Is My Goal Score Attainable?

Comments

• u______u Alum Member

  June 2022 edited June 2022 233 karma

  You are not defined by your diagnostics score. People have scored less with higher diagnostics so it's hard to realistically say whether you can or cannot. However, I will say that a 21+ score jump in 4 to 5 months is very ambitious. Very, very ambitious but not impossible.
• maco4538 Alum Member

  June 2022 323 karma

  your best bet is to perfect logic games, get logical reasoning down, start with argument structure then move on to evaluations, it can be done, its really depends on the person
• 3 Likes

  CSieck3507 Member

  June 2022 1376 karma

  Just to help, try not to focus on when you will take the test date. If your goal is to get 170+ make that your goal. If you put a time on there you are going to feel rushed to get that score by those dates. Dont rush the process and focus on hammering down your fundamentals and really reviewing your wrong answers and if you are PTing in your range, perfect take the test. If not it is completely okay.
• 3 Likes

  georgianablythe16 Alum Member

  June 2022 edited June 2022 143 karma

  Definitely agree with @CSieck3507. I took the LSAT for the first time last week and I was not ready. I regret registering for the test before I was PT'ing in my goal range. Now I have no choice but to retake and perhaps delay a year in applying. Don't put that pressure on yourself. Is it possible for you to jump that many points in such a short period of time? Sure. Is it likely? I'd say no. You're embarking on a very laborious study journey. My diagnostic was a 151, and while I do not know what I scored on my test last week yet, I'm sure it was close to where I was PT'ing after 5-6 months of studying - high 150's or low 160's. I have a similar goal score to you, and what I've learned over these last few months (and 3 years of on and off studying) is that you cannot rush this test.
• 4 Likes

  Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  June 2022 27902 karma

  170+ is possible. About 2% of people do it every single test, and what do they have that you don't have or can't get? Nothing. So yes, you can absolutely score 170+. November too is possible. A test is being administered and you may sign up for it, log in at your assigned time, and take and submit the test.

  But you don't get both. You have to pick what's really important. Is your score or your test date your priority? There are fully good reasons to prioritize either, but you don't get to choose both.

  If your priority is your score, then the test date is the last thing you should be thinking about. Your focus is on mastering the test and, eventually, on scoring consistently in your target range on strictly proctored, fresh PT's. When you've done that, then it's time to schedule a test date. You can have test dates in mind as an aspirational thing, but they really have no bearing on your decision on when to test.

  If your priority is your timeline, then that's perfectly okay too. But any score you may have in mind is purely aspirational. Rather, your goal is to make the most efficient use of your time between now and your test day to improve as much as possible. This means moving on from things once the time you've allotted to it is up. For most things, that'll probably be well short of the level of mastery required for a consistent 170+ performance. But you don't need mastery for most points. Cutting your error rate in half on RC from -10 to -5 is a huge improvement, and it's something that would be reasonable to hope for on the kind of time you'd be looking to invest on that section. Cutting it in half again, from a -5 to a -2.5 average, however, is an exponentially more difficult and time consuming process that you almost certainly wouldn't get to do.

  So start by choosing your priority. It's a really personal decision based on a lot of factors, and whatever you need to do is okay. Life is complicated and you may have things going on that make it so you really need to apply this year. It's just really important to seperate out target score and timeline. A 170 is an outstanding target. Our best in 4 months is an excellent target to strive for. But you only get one target. Once you've defined your target, the other is relegated to an aspiration.

  And which you choose has a huge effect on how you study, so it's important that you choose honestly. I can't even begin to tell you how many students of mine have targeted a test date only to change their priority at the last minute when they see they aren't going to score their aspirational score. It's easy to trick ourselves into saying we'll target the test date but we WILL be ready when the time comes. But it just doesn't work that way and it's just a way of tricking ourselves into trying to have it both ways.
• FutureQlawyer Member

  June 2022 44 karma

  It is possible but you have to be brutally honest with yourself if you are not making progress. It takes time to understand what the test is doing in in my experience, you have to be able to understand it for yourself, after that the test starts to make sense and your score will likely increase. Most people that take the test do not get to that point.
• 1 Like

  Hinde Sophia Alum Member

  June 2022 165 karma

  I'm in the exact same boat as you - I just completed the core curriculum and took a PT a few weeks ago and got a 149. I was pretty bummed but I had to be realistic with myself. Do I want to stick with my ideal timeline or do I want to get the best score possible? I realized that if I keep working at it, I am sure that I can learn all the information, test taking techniques and strategies necessary to get to 170+ because all it takes is hard work and time. But the truth is that I need to be more flexible about my timeline.

  The best advice I've seen on these forums and from the tutors is to wait to register for the test until you're completely ready -- and that means PTing consistently around the score I am aiming for. Months ago, I registered for the August exam and when I saw my latest PT was 149 I was really discouraged but I knew that I would not compromise on my plan. I would just need to potentially delay my plans. But I'd much rather delay to next cycle than try to apply with a lower score.

  If you need a study buddy, feel free to PM always helps to talk things through!