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Hey all,

I wish I could say that I took the practice LSAT test cold for a gauge of my baseline but I cannot. I scored a 147 by the way. Sadly, I've been self-studying off and on for two years now, while juggling full time employment. I actually postponed the LSAT exam date a total of 8 times (racked up $450+ on the renewal fees) due to various reasons, but really, it was because I wasn't scoring high enough to get into the types of schools I wanted to get into. I was recently laid off from my job so it has freed up my time to dedicate towards preparing myself for the LSAT exam; which is a blessing in disguise because I was planning on quitting soon since I have save enough $$$ to pay for the tuition. I have decided that if I prolong this any further, I will never realize my dream of becoming an attorney.

Based on the other posts I've read on this forum, I noticed that the #1 complaint of responders is that they cannot adequately assess the author's "improvement projection question" because the author fails to provide enough information, so I'll try to be a thorough and descriptive as possible. I am willing eat, breathe & sleep the LSAT--basically, I am willing to do whatever it takes to improve my score. I am willing to devote as much time as necessary to study for the LSAT. I have been averaging 4-6 hours of quiet studying time on a daily basis for a month now (ever since I was laid off), but I'd imagine I would be able to up the studying time (8 hrs+) if I wasn't always so demoralized with my progress. I plan on enrolling into a Testmaster's prep LSAT course in March or April. I have been thoroughly reading Powerscores' Logical Reasoning Bible and Powerscores' Analytical Games Bible and taking notes. I definitely plan on applying to law school for 2011, which means that I will be taking the LSAT this year, maybe in June or October depending how ready I am. I would like to be fortunate enough to be accepted into UCLA, USC or UCI. I went to UCLA, have a degree in Sociology, graduated with honors with a GPA of around 3.7. I have always been a pretty decent test taker; most of the time I look forward to test day because I know I have adequately prepared myself to ace it but with the LSAT is a different animal. It is so daunting and the ramifications are egregious if one, unfortunately, bombs. If I do not implement time constraints, I usually get about 68% of all LR questions right. If I time myself, my percentage of answering correctly drops down to 50%. I am able to finish 2 and half games with over 80% accuracy but this drops down to 50% when I have to guess on the rest of 'em. Same with reading comprehension, I get through about 2 and half RC sections with a 75% accuracy but again, this drips significantly when I am forced to guess. I remember seeing one of my friends receiving her LSAT test results via a text message (she scored a 169 and was accepted into Boalt, Berkeley this year). Her face had literally turned white and I said, "You just won the lottery." I figure I will need at least a 165+ but to have a realistic chance of getting into UCLA, a 169+. I do not consider myself particular smart but I am willing to work hard.

My questions:

1) What was your baseline score, what was your test day score? I am inquiring about people with a similar baseline starting score like me, not ppl who scored a 165 and ended up with a 178.
2) How much time lapse between the baseline score and the LSAT score?
3) How did you improve? How many hours a day did you devote to studying? Any tips?
4) Any hope for me?
5) Also, should I enroll into Testmasters right away (March 16th) or wait (summer) until I have prepped myself to keep up with the class?

Thank you so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it.

-LSAT Padawan

actually my first powerscore proctored test I scored 147. I got a 171 on LSAT. You can do it. Study alot and with the focus on why your getting things wrong.

146 to 167 4 months of study

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on my diagnostic, having never seen a LSAT question before and totally having no idea what was on the test, i got exactly a 147.
I took the real thing in december and got a 164. To get this jump, I enrolled in the powerscore virtual course.... also, I was studying on top of all the assigned homework (at the same time as i was taking the course) another 2 hours per day, 7 days a week, for the duration of the course (a little under two months).

The key is to not burn yourself out, but study intensely enough to have all the processes become automatic/grasp key elements of the test.

it's very doable.

Take the earlier class, and don't waste any more material before it starts. There's no point in wallowing in confusion and discouragement any longer than you have to. Get some useful techniques to help you structure your study. Take good notes, do all the HW, and, later on, review every missed question and every question you find difficult. The LG and LR bibles will be good review. Re-do every LG at least once. Do some five times over the course of your study, if that's what it takes to master them. For your HW questions, practice writing out a clear, logical justification for the answer your choose for more difficult LR questions along with a clear justification for eliminating the other four ACs. No guessing or hurrying. With what you're trying to do, rushing through every problem will get you nothing.

Just be sure to print everything you possibly can off of the TM website (supplemental questions and practice tests) before your class ends. Then do all of the supplemental sections and recent PTs toward the end of your self-study, leading up to the test.

I think it would probably be in your best interest to take the Oct test. That will give you time to do every LSAT question released (~6,000), repeat all the games at least once, and to do hundreds of LR problems (TM HW) at a speed that will allow you to get the greatest possible benefit.

Oh, and always make sure you're studying on adequate sleep. Take a couple of days off per week. Take more if you're feeling burned out or in a slump.

