Need Advice | I've been studying 4-6 months and seeing little improvement

babyspice-1

I am feeling unbelievably low right now and I would appreciate some advice on how to move forward.

I've been using the CC since January 2021, but overall I've been studying full time since September 2020. At the moment, I'm a little over 50% completed with the CC. I have not taken a PT since December (150) so I just took PT 36 to see where I would be scoring.

I scored a 147. I feel so fucking dumb. My LG improved significantly (from -14 to -7), but I am still bombing RC (-14) and LR (-15). I thought with at least completing a little over half of the CC I would have some type of increase in score.

I know I should restrategize how I'm studying because its clearly not efficient. I'm thinking I should continue foolproofing LG and drill LR and RC sets with in depth review instead of doing the CC for it. I've been doing CC in order and have been focusing way too much time strictly on LG. I think I need to force myself to rotate sections.

Any advice and words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

airmamba

You are not dumb.

That 147 means nothing, although, congrats on the LG improvement! You haven't completed the CC yet so there is still a bunch of lessons to learn.

My advice would be to not take any more PT's until you complete the CC and then refer to @"Cant Get Right" lesson on Post-CC studying for guidance here's the link: https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/

Best of luck!

lawyer2021

Hello Baby Spice you are not dumb this test is a very difficult Exam. I have been studying for a while too and sometime my score go up and down, so I do know how you feel. Keep pushing and don't give up you got this.

Lizardking-1

Take a break from LG. I can relate to your time spent with LG. A little background; I started off with a 145 diagnostic and went -20 LG. I literally only got like 3 Q's right on my first PT. I've drilled games for over a year, and I'm now consistently scoring 160 on PT's, but still go -8 on the games. GREAT job improving your LG score. Seriously.
Move on to RC and LR for a while.

yunonsie

You aren’t dumb although I can relate to your frustration. I didn’t see any improvement after 4 months of using a Kaplan and decided to restrategize. I asked people for used prep books, so I could see which one I liked before buying. Ultimately I decided on trainer, and I really recommend it! I don’t like to suggest spending more $ but it definitely got me out of that 50’s rut. It is super foundational and more cohesive than CC. Like... it’s a slower, more basic break down of everything. It got me into the low 60s and then I started on the CC here, which I think is more in-depth and comprehensive. That improved my score by a solid 5ish points. It’s a hard test, but I think you’re right to reassess. If the CC isn’t working, change your study material. You can come back later cuz it is really great info! I just think it gets hectic a little too quickly

Older_LS_Applicant85

Hey,

Don't be so hard on yourself. The LSAT is extremely difficult and the writers make it so in order to weed out the strong from the weak. You have to keep at it. Don't get discouraged. I've been studying full time since late 2018 and I'm still not where I want to be. I want to be able to score in the 170s and I'm still not there, but I keep going because this is just a minor hurdle. Once you become an attorney, you'll look back and remember how difficult it was and how you persevered, and you'll be glad you didn't let a minor setback take you down.

It took me about a year to get through the curriculum, it's not a quick thing or simple, so be prepared to spend another half year on it, especially if you want to master all the basics, which you should do. As for PTs, I would recommend that you put them off until you've finished the curriculum and feel like you've got the basics down cold. That's what I've done: I have yet to take a PT; I haven't even taken the diagnostic PT. Focus on the basics first.

On LG, I would recommend that you purchase one of the Cambridge game bundles and you do every game in that book at least 10-15 times (after you complete the 7sage curriculum). I've done most of the games in my book a total of 20 - 25 times. I've done them so many times that it's like second nature for me. I know exactly how to tackle the games and the inferences just come naturally for me (could be that I just memorized them). Do a set of about 7 games per day, on the days you do LG, and don't forget to BR them as well as jot down how long it took you to do a game and your score. The next time you tackle LG, do another different set of 7 games, BR them, and time/score them as well. Next time do another 7, BR, and time/score them. Keep doing that for a month or until you get through the entire book and then after about a month come back and do the first set of 7 games you did and see if you improve. Do the same for the following set of 7 and on and on and on. In no time, you'll start seeing results. It's time consuming and demanding and a little bit daunting without a doubt, but I promise, you'll see results because I have.

Let me know if you have any questions. Don't get discouraged! You got this!

AmMath007

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Most people can certainly relate with your frustration. You have been prepping for a while now and its understandable that you expect improvement. Like someone mentioned above, that 147 means nothing, the only score that matters is your official score. I can provide some insight into me improving my LR. My RC is still a work in progress and you seem to be improving your LG; the advice above will help you improve even more.

