with the scored one being the fifth section. I had trained myself intensively but I felt exhausted during the last section. I felt that I rushed and had difficulty understanding.

I didn’t study during the waiting month and got 169, with -1 in LG, -6 in RC and -3 in each LR. I decided not to apply for the cycle and retake it in Feb. I bought Manhattan Guides for RC/LR and several Cambridge packages (weaken/strengthen/ RRE, etc).

I had a part-time job but I thought it was OK. Since I had BRed before, so I would just circle the questions that I thought worthy of going through again after the drill. I still redid maybe nearly 30 PTs in January. Sometimes I would do 100 RRE questions and 8 humanities passages in a row.

The Feb test went OK, though there were some questions I wasn’t sure about and I felt I rushed the RC too (again the fifth section). Another 169. I know that I’ve made quite some progress in the test and it may well be that 169 is my potential on the real test. But I want to take my last chance.

I had thought the LSAT as mental heavy lifting and tried to train my mental muscle accordingly. However, upon reflection, I made my biggest improvement in BR and the curriculum when I would just focus one question type.

I think I need to hone my fundamentals again, rather than stressing repetition and quantity. My initial strategy for June is that I go through the Trainer and Manhattan Guide for LR/RC again, but really slowly and carefully. And I need to set stricter time limits for redoing PTs, 32m or 30m per section.

Another problem for me is that redoing PTs and the real tests were so different for me. I got used to getting 180 in redoing familiar PTs, though I would try to force myself to go through the processes even in redoing. But the unfamiliarity in the real test just made me very uncomfortable. I’ve practiced skipping questions consciously and thinking fast. But I found my brain couldn’t think slowly and deeply enough to tackle some hard RC/LR Qs during the test. It was being “conservative”. I wonder how I can find certainty in a test which is designed to let me experience uncertainty. How can I improve?

Sorry for the long post. Hope it’s not so confusing. I know this is an amazing community and I’ve got a lot of help and motivation from it. I truly appreciate any advice and suggestion. Thanks!!!

Nilesh S

The fact that you're getting 169 means that you are doing the right things... just focus on fundamentals... BR... Lawgic, foolproof and PTs... you should be fine. Also a 169 is a damn good score to have. Try for admission with that score

dictronic110

@"Nilesh S" Thanks for your reply! It's already too late for this cycle. And I want to try again. It can't hurt. It's quite annoying that they don't disclose the Feb test and I just don't have any new material. I don't know how to set an effective plan for this time around.

jdawg113

you seem like you know what you have to do and are doing things right... the biggest issue I see is the uncomfortability with unfamiliar questions which unfortunately isn't the easiest to figure out since there are no untouched problems... I would say just keep doing what you're doing, leave a decent amount of the newest tests untouched until 2-3 weeks before the test and just keep drilling(untimed) and PTing with review of anything you get wrong... like serious review. While PTing make sure you don't pick from memory, break it all down, why is A right and everything else is wrong? and if you feel yourself picking A bc you remember it, take a breath and dig into why it is right, even if this takes up ur time. I feel like part of the issue could be the fact that you know all these tests so you practically fly through them and come test day you're just used to going fast... so find a way to slow down and really digest everything.

ValBerroa

You inspired me. @dictronic110.

dictronic110

@rachelHaw Thanks for you reply! But I just don't have another fresh PT to work on. Do you think getting a tutor would be helpful? I live in a small town where professional LSAT tutors may not be available. If I have to do that on Skype, what can they offer me? I feel the material on 7sage/ Trainer/ Manhattan would be more than sufficient to unveil the secrets of the test. Your thoughts would be highly appreciated!

Nilesh S

@dictronic110 Have you taken the out of print PTs 1 - 6 and 8, the superprep PTs A,B,C and the LSAT India PTs?

dictronic110

@"Nilesh S" Yes. I've taken all official LSATs. But I've never taken the India LSATs. What do you think about those tests?

Nilesh S

They are pretty ok... should be used as a last resort though... so I would suggest saving them till may/ June... the first one you would have done... its basically June 2007 all over again with Indian names... the others I think are different.

dictronic110

@jdawg113 I like the idea of untimed PT. I think I didn't do enough serious review the second time around. I would just burn through the tests as quickly/much as I could because I thought I had blind reviewed them the first time around anyway. The tricky thing for me was that I was consciously practicing thinking fast and sometimes superficially. For example, I may do 40% analysis of A to get rid of it. Because I know I would be prone to rush in the real test and I need to cultivate my intuition. But the biggest differences between PTs and real tests are hard Qs. For PTs, I had internalized the nuances of hard Qs and they seemed easy. But in the real test, they're just unfortunately new and weird. Under the stress, my brain sometimes just couldn't think deeply enough and failed to function properly (even after I skipped them and came back). That's where self-doubt came from. I couldn't rely on my intuition and process that I built during PTs in the real test. That definitely killed me. I think that's why I need more serious review.

Or maybe I need to read books more extensively to really build up my abilities? What do you think?

dictronic110

@"Nilesh S" Thanks! I'll check them out.

dictronic110

@ValBerroa Thanks! I'm very happy to learn that the post could motivate you. Press on!

jdawg113

@dictronic110 I more meant untimed drilling by type but still timed PT's lol I mainly redo the PT as untimed after doing it timed as my review...
I think going over some books might help a little bit depending on how you are with fundamentals.
idk how much a tutor will do for you at this point in your prep but many do a free consultation/15-30min session so you can see if you think it would help
I feel like there was something else but cant remember so will post if I do lol

emli1000

Focus on the areas that you feel that you are still having trouble with. BR BR BR! It's important. If there is a particular question type that you keep missing maybe you should purchase the Cambridge packet for it and drill/BR until you feel like you've mastered that question type.

dictronic110

@jdawg113 I'll try your method, redoing untimed PTs as review. Thanks!

@rachelHaw Thanks for your info about tutors! But where do you think the tutors would be particularly helpful? If it's just for explanations, I could easily go to 7sage for LG and Manhattan forum for RC/LR.

@emli1000 I've BRed all available PTs once. But still I haven't done enough. I really hope they could disclose the Feb test so I know where I went wrong. Thanks for you suggestion!

emli1000

Also, for a tutor you should try @"Jonathan Wang"