A few questions for re-takers...

jakesmitchell

Hello,

I had a few questions about my current prep and figured the answers might be helpful for some of the other retakers out there. Long story short I have been "flirting" with the LSAT for about a year now. I took a prep course last fall, bought the LSAT Trainer, took the 7sage course, canceled my feb score, and then grossly underperformed in June (164). That leaves me studying for October with my 3rd and final LSAT try with the high hopes of getting into a top 5 law school. I have taken pretty much every recent LSAT (2000 and up) and score on my PTS generally range anywhere from 171-177. With 6 weeks left I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions on what to do to be in peak performance for October 3rd. I also am curious what sort of time you think I should be putting in on a daily or weekly basis to avoid burnout but still improve my skills and stay fresh. My current plan was to review the 7sage course and the LSAT Trainer, train flash cards, do a couple of sections with BR every day, and take a PT on Saturdays. I was also thinking about taking sections and tests with a 30 or 32 minutes time frame in order to challenge myself. I also have considered taking 2PTs back to back to build stamina. Sorry for the long winded post, I am looking forward to hearing your responses. Thanks!

Jake

Pacifico

Dude you need to chill out with the burnout inducing plans. Two PTs in a row is a terrible idea and I don't understand what you would hope to gain from this since it is not something that would ever happen in reality. That would induce burnout inside 5 hours. Also, if your scores are that high then why are you still reviewing study materials? Your fundamentals are not the issue anymore. Now it's all about performance.

If you have no fresh PTs left I would just retake 1-2 per week until the test, slightly tapering off the week or two prior to test day. Honestly you could take a week off now and be fine. I think 1-2 5 section PTs with excellent clean test BR is the way to go and will help you shore up the bottom range of your score. In my opinion anything over 175-177 is random luck based on whether the top curvebreakers jive with you or not and whether or not you make any stupid mistakes. Just make sure your BR is also there or above and you'll be fine. Just get out of your head about it and be ready to do work on test day.

Also you can always retake in December if something crazy happens so stop putting undue pressure on yourself.

c.janson35

At this point, you don't need the course, the trainer, or the flash cards. Also, don't bother with the 2 tests back to back. I've done it before and all I got out of it was a headache. And you would likely need to take 2 tests back to back for about a week to see any "stamina" boost, but even if you saw a stamina boost it wouldn't mean anything unless you plan on takin 3 more sections in your car after the test and really want to score well on them.

Do a couple of tests each week with a solid BR as Pacifico said. If you feel like you really need to be working on the other days, then do some LG drilling or do a timed section and review it. You probably don't need anything more than that based on your scores right now. Or, you know, you could just take a couple days off each week and make sure your mind's right. That would be more beneficial than doing anything crazy.

Good luck! Almost there!