How to break out of the score plateau of the early 160s? Forum

[myk247]

First time poster. I'm planning to take the October test and have been studying the LSAT since January. My initial diagnostic was a cold 134. I studied really hard using the Blueprint and some other LR material and now my score is consistently in the early 160s but it just doesn't go up.

I've done 19 of them so far and here are my scores and the dates I did them.


29-May June 2003 (40) 161
5-Jun December 2002 (39) 157
9-Jun December 2000 (33) 166
11-Jun June 2001 (34) 159
16-Jun December 2001 (36) 160
18-Jun October 2001 (35) 157
22-Jun October 2002 (38) 164
23-Jun June 2002 (37) 161
24-Jun Oct 2000 (32) 161
25-Jun June 2000 (31) 162
26-Jun December 1999 (30) 161
29-Jun October 1999 (29) 161
30-Jun June 1999 (28) 163
1-Jul Dec 1998 (27) 164
2-Jul September 1998 (26) 161
3-Jul June 1998 (25) 163


Even though I did the relative easier early 2000 and late 1990s tests, my score is stuck in the early 160s and I'm doing horribly especially on reading section. After doing three passages on the section, the time is already up and I'm consistently getting 7-9 questions wrong.

From two weeks ago, I started to do one practice test a day except on weekends, and I'm anxious if I will ever break those early 160s plateau. I even canceled the June test because I really want to get 170+. If you guys have any suggestion or advice on how to do better under time-pressure,reading section and breaking out of plateau, it will be very much appreciated. Thank you!

[The Abyss]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

[myk247]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

Thank you for the reply. I do blind review for every test after taking a lunch break.

[The Abyss]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

Thank you for the reply. I do blind review for every test after taking a lunch break.

How are you blind review scores looking? Also, you should be drilling by question type. That's where the biggest gains in your score are going to come from.

[myk247]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

Thank you for the reply. I do blind review for every test after taking a lunch break.

How are you blind review scores looking? Also, you should be drilling by question type. That's where the biggest gains in your score are going to come from.

Hi,

the scores on the left is the ones with time-constraints and the right one is from the blind-review.

29-May June 2003 (40) 161 171
5-Jun December 2002 (39) 157 161
9-Jun December 2000 (33) 166 167
11-Jun June 2001 (34) 159 165
16-Jun December 2001 (36) 160 169
18-Jun October 2001 (35) 157 173
22-Jun October 2002 (38) 164 177
23-Jun June 2002 (37) 161 171
24-Jun Oct 2000 (32) 161 172
25-Jun June 2000 (31) 162 176
26-Jun December 1999 (30) 161 174
29-Jun October 1999 (29) 161 171
30-Jun June 1999 (28) 163 173
1-Jul Dec 1998 (27) 164 174
2-Jul September 1998 (26) 161 175
3-Jul June 1998 (25) 163 172


I actually did lots of LR questions by question types, which helped me a lot.. RC is a bigger concern for me since I'm getting consistently 7-9 questions wrong..

[Judgeasaurus_Rex]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

Thank you for the reply. I do blind review for every test after taking a lunch break.

How are you blind review scores looking? Also, you should be drilling by question type. That's where the biggest gains in your score are going to come from.

I'm curious, when you guys say blind review what exactly do you mean? When I finish a PT, I check what answers I got wrong, mark them with an X without looking at which answer is correct, merely that I marked it incorrectly, and then redo & review only those questions. Should I be doing something differently?

[The Abyss]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

Thank you for the reply. I do blind review for every test after taking a lunch break.

How are you blind review scores looking? Also, you should be drilling by question type. That's where the biggest gains in your score are going to come from.

I'm curious, when you guys say blind review what exactly do you mean? When I finish a PT, I check what answers I got wrong, mark them with an X without looking at which answer is correct, merely that I marked it incorrectly, and then redo & review only those questions. Should I be doing something differently?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPhj7pU ... CVDnRh1Vd2

[BlueprintJason]

Are you blind reviewing at all? Are you drilling by question type? Just taking PT after PT is not a great way to study for the LSAT.

Thank you for the reply. I do blind review for every test after taking a lunch break.

How are you blind review scores looking? Also, you should be drilling by question type. That's where the biggest gains in your score are going to come from.

Hi,

the scores on the left is the ones with time-constraints and the right one is from the blind-review.

29-May June 2003 (40) 161 171
5-Jun December 2002 (39) 157 161
9-Jun December 2000 (33) 166 167
11-Jun June 2001 (34) 159 165
16-Jun December 2001 (36) 160 169
18-Jun October 2001 (35) 157 173
22-Jun October 2002 (38) 164 177
23-Jun June 2002 (37) 161 171
24-Jun Oct 2000 (32) 161 172
25-Jun June 2000 (31) 162 176
26-Jun December 1999 (30) 161 174
29-Jun October 1999 (29) 161 171
30-Jun June 1999 (28) 163 173
1-Jul Dec 1998 (27) 164 174
2-Jul September 1998 (26) 161 175
3-Jul June 1998 (25) 163 172


I actually did lots of LR questions by question types, which helped me a lot.. RC is a bigger concern for me since I'm getting consistently 7-9 questions wrong..

Looking at your score breakdown, it looks like you still have some work to do on accuracy, and you are taking PTs WAY too close together.

