I got a low score for my first cold diagnostic lsat test. Help? Forum

[faraworld]

Hey everyone..

I got 140 on my first cold diagnostic test ( took the free one June 2007 after I printed it)

I still have 2 years to graduate

my major is mathematics.

I've been in the Untied States for almost 3 years.. so yes, English is not my native language..

I think my problem lays in the fact that I am a slow thinker( I am always the last one to give the paper and yeah I get an A, but I am not fast)
the cold test :
each section I only managed to reach like 15 questions and then the time was out!

I haven't prepared for the test or what so ever, but still the result is quite low, and I am just wondering if other students made it and enhanced their score from 140 to more than 160...

Any advice or help are really appreciated ..

I am not planning to take the test any time soon, but I just wanna know what to do to improve my results( any perpetration books that helped you are really welcomed)

I read that we shouldn't take the test because it will discourage us, but I think I wanted a wake up call to know how hard the test can be and be prepared before hand..

[RZ5646]

It's the end of the world. You are doomed to graduate from Cooley and then become a barista.

Not really. Plenty of people start out with low scores and end up doing well after they put serious effort into studying. However, that totally depends on you. The people on this website can't study for you. You gotta hit the books and make it happen yourself.

Realistically though, your background will put you at a disadvantage. The LSAT is about logic and language, so not having a great grasp of English will be a problem. Also, the law school admissions game puts enormous emphasis on your GPA, and a hard major like math means your GPA probably isn't great (for the top law school world, 3.8+).

Meanwhile, a math degree gives you opportunities that we liberal arts people (most of TLS) would kill for. Of course I don't know your exact situation, but you should consider carefully whether law school is really the best option for you.

[gnomgnomuch]

I started at a 146 diagnostic, never took the test because i'm postponing law school for a while, but after 2-3 months of studying about 20 hours a week I got a 168. After that I just got too busy, but considering I had a -7 on the LG section for that 168 I'm fairly confident when I come back to the LSAT i'll be able to break the 170.

It's been done many times on TLS if that helps. But don't use other people as a gauge for how you will do... you're not them.

The SLAT is highly teachable. The LG section is one that can and should be knocked out of the park after studying it for a few months. Same with LR. RC is the only one that's a bit tricky and not super predictable, but also still doable.

Just study. Good luck.


....Also, don't go to LS. You're doing a math major, you should have fairly decent options.

[faraworld]

It's the end of the world. You are doomed to graduate from Cooley and then become a barista.

Not really. Plenty of people start out with low scores and end up doing well after they put serious effort into studying. However, that totally depends on you. The people on this website can't study for you. You gotta hit the books and make it happen yourself.

Realistically though, your background will put you at a disadvantage. The LSAT is about logic and language, so not having a great grasp of English will be a problem. Also, the law school admissions game puts enormous emphasis on your GPA, and a hard major like math means your GPA probably isn't great (for the top law school world, 3.8+).

Meanwhile, a math degree gives you opportunities that we liberal arts people (most of TLS) would kill for. Of course I don't know your exact situation, but you should consider carefully whether law school is really the best option for you.

that's why law school is my second plan
I am preparing for med school!

But thank you so much for the information
I know because of the language, law is not the ideal thing for me
but I like it more than medicine!

My plan is to take the lsat next year I will prepare for it for a year but not an intense preparation because I am a still a student, I will also work hard next summer and focus on the lsat alone.. then take the test on October.. (if i noticed my scores are getting better of course!)
and if I got a good score continue with that path
if not
then I prepare for the mcat after graduation
because
mcat needs more than 6 months devotion and it is harder than the lsat
7 and half hour test .. that's brutal ..

[faraworld]

I started at a 146 diagnostic, never took the test because i'm postponing law school for a while, but after 2-3 months of studying about 20 hours a week I got a 168. After that I just got too busy, but considering I had a -7 on the LG section for that 168 I'm fairly confident when I come back to the LSAT i'll be able to break the 170.

It's been done many times on TLS if that helps. But don't use other people as a gauge for how you will do... you're not them.

