Realistic? Forum

[whymeohgodno]

I have around a 3.78-3.79 gpa with my senior semester coming up.

I have weak softs.

I'm Asian (probably hurts me?).

I scored a 160 on my diagnostic cold.

It's been a month and maybe a week or two and I've gotten a 167 and a 165 on my two practice tests after my diagnostic.

I've improved a lot on my logic games, I've improved a bit on my LR, and I've improved none at reading comprehension.

I've been studying maybe 1-2 hours a day. Just doing questions and reading explanations.

I don't have much if any trouble on LR on timing. But I do have problem on strengthen/weaken problems which tend to be where I get the most questions wrong.

I don't know how I can improve. Should I just keep practicing more?

On LG, I'm stressed for time a bit. Depending on the games I can finish 1-2 minutes early, or 2-4 minutes late.

I have the most trouble with hybrid selection games where the diagrams aren't as clear and I spend a lot of time thinking in my head through the possibilities instead of diagramming it.



My goal is an acceptance to a t14 school.

I'm realistic and thinking that the only ones I have a real shot at is cornell.

What would I need to improve to make me get in here safely?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[gdane]

These threads get annoying after a while. Why? Because at lease 5 of these pop up every week and its always the same "I scored low/not good enough on the LSAT. Will I be ok?". I guess people want specific reassurance because their case is special.

Whyme: You have good numbers. Softs mean nothing. Your 165 and 167 on your PT's are good scores and if you prepare and work hard, you'll do very well on the LSAT. With your GPA a 170 would give you a good shot at a lot of the T14 schools. Just play around with Lawschoolpredictor.

Good luck!

[Teoeo]

These threads get annoying after a while. Why? Because at lease 5 of these pop up every week and its always the same "I scored low/not good enough on the LSAT. Will I be ok?". I guess people want specific reassurance because their case is special.

Whyme: You have good numbers. Softs mean nothing. Your 165 and 167 on your PT's are good scores and if you prepare and work hard, you'll do very well on the LSAT. With your GPA a 170 would give you a good shot at a lot of the T14 schools. Just play around with Lawschoolpredictor.

Good luck!

Credited, with a 170 you would break the T10 for SURE

[pugp]

GPA is ok, but...Sorry dude, if you only started at a 160, I dunno. Maybe you can improve enough for T14, but prepare yourself to only get accepted into T30-T20.

[Anaconda]

GPA is ok, but...Sorry dude, if you only started at a 160, I dunno. Maybe you can improve enough for T14, but prepare yourself to only get accepted into T30-T20.

This person doesn't know what he's talking about.

You'll probably hit 170+ soon if you keep studying.

[vespertiliovir]

Do a lot more PTs, that's probably your best bet for improvement at this point.

[kazu]

GPA is ok, but...Sorry dude, if you only started at a 160, I dunno. Maybe you can improve enough for T14, but prepare yourself to only get accepted into T30-T20.

I wasn't going to reply b/c identical threads in multiple forums really annoys me for some reason, but I had to after seeing pugp's reply.

Diagnostic 160 is better than a lot of people get. OP, you have plenty of time until the October LSATs, and if you work at it you will be able to improve your score a significant amount. Use the search function. See how other people prep. Read Pithypike's guide. It seems like you know your weak spots, so try focusing on those and figuring out where exactly your logic process goes wrong. Also, when reviewing, personally I found that figuring out where I went wrong myself worked far better than reading someone else's explanations. Especially since a lot of prep test company's explanations aren't that good.

I could go on and on but everything I would say is something that you'd be able to find (relatively easily) on the LSAT prep forum. In short, you'll have a solid chance at T14 if you get 170+, the higher the score the better. And with enough studying you will be able to get that score. Read around the Prep forum for advice - there's plenty of it. Right now I think you need to figure out a concrete study schedule instead of just going about it aimlessly (at least that's what it seems like)

[whymeohgodno]

Thanks guys. I'll not post multiple threads next time. Not really up to date on forum etiquette.

The advice about not reading too much into other people's explanation really seems to be something that could help me.

But then I find myself doubting whether my thought process is correct when it seems different from the through process used in the company answer key.

[kazu]

Thanks guys. I'll not post multiple threads next time. Not really up to date on forum etiquette.

The advice about not reading too much into other people's explanation really seems to be something that could help me.

But then I find myself doubting whether my thought process is correct when it seems different from the through process used in the company answer key.

I think the important thing is doing it yourself, and the process involved in figuring it out yourself. It seems like you know which problem types you have difficulty on. By targetting those specifically, and reviewing thoroughly afterhand, you'll be able to realize what you're doing wrong. You might be making assumptions, or you maybe missed something important. I don't think with LR one's thought process is ever entirely "wrong" - it's usually more a matter of focusing on the wrong thing, or missing something. Also, IMHO corporate answer keys are often crap - they can be plain-out wrong in their logic sometimes.

Also when reviewing LR, I'm a big believer in physically writing down 1) why the right answer's right 2) why the answer I chose is wrong and 3) why exactly I got this question wrong. I got this idea from somebody else on TLS and it definitely helped me a lot.

Have you bought the Bibles? The LR and LG ones are priceless. For games you need to practice diagramming, especially the difficult ones, b/c thinking in your head is inefficient and won't help you. Sometimes even hypotheticals that you jot down on one question can help you with a different question.

And finally, please read through the forum - there's a lot of great advice out there.

[Hannibal]

Pretty sure pugp was being sarcastic.

[kazu]

Pretty sure pugp was being sarcastic.

I know but OP might not have. Sarcasm doesn't always come through.