Seeking Advice on Choosing a Test Date

tejpat717

Hi All! I have seen a lot of people post seeking advice on their personal situations with the LSAT (to which many 7Sagers have provided great responses) and I have recently found myself in a bit of a pickle that leaves me wanting to do the same. This month marks a full year of me studying for the LSAT. I have increased my score from the high 140s to the high 150s (last three tests were each a 157) and my ultimately goal was to break into the 160s and ideally to have a 165+ score as my GPA isn't the greatest and I am really concerned about receiving money from the schools that I apply to. I recently had an unfortunate family situation that cropped up leading me to change my originally scheduled Jan test to April and am now facing some familial pressure and personal doubt about that decision. I worry that since I have already put a full year into this and have yet to break 160, am I just kidding myself in believing that I can do this by April? I already decided to extend my gap years and work full time so it doesn't really impact my application cycle to take the test in April as opposed to January, but I do still have a chance to sign up for the Feb administration. Should I just bite the bullet and take it asap as I feel like I'm losing the will to keep going or should I keep trying to break 160? I'm just feeling burned out and in self doubt at the moment and any advice from people that know what it's like to dedicate time to studying for this test like you guys is appreciated! (I also work full time by the way and unfortunately am not in a financial position to quit my job).

Flex King

Take a break and go for whatever you feel confident. If I was you I would go for April. I was rushed to take October and I decided to push it to Jan. Taking a break and getting back into it helped me a lot and got me averaging in my dream score range. Persistence is the key!

tejpat717

@"Flex King" Thanks for the advice. May I ask how long of a break you took?

Manik Panic

@flexking yes good advice mate. i felt really bad losing some time here and there but like my brother says (surgeon) and friend (grad queens law and bar passed, canada), do when confident. a couple mo here and there, who cares, just like doing law 28 or 30 or 25, who cares, as long as working on other skills. And utilizing time well. Rather be safe than sorry and be confident.

Where is the correct current lsat flex date list? the website? I will look. At work rite now.
Thanks. (I did do ok, and cancelled some flex test). Really need to maintain LR and keep it great and better and RC too (fatigue sets in. both were decent to hi pre studying (a lot), sometimes quite hi). LG? yeah... well I'm trying to make a 1000 here and there, to take that to the nxt level quickly. Practice is key, timed situations. I am writing some books, and also trading sometimes a lot., but doing it safely. Did do 2300 cad to 14000 usd in 21-24d, recently, after breaking like 12mo and 18-19mo from trading. LSAT not quite that long but 3-4mo breaks bc of work, scores went up. (did not keep all that, better money mgmt/ risk mgmt is in order, learned can make it consistently. also holding is key... for btc, eth, forex. well not so much forex). Forget alt coins.

Also many laws against this. senate stuff going on. political regime changes, taking effect.
Idiocy all around. Like SEC longing XRP then causing fear around it (not a good product but still an assault on cryptocurrency at large, unwarranted). Doing stocks, funds too. Trade like smart money, not dumb money.

However, I think a lot of that has to do with mindfulness, stoicism, and reading lots.
Hard to explain. Cheers. Good luck everyone. I hope you do really well this year and keep achieving your goals. Happy New Years all 7sagers and current/prospective law students.

Flex King

@tejpat717 I took a 1 month break catching up on the housekeeping stuff. While on the break I did not even think about LSAT and did whatever I wanted to do on my free time until I got bored with it - the key here was doing something enjoyable that I knew I will eventually get bored with. I did not read science journals or Times articles as people here suggest but got drunk every day and I swear it helped as I am able to take my mind off of things that I craved.

I think the mindset is also important - my score seemed to improve after thinking of doing PTs as doing reps to build muscles. It's kinda fun to look for loopholes from what you learned for whatever your friends say and argue - the downside is that I got no friends now

FindingSage

Until you are breaking into the 160's I wouldn't register for the test. Since you have been studying for about a year and haven't made a large increase I would highly suggest reaching out to a tutor on 7Sage and see if they can help you. I know for me personally, getting from the 150's to 160 was a result of mastering games ( getting to a consistent -0 to -2). If you aren't scoring similar to that in games I would look into fool proofing games as well as contacting a tutor and having them take a deeper look in PT's you have done, and see if they can help you put together a targeted study plan.

canihazJD

Concur with @FindingSage. We all have our own rate of progression, but I think a tutor is warranted in this case. If your goal is 160s, I would not take the test until you are PTing at least around 163. I believe anyone can get any score they want on this test, but at a certain point if your progress continues to stall, sometimes you need new eyes on your work.

whatsmyname

What are your weaknesses? Why are you not scoring higher? make sure to reply with an @ so i can see your reply

you don't need a tutor, you need a strategy and a systematic approach to your weaknesses

tejpat717

@FindingSage and @canihazJD thank you for your input! I actually have been working with a tutor but the bulk of our focus has been on what I can do to improve on LR so I haven’t really given enough time to get into LG. I think sitting down with them and figuring out a game plan of attack for LG would be really helpful though.

tejpat717

@whatsmyname thank you for your input! I definitely struggle in different ways with all three sections. I feel that I make a lot of under confidence errors when it comes to LR and have specific q types such as Flaw and Weaken q’s that still give me a lot of trouble. I also tend to average -6 on LG and have been fool proofing but I don’t think my approach has really been targeted enough to make a significant impact.

