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Hi all. I've taken the LSAT twice in the last year, each time scoring 169. In the last month, I submitted all my law school applications for this cycle. With a mediocre GPA above 3.0 but <25th percentile, I anticipate the possibility of landing on waitlists for my top choice schools. So while I wait for news, I hope to improve my chances in the spring by bringing the dream schools an LSAT of just a few points more :')

To my detriment evidently, my study method for both takes was to take a few PTs every week and review the incorrect answers with Kaplan's explanations, Manhattan forums, Graeme's site (thanks if you're reading), 7sage LG videos and any other Internet resource. I had been PTing in the low 170s weeks before both my takes. My first test was undisclosed but the breakdown for my second one is: LG -2; LR -6; RC -3

Anyone who has been in a similar position or has any advice/experiences to share, please do! Thank you very much.

felineceline wrote:Hi all. I've taken the LSAT twice in the last year, each time scoring 169. In the last month, I submitted all my law school applications for this cycle. With a mediocre GPA above 3.0 but <25th percentile, I anticipate the possibility of landing on waitlists for my top choice schools. So while I wait for news, I hope to improve my chances in the spring by bringing the dream schools an LSAT of just a few points more :')

To my detriment evidently, my study method for both takes was to take a few PTs every week and review the incorrect answers with Kaplan's explanations, Manhattan forums, Graeme's site (thanks if you're reading), 7sage LG videos and any other Internet resource. I had been PTing in the low 170s weeks before both my takes. My first test was undisclosed but the breakdown for my second one is: LG -2; LR -6; RC -3

Anyone who has been in a similar position or has any advice/experiences to share, please do! Thank you very much.

Have you usually been missing a few on LG? Those are easy points that you should be able to get regardless of difficulty of the test. I don't want to suggest spending all of your time perfecting it, but make sure that you don't miss those, in whatever way works best for you.

lymenheimer wrote:

felineceline wrote:Hi all. I've taken the LSAT twice in the last year, each time scoring 169. In the last month, I submitted all my law school applications for this cycle. With a mediocre GPA above 3.0 but <25th percentile, I anticipate the possibility of landing on waitlists for my top choice schools. So while I wait for news, I hope to improve my chances in the spring by bringing the dream schools an LSAT of just a few points more :')

To my detriment evidently, my study method for both takes was to take a few PTs every week and review the incorrect answers with Kaplan's explanations, Manhattan forums, Graeme's site (thanks if you're reading), 7sage LG videos and any other Internet resource. I had been PTing in the low 170s weeks before both my takes. My first test was undisclosed but the breakdown for my second one is: LG -2; LR -6; RC -3

Anyone who has been in a similar position or has any advice/experiences to share, please do! Thank you very much.

Have you usually been missing a few on LG? Those are easy points that you should be able to get regardless of difficulty of the test. I don't want to suggest spending all of your time perfecting it, but make sure that you don't miss those, in whatever way works best for you.

I agree. I had been -0 or -1 on LG in my practice. The June 2015 LG was a trick There's no telling what Feb 2016 might hold either. But it seems like if I can fix LG in February and miss a couple less LR I should be solid. But how????

felineceline wrote: I agree. I had been -0 or -1 on LG in my practice. The June 2015 LG was a trick There's no telling what Feb 2016 might hold either. But it seems like if I can fix LG in February and miss a couple less LR I should be solid. But how????

The thing I found useful with LG was being able to do them quickly. That way if I was unsure, I could go back at the end with my extra time. I only wanted to leave questions on one game until the end (that way I didn't have to go through the rules again for each game to remember where I was in order to answer a single question). This happened to me during the June test as well with the one game. I had plenty of time to run through each answer choice and come to the correct conclusion (missing 0). So for LG, I would try to improve your speed. Even if you are in a comfortable spot, the faster you can do the easy ones (correctly), the more time you have for the harder ones. I'm not the best for helping to improve LR or RC, so others may be able to chime in.

lymenheimer wrote:

felineceline wrote: I agree. I had been -0 or -1 on LG in my practice. The June 2015 LG was a trick There's no telling what Feb 2016 might hold either. But it seems like if I can fix LG in February and miss a couple less LR I should be solid. But how????

