Top Law Schools

1. Please describe your change of studying between 1st test to 2nd, etc.?
2. Is it safe to say the nerves are less the second time around?


..I was a victim of a minor freak out in sect 1 and then very small freak outs in sect 2 and 3 before break. I wonder if maybe these nerves will still be there if I re-take, making the re-take pointless.

I took the June test very shortly after returning from my junior year abroad and got a 166. This time around I moved up to a 172! I didn't have the big handicap from the first one, and I also did better thanks to doing more long studying. I would set aside 3 hours at a time and do 4 or 5 sections. Getting used to the fatigue helped me out a lot, probably more than anything.

1. First time I studied, I took TestMasters and didn't follow anything on TLS. Mistake. I deferred December test and took February. Obviously, I took it too late. My cycle was over before it started. Yeah, and I scored a 148.

The second time around, this October 2011, I scored a 163. I self-studied according to the advice on here, especially PithyPike's study guide. I used the PowerScore LR and LG Bibles, used tests 20-40 as test prep material, and tests ~40-63 were used as practice tests. The main component to self-studying was figuring out everything myself. Repetition was key, especially for LG and RC. I studied 40 hours a week for 2 and a half months. 15 points higher. Can't beat it, especially when the average jump is 3.

If you have any questions, message me.

Took June 2011 (cancelled) and Oct 2011 (170+)

1. Please describe your change of studying between 1st test to 2nd, etc.?
The second time around I did much more focussed practice for LR and LG and especially drilled LGs--I must have done every game ever printed at least 4-5 times, organized almost completely by type. Everytime I repeated a game, I tried to finish it faster than the last. I think this was the reason why I was able to score fairly well on October 2011's LG section even though the bike game took way too much time--I was able to get only -1 on the book game despite having only about 4 minutes left because I was so used to doing games very quickly.

For LR, I also did a lot more focussed drilling by question type as opposed to mostly entire sections.

2. Is it safe to say the nerves are less the second time around?
Yes.

obviously it depends a lot from person to person, but for me nerves were a huge part of it. i studied quite a bit before taking the june test and got a 166 (which was well below my PT average). i didn't study at all between june and october, aside from about 2-3 hours the week before the test, and this time i got a 174 (right about my PT average). i had finished all of my studying in june, but was reallllly burnt out the last two weeks before the test. i don't normally get nervous during tests, and i didn't even feel that nervous at the time, but there is just SO much pressure on the LSAT. the second time around, i was more aware of how nervous i was, but at the same time i knew i had a pretty solid score already and had come to terms with it potentially being my best score. i just wasn't nearly as pressured (especially as i wasn't studying hours a day this time around) and i think that's pretty much the entire 8 point difference for me.

again, that's just me. you'll need to figure out what helps you get in a better mindset for the test. sorry you have to re-take! i know it sucks, but i can tell you that a good bump in score makes it all more than worth it! good luck!

first time: October of 2010, took it after 3 weeks with a Kaplan book. Yeah, it was like 2 pts (kaplan made) and some review over what the test would be like. Gotta a 155.

second time: June 2011, studied for about 3 months with powerscore books. Started getting basics down, did like 7-8 pts...but I wasn't ready and got a 158.

third time: Took a month off following lsatin june. Started studying in July and studied at a chill pace all the way up until test day. The last 5 weeks or so was all pts. The last two weeks my average was over 170...but on the big day I got a 164. Good score, but I was expecting better. Still, I consider myself a successful retaker

1st time: 162. I took a Kaplan course, including 4 practice tests. I really did little outside of the course but went from a 152 diagnostic to my 162. I panicked like crazy for the test. I thought I was going to throw up.

2nd time: 166. I worked my way through the Powerscore LR book and the Manhattan RC book and took about 10 practice tests. Surprisingly, I was not nervous before the test this time. However, once I actually had to take the test, I was still nervous. Truthfully, I think every actual administration will be scary. I knew I had a good score to fall back on but then I started worrying about if I wasted a few months of my life, how embarrassing scoring lower would be, wasting the money for a meaningless score, etc... It was still brutal, but I think the nerves are much easier to control the second time around.

First time I got a 166 studying for about a month with the Kaplan "Advanced LSAT" book. After finding TLS and realizing just how important the LSAT is (and how bad the job market is) I re-took in June and scored a 178 after taking a Testmasters class.

