How many points should we increase from our initial diagnostic to the second PT?

hhhhhh5555

Hi Everyone!

Based on the discussion title, what should be the average increase in points from the diagnostic to the second test we take?

I went up 6 points in the second test and I'm feeling a bit down. What I thought to be my strongest sections in the LSAT became my weakest ones on the second PT.

Ex: On my diagnostic, my strongest sections were LG and RC. After taking the test, my most improved section was LR, and I bombed RC and LG.

Should I take a small break from the tests to do more drills in LG and RC? Or should I "keep calm and carry on" with the prep tests?

Thanks a ton!

Mark Tenorio

6 points is actually good. I try not to be let down if I somehow bomb a section I was good at. I've been told that if you encounter an easy LR section, you will probably encounter a harder RC/LG.
To me it looks like you've only taken 2 tests so I wouldn't say yet that XX is my weakest spot until I see a consistency (about 5 tests in and also, this is where the 7sage lsat scorer comes in because of the graph thingy that gauges your progress).

However, for me, I already knew that LR was my weakest and it took me about 5 to 7 PT's to get from -16 to -12. Then another 5+ to get down to -6 to -7 and another 3 or so to get to where i wanted, -3 or 4.

Kinda funny because RC is a completely different story. The 50's and 60's got a lot harder and I'm spending what remaining time I have to work on it (i'm taking it in June).

I'll answer your last question with a question, did you already do all the problem sets on 7sage? If so, I would recommend buying Super preptest A,B,C and get a hold of PT's 29+ so you can drill from there if you need too. That's what I did to prevent from using the newer PT's to practice for. Lately I've been balancing one PT a week and just reviewing for 4-5 days with drills in between. Drilling does take mental energy out of me and I need time to review the answers so I do it sparingly now. But remember this is in my case...But if I were in your case, I would take extra time to review that PT section you had trouble with and then try out another PT. if you get the same result then yeah, I would probably start drilling.

Are you taking the June LSAT btw?

J.Y. Ping

Great answer, Mark and great job! I wish everyone would study as hard. Or, not, for your sake, because the test is curved, but the curve is predetermined so it shouldn't matter and everyone ought to study harder to improve their intellect besides... anyway, I think all I wanted to say was "good job."

hhhhhh5555

Thanks for the advice Mark and J.Y!

No I am not - decided to take it in October instead. Hopefully the extra time allows me to improve and be comfortable with the test.

My problem was that I put RC and LG on the back burner. Since I still have the problem sets, I will definitely be using them as drills.

In terms of scoring our prep test, do we include the blind review marks? In other words, do we tally our marks at the end of the entire blind review process? Ex: Does our score include questions we circled and questions we didn't answer?

Hope I'm making some sense here.

Thanks!!

Daniela

When scoring your test you should have 2 scores. One are the problems you got right while being timed- which would be your real score. The second would be you blind review score. For the blind review you go back and answer all the questions you didn't have time to get to and the ones you circled while being timed--before checking any answers. The BR is basically the score you would have gotten if the test was not timed. This score is more to see your improvement in actually understanding the material without the pressure of time constraints. Using the new lsat grader makes this very easy to do and analyze your results.

Mark Robin

Great thread - likewise I just moved my exam to October - some areas that I was just still unsure of - and better to take the time to do it right.