The thing I found useful with LG was being able to do them quickly. That way if I was unsure, I could go back at the end with my extra time. I only wanted to leave questions on one game until the end (that way I didn't have to go through the rules again for each game to remember where I was in order to answer a single question). This happened to me during the June test as well with the one game. I had plenty of time to run through each answer choice and come to the correct conclusion (missing 0). So for LG, I would try to improve your speed. Even if you are in a comfortable spot, the faster you can do the easy ones (correctly), the more time you have for the harder ones. I'm not the best for helping to improve LR or RC, so others may be able to chime in.

Ok, makes sense. Do you mind sharing how you drilled LG? (What materials you used? How long? etc)

Feline,

Have you been paying attention to the types of questions you're missing on both your practice tests and on the one real LSAT that was publicly released (June 2015)?

I would recommend keeping a detailed error log that lists each question you miss by section, type, and the error you made. This way, you can figure out whether there's a pattern to the mistakes you're making, and you can focus on building two things:

1) A system to recognize when you're likely to make a mistake, and
2) A process to avoid that mistake.

If this sounds tedious, it's because it is. However, if you're currently scoring 169 and you're only missing about 10 questions per test, you're competing against the best of the best. That means you have to be painstakingly detailed in your approach to the exam.

As for the errors per section that you listed, I wouldn't get overly focused on perfecting Logic Games at the expense of RC and LR. Keep in mind, there were 9 more points you could have picked up in those two section types, whereas you only left 2 behind in LG. If LG is your strength, keep it that way by practicing once or twice a week and drilling diagrams and inferences. However, it sounds to me like you might benefit more from digging in to the different LR question types in more detail.

Again, the best way to start narrowing your focus is an error log. Identify what actually needs to be improved. Then, instead of asking "how do I study for my next LSAT?" you can ask a more effective question like, "In Inference questions, how do I avoid falling for the answer choice that sounds right but is technically too specific?"

Does that make sense?

felineceline wrote: Ok, makes sense. Do you mind sharing how you drilled LG? (What materials you used? How long? etc)

My study methods aren't gonna be very helpful because I just did PTs pretty much and I started off really well with LG (learned how to do the games pretty early on and had a method that worked for me to figure them out). But good luck. Like the poster above me said: don't double down on LG at the expense of the other sections. Just try to not miss any easy points there, in whatever way works for you.

magooshtravis wrote:Feline,

Have you been paying attention to the types of questions you're missing on both your practice tests and on the one real LSAT that was publicly released (June 2015)?

I would recommend keeping a detailed error log that lists each question you miss by section, type, and the error you made. This way, you can figure out whether there's a pattern to the mistakes you're making, and you can focus on building two things:

1) A system to recognize when you're likely to make a mistake, and
2) A process to avoid that mistake.

If this sounds tedious, it's because it is. However, if you're currently scoring 169 and you're only missing about 10 questions per test, you're competing against the best of the best. That means you have to be painstakingly detailed in your approach to the exam.

As for the errors per section that you listed, I wouldn't get overly focused on perfecting Logic Games at the expense of RC and LR. Keep in mind, there were 9 more points you could have picked up in those two section types, whereas you only left 2 behind in LG. If LG is your strength, keep it that way by practicing once or twice a week and drilling diagrams and inferences. However, it sounds to me like you might benefit more from digging in to the different LR question types in more detail.

Again, the best way to start narrowing your focus is an error log. Identify what actually needs to be improved. Then, instead of asking "how do I study for my next LSAT?" you can ask a more effective question like, "In Inference questions, how do I avoid falling for the answer choice that sounds right but is technically too specific?"

Does that make sense?

Yep, thanks! I remember I had struggled with strengthen/weaken LR questions while practicing. I'll go through my June 2015 and see what inferences I can draw.