My suggestion would be to prioritize accuracy. By that, I mean you should do drills (LR) of sections from older tests. In these drills, do not attempt all the questions and spend as much as time as you want to ensure you get the correct answer before moving on. This way, you may only attempt 19-20 questions but your accuracy will improve a lot (remember the first 7-8 LR questions tend to be the easiest - this will also help you find out if you need to improve on some of the fundamentals). If you keep this up, your confidence will improve and with that speed will come automatically. Soon you will be attempting most questions and keep your accuracy as well. I was given this advice from a person who only attempted 23-24 questions but got all of them right or maybe just missed 1 at most. While this may not work for most and many may not agree with this strategy, it worked for him and helped me improve my LR tremendously. Also, use the analytics function on 7Sage, you may find out that you are struggling on a specific question type and can drill that specific question type and improve your score.

You mentioned you want to emphasize review moving forward which I am sure will help you improve. You sound like someone who is taking accountability and knows what they are doing. Keep at it and the improvements will come. If you look through many of the forums, you will see people who went from 140's to 160's in a short period of time and that happened when things just started to click for them. Stay positive and it will happen for you as well.

Reach out if you have any questions at all! Stay positive and stay focused on the main goal.

dwyerll

Loophole really helped me improve LR! It totally changed the way I approached the questions. You got this!

Workingonit2-1-1-1

Hey ! I was actually in the same exact situation. What helped me drastically is learning the question type for LR. With that information, I was able to decipher what I was doing. But don't beat yourself up. That test is hardddddddd. But you got it, promise!

C.J. Gheem

Get good sleep. Eliminate any distractions while study. Take a regular break after intensive studying. No cell phone before you go to sleep to produce more melatonin. Positive affirmation using your mind and lips. Vit D and C. Exercise daily. Count your strengths and write them daily. Once you follow these, you will dramatically increase your score.

whistlingplant

hello babyspice! another point to note would be sure to have and stick to a study schedule. If i had done that i would be in a lot better shape than i am now lol, but you can do it! also be sure you understand fundamentals. I don't yet, but i feel confident once i do understand argument types and other things will give me a lot of improvement!

AJamal22

hello babyspice. I am sort of in a similar issue as yours with the study schedule as well as the core curriculum. I found that the core curriculum also led to a severe lack in motivation and a constant "looking forward to getting a better score" while not really practicing. What I did instead, was that I finished 30% of the core curriculum and focused on completing the lessons that are LSAT exclusive material such as advanced logic, necessary/sufficient assumption, MBT, MSS, and Weaken. Once this happened, I began drilling. After about six months of on/off CC studying, I have recently started drilling 30 minutes a day and then BRing my work. If I find that I don't understand a concept, I then go to the CC and review or go over it brand new. One person that I found that helped a lot in organizing my schedule Babs. Her video is this: If you need any other advice, feel free to reach out.

Michalle

You're not dumb, just frustrated. Honestly, I feel your frustration and know exactly what you are talking about. Keep your head high and keep pressing forward. You've got this!

angeliquemphillips

I agree with @AmMath007 on this. I think we can spend too much time on theory and get bogged down, but practicing real questions without regard for the clock is what helped me improve the most. I was scoring in the mid-150’s and have been using this method of focusing solely on accuracy. I just took a PT over the weekend and scored a 162. I started studying in February, so it hasn’t been that long but I feel like I understand things better if I simply take my time. You might be surprised how much you understand and get correct if you’re not worrying about the clock (you can guess on the last 5 or 10 or 15–how ever many you can’t get to, so you can ensure accuracy up front). Seriously, it was a game changer for me, and nothing works quite as well for learning like doing, so drill, drill, drill! You’ve got this!!!

egroj123

Similar schedule as you. Diag 143 (Sep 2020; -8 RC, and more than 12 wrong on both LR and LG) and second-ever PT after CC (about 2 months later) was 144. Now I am scoring 165-167 (after 10 PTs) with BR 170-173. I know exactly how you feel, so I sincerely hope my response below is helpful. Reach out to me whenever.

When I improved 1 point on my second PT (143 -> 144), I also felt distraught because I had built up an expectation of at least breaking 150. I also went to an undergrad institution where mostly everyone goes to a T10, so imposter syndrome hit me extra hard (I'm a URM). I'm never one to sugarcoat things for myself, so I took that score as an indication that I needed to refine my fundamentals and change my approach. So I broke up my next 6 months of study into 3 phases: ACCURACY, SPEED, and STAMINA.

1. ACCURACY. For 2 whole weeks, I worked through untimed LR sections from 1-19. Nothing else, just LR. While this felt gruesome, it was critical. I took my time doing consciously what I know we'll eventually have to do unconsciously on test day––finding the conclusion, premise, logical gap/flaw/loophole (whatever variant classification people want to given it), and anticipating the answer choice (not always successfully).

