How Long Do Top Scorers Usually Study?

civnetn

I'm wondering how long top scorers usually prepare for. I desperately want to get a score in the 170's and think it's absolutely possible.

I started studying the beginning of June with a diagnostic of 152 and I'm currently sitting around 160, with the majority of lost points coming from RC (getting roughly half wrong). I still feel like I need some time to polish up LG and LR before incorporating RC. I had planned to take in September but I'm about 95% sure I'm going to postpone until December.

I think the progress I've made is pretty good. I've only been studying roughly 2.5 months and I've boosted my score roughly (it fluctuates) 8 points.

How long do most top scorers usually prepare for?

Cant Get Right

You're definitely right that it's possible. Of course, there is a necessary threshold of raw intellect, but I think it's actually way lower than most people realize.

As far as how long people study, I'm not sure there is going to be any meaningful correlation. Different 170+ scorers take different amounts of time: I've seen everything from about 3 to 24 months. There is something that all top scorers do have in common though: Disciplined, high level study strategies. To push into the 170's range, the margins are so slim that it's really the details that make the difference. High scorers don't cut any corners, such as grading PT's before BR;). 5 years of less than exceptional study habits won't be enough to get someone into the 170's.

To maximize your potential to break into the 170's, perfect your study strategies. When you do that, you will know when enough time has past.

Sprinkles

Good call on postponing in December. Btw it may seem like I'm "postpone happy" but I only suggest this when people question whether they should take in a few weeks (usually an indication they're not prepared) or when they haven't finished a curriculum and barely began PTing with a few weeks left. That's always a recipe of rushing and scoring very low on game day.
Anyway, top scorers usually begin prepping in pre k. While everyone is napping, the top scorers are solving logic games and pointing out fallacies in their teacher's sentences. When it's recess, top scorers seek this time to drill RC passages from Dr. Suess which many claim is their ultimate secret to that 175.

Jokes aside, usually you'd need a year or so to break into the 170s. I see you aren't a 7sage member. What curriculum and you using?

Dark Knight V

I'd love to hear others chime on this as well, but I expect it depends on the person. I have some friends who scored really well after just 2 -3 months of studying, and have heard from others on here who studying for like 6 months full time before scoring 170+ when they took the test.

FWIW, I started studying in June and was planning to take in September but switched to December. It sounds like you're well ahead of me (I'm expecting to finish the CC and start PTs at the end of next week), but might still be good to postpone. When I was thinking about this, I couldn't think of any negatives that were strong enough to outweigh the benefit of being better prepared for the test in December.

Alex

@civnetn said:
I'm wondering how long top scorers usually prepare for. I desperately want to get a score in the 170's and think it's absolutely possible.

I used to wonder the same thing, but eventually I found out it varies, a lot!

I think MOST study for somewhere around 9 months to 18 months. Although some take less and some take more time, there is just no average amount that one can quantify due to the myriad of variables in people's lives. I think it can also be detrimental to try to compare your study time to others if you are searching for what is average to fit the mold. Matter of fact, I think I asked this question a couple months back before I came to this realization.

Work, school, marriage, friends, kids, other responsibilities, etc. All these things are going to impact how long you have to study to reach your potential. Also, it largely is contingent on where you are starting from.

@civnetn said:
I had planned to take in September but I'm about 95% sure I'm going to postpone until December.

Good call. Everything to gain, basically nothing to lose. Go for it! the LSAT might be the one thing in life where postponing is so highly recommended.


I'm guessing you found my answer rather unsatisfactory, but what I've said the truth. I have a close friend whose brother went to Penn Law and studied for 3.5 months and got a 169. I also know of people who have been grinding of 2 + years still trying to get scores consistently in the 170s.

