How hard to study for a retake? Forum

[iwanta170]

Still deciding whether or not to cancel my score. I think I got somewhere between 158-165, but I was testing consistently at 167-171 so I'm kind of disappointed.

If I retake this thing, how hard do I need to study? Can people retaking the LSAT ace it if they don't put much work in the second time around?

What I'm asking is..do these skills that we've acquired over the past few months stick with us or do we have to re-begin the whole study process?

I thought maybe a cold turkey re-take would mean no stress or nerves, both of which hurt me today

[3|ink]

Hard? No. Sad? Yes.

This was my retake. It was pretty miserable.

[lostjake]

There is no point in cancelling anymore, LSAC does not average scores and the school you're applying to doesn't either so you mise well wait to see your score.

FWIW I scored a 171 on the test after studying for 3 months straight, didn't study a lick for 4 months, took a practice test yesterday and scored a 173.

[LSAT Blog]

The skills will stick with you, especially if you keep practicing, but if you fell that much from your PT scores, you need to figure out why so you can prevent that sort of drop from happening again.

You may not have to put in AS much work, but you'll probably still have to put in a good deal of work.

Like many things in life, you get out what you put in.

-Steve

[iwanta170]

There is no point in cancelling anymore, LSAC does not average scores and the school you're applying to doesn't either so you mise well wait to see your score.

FWIW I scored a 171 on the test after studying for 3 months straight, didn't study a lick for 4 months, took a practice test yesterday and scored a 173.

But don't most of the top schools average them?

[iwanta170]

The skills will stick with you, especially if you keep practicing, but if you fell that much from your PT scores, you need to figure out why so you can prevent that sort of drop from happening again.

You may not have to put in AS much work, but you'll probably still have to put in a good deal of work.

Like many things in life, you get out what you put in.

-Steve

The proctor gave a 5 minute warning when there were 10 minutes remaining. That messed me up!

[lostjake]

No, not at all, unless you're talking about HYSB. If you cancel its a ding against the number of times you can take it so seriously you mise well take the score.

Also I'm not sure why steve always feels the need to sign his name at the end of his posts, and as someone who is monetarily involved in selling a product his advice should be heeded with a grain of salt, whether good or bad.

[LSAT Blog]

Here's a list of schools and their policies on averaging:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=107648

***

That sucks - sorry to hear it.

Maybe have a friend proctor you for practice exams and purposely give you 5-minute warnings at random intervals...

***

I don't always sign my name. Just sometimes. I'll try to do it less often if it really bothers people. Just trying to be friendly.

I agree that you should always be skeptical of what you read (esp. online) and think about people's motives.

[lostjake]

You sir are a grade A troll handler. You're cool in my book, although I was skeptical about the grouped by passage RC books. Do you really think those are a good buy? Do you think the RC has changed since test 20+ or so? Do you think it would be a better buy for people to just buy prep tests?

[AVBucks4239]

This was my third time taking it. I studied a TON before each time I took the first two (25+ hours per week), but only studied for about 6-10 hours per week this time. I can say without hesitation that this will be my best score.

[LSAT Blog]

You sir are a grade A troll handler. You're cool in my book, although I was skeptical about the grouped by passage RC books. Do you really think those are a good buy? Do you think the RC has changed since test 20+ or so? Do you think it would be a better buy for people to just buy prep tests?

Haha thanks.

The grouped by passage type book is worthwhile if you want to quickly and easily work through a bunch of passages by type from the oldest PrepTests. This book certainly isn't for everyone. Most people won't have time to do anything at all from PTs 1-20, let alone the reading comp (the least popular section to study for).

Like all LSAT sections, Reading Comp has changed since the earliest PTs.

The biggest Reading Comp change has been starting in the early 50s, when it got a lot harder.

However, if you're a hardcore studier and want to do just about every released LSAT Q ever, it can save you a good amount of trouble so you won't have to compile and organize everything yourself.

I like that the grouped by type book organize the passages from PrepTests 1-20 into categories more nuanced than the simple, yet common, "natural science, social science, humanities, and law" breakdown. This helps people who have trouble with, say, economics-related passages.

There's no question that you can get PrepTests 1-20 cheaper on your own (some of these books you can get for just a couple bucks):

PTs 7, 9-16, and 18 are in 10 Actual
PTs 2, 4, and 5 are in TriplePrep 1 (out-of-print - cheap in the used-and-new section on Amazon)
PTs 3, 6, and 7 are in TriplePrep 2 (out-of-print - cheap in the used-and-new section on Amazon)
PTs 1 and 8 are in the Kaplan Endurance coursebook (not sold retail, but cheap in the used-and-new section on Amazon)

PT17 is the only one from 1-20 that's pretty difficult to get as a complete exam in book form.


The grouped by type books are easier to work with than a bunch of separate books that you'd have to organize by type yourself (unless you wanted to take them as full PTs for some reason).

However, if you have more time than money, you could always just order the books of PTs and organize them yourself.

[iwanta170]

Soooo if I'm trying to go to a top law school like UVa you're still saying I shouldn't cancel?

[lostjake]

I've heard stories about people getting a good score after really really really thinking about canceling. UVA is notorious for ED splitters, which means they're a little more prone to gaming the rankings, which means they probably won't average your score at all. Plus if you're a resident you'll have even less problems getting in. So really you should be asking yourself if you're willing to throw away a good score on the chance that a school will average?

+1 to Steve's advice.