Which PTs should I take?

asoomkan

Hello everyone sorry if this is a redundant question. I plan on taking the LSAT in April. I started studying roughly in September (but I would say I really get tough on myself in January). I finished the Trainer in December and am currently working my way through 7sage. I plan to finish the curriculum (without PTs) before March, giving me only a month to just completely immerse myself in PTs. Given that shortish time frame, I'm not gonna be able to do all practice tests. I was wondering which ones should I give priority to. I think I read on here that 80+ or something like that was different that the previous ones I believe? I would appreciate any advice, thank you!

AlexLSAT.

The more recent, the better! I would recommend 1-2 a week out of the 80+ pool

asoomkan

Thank you!

elias.christensen

Hello there! So 80+ will be the closest to the current test, as you've heard, but with so little time remaining until the April test I would advise you to adjust your current study plan. I think you should start doing weekly practice tests now with PTs in the 70s, then move to the 80s once you're finished with the core curriculum. While you're not finished with the syllabus yet, in my experience studying alone doesn't really prepare you for the LSAT, and it's not the kind of test you can cram for! Here's a few reasons why PTing alongside studying will probably give you better results:

• You'll get more opportunities to put your studies into practice. While the information in 7Sage's core curriculum is incredibly useful, you'll retain it a lot better if you're applying it to actual test questions in close proximity to when you go through the lessons. Drills also help here, but they're not a replacement for PTs, because...

• The LSAT tests your timing and mental stamina as much as your skill at parsing the material. It's several hours of nearly nonstop critical thinking, with very difficult material to analyze, and you have to complete it all at a breakneck pace—it's like a marathon for your brain! So the test conditions themselves are an obstacle to overcome if you want to do well, and the longer you train your brain for that marathon under those exact conditions, the better you'll be able to perform on test day. Particularly since...

• You need to pinpoint your weaknesses on the test if you want to address them effectively. 7Sage's Test Analytics tool is more useful to you the more data you can feed it, and it pulls that data exclusively from your completed PTs: it will analyze what types of material you tend to get wrong across your PTs in order to recommend where you should focus on improvement, and it even tracks the time you spend per question if you consult the Question Table. Maybe it'll show that you need to shore up a few specific question types on LR, or maybe a certain game type takes you a lot longer than others, but this is all useful info to know so you can start hammering away at those weak spots in time for your test!

The reason I recommend starting with 70+—or even 60+—before jumping to the 80s is to first acclimate yourself to the LSAT's conditions on material that (aside from LG) generally tends to be a little less complex compared to the most modern versions of it, while still being close enough to be very useful to PT compared to even older tests. Additionally, the 70s are where you'll find a lot of miscellaneous games, which can be a big curveball—experiencing those will help you figure out how to manage yourself if you see something that isn't familiar to what you've learned to handle so far. And if you decide you're unsatisfied with your April score (though fingers crossed you'll get a great score and never have to think about the LSAT again), you'll also have a bigger bank of those most recent tests still untouched for those future studies.

I know that's a lot of info to take in all at once—the way you study can be just as strategic as the test itself! If you ever find yourself in need of more help getting to your goal score, you can always schedule a free consultation with one of our expert tutors here. Best of luck on the April LSAT!

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