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High 160's looking for advice!

mattscrappymattscrappy Member
in General 138 karma

Hi everyone!

For context: I have been prepping for about a year and am now PT averaging in the high 160's (167-168). I work full time, and various personal delays have made this a very long process. I have limited time to study during the week, and am looking to maximize my efficiency as I study for the June exam. I started with a goal of 165, so ultimately I'm happy with my score, but I didn't get this far by being a quitter and I'd love to crack the 170 barrier if I can!

I have been using 7sage to take Flex simulations and currently I'm averaging about -3-4 in each section, with some variance depending on the PT. The spooky part is that I always get 11 questions wrong (seriously, it's weird to the point of absurdity).

Other than the random curve-breaker, 180 only, questions, the only LR question types I get wrong are flaw, parallel, and parallel flaws. I am currently drilling each of them but I worry that isn't the best use of my remaining time.

JY saved my life with the logic games, but I've still had trouble going to a consistent -0.

I have never done any serious formal RC prep; I have always been an incredibly strong reader and my Economist subscription helped me up my score even further. I realized I was confusing main point/primary purpose questions, and that's because I didn't actually recognize the difference in what these two were asking. I haven't taken another RC section since learning this, but based on my previous sections I think I should see a 1-2 point improvement per section.

With all this in mind, is continuing LR prep still a good use of time? The LSAT is a skills test and I worry that I've crossed the threshold on this section's skill development, and that two weeks isn't enough to improve any further.

-Should I redirect my efforts and try to close the LG gap? Like everyone else I have seen the most dramatic score improvement in LG, but I've heard those gains tend to level off as you whittle away each last point.

-Alternatively, should I focus on RC fundamentals and try to make improvements there?

If I'm able to get five more questions right, that would put my score at or around a 172. I think that if I drill enough LG, combined with a single point RC and LR gain in each section, I can make up that gap.

Is this realistic in two weeks? Should I be working harder to cement my average? I'd rather not, but is it worth it to postpone to August? I'm personally sick of this test and I don't want to deal with a fourth section, so this is a nuclear option, but if the consensus is that I can seriously improve by then I may just do that.

I'm sorry for the long post, but any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

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Comments

  • robinsonberkeleyrobinsonberkeley Member
    118 karma

    I'm stuck in a similar situation (getting 165, aiming for 170 by August). Improving Logic Games to -0 took me about 2-3 weeks, so I definitely think you could crack 170 by focusing on that section.

  • determinedpugratdeterminedpugrat Member
    296 karma

    Same boat...Curious to see what other's advice is on this point. Agreed with @robinsonberkeley LG is the section to go -0 on and that's where I'm putting my time. I think focusing on RC might be worth it, too. There are curve breaker questions on that section that I feel go a little beyond just being a good reader (for example analogy and weaken questions, that feel a little like LR) that you could practice.

    I think on LR, it is possible to master parallel questions. Those also notoriously take the longest time. So if you can get faster at these, this will give you more time to focus on the curve breaker sections.

  • Arman080Arman080 Member
    165 karma

    Hey @mgscaptura, I was in a similar boat for a while. My last 4 LSATs I've gotten 1690-170-169 and 170. I average 8-9 wrong on 3 section LSATs. My personal advice is this: try to get perfect on LG consistently. I seriously doubt anyone can be consistently break into 170s w imperfect LG scores, the reason being that LR and RC are objectively much harder to be consistent on AND to improve in. LG can be improved just through sheer practice (which is what I did). Try to keep calm when you screw up an LG section and try to get comfortable w games that are not cookie cutter. I personally think the first step in being a 170+ scorer is having a perfect LG score, because its the easiest section to be perfect in and anyone can do it!

    do only LG games for 4 days and see what happens! its what i did and now im scoring perfectly on LG over and over

  • ggoeklerggoekler Member
    30 karma

    RC - Go thru core curriculum lessons (not the passage breakdowns, the intro lessons etc) seriously. A lot of RC is just kinda mindset while reading the passage to retain info.

    LG - do all the games 19-49. Repeat them as necessary till you’re getting -0 each time. Games is really drillable.
    I personally struggled much more with grouping and in out than sequencing, and found the problem sets were great for really drilling the concepts/inferences/etc.

    LR - force yourself to skip flaw, parallel flaw etc. type questions. They require a lot of time and sometimes actually making a map on paper. If you skip them you’ll find you have ample time at the end to do them and it will be less stressful and you can take your time make sure your answers are sound.

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