Advice from Retakers Forum

[balzern]

Hey, just got my June test scores back and they were -7 bellow my PT avg...pretty upsetting. I was just wondering if anyone had some successful retake stories to tell - if it is worth it or not and study habits would be helpful. I know there are other threads about when to study retakes but I just wanted some personal stories about who did retake, when, and their results. Thanks.

[T6Hopeful]

I'm actually in the same situation, and I'm very upset with how it turned out.
Not to hijack the thread, but I also wanted to tack on one more question to the OP's: for those of you that have successfully increased your test scores and applied, did you address the disparity in an addendum? I know I'm a little ahead of myself here and that I have to bag the score I want before I worry about it, but nothing out of the ordinary really happened to me: just nerves and some not-so-good last minute advice from a prep class. Now obviously I don't want to write something like, "I cracked under pressure," but I know certain schools (at least Duke comes to mind) say they want to see an addendum before putting weight onto the higher score. Any thoughts?

[3|ink]

Hey, just got my June test scores back and they were -7 bellow my PT avg...pretty upsetting. I was just wondering if anyone had some successful retake stories to tell - if it is worth it or not and study habits would be helpful. I know there are other threads about when to study retakes but I just wanted some personal stories about who did retake, when, and their results. Thanks.

The same thing happened to me in December. I'll let you know after I get my score back.

[apropos]

Yeah, exactly same thing here. I'm sure it's somewhat common. 172 average PT to a 165. Retaking sometime. I'm applying next year. So I have some time. I wonder if anyone has advice on how long to wait. The training is still kinda fresh, but I've also exhausting all but 1 PT from the recent era. Any input would be helpful.

Does the time period between two LSATs matter at all to adcomms at schools who say stuff like "We use the highest score, but we consider the entire testing history of an applicant."?

Congrats to all those who got their desired scores.

[3|ink]

Hey, just got my June test scores back and they were -7 bellow my PT avg...pretty upsetting. I was just wondering if anyone had some successful retake stories to tell - if it is worth it or not and study habits would be helpful. I know there are other threads about when to study retakes but I just wanted some personal stories about who did retake, when, and their results. Thanks.

The same thing happened to me in December. I'll let you know after I get my score back.

I just got my score. It was the same as before. It is also -11 my best. FFS!

[Cavalier]

I was averaging around a 170-172 on practice exams, got a 162 in June 2008, and a 179 in October 2008. I struggled with RC, and while I got to the point where I missed only 3-5 RC questions on practice exams, I missed 10 RC questions on the June exam. The week before the October test, I did a full RC section every morning, which helped tremendously.

I had already mastered the LG and LR sections as well as I could hope to, so over the summer I simply did one game (in eight minutes timed) and two or three sets of five LR questions (in six minutes timed) every week. I retained all of the analytical abilities I had learned without doing more than 30 minutes' worth of work each week. I wish I had more advice to give - I attribute the bulk of my success to what was (in my opinion) an easier RC section in October than anything else. Still, don't give up. I was very tempted to stick with my June score and go to a local Tier 1 school, but I forced myself to pay the $130 to register for the October test the day I got my June score, and things have worked out well for me.

[theavrock]

I went from a 155 June of '09 to 166 June '10. The thing that worked for me to increase my score was to really prepare under test like conditions and make sure I had the sections down before I started doing FL PT's.

I did a modified version of the PP study plan.

Drilled LG's (6), LR (10-15) by type with a passage of RC each night 5 nights a week. Made copies of each game and did them three times a piece. I did this for two months and then moved to full length practice tests. The practice tests were all fresh, so none of the questions I drilled with were from these tests.

When I did my tests I did 5 section tests under strict time conditions. I used the watch that I would use on test day, no iphone or internet clock. If something happened in a PT i just kept going. I did it exactly as I would have to on test day.

Lastly I took the tests in public places. This was hard at first, but really helped to develop my concentration so that nothing that happened to me on test day would throw me off.

[MikeDicta]

Thanks for the advice, Cavalier. I'm at -7 from my PTs as well, but still in a position to go where I know I'll be happy -- here @ the University of Utah, my home.

As one who's going to retake, as opposed to one who has, I can say that mental stamina was a factor. The unscored RC section was first for me, and I was drained by the end.

The key, I would think, is to be able to assess where you fell short, and determine whether significant improvement (not the sort that depends on the test's overall curve/difficulty) is within your abilities or not. Mine, I know, is an issue of stamina -- and sleep. And the consideration I now have to make is whether to take a 9 a.m. test, when my mind's even less awake than at 1 p.m., or...to let it set.

We also have to consider how often we claim our PT scores were constant. In other words, are we counting on an outlier, or are we looking at a more reliable average? I was in the mid-160s consistently -- when I was well rested.

The only question, after all this discussion, is whether you know you can do better.

If so, do it, and use this score as a motivating factor. I certainly am, and I hope each of us whose PT scores were better can replicate them on the real thing on our next try.

[MikeDicta]

Another thing -- there's promise. Meeting a score we expected to be unimpressive is far worse, if law is what you want to do, than is scoring below your practice tests.

To improve on the former would take a miracle. The latter, simple adjustments. And discipline.