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Back in December 2011, I wasnt relatively sure that I wanted to go on to law school, however, I obtained two seperate LSAT books during that time period. Now, I am a senior economics major and will graduate May 2013, and wish to attend law school. I am interested in taking the LSAT either October or December 2013, so at any rate, I have 7-9 months to prepare for the exam.

2 weeks ago, I had no familiarity with the types of questions on the LSAT and never was presented with that type of material before. I did my first diagnostic timed and the book was from 2001, titled, "Master the LSAT, includes an actual LSAT exam", I took the exam timed and scored a 140, which I realize is quite low. I tried my very best during the timed exam. Naturally, two days later, not satisfied with my score, I opened the other book that I had: "LSAT 2011. The Princeton Review", I took my timed test in that book and scored a 158.

This has lead me to a great deal of confusion, because it is very rare that in two days time, someone could score a 140 and then a 158 on exams in two seperate books. The exam book I scored the highest (158) "LSAT 2011, Princeton Review", the questions made sense to me and were quite straight forward, whereas, the book from 2001, Master the LSAT, was very confusing.

For anyone that has taken the LSAT, are the questions in the Princeton Review, similar or like the questions on the actual LSAT, or does that book contain questions simpler than on the actual LSAT? and because I have two different scores from 2 exams in 2 different books which should I count as my first diagnostic?

I apologize for the lengthy question.

sunflower2003 wrote:Back in December 2011, I wasnt relatively sure that I wanted to go on to law school, however, I obtained two seperate LSAT books during that time period. Now, I am a senior economics major and will graduate May 2013, and wish to attend law school. I am interested in taking the LSAT either October or December 2013, so at any rate, I have 7-9 months to prepare for the exam.

2 weeks ago, I had no familiarity with the types of questions on the LSAT and never was presented with that type of material before. I did my first diagnostic timed and the book was from 2001, titled, "Master the LSAT, includes an actual LSAT exam", I took the exam timed and scored a 140, which I realize is quite low. I tried my very best during the timed exam. Naturally, two days later, not satisfied with my score, I opened the other book that I had: "LSAT 2011. The Princeton Review", I took my timed test in that book and scored a 158.

This has lead me to a great deal of confusion, because it is very rare that in two days time, someone could score a 140 and then a 158 on exams in two seperate books. The exam book I scored the highest (158) "LSAT 2011, Princeton Review", the questions made sense to me and were quite straight forward, whereas, the book from 2001, Master the LSAT, was very confusing.

For anyone that has taken the LSAT, are the questions in the Princeton Review, similar or like the questions on the actual LSAT, or does that book contain questions simpler than on the actual LSAT? and because I have two different scores from 2 exams in 2 different books which should I count as my first diagnostic?

I apologize for the lengthy question.

Take a real test

That early on, there could just be more variation because you depend more on luck than really having mastered the test. Also, only the first one would be a true "cold" diagnostic, because by the 2nd test you are by definition more familiar with it.

I also don't know if either of those are authentic LSAT tests...if you want to triple-check you can take the free one from 1997 (I believe?) that is available on LSAC.org.

In any case, large improvements are possible, and a cold diagnostic is only a jumping-off place. People improve 2 points or 30 points or anywhere in between. Find Pithypike's guide to LSAT prep here on TLS.

http://blueprintprep.com/free-lsat-help

Head there, download the real, actual Free LSAT, take it, and you can view question explanations for each question on our site.

I'm not sure if those books used authentic tests, but I know 100% the one up on our site is authentic. It'll give you a better idea of where you're at.