Strategies When Reviewing Your Tests? Forum

[AVBucks4239]

The most common tip I hear from past LSAT takers is to take as many full length tests as possible and review them thoroughly. I have taken the test twice so far (September 09 and February 10) but have yet to actually do a full length practice test. Instead, I usually find myself doing lots of practice sections (strictly timed) of one type each day. That is probably why I haven't got the scores I wanted.

So, this time around I ordered the 10 most recent LSATs from the LSAC. I plan on doing one every three days all the way until the test. I plan on thoroughly reviewing them the day after, then doing practice on the third day on the section that needs the most help.

For those of you who have scored well and have employed a similar studying tactic, what strategies did you utilize when reviewing your tests? Did you look at the Powerscore books if you were really struggling on a certain question type? Did you simply do a lot of practice on a certain question type you missed? Did you really break down the question and dissect it word-for-word? A combination of all of these?

I have all of the Bibles and the book of LSAT tests from 29-38. I'm just looking for specific tips here because I only have roughly a month left to study and don't have much time to waste.

Thanks in advance,
AVB

[BigA]

I don't think your method is bad, except I'm a little surprised you've taken the LSAT twice and you haven't taken a timed full length PT. I am mixing it up. Practicing mostly section by section or even question by question, with the occasional timed PT.

[legalized]

The most common tip I hear from past LSAT takers is to take as many full length tests as possible and review them thoroughly. I have taken the test twice so far (September 09 and February 10) but have yet to actually do a full length practice test. Instead, I usually find myself doing lots of practice sections (strictly timed) of one type each day. That is probably why I haven't got the scores I wanted.

So, this time around I ordered the 10 most recent LSATs from the LSAC. I plan on doing one every three days all the way until the test. I plan on thoroughly reviewing them the day after, then doing practice on the third day on the section that needs the most help.

For those of you who have scored well and have employed a similar studying tactic, what strategies did you utilize when reviewing your tests? Did you look at the Powerscore books if you were really struggling on a certain question type? Did you simply do a lot of practice on a certain question type you missed? Did you really break down the question and dissect it word-for-word? A combination of all of these?

I have all of the Bibles and the book of LSAT tests from 29-38. I'm just looking for specific tips here because I only have roughly a month left to study and don't have much time to waste.

Thanks in advance,
AVB

The section drills IN the Powerscore Bibles are from real tests, so there shouldn't be a need to waste PTs doing section drills if you went through that book carefully and didn't skimp on reviewing and understanding why you got xyz wrong.

I plan on getting through 30 PTs, timed, by the time June 7 rolls around. I made myself an excel spreadsheet to track how many I am getting wrong on each section in each test, and to track my overall LSAT score and then graph the trend. I am also noting in there what time I took the test, and on the section that tells me how many wrong in each part, I highlight the section that was taken first and the section that was taken last, just in case I start noticing I do worse on certain sections depending on how much work my brain had done before getting to them.

It's simpler than it sounds. I think even just tracking your scores on a handwritten chart and which section you do best and worst on each time will help you figure out where to focus further study as you keep on with the tests. But yeah for me it's straight timed tests from here on out.

[sk8kim]

The section drills in the Bibles are not sufficient. You shouldn't rely solely on those 10 problems at the end of the chapter. I got 95% of the problems in the Bibles correct, and I'm nowhere near there in actuality.

[AVBucks4239]

The section drills in the Bibles are not sufficient. You shouldn't rely solely on those 10 problems at the end of the chapter. I got 95% of the problems in the Bibles correct, and I'm nowhere near there in actuality.

I completely agree. Part of the issue is identifying the stem correctly, which takes time. When you're doing the practice sections at the end of each chapter, you know what the stem is--so you know EXACTLY how to approach the question.

Like you, I answer the questions in the Powerscore books at about a 90% clip. However, come time to do a full length practice section, I make some errors in identifying questions and thus miss way more.