Stuck in the 140's

Elsa2reads

Stuck in the 140's, I've been studying non-stop and I feel like my efforts are in vain since I'm not making any progress. Mostly struggling in RC and LG, don't know how to continue or what step to take for a better score.

HELP

kkole444

Hello @Elsa2reads everybody has different starting point. One thing that I have learned that changed my score drastically is the quality of study over the quantity of study. That being said, If you are stuck in the 140's then I would suggest going back through the CC because there are still many fundamentals that haven't been learned yet. How long have you been studying? what does a normal study day look like for you? How have you been studying? LG is a good place to start, it will give you the most linear return for your time put in. I would start with trying to foolproof the games that are in the CC first. I would also start with the most basic sequencing games then the basic grouping and slowly work out from there. Those game types will lay the foundation for what the other games are, many of them are just a combination of grouping/sequencing. Here is a link to the process I used to go -0/-1 consistently---->https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/27505/link-to-google-slides-that-many-have-been-asking-for-i-explain-my-process-to-0-lg

LR I would start by identifying premise(s) and conclusion(s) in every lsat question you can, once you have that down pat then I would work on the logic Sufficient and necessary conditions along with the sheet that has the most common logical indicators learn that thing, it is gold. Then work on the basic questions to get the fundamentals down, the easy and the super hard are testing you on the same thing its just on the super hard ones they might combine many skills or hide things better. A 1 star weakening and a 5 star weakening still want you to identify the argument and weaken the relationship between the premise and conclusion so the conclusion is not as likely to happen(or at least no more likely to happen).
RC is arguably the most difficult for people to improve on. It is not because we cannot read, but it is the way we read. We are not accustomed to reading for the ideas that LSAT wants from us in the little time that is given. I would again do a passage and then watch the JY video and see if your low res is the same as his, are you are getting the same points out of the passage that he is? Once you start to consistently do that then you can move to harder RC passages and repeat the process. I would also suggest reading outside sources on science and economics to help get familiar with the topics which makes the passage easier because you have some sense of what they are talking about.
The LSAT is no joke. Getting the fundamentals and going through the process is what everyone has to do. It sucks but I can suck much less and even be enjoyable if you go into it with the right mind set. As you read the posts on here and peoples success stories you will hear how many of them started to enjoy the process especially logic games as many did see it as a game on hoe many times they could get all the questions correct. having a positive attitude is key for keeping your sanity for this exam and excelling on this exam. Also do not let this exam define you, that is a very counter productive mind set that will make this process worse and your gains in score less than they would be otherwise. What I wrote above is a high level view of what I would recommend. Lastly, I would put 2 hours of high quality studying over 6 hours of meh studying. the latter you do not learn that much and burnout is a much higher risk in the latter as well.

You can over come this exam!

Lizardking-1

Create a spreadsheet for LG. I scored -22 on the LG section for my diagnostic. It was pretty demoralizing. I'm now hovering around -5, but my progress has really picked up since I began the spreadsheet, and made a point to prioritize sleep.. Focus on breaking down each game after taking a timed section. Be sure to understand what caused you to perform poorly. Are you failing to make inferences up front? Are your game setups taking too long? Do you have a handle on conditional logic? Are you adept at chaining rules? Do you take note of floaters? Are board splits being made frequently enough? Its not initially about the number of games you drill, and expose yourself to. What's super important is really thoroughly identifying your weak points and addressing them. There's no easy approach for improvement, but studying the right way will save SO much time.
For RC, the method JY provides is really effective if you are consistent in applying it. It's tedious but it works. I started with like -12 in RC, and I now range from to -4 to -7. The other huge component is reading on your own. If you're a reader, RC is going to be a lot more feasible. I read the WSJ for at least an hour a day, and I am into books. I try to pick material this is more complex. I noticed that during my prep, there was a period when I read less, and it reflected in my PT scores.
Best of luck.

harriet.palmer

I was stuck in the 140s for sooooo long, I felt the same exact way. I took a step back & a couple of weeks off then totally re-evaluated my studying strategies. I found myself pointlessly sitting there flipping through notes for hours per day, it was ineffective. Then I started listening to powerscore podcasts (the loophole also has a great podcast), this helped me so much. RC was brutal for me, I started watching the 7sage videos going through the reading passages and doing at least one RC section per day, even if it was just reading the passage. Also, somebody in the forum suggested skipping the main point question and saving it until last, this helps!! Lastly, while I was taking timed RC passages, I would only aim to properly finish 3 passages (with the most questions), then if I had time at the end I'd finish the 4th. After I got more confident, I was finishing the 4th passage. My RC went from -16 to -6. Just keep doing RC passages AND reviewing them, it's so draining but so worth it.