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Strategies for 20 points Improvement from 150s to 170s?

SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
edited June 2014 in General 35 karma
Hi. Is there anyone who made such a drastic improvement?
Would really appreciate if they can share their experience and strategies. Thanks a lot.
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  • ikethelsatikethelsat Alum Member
    edited June 2014 193 karma
    My own improvement was from a different point, but it was still a +10 jump. Hope that counts as valid for giving advice...

    People will tell you (or at least, they told me) that the LSAT is something of an IQ test and studying has limited returns over time. I don't believe that at all - I think the limiting factors are more related to how much time you have to learn how to do the test, and how much time you are willing to put into it. If you have 7sage, you are already at stage one.

    To make a 20 point improvement, I would imagine you need to radically revamp the way you are approaching the test - you'll notice in the curriculum that 7Sage emphasize logic a great deal. That's because it's the only way to really massively boost your score if you aren't already performing at a high level. If you understand and can apply all the logical concepts that they will teach you in the curriculum, there aren't any LSAT LR questions you can't get correct. If you learn their method of diagramming, and again apply logic, then every LG question can be answered. RC is maybe a bit more intangible - I think it favors strong readers and can be a bit less by-the-numbers, but at it's core it too has strategies that, if consistently applied, will consistently force the correct answer.

    None of that is easy, though. Logic comes very naturally for some people, and other people have to learn it like a second language. I'd use this analogy: the LSAT is like being asked to take a 4th grade history quiz, but in French. If you already know French, then awesome, you just need to learn some simple history concepts and off you go. If you don't know any French, you need to spend a year getting fluent or you're doomed to guessing at the easiest questions, and groping through a series of faux ami. And learning French isn't easy! But, it's totally possible. And so is scoring a 170+ on the LSAT from a lower diagnostic.
  • ENTJENTJ Alum Inactive ⭐
    3658 karma
    I'd also add that Reading Comp is definitely learnable. As mentioned in the beginning lessons of the curriculum, it all falls on the same precept of relationships (relata). If you read for structure and see how the varying points of view interact with one another, you can't go wrong.
  • SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
    35 karma
    Thanks!! I started at 146 and have reached a peak of 160.....However, find it hard to cross that mark. Average is around 155. I still have more than 20 Prep Tests left.
  • CFC152436CFC152436 Alum Member
    edited June 2014 284 karma
    Agree with everything said above. LG is incredibly repetitive and is pretty easy to pick up. LR takes some practice - you need to learn how to spot assumptions, but, again, taking the 7sage course (as well as significant amounts of drilling questions) will enable you to develop the necessary skills. RC is a different kind of beast. Practice will help, as will doing a lot of outside reading (textbooks, academic publications, professional articles, etc). The big thing to remember with RC is that the answers are quite literally on the previous page. If you're unclear what the author said about something, all you need to do is re-read the relevant paragraph.

    Have you done a course? Doing PT's over and over again can be a waste if you don't have a solid foundation. What is your section break down?
  • SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
    35 karma
    My breakdown is

    LG: 2-3 wrong
    RC:10-12 wrong
    LR-10-12 wrong. I have completed the 7 sage syllabus once. Although, it has greatly improved my score from where I started, I still have a long way to go.
  • SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
    35 karma
    I need to improve my RC. I need to start reading science journals. Do u have any suggestions on which ones I should read? Also, can you suggest good literary readings. I mess up on those a lot. Thanks!!
  • CFC152436CFC152436 Alum Member
    edited June 2014 284 karma
    LR should be easier to improve than RC. Can you get that number down to -2 or -3 if you do an untimed LR section? That would help clarify what the problem is.

    The Economist is sufficient reading material, to be honest. Politics aside, it's science section is complex enough to be on an LSAT, but it's also not so complex that it requires a degree in the hard sciences.

    As a science major, I don't think you want to read "science journals". To me, that phrase refers to academic publications in chemistry, biology, neuroscience, etc. That kind of stuff isn't on the LSAT. A science-y magazine (like Nature, or Science) is probably a better place to start.
  • SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
    35 karma
    Thanks for the suggestions. I am appearing for the June LSAT but will probably cancel the score. I think I can have a shot at160-165 if I retake the test in September.
  • cole.w.murdochcole.w.murdoch Alum Member
    228 karma
    Siddharth, keep up the hard work. I got the same score as you on my cold diagnostic but have made some great improvements. Another suggestion for RC is to find some philosophy reading. I am a philosophy major and on PT's I did before 7sage I was constantly going -2 or -3 on the RC sections. I think that there is a lot of dense material out there that will help a lot. One of the hard things in RC is that some people will read a paragraph, get to the end of it, and realize they didn't absorb any of it; practicing reading philosophy writing helps a lot I find in that regard. If you need me to point you in the right direction just let me know.
  • JohnDenverJohnDenver Alum Member
    34 karma
    Hey cole.w.murdoch do you have any philosophy journals you would recommend to start with?
  • SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
    35 karma
    Hi Cole. Thanks for your inputs. Can u suggest any philosophy readings that I can find online or in the library?
  • cole.w.murdochcole.w.murdoch Alum Member
    228 karma
    If either of you have access to JSTOR or EBSCO host or another portal for journals I recommend searching for the Journal of Moral Philosophy; you'll find some dense material in there. If you do not have access to those (not a big deal) I recommend you search on scholar.google.com for things such as moral philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology etc.
    Some primary philosophy texts (pre 20th century) may not be as useful, but anything from 20th century on is pretty good. Papers that analyze primary texts are good too because it throws you into a subject you have little knowledge on (something the LSAT always does). Here's an example of a good article I just read: http://www.academia.edu/2147077/Immortality_and_Meaning_Reflections_on_the_Makropulos_Debate
  • SiddharthSiddharth Alum Member
    35 karma
    Thanks Cole!!
  • km.edelsonkm.edelson Alum Member
    31 karma
    Also have a look at the New York Review of Books (nybooks.com). It contains in depth book reviews covering literature and every area of academia, and also has original articles on politics, art, history, and scientific debates/research. Never thought of it before, but it is pretty much exactly at the level of The Economist and standard RC passages. The wide range might also be good for getting used to the different subjects.
  • AlenaLSATAlenaLSAT Alum Member
    182 karma
    Some knowledge of cognitive biases, how to make a proper argument, and knowing as many logical fallacies as possible helped me improve on LR. Also, drilling causation questions, as well as questions involving numbers and % helped a lot.

