Dramatic score increases Forum

[BasketCaseBrief]

Did you score more than 11 points higher on your most recent LSAT than before? What changes, if any, did you make in your study/practice routine? Courses? Books? Videos? Flash cards? What worked?

Particularly looking for responses from those who retook from ~150 to score the second time into the 160's and up.

[mrm2083]

I scored exactly 11 points higher on my dec. test than my september test (171-160). I was consstently PTing around 169 and then bombed my sept test. I decided to not study (other than taking one pt the week before) and just relax for the dec test, I went in calm and ready and busted much higher than expected. Moral of the story is, relax and try to at least pretend it isn't the most important thing in the world.

[madcherrylimas]

I scored 13 points higher, 157 to 170.

Second time around, I learned;
1. Eat protein the morning of. It actually makes a difference.
2. Don't study at all the day before... go do something relaxing and fun instead.
3. Take some kind of medication if you need to, but make sure you sleep the night before.
4. Go through a rehearsal of your test day -- I went to my testing center in California the week of the test, found the building, and sat down and did a practice test and was a little jittery with nerves, but the day of the test it was all out of my system.
5. Meditate every morning of the last week.

[bigmac]

So I'm wondering.. I took a full practice test yesterday, scored a 152. I've been studying for about a month off-and-on. From anyone's experience out there, is it possible to bump that score up into the mid-160s by the time the FEB test comes around? I decided around Thanksgiving I wanted to go law school, get out of my current career path and really would rather not wait until the next cycle to try and apply.

Is that a good idea, will a crash weekend prep course help me raise it high enough? Or am I really just better off waiting until the summer or fall tests? Thanks

[madcherrylimas]

It's possible to do it in the month or so you have left. Study a lot and see what happens. I would recommend doing a full prep class, if only for all the practice you get. But, if a weekend class offers you all the materials you need to do a lot of practice, and you have the discipline to carry it out, then go for it.

That said, I think most people only go up by about 8 points. Certainly, that seemed to be the expectation my LSAT teacher had, and what most of my classmates seemed to do.

[ze2151]

12 point increase here (164-->176) i'm probably "outing" myself to any lurking adcomms, but it's alright. the first time i took it, i hadn't studied very much. the second time, i was very motivated for personal (family) reasons, and studied for a long time. no tricks, no magic. no luck either. study your tail off, that's all.

[soullogical]

Did you score more than 11 points higher on your most recent LSAT than before? What changes, if any, did you make in your study/practice routine? Courses? Books? Videos? Flash cards? What worked?

Particularly looking for responses from those who retook from ~150 to score the second time into the 160's and up.

I went from 149 to 161. I took as many practice tests that I could get my hands on and also bought the Powerscore LRB and LGB, all the LSAT "10 actual LSAT" books and the Superprep book as well. Threw away my all Princeton Review material, the explainations are too vague. "Out of Scope" as a explaination didn't cut it. I also set up a very strict study schedule and stuck to it.

[sahmad]

i took a Kaplan course, and i studied the LG bibles and LR bibles, but im having a lot of trouble increasing my score, especially in the LR sections, what is the BEST way of getting better at it.

And also is Group Study effective.

[dgb87]

I scored 156 the first time around and got a 168 the second...I actually did nothing to study or help myself other than convince myself I didn't want to go to Law School so I was super relaxed during the second test and it felt like all the pressure was off. Then as soon as I'd taken the test I allowed myself to want to go to law school again.

I'm not really telling you to do this, it's actually probably a bad idea for most people but it worked for me. Also, the first time around I had taken a Kaplan course, and I was scoring in the high 160's on my pt's. My 156 was just a result of extreme stress and test anxiety. I found the second test much easier and I was way more relaxed which helped a ton!

[sahmad]

Thanks appreciate that....but do u have any advice on how to better tackle assumption questions, because those confuse me a lot, and i always so many of them, which obviously brings the score down.

[Relientkate]

Thanks appreciate that....but do u have any advice on how to better tackle assumption questions, because those confuse me a lot, and i always so many of them, which obviously brings the score down.

If you're having trouble with assumption questions, I recommend the Logical Reasoning Bible. Someone else can probably explain this much more eloquently, but remember that in assumption questions, the correct answer must be a choice that the author absolutely relies on, and is committed to. I'd definitely check out the LR Bible.