[HELP] Writing the Feb 2013 lsat, scoring 155 Forum

[canstudent12345]

Hey everyone,

I've been prepping for the February LSAT since early December, and scored a 154 before studying. I went on to read the PowerScore Logic Games (twice) and Logical Reasoning Bibles, and wrote a timed-mock LSAT today for the first time since and scored.... a 155. Though this is discouraging, I am willing to do whatever it takes to improve my score. With limited time before the actual test date, and a full course load to consider, what would you consider is my best attempt to improve my score (I'm looking for at least a 160)?

Thanks in advance

ps. I currently own the "The Next 10 Actual LSAT" book, tests 61-66 and "New, Actual Official LSAT" prep-test books
pss. my worst section is LG and need the most help there

[Typhoon24]

well, the best advice would be to delay the lsat till june. moving on, the good news is that Logic games is the most "improvable" section, meaning you can go to zero to hero on it if you have enough time and prep. What I want you to do is spend more time drilling questions by type on older LSATs and maybe investing in the manhattan bundles before hitting the newer lsats (55+). Do a bunch of drilling and work, prep test in the coming months, and the 160+ should be feasible. Don't ever rush yourself with the LSAT, and from the looks of it, you don't seemed prepared for the feb test.

[canstudent12345]

well, the best advice would be to delay the lsat till june. moving on, the good news is that Logic games is the most "improvable" section, meaning you can go to zero to hero on it if you have enough time and prep. What I want you to do is spend more time drilling questions by type on older LSATs and maybe investing in the manhattan bundles before hitting the newer lsats (55+). Do a bunch of drilling and work, prep test in the coming months, and the 160+ should be feasible. Don't ever rush yourself with the LSAT, and from the looks of it, you don't seemed prepared for the feb test.

I see, thanks for the quick response. Is there a convenient way to sort the questions by type?

[boblawlob]

well, the best advice would be to delay the lsat till june. moving on, the good news is that Logic games is the most "improvable" section, meaning you can go to zero to hero on it if you have enough time and prep. What I want you to do is spend more time drilling questions by type on older LSATs and maybe investing in the manhattan bundles before hitting the newer lsats (55+). Do a bunch of drilling and work, prep test in the coming months, and the 160+ should be feasible. Don't ever rush yourself with the LSAT, and from the looks of it, you don't seemed prepared for the feb test.

This

The problem with taking the Feb LSAT is if you score in the 150s again, you won't know what to improve on. Do yourself a favor and delay, drill, and decompose.

Buy the Cambridge Grouped by Question type (LR and LG especially)
http://www.cambridgelsat.com/problem-se ... reasoning/

Delay - Save yourself the grief if you know you aren't prepared. There is no miracle shot that you can take to win the game.
Drill - Repetition is key to start recognizing patterns and tricks that test makers throw at you.
Decompose - Break down questions that you get Wrong and Right. Why did you get it wrong? Did you miss a key phrase/word? Was diagramming possible and you did not see it? Why did you get it right? What caused you to instantly diagram that question?

The 3 D's. Throw some D's on that bitch.

[canstudent12345]

well, the best advice would be to delay the lsat till june. moving on, the good news is that Logic games is the most "improvable" section, meaning you can go to zero to hero on it if you have enough time and prep. What I want you to do is spend more time drilling questions by type on older LSATs and maybe investing in the manhattan bundles before hitting the newer lsats (55+). Do a bunch of drilling and work, prep test in the coming months, and the 160+ should be feasible. Don't ever rush yourself with the LSAT, and from the looks of it, you don't seemed prepared for the feb test.

This

The problem with taking the Feb LSAT is if you score in the 150s again, you won't know what to improve on. Do yourself a favor and delay, drill, and decompose.

Buy the Cambridge Grouped by Question type (LR and LG especially)
http://www.cambridgelsat.com/problem-se ... reasoning/

Delay - Save yourself the grief if you know you aren't prepared. There is no miracle shot that you can take to win the game.
Drill - Repetition is key to start recognizing patterns and tricks that test makers throw at you.
Decompose - Break down questions that you get Wrong and Right. Why did you get it wrong? Did you miss a key phrase/word? Was diagramming possible and you did not see it? Why did you get it right? What caused you to instantly diagram that question?

The 3 D's. Throw some D's on that bitch.

Though I know you're both right, I'm unfortunately a victim of the sunk cost fallacy and am having trouble bringing myself to delay. For curiosity's sake, I'm going to write another practice test tonight- however this time I'll write it un-timed. I'm convinced that my current issue is time (and the corresponding anxiety), and if so I feel like this can be improved. If the results of this untimed test are high, I'll remain determined to succeed and just practice that much harder. If I do poorly on the un-timed test, I may strongly consider delaying.

I'll post my results later tonight or tomorrow for those who are curious, but nonetheless I do really appreciate your advice/responses.

