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Looking for Advice
ClaudioD21
Member
Hello everyone. This might be a bit of a long post but I’m writing this post to pretty much look for advice as to what I should do with my study plan since I’m losing hope and considering giving up.
For context, I took the LSAT November of 2021 and scored a 150. This was with no studying at all as I was doing school full time at that point. Prior to taking that LSAT, my cold diagnostic was a 144 on the June 07. Since then, I decided to opt for the gap year and focused on finishing undergrad with good grades. I began studying again June of this year post-graduation and have been putting between 3-6 hours every single day except on weekends where I study less due to other responsibilities. My goal was ~160 by October of this year. I have already registered for that date btw.
My issue becomes that I’ve scored nowhere near my goal. My highest actual score has been a 154 despite scoring in the 160s during BR a few times. Besides the 154, I’ll score anywhere between 148-152 for the most part. The 154 was due largely to me scoring -3 on the LG on that PT. My routine consists of mainly drilling LG and LR as I’ve heard RC is not worth practicing as much. I average -9 or -10 on RC. Despite me drilling hundreds of LGs and LR questions I’ll still get 7-15 wrong on any LR section. On LG, I can go either -3 or -14 under timed conditions despite being capable of -0 on BR. I’m very inconsistent on the games because I struggle with diagramming rules and setting up the games. This often forces me to brute force through answer choices because I don’t make inferences and waste time only allowing me to complete 3/4 games.
Now, with that being said I’ll mention that I have not gone through the entire CC. I recently started going through the CC for LR and plan on finishing it and moving on to the LG CC. I’m also reading the LR Loophole but I’m only halfway through the book. I am well aware that these are things I should have done from the start before I even began drilling or doing PTs but I unfortunately didn’t.
My question becomes: With only ~5 weeks until my October LSAT, what should I even do? Should I fully focus on finishing the Loophole and the CC and stop doing PTs until then? Should I do that but continue weekly drills or cut out even drills until I understand the CC? Should I still be doing at least 1 PT per week? Or should I simply just drill LG for the next few weeks in a last ditch effort to score higher given that this is the section I feel like I can improve on the most? I’m really not sure where to go from here with 5 weeks left and morale at an all time low. Btw, if you made it this far, thank you. I’d appreciate any tips.
Comments
Hey! I would definitely recommend finishing the CC before you consider giving up. Right now, you are taking PTs and drilling when you haven't gone through the entire curriculum. Once you have finished CC, it is very likely that PT scores will go up.
Do not give up!! Look for explanations online when when you don't fully understand why a question is wrong. You clearly have a capacity for stamina and that is 60% the journey. There is most likely a fundamental issue with how your reading/interpreting the stimuluses/ac's, drill your worst question types and look up multiple techniques that involve attacking the questions. Be careful as to not overwhelm yourself with what you find and keep and repeat only the information you see as effective to your learning strategy. The test, as overused this phrase is, is learnable. There is no reason why your hardwork should not pay off!
- Fellow former 140 scorer (147-170)
Finish the CC and The Loophole! Both were extremely helpful to me. Consider retaking if October turns out to be a score you don’t want. Don’t give up! The LSAT is very learnable! Feel free to DM me specific questions or problems as you go through the CC and I’ll do my best to explain my own methodology.
As someone who has taken the test a few times and will be re-taking in October as well, I sympathize with your need to panic now. I would say keep diligently studying for the October test so you maximize the next 5 weeks, but register for the November (or even January) test as a backup if you really want to apply for the 2023 cycle. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter when you get into school, as long as you do (granted it is what you want).
I noticed a few things from what you wrote:
“ My routine consists of mainly drilling LG and LR as I’ve heard RC is not worth practicing as much. I average -9 or -10 on RC.”
“ Now, with that being said I’ll mention that I have not gone through the entire CC. ”
The question becomes what did you do during your hundreds of hours of studying? By skipping out on the curriculum, you likely weren’t studying effectively or correctly, thereby reinforcing bad habits and incorrect logical reasoning that’s made you feel like you’ve hit a wall.
I would personally reach out to a tutor and ask them for help. If you’re stuck in the low 150’s and are aiming to apply to schools with medians above it, you may seriously need to consider applying for next year and hoping you study effectively enough to get a good score in summer 2023.
Also, practice RC. There’s no reason you should be skipping it if you are averaging -9 on it.
whatever you do DO NOT GIVE UP!! YOU GOT THIS!