Need advice for third retake (3.95 GPA, 165 LSAT) Forum

[pizzagoblin]

Hey, all!

I listened to the TLS gods and delayed my application cycle when I scored a 165 so as to utilize my high GPA. Unfortunately, I choked on my second retake in December (damn LG) and ended up having to cancel that score. Now I am signed up for June and am aiming to consistently score 173 and above on my practice tests for preparation. (Scored a 170 this morning; still have some work to do.)

My question is this: Being that I have already been preparing for this dang test for months and have utilized numerous study materials, what are the most efficient and effective ways to bolster my score and get those few extra questions right? What techniques did you utilize to get over the 170 hump and stay there? I seem to be right on the cusp of this accomplishment but always miss a few too many questions.

Thank you for any and all advice!

[flawedargument]

A few quick thoughts because I'm on the run...

1. Missing 0 or 1 in games is crucial. Keep playing games until you get there. Replay games that give you trouble or slow you down with an eye toward figuring out how you could've found more inferences from the beginning, how you could have been more efficient (limited options, etc.), how you could have minimized errors.

2. Tally the LR questions you miss by type, including by sub-type (for example: necessary vs. sufficient assumptions is the most commonly missed distinction). Practice LR questions in mass, prioritized according to the types you miss most.

3. Take 3 proctored, 5-section practice tests each week on some set schedule (i.e., tests M W Fri, review and practice on Tu, Th, Sat, take a day off on Sun).

4. Don't over-study. Burnout is real. It will make your scores plummet or, at the very least, plateau.

5. You should score 175-76+ on most of your practice exams to feel truly comfortable going into the real thing. You only have one retake left. You have a stellar UGPA. Do NOT waste the opportunity to go to HYS. Wait to retake until you are comfortably above 170. REMEMBER: People often score up to 6 points lower on test day than they do on PTs.

Best of luck.

[Blueprint Mithun]

Hey, all!

I listened to the TLS gods and delayed my application cycle when I scored a 165 so as to utilize my high GPA. Unfortunately, I choked on my second retake in December (damn LG) and ended up having to cancel that score. Now I am signed up for June and am aiming to consistently score 173 and above on my practice tests for preparation. (Scored a 170 this morning; still have some work to do.)

My question is this: Being that I have already been preparing for this dang test for months and have utilized numerous study materials, what are the most efficient and effective ways to bolster my score and get those few extra questions right? What techniques did you utilize to get over the 170 hump and stay there? I seem to be right on the cusp of this accomplishment but always miss a few too many questions.

Thank you for any and all advice!

Continue to try and isolate your weaknesses and work on improving them. Count how many of each LR question type you got wrong, and drill the types that showed up the most often.

Careful review is absolutely key at this stage. Don't go over just the questions you got wrong, but any that gave you trouble at all. At Blueprint, we encourage students to be thorough when reviewing tests. Go through each answer choice and make sure you can articulate why each of the wrong answers is incorrect.

Take at least a couple of fully timed, 5 section PTs per week. Mix up the type of section you use as the experimental section. It's important to build and maintain your endurance on the test. You also want to be totally comfortable with finishing in time. Be careful not to rush the earlier, easier LR questions. You should be working on them at a faster pace than the later questions, but not at the cost of accuracy. You don't want to give up easy points.

[pizzagoblin]

Thanks for all the advice, guys! Really helped.

Decided to update the post with my progress in case it could help anyone:

Been consistently scoring in the mid-170s the past few weeks, with the highest being a 177 and the lowest being a 171. Before studying this round, I had only broken 170 once, so I am pleased with these results. Like the first guy who responded to my post, I realized how necessary it is to miss at most one on LG. So I've been drilling games like crazy, focusing on older tests for those really strange set ups. The RC PowerScore Bible was extremely helpful with picking apart what to focus on in that section. Although I usually miss more on the two LR sections, RC is my shakiest portion of the test, so I will soon be drilling this. As for LR, I've taken the above advice to discover what question type is my weakest (which are randomly Must Be True questions). I'll start drilling these like crazy to turn a weakness into a strength.

As for practice tests, I take two a week (all I can manage while working full time). On a weekday, I take a four-section test with reduced time. Five-section, normalized tests are for the weekends. I'm starting to run out of tests, so I'm saving the newest ones for practice right before June and am redoing ones I did months ago. On those I see around a 17-point increase.

Hope this can help someone out there who is in the same situation as me. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions! Study on, friends.