Advice Needed on LSAT test December

Nathalie Nguyen

Hi all,
Please excuse if my post is not suppose to be here as I am new.

I recently took Powerscore's class and although it was somewhat helpful in introducing the concepts to me - I haven't fully grasped everything. I initially signed up for this coming December LSAT with the intention that the material would be fresh in my head, but now I am having second thoughts. My diagnostic score was a 142 cold. Ideally, I want to do better but if I am not grasping the material now well...

After the December test I was going to continue to study using 7sage materials for the June test. Any thoughts or advice on this? I currently work 40 hours a week as a paralegal, so I can only study when I am home and on weekends. It's quite exhausting, but I know I need to stick with a better schedule.

My weakness is the logic games portion. I realize once the questions get more complex, I lose it. Should I wait until February or June? Thanks.

Nilesh S

Hi cupcakestealer...my two cents would be...only to give the test when you are ready...remember...the LSAT is a test that decides your future...its by no means anything close to the most important thing in your life but it IS very important because to a large extent, it determines the institution that you will attend as well as the amount of scholarship that you will get...law schools won't shut down in a year and its always better not to have to explain a discrepancy in your scores...take your time..ready yourself, aim and THEN fire...if you are not grasping the material well then you aren't ready yet..and that's perfectly o.k. ...different people take different amounts of time to get ready and have different constraints...it is important not to feel pressured... you have all the time in the world and you ideally want to give this test one shot and one shot only...that being said, you can withdraw the night before the test ...so maybe you will be in a better position to decide by then!!! Nail the test whenever you give it!!! Hope this helps.

Rasheed N.

Have you taken any PT's outside of the diagnostic?

Nathalie Nguyen

Nilesh- Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them. I think you're right about taking the test when I'm ready. I think it's always the pressure that gets the best of us. I plan on studying intensively to the best of my ability from now until perhaps June. That should be plenty of adequate time for me to get a decent score and apply in time early enough in the cycle. If you have any further advice that would be great. Thanks again.

Rasheed- I've taken about 4 outside of the diagnostic. All my scores ranged from highest at 148 to low 140. As mentioned earlier, I probably need to put in some more time before I can see a high 160 maybe 170. Any advice?

steven appelbaum

Just keep practicing. If you aren't in a desperate need to go to law school next year, then hold off and take the test in June. It's amazing what an extra month can do for you, let alone six. Especially if you work full time.

Good Luck!

Nilesh S

The first thing that you should probably look at is games..this is because games are the one part of the LSAT that is extremely learn-able with the marks being mathematical and will raise your score 5 to 10 odd points...any one can walk away with -0 to -2 odd in the games...start with basic sequencing games...also in LR, MBT, SA, Flaw etc are something that you should look at...there are only a set number of flaws and they keep repeating and there are some 8-9 odd flaw questions in every test on average...JY's curriculum will help you with all of this...its the best structured curriculum that I've seen and he is a fantastic instructor.

Rasheed N.

I agree. Games should be first because they'll introduce you to the formal logic that will be helpful in LR as well.

LR should come next. Once you start "getting used to" the questions and answers it all turns into just understanding the words you read.

RC is something very learnable if you can begin reading tough material. I recommend browsing Reddit and reading the articles that tend to make it to the front page as they're usually science, law, and humanity type readings.