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I have been enrolled in a Kaplan course over the past month. I am scheduled to take the June 10 LSAT, but I am thinking about withdrawing. My diagnostic score was only a 143. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. My second test, 146. Third test, 150. And now, after having taken two more tests I am stuck back at a 144. I understand the material. When I am working through questions, I can immediately identify a method and attack the questions. I feel stuck, and I cannot figure out what is going on. My teacher has explained to me that at some point I have gotten nearly every question type correct, but making that happen on one individual test for me is the next challenge. I am consistently running out of time and feel like I approach the test the same way over and over again. If I am to postpone until October, what should I do for the next few months to ensure my score improves drastically?

What are your section breakdowns? Are you struggling in one section repeatedly, or is it all over the place each time?

It is really all over the place.

Taking just practice timing sections, not full length tests, I have scored anywhere from 30% on LR to 85%.
My highest score on LG has been about 65%, but it is very consistently about 50%.
Reading Comprehension has actually went down since I first started studying.

On my best practice test I got a 150. My breakdowns were 65% LG, 63% LR, and 44% RC.

One of my biggest problems in LR is only being able to answer about 15 questions before "5 minutes remaining". I panic, guess, and see large strings of x's when reviewing my test. And, with Reading Comp I get through about three full passages, but miss several questions in the process. Logic Games have been really unpredictable.

With scores in that range you are lacking fundamentals. Kaplan's method is generally considered to be useless.

I'd withdraw from the June test and hit self-study hard. The Manhattan LSAT bundle is very popular here among high scorers. You can buy it on Amazon.

Focus on one section at a time, per the books. Start with LG if you want to see solid gains relatively quickly. Drill LR questions by type (search forums for how people do this).

I never did lsat prep with a company (just bought a beat up book at the used book store, I think themis printed it)

If you are paying Kaplan, email or call their staff, they should be helping you.

I am in their bar prep right now, they have always respond when I need them so far.
I know for mine the computer tracks strengths/weaknesses on a chart from the flashcards and practice questions.
Does yours do that too?

Def don't take June. Consider taking a program like Velocity, or picking up Manhattans bundle and putting in about 9 times more work to get to a successful Oct.

tanyrseay wrote:I have been enrolled in a Kaplan course over the past month. I am scheduled to take the June 10 LSAT, but I am thinking about withdrawing. My diagnostic score was only a 143. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. My second test, 146. Third test, 150. And now, after having taken two more tests I am stuck back at a 144. I understand the material. When I am working through questions, I can immediately identify a method and attack the questions. I feel stuck, and I cannot figure out what is going on. My teacher has explained to me that at some point I have gotten nearly every question type correct, but making that happen on one individual test for me is the next challenge. I am consistently running out of time and feel like I approach the test the same way over and over again. If I am to postpone until October, what should I do for the next few months to ensure my score improves drastically?

It sounds like you are having a bit of test anxiety under timed conditions. I do that too sometimes.

Try taking the questions untimed for awhile and get scores up before trying to do it under timed conditions.

Remember, you need to learn a skill before you can learn to do quickly.
If you didn't know how to walk and kept trying to sprint, you would be better to learn to walk first.
If that means delaying the test, then so be it.

HOWEVER, if Kaplans lsat is like the bar review it should have a refund/redo choice policy. Check with them about this, you may want to make sure that delaying the exam date doesn't void that warrenty being doing so.

At this point, I am 99% certain I will be withdrawing from the June test. I am considering buying the LR and LG Bibles offered by power score. Would you recommend those as well? Or still go with Manhattan? While I want to believe my Kaplan course has been beneficial, I am not so sure it has. My teacher is wonderful and has a wealth of knowledge. But time and time again the response is, "Stick with the method." If the method isn't efficient in the first place then that isn't going to help.

tanyrseay wrote:At this point, I am 99% certain I will be withdrawing from the June test. I am considering buying the LR and LG Bibles offered by power score. Would you recommend those as well? Or still go with Manhattan? While I want to believe my Kaplan course has been beneficial, I am not so sure it has. My teacher is wonderful and has a wealth of knowledge. But time and time again the response is, "Stick with the method." If the method isn't efficient in the first place then that isn't going to help.

Powerscore is great. Many people use it and Manhattan.

tanyrseay wrote:At this point, I am 99% certain I will be withdrawing from the June test. I am considering buying the LR and LG Bibles offered by power score. Would you recommend those as well? Or still go with Manhattan? While I want to believe my Kaplan course has been beneficial, I am not so sure it has. My teacher is wonderful and has a wealth of knowledge. But time and time again the response is, "Stick with the method." If the method isn't efficient in the first place then that isn't going to help.

Go with Powerscore. I went with from a 149 diagnostic (guessing on literally 90% of the logic game questions) to practice test high of 168. Powerscore is great.

tanyrseay wrote:At this point, I am 99% certain I will be withdrawing from the June test. I am considering buying the LR and LG Bibles offered by power score. Would you recommend those as well? Or still go with Manhattan? While I want to believe my Kaplan course has been beneficial, I am not so sure it has. My teacher is wonderful and has a wealth of knowledge. But time and time again the response is, "Stick with the method." If the method isn't efficient in the first place then that isn't going to help.

just make sure to figure out that refund policy, unless of course you poop change........

You have to get the timing down in your head.

Even when you're drilling sections, set a 35min timer. If you're drilling question types, then set a 2 min timer and try to finish before that.


ETA: When you first start, logic games might seem like the hardest thing in the world, but LG can really be a gift once you start understanding it.

With practice, you will be able to not lose points on logic games.

jas1503 wrote:You have to get the timing down in your head.

Even when you're drilling sections, set a 35min timer. If you're drilling question types, then set a 2 min timer and try to finish before that.


ETA: When you first start, logic games might seem like the hardest thing in the world, but LG can really be a gift once you start understanding it.

With practice, you will be able to not lose points on logic games.

Additionally, try to aim to do sections in 30 minutes, that way you won't be thrown off by test day jitters.

objection_your_honor wrote:Powerscore is great. Many people use it and Manhattan.

If you're going to mix prep materials, just make sure you have one method down before trying to learn the other. If you don't, you can end up getting confused. Like trying to learn Portuguese and Spanish at the same time.