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Related Discussions
How do you study for a re-take?
AboveAndBeyonce
Free Trial Member
Hi all! First post on here. So.... I took the December 2017 LSAT. It was a disaster for me. I had been self studying since around March of 2017 and took a Blueprint course over the summer with the plan to take the September LSAT. However, I postponed because my PTs had been getting worse leading up to September, so I thought I needed more time. My initial timed diagnostic PT was 159, and I had been PTing consistently in the low to mid 160s. I scored a 145 on the December LSAT... It was tragic. I couldn't sleep the night before. I just didn't think I would score as low as I did and I honestly have no idea what happened that day. I truly had to rethink if I had what it takes for law school. I was all set to apply this cycle; obviously with such a low score I had to postpone for a year. SO, I've been taking the last few months off from anything LSAT related and now I think I'm ready to start studying again. I'm signed up for the June test.
Obviously, I need to really start from the beginning and go through all the fundamentals to get it down again. I used the LSAT Trainer, Blueprint classroom course and 7sage for games. I had done PT 42 - 78. How would I go about retaking PT's? Erase all my work and try again? I also work full-time, so I cannot study more than a few hours or so a day with the exception of the weekend. My boss actually paid for my Blueprint course, and I feel awful that I did not do well. Should I just use the material that I have - re-read LSAT trainer / utilize materials from Blueprint and go from there? Should I purchase the 7sage course?
Any recommendations from whoever has been in a similar situation would be great. Thanks all!
Comments
It seems like whatever you were using clearly wasn't working. I would try something new and give 7Sage a shot. I'm biased though because it's one thing that has worked well for me. Besides, how much is a point worth on the LSAT? When you think of it that was a few hundred bucks doesn't sound like much.
One thing you'll want to do is to get your hands on a fresh set of tests (7Sage course Ult+ includes every test, printable). You can just retake the 42-78 LSATs knowing their predictive validity will be a bit skewed since you've already seen them. To be honest, I don't think that matters much. What matters is getting practice and mastering the material. You'll also probably want to get any new PTs you haven't already taken (PT CII, 79-83) as well as some of the older PTs to use, I think PTs 29-38 would be good to have.
Lastly, you really want to take some time to evaluate what went wrong on test day. It's not helpful to simply say you have no idea what happened. Was it that you were super tired from not sleeping? What have you been doing this time to try to avoid that from happening again?
How much of that 20 point drop do you think was the result of tiredness? I think when you score 20 points below your PT scores, it's clear that you have to work on your strategy. This is why I think you should try something new this time around. Either way, I think you'll end up doing very well in the end. You had a strong diagnostic and strong PT scores going into your last take. It just sounds like a matter of refining your process.
Best of luck!!
Sleep deprivation, unfortunately, can really get a person the next day. I'm sorry this happened. Please remind yourself the score doesn't reflect your potential. And yes, like Alex was saying, do a post-mortem on the test day situation. Also, you might want to choose a different test center next time.
@AboveAndBeyonce Sleep deprivation affects people in different ways. One of my tutors didn't sleep at all either but managed a 180 on his February exam. Even though I don't believe your 145 is your potential, I would study as if it was the score that represents your current skill level. Although lack of sleep can definitely depress your score, I don't believe that you would forget all of your hard earned skills if you practiced amply. I took the LSAT with little to no sleep and managed close to my PT average. I start from scratch and go through the CC. If feasible, I would try to work part time instead of full time to get more hours with the LSAT and so that you don't burn out. If that is not feasible, I would plan to study for an extended period of time and take your second exam when you are shooting 3 to 5 points above your PT average.
@"Alex Divine" @lsatplaylist thanks for the helpful advice! By I'm not sure what happened that day, what I meant was that I had been studying for such a long time and felt somewhat confident in myself that I don't know how I managed to throw all my studies away day of. It was extremely disappointing. Test anxiety or sleep deprivation? Probably both. There was a huge lack of focus, and practically no retention of anything I read. Of note, I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, but never needed special accommodations in school/college. I did think about the possibility that that affected my performance day of, but I really don't want to make any excuses, especially since I had never needed accommodations before, and had been studying and PTing much higher than that darn 145.
@westcoastbestcoast unfortunately, working part time is not an option. I actually took the summer off to prep as well as the week leading up to the LSAT. Maybe that wasn't the best option either; I was burnt out. You're lucky that you weren't affected by sleep! Wish I was like that! I am definitely starting from scratch and using the 145 as my new 'timed diagnostic' and going from there.
@AboveAndBeyonce . Good luck! Let us know if you need more help and just make sure to take your time with this exam, especially since you are working full time. Having a longer time line will help you attain a deeper understanding of the exam as long as you keep practicing the foundations and place the process over the results.