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Hey guys,
I have a particular situation going on and would like your input. I'm currently 20 yrs old and taking a year off from school. I'm a junior level transfer student applying to ucla and berkeley. I have a 4.0 so far, and my plan is to study for the lsat and take it june. I'm currently enrolled in a Kaplan Lsat Extreme class and have scored a 151 on two of the exams we have taken so far. I need the forum's advice on the following: What would be the best way for me to study in terms of a having roughly 7 months before the june 2011 exam? Is that enough time to study/practice for the lsat, the most important test in my life? I'm very bad at logic games to the point where i score like 40 percent on the section, any way to bring that up? I have the powerscore bible but it hasnt helped me make the "aha" deductions vital to most games, i just cant seem to make the connections necessary. Final note, is the lsat a test where you can actually improve on your diagnostic score? I've seen alot of posts about people studying for months and ending up with like 2-3 points higher than their diagnostic. My goal is to get into ucla or usc law so i need at least a 165 to be competitive a 14 point increase from where i am now, is it a realistic goal?


Cliffs
-taking the year off from school to figure out my life/study the lsat
-need advice on how to improve my score, wondering if it is even possible to raise my score
-suck at the games section, any tips for that?
- is a 14 point increase from a 151 to a 165 realistic?


thank you

You can definitely improve. I don't remember my diagnostic, but it was in the high 150's, I think. I scored 172 in October. LG was my worst section, too. It's imminently learnable. It took me a long time, but you will start making those connections. My advice is to photocopy the logic games from the practice tests and repeat them until you sort of have them learned. It will help you make connections on similar games (and in the end they're all similar). I did a section a day, then that same section was set to be done again a week or so later.

Also, make sure that you're working through the Bible actively, not just reading it. Good luck!

You're in luck, the LG is by far the easiest section to improve on. It takes some people longer than others but 6 months is more than enough time to be consistently missing -2 to -0 in games.

As far as your score increase is concerned, 14 points in 6 months is more than doable. I went from the mid 140's to the low 160's in about that amount of time...and I still feel like I underperformed in October! There is no easy way to improve , but there are effective ways. Do all of your homework for your class and do alot of 5 sectoined strictly timed tests (25 plus) and aim higher than 165 more like 170 plus.

It takes alot of focus and there will probably be times when you feel hopeless or get so frustrated that you throw your books as hard as you can at the nearest wall ( maybe that's just me ) ...but hang in there and just keep practicing and good things will happen. I would also look into using the LG Powerscore Bible. Good Luck!

Thanks for the responses guys, i appreciate it. Any other opinions?

My diagnostic was around 150 and I scored 17x on October. All I used was PowerScore. Study the hell out of both of those bibles and you should be fine.

gbpackerbacker wrote:My diagnostic was around 150 and I scored 17x on October. All I used was PowerScore. Study the hell out of both of those bibles and you should be fine.

+1

Also OP, make sure to substitute your screenname for your real one when you send in applications

^^ hahah will do lol, awesome to hear about your score rising by so many points, it gives me hope and motivation! I will definitely be using the powerscore books, they are very helpful. Any other recommendations/tips guys?

Practice tests, practice tests, practice tests.

And some more practice tests.

Taking the practice tests, and eventually several under timed conditions (don't have to do the first few), will take off much of the load on the actual test day that harms so many student's scores.

I'm glad you have more confidence! However, you need to take the advice in order to do well. The LSAT is definitely, definitely learnable (if that's even a word haha)

poonsterman1 wrote: -suck at the games section, any tips for that?

Practice the LG sections untimed w/ an eye for inferences. Speed will naturally follow/you can work on speed later. Also, try to re-read the LG bible slowly and make sure you truly understand it.

poonsterman1 wrote: - is a 14 point increase from a 151 to a 165 realistic?

Yes. Very realistic especially if most of the questions missed are from LG.