High Diagnostic/Short Time Frame -> How to Study ? Forum

[jb111]

Took a timed diagnostic cold (the June 07 test from the LSAC website) and scored a 172 this summer. Standard 35 minutes per section, although I did take a 2-3 minute break between the sections. Score was probably a bit lucky, taking it with no prep I think a 172 was the top of my range. Was -0 on LG, which was probably 2-3 better than my fair score. LR and RC were a couple wrong each and I think that was pretty fair.

In any case, I'm a senior in college and wasn't planning on going straight to law school next year. So I stayed focused on my grades all semester (I had a 3.2 during my first two years of school that I have to make up for - 4.0 since and should graduate with about a 3.65). My original plan was to take the June LSAT and then retake if needed in October and apply during Fall 2016 for a Fall 2017 start date. But I've been batting around a few sets of plans for jobs/grad school and decided to try and prep for the February LSAT so I could get a score and a sense of where I stood. Feels valuable to have a score before I graduate so I can talk with my advisers and have more information to weigh what I do after graduating. Plan is to re-take in June if I am not happy with the score.

I started studying a week ago (as soon as the semester ended). I've been burning through the LSAT Trainer + doing a set of games a day. Average LG score is just about -3, but I'm feeling more comfortable even though the scores aren't improving yet. My plan is to mostly focus on games and brute forcing through the LSAT Trainer chapters/drills for the next couple weeks and then just do timed sections/full PTs and blind reviews for a couple weeks before the exam. I think a fair score for me right now is ~170, although with a lot of variance (maybe 165-175). My target score is 175.

Questions are basically these:

1) Does my study plan sound effective for the amount of time I have / my starting strength with the test ?
2) If not, what would you recommend ?
3) Is writing the test in February a mistake (am I getting baited by a high diagnostic when I should be studying for 6 months and locking in a top score) ?
4) Anything else you want to scream at me for missing / thinking I can ignore because I'm a special snowflake ?

My worry is that in rushing to get a score before I graduate, I hit a low 17x (which puts me in a weird spot where I probably end up not retaking even though it is lower than my target). Although I am starting from a great place, I know it's much harder to improve from ~170 to ~175 than say ~150 to ~155, so I might not be giving myself enough time.

Eh. Rambling shit-post. Sorry. But I've been lurking and worrying and thinking and talking with a whole bunch of friends and family who are telling me to relax and just go to whatever shit law TTT will let me in. Want to hear from you guys. Thanks.

tldr: Binked 172 on cold timed diagnostic this summer. Started studying this week. Feel like I'm a ~170 right now. Want a 175. Thinking February. Recommendations for how to study until then? Or do I need to take it slow and write in June?

[Stardust84]

In my opinion, you clearly have an intuitive grasp of the content of the exam, and the LSAT trainer is unnecessary. For a February test I think your time would be best spent taking about 10 practice tests and blind reviewing them. You are only missing a handful of questions per test so I don't see the economy of working through the LSAT trainer.

[sanibella]

I will tell you I was baited by my high diagnostic (I think 171?). I studied a bit and took a few practice tests, all of which were 171 or 172. I received a score in the upper 160s on the real thing.

Decided later on to retake. I studied very hard for several months, this time focusing on the goal score instead of the diagnostic score. I underperformed slightly due to illness and received a 176.

You aren't me, but I would be wary of underperforming due to a high diagnostic. Also, why would you take February instead of June?

[my prole called life]

I also had a high diagnostic. Studied for 6 weeks and got a 177.

At first I took a PT every three days and Looked over the 10 or so questions I missed. Then wrote out why I missed them.
The other two days I did drills. 8 games, 8 RC passages, 2 sections of LR, whatever it was for the day. The key was to make sure I understood what I missed.

3 weeks out I took a PT every other day, but first warmed up by doing 4 old games from the early LSATs. Nothing on my off days.

2 weeks out I took a PT every day.

1 week out I took 1.5 PTs every day

Again, the key for me was to evaluate every single question I got wrong, and get to the point where I could explain in my own words why the correct answer was correct and why the answer I chose was wrong.

[my prole called life]

I also had a high diagnostic. Studied for 6 weeks and got a 177.

At first I took a PT every three days and Looked over the 10 or so questions I missed. Then wrote out why I missed them.
The other two days I did drills. 8 games, 8 RC passages, 2 sections of LR, whatever it was for the day. The key was to make sure I understood what I missed.

3 weeks out I took a PT every other day, but first warmed up by doing 4 old games from the early LSATs. Nothing on my off days.

2 weeks out I took a PT every day.

1 week out I took 1.5 PTs every day

Again, the key for me was to evaluate every single question I got wrong, and get to the point where I could explain in my own words why the correct answer was correct and why the answer I chose was wrong.

All in all went through 40 PTs. 20 or so real PTs and 20 used for drilling.

Only supplement I bought was a collection of early LSAT games b/c they tend to be "weird."

If there's anything you take from this post it's to practice early games. It paid off for me in June when I went -0 on LG despite some quirky games they threw at us. If I wasn't as confident with the old games I would have missed 4 or 5. I literally had to go back and erase all my work for two of the games with 10 minutes left b/c I had misunderstood some key rules. But the composure I'd developed from extensively drilling weird af games saved me.

[RZ5646]

If you're at 170+ and not bombing a section, there isn't much left to learn from books. Just do PTs and really study the questions.

[Pozzo]

.

[jb111]

You aren't me, but I would be wary of underperforming due to a high diagnostic. Also, why would you take February instead of June?

Appreciate the perspective. I want to take in February instead of June because I want to have a score before I graduate. Depending on what score I get, it can influence what I decide to do in the months between graduating and applying.

I also had a high diagnostic. Studied for 6 weeks and got a 177. Again, the key for me was to evaluate every single question I got wrong, and get to the point where I could explain in my own words why the correct answer was correct and why the answer I chose was wrong.

Thanks for your posts. I think your method of