I scored a 168 on June 2015. I made the decision to take it only 9 weeks before-- In those subsequent weeks I took 30 pt's. The 4 weeks before the test I took a pt every week day, and would study till I was on the verge of tears. It was brutal, and by the last week before the test I was inconceivably burnt out. I had to neglect taking the last pt's I planned to. I was going for quantity this first time taking the test, and now I'm gearing up for Oct 2015. I want quality this time; I want less hours of studying but I want to maximize the time I spend. Most of all, I want to be as fresh as possible on test day. Burnout is not going to slide this time.
Has anybody else experienced this crisis? At some point, quantity, the amount of hours and pt's, begins to yield little in terms of becoming better at taking the test. And it burns you out-- I scored 3 below my average in pt's for June 2015, which I hear is actually normal. How do I, with limited hours and only a few pt's (I'm planning on only taking 5-6 pt's before Oct), maximize the time I spend?
I believe that I'm going to find out that quality of study time, after thoroughly acquainting one's self with the LSAT, is far superior than the quantity of hours spent studying.
Comments
I would probably take more than 5-6 PTs if I were you, just to stay fresh. I'd say 1 PT per week would be a good way to go, with an excellent BR (you really want a 175-177+ BR if you're going to get where you want on test day). That will help to deepen your understanding and further cement your fundamentals. And you probably need to take 3 days off per week at least since you sound a little intense in general. Try hitting up one of the BR calls to cut loose while getting a chance to develop your skills a bit.
BR on the tests you've taken may very well have been the difference between where you scored and a very high potential score.
My diagnostic was 157
I always thoroughly reviewed nonetheless. Perhaps I wasn't convinced of the value of BRing because that would've spoiled my studying plan-- I would have had to make time to do a thorough BR which would've lessened the amount of pt's I could take.
I think a lot of the LSAT is about forming the right habits. I'm trying to form good habits for each section, and by doing individual question types over and over, it drills into my brain the right way to think. And then when it all comes together in a PT, your habits will shine!
Even if you have taken all PTs, it's worth going through them with BR to identify where you're losing points.
For example, when I blind review, my score is usually over 175, with a timed score approaching 170. Last week I found almost ALL of my missed LR questions are point at issue, and more difficult Pseudo SA, and argument part questions. Odd thing was I aced my SA questions - turns out the stems threw me off and I gained several points from it.
You have a very high ceiling with the improvement done already - proper BR in addition could pull you up to a 175+ but either way, congrats and good luck!
Trust the process. Play the long game. Low and slow.