Scored on November 2022 & January 2023 LSAT | Advice/wisdom would be appreciated

B_MaximumB_Maximum Monthly Member
edited March 5 in January 2023 LSAT 126 karma

Hi,
I have started studying for the LSAT in December 2021 - August 2022. I started taking timed prep tests around August 2022 but then stopped taking practice tests to reinforce the fundamentals/BR as my score was constantly hovering around mid 140's to high 140s (I.e., 147-149) and only broke 152-153 couple times. I have taken prep tests 1-63 (spread out between August 2022 and October 2022) and prep tests 92-85 (around early January 2023).

I have completed the following in their entirety:

(1)The LSAT Trainer (January 2022-March 2022)
(2)Power score Bibles (April 2022 - May 2022)
(3)7-Sage Core Curriculum (April 2022 - July 2022)

*I am now contemplating the advanced LR/LG course and LR loophole.

I am very disappointed with scoring 143 on both official LSATs (November 2022/January 2023). The good news is that I have a strong idea of what to do to increase by at least 10 points. See below:

(1)Drill RC passages, and focus on accuracy.
(2)Thoroughly review the LR questions by consulting power score's online forum.
(3)Work in LR loophole.

Comments

  • B_MaximumB_Maximum Monthly Member
    edited February 1 126 karma

    Addendum to my post: I am not planning on taking timed prep tests until around August 2023. I will likely sit for the September 2023 LSAT or October 2023 LSAT. Some of my major weaknesses lie in the more difficult questions near the end of an LR section, specifically weaken, strengthen, most strongly supported, and must be true question types...Major weaknesses in the LG section lie in pattern and mapping games...and reading comprehension is a major weakness in general. However, for RC, I am working in the Manhattan LSAT Prep Textbook, and it is helping a lot.

  • BigJay20BigJay20 Member
    437 karma

    Definitely don't test back to back like that. Only register when you're averaging around your target score for the last 10 consecutive tests. The LSAT really test your patience as a human. I've been at this for years and I'm not even sure how I will react the day I get my score and finally close this chapter

  • JDream2023JDream2023 Member
    767 karma

    If you can master the LG, you can pick up solid points from this section.

  • ryan.lattavoryan.lattavo Member Sage 7Sage Tutor
    102 karma

    B_Maximum,

    I think the most pertinent piece of advice I'd recommend is definitely to space your PTs out more effectively. Right now, you're just taking tests back to back without reflecting on what is going wrong, what concepts you're still weak on, etc.

    It is hard to point you in a direction without knowing specifics on your scoring, but I think in general you still have a lot of core concepts you need to review. In general, a strategy that works is taking a PT --> returning to the Core Curriculum (or Loophole, or whatever you're using to study) and refreshing yourself on why you got the concept wrong. At your score, this should take you a long time, and only by effectively reviewing like this will you make score progress.

    I think you would make a fantastic tutoring student, by the way, and benefit a LOT from one on one instruction. Having someone to watch over what's going on and be in your corner during this process can really accelerate gains. A tutor would also create a study plan for you that could help you more effectively study and learn core concepts. If you're interested, schedule a free consultation here: https://calendly.com/7sage-tutoring/7sage-tutoring-free-consultation?utm_source=FCA_A

    Best,

    Ryan

  • B_MaximumB_Maximum Monthly Member
    126 karma

    This is amazing, Ryan. Thank you so much for your valuable input! I will for certain consider tutoring as an option this time around. Here is what I am doing right now in terms of reviewing mistakes/errors/misses:

    I am starting on prep test 1, reviewing each miss in the LR/RC section, and then reading the free tutor explanations on the Power score forum (It is free, so why not, right?). I will then revisit the core curriculum as per your advice and as part of the review process.

    I will not set a test date. However, I will for certain sit for the exam this year and likely sit for the exam in October 2023.

    Most scores on the prep tests were in the 140s (I.e., Prep tests 1-63), and I probably scored in the 150s on only 3 or 4 prep tests).

  • B_MaximumB_Maximum Monthly Member
    edited February 9 126 karma

    Here are some specifics on my scoring:

    LR: On average, I answer about 9 questions incorrectly. On a very difficult LR section, I can miss up to around 14. Common question type misses include Must Be True, Most Strongly Supported, and Weaken Questions (I.e., Specifically the weaken questions near the end of the LR section).

    RC: This section is very weak. To improve on this section, I have become a habitual reader and will read four passages per day (starting on prep test 1 by erasing all the mark ups and rechallanging the section).

    LG: I have made significant gains in this section and am not too worried about this section, with the exception of the Forgotten Few games...I am a paper-and-pencil LSAT test taker.

  • candacestubblefieldcandacestubblefield Monthly + Live Member
    77 karma

    Hello, I just wanted to chime in and let you know you are not alone and that your post has helped me tremendously. I took the LSAT in June 2022, scored 143. Took it again this last October and scored another 143. I started with the Power Score bibles, moved to the full online course and always used Khan on and off and ironically my mistakes are very similar to yours. I believe the only thing different is I struggled tremendously in June with the proctor set up and again in October. My PT's were always between 150-155. 7Sage has been the big change for me this time around, I am taking the LSAT again this Saturday and am already planning to take it again later in the year because I'm pretty sure I could make the score needed to get into the school I want to but better scores would pair excellent with my high GPA and help fund my schooling a lot better. RC has always been a struggle for me but I feel like attending the live classes on 7Sage with the different tutors has helped me formulate a strategy that really helps me with RC, I'm not sure if you've tried any of them but I find them extremely helpful. I have a husband and 3 children that I care for and that care for me so tutoring isn't' an affordable option for me and I think the live classes have been a huge advantage in place of tutoring. I wish you the best of luck and wish I had magic words to make the path clearer for you but the best I can do is offer to be here to talk to if you need and wish you the best.

