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I am using a LSAT practice exam as my diagnostic to judge whether or not I will be able to do well on the LSAT in the future.
My question is how did you take your first practice LSAT?
What conditions and did you time it or not?
Please provide all the information you can based on your first ever practice diagnostic LSAT. Thanks!

fapel100 wrote:I am using a LSAT practice exam as my diagnostic to judge whether or not I will be able to do well on the LSAT in the future.
My question is how did you take your first practice LSAT?
What conditions and did you time it or not?
Please provide all the information you can based on your first ever practice diagnostic LSAT. Thanks!

Timed! In conditions where you cannot make any excuses about something other than you being responsible for any potential underperformance.

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Take it timed. Be honest with timing too.

Don't worry about potential. It's learnable. I'm still learning by my diagnostic was something like a 143. 160 on the october test. My average is higher and I'm confident I can get another 10 points.

The diagnostic gives you a baseline to help see your progress and find your weaknesses.

biggestlawman wrote:

fapel100 wrote:I am using a LSAT practice exam as my diagnostic to judge whether or not I will be able to do well on the LSAT in the future.
My question is how did you take your first practice LSAT?
What conditions and did you time it or not?
Please provide all the information you can based on your first ever practice diagnostic LSAT. Thanks!

Timed! In conditions where you cannot make any excuses about something other than you being responsible for any potential underperformance.

gamerish wrote:Untimed diagnostics are pretty much worthless. Take it timed. Download the 7Sage app on whatever app store you use and use the Proctor option with 4 section setting. Make sure you have everything you need (pencils, a watch, etc) before you press start as they get into the test pretty quickly.

Ok thank you so much!

McJimJam wrote:If it's not timed the results are practically irrelevant. Also the LSAT is a very learnable test, don't think the diagnostic determines your potential. Its more used as a baseline to gauge and keep track of improvement.

87mm wrote:Take it timed. Be honest with timing too.

Don't worry about potential. It's learnable. I'm still learning by my diagnostic was something like a 143. 160 on the october test. My average is higher and I'm confident I can get another 10 points.

The diagnostic gives you a baseline to help see your progress and find your weaknesses.

i have a question on this topic. if the test is so learnable why doesn't everyone have the potential to score 175-180 on their tests. why are averages of peoples scores lower than this if one can learn this test and learning is very doable? Please let me know, im very curious on this subject.

fapel100 wrote:
i have a question on this topic. if the test is so learnable why doesn't everyone have the potential to score 175-180 on their tests. why are averages of peoples scores lower than this if one can learn this test and learning is very doable? Please let me know, im very curious on this subject.

Its learnable but not easy. I wrote one of those mock lsats hosted by a prep company about a year ago and got a 153. I wrote my diagnostic before in May at the beginning of my studies and got a 150 yet i got a 173 on the October LSAT. I wouldnt say everyone has the ability to get a 170 but most people can probably get into the mid 160s with sufficient study, the question becomes how much time can/should you devote to studying for one test especially since you can only write it 3 times in 2 years. 5 months of about 2 hours a day was good for me, some people study hard for a year and dont get it, also a lot of people dont study efficiently or at all which contributes to why the average score is around a 150.

jnwa wrote:

fapel100 wrote:
i have a question on this topic. if the test is so learnable why doesn't everyone have the potential to score 175-180 on their tests. why are averages of peoples scores lower than this if one can learn this test and learning is very doable? Please let me know, im very curious on this subject.

Its learnable but not easy. I wrote one of those mock lsats hosted by a prep company about a year ago and got a 153. I wrote my diagnostic before in May at the beginning of my studies and got a 150 yet i got a 173 on the October LSAT. I wouldnt say everyone has the ability to get a 170 but most people can probably get into the mid 160s with sufficient study, the question becomes how much time can/should you devote to studying for one test especially since you can only write it 3 times in 2 years. 5 months of about 2 hours a day was good for me, some people study hard for a year and dont get it, also a lot of people dont study efficiently or at all which contributes to why the average score is around a 150.

Yup, most people dont care enough to score above a 160. TLS is not the average LSAT taker. Plus, getting to 170+ is possible for most people but the effort to get there may not be worth it. For me, I have 1 LSAT left and I plan to apply this cycle because of career considerations among other things. Plus, there is limited LSAT materials to study from and once you run out it is much harder to improve IMO.