My accuracy increased to about -5/6 after these 2 weeks. Of course, even that is kind of discouraging when you know there are people who score better than timed. But this was improvement FOR ME! Also at this point, I knew that my errors weren't due solely to fundamentals. It was more likely due to trap answer choices and argument subtlety, which is quite different from totally missing the mark as I usually was. Few people talk about this, but just as important as predicting the right answer is eliminating wrong answers. The former comes from the CC, the latter from exposure to actual questions (via problem sets, full tests, etc). For example, I am much more attuned to how "some" and "other" are used in trap answer choices on weaken questions (aka seemingly attacking the conclusion, but not always).

Same for LG - I made problem sets for all grouping and sequencing games 1-35 and drilled these in between my LR days.

That's when I shifted to 2. SPEED. (around Jan 2021). This meant taking timed sections, but never a full PT. This I would do from Mon-Fri. I work full time, so I did and (still do) these before/after work.

Once I got a hang of speed (around March 2021), I started to incorporate full PTs on weekends and work on 3. STAMINA. That's where I've been ever since. On my third PT, I scored a 160 (a 17 point jump from 143), and I attribute that 100% to the gruesome grind of untimed work.

I now average -5/6 LG, -5/6 LR, -4/5 RC, but my biggest issue now is timing rather than fundamentals which was my biggest obstacles at first. I am also considering a tutor for LR, though I continue to drill weaknesses (mostly W, F, and MBT). But I always BR and still do drills!

Point is - I still need work to get my goal of 172, but I hope this offers you some encouragement that starting out in the 140s like we did is only a starting point and all it means is that you will need to work harder than people whose diag was already in the 150s. Doesn't matter if you get to your goal score with sweat and tears; once you're at your dream school, no one will care how you got there, only that you did!

One final thing - negativity is a self fulfilling prophecy. You might not think you're capable of breaking 150 or 160 or even 170 b/c of where you are RIGHT NOW, but don't ever think for a moment that you can't do so ONE DAY. This process is gradual, slow and nonlinear, but you will continue to improve because this test is learnable and you overflow with the motivation to learn it!

tryating

If you feel this way, it just means it’s time to get back to the basics/fundamentals. A step at a time can help to build confidence. For the LR, I'm working on analyzing arguments for strengthening, weakening, sufficient assumptions (SA), etc. But it’s a series of steps which starts with recognizing the question stem, proceeding to identifying the conclusion and support. Then knowing, for example, that it’s an SA question, I’m expecting a gap in the reasoning, such as some relatively weak support based on the assumptions. This means that while I’m reading I’m not struggling with understanding disjointed reasoning since I expect/anticipate it to come in one of its known and familiar argument forms. Having gone through the valid and invalid argument forms lessons, I’m confident that I have a clearer, and perhaps intuitive understanding of how to proceed with these repeated argument forms. The series of steps can seem mechanical which is why practice is needed to almost automate this process as habits based on solid fundamentals become instinctive. Maybe writing down the steps you must go through to tackle a particular type of problem can bring clarity and ultimately increase your confidence.

LSAT Obsession

Hey babyspice, just want to thank you for posting. I was in similar spot as well and I was even scared to talk about it. Thanks to everyone for who has their experience as well.

As a lot of ppl have pointed out focusing on ACCURACY is very important. I saw improvements once I DON'T try to finish the whole session, but instead focus on getting every question I do attempt correct. After aiming to get the first 10 correctly, I try to reach for 11, 12,... It's a slow process I understand, but the reality is that we learn how to walk before we can run.

Have you noticed the question types that you usually miss on LR? When I first started, I have no idea how sufficient vs. necessary questions are different, I jumped straight to that part and grind those for a while. What's important
right now is not the fact that you missed questions, but why? how do you prevent similar mistakes in the future? When I shifted my perspective from scoring to learning, it makes the world difference!

For RC, the same problem/tactic applies, I tried to read 4 paragraphs while I should be doing 2 or 3 and get them solidly correct. Imagine you are in front of a judge who asks you why you pick this answer and you need to be able to present the evidences which are right in the passage. That may mean you spend 5 minutes on the passage. And that's it's okay. Once you have a solid process, you can improve on efficiency.

I work full-time so I'll have to accept that I may need more time than some other people, but hey! It's not even about other people. It's your journey! It's your story! In this chapter, the progress is slow, but the next chapter there may be a big progress.

I listened to the Thinking LSAT podcast and the method that Nathan and Ben advocates for (accuracy + understanding over speed) really resonates with me. I will be honest that while some explanations on 7Sage is very helpful, some just are not. I think understanding why you miss a question is very important!!! I use other resources such as LSAT Hacks, PowerScore, and Manhattan Prep forum to make sure I truly understand and can explain the question to the satisfaction of someone's else (your study partners').

Regardless of what strategies/books/prep programs you use, at the end of the day, I don't think you can score high without understanding what the test is asking of you and have a solid process to respond to that ask ACCURATELY! Remember you don't get points by attempting a question, you get point by getting it right.

Hope it helps!