PT Scores 3 Months Out Forum

[danmcc413]

Hi all,

This is a question for people who may be browsing this forum who have already scored 170+ on the LSAT..What were you PTing at about three months out? I know everyone is different, but I'd just like a benchmark for myself, more of a reassurance thing than anything. I've only taken two PTs ever at this point as I've been focusing on drilling and LGB/LRB, and they've gone fairly well: 164 cold, timed diagnostic and a 168 timed practice test last week after about three weeks of ~10 hrs of studying. Like I said, I just want a gauge as I am a bit nervous about my chances due to my lack of ability to commit as much time to studying as I'd like. Thanks!

Oh and if you are taking the September test also and are shooting for a 170+, it'd be cool to know how you are doing at this juncture as well!

[malleus discentium]

Three months out your PT scores don't matter.

When you say three weeks of ~10 hours studying, do you mean 10 hours per day, 10 hours per week or 10 hours total over three weeks? If the first, you're studying too much. If the last two, too little.

[ilikebaseball]

Hi all,

This is a question for people who may be browsing this forum who have already scored 170+ on the LSAT..What were you PTing at about three months out? I know everyone is different, but I'd just like a benchmark for myself, more of a reassurance thing than anything. I've only taken two PTs ever at this point as I've been focusing on drilling and LGB/LRB, and they've gone fairly well: 164 cold, timed diagnostic and a 168 timed practice test last week after about three weeks of ~10 hrs of studying. Like I said, I just want a gauge as I am a bit nervous about my chances due to my lack of ability to commit as much time to studying as I'd like. Thanks!

Oh and if you are taking the September test also and are shooting for a 170+, it'd be cool to know how you are doing at this juncture as well!

Not a 170 yet... but my first PT was a 160 and I got a 168 in June and feel like I could have gotten higher. I'm just struggling with LR but my other two are fantastic. If I figure out my LR I feel I'm an easy 171 (I guess its never easy but you know what I mean) depending on the curve.

I was a self taught guy. I studied about 2 hours a day 6 days a week. But I will say, the logic games for whatever reason just come natural to me. Sudoku has been a childhood hobby of mine and its paying off now. So I never really struggled with it like I hear other people doing. Now I'm finishing the LRB, so we'll see how it goes. But about 3 weeks prior to test day I took a PT every other day, timed, and at the same time as the real test. Hope this helps.

[danmcc413]

Thanks for that, I appreciate the advice. That's a per week figure, unfortunately. I've been working about 50 hours per week so it's been tough for me to find the time/get into the routine I want to, but I will do it and know it is necessary to achieve the score I want. I plan to raise that number to between 17-20 hours per week.

[fra]

I'm planning on taking in September.
I have also been studying for about three weeks. My cold diagnostic was 172, lowest score was 166 (but I blame it on having an awful terrible day that day), and my most recent timed practice test was a 180.
I've been doing 10-20 hours per week. I think that it's less about the amount of time that you spend and more about the quality of the time that you spend.

edit: My goal is 179-180, so that I can drag my sad gpa out of the gutter.

[sfoglia]

I'm planning on taking in September.
I have also been studying for about three weeks. My cold diagnostic was 172, lowest score was 166 (but I blame it on having an awful terrible day that day), and my most recent timed practice test was a 180.
I've been doing 10-20 hours per week. I think that it's less about the amount of time that you spend and more about the quality of the time that you spend.

edit: My goal is 179-180, so that I can drag my sad gpa out of the gutter.

Jaw drop.

I've been averaging around ten hours, but am planning to double that in the coming weeks.

I haven't taken more than one practice test (164), and I don't think it counts as cold diagnostic, since I did read a couple of short, general books regarding the LSAT. But I'll be sure to post next week after I've taken my second and third.

[longhorn65]

I'm planning on taking in September.
I have also been studying for about three weeks. My cold diagnostic was 172, lowest score was 166 (but I blame it on having an awful terrible day that day), and my most recent timed practice test was a 180.
I've been doing 10-20 hours per week. I think that it's less about the amount of time that you spend and more about the quality of the time that you spend.

edit: My goal is 179-180, so that I can drag my sad gpa out of the gutter.

Very curious as to your gpa. Mine is awful as well and im hoping to be a pretty big splitter myself. How are you studying to score so damn well? I know everyone is different but id love to know your method!

[fra]

Very curious as to your gpa. Mine is awful as well and im hoping to be a pretty big splitter myself. How are you studying to score so damn well? I know everyone is different but id love to know your method!

My gpa was a 3.5 in engineering, which isn't exactly a death knell in the T14 when coupled with a 170+. However the geographic range that I'm interested in severely limits the number of schools that I am applying to (basically I'm going Berkeley or bust).

My entire study method is as follows:
Materials: LR and LG Bibles, lsatqa.com, books of preptests (I have one of the earlier ones with PT 30-40, and the two most recent ones. I'm planning on buying more as needed)
Method:

Read through the LR and LG bibles. I read through LR in depth, skimmed LG because I was already comfortable with the concepts and just wanted to pick up little inference and diagramming tricks here and there. The diagramming that I use is a mix of diagramming taught in the bible and diagramming that makes more sense to me.
I found both bibles to rely too heavily on classifying questions. When I'm taking a test I never worry about what type of question I'm answering. I skipped all of the classification drills in LR Bible. I think that classifying just wastes time.

Use the Blind Review Method http://7sage.com/the-blind-review-how-t ... at-part-1/ heavily, on every question that I see. I think that this is what really made the difference for me. I don't move on from a question until I feel confident that I could explain it to someone else and that I won't miss a similar question in the future. I don't beat myself up over problems though. If I look at a problem and I'm just not getting it then I google it. Work smarter, not harder.
I use the earlier preptest book for drilling. For LR I do all of the questions in a section - using the blind review method. I record the time that I take but I don't restrict myself. For LG and RC I do one game or passage at a time before blind reviewing. If a LG takes me more than 8 minutes then I watch the 7sage video about it and try to come up with a better method for solving it the next time I see a game like that. When I've drilled through an entire test I enter it on lsatqa so that I can track any trends on which sections (LR, LG, or RC) I need the most improvement it. I ignore the question classification that they use. I'm trying to develop a method that I can use to attack the section as a whole, not just 'find the flaw' questions or whatever. If I notice that I've been missing more than 1 question in a section consistently then I know that there is something missing in my method and I reanalyze the way that I approach that section.

For RC I was using 7sages Memory Method http://7sage.com/lsat-reading-comprehen ... ry-method/, taking notes on each paragraph. I found that after doing that for about a week I no longer needed to take notes on most passages, I could analyze each passage in my head as I read. If I'm ever reading a passage and I feel lost I force myself to stop, take a deep breath, and start over - taking notes if needed. However I have spent the last several years reading scientific journal articles, so I'm pretty used to very dense reading material.

Now that I've gotten to where I want to be on preptests in ideal conditions (aka 4 section practice test on my couch, in my jammies) my next step is to introduce adverse conditions to make sure that I can get 179+ anywhere. So if you see someone taking a practice LSAT in the bar, or a construction zone - wait until my 15 minute break then come say hi!