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2 Likes
Thinking of pushing to January
I hope everyone is having a great week. The fall weather is starting to come around here in beautiful San Jose, CA.
Anyway, I am thinking of postponing my 2nd take to January rather than November. I don't feel like I'm ready. I need a 156-157 to feel comfortable about getting into my target school and I feel as if I'm barely scratching 150. There is just over 6 weeks left until the November exam.
What do yall think? Take November and see if I can hit a 156, and just take the January exam if not? Or sit out the November exam and take the January one.
Thanks, all.
Which one?
- Which one?24 votes
- Take November exam and January if necessary62.50%
- Skip November and wait until January37.50%
Comments
If you're applying this cycle, I would still take in November. I think that a 6-7 point increase is pretty reasonable, especially because in the 150s you can really benefit from just a bit of foolproofing and even something like a good skipping strategy could help you grab a few more points. I would study as though you're taking in November, then if you still aren't hitting your goal you could postpone like a week ahead.
Are you applying to a school in the bay area? if so, which one?
@MissChanandler I disagree. The difference from a 150 to a 157 is 12 questions correct. Yeow! @lsatgodjk need to get 3 to 4 more right per section. I think you need to use the analytics to target your weak areas and delay until you're able to hit your target score.
@MissChanandler @"Adam Hawks"
Appreciate both your comments.
@"Adam Hawks" I definitely agree about the analytics. My thinking was that foolproofing could get another eight or so questions on LG and then the remaining few could be scooped up in the other sections. Of course this only works if you're missing a large portion of LG
The 12 questions OP can pick up can be the easy and medium level questions at a 150-157 range. This is also the reason why going from 168->175 is a lot harder since you no longer have low-hanging fruits to learn and answer correctly even if by raw question count it is less of a difference at the higher range. @MissChanandler is right that fool-proofing LG will get prob 8 questions in a month and drilling MBT questions can prob pick off the rest. Strategically, OP shouldn't even bother studying weaken/strengthen questions since 1 month isn't enough to make improvements on those and that time is better spent again on grabbing the low-hanging fruits. Also OP should probably skip the questions in LR sections q18-22 as that's the death zone and a time-sink (just fill all D's for that range of questions). Obviously this method isn't great for long-time LSAT success but for Op's goal of a big 6 week jump I think it's sufficient.
Seeing as how February applicants are considered late and have a 20%ish lower chance of being admitted across the board, you should really be pushing for November. Even if you fall a couple points short, you're probably going to be better off than you would be with a couple more points in February.
Once February hits though, you really should be considering next cycle and not the current one.
Wow, thanks for the advice. That was really well said.
Have to agree with @Ohnoeshalpme. I think you should study your butt off between now and the November test. If you're still working on essays, I'd even mostly put that aside. You could pick that back up as soon as the Nov test is done and apply in late November or January while waiting for your score. Take it from someone who applied in late January and through February last year - it put me at a significant disadvantage. I know people out there say it's not too late, but I got waitlisted at schools where I was at or above both 75ths. It's just not true that late January/February apps are safe.
Can you give us your section breakdowns? How many do you typically miss in each section?
Edit: Oops, I meant apply in late November or December, after you're done with the Nov test.
@"Leah M B"
Hey there, my 147 Official LSAT score's break down was this:
LR 1: -10
LR 2: -12
LG: -13
RC: -14 (I have never practiced RC, I should)
I think this is a pretty accurate break down.
Great, that's super helpful. Honestly, leave RC alone. It's too tough to improve quickly in that one. You can improve, but it's a much slower process.
Agree with @eRetaker that you should work on intensely foolproofing LG. I think that could get you an extra 7-8 questions right. I know flaw questions are challenging for everyone, but also work on memorizing the most common flaw types. Make some flash cards, whatever works. But just work on memorizing the common flaw types, and that should help you a bit in those. If pressed for time, I also typically skip the questions that have a lot of text, since it just takes so much time to read them. I'd recommend skipping all the parallel flaw, parallel reasoning questions for that reason. You'll know the ones - the questions that take up a whole column on the test. Don't bother. Work on the ones you can do faster.
And agree on skipping toward the end... I think I'd aim for getting through question 19 if you can, and skip from 20 on. There often is an easier question or 2 toward the end though, so if you have time you can skim the last few and see if any jump out at you.
Yepp questions 23-25/26 usually gets easy again. q18-22 is where a 6 week study plan won't get you much closer to getting those correct.
I also PM'ed this to OP, but it might be helpful for others reading it:
"RC: On recent tests, these RC questions look a lot like the LR "most strongly supported" questions.
Incorrect RC answer choices:
Too broad: the answer is too broad making it incorrect
Too narrow: the answer doesn't include everything about the passage, particularly on Main Point questions that only talk about one short paragraph of the passage, making it incorrect.
Contradiction: directly contradicts the passage
Not supported: Most common incorrect answer is when the answer choice looks correct but the passage actually doesn't support that! This is a popular trap answer for people who don't pay attention to detail.
For each of the questions you get wrong on practice passage questions, I want you to write down next to each incorrect answer choice which category it falls into.
Correct RC answers:
I didn't believe this until I was late in my studies, but each correct answer is supported by the passage. I used to think they pulled that answer out of nowhere, but there is indeed a line reference for each correct answer in the passage. For correct answers to the questions you got wrong, I want to find those lines that support it to convince yourself.
Final words: I read this advice elsewhere and I timed it myself and it was true. People don't rush in RC because of how long it takes them to read the passage. They take up all the time answering the questions because they didn't understand the passage well enough. Try reading the tough passages two times before answering the questions, just test it and see if it helps."
I think if you spend another 6 months with about 2-3 hours a day (with one day off) and one PT a week, you can cut that in half, get a 165 or so, and then you'd get a full ride or maybe an admit into a T-14 if your LSAC GPA is high enough. That's up to you though.
The test is one big cookie cutter. MBT, Strengthen, Weaken, or Flaw, it's a big machine man.
https://media.giphy.com/media/vdmY1K5t2Ri2A/giphy.gif
Just a question, if I have already registered for November but plan to push it back to January instead, do I get a full refund? I'm not so sure if I should withdraw first OR just change the date (which option gives more of my money back?)
@"Leah M B" @"Adam Hawks"
Thanks to you both.
TL/DR;
Despite the poll results, I believe I am going to push the exam to January. This is what I'm thinking:
I have 6 weeks until the November exam and I can maybe pull a 157 (my goal). However, I strongly believe that if I push this to January and put it 4-5 hours a day, then I have a good chance of pulling 160 and potentially getting some scholly money.
157 is my target school's 75th, I'm hoping if I can score something higher than that, then my chances of acceptance will still be high even though I would not be receiving my score until mid Feb.
I've spoken to the admissions at this school and they said that I can finish my application whenever I am done and simply indicate that I am waiting for my Jan test results. (Not sure if this affects my chances of acceptance, but I've heard that people who have done this and received a strong Jan/Feb LSAT score got accepted in a matter of days because their apps were already sent and the LSAT was just the last piece of the app.)
All in all, I just want to get a strong LSAT score. I purchased Ultimate + and I want to take full advantage of it. I feel that if I push the exam to January, I can obtain stronger mastery of the exam which leads to a higher chance of acceptance and potentially some scholarship money. I understand the risk of applying late, but I think this is the better option.
Let me know what you both think.