Advice for taking the December LSAT.

dganim12

Hello J.Y.,

I want to start by saying that you are absolutely amazing. Your methods for solving logic games are the most efficient out of any class/tutors that I'v encountered, your logical reasoning techniques are unmatched, and you have a great method to attack reading comp while most LSAT prep out there hardly even mentions it (implicating that your reading comp score is what it is). That being said, I just recently took the October LSAT. I purchased your prep course about 4 months before the test and was only able to complete about 70% of it, I really did do the best I possibly could. However, I actually went into the test feeling rather confident about my abilities, I had scored in the high 150s to low 160s on some previous prep tests but for some reason I would have a lingering prep test here and there that I would absolutely bomb, horribly. Im talking like scoring 15 or so points lower than my average score. So although I was scoring decently high on practice tests prior to the October LSAT, I still was rather nervous about the possibility that I would have one of "those" bad scores on the real test day. Anyways long story short my fear came true and I was not even half way through logic games when the proctor announced "there are 5 minutes remaining" (major bummer). So I am taking it again in December. I have simply put too much time and wasted too much energy to just give up on this now, and honestly I feel like I have way too good of an understanding of the test to accept a score that is as low as the score I probably got yesterday! I want to study for the next two months or so before the December LSAT, I will do whatever it takes to succeed on this test, I am not a quitter. Like I said, I have completed between 60% and 70% of your course, taken about 10 prep tests, and tried my best to blind review exactly as you instructed. I have also read the entire book and done all the homework for the LSAT Trainer. My question is, given the amount of prep I have already done, what do you think is the best course of action to best prepare me for the December LSAT in a couple months? I would really appreciate any advice you can give me!

Thanks,

Doug G.

Pacifico

Since JY likely won't respond as he has built up a community to help advise people here I will throw my two cents in. First off, ten PTs is not enough for 99+% of test takers. Second, you essentially wasted those by not finishing the curriculum. It is akin to jumping into a five on five basketball game to practice when you don't know how to shoot, pass, and dribble effectively to begin with. If you finished the Trainer before you started PTs that is a different story, but still, if you're going to use both I think it's best to go whole ass rather than half ass.

15 point fluctuations are a clear sign of deficiencies in your fundamentals. I would start by going back and finishing the curriculum, which you can probably do by the end of October. You then would have November to knock out 8-10 more PTs, but really given where you're at I don't think that will be enough. IMO you would be much better off waiting and retaking in June 2016 with Sep/Oct 2016 as a backup for your 3rd and final take. I say that because if it took you 4 months to get through barely two thirds of the curriculum then you either have other obligations and don't have enough time to study, or you have problems understanding the material. And there's no shame in either of those realities.

Law school isn't going anywhere, and becoming a lawyer is the goal. So if that's really what you want I highly recommend not wasting another official administration in December or February when you still are unlikely to be ready. You want to get a good 30+ PTs with excellent clean copy BR under your belt before you make an attempt again and that's virtually impossible before December without burning out, and February is likely too late to submit your app given that the score won't arrive until it's almost March.

Take the extra year to study, get some extra resume building stuff on there, and then submit your best possible apps next fall.