I wasn't really nervous for either test, but if anything there was more anxiety for the second one because of the amount of time I had put into preparing. Blissful ignorance is one way to calm the nerves.

I took the LSAT this June and got a 162 (had been averaging around 165). I was stupidly enrolled in the testmasters.com online course, and realized in May that they were scamming me. I had already committed so much time, though, so I decided to take it anyway.

This time around, I took the real testmasters online course and got a 169. I'd recommend this course if you have the money - it really helped.

I think the biggest difference was nerves, though - I had much less the second time around.

1st: 163. Below PT average, below diagnostic. I had done most self study, maybe 6 tests. Had a rough day including misreading of crucial LG rule.

2nd: 173. Above PT average. More self study, ways less nerves. I had resigned myself to a 163 but thought, why not see what happens. Boy am I glad I did.
Retake is the name of the game.

First: 164, on PT average. Powerscore materials. Pithypike.

Second: 168, on PT average. Manhattan materials. Less intensive Pithypike.

I definitely had less nerves second time round.

Manhattan is great for their study guides after you learn with basics with Powerscore (i.e. ideal for re-takers).

First time: 164 testmasters june 2011

Second 176 self study oct 2011

For me it was about taking PTs. I did a lot of questions through testmasters along with a lot of drills and definitely learned the logical principles but I hadn't learned the test yet. I really think you just have to keep doing it until you feel good about it. I was telling a friend today there was never a moment where a light bulb went off in my head and I knew I was going to do well. I just did it over and over and over again until gradually I couldnt help but do well.

Take full sections instead of individual questions.

Went from 157 to 169.

1. No, I just kept doing what I was doing (full, 5 section PTs). Repetition helped a lot.
2. EASILY safe to say nerves are less of an issue the second time around, or at least were for me.

157 - took it cold
160 - messed up bubble halfway through games, cost me 9 points
177 - didn't make any stupid mistakes

I took it in June and got a 160, mostly due to nerves and a not so hot RC. I used the same study techniques, but did A LOT of practice LR and RC sections. It helped a lot with timing. Plus, whenever I took a practice test I went to a library or somewhere unfamiliar which helped a lot for test day.

And the nerves were way less the second time! Good luck.

ucbkenn wrote:I took it in June and got a 160, mostly due to nerves and a not so hot RC. I used the same study techniques, but did A LOT of practice LR and RC sections. It helped a lot with timing. Plus, whenever I took a practice test I went to a library or somewhere unfamiliar which helped a lot for test day.

And the nerves were way less the second time! Good luck.

Oh and the second time around I got a 172. Big jump. It can happen. You just have to seize the moment on test day.

This thread makes me hopeful that my work will pay off.

bump

I've taken it 3 times.

Test 1, Sept 09 - 168.

This was my cold diagnostic score, and was a combination of me not studying enough (I did MAYBE 8 PTs, barely showed up to my TM class, didnt do the HW. I was lucky that I didn't know that I should be nervous about the LSAT, so I didn't experience a hit on my score based on nerves.

Test 2, June 11 - 169

Then I found TLS and realized that I was a dumb fuck for not taking it seriously, and in January of this year began studying in earnest. I did PTs 29-63 and went through all of both powerscore bibles (LR/LG) and the RC Bible. I was PT-ing at ~173. As you can see, the second time around it doesn't seem like I worked at all: that's because the same thing happened to me that happened to you: I choked. Section 1 was a -7 on a section I usually go -1 to -3 on.

Test 3, Oct 11 - 176

Since I knew I was capable of hitting the 170s (my range while testing for june was 170-177), I focused much less on PTing and drilling this time around, doing ~ 6 PTs and drilling for RC and LR a liiittle bit (I mean like...maybe a week lol). I concentrated MUCH more on calming myself and trying to take the pressure off. Things I would recommend:

• 1.) Dont push yourself to OD on PTs/drills, unless you're not PTing at where you want to be already. When you DO PT or drill, make sure you are making the most of it. Ask yourself: Why is TCR correct? Why am I wrong? What did LSAC do to trick me (if you weren't tricked, find the tricky response and ask yourself why it's tricky)? What tests can I think of to avoid being tricked again in the future (ie: good/bad test for parallel reasoning, yes/no test for 'speakers agree on' questions)
  
  2.) Do PTs on Saturdays at exactly the time, preferably exactly the same circumstances. I helped proctor some practice tests for a prep company the few weeks prior to the October test, which meant I had to wake up at 7, get ready, make sure I had the materials and my own PT (they let me PT while I proctored)
  
  3.) Time yourself at 30 minute sections for all the sections. This takes the pressure off in regards to time. Nerves will inevitably make you slower on test day--it's nice to go into the test knowing that even if you're 5 minutes slower than usual, you'll still finish on time. By the Oct test I was finishing most sections at about 28 minutes.
  