    When reading RC passages I look at them as compare and contrast essays, as well as use the "scales" to weigh the evidence for and against an opinion. This method helps me sort out the dense information contained in the passages.

    With LG, it is nothing but practice. It took me about 6 months to be able to complete this section on time, although I still cannot always do it.
  • JohnDenverJohnDenver Alum Member
    34 karma
    Thank you for all the sources to look into. RC is by far my worst section.
  • JohnDenverJohnDenver Alum Member
    edited June 2014 34 karma
    I blind review every question in 7Sage, so everything takes me so long. One thing that I am noticing is that with RC, I do not do terribly when doing the blind review. I mostly just do bad when I have the 35 min time limit. I will read more and a lot more of what everyone mentioned above. But does anyone have tips on speeding up reading?
    Edit: I also just stumbled upon this quick lecture: http://7sage.com/lesson/the-memory-method-for-improving-lsat-reading-comprehension/

    Hopefully the lecture helps and I will try it with the sources above too.
  • ikethelsatikethelsat Alum Member
    193 karma
    cshunger - reading is like everything else - practice makes you better at it. If you set yourself serious goals, like reading a novel a week, then by September or whenever you are taking it you will have become faster.
  • A_Iheduru23A_Iheduru23 Alum Member
    64 karma
    Work on credible gains first...Like Me. I was PTing at 158-159 until I realized that If i actually spent time on 23 questions of LR instead of 25/6, I would miss only 2-3 a section.....thats the easiest way and its a method that isnt talked about much....you dont need to answer every question to get into the 160s...From there you just need to drill the questions you dont understand
  • A_Iheduru23A_Iheduru23 Alum Member
    64 karma
    Honestly, I think if you spend more times on less question, you PT score will go up, and youll be better at figuring out what youre doing wrong
  • anne2hoanganne2hoang Free Trial Member
    edited June 2014 226 karma
    ^ Yes, that specific strategy was mentioned in the Fox Test Prep. He refers to it as the very first commandment in his list of "Ten Commandments." Basically, unless you are consistently receiving a score of 165+ on your tests, you should be slowing down. This means strategically not doing the last few questions at the very end. Just guess at those, because chances are you will get them wrong anyways. If you slow down, then you will be able to spend more time on the easy questions at the beginning of the test, to ensure that you get those right. Hence, improve your score.
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14213 karma
    Hey guys, in response to the later portion of this thread (about skipping questions), we have a lesson about that. Remember the coconuts?

    If you have an account, here's the lesson.
    http://7sage.com/lesson/why-you-must-skip-questions-on-the-lsat

    If you do not have an account, there's an older version of that lesson.
    http://7sage.com/why-you-have-to-skip-questions-on-the-lsat/
  • km.edelsonkm.edelson Alum Member
    edited June 2014 31 karma
    cshunger - try underlining or marking the margins around areas of the passage that typically end up in the questions. For example - the passage mentions that something has three main characteristics or "has certain elements of ________." You definitely want to know what those are, and if you don't remember, be able to find them within a few seconds when you are working on a question. Analyze the types of questions that appear, which in reading comprehension are really limited. You'll know what you need to be reading for. Knowing what the questions will be about will guide your attention when you're reading the passage. This will also save you a lot of time on the questions.




  • ENTJENTJ Alum Inactive ⭐
    3658 karma
    Low hanging fruit! Yessir! :)
  • wendelsr-1wendelsr-1 Alum Member
    111 karma
    I will snowball off of the skipping topic - when I forgot to skip and get too preoccupied with just solving, I do significantly worse (-5 extra avg per LR section.) Its something you have to really train yourself to do, but I think is super beneficial.
  • AlenaLSATAlenaLSAT Alum Member
    182 karma
    At which point are you supposed to give up on a question? You still need to invest some time to read it, at least.
  • anne2hoanganne2hoang Free Trial Member
    edited June 2014 226 karma
    ^ These are some that I can think of:
    1) When you have eliminated all 5 answer choices
    2) When you have eliminated none of the 5 answer choices
    3) If time is running out, then use the stems to identify the question type that you have the most trouble with and guess on those.
    4) If time is your biggest issue, then skip the last 5 by default. But remember to guess on all skipped questions, since there is no penalty for guessing.


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