You've already made substantial progress, so keep doing what you are doing! Every point gets exponentially more difficult to get, especially after you break into the 160s! Good luck. You got this

civnetn

@montaha.rizeq I use 7sage for logic games and for forum help. When I first started I bought all the Powerscore Bibles and went through them religiously. They gave me a good foundation, however I all but abandoned the LG advice given in Powerscore as J.Y's methods are far more intuitive. The bibles did however give me a good understanding of the LR question types. I decided to start my prep with LG simply because formal reasoning underlies absolutely every aspect of the LSAT. I've become very good at Logic Games and this has helped my LR immensely. I built my LR skills by BRing and frequenting the Manhattan forums which can be very helpful. I went from about 10 wrong each section to about 2 or 3 wrong each section, although since I've reached the Preptest 50 range, that has changed. It seems the higher numbered tests have much more difficult LR sections. I had started RC but pulled back after my LR scores went down. Right now I'm focusing on perfecting LR and LG and I'm very close. After that, I intent to incorporate RC back into the mix.

civnetn

@"Alex Divine" Yeah, I mean I still might take the September test, I'll just have to see how the next month goes. But I strongly suspect I will hold off until December. I had qualms about doing so, but I've read several of your posts about postponing and they've solidified how I'm going to make my decision, so thanks for that! I'm not going to rush anything.

And I have found that my gains have slowed. I didn't realize how much harder it is to gain points in the later stages of prep. It really is all about making sure you can answer EVERY possible question the LSAT can throw at you. That's why I said my score varies. I'm sure on some PrepTests I'd score 165 but on others I'd score below 160.

civnetn

I'll also mention that the main reason I asked this question is that due to the way most prep companies structure their courses, there seems to be this widely held conception that 3-4 months is the standard amount of time you need. The more I read, the more this seems to be false.

Like_Spike

I know people for whom a month was sufficient to break 170. From my own experiences and some of close friends, 3-4.5 months of pretty heavy studying (or at least 3 months in that period of hard studying) was what it took.

That being said, I imagine if I studied for a year I probably could have broken 175. There's a point though where the mental trade-off of studying at that level isn't worth the few extra points. This test stops your life and is mental exhausting after a few months of it, I'd shoot for a maximum of 5 months of studying and more ideally 4-4.5.

Alex

@civnetn said:
I'll also mention that the main reason I asked this question is that due to the way most prep companies structure their courses, there seems to be this widely held conception that 3-4 months is the standard amount of time you need. The more I read, the more this seems to be false.

Yup. 100% false. But it is part of their business model. They want to maximize profits by putting as many students through their course as quiclyk as possible. 3-4 months is enough that students see some improvement, but not enough to reach their potential most times. We just believe it because it is much more pleasant compared to the truth, which is that it takes much, much longer.

That whole mindset messed me up a lot. But now that I am finally past it, I feel much more hopeful about hitting my target score when I am ready.

Sprinkles

@civnetn said:
I went from about 10 wrong each section to about 2 or 3 wrong each section,

From just 2.5 months of study this is great!

@civnetn said:
It seems the higher numbered tests have much more difficult LR sections.

If anything the structure is different which can lead to a score dip. And your approach of taking each section at a time to focus on is an excellent strategy. Keep at it.

Sprinkles

@civnetn said:
there seems to be this widely held conception that 3-4 months is the standard amount of time you need. The more I read, the more this seems to be false.

Well this may be true in terms of honing down a curriculum, but that doesn't mean your prep ends there. After that is when you begin the PT phase which can take up the bulk of your prep.

civnetn

@montaha.rizeq Yeah, I'm finding that the higher numbered tests have about 3-4 LR questions each section with different logical structures than those in the 40's. Not drastically different mind you, but enough to eat up some time and add an extra couple wrong answers. For example, yesterday I did a LR section from PrepTest 56 and got to question 23 with 8 minutes left. I was pretty psyched because timing has been an issue, but it seems like something I'm gradually overcoming. Mind you, the last couple questions were crazy difficult and ate that time up.

Sprinkles

@civnetn said:
I'm finding that the higher numbered tests have about 3-4 LR questions each section with different logical structures than those in the 40's.

It's ok, the more you comprehend and familiarize yourself with the curriculum, this should go away. It takes lots and lots of drills but you can do it.