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Taking LSAT cold

Bob LoblawBob Loblaw Member
in General 108 karma

Is there any advantage/ disadvantage to taking the LSAT cold? I signed up for a free proctored LSAT on October 1, after which I promised I would begin CC prep for June 2018 LSAT.

The proctored exam will be a choice of either June 2007 or Prep Test 68.

I don't want to waste a PT. However, if it will be helpful to take the test cold in order to glean a sense of difficulty or insight into the test structure and environment, etc., then I'm all for it. Any advice from people who decided to take it cold or opted out?

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Comments

  • TheMikeyTheMikey Alum Member
    edited September 2017 4196 karma

    I have a love/hate relationship with cold diagnostic tests.. lol.. I'm weird..

    I've always thought that taking it cold was pointless, but can have its advantages for a few people.

    I think it's pointless because even though it is done to get a sense of where you stand with the test material, you haven't studied for it at all so the score isn't going to do anything for most people besides tell you that you should study, which is obvious.

    I do however, think that a cold test can be useful for people who end up scoring very high on it as a diagnostic. I think this because it will let those people who score high know exactly what they need to do, or don't need to do to get a score they want. All in all, I personally believe the majority of people will not be scoring very high on their diagnostic, which is why I believe a diagnostic test is for the most part pointless because your score will only be telling you that you more than likely just need to study.

    but this is very subjective because you don't know whether you will do well on it or not in order for a cold test to benefit you unless you take it. idk, maybe others can weigh in on this but I vote no to the diagnostic.

    I got like a low 140's score on my diagnostic and it in no way told me anything besides the obvious that I needed to study. On the other hand, I know someone who got a 164 diagnostic with most wrong being from games and knew from there that their biggest weakness was logic games. So like I said, pretty subjective but eh..

    e: sorry for the long ass post, but I couldn't help myself hahaha

  • OlamHafuchOlamHafuch Alum Member
    2326 karma

    Take the June 07. Don't burn 68.

  • OlamHafuchOlamHafuch Alum Member
    2326 karma

    It's a good concrete way of measuring your progress. Otherwise, you won't really know if the path you're following is helping you.

  • Bob LoblawBob Loblaw Member
    108 karma

    @TheMikey Don't apologize for the long ass post. It was very insightful, thank you!

  • Bob LoblawBob Loblaw Member
    108 karma

    @uhinberg Thanks for the tip, will definitely go for the June 07 test!

  • Seeking PerfectionSeeking Perfection Alum Member
    4423 karma

    I would recommend it, but don't quite take it cold. At the very least familiarize yourself with logic games using some of the earliest games first. The logic games section is different enough that if you take it totally cold the strangeness of the section compared to normal standardized tests might throw you off rather than just accurately testing your starting ability.

    The other two sections are close enough to conventional standardized tests that if you are like me you can get an accurate sense of your initial ability almost completely blind.

    After that you just have to develop your abilities and it will be nice to see and feel the improvement from that initial diagnistic as you study.

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