Is my game over? Forum

[tuffyjohnson]

Love this site & it's peeps so I'm gonna put myself out there and get some straight talk. Please be gentle. Studied for a 2.5 months, 125 hours drilling LG, 25 hours LR and 0 hours on RC. Recently took two PT's in in the mid 140's. That's not a typo. Totally depressing. Biggest problem is processing questions efficiently. I could only get through two RC's, 15 LR Q's (per section) and 3 LG's. On old generation RC's I'm actually able to do pretty well but these new convoluted ones kick my ass.

Do I just not have it? Should I just give up? I have been clinically diagnosed with ADD but I'm not going to ask LSAC for a crutch because if I'm doing this I'm doing it like everyone else.

[Typhoon24]

I don't think anyone in their right mind would advise that you give up now. ADD is only a problem if you make it one. It seems that the main problem you are having is due to bad timing--and you've even linked it to question processing. The answer is clear for the question processing part: the LSAT has only so many question types it can choose from and all of them are known by manhattan and powerscore. Simply test yourself by seeing how fast you can read a question stem and know exactly what they are asking of you (underlining helps). Make the goal 3-4 seconds. Next time yourself on reading stimuli and annotating what's important, ex: conclusions, counter premises, supporting premises. After that, time yourself on individual LR questions. See if you can finish questions consistently at 1:20 each or better. Do the same thing for games and RC (8:30 or better per game/passage).

LR is the section you're going to need to spend the most time on, seeing how it's the most influential and will count for your highest grade. Keep at it and never give up! Ever.

[tuffyjohnson]

Those are good words Typhoon, thank you.

[Trajectory]

I had this same issue. Around the same amount of studying...scoring around the upper 150s. My diagnostic was around a 150 I remember. So I was very very frustrated. Needless to say its a huge confidence blow and it makes every ounce of you want to give up. And the more it happens the worse it gets. I didnt know what to do. I ended up just pushing through and postponing my test date a few times because I always felt I was right on the cusp of grasping everything and sort of "unlocking" my mind. I never gave up, I bitched and complained but didnt stop. After reviewing all books I had 2-3 times and probably taking 30 PTs and working through most, if not all but 2-3 PTs for drilling and also buying some Cambridge material (redid questions)...hired a tutor...strengthen my strategy for taking the test...my scores finally came up. I did every question in the Cambridge Difficult LR Questions book...plus Cambridge LR by type and difficult. 1-2 sections of LR per day. I tackled my weaknesses...and most, MOST importantly learned to paraphrase what I read. I took 1 LR section untimed from Cambridge packets and forced myself after every argument to paraphrase it. It helped immensely. Then on the next LR section, which was timed, I paraphrased as well. It took a lot. I too had trouble processing everything like you thats why I'm suggesting this. I assure you that if you make yourself paraphrase the stimulus, efficiently, you will be processing. I am scoring in the upper 160s now, going for a 170 and I know I'll get that by October.

The other poster is right, you have to start slowly...almost start from the beginning to make sure you got the concepts down. Go through the books, each lesson..time yourself (when needed) as suggested, see where your weaknesses are, attack them. Drill drill drill! Your game is far from over my friend.

[isuperserial]

Love this site & it's peeps so I'm gonna put myself out there and get some straight talk. Please be gentle. Studied for a 2.5 months, 125 hours drilling LG, 25 hours LR and 0 hours on RC. Recently took two PT's in in the mid 140's. That's not a typo. Totally depressing. Biggest problem is processing questions efficiently. I could only get through two RC's, 15 LR Q's (per section) and 3 LG's. On old generation RC's I'm actually able to do pretty well but these new convoluted ones kick my ass.

Do I just not have it? Should I just give up? I have been clinically diagnosed with ADD but I'm not going to ask LSAC for a crutch because if I'm doing this I'm doing it like everyone else.

Hey there. I have also been clinically diagnosed with ADD. I stopped taking the pills when I went to college because I didn't like the way they made me feel and now I sort of self-medicate with stupid amounts of coffee. Not entirely relevant, but just so you know that ADD isn't a death sentence, my last two PTs were both 169. I'm not asking LSAC for any crutch either, so mad respect for you for making that choice.

Anyway, solution time. 2.5 months is not a lot of time. I'm taking this Testmasters course, but before I even went into that, I knew I was going to have to figure out how to deal with my ADD. I literally spent since last June training myself to not give into it, to snap back to the question when I get that ADD "itch" to think about something else. It's a hard thing to do, because people like us are not born to concentrate for long periods of time. It's against our nature, and it's going to feel weird. But it will be so worth it when you see that sweet score you've dreamed of. If you think this will take more time than you have before June, as it probably will, then perhaps deferring to October would be prudent.

