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4 Likes
No Improvement w/ 2 Months Studying
charlotte.saline
Core Member
I have been studying consistently for about 5 hours a day, 5/6 days a week and I am seeing no improvement. I took a PT and my score was exactly the same (144) as my first diagnostic test. My goal is to score 164. I have a study schedule of 5 months and feel very discouraged that I am seeing no improvement 2 months in. I don't know what I should be doing differently in order to start seeing improvements in my score. Any help/advice welcomed 
Comments
same boat buddy
Which sections have you been studying?
Where are you seeing your weak areas? I would just focus on a specific section like games master those then move on to LR then finally comp. Don't take
I'm impressed to hear about your dedication (5 hours / day x 5,6 days)! From my experience, unlike studying for other exams, my progress versus time has been very nonlinear.
I felt the same way in the beginning months of study. I'm putting in all this time and effort and I don't see progress right away on timed exams. I now realize that my time wasn't wasted. I took that time to build the foundations for my performance now. At that time, I HAD to spend a lot of time with the fundamentals. While they are the bedrock of LSAT performance, it makes sense that I had not seen immediate progress with the added time pressure.
Even when I made significant progress on the fundamentals and started working on the time pressure element of the exam by working on strategies, it still took a time to digest and deliver to see progress. But once I started seeing progress, it came in large "lumps". First, I got up to high 150s because I implemented a decently strategized skipping strategy with good fundamentals. Then, I broke into the low 160s because my LR improved significantly. Then mid to high 160s because I started improving on LG. My path to 170s is likely consistent high performance on LR and LG along with cracking RC.
It could be that your journey is non-linear. You may be spending this time to build up your foundation for success down the line. To improve, I suggest the following:
1) Identify your problems. What are you getting wrong and why are you getting them wrong? It really helps to approach this without bias. Does this point to specific fundamental concepts that you need to revisit and drill? Question types giving you trouble? Or are you not finishing sections on time because you don't have a solid timing strategy in place?
2) Work on this problems and assess your progress regularly. What you identified on 1) will formulate your study plan for the week. And if you are PTing regularly at this point, you can use it as a way to gauge your improvements.
3) Repeat 1) and 2). Some of the mistakes we make are hard to fix. The LSAT makers specifically design questions to exploit our weaknesses. So understand that you may have to keep repeating 1) and 2) for a while to improve on them.
Try to get out of the performance mindset...Instead get in a learning mindset. The two months you've spent studying are giving you the foundation to progress in the next three months! These two months have shown you exactly how much you know and where you need to improve. That's the first step to getting better. Progress doesn't happen overnight.
Don't give up.This test takes people a LONG time... I'm an Ivy League grad and have a great track record with standardized tests... I thought I could do the LSAT in 4 months, but 2 months in I had improved by only two points! Since, I've readjusted my expectations and I'm hoping that I can do it in under a year. I share this to emphasize that you are not alone, and that this is a hard test... The group of people on these forums who are studying are all high achievers, and this test is meant to be a rigorous test for all of the students who already are 90th percentile students. If you think about it, to get a 165 you have to basically be in the top 5% of LSAT takers, which is a group of people who already in the top 10%.... Don't get discouraged; it's possible, but just be realistic with yourself and where you are. Sure, some people can crack the LSAT in 4 months, others it takes 2 years. Everyone is different, and you need to be patient with yourself. You're learning new skills and a new way of thinking!
My two actionable tips are 1) be make sure you're blind reviewing and really taking time to study your wrong answers and understand why they're wrong. This is the part of studying that is least gratifying, takes the most time, and is the most painful, but that's how learning happens! 2) Consider pausing on the PT's. I took about a month break between finishing the CC and taking my next PT and my score jumped by 10 points! For me, the practice tests are very toxic, and put me in performance mindset, rather than in the learning mindset... If you're aiming to be 165+, there's really no use repeating bad habits and practicing your mistakes if you're in the 140's. Drill sections and drill question types until you feel that you're in a better place to meet your goals. Good luck.
That analytics tab, Keep feeding the beast tests and it will bless you with beautiful red circles where you should specifically concentrate in by rewatching/redoing the syllabus stuff.
@"Forever Addicted to Coffee" Thank you for taking the time to give me all this feedback. Much appreciated.
@mpereira962D Thanks for your comments. Indeed, I think I haven't been blind reviewing thoroughly enough so haven't picked up on my mistakes enough over the past two months. I'm going to blind review much more from now on and hopefully I will see some progress thereafter.
@Byono12345 All three sections are equally weak... Seems like I have to focus equally on all three really.
Absolutely! If you want to chat about it further, don't hesitate to DM me to set up a phone call.
Are you doing blind review, or are you just drilling, drilling, drilling? Are you drilling on the same questions over and over? Have you tried getting a tutor?
Keep going. Your score is the last place you will see improvement, especially in such a short time frame. While it is important & the ultimate goal of our studying, a score increase is only one way to measure progress. Are you getting correct answers faster? Are you able to see the gaps in reasoning faster/more easily? Are you understanding stimuli and passages with more clarity? Sometimes you are improving on the intangible, unscored parts of the test that will add up and translate to a better score over time.
I'm not sure how many logic games you are doing per week but when I first started studying I was terrible at them and found that if I were doing an equal number of LR and RC passages as LG I was not improving as fast as I had hoped. So what I did was study LG exclusively for a month making sure I foolproof-ed every game and I found that at the end of the month I was MUCH better. At that point I started adding LR and RC into my study schedule while maintaining (and improving) LG.
this may seem like a silly question, but how would you recommend to someone they know where to "safely" take sections for drilling from? I want to drill sections, but i feel like it "ruins" PTs.... I'm not sure how to keep balance.
Pick a test number, say 50, and drill anything below that, saving newer ones for PTs. But as others have said, I would lay off timed PTs for the time being. If you can't do it slow, you won't be able to do it fast. Take your time, really understand the material, maybe even go over the CC again. Correct is smooth and smooth is fast. The speed will come only after you understand. Take the time, be patient and only use those PTs when you are in a place that you need more data re your weaknesses. @mpereira962D said it perfectly, you don't want to practice bad habits (ie rushing through the test and not getting anything out of it except a reduction in confidence).
Maybe try to find a study partner or group if that works for you? Best of luck! Don't lose heart, and be sure to take breaks, though counter-intuitive, your brain needs down time to process what you're learning. It's like working out, you have to let the muscles (your brain) recover so they can build strength (neural pathways).
@"Slow is Fast" Thanks for your message. That's a good way to look at things, will keep it in mind. Good luck with your studying
@"jammy.kay.sams" I think I haven't been doing BR properly enough so don't picking up on my mistakes, which is a huge thing. Definitely being more diligent with BR now and focusing on simply getting to the right answer right than rushing through. I don't plan on getting a tutor, it's too pricey...