Thanks again

[Typhoon24]

I'm glad that you're taking my advice to heart. While you're at it, here's some more: when you do that untimed prep test, don't just see your score. see exactly what problems you missed and divide them into groups (must be true lr question, grouping logic game, etc) and see exactly why you got each question wrong. Then, work on improving on that.

[boblawlob]

Though I know you're both right, I'm unfortunately a victim of the sunk cost fallacy and am having trouble bringing myself to delay. For curiosity's sake, I'm going to write another practice test tonight- however this time I'll write it un-timed. I'm convinced that my current issue is time (and the corresponding anxiety), and if so I feel like this can be improved. If the results of this untimed test are high, I'll remain determined to succeed and just practice that much harder. If I do poorly on the un-timed test, I may strongly consider delaying.

I'll post my results later tonight or tomorrow for those who are curious, but nonetheless I do really appreciate your advice/responses.

Thanks again

In regards to the sunk cost fallacy, take your current stats right now and plug them into mylsn.info. Look at the schools where you'd be at least 55% consider. Ask yourself: Will I be happy attending that school and graduating from that school with six figure debt (assuming you'll have debt) and knowing damn well that the job market is not kind for the lower ranked schools? If you can answer "yes" to that, then take the February LSAT.

What it comes down to is "Will I be happy here in terms of the environment and challenges that await me by going to X school?"

I scored around your range. I took a year off to finish school. I took it again. I still scored the same. I took another year off and really put my mind to work. Why? Because I wasn't happy with the range of schools personally given that score. Granted, everyone is going to tell you that its T14 or bust. And for the most part, that's true. But a lot of people can't afford to retake given life restraints (some real and some self-imposed). It's fine if you don't go to a T14 if you absolutely understand the challenges (which include debt and unemployment). But everyone who scores under 160 NEEDS to retake. You aren't doing yourself a favor by going to a law school that takes a score lower than 160. You would, in fact, be delaying your life in an even worse way (with debt). The lower ranked the school, the less the school cares about you and the more rough the competition is amongst 1Ls to be #1 to transfer out.

When taking the LSAT, you have to keep in mind that you only have 3 times to take the LSAT within a 2 year period. You aren't helping your situation by taking a test unprepared and wasting another LSAT take, especially if you've already taken the LSAT once previous in this current 2 year period (counting next cycle).

[TripTrip]

OP, if you take the February LSAT, you'll come back here with your score and we'll scream at you to retake the June or October LSAT anyway. Why not save yourself the trouble and just take one of those instead in the first place?

[thomasjmai22]

OP, I was in your exact situation until just earlier today. What did I do? I withdrew from the Feb LSAT. I am scoring the same as you and my target is in the 160's as well. You have been given some good advice already so listen to it. You do not want to look back and feel regret because you rushed to take the test before you were ready. If you realize what you are capable of and you are not PTing in the 160 range, you need to take in June.

Also, I've noticed that if you have to ask whether to sit for the Feb or postpone, you probably know the answer. As others have mentioned, you can improve significantly on LG. If you mostly struggle with the section that is easiest to learn, pointing that out should be enough to convince you to hold off. I went from getting almost half LG incorrect to only -2 or -0. To be honest, I actually find the games section to be fun. I will be taking the June LSAT full of confidence and I suggest you do the same.

Good luck with either choice you make!

[canstudent12345]

Hey everyone - thank you for all the responses. I cant stress how much I appreciate everyones help and support. In regards to some of the comments, I want to clarify a couple points to give some context to my situation below:

Firstly, as my username suggests, I don't live in the USA and am not considering a T14 school. In fact, I live in Toronto, Canada. As of now, I am only considering three law schools: University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall and Western University (where I am currently enrolled). As I'm sure most of you are aware, with a mark in the low 160's, U of T does not seem like a viable option. Osgoode and Western (though not preferred) are much more feasible within that range.

As for my untimed test- I scored a 165. Interestingly enough, I managed about the same mark on both LR sections (aprx. -5) but scored worse than usual on RC (I'm speculating it is because it was my last section which I wrote exhausted and close to midnight). More importantly, I scored a -3 in LG. Thus I'm convinced that my assumption was correct that my main issue in the LG section was timing anxiety.

I'm going to try to analyze my mistakes and write another untimed test tomorrow, aiming for a 165-170. Afterwards I'll write a timed LG section with my new-found confidence and, if time permits, a timed full exam. Based on those results and your feedback, I'll make my decision on how to move forward.

Thanks again for all of the advice- I don't have anyone to discuss with locally so you all have been much more help than you can imagine.

[canstudent12345]

Hey everyone - just wanted to post an update. I ended up sticking with it and have been writing a practice test everyday since I posted here and scored a 167 today while consistantly scoring above 160! I'm very happy that I'm seeing such progress and am hoping to raise my score even higher in this next week. Good luck to everyone who is writing with me in February and for the posters above that motivated me to study that much harder.

Cheers!