FindingSage

I am glad to hear that you have room to improve in LG. Getting that number down to -0 or -1 might be enough to push you into the 160’s if you have hit 157 a few times before. I have studied a long time and understand it gets disheartening after a while. Getting LG down gives you a visible score bump which I think is not only helpful for the score increase but also confidence and motivation. You might also try a different tutor for LR for a session or two. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can see things that both us and the people we have gotten used to working with don’t see. Many of the tutors on here offer a free initial session so reach out to some of them.

whatsmyname

@tejpat717 said:
@whatsmyname thank you for your input! I definitely struggle in different ways with all three sections. I feel that I make a lot of under confidence errors when it comes to LR and have specific q types such as Flaw and Weaken q’s that still give me a lot of trouble. I also tend to average -6 on LG and have been fool proofing but I don’t think my approach has really been targeted enough to make a significant impact.

Yeah for sure, we all build up off of each other.

The hardest of the weaken and flaw are the hardest questions across all of the hardest questions. Go to resources, problem sets, and print out a bunch of law and weaken questions broken down by difficulty - easiest/easier, medium, harder/hardest. Then do them, then see where you went wrong.

What helped my LR significantly was rewording the stimulus in my head in my own words. Rearranging sentences (restructuring the order of argumentation) in my head if I had to. I try to pre-emptively answer the flaw or identify vectors of weakness in the argument before i go the answer choices.

LG is literally just practice, reflection, and repetition. Do it yourself, do it again if you get it wrong. Watch a video. Then do it again using the new approaches. Compile a list of questions you're slow with or don't get, then group them by type, then tackle them again.

You learn little tricks and pick up your own personal rules of thumb. Eg For basic sequencing, I split boards. For conditional sequencing, I try to not split. For grouping - there's one key inference that makes or breaks the game. These things take intense exposure so you can discern the differences and know when to take which approaches.

Depends on how you've been studying too if you're working, have kids etc, it's hard to give it that full intense concentrated push you need over the course of a few weeks. You need different angles. Maybe pull out a pen and paper and write out your struggle, make a mini plan with bullet points, targets, and then do it up.

You can break into 170 with your timeline, I don't think you need some talent or something innate. Just gotta enjoy the learning process - the exam does teach you good life argumentation skills and the more you learn from it, the better you will be as a lawyer. That should be enough motivation!

Good luck!

tejpat717

@whatsmyname thank you! Your advice was super helpful and you are absolutely right that what I’m missing is a big picture plan.

whatsmyname

@tejpat717 said:
@whatsmyname thank you! Your advice was super helpful and you are absolutely right that what I’m missing is a big picture plan.

I tip my hat to people like yourself. You're working FT, you got shit going on, yet you're still at it. What the fuck are you thinking giving up now? Now is when you push the hardest. By any means necessary.

It's easy to doubt yourself in trying times, but that is when you find your bedrock. The strongest swords are forged in the hottest fires. These difficult times are when you're forced to inevitably face yourself, accept your circumstances, decide how you will face them, and break past your plateaus.

If you walk away from this challenge now, you will regret it for the rest of your life. There's a lesson to be found in everything we do.

Clear everything out from your life but the essentials. Become even more disciplined. Eat even cleaner. Sleep even earlier. Work out even harder. And especially do these things when you don't feel like doing them. That's where the gains are made. And if you're not that person, then become that person.

For sure, when you feel resistance - like, I don't want to do this, it's giving me that repulsive feeling in my gut (not I'm tired or "I suck")- switch gears. Take an evening off or something, eat a box of chocolates, go online talk some shit, listen to some rap, then go do a different type of section, print out your sections, etc. Keep it varied within a structure. The plan will help keep your goals realistic and bring the horizon closer so it feels manageable.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, your immediate goals are too massive. And if your immediate goals are too massive, you will feel overwhelmed. It's recursive. Definitely chart a long term plan broken down into checkpoints, and then broken down into daily questions/sections you need to do/review!

Also VERY IMPORTANT: tell yourself before you start each session and at the end, "these are the actions that help me progress and move forward towards my objective". This will replenish your motivation and help you adhere to your plan. Mental rewards are not associated with outcomes. When someone makes it big in life, the high only lasts so long and they get bored. Mental reward is associated with intentional effort towards a goal. The journey, the progress, the struggle, the mistakes, the small wins, the hopes, the disappointments... that's what makes it rich and worthwhile, psychologically that's what keeps you feeling good about yourself. You're on track. So when you feel bad, it's because you're idle. My 2 cents!

And once you get to the finish line - say I've done everything I can, and kill it.

Good luck again.

tejpat717

@whatsmyname thank you very much!

whatsmyname

@tejpat717 said:
@whatsmyname thank you very much!

added some stuff stay strong

VerdantZephyr

Don't stress and know that you can do it. This test is absolutely learnable, and you will certainly be able to break into the 160's this year. You've got this!