Plateauing

piper.salvator

So I finished the core curriculum and I have taken 3 PT's. On each test I scored a 157, which was what I was getting before completing the entire curriculum. I am feeling discouraged, but I know I can improve and I'm looking for some advice on how to do that before Dec. I am taking the test in Dec. and I would love to get a 165. LG's seems to be my weakest area but I need to improve everywhere. I am getting 18-20 in LR and 16-28 in RC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated on how to approach the next month of studying. I plan to take 3 PT's a week, but what else should I be doing? Thank you!

nessa.k13.0

After I finished the core curriculum I started drilling LR question types (using analytic and the question bank). Are you missing questions of the same type or are the question types all over the place? Have you started fool proofing the LGs? You'll get the most gains in points from doing that. From my experience in improving, making the jump from the 150s to the mid 160s is totally do able in 40 days, but it also depends on the amount of time you have to dedicate to your prep.

Advice from sages has been to not take 3 fresh PTs a week, as you won't have time to properly BR them and learn all that you can from them.

Kateryna

@nessa.k13.0 which PT for LR were you drilling?

Kateryna

as @nessa.k13.0 stated 3 pts is too much for a week, you need to do proper drilling before going onto another PT otherwise you are wasting them.
i believe 2 pts a week is the right range

nessa.k13.0

@Kateryna I drilled with PTs from the 10s, 20s, 30, and 40s. I except for some of the later 40s PTs I wanted to save as much of the later PTs to simulate test conditions. If I took PTs in the 50 and 60s then I would add LR question types from those tests to my drills if I needed to.

EmmaWI88

I would say from my experience of not necessarily improving but wasting PTs, I needed and still need to actually drill section types. This is probably the best advice. Or if you are having trouble on particular questions, then pull from the bank and go over the curriculum again. LR is probably going to be the best thing to drill (besides LGs which are pretty easy to actually improve on with lots of practice) since you're guaranteed to be tested on two of those sections. More bang for your buck (time).

On top of that, one thing that really seems to help me which I heard from a lot of people is that after I blind reviewed, scored and then went over some of the explanations on things I got wrong, I then go back and write out why my reasoning was wrong before and why the correct answer is actually correct. This makes me really spend time on blind reviewing, because I only do these for questions that I got wrong both times or really struggled with.

Some people actually write out explanations for everything they got correct as well. This helps build on their reasoning and gives them more confidence. I personally am trying to get this thing done with in Dec so I don't really have the time to do that, but if you have the time and energy, this could potentially help.

Wind-Up Bird

Honestly, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that you're plateauing after only 3 preptests. Yes, make sure to properly BR each test and possibly drill between PTs if you have the time. However, throughout the 40 or so PTs that you'll be doing throughout your studies, you likely won't experience a slow and gradual improvement in your score. Personally, I experienced a lot of plateauing in my scores, but the plateaus themselves gradually increased (e.g. I would score 160, 160, 160, followed by a 162, 164, 164, etc.)

In the meantime, take some time to drill those logic games! You will most likely see a HUGE jump in your score once you gradually get the hang of them.

Not Ralph Nader

@piper.salvator I was in a similar situation as you, but with lower score, after finishing core curriculum and taking a PT my score dropped below 150. From your post my best advice would be do not waste PTs. Make sure you are BRing all the question you got wrong before checking J.Y explanations. Build up your internal time clock to get a feel how long 80 seconds really take. You can do so by taking LR sections from PT 1-35 and do them individually while using a timer with loop countdown function. Set the timer on 80 seconds and 25 loops when it is past 80 seconds circle the question choose an answer choice and move on, come back to the question if you got extra time at the end of the section.

Personally I find it very helpful to max my LG score within a short amount of time using an approach which is based on many great advices on this form my suggestion is that while you are working on your timing implement this approach as well. I am a ELS student and started LG with -16 and managed to reach -2 to -0 using this and I do not see any reason why you would not be able to do it faster than me. After fool proofing LG Bundle, take LG sections of PT 1-35 under time and watch J.Y explanation after completing each section but this time when you watching focus mostly on how he teaches to perceive the right answer choice (instead of brute force) and try to implement his suggestions on the next section.

Do not get bog down on one question (take a hint if possible) but if you find one super difficult and you are confident about your master game board, skip the question answer others in that particular game then come back to it use your other set ups you drew; if nothing works finish the section and if you have extra time come back to it. The ultimate goal is to be able to systematically answer any questions so when under exam pressure you just follow your system. You need to develop a system that works best for you. The system I am trying to follow is like

1- read the question set up the sketch try make obvious inferences
2- check answer choices
3- If still confused take count of the items write them near questions and go through the rules one by one make inferences
4- check answer choices
5- If still stuck, SKIP the question
6- After I have done all other questions I will take another try at it by only checking the question against all of my sketches (I do not try to make inferences again unless I already finished the section)

Pacifico Logic Games Attack Strategy

https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737/logic-games-attack-strategy

J.Y fool-proof guide

https://7sage.com/lesson/fool-proof-guide-to-perfection-on-logic-games/

Online Stopwatch with Loop-countdown
http://www.online-stopwatch.com/loop-countdown/

I hope this helps you

bjphillips5

One of the best things I did was print out all of the first 30 tests and just drill sections of all types nearly every day. Do Pacifico's LG attack as mentioned above. And then, I'd do an LR section and BR + review how my habits are. Each time I took a section, I'd think before hand, which habit (speed, skipping, etc.) do I want to work most on during this section. I found the early LSATs really useful to help me get a handle on what the test takers are trying to do. Really helped me start improving on LR/RC/LG. Hope this helps!

piper.salvator

Thank you everyone! You all gave me some good advice, and I will save the PT's and continue drilling

Cant Get Right

The other thing with PTs is you don't want to invest too much in your scores. It's really hard to detach from it, but the score really is useless to you. The purpose of a PT is not to generate a score, it's to get better at taking the LSAT. When you've finished taking and BRing a PT, you are left with an abundance of information. Top scorers are the ones who learn to effectively read, evaluate, and use this information. Look at what you missed under time and why. Look at what you either corrected or still missed in BR. Look at your confidence errors. Look at your underconfidence errors. If you've got footage, analyze your pacing. There's just so much to do after you take a PT. That's why 3 PTs a week is just so overwhelming. By the last few months of my studies, I could have swung a PT a day if all it was was taking a PT and BRing. I just wouldn't have gained anything from those PTs. So for you, I wouldn't stop PTing all together. You are definitely more in an extended curriculum phase of your studying than you are in the proper PT phase, but you can use PTs to guide your studies. Identify what you're doing wrong, then address it with curriculum review and targeted drills. At this point, 1 PT a week would be ambitious but doable. Once your BR score starts averaging out around +5 of your target score, then you'll probably be ready to move to 2 a week.