LSAT Prep Advice Forum

[maxm2764]

Hello all,
This is my first post and I have a quick question for anyone who is willing to give me any advice. I am registered to take the June LSAT and have been taking a Princeton Review course since February. I have been PTing in the mid to high 150's and want to get my score up into the low to mid 160's. The class has been very helpful up until now but as of last week we have started to basically review. My question is whether I should just keep going to the class and sit through review classes that won't cater to my individual needs, or should I begin to study by myself focusing on the things I need the most work on? The class is from 6-930 on Tuesday's and Thursday's which is a significant block of time where I could be studying more efficiently. Sorry for the long post but please, anyone who has any advice post everything you think would be useful.

Thanks and here's to that 165.

[tomwatts]

Have you somehow hit Unit 21 already? Even a 2-day-a-week class shouldn't be there for another couple of weeks, and nothing before that could properly described as "review...." And even if you did, those units usually have significant timed sections associated with them, so it's not as though you're sitting there listening to someone yammer the whole time, or at least it shouldn't be. Also, there's supposed to be test review with individual meetings associated with the final tests, so there's supposed to be a little bit of time geared towards you specifically, at least, that's geared specifically to you. But then, every teacher teaches a little differently, so who knows.

Anyway, it depends a little on what you're looking for in the next month. Most students find the review in the final four classes helpful for seeing the big picture. It's easy when you look closely at individual question types or game types or whatever to forget how it all fits together. So if you think that you'd benefit from some of that, combined with timed sections and test review, you should for sure go to the last few classes. If you really strongly feel that you need to practice on your own (and don't care about the guarantee stuff), then you could study on your own. You have access to another 20+ tests that you aren't assigned anywhere in the books, so you can always get those and work through those, especially the higher-numbered ones.

I would talk to the instructor, too, to see what his plans are for the rest of the sessions and how they match up to your individual needs.

[maxm2764]

No we're not at 21 yet, I'm pretty sure that we're at 18. The class has been incredibly helpful and has drastically improved my score. I guess this is just coming out of anxiousness as the June LSAT approaches ever so quickly. I'm just unsure of how to efficiently utilize the next month so I can get my score where it needs to be. I've been at a plateau in the 150's for the past month now and I can't seem to budge from there. I know that I can improve my score, I just am unsure of how to do it and if the course will help me do that so quickly. Thanks for your response, it definitely gives me another angle to look at this situation from and will hopefully help ease some of my uneasiness

[lawrookie]

just take it, over stressing makes it worse. Trust me I took it twice and did better when relaxed.

[tomwatts]

No we're not at 21 yet, I'm pretty sure that we're at 18.

Hmm. You'll probably want to be there for 19, because it's a bit more on some of the harder Games/Args (LR), which is probably what you're missing right now. 20 is more on pacing, which might also benefit you, depending on your particular strengths and weaknesses. And people often benefit more than they expect to from 21-24, just because putting it all together can sometimes give a better perspective.

So I'd say to stick with it for a bit longer.

[maxm2764]

Alright I definitely think I will. Thanks for all the advice it is incredibly helpful. Also, do you think that it's possible to bring my score up those 7-8 points within the next month?

[tomwatts]

Also, do you think that it's possible to bring my score up those 7-8 points within the next month?

Yes, though it'll take some careful review. You need to look at your score report and determine where those points might come from: greater accuracy, greater speed, or some combination of both. Then you have to figure out how to get there. But it can be done.