The SLAT is highly teachable. The LG section is one that can and should be knocked out of the park after studying it for a few months. Same with LR. RC is the only one that's a bit tricky and not super predictable, but also still doable.

Just study. Good luck.


....Also, don't go to LS. You're doing a math major, you should have fairly decent options.

Thank you so much, that's encouraging

the reasons I am ask is because

I work hard. I love the challenge, but I need to know before hand if it can be achieved
I don't want to waste time that I can invest into preparing for the mcat if the score is just an indication of an ability that I can't control.

[Clearly]

The language is going to be a big issue, but medicine is a better career anyway, pursue that full speed ahead, if that falls through, then consider gunning hard for the LSAT, plenty of people have made that improvement.

[faraworld]

The language is going to be a big issue, but medicine is a better career anyway, pursue that full speed ahead, if that falls through, then consider gunning hard for the LSAT, plenty of people have made that improvement.

Thank you so much for your reply

I will buy some perp books and see how it goes

[Clearly]

The language is going to be a big issue, but medicine is a better career anyway, pursue that full speed ahead, if that falls through, then consider gunning hard for the LSAT, plenty of people have made that improvement.

Thank you so much for your reply

I will buy some perp books and see how it goes

MCAT prep books? Otherwise you just thanked me, then entirely disregarded my post...

[Yeezus]

I hope you realize what you're getting yourself into with med school (as well as law school, obviously). I can't even imagine someone forcing themselves to go through med school, intern, residency, etc. when they don't even like it.

[scalawag]

First of all a ten point jump isn't unheard of on here if you study your ass off. I've done it and I'm a moron. And, I'm shooting for a 14 point increase, then a 19 point increase. (I started at 151)

edit: There's plenty of good schools in the 150s.

I do well at reading comprehension naturally, but I read a lot and always have. You might have to work a little harder to get there (I just blow off reading comp studying for now and it has bit me on the ass in PTs) but you will be able to bring your score up.

You're gonna have to work hard, man. You might not be able to do it like everyone else so if you can't (and dude put in the work before trying this the people on here study for this test like we have never studied for anything before - at least I hope I can't speak for others - I've had huge doubts myself)

Try to take the LSAT, do horrible, get a diagnosis for extra time (this will be extremely difficult and bureaucratic you'll probably need to hire a doctor and a lawyer to get all your ducks in a row).

[Yeezus]

First of all a ten point jump isn't unheard of on here if you study your ass off. I've done it and I'm a moron. And, I'm shooting for a 14 point increase, then a 19 point increase. (I started at 151)

edit: There's plenty of good schools in the 150s.

I do well at reading comprehension naturally, but I read a lot and always have. You might have to work a little harder to get there (I just blow off reading comp studying for now and it has bit me on the ass in PTs) but you will be able to bring your score up.

You're gonna have to work hard, man. You might not be able to do it like everyone else so if you can't (and dude put in the work before trying this the people on here study for this test like we have never studied for anything before - at least I hope I can't speak for others - I've had huge doubts myself)

Try to take the LSAT, do horrible, get a diagnosis for extra time (this will be extremely difficult and bureaucratic you'll probably need to hire a doctor and a lawyer to get all your ducks in a row).

There are no good schools in the 150s.

[gnomgnomuch]

I started at a 146 diagnostic, never took the test because i'm postponing law school for a while, but after 2-3 months of studying about 20 hours a week I got a 168. After that I just got too busy, but considering I had a -7 on the LG section for that 168 I'm fairly confident when I come back to the LSAT i'll be able to break the 170.

It's been done many times on TLS if that helps. But don't use other people as a gauge for how you will do... you're not them.

The SLAT is highly teachable. The LG section is one that can and should be knocked out of the park after studying it for a few months. Same with LR. RC is the only one that's a bit tricky and not super predictable, but also still doable.

Just study. Good luck.


....Also, don't go to LS. You're doing a math major, you should have fairly decent options.

Thank you so much, that's encouraging

the reasons I am ask is because

I work hard. I love the challenge, but I need to know before hand if it can be achieved
I don't want to waste time that I can invest into preparing for the mcat if the score is just an indication of an ability that I can't control.

