How to know when to postpone?

Comments

• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  August 2017 23929 karma

  @dhnh1234 said:
  I might be losing it. I'm plateauing in the low to mid 160's (162-166) and I'm aiming for a 172+. With only weeks left to go to the September exam, should I postpone to December? Is it even possible for me to see that kind of a score jump in the last few weeks? This would be a retake - I don't want to take it three times, so I would rather postpone than take in September and December (aiming to apply for Fall 2018 cycle).

  To give some more background, I have read through all the PowerScore materials twice, have done the LSAT Trainer, used 7Sage materials, and have made/kept a thorough list of LG and LR problems that have stumped me to see the patterns of the ones that I miss.

  I'm currently working on foolproofing LG but I feel like when I'm actually presented with the games, I start mentally panicking and spend too little time on the diagram and working out all of the inferences that could help me more easily answer the associated questions.

  On LR, I make so many stupid mistakes it's sad...I truly feel that it's my strongest section, the one whose problems I innately "get" the most, but my performance doesn't always reflect that or the hours I've put into it.

  I'm not too worried about RC as that's the section I know is hardest to improve in, though am trying to bookmark some of the passages I struggle with the most for review here and there. My performance here can be anywhere from -2 to -6 though.

  What am I doing wrong? People who managed large score jumps in the last few weeks, how did you do it?

  I've plateaued in the same score range myself. I'm not sure how much time you have to dedicate to studying, but I think postponing may very well be a good idea. Improving from a low-to-mid 160s score to the 172 range consistently can be quite hard.

  I think what has been consistently helping me is taking breaks from full PTs as needed to focus on doing LG and LR intensives, where I would just focus on improving on each section for a couple of weeks at a time. If you're LG score is not consistently -1/-0 then I would recommend making it a priority to nail games down. I have no doubt you can do it and it will be a must if you wish to score in the 172 range. I'm not sure what is causing your panicking, however, I think panicking during LG is pretty common when we don't have confidence. This likely just means we need to work on improving so when we come up on harder games we have confidence we can handle it. I'd say just to continue fool proofing games and building up your confidence. Make sure to watch JY's videos after each game attempt so you can make sure you are diagramming correctly and splitting game boards appropriately.

  What types of mistakes are you making on LR sections? Is it a certain question type that gives you trouble? Questions that are conditional logic heavy?
• dhnh1234 Core Member

  August 2017 62 karma

  @"Alex Divine" Thank you for the detailed reply! I found your advice really helpful and it's nice to know that someone is stuck and fighting at the same place as me haha

  In terms of LR, my weakness definitely lies in necessary assumption questions, followed by sufficient assumption, flaw, and weaken (but to a much lesser extent). Occasionally a parallel reasoning or point of agreement question will throw me, but I'm honing those as well. My issue with LR right now is that I think I may be reading too quickly or carelessly and missing key words, and I end up picking a trap answer choice - because once I BR and look at the actual correct answers, I'm always so disappointed because I didn't get most of them wrong for lack of understanding; it was due to carelessness.
• Hshutter Alum Member

  August 2017 90 karma

  Thanks for this post! I am in a similar boat and am considering postponing. I was stuck in the mid 160's- my highest so far is a 166. I was feeling really confident, thought I had broken my plateau of 163ish, and maybe I had rounded a corner... then after I got a 166, I got a 158 and a 157 on my next two practice tests. Small mental collapse followed shortly after. I'm trying to do really deep, intentional reviews to figure out what I'm doing wrong, and I think my main problem is timing. The questions I do at the beginning and middle of the test I get right, and then you can actually see on my tests where I realize I'm running out of time and I start rushing and start making stupid mistakes and still end up guessing on a few. This is probably not helpful advice, but I just wanted to share that I am in a similar place, and it's incredibly frustrating. Sending you good vibes!
• dhnh1234 Core Member

  August 2017 edited August 2017 62 karma

  @Hshutter I totally know that feeling; I had a small mental break last night after scoring my latest PT as well lol. But I'm pulling myself back together today. Thank you for sharing and good luck to you as well!