I would definitely spend much more time on the blind review process making sure you are really working through questions and getting to the right answer for the right reasons before moving on to check the answers. I would also work on drilling some harder questions on accuracy only, and then do some PTs (preferably older) for accuracy ONLY aiming for 180. You really should be able to get a 180 untimed before you can reasonably expect yourself to move into the upper 160s or 170s under stressful timing conditions.

Accuracy should be the name of the game for you for a while before you bur through more practice tests. At this rate, you are going to use up too much of your material while you are still not fully at the mastery level you need as to accuracy for moving into the higher scoring levels. Especially with RC, you should be doing a bunch of passages untimed so that you can really figure out what they are looking for and adjust your approach. You should be able to go -1 or -0 in RC sections untimed before you should even consider timing yourself.

When you do start taking regular PTs again, I would advise spending A LOT more time reviewing and trying to learn from your work before using more material. This includes blind review, reviewing and going over things you missed, working on games/question types/passage types similar to what you struggled with on your most recent PTs, and re-trying things you struggled with the first time until you have fully mastered it. At this rate, it seems that you are moving on to more tests before really learning from your most recent work and identifying the weaknesses that need addressing.

--------------------------

Toward the end of your prep, once you have been taking PTs and reviewing well and your score gets up into the range you are ultimately aiming for consistently, then I would be ok with maybe doing PTs with less review days in between or even back-to-back, because at that point you are really working on endurance and finding any remaining holes. You already have skills and pacing down at that point, so it's more like practicing for the big day at the level that you want for repetitions rather than just going through PTs to do them. Right now, you shouldn't be doing 3 days in a row of PTs like that! Slow yourself down, MASTER things--don't just look at the answer, and focus on getting more accurate in blind review and untimed work.

[myk247]

Hi Jason,

This is really helpful! Thank you so much. I was advised to take practice tests with time-constraints because it also takes practices to use my brain fast under time-pressure, and unless I don't practice doing that, it will be hard for me to do well on the test.

But I will work on my accuracy first and try to do about 2-3 practice tests a week. Thank you so much again!

[Pneumonia]

Hi Jason,

This is really helpful! Thank you so much. I was advised to take practice tests with time-constraints because it also takes practices to use my brain fast under time-pressure, and unless I don't practice doing that, it will be hard for me to do well on the test.

But I will work on my accuracy first and try to do about 2-3 practice tests a week. Thank you so much again!

The advice holds, but you should read it as "when you take PT's, take them timed," rather than as "take timed PT's to get better." You need to be drilling LR and LG to master those sections, taking incremental (meaning once every week or two) PT's as a progress report. Once you're confident, then start taking real PTs. PT's don't help you at question-answering skills, they only help you at time-manangement skills. The former should be practiced before the latter; that's why you're plateauing.

Also, BP is a good company to use if you're looking for one.

[myk247]

Hi Jason,

This is really helpful! Thank you so much. I was advised to take practice tests with time-constraints because it also takes practices to use my brain fast under time-pressure, and unless I don't practice doing that, it will be hard for me to do well on the test.

But I will work on my accuracy first and try to do about 2-3 practice tests a week. Thank you so much again!

The advice holds, but you should read it as "when you take PT's, take them timed," rather than as "take timed PT's to get better." You need to be drilling LR and LG to master those sections, taking incremental (meaning once every week or two) PT's as a progress report. Once you're confident, then start taking real PTs. PT's don't help you at question-answering skills, they only help you at time-manangement skills. The former should be practiced before the latter; that's why you're plateauing.

Also, BP is a good company to use if you're looking for one.

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. I've finished all of the BP material and done numerous other LR materials (categorized by question types). Since I had spent so much time on material without doing any untimed, I was nervous I wouldn't have enough time to improve on my timing skills, but you're right that I shouldn't "take timed PT's to get better." My friend advised me that unless I practice doing under time-pressure, I won't get better but it seems like I should work on both timing skills and accuracy. Thank you.

[BlueprintJason]

Hi Jason,

This is really helpful! Thank you so much. I was advised to take practice tests with time-constraints because it also takes practices to use my brain fast under time-pressure, and unless I don't practice doing that, it will be hard for me to do well on the test.

But I will work on my accuracy first and try to do about 2-3 practice tests a week. Thank you so much again!

The advice holds, but you should read it as "when you take PT's, take them timed," rather than as "take timed PT's to get better." You need to be drilling LR and LG to master those sections, taking incremental (meaning once every week or two) PT's as a progress report. Once you're confident, then start taking real PTs. PT's don't help you at question-answering skills, they only help you at time-manangement skills. The former should be practiced before the latter; that's why you're plateauing.

Also, BP is a good company to use if you're looking for one.

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. I've finished all of the BP material and done numerous other LR materials (categorized by question types). Since I had spent so much time on material without doing any untimed, I was nervous I wouldn't have enough time to improve on my timing skills, but you're right that I shouldn't "take timed PT's to get better." My friend advised me that unless I practice doing under time-pressure, I won't get better but it seems like I should work on both timing skills and accuracy. Thank you.

Pneumonia's clarification was spot-on, thanks for that! In fact, there's nothing else to add on that point, that's exactly what I would have a tutoring student do.

As to your follow up, the truth about timing is that it's just not worth worrying about until your accuracy is better. You are trying to break out of a plateau, so you need to improve your command of the skills in isolation before trying to put it all together for speed and endurance (a separate skill to work on). Also, you really have some time here since you are already plugging away. No need to rush on timing everything other than the "progress report" aspect that pneumonia mentioned.

Good luck! And let me know if you need any more study skill advice!!!