  • B_MaximumB_Maximum Monthly Member
    126 karma

    Hi, Candace. Many thanks for your post. It does sound like our mistakes are similar in terms of question types. I agree, and you should be proud of your high GPA because, in my view and many other's, your GPA does a lot of the heavy lifting. Imagine having a very low GPA & LSAT score. So you should be very proud of your GPA, good job! Your ability to manage multiple roles is very impressive...

    I may be repeating myself but think that, by taking advantage of the power score logical reasoning forum, you will make significant improvements in LR. Also, I would recommend the LSAT Trainer only for LR. For reading comprehension, I would recommend the LSAT Manhattan Prep. In my view, the power score reading comprehension bible does not delve into details regarding question types. Their "reading for the scale & through the scale" is very helpful. The logical reasoning forum on the power score website is very helpful and insightful. My understanding is enriched as a result of using this forum as the explanations are by expert LSAT tutors. Again, free. The LSAT trainer is very important, because it helps one develop a new perspective toward LR, something that, in my view, is devoid in other books.

    I am ready to crush this LSAT in pieces and am certain that you will do so as well. I will update you soon.

    I do understand that you are very busy. So, I hope that my recommendations do not overwhelm you.

  • candacestubblefieldcandacestubblefield Monthly + Live Member
    77 karma

    Hi B_Maximum! Thank you for such a kind reply, never fear, I always have time to talk strategy for LSAT! I really appreciate your insight into the different programs, that is helpful. I do appreciate PowerScore for the foundation I received from them. When we had meetings with Law School students at our university I always asked what they used for studying and PowerScore has been the unanimous answer for just about all of them, some coupled it with Kahn. My professors kept pushing Kahn because it's created by LSAC. I found that Kahn lacks a lot of depth and challenge to it and PowerScore is great for a starting foundation but I found that most of the other programs use sort of a universal dialogue for all the LR question types and PowerScore uses some of it but also has their own terms for things that I found hard to integrate with the other programs. I appreciate the knowledge they gave us about hard and soft terms in the stems and answers, I think that is vital and I've not heard it elsewhere but I feel like I got a more in depth understanding from 7Sage with LR, if that makes sense? I haven't tried LSAT trainer other than I will look up a question now and then and they have really good break downs of them so I will start looking into it as a regular thing now too. Thanks for that advice, I wasn't sure if it was worth doing or not. I've never checked out Manhatten Prep before but I will give it a look as well. I know until this last year I never qualified for the fee waiver for anything and was paying for courses and tests before but somehow they changed things and I managed to qualify this year and have gotten access to not only 7Sage but also LSAT Max and Magoosh. However, I have heard so much about 7Sage that I started their curriculum and haven't checked into much else since. I will take a look over the next month or two at the others you mentioned and get a good feel of them, it sounds like they've been super valuable to you and it seems as if we might benefit from many of the same things. I've been on this journey for a little over a year and even though it's a rough way to go through it that I wouldn't wish on anyone else, it is still a relief to know someone else is going through a very similar experience. I look forward to the future and hearing about how awesome you did the next time around!

  • candacestubblefieldcandacestubblefield Monthly + Live Member
    edited February 10 77 karma

    I forgot I wanted to mention to you something that I have found really helpful. They recommend practicing the 1 and 2 star LR questions on the drills on this site, so you set it up to do all the LR and set it to the easiest ones and then practice going through them in a minute or less for each question. They say that practicing these and the speed can help you with up to 10 points come test time. I just learned about it last week from one of the live tutors but it's been huge, I rarely miss any of them and my time is down to less than a minute for almost all of them so it leaves time for the harder ones and helps boost your score having practice answering the easiest ones.
    Additionally, I have heard both good and bad things about the Blind Review method, I don't know if you use that method or not but I've heard friends say it was a huge time suck and didn't benefit them as much as just going over the reasons they get things wrong each time and moving on. I use it from time to time but because it wasn't a pattern of mine I haven't been real dedicated to it but I do always go back and look at it until I understand what I did wrong.

  • canihazJDcanihazJD Alum Member Sage
    edited February 12 8139 karma

    IMO sub 160s scoring indicates gaps in foundational concepts. Based on your PT results, target the problem areas in the core curriculum and don't leave a section with less than comprehensive understanding. Refocus your PT efforts on the review of your performance. That is where the value is... blind review and an excruciatingly in-depth review of anything that gave you trouble afterward. The PT take itself is just a snapshot of your performance capabilities. You need to put in the work interpreting what that snapshot means and identifying what to do to improve... then of course you have to actually practice doing those things in a way that is thoughtful and directed at addressing a specific issue. Just doing work "to improve" is a waste... volume of exposure alone is inefficient. Don't read just to read... dont do problem sets just to "get better at [type] questions." Identify a specific issue and fix it.

  • Shemariel165-1-1-1Shemariel165-1-1-1 Monthly Member
    91 karma

    Honestly my biggest advice would be to drill logic games time and untimed. I spent a month on logic game and saw a biggest improvement in my score

    You got this! Wishing you the best

  • B_MaximumB_Maximum Monthly Member
    126 karma

    Thank you so much, Shemariel165-1-1-1. You truly made my day!

  • SmokyMountainBear-1-1SmokyMountainBear-1-1 Monthly Member
    63 karma

    I took my cold diagnostic test around late September last year; -10 for each LR. After a few months of study - on and off - my LR score comes down to around -8 each section, though a couple of times with -5 or -3 (got really lucky!) What I found is that my error rate is very high for Level 5 difficulty questions; more than 50-60%. With -6/LR section, what would be the estimated range of final test score outcome? Is it possible to go above 160?

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