Getting nervous!

KS LSAT Prep

I am in need of some advice from fellow LSAT takers and law school applicants. Just a little background about myself. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA with a BA in paralegal studies and have been working as a paralegal for over 5 years now. I love the work and I am very passionate about what I do. For this reason, I have decided to finally make the leap and go to law school. However, I am really having trouble with this LSAT! I have taken about 4 or 5 timed PTs and they all range around 145 to 148. I have a hard time finding the time to study as I work long hours right now and I guess I am just not very good at timed standardized tests.

Why am I having such a difficult time with this test and how can I get better at it? I am currently scheduled to take the test in October but am now wondering if I should put it off again. I would really like to go to law school next fall but I am really becoming worried about this test.

DumbHollywoodActor

The LSAT is a skills-based test. Your 145-148 demonstrates a lack of either understanding or performing those skills. What have been your study methods? Have you taken advantage of 7Sage’s Curriculum? Are you blind reviewing your PTs? If not, you should. Do you have a basic understanding of logic? Do you understand what each question stem is requiring of you (For example, do you know the difference between a necessary assumption and a sufficient one?).

You’re learning, like many before you, that the LSAT doesn’t care one bit about your GPA or work experience unless it pertains to understanding logic, critically analyzing arguments, or reading grammatically dense material for structure.

My advice would be to get the 7Sage Starter package if you haven’t already. And if you haven’t gone through it, it’s more than likely you’ll have to push back your test. It’ll take at least a month, plus you’ll want to complete at least 10 PTs before you take an actual test.

Matt1234567

I can't really comment about the required lsat score for the schools you wish to get into, but, if you think you can score better (and you can) you should push back your test date. I know it's not something you want to hear, since I'm sure you're eager to get this exam over with and get into the law school of your choice, but trust me, you need to be prepared to take this exam.

As the test date nears in October, your anxiety is bound to keep building. This also can't be healthy and will for sure result in stress which can be a factor in reducing your test score. You need to ask yourself how long you think will be sufficient for you to get scoring in the mid to high 150s for your target school.

5 Prep tests is definitely not an indicator of your scoring potential. People have taken up to 20-30 exams to fully hit their stride and score within their potential. Keep studying the material and understand all of the fundamentals. I understand work can be a burden when it comes to studying, but try to take at least one PT a week after you've knocked down the basics of the test.

Pacifico

+1 to everything that's been mentioned so far. Additionally, if you're going part time while you work then there shouldn't be any rush. And it doesn't sound like you've studied much besides taking PTs, though I could be totally off base. If this is really what you want to do then it shouldn't matter if it happens this year or next. You'd still be working at the same place the whole time regardless so I would definitely postpone to at least December and set yourself up for success. No reason to take the exam when you're not ready and not testing in the range you need to be.

KS LSAT Prep

Thanks everyone. I get the feeling I will have to postpone to December. I have done the course here. My cold diagnostic was a 139. Just awful but I also didn't have any idea how to complete a logic game at that point and I wasn't even close to completing the sections due to timing which is why I received a 139. I have gone up about 8 points so far with this course. It's just not where I want to be obviously. It always comes down to the timing issue for me. I have not been blind reviewing because I don't have a lot of extra time but I guess I need to start doing that from this point forward in order to improve.

nye8870

@"KS LSAT Prep" said:
I guess I need to start doing that from this point forward in order to improve.

Just do not give up!!

KS LSAT Prep

Well I blind reviewed for the first time today on a prior test I took so I could see where I'm at as far as understanding the material. Timed score on that test was 147 and my BR score was 160. So it seems my biggest issue is the timing.

DumbHollywoodActor

Actually, your biggest issue seems to be your fundamental understanding of the major concepts of the test. Ideally, your BR score should be closer to the 170s. Timing comes from a solid understanding of the fundamentals. Sure, you want to make sure you don't get stuck on one question for too long. But you also need to understand why each correct answer is correct and why each incorrect answer is incorrect. If you're getting a quarter of the questions wrong untimed, there's a good chance there are some fundamental ideas you're still unsure of. What's your breakdown of wrong answers? LG? LR? RC? Are you anticipating answers, pre-phrasing an answer before you move to the answer choices (because that is a helpful skill)? For assumption questions, are you spotting the flaw before you move into the answer choices? Can you discern the main ideas when you read an RC passage?

Pacifico

@DumbHollywoodActor nailed it here. Your issue with timing is just a symptom of the weakness in your fundamentals. Your LG should be maxed out as often as possible, and you likely need work on flaws if your BR is still that low as gaining ground there will pay dividends across a variety of question types. I would work on your LG and LR as the latter especially will help improve RC so I wouldn't devote as much time to drilling that directly until you shore up the other parts of the test.

KS LSAT Prep

Thank you. I guess I will push the test back to December and will start to BR my PT tests from this point forward. Maybe I will do a PT on saturday and BR on sunday.