LSAT Round 2- how to study for retake? Forum

mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:05 pm

First, something depressing: The first thing I did when I got home from the Dec 2015 LSAT was tearfully sign up for the Feb exam.

Though the test was not an outright disaster, I am certain--due in large part to that notorious LG--that my score will be well below my PT avg. and not at all a true reflection of my LSAT abilities. I did not cancel my score, but I'm not holding my breath or anything.

Now I'm trying to figure out a study strategy for round two, and could really use some advice from people who've been there (or not). In particular, I am struggling because:

1. I felt well-prepared the first time around (Testmasters online course and 16 timed, 5-section PTs "simulated test conditions")
2. I've already taken many of the most recent preptests
3. I can't pinpoint any one area that desperately needs improvement and my sub-par performance on test day stemmed from the domino effect of getting caught off guard by one particularly strange question and then failing to recoup

So, does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions from their own experience on how to approach a retake? Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you so much!

amta · Post by **amta** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:09 pm

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mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:20 pm

169, with a range from 166-171. The last 5 PTs I took before the test (PT 72-76) were consistent 170s and two 171s.

amta · Post by **amta** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:56 pm

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mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:19 pm

Thanks so much for your help! I definitely agree with you that PTs seem like the best use of time.

Just one question (which I'm a little embarrassed to be asking this late in the game)--what does drilling entail? Is it something you do timed or untimed? Do you have any drilling strategies that you would recommend?

Much appreciated!

amta · Post by **amta** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:42 pm

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xxxman · Post by **xxxman** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:44 pm

I would never tell anyone NOT to study for any test

169 is pretty good, but it never hurts to repeat. The score does expire after 5 years, but I doubt that will be an issue.

gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:45 pm

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mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:00 pm

amtaDA916 wrote:
mbk271613 wrote:Thanks so much for your help! I definitely agree with you that PTs seem like the best use of time.

Just one question (which I'm a little embarrassed to be asking this late in the game)--what does drilling entail? Is it something you do timed or untimed? Do you have any drilling strategies that you would recommend?

Much appreciated!
Basically just doing lots of the same game/question types outside of PTing. I drill un-timed because I am working on understanding the types of questions I am missing. If you have a problem with time then I would recommend shortening times for sections on PTs and pushing yourself harder that way.

What resources do you use for drills? I kind of panicked and extended my Testmasters account subscription (which was absurdly, infuriatingly expensive and probably not worth it but I needed access to all of my old PT score breakdowns... ugh...) so I'd obviously like to try and make use of their materials. So if I were to drill LR, for example, would it make sense to go and do a whole bunch of Type One questions (to use the TM terminology) at one time? And continue to do the same for different question types?

amta · Post by **amta** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:02 pm

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amta · Post by **amta** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:03 pm

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mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:05 pm

xxxman wrote:I would never tell anyone NOT to study for any test

169 is pretty good, but it never hurts to repeat. The score does expire after 5 years, but I doubt that will be an issue.

Ha yeah I'd be fine with a 169 but I'm fairly certain that's out of the realm of possibility with frantic guesses for half the LG section... Such a shame too, because I always love(d) games

mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:37 pm

gamerish wrote:I was able to address a lot of my timing issues by taking timed sections outside PTs. I used the Cambridge bundle so I pulled the really old PTs (like 39-45) into separate sections and took each of them timed. It doesn't have the same pressure of a PT since there's no score hanging over your head so I felt like I was able to think about my thought process a lot more clearly while going through it. And then when timing became my primary issue rather than accuracy I started doing all of my drilling timed as well; even when I didn't have actual sections from full PTs I'd pull together 26ish LR questions, four RC passages and 4 games and time them.

This is super helpful, thank you. Timing is probably my biggest issue so I could definitely benefit from that. I just downloaded the Cambridge PDFs for preptests 41-50, but I was planning to use those as full timed PTs. Maybe I'll get some older tests to use for individual section practice... It's tough the second time around when you feel like you're running out of fresh resources, especially after doing Testmasters I feel like it's impossible to find a totally "pure" PT.

Thanks again!

gamerish · Post by **gamerish** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:48 pm

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mbk271613 · Post by **mbk271613** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:58 pm

gamerish wrote:
mbk271613 wrote:This is super helpful, thank you. Timing is probably my biggest issue so I could definitely benefit from that. I just downloaded the Cambridge PDFs for preptests 41-50, but I was planning to use those as full timed PTs. Maybe I'll get some older tests to use for individual section practice... It's tough the second time around when you feel like you're running out of fresh resources, especially after doing Testmasters I feel like it's impossible to find a totally "pure" PT.

Thanks again!
Actually, pulling PTs you've already done into timed sections can be very helpful. I did that when studying for Dec with many of the PTs while preparing for Oct. I found that I simply didn't remember the vast majority of questions and those that I did were the difficult ones I had a hard time with and redoing them was actually helpful for review purposes.

Great point, and what a relief. I will definitely be doing that.