Sharing experience and seeking advice

MISC_K79

Hi I hope all is well with you 7Sagers.
It has been now 6 months since I've started to studying for LSAT but still struggling with many of the sections.
My diagnostic was 145, and last score was 153 (pt38: BR164) but this, I think was a fluke(higher BR score came from LG and RC, not much difference in LR). English is my secondary language.
I have full time job, and during week days, I manage to study for 3 hours per day. I meditate daily, listen to LSAT podcasts while driving back home from work; really trying to dedicate myself to LSAT studying.
I plan to take my LSAT next April; I have now about 6 months to prepare.

I foolproof LG with old PTs on daily basis (4games per day), and not doing any drills on RC yet (instead, I am currently reading Economics) as I feed the need to focus on improving LR at the moment.

After CC, I read Ellen's Loophole twice which made me feel pretty confident that I have the fundamentals strengthened, and I have been doing the basic translation drill ("BTD") for a month (but still takes 40 minutes to finish off one section).
*BTD is a translation drill that you read the stimulus and cover it up and repeat in your own words which will require fast understanding and quick memory; this process is quite tedious and even harder since English is my secondary language.
I plan to continue BTD until I can do it within 20 minutes (may be 30 minutes? I don't know) but not sure if this is something that can be improved because I will be facing different passages all the time.

Recently, I took timed LR section from old pts to see if there had been any improvement. I still felt nervous and digesting the stimuli difficult (maybe there was very slight improvement but generally difficult); I got -10 (BR -8); when encountering the questions, my fundamentals seemed to fall apart or mind goes blank, and this was so discouraging.

My general idea is that we do BR after taking PTs but since I need to work on my accuracy on LR, I am currently working on drilling with old LR sections (pt 1~35) doing untimed, and take as much time as necessary.

I have several questions:
In this case, is BR still necessary or recommended? Or should I do the drilling timed, and BR?
Also, should I spend more time on drilling old LR sections untimed? I realize that I have been focusing more on BTD and reading books to learn/familiarize the concepts.
Is drilling by solving lots LR sections from old pts is what it takes to improve?

With 6 months remaining, I feel desperate and lost with little improvement; with many things going on my head: trying Blueprint, tutoring or quitting. I am not sure if I am doing things right.

I would really appreciate any advice.

daciaochoa

Don't quit!! You have made such a BIG improvement and you have more than enough time to keep growing and reach your goal score.

Since you would like to improve most on LR, I would suggest drilling and BR for the most part. With BR, you get to see if your issue with the respective section is your timing or your comprehension. If you are struggling with comprehension, don't hesitate to review J.Y's videos. Also try to group the type of LR questions you are getting wrong (whether its MBTs, RREs, etc). Once you do, make a drill test using those types of questions and annotate them using a wrong answer journal. In my experience, I have kept a wrong answer journal for each section of the exam and it has been a great help.

Also, I would suggest you read the LSAT Trainer by Mike Kim, it was a big help for me because it helped me get a better understanding of the LSAT. In addition, it gave me the bigger picture of the LR questions and every other section while J.Y focuses on each individual question. Both of which are a big help and you have the time to delve into. I know you also have a full-time job but it is all about time management and how much you want to get a better career for yourself.

It is entirely normal to be discouraged when you don't see a major improvement but just remember that the progress you make is not linear. Remember, it is a difficult exam, take it one day at a time and you will see progress! I wish you the best of luck!!

MISC_K79

@daciaochoa Thanks for the great advice and kind words!