45 Days till test day and I need advice!

trushal.pandhi

I want to start off by saying that 7sage has been a lifesaver and that I have seen my score jump from a 146 to a 157 in less than a month. However, there are 45 days left till the September LSAT and I am still only averaging around 157 on the past 4 preptests that I have taken. My goal is to break 170 come test day but I am a little confused about how I should spend the remaining month and a half.

1) Should I go through the curriculum all over again (it would probably take me 15 days)
or
2) Keep on taking preptests and drilling the different types of questions
or
3) Anything else!

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

Sprinkles

Are you BRing?

trushal.pandhi

@montaha.rizeq Yes, after drilling the different types of questions and after I take preptests.

jennilynn89

I would say breaking 170 within the next 45 days is going to be very, very difficult if you are not testing close to that right now.
Have you considered giving yourself some more time to study and delaying to December?
How solid are your foundations? If you see yourself struggling with them, I'd say revisit the CC and drill baby drill!

kmarie7

I have a similar story. I saw quite a jump from my diagnostic in a short time. I asked a similar question recently, and I kind of got discouraging answers saying I may want to delay. The more I thought about it these discussion boards, though helpful, do not know what you are capable of. I got really down about the answers I was receiving at first. Then, I had to remember they are just going off general rule. You are capable of anything. Though, it may not be common, you can do it. I hope this gives you the confident boost to tackle this test.

runiggyrun

It's true that we don't know what you specifically are capable of. That's why nobody will say it's impossible to achieve what you're trying to achieve. But based on real life data, it's very unlikely.
Only 2% of all the people taking the LSAT get a score above 170.
I'd venture a guess that a good chunk of them are "unicorns" - people who scored >160 on their diagnostic.
I'd also say that the vast majority of the remaining ones studied longer than 2.5 months. That's certainly the case for a lot of the people on 7Sage who achieved scores >170.
This leaves a few open slots for semi-unicorns: the people who started with a low diagnostic because they really had no idea how the LSAT works, but saw amazing increases after going through some form of studying because everything went click, click, click chapter after chapter - somehow they had the fundamentals, but didn't know how to apply them to the LSAT, and a couple of months of studying showed them how to do just that.

If you feel you're in the latter category, and your 146 to 157 increase came from going through a quarter of the curriculum and being able to 100% get the questions relating to what was covered in that quarter, then I'd say keep doing what you're doing and you're in good shape.

If the increase came after going through the whole curriculum and some practice tests, then please keep in mind that points do become harder and harder to get the closer to get to 180, and the next 13 points just might take longer than the first 11. You don't need to make a decision to withdraw now. You can keep a steady study schedule (1-2 PT's a week, thorough BR, use the analytics, review and drill your weakest spots, read dense material and FoolProof the games) and make a decision mid-September. If by then you're scoring consistently >170, go ahead and take the test. If you're not, postpone to December and give yourself more time.
The worst thing you can do is to panic and start cramming like 60 hour weeks or 5 PT's a week or something because you feel that you absolutely need to jump those 13+ points in 45 days.
That will just burn you out and you'll be left feeling discouraged because "you gave it your all" and it still wasn't enough.

You can get to the 170 - maybe in a month, maybe in 3, maybe in 6. It's hard for you to know which one it's going to be, and it's even harder for us to know - but go for the score, not for the timeframe.

MrSamIam

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but going from ~140 to ~150 is one thing...going from ~150 to ~170 is another. You may be able to do it in a month, but it often takes people several months to even get from a ~160 into the ~170s.
That said, spend the next few weeks PTing, BRing, drilling, and reviewing the core curriculum. You never know, you may somehow manage to break into the 170s before the September LSAT.

P.S. I'm not saying all of this to be a jerk. I just don't want you to get your hopes up too much. In any case, there's always the December LSAT if things don't go as planned in September! You got this!

Cant Get Right

Our capabilities only exist as potential, and it takes a lot of hard work for that potential to manifest into reality. Of course, there are people who make this kind of jump in a couple of months, but that group of people is so small it is not statistically meaningful. These are all anomalies and if your strategy involves being an anomaly it is not a real strategy. That’s not to say it can’t happen, but it is very much to say it is an ill conceived plan. It’s not that you’re not smart or that you’re not properly motivated or hardworking: It’s that you are being graded against other smart, highly motivated, and hard working people. The test is designed so that 2 people out of 100 score in the 170s. By design this is going to exclude a lot of really smart and highly motivated people from this score range. Many of those people start ahead of you, and many others study for a year longer than you. It’s just unrealistic to think you’re going to beat 99 out of 100 of them in a couple of months. I’m also smart, highly motivated, and hard working and it took me a year to break into the 170s from a 150s diagnostic.

I don’t say any of this to be discouraging. Actually, I find it highly encouraging. I was not capable of scoring at my current level until I realized how difficult this test is, how much work it was going to take. I was never going to believe-in-myself my way to the top, although god knows I tried. So it’s no surprise I fell way short. Did this mean I wasn’t smart, or that I didn’t have what it took? It did not, and this realization was a revelation. What it meant was that I was unprepared. I did have the potential and the drive and the capability, I had simply failed to develop it.

I think the LSAT always seems easier to beat than it is. It’s just a test, and you’re actually given all the information you need to correctly answer the questions. What could be easier? Lol. Because of the way the LSAT is graded though, I think a more constructive way to think about it is that what you’re really up against is the other test takers. You want a 170+? Well then you’ve got to beat the Sages- the JYs and the Jonathan Wangs and the Nicole Hopkinses and the Allison G Sanfords. If you can do that in a few months, then that’s great. Really it is and I’m happy for and in awe of you. Well over a year into my studies, these guys still seem like LSAT gods to me; and even though I’m PTing consistently in the 170s it is still very strange to me to imagine that I might be anywhere even close to their level. Make no mistake that beating them will take the full development of everything you’ve got. Believe in your capabilities. Absolutely. I believe in them too. But if you’re serious about 170+, you can not mistake believing in your capabilities for developing them.

Sprinkles

@MrSamIam said:
going from ~150 to ~170 is another. You may be able to do it in a month, but it often takes people several months to even get from a ~160 into the ~170s.

This is something that many people overlook! I think December should be your new target.

trushal.pandhi

@jennilynn89 @kmarie7 @runiggyrun @MrSamIam @"Cant Get Right" I really appreciate everything you guys have said. I rather hear the truth that stings a little rather than living in a comforting lie. I have to take the September test (I received a scholarship which requires me to take this test) but I will continue to work hard with the December test in mind. I just feel that somehow the fundamentals of the test have not sunk in yet.

Also my strongest section is LG (getting close to none wrong) but RC is destroying me. Any suggestions?

BruiserWoods

If you haven't yet, I recommend you watch @"Nicole Hopkins" RC webinar on YouTube. I've watched it several times, and I'm noticing that I have a better understanding of the passages and thus, more confidence going into the questions.

trushal.pandhi

@BruiserWoods I've watched half of it and it's been good so far. I hope by the end of it, I'm well equipped to tackle RC.