In your situation, your goal is doable, but it will require great effort.

Thank you JasonR for your thorough explanation. I will definitely heed your advice. I assume that by enrolling into a full Testmasters' course, I can download most of the LSAT questions ever released? Or is there some other way of purchasing/obtaining this material?

Thank you everyone for your words of encouragement; I appreciate all the feedback, I truly do. It is reassuring to know people have traveled on a similar path as me; walked where I am walking now. Helps to know I am not on an island. I will not quit--I will give it best shot. )

I worked full time and studied/took the LSAT. I found an online course (BP-movie) that I loved and helped me skyrocket my score 23 points. You can do it, but don't "study for a few years" that doesn't help your case. You need to put in 2-3 hrs/day for 3-4 months + about 8 hours on the weekends for drills and practice tests.

LSAT_Padawan wrote:1) What was your baseline score, what was your test day score? I am inquiring about people with a similar baseline starting score like me, not ppl who scored a 165 and ended up with a 178.
2) How much time lapse between the baseline score and the LSAT score?
3) How did you improve? How many hours a day did you devote to studying? Any tips?
4) Any hope for me?
5) Also, should I enroll into Testmasters right away (March 16th) or wait (summer) until I have prepped myself to keep up with the class?

1) 154 (a little higher than your starting, granted) to 176
2) A year and a half, but I actually studied for about two months to bump my score up and for peculiar reasons didn't take the test for over a year; really, about two months
3) Read Cracking the LSAT and then, with that as a general strategy guide, did a lot of practice tests. Quality, not quantity: I only did 10-15 in my original studying (this was back in the days when there were only 40 or so tests available anyway), but I saw my score skyrocket because I rarely made the same mistake twice. I went over the questions extremely carefully, both anything I got wrong and anything I was unsure about at the time (though if I was confident at the time and got it right, I tended not to go over it).
4) Hope, yes. Certainty, no. These 20+ point improvements are atypical. Your likely best-case scenario is low 160's, which puts you right about at the 25th percentile for the schools you're looking at, but since your GPA is good (nearly 75th percentile at some of those schools), you might have a decent shot anyway, especially since some of those schools care about GPA more. It's possible that you'll swing a 25-point improvement and end up with a 172, but you'd need an incredible amount of hard work and a healthy dose of luck. Anyway, look for score improvements in baby steps: first try to get a 155, then worry about the next step.
5) Take your course sooner rather than later.

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I tutored a girl who scored a 148. Trust me, with my help and of course her own dedication, she started scoring in the 160s on practice test. Her 148 was from Dec, however she re-wrote in February. I'm expecting her to score really well on the test.

And all it took was a month of serious preparation.
Don't give up.

My 147 turned into a 163.

I exhausted ALL (and I mean everything) before the June exam. Just so happens the dinos wreaked havoc on my life and I had to cancel. So I re-took alot of the more recent exams and got my score to a 163 in september. Strangely enough my highest PT before june was a 163 so I am pretty happy. Just wish I could have bumped it up more...

145 on diagnostic to 165 in 6 weeks. Took a course, but the most important thing is getting the strategy and just hammering out practice tests. Hope that helps.

lawduder wrote:146 to 167 4 months of study

That's pretty much the same increase in the same time period for me; I studied about 1-2 hours most days.

sounds like you have the time and energy to improve drastically. personally i'd get a tutor, rather than waste money on a class. i personally improved over 25 points (to a 177), but that sort of improvement is not the norm (but then again neither were my study methods). i put in a LOT of time, maybe about 40-50 hours a week of serious - no dicking around - studying. i fucked around with almost every single test taking method out there, but i had the luxury of three months with no job and no rent. it can be done, so long as you have the determination to make it happen.

Baseline (cold):147
Sept 09: 157
Dec 09: 165

It's definitely doable to increase your score by double digits if you put the time in. I took a testmasters prep course starting in July before the Sept test. I didn't take enough prep tests to get my timing down and my score reflected that. After taking a 3 week break until my scores came, I worked on my timing by taking 10-12 prep tests and numerous single sections since I already had the basics down. In my opinion, the taking full 5 section tests (sometimes 6 for increased stamina) is really the key to drastically bumping the score. Just make sure you review the questions you got wrong in their entirety--including why the wrong answers were in fact wrong.

Don't worry about prepping before the class starts--its intended for people who have never seen a single question. If I was to do it over again, I would've enrolled in the March class so that I could have taken the June test in order to have the September test as a backup rather than the December (retaking seriously pushed back my apps).

Also make games your bitch. Practice, practice, practice. This is the easiest section to learn and you shouldn't be doing worse than -2 on each section. For what its worth, I did every single game at least twice and it was by far my favorite section--I treated each one as a little challenge. With this much practice, I was able to finish the December games section with a -1 in 27 minutes.

149 to 171 in two months