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For those planning to retake the LSAT in December

justrandomjustrandom Alum Member
in General 343 karma
I took the October 2015 and did not receive a score that I am satisfied with. I actually ended up getting the same lsat score as I did the first time. I registered for the December Lsat and this will be my 3rd time taking it.

For those who took the October exam and are retaking in December, what are some strategies you plan on implementing in order to raise your score? Being that essentialy we have one month to study, how many hours do you plan to study a week?

Lastly, I scored a 156 both times :(. I'm trying to be as realistic as possible and want your opinion as to whether or not I can raise my score to at least a 160 by December? Is that unrealistic?

Thank you so much in advance. :-)

Comments

  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    Not unrealistic, but you really need to focus on taking PTs and doing excellent clean copy BR. You're in a range that is missing about a third of the test so you really need to learn from your mistakes on BR in order to recognize patterns in the test that will help you not make the same kinds of mistakes repeatedly.

    Also, what is your section by section breakdown?
  • GSU HopefulGSU Hopeful Core
    edited October 2015 1644 karma
    I didn't sit for the October exam so I don't know how much help I will be to you, but I have a couple of questions. What is your typical LG score? What was your average PT score before taking October? I think a 4-5 point increase is doable with a lot of hard work and persistence, but depending on exactly where you are at, might not be very realistic.

    Edited to finish statement after internet fart.
  • justrandomjustrandom Alum Member
    343 karma
    @Pacifico and @"GSU Hopeful" thank you for your responses! For the October 2015 LSAT, in LR (first section) I had -10, in LR #2 I had -9. For LG, -8 and RC -7.

    When I took my LSAT in 2014 I had (LR #1)= -8, (LR #2) = -5, LG= -13 and RC= -8.

  • DumbHollywoodActorDumbHollywoodActor Alum Inactive ⭐
    7468 karma
    @justrandom Get on that LG. Read @Pacifico ’s guide. IMHO, you should do, at least, 4 games per day until the December test. It’s relatively easier than the LR or RC in terms of improvement.
  • msizzleeemsizzleee Alum Member
    183 karma
    Hey @justrandom I'm in the same boat as you. However, I think based on your LG breakdown, you can definitely drill the LG bundle and use @Pacifico's attack strategy to get a few more points from the LG section.

    My breakdown from this test was -11 and -9 in LR, respectively (I usually get -4 to -5) bc I wasn't prepared for the abundance of NA questions. -8 on RC bc I totally blew the last passage and -2 on LG. Ended up with a 158, when I was averaging a 161 for the past few months. @Pacifico and @GSUHopeful do you guys think it's possible to get back into the 160s in the next month even though my LG score is much better than the other sections?
  • GSU HopefulGSU Hopeful Core
    edited October 2015 1644 karma
    @justrandom Per what @DumbHollywoodActor said, I would get on those LG. Shoring up your games will add valuable points to your scaled score. I would work my butt off on them and try to get to -3 or less. Don't ignore you other sections completely, but knocking your LG games out of the park is your best shot of adding those points in a month. @Pacifico wrote an awesome strategy for Logic Games. Here it is: http://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737/logic-games-attack-strategy. This would be your best shot at making up the difference in the amount of time you have.

    @msizzleee Since you were average 161 prior to the test, your 158 is representative of the expected +/- 3 points that you can expect on test day. It might be a little tougher for you since your LG are pretty strong. If your goal is the low 160's then I think you are right there at it but any higher might be pushing it in the amount of time you have. I would find the question types that are hurting you the most and go back over some of those lessons. Maybe some light drilling but I would mostly continue with PTs and thorough clean copy BRs. Being this close to test day, I think you would be better off focusing on PTs rather than heavy drilling. A good idea would be to make a fifth section for your tests by combining 25 questions from the types that are giving you the most trouble. Good luck!
  • justrandomjustrandom Alum Member
    343 karma
    Thank you all for your detailed responses! I will def focus on LG and LR. Thank you so much for the feedback. :-)
  • Elle2015Elle2015 Alum Member
    198 karma
    I think you should be able to bump your score 4 points in a month. I'm in a similar situation. I didn't go through the 7sage curriculum before, so my plan is to complete it this month and then PT/BR all next month doing 2-5 tests a week. I work a lot, so I'll be fitting in my studying where I can.

    Immediately after taking the LSAT, I knew that I probably didn't meet my target score, so my studying started the day after that, which is when I began the Starter course here and registered for the December LSAT. So I will have had 2 months by the time December comes... Counting all of the studying I've done, this month is my fourth.

    My weakest section is LG. I plan to focus on it. Every time I do a PT, I will add an extra LG section to it to help me become faster and more confident. When I don't do PTs, I will also do a section of LG. On the October test, I scored 169. I'm not in a region where the test is released so I don't know my section by section breakdown, but I'm fairly sure I messed up almost an entire game. I think it was an easy one too, but I just couldn't get it to make sense in my head and kind of panicked.

    @msizzleee It might help to really carefully BR your LR section to make sure that for every question you understand why the right answers are right and the wrong answers are wrong and then to even do the questions you miss again later. I think you can reach your goal.
  • goldenlover827goldenlover827 Free Trial Member
    2 karma
    Could someone please clarify what BR is? Thank you
  • GSU HopefulGSU Hopeful Core
    1644 karma
    Blind review. As you take a timed prep test, you circle the questions that you weren't 100% sure why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. After you complete the test, print off a clean copy of the exam and go back through the circled questions untimed. Spend as much time as you need to fully break the question down and justify why each answer choice is correct or incorrect. This is the process where the most learning comes from.
  • Nilesh SNilesh S Alum Inactive ⭐
    edited October 2015 3438 karma
    improvement in LG alone would catapult you to the 160 + range... focus on drilling them and BR like your colleagues have advised you... its not uncommon to see improvements in the LG section in as little as a few days... 6 odd days before my exam i was getting a - 10. On the actual exam I got a -2.
  • justrandomjustrandom Alum Member
    343 karma
    @Elle2015 @"Nilesh S" Thank you so much! I will get to drilling.
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