WOAH. Slow your roll, you need to decide what you want to do. Medicine and Law are too wildly different paths. You need to figure out what you want to do with your life. Honestly, my advice would be to try landing a legal internship or volunteer with a legal organization to see if you like the type of work - bearing in mind that chances are you'll get absolutely no legit legal work to do. Then, do the same for medicine. Though honestly, come back in a few years, you're on two wildly paths and you need to figure stuff out.

[scalawag]

First of all a ten point jump isn't unheard of on here if you study your ass off. I've done it and I'm a moron. And, I'm shooting for a 14 point increase, then a 19 point increase. (I started at 151)

edit: There's plenty of good schools in the 150s.

I do well at reading comprehension naturally, but I read a lot and always have. You might have to work a little harder to get there (I just blow off reading comp studying for now and it has bit me on the ass in PTs) but you will be able to bring your score up.

You're gonna have to work hard, man. You might not be able to do it like everyone else so if you can't (and dude put in the work before trying this the people on here study for this test like we have never studied for anything before - at least I hope I can't speak for others - I've had huge doubts myself)

Try to take the LSAT, do horrible, get a diagnosis for extra time (this will be extremely difficult and bureaucratic you'll probably need to hire a doctor and a lawyer to get all your ducks in a row).

There are no good schools in the 150s.

Really what do use when deciding if a school is good? Anything tangible or are you just going off of the U.S. Newsweek rankings?

[Clearly]

First of all a ten point jump isn't unheard of on here if you study your ass off. I've done it and I'm a moron. And, I'm shooting for a 14 point increase, then a 19 point increase. (I started at 151)

edit: There's plenty of good schools in the 150s.

I do well at reading comprehension naturally, but I read a lot and always have. You might have to work a little harder to get there (I just blow off reading comp studying for now and it has bit me on the ass in PTs) but you will be able to bring your score up.employment

You're gonna have to work hard, man. You might not be able to do it like everyone else so if you can't (and dude put in the work before trying this the people on here study for this test like we have never studied for anything before - at least I hope I can't speak for others - I've had huge doubts myself)

Try to take the LSAT, do horrible, get a diagnosis for extra time (this will be extremely difficult and bureaucratic you'll probably need to hire a doctor and a lawyer to get all your ducks in a row).

There are no good schools in the 150s.

Really what do use when deciding if a school is good? Anything tangible or are you just going off of the U.S. Newsweek rankings?

Employment statistics. What schools with a 150 range median are good? Tell us!

[scalawag]

First of all a ten point jump isn't unheard of on here if you study your ass off. I've done it and I'm a moron. And, I'm shooting for a 14 point increase, then a 19 point increase. (I started at 151)

edit: There's plenty of good schools in the 150s.

I do well at reading comprehension naturally, but I read a lot and always have. You might have to work a little harder to get there (I just blow off reading comp studying for now and it has bit me on the ass in PTs) but you will be able to bring your score up.employment

You're gonna have to work hard, man. You might not be able to do it like everyone else so if you can't (and dude put in the work before trying this the people on here study for this test like we have never studied for anything before - at least I hope I can't speak for others - I've had huge doubts myself)

Try to take the LSAT, do horrible, get a diagnosis for extra time (this will be extremely difficult and bureaucratic you'll probably need to hire a doctor and a lawyer to get all your ducks in a row).

There are no good schools in the 150s.

Really what do use when deciding if a school is good? Anything tangible or are you just going off of the U.S. Newsweek rankings?

Employment statistics. What schools with a 150 range median are good? Tell us!

Employment statistics from what I've read don't seem to differ as much as one would think. Locally I know Mercer has good job statistics, Georgia State does as well both of those are in the 150s and they aren't much different from UGA which is in the 160s. There definitely seems to be a higher retention rate with higher LSAT scores but that's probably due to work ethic and/or intelligence.

These are the only three I've really glanced at. Employment statistics are important I agree with that but until I have a LSAT score it's all premature so I haven't done anything in depth.

i think its good to apply to a lot of schools - leave no stone unturned.