  4.) EXERCISE. Especially the day of the test. The endorphins really help to cut the stress/nerves.

That's what worked for me. I saw a jump from 168/169 to 176 and only did about 5-6 PTs and a few hours of drilling. AND before June my PT average was 173 so I actually scored above my PT average.

First time was June 2011. I studied by doing like 5 minute bursts of problems until I got bored or a butterfly flew by. I took only 1 PT, got a 165, and assumed I was golden because that was about my goal anyway. Ended up getting a 157, and I attribute a lot of that to poor strategy. I did not know when to cut my losses on a game or LR question, or how to pace well enough through the RC, and ended up sacrificing a lot of points in those sections to easier problems.

For Oct 2011, I started studying exactly 1 month out and took 4 five section PTs, scoring a 161, 10 days later a 159, a week later a 164, and then 1 week before the actual test a 161. In between PTs, I studied my ass off. 7-8 hours a day, doing sections at a time. Some days I would do 4 LG sections at a time. I would do a full PT worth of problems, but isolated to section types usually. THE BEST USE OF TIME IS IN THE REVIEW. Catalog your mistakes. Especially with LR. Games get easier once you recognize patterns. RC I always sucked at, but somehow pulled it together on the real thing, and got a 167, my highest mark to that point.

I basically did not study all that much for my retakes and improved significantly because I already knew it, just had some unforeseen things happen during test day. I was PTing 172~ before my first exam, but scored a 166. Had used up every PT known to man. When I "restudied," (basically I just reviewed a few things, redid about 4 PTs) I had no new material so I used old stuff and ended up with 178~180 scores, but those were obviously contaminated. But I still ended up doing well.

And yes, I was less nervous the second time. But I was also more nervous the first time because I knew I was not in my best physical condition. When you feel like you're screwed because you're sick, you tend to freak out a little more. But if you did score significantly below your PT score, I'd give it another go and go in confident.

Here's a thread I wrote about my (two) retakes: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=140092

I'll be happy to answer any other questions if I can

1st time: 164, one point above my diagnostic, much lower than my PT average
2nd time: 172, right at my PT average

I took a blueprint class before my first LSAT, was PTing in the low 170s and was really confident going into it. maybe a little over-confident. made stupid mistakes, and when it came down to it, I ignored everything I'd learned and ended up answering questions based on my gut instinct (horrible thing to do).

the second time, I used the same study materials but because I had studied abroad between the two tests, had to collapse my studying into a one month time frame. honestly, the only difference was my mentality. I now knew what to do when I hit a freak-out moment on the test, and I began to attack all the questions with the same cold, logical approach. I thought if I studied well and did well on practice tests, I would do fine come test day--but freaking out happens whether you believe you're vulnerable to it or not, and once it comes around it can affect how you approach all subsequent questions. I found that having the right attitude about it (not ignoring the reality of freakouts, but accepting it and having a game plan) made the difference for me.

good luck to all re-takers!

163 December 2010 to 171 October 2011

Didn't use TLS for either. I'm just procrastinating on applications now. Biggest difference for me was that I only focused on games on the first one (after having respectable diagnostics) and then studied all of it second go around. December 10 was a B-I-T-C-H. The test was super hard, so my confidence got shredded after the first section, and I never really recovered. October 11 seemed like a regular test to me, but the curve indicated that it was a little harder than normal.

Concerning nerves, the second test did help, but what helped even more was that I basically approached it with an attitude that I was not taking that fucking test again, no matter what I got. Letting go like that helps tremendously. Walk in, do your thing, walk out. You also have to be realistic about your scores. You're not going to magically reproduce that fluke high PT. keep track during the test of what you do and do not know, so that you leave with an idea of your score.

And most importantly, remember that after you matriculate, it doesn't matter. At all. I go to court almost every day in my current job as a probation officer, and I've not yet heard attorneys discussing the LSAT, or where they went to school, for that matter.