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Advice to improve by Sept?

sn11_________sn11_________ Alum Member
in General 103 karma

I am currently signed up for the September LSAT but I am considering postponing to December or February. I am a full-time student, so I would prefer to take it in Feb rather than Dec (because the February sitting will be right after a long break in January, and the December sitting will be during finals). However, I would rather take it in Sept than Feb because then I won't have to balance school and LSAT at all.

I am aiming for a 175+. My PTs have been steadily increasing from 159, 163, 168, and most recently, a 169.

I regularly go -0 on LG. RC and LR are less consistent. I range anywhere from -1 to -5 on each LR section, and -1 to -5 on RC. Oftentimes my mistakes on LR are very apparent to me once I see that I got the question wrong, and it is usually an answer that I was unable to eliminate, but still didn't like. RC usually depends on the passages and how quickly I can get through them. I usually never finish with extra time on any section except LG.

I am looking for suggestions on ways I can improve (like strategies for drilling, taking PTs, taking timed sections, etc) by Sept 16th so that I can hit my goal, OR I am wondering if people think this jump won't be possible in a few weeks and that I should postpone until Dec/Feb.

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Comments

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    I honestly don't think that kind of jump will be possible within the next month. I would highly recommend postponing to December.

    I think the best strategy is taking timed tests, timed sections, and blind review.

  • AllezAllez21AllezAllez21 Member Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    1917 karma

    It's probably not possible to go 175+ by September, except for with a good bit of luck, given where you are now.

    I'm not sure if you should postpone. You might improve enough and get lucky and score in the mid-low 170s, and that could be worth it.

    I think you need to focus on LR the most. There's two LR sections so you're getting more bang for your buck than RC. To go 175+ you can only miss ~4 LR questions total at the very very most. That takes true mastery. You need to be able to finish an LR section with at least 5 minutes remaining, if not 7-10. To do that, your fundamentals need to be excellent. For that, I recommend untimed drilling of specific LR question types. Dive as deep as possible, dissect absolutely everything, learn as much as possible. You cannot spend too much time looking at a single question during this drill. It's about learning every detail and mechanism employed in LR. The second thing is to have a skipping strategy down. Basically, don't spend more than ~60 seconds on a question before you skip it and move on. There's a 7Sage webinar on skipping you should watch.

    It just takes a ton of hard work to get to the 175+ range. You've got to be committed.

  • plantbaseddiyaplantbaseddiya Alum Member
    83 karma

    While it is typically hard to break the ~170 into the 175+ range, I do think it is possible. If you're scoring anywhere from -1 to -5 in LR and RC then it seems like you have a pretty strong understanding overall, but need to pinpoint exactly why you're missing questions. Something that helped me dramatically was paying more attention to language in answer choices... It seems so obvious, but it really is most of the time the difference between the 2 answer choices you can easily narrow it down to. On LR/RC questions when you're able to get them down to 2 choices, often skip it and come back. You'll have a fresh perspective and also try to focus on the language of the answer choices. RC is like a scavenger hunt. Spend less time on passages and then 75% of the questions should be in the passage and able to be answered with certainty the other 25% are tone and purpose questions- and to improve on those pay close attention to structure and purpose of each paragraph one by one. Ask yourself what does this paragraph do after you read each paragraph.

    Most people on this forum will give advice based on others experiences but no one knows what you're capable other than you. You are about 1 month away from the exam. Idk if you're studying full time or balancing it with work. But make time for it. Make it your life, and do your best leading up to the September exam. A month is a lot of time and if you can figure out fundamentals behind why you miss questions then tailor your strategy around that- You can do it. Truthfully, if you hold out, sure you'll have more time, but there's also the case of burnout and loss of momentum. Even if you scored a couple points below a 175, that is still an amazing score and would be great to have that in your pocket before deciding to take it again in February.

    Just believe in yourself and do your best, anything is possible! Take all advice with a grain of salt.

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