[Yeezus]

Employment statistics from what I've read don't seem to differ as much as one would think. Locally I know Mercer has good job statistics, Georgia State does as well both of those are in the 150s and they aren't much different from UGA which is in the 160s. There definitely seems to be a higher retention rate with higher LSAT scores but that's probably due to work ethic and/or intelligence.

These are the only three I've really glanced at. Employment statistics are important I agree with that but until I have a LSAT score it's all premature so I haven't done anything in depth.

i think its good to apply to a lot of schools - leave no stone unturned.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/national/

Lol at ~70% of graduates being employed as "good."

[faraworld]

Well
I know the path of medicine or law is pretty hard

this is a pattern to discourage newbies

telling them to go away because it's hard and miserable

and maybe one day I will tell people the same thing..

I just wanted encouragement telling me if I work hard I can improve my score because it happened to others too

Of course I know I won't be able to get it higher if I didn't work hard!

this is a no brainer

you have to work hard to get good grades
same applies to other tests

but people don't tell you in med school
hey if you took the first mcat cold test without preparation, this is the same score you gonna get after preparation

I was surprised that such idea about the lsat exists!

I have never seen logic games in my life before
I did better on the reading comprehension because I've seen it before
of course my English is not great
but the more I read, the more I learn each day.....

I want to prepare for the lsat during my college
if I didn't get good score, I will prepare for the mcat then..

It's something I should do

you are not the first one who tells me it's not a good choice

but when I grew old

I might say to myself I should've worked harder for my so called "dreams!"

Thank you all for replying

[kylemolodets]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... e#p7756379

Here ya go!

[drtamale]

Post removed...

[gnomgnomuch]

I started at a 146 diagnostic, never took the test because i'm postponing law school for a while, but after 2-3 months of studying about 20 hours a week I got a 168. After that I just got too busy, but considering I had a -7 on the LG section for that 168 I'm fairly confident when I come back to the LSAT i'll be able to break the 170.

It's been done many times on TLS if that helps. But don't use other people as a gauge for how you will do... you're not them.

The SLAT is highly teachable. The LG section is one that can and should be knocked out of the park after studying it for a few months. Same with LR. RC is the only one that's a bit tricky and not super predictable, but also still doable.

Just study. Good luck.


....Also, don't go to LS. You're doing a math major, you should have fairly decent options.

Thank you so much, that's encouraging

the reasons I am ask is because

I work hard. I love the challenge, but I need to know before hand if it can be achieved
I don't want to waste time that I can invest into preparing for the mcat if the score is just an indication of an ability that I can't control.

WOAH. Slow your roll, you need to decide what you want to do. Medicine and Law are too wildly different paths. You need to figure out what you want to do with your life. Honestly, my advice would be to try landing a legal internship or volunteer with a legal organization to see if you like the type of work - bearing in mind that chances are you'll get absolutely no legit legal work to do. Then, do the same for medicine. Though honestly, come back in a few years, you're on two wildly paths and you need to figure stuff out.

lifecoach here LOL !

Yes, how dare I give someone asking for advice... advice. Oh the inhumanity.

[Broncos15]

I say OP should strongly consider taking the LSAT after graduation....A score high enough to justify the LS decision is hard enough to get for native English speakers

With the time constraints of the LSAT, it would heighten the OP's disadvantage ( it would be similar to me taking the Spanish LSAT, which I couldn't imagine taking under timed conditions)


I am not saying OP cannot take the LSAT at some point later, but I don't think now OP could get a score representative of their abilities ( MCAT would likely have similar challenges although I am not sure if time constraints are or are not as big of a factor as in the LSAT)

[Big Red]

I really feel for ESL folks taking the LSAT, because so often TCR depends on a correct interpretation of words and modifiers that's sometimes foreign even to native speakers. In terms of test prep, I would take a glance at Voyager's RC guide which makes it as mathematical as possible. I would also focus on getting as many points as I could on LG. IMO ESL is second only to engineering majors who get their gpa shredded despite putting in the work, good luck