One Month Study Plan for a Retaker Forum

[Finnick]

I had a 160 back in October and I'm re-taking the June LSAT for the chance to improve my scholarship, so I don't have anything to lose. What should I focus on over the next few weeks? I've been going through the Manhattan Prep books and the Powerscore LG Bible (which was my biggest weakness on the actual test) for the past couple weeks. My current diagnostic baseline is 155 (which isn't bad since it's been 6 months since I've looked at the material...and my timing was awful). I'm not sure if going through the 1,000+ pages in all of the Manhattan books is the best use of my time, especially with just a few weeks left. Should I just focus on drilling problems and reviewing my mistakes? I bombed LG on test day with a -9, and I was PT'ing consistently around -1 to -3. So if I can get LR and RC back to where I was at, and get LG up to where it should be, I should be much better off this time around.

[gnomgnomuch]

With a 160, chances are the LS you're going to isn't worth it, unless you have a full ride, and maybe not even then.

Consensus is to sit out a cycle, prepare like crazy, get some WE, a much higher score, a more streamlined application, and apply as early as possible next cycle for a chance at much better schools, or the same school with a much bigger scholarship.

However, if you're not going to do that, focus on your weakest section. If you missed a substantial amount of LG in your first test, its very possible to get closer to a perfect score. A month might not be enough, but that's on you.

Ideally though, a month (not even) isn't nearly enough time to prepare for the test.

[foundingfather]

I went through the LSAT Trainer in about one month for my retake while working full-time and finishing my undergrad (shout out to Mike Kim - great book). I used the 5 week study plan.

The week before the actual retake I had finished the book so I worked on the most recent prep tests scoring the same score consistently. I went up a substantial amount - enough to earn a large scholarship to the school I wanted to go to.

Good luck.

[Jeffort]

With only a little over three weeks left until the June test, practice and solid review of mistakes/weak areas is the best use of that limited time. However, since you're currently PTing around 155 and need to beat 160 to make it worthwhile for this cycle, the chances of it happening aren't very good. While big score jumps do occasionally happen in short amounts of time, they are the exception not the rule since the LSAT isn't the type of test people can successfully cram for at the last minute to significantly bump up score range really fast.

Good luck, but it sounds like you waited too long to get serious about re-take prep to give yourself a solid chance of scoring at least a few points higher than 160 to make it worthwhile.
Depending on which LS you're currently planning to attend and how much $$ they're currently offering you, it would be wise to at least think about and consider what gnomgnomuch said.