Increasing from 150 to 160

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• 4 Likes

  Nilesh S Alum Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 edited April 2015 3438 karma

  @AlexanderL0 First the tips and advice: my two cents would be... only give the test if you are ready... no real need to take it in June if you are applying for the next cycle... unless of course you have special circumstances that necessitate your taking the LSAT in June... October and even December suffice... I definitely feel that 3 months time is nowhere near enough to reach your potential... This is also one of JY's golden rules when addressing people who are prepping for the LSAT... its one of the three WORST LSAT mistakes you can make in his book... here take a look: http://7sage.com/lesson/the-three-worst-lsat-mistakes/
  There is no win in giving the LSAT on an alarm clock schedule... the win is in maxing the LSAT... also 10 hours a week if you are prepping regularly for a 3 month schedule is at least in my view insufficient... if for argument's sake you ARE giving the LSAT in June, you should be putting in AT LEAST 25 odd hours from week 1 itself...
  If you are giving the LSAT, give it your all and nothing less than that... this test will decide your life, it will decide where you go.. what you do later on... and how much debt you are in when you graduate... why not give yourself the best odds of doing well by putting in the adequate amount of time if you have it??? This will also help you achieve your goal
  Now to the specific query: As for whether 150 - 160 is harder to attain... well probably harder than a 140 to a 150 but less than a 160 to a 170... as your score increases, getting every point becomes harder... once you collect the low hanging fruit, you have to work harder to collect what remains... the questions become more complex and time consuming... because you've solved all the easy ones... scoring becomes tougher as well, when you go up... at a stage, there are jumps where you have to get two questions right to have a one point increase...
• 1 Like

  Derek Kunhee Kim Member

  April 2015 131 karma

  What I know about LSAT prep would tell me 10 hours is not enough weekly study time.
  
  But if you decide to still take it in June, focus on the easiest way to increase your score. Which would probably be mastering LGs and aiming for 100% on the first 10-12 questions on the LR sections.
• AlexanderL0 Alum Member

  April 2015 239 karma

  @"Derek Kunhee Kim (김건희)" @"Nilesh S" good points. I'm confident that I can do it within a month because currently in scoring 16-19 on LR and only about 12 on LG. RC is always 11-12. I've read through 7sage that LG is easiest to master so I'm not too worried. I just need to keep LR where I am then master LG to where I'm getting 20 right and improve RC by 5. I know this sounds overly ambitious but it's definitely attainable in my opinion.
• mes08 Alum Member

  April 2015 578 karma

  Definitely agree with @"Nilesh S" and @"Derek Kunhee Kim (김건희)"
  Of course you can make enormous improvements and jump up to 160 in a month, but the less you study, the less likely that's possible. As they both point out, 10 hours a week of studying isn't enough. I recommend waiting til Sept/Oct to take the test if that's your study schedule.
  
  However, as @"Nilesh S" pointed out, if you're set on taking it in June, easiest way to increase points is to focus on LG.
• bonjoursm Alum Member

  April 2015 edited April 2015 181 karma

  I went from a 139 to where I am now (upper 160's) in about 5 months. Keep practicing, you can do it! 150 to 160 was significantly more difficult than 140 to 150. Once you increase your understanding so that you are consistently scoring 160, reaching 165 is a breeze.
  
  I would recommend buying the Cambridge packets and drill each practice set 3 or 4 times. Make sure to write down WHY you believe that the right answer is right and why the wrong ones are wrong (even if it takes an entire day to answer one question). 10 hours a week is sufficient to see improvements, but I highly recommend 15 or more per week.
• 1 Like

  AlexanderL0 Alum Member

  April 2015 239 karma

  @mes08 @bonjoursm thanks for the input. I think I should clear it up the I'm doing at LEAST 10 hours a week. If I have a busy week with midterms I'll do 10, if I have more free time I'll go up to 20
• 2 Likes

  nicole.hopkins Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 7965 karma

  @AlexanderL0 Even 25 hours is extremely modest for a 3-4 month prep. 400 hours is a typical minimum (min-ih-mummmm!!) ... In my opinion, maxing out means planning for ~800 hours total, all things considered. Why rush, waste money (not to mention a lower score on your score report), when there's nothing to gain by doing so and potentially much more to gain by just studying harder/longer/more hours per week once you're out of school ...
  
  PS, I work full time and put in 35–40 hours a week on LSAT (and I take Sundays off ), been studying hardcore like that since 1st week of Feb (was at about 10-15 hours per week from July through January), and the very, very earliest I'll take is October. Maybe December.
• 2 Likes

  emli1000 Alum Member Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 3462 karma

  I would suggest that you focus on LG mostly since you're only getting about 50% correct. You want to actually get 100% on that section. It's one of the easiest to improve in once you see the patterns.
• nicole.hopkins Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 7965 karma

  @emli1000 right on the nose, as usual. On my diagnostic, I got 7/23 Most recent section was -0 and otherwise typically 0-2. Mostly practice and seeing lots of different types of games.
• 2 Likes

  emli1000 Alum Member Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 3462 karma

  @nicole.hopkins that's how my score started to improve. drilling LGs. I see LGs as locks.. Trying to figure out the combination of each lock (game) makes me want to figure them out sooner and quicker!
• 1 Like

  nicole.hopkins Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 7965 karma

  Agreed—I've come to see LG as my one "shelter" on the LSAT, the one place where I'm not concerned about getting hung out to dry.