Secondly, I don't know what your study habits are, but you can throw as many hours at the LSAT as you want, but the key to success isn't lots of studying, but effective studying. Or in the case of people who really kick ass, lots of effective studying. If you haven't already purchased the Powerscore Bibles, do so. Those are the keys to your kingdom. If you practice those strategies on practice tests and drilling questions, then you cannot fail. If you have taken a Testmasters course, however, that is very very similar, and simply continue to focus on applying their strategies to the test. If you haven't taken a Testmasters class, then despite their price, I would strongly consider taking one before the October test.

Final word; you need to defer to the October test. You can and probably will succeed, but not right now. It's going to be a battle, and a tough one. But don't give up.

[Ohiobumpkin]

Do I just not have it? Should I just give up? I have been clinically diagnosed with ADD but I'm not going to ask LSAC for a crutch because if I'm doing this I'm doing it like everyone else.

That's ok. LSAC doesn't give people with ADD any significant accommodations anyway. Now, get off your high horse.

[tuffyjohnson]

Do I just not have it? Should I just give up? I have been clinically diagnosed with ADD but I'm not going to ask LSAC for a crutch because if I'm doing this I'm doing it like everyone else.

That's ok. LSAC doesn't give people with ADD any significant accommodations anyway. Now, get off your high horse.

Sorry if I stepped on some toes there Ohio. I have no problems with anyone requesting extra time for ADD. I just wanted to know for my own self that I could do what others were doing. My guess is there are some really whip-ass attorneys out there who have been given the very slight accommodations LSAC provides.

[The LSAT Trainer]

Love this site & it's peeps so I'm gonna put myself out there and get some straight talk. Please be gentle. Studied for a 2.5 months, 125 hours drilling LG, 25 hours LR and 0 hours on RC. Recently took two PT's in in the mid 140's. That's not a typo. Totally depressing. Biggest problem is processing questions efficiently. I could only get through two RC's, 15 LR Q's (per section) and 3 LG's. On old generation RC's I'm actually able to do pretty well but these new convoluted ones kick my ass.

Do I just not have it? Should I just give up? I have been clinically diagnosed with ADD but I'm not going to ask LSAC for a crutch because if I'm doing this I'm doing it like everyone else.

The thing that jumped out at me was "25 hours LR and O hours on RC" -- You've spent less than a full-time week thinking about the sections that will determine 3/4 of your score.

Half this test is reasoning, and half this test is reading. It sounds like you've been focusing on the reasoning, but not the reading. . Developing sound reading habits, especially for RC and LR, takes time -- 25 and 0 hours, respectively, are not nearly enough. All that is to say -- don't worry about your score -- you've got a lot of work to do yet and you probably have a lot of room to grow.

[RhymesLikeDimes]

Honestly, it sounds like you just aren't a very good reader, which is about the worst place you can be in given how difficult it is to improve critical reading skills. As others have said above, working through LGB/LRB/Manhattan RC thoroughly should help you significantly, and combined with a hell of a lot of drilling should get you closer to your goal. Focus on ID-ing question types, as that can be tremendously helpful both in cutting time and improving accuracy (especially on LR).

LR drilling is absolutely critical, so I don't understand why you have spent so little time on it. Also, I am very concerned that 125 hours of LG drilling still doesn't allow you to get through more than 3 games per section. You should be blowing through all but the nastiest LG sections in <25m with that amount of drilling behind you.

[03152016]

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[bp shinners]

125 hours drilling LG, 25 hours LR and 0 hours on RC.

That's as far as I got. LG is important, but it's the least important section on the test as far as score goes. You need to spend a lot more time on LR and RC.

[tuffyjohnson]

Read Powerscore LG bible twice. Blueprint LG once. 60% of Manhattan's LR. Nothing for RC.

Yo Rhymes, the LG concern you have is what concerns me too. On PT 68 which I did twice, I finished the first two games in around 19 minutes. Both times the next two games wrecked me.

[Blair89]

Just keep working hard man, the LSAT is a learnable test. I echo what everyone else is saying especially regarding drilling LR and reading the manhattan series fully multiple times. The road ahead looks tough for you but certainly not insurmountable. TLS is a great support network, your going to have lots of frustrating moments ahead but keep working at it and hopefully things will start to click for you. Best of luck.