How long had you been scoring 170+ before taking the LSAT? Forum

[hamsamitchguy03]

How many 170+ scores did you have before taking the real LSAT?

Did you have a major breakthrough a month before? Two weeks before?

[StarLightSpectre]

How many 170+ scores did you have before taking the real LSAT?

Did you have a major breakthrough a month before? Two weeks before?

Bump. Good question! I just got my first 170+ score (173). I'm excited but worried I won't be able to do that on test day, since my average score is 166-168.

What's the usual time frame you top scorers got to 170+ before test day.

[StrictlyBusiness]

I spent about a month overall studying for the test, and I would say I hit 170 about 2.5 weeks in. I was taking 4-5 practice exams a week for the last two, and I'd say I probably averaged 175-176 for the last week. I actually got a 180 on the last one, two days before test day.

I don't think it matters how long you have been scoring that high, just that you can be consistent with whatever score you're going for. For me that was only about a week, but if you struggle more with logic games that may take longer because that section seems to be the source of the most fluctuation.

[bernaldiaz]

For the last two months of studying I didn't score below 172 I think. 174 on game day, hit 179 a few times on practice tests.

[piccolittle]

Scored below 170 on the first two tests, then never thereafter. I would give yourself 10-15 PTs (at least - I was tempted to say 20 but that might be too stringent) consecutively above 170 to feel comfortable about your score on the real thing. I crammed all that into a month and a half or so, taking a PT around every other day, but spread it out if that works better for you.

[smaug_]

How many 170+ scores did you have before taking the real LSAT?

Did you have a major breakthrough a month before? Two weeks before?

Bump. Good question! I just got my first 170+ score (173). I'm excited but worried I won't be able to do that on test day, since my average score is 166-168.

What's the usual time frame you top scorers got to 170+ before test day.

I think you'll see a variety of answers depending on the strengths of the posters. Some people can hit above 170 on their first diagnostic. For me, I was testing exclusively between 175-178 for the last weeks before test day. I ended up with a 176. Contrary to what many posters would say here, I think if you want consistency you should really be focusing on full-length diagnostics.

[smaug_]

Scored below 170 on the first two tests, then never thereafter. I would give yourself 10-15 PTs (at least - I was tempted to say 20 but that might be too stringent) consecutively above 170 to feel comfortable about your score on the real thing. I crammed all that into a month and a half or so, taking a PT around every other day, but spread it out if that works better for you.

This is exactly what I did as well.

[Micdiddy]

Well I haven't taken it yet, but immediately after my first diagnostic (167 on March 15th) I started scoring in the 170's with only two instances of dropping back below 170. Since about late April I think I have not had a sub 170 score.
I've taken about 30 PT's so far and plan to take 8-10 more before gameday. Consistency is definitely the key, one should not be satisfied simply PTesting at their target score a couple of time with no evidence that one can reach it consistently.

[StarLightSpectre]

Thanks for sharing guys. I was so surprised by my 173 that I went ahead and did another PT today just to make sure I wasn't crazy. I ended up with a 171. I'm buzzing haha.

Something I definitely noticed that I did different these PT's is that I looked at the test like an enemy. I looked for it's traps, anticipated shell games and logic jumps. On what looked to be dense questions I looked at the stem first be a step ahead of the test makers. Which is something I don't think I did before; my usual test taking behavior being passive/reactive i.e. see question, look for answer.

Also, I've been studying since mid march with a diag last summer of 160, and Oct score of 162 (after very little study).

[03152016]

.

[Tiago Splitter]

Contrary to what many posters would say here, I think if you want consistency you should really be focusing on full-length diagnostics.

I don't think anyone would disagree with this advice for people capable of scoring in the 170s. But a lot of the time taking full length tests isn't possible and if you can only sneak in 30 minutes or an hour at work. In that case find other ways to study. I'm also a big fan of going back and drilling question types you missed on the PT.

In my prep class I scored 164 on the first diag and 164 again a month later on test number two. The next week I hit 170 for the first time and stayed above 170 the rest of the way. So 3-4 weeks before the real thing.