I took the LSAT last December and got a 158 (studied for less than a month, which I realize now was really stupid). Got into Loyola-Chicago and William and Mary but decided to delay a cycle and retake this October to shoot for a 170+ and a shot at the T14.
I started studying 4 weeks ago and am loosely following NoodleyOne's guide to retaking. My initial diagnostic when I began 4 weeks ago was 160. I've been studying pretty much only LG after going -10 on the section. I just finished going through the Powerscore LGB.
I've taken 2 PT's since my diagnostic and I'm really unable to go above my diagnostic. I'm improving a little bit in the LG section but other than RC, where I never go more than -3 for the section, nothing's consistent. I'm feeling a bit demotivated like I'm either not physically able to score higher or that I'm studying in a completely inefficient way/not internalizing the material. I keep reading how your score should improve and I'm just amazed that I'm exactly where I was 4 weeks ago even with going through the whole LGB.
For all of the people who studied and saw their scores go up while doing PT's what was your time frame and feel for how you were getting the material? Is there a better way I should be studying than just going section by section (LG to LR to RC) and drilling?
Having Trouble Posting Better Scores Forum
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NoodleyOne
- Posts: 2326
- Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 7:32 pm
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
It tends to take awhile to see the improvement, but once it hits it will be significant. Go through the bible and/or mlsat, drill, and focus on internalizing what you're learning and improvement will come.
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koval
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2013 12:19 am
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
I know from your article you had a diagnostic at around mine right? How were your looking 2-3 months from that?
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johnreagan
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:43 am
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
I'm with you man. I've barely raised my score at all.
I have been focused on LG and seen no improvement after LGB and a some drilling. I have seen a tiny improvement in LR just from familiarity via PTs I guess. I am just going to keep on drilling.
Might have to postpone from June to October though.
I have been focused on LG and seen no improvement after LGB and a some drilling. I have seen a tiny improvement in LR just from familiarity via PTs I guess. I am just going to keep on drilling.
Might have to postpone from June to October though.
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Systematic1
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2012 5:14 pm
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
This. Breaking 160 took me about two months of studying every day. The two PTs you've taken are nothing, it took me about 7. Just be patient, and after each test make sure you are identifying what specific areas you are struggling in and focus your prep on those areas.NoodleyOne wrote:It tends to take awhile to see the improvement
It sounds like you are having a rough time with LG. What I started doing after every PT I took was printing out the LG section and redoing it. If after redoing the LG section once I still couldn't get it done under 35 minutes with 100% accuracy I would watch the 7sage youtube explanations for whatever games were giving me trouble and then do the entire section again. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but the repetition really helped me get more comfortable, and I'm regularly going -0 in LG now.
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NoodleyOne
- Posts: 2326
- Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 7:32 pm
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
Maybe low 160s? Then stuff started clicking and I started hitting high 160s. Just make sure you're taking the time to try to understand why a question is right and why the other answers are wrong and why you chose the wrong answer. For lg check out 7sage's videos on YouTube after you try it a few times so you can see the thought process of lg experts.dcruss wrote:I know from your article you had a diagnostic at around mine right? How were your looking 2-3 months from that?
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tuffyjohnson
- Posts: 226
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:07 pm
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
NoodleyOne wrote:dcruss wrote: For lg check out 7sage's videos on YouTube after you try it a few times so you can see the thought process of lg experts.
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LSATGamesTutor
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:53 pm
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
Can you describe what problems you're having with the logic games? Are you able to answer every question correctly, but not quickly enough or are you having trouble finding the correct answers? Are some types of games or questions causing you more problems than others?
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johnreagan
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:43 am
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
LSATGamesTutor wrote:Can you describe what problems you're having with the logic games? Are you able to answer every question correctly, but not quickly enough or are you having trouble finding the correct answers? Are some types of games or questions causing you more problems than others?
I have been getting all the answers correct, but averaging about 10-11 min per game. Although yesterday I seemed to have a bit of a breakthrough and got several fresh advanced linear games 100% correct in under 7 min. But thrown into that session were still several 10+ min games.
I think just more familiarity is helping me pick up the pace. When I have trouble it is normally because I missed a significant inference, or get stuck on a question where one of the questions is clearly wrong, and I just overlook how obviously wrong it is.
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LSATGamesTutor
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:53 pm
Re: Having Trouble Posting Better Scores
It sounds like you're in a good spot and that your speed will improve with more practice. Those face palms you're doing after realizing you missed an inference or obvious answer should continue getting less frequent. A couple quick ideas that might help...
1) Create external consequences for yourself when you do games. If there's a show you enjoy watching, start a game 6-7 minutes before the show starts. It'll hopefully increase the pressure and get your adrenalin flowing which should increase your focus.
2) You're probably already doing this, but for the 7/8ths of games whose first question is a 'which of the following is a possible outcome...', ignore the diagram you made and the rules you wrote down and go back to the rules written in the question. Always do the first one first and go down the list eliminating answer choices that break a rule until you're left with an answer. By going back to the question for the rules you'll have to quickly interpret them again, but you'll end up saving time by keeping all the rules fresh in your mind and if you've made a dumb mistake interpreting the rules, you'll catch it early.
3) Any time you're over 7:30 or so for a game or get less than perfect, check the answer explanations (a good free source is http://7sage.com/logic-game-explanations/) to see if any approaches to diagramming or answering questions were taken that were more efficient than the ones you used.
4) When I tutor people, I have them think out loud as they do a game. You might want to try using a free whiteboard (http://www.twiddla.com) as your piece of paper and thinking out loud as you write. Record yourself doing a game and post a link to it here, and I'm sure some of the great people on the forum would be willing to give their thoughts on what you could be doing better. Beyond bigger issues like missing a key inference, you might also be doing or not doing little things here and there that are costing you a couple seconds. Those seconds add up over 4 games.
Good luck.
1) Create external consequences for yourself when you do games. If there's a show you enjoy watching, start a game 6-7 minutes before the show starts. It'll hopefully increase the pressure and get your adrenalin flowing which should increase your focus.
2) You're probably already doing this, but for the 7/8ths of games whose first question is a 'which of the following is a possible outcome...', ignore the diagram you made and the rules you wrote down and go back to the rules written in the question. Always do the first one first and go down the list eliminating answer choices that break a rule until you're left with an answer. By going back to the question for the rules you'll have to quickly interpret them again, but you'll end up saving time by keeping all the rules fresh in your mind and if you've made a dumb mistake interpreting the rules, you'll catch it early.
3) Any time you're over 7:30 or so for a game or get less than perfect, check the answer explanations (a good free source is http://7sage.com/logic-game-explanations/) to see if any approaches to diagramming or answering questions were taken that were more efficient than the ones you used.
4) When I tutor people, I have them think out loud as they do a game. You might want to try using a free whiteboard (http://www.twiddla.com) as your piece of paper and thinking out loud as you write. Record yourself doing a game and post a link to it here, and I'm sure some of the great people on the forum would be willing to give their thoughts on what you could be doing better. Beyond bigger issues like missing a key inference, you might also be doing or not doing little things here and there that are costing you a couple seconds. Those seconds add up over 4 games.
Good luck.
