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I took a PT test today and scored a 151. I'm freaking out because I am taking the June LSAT and I have a goal of 160 but I would be happy with a 157. Is it realistic for me to achieve this in just 3 weeks? PS- I am taking a testmasters course.

151 on your first test isn't that bad, but I seriously advise you to postpone to at least October.

Why do you suggest I postpone? The way I figure, best case scenario I get at least a 157. Worst case scenario I get less than I desire but I can still retake in October.

JoeC12 wrote:I took a PT test today and scored a 151. I'm freaking out because I am taking the June LSAT and I have a goal of 160 but I would be happy with a 157. Is it realistic for me to achieve this in just 3 weeks? PS- I am taking a testmasters course.

It is realistic to achieve this. study night and day.

JoeC12 wrote:Why do you suggest I postpone? The way I figure, best case scenario I get at least a 157. Worst case scenario I get less than I desire but I can still retake in October.

157 is doable in 3 weeks but which schools are you looking at?

Number 1 choice is Rutgers-Newark. Others I am looking at are Seton Hall, Albany, Rutgers-Camden, New York law school.. I would like to live and work in New Jersey. My GPA is 3.66

JoeC12 wrote:Number 1 choice is Rutgers-Newark. Others I am looking at are Seton Hall, Albany, Rutgers-Camden, New York law school.. I would like to live and work in New Jersey. My GPA is 3.66

This is why I want you to postpone to Oct. Your GPA is quite decent and with a 170+ you are a lock at some of the lower T14. Trust me, the 4 months of extra work will pay off in the long run. Even a 165 would do you wonders and land you in T30 territory which is much better than the schools that you're looking are right now. Even if you're set for Rutgers, scoring 5 points higher will get you a significant scholly.

Believe me, I certainly understand your rationale and to an extent I agree. But what if I s**t the bed in October? Then I'm really screwed and I would have to what longer to apply.

Wait*

Sure if you wait until October and screw up you are in trouble, but you are also in trouble if you get a 151 and then a 158 in June. Standardized test scores can be improved with rigorous training, especially in the range that you are talking about. dpk711 is right, with your GPA you can put yourself in an amazing situation with mid 160s. How many practice tests have you taken? You should get at least 30 of them and spend some significant time training and preping for the LSAT. The work you do on the LSAT now directly translates into a better situation for yourself in the near future.

JoeC12 wrote:Believe me, I certainly understand your rationale and to an extent I agree. But what if I s**t the bed in October? Then I'm really screwed and I would have to what longer to apply.

Even if this happens, you are better off waiting another year then retaking/reapplying. Law school is a decision that will determine your career and your whole life for that matter -- a year is nothing in comparison to the 50-60+ years you will live after this.

December is not too late for most schools. Even if October doesn't go well, December is a reasonable backup. Obviously it's nice to apply early, but while it makes some difference, it's usually not a major deciding factor.

February, on the other hand, is generally too late.

Corwin wrote:How many practice tests have you taken? You should get at least 30 of them and spend some significant time training and preping for the LSAT. The work you do on the LSAT now directly translates into a better situation for yourself in the near future.

I'd recommend against taking 30 prep tests - I think that analyzing the questions according to specific question types is a much more effective method (which is what you're likely experiencing in your TM course).

If you can get your score up to your goal, feel free to take the June test and use the October one as a back up. December applicants have a disadvantage for many schools (duno if this applies to your targets)

A 157 LSAT is a copout if your diagnostic was 151. This means that you can work your guts out for 4 months, get a 170+, and go to a school where you chances of a 100k+ job, or desrable PI work and good LRAP are great.

Or, you can sit on your 151, go to a school where desirable employment outcomes are very, very hard to obtain. It is basically like spinning a wheel where 5 spaces out of 50 give you awesome results, and the rest result uncertainty and possibly bleak results if you aren't a good bootstapper.

bloopyblooper wrote:

Corwin wrote:How many practice tests have you taken? You should get at least 30 of them and spend some significant time training and preping for the LSAT. The work you do on the LSAT now directly translates into a better situation for yourself in the near future.

I'd recommend against taking 30 prep tests - I think that analyzing the questions according to specific question types is a much more effective method (which is what you're likely experiencing in your TM course).

If you can get your score up to your goal, feel free to take the June test and use the October one as a back up. December applicants have a disadvantage for many schools (duno if this applies to your targets)

I wasn't saying he should take 30 prep tests in the space of a few weeks. But if you spend 6-9 months preparing and doing deep analysis on the question types, 30 prep tests is about how many you will go through.

bloopyblooper wrote: I'd recommend against taking 30 prep tests

Don't listen to this advice. Honestly, as an LSAT tutor myself, if OP has all the time I would recommend taking all 60 or so PTs starting with the oldest ones and working your way up to the most recent ones.

I guess I am just being really conservative in what I am capable of.

dpk711 wrote:Don't listen to this advice. Honestly, as an LSAT tutor myself, if OP has all the time I would recommend taking all 60 or so PTs starting with the oldest ones and working your way up to the most recent ones.

I disagree with this perspective... taking a ton of tests will improve endurance & timing, but at the same time I don't believe this kind of unfocused test strategy is the way to go. OP, you'd benefit more from honing in on specific question types. (and in particular, your weaknesses)

JoeC12 wrote:I guess I am just being really conservative in what I am capable of.

Take the June test if you are able to score in the high 150s. And if you think you are able to accomplish much more, prep over the summer for an October retake.

I just wish that I started prepping a little earlier. I didn't because I was under the impression (based on the people I talked to at testmasters) that I shouldn't self study before hand because I would learn concepts that I would change when the course started. While I have been 100 thousand % satisfied with testmasters, I thought this information was a little misleading.

glewz wrote:

dpk711 wrote:Don't listen to this advice. Honestly, as an LSAT tutor myself, if OP has all the time I would recommend taking all 60 or so PTs starting with the oldest ones and working your way up to the most recent ones.

I disagree with this perspective... taking a ton of tests will improve endurance & timing, but at the same time I don't believe this kind of unfocused test strategy is the way to go. OP, you'd benefit more from honing in on specific question types. (and in particular, your weaknesses)

The faulty assumption here is that taking a lot of prep tests implies an unfocused test strategy....

Corwin wrote:

glewz wrote:

dpk711 wrote:Don't listen to this advice. Honestly, as an LSAT tutor myself, if OP has all the time I would recommend taking all 60 or so PTs starting with the oldest ones and working your way up to the most recent ones.

I disagree with this perspective... taking a ton of tests will improve endurance & timing, but at the same time I don't believe this kind of unfocused test strategy is the way to go. OP, you'd benefit more from honing in on specific question types. (and in particular, your weaknesses)

The faulty assumption here is that taking a lot of prep tests implies an unfocused test strategy....

This is true. I should have said "less focused" strategy. Does that change anything though?

glewz wrote:

Corwin wrote:

glewz wrote:

dpk711 wrote:Don't listen to this advice. Honestly, as an LSAT tutor myself, if OP has all the time I would recommend taking all 60 or so PTs starting with the oldest ones and working your way up to the most recent ones.

I disagree with this perspective... taking a ton of tests will improve endurance & timing, but at the same time I don't believe this kind of unfocused test strategy is the way to go. OP, you'd benefit more from honing in on specific question types. (and in particular, your weaknesses)

The faulty assumption here is that taking a lot of prep tests implies an unfocused test strategy....

This is true. I should have said "less focused" strategy. Does that change anything though?

Maybe I should've made it clearer but I meant that one should be focused (going over all the wrong answers, going over which question types one get's wrong typically, reviewing and practicing concepts, etc.) while doing all these 60 or so PTs.

dpk711 wrote:

glewz wrote: This is true. I should have said "less focused" strategy. Does that change anything though?

Maybe I should've made it clearer but I meant that one should be focused (going over all the wrong answers, going over which question types one get's wrong typically, reviewing and practicing concepts, etc.) while doing all these 60 or so PTs.

Seems to me that some needless time/effort would be spent on classifying those problems yourself... but no doubt, many people have been successful with taking tests and reviewing them. Agree to disagree then - I still think honing in on specific question types is the more effective method.

glewz wrote:

dpk711 wrote:

glewz wrote: This is true. I should have said "less focused" strategy. Does that change anything though?

Maybe I should've made it clearer but I meant that one should be focused (going over all the wrong answers, going over which question types one get's wrong typically, reviewing and practicing concepts, etc.) while doing all these 60 or so PTs.

Seems to me that some needless time/effort would be spent on classifying those problems yourself... but no doubt, many people have been successful with taking tests and reviewing them. Agree to disagree then - I still think honing in on specific question types is the more effective method.

I'm not disagreeing with you. A combination of both honing in on specific question types and taking 5 dozen PTs is optimal for score improvement assuming OP has sufficient time to do this without haste.

dpk711 wrote:

glewz wrote:

dpk711 wrote:

glewz wrote: This is true. I should have said "less focused" strategy. Does that change anything though?

Maybe I should've made it clearer but I meant that one should be focused (going over all the wrong answers, going over which question types one get's wrong typically, reviewing and practicing concepts, etc.) while doing all these 60 or so PTs.

Seems to me that some needless time/effort would be spent on classifying those problems yourself... but no doubt, many people have been successful with taking tests and reviewing them. Agree to disagree then - I still think honing in on specific question types is the more effective method.

I'm not disagreeing with you. A combination of both honing in on specific question types and taking 5 dozen PTs is optimal for score improvement assuming OP has sufficient time to do this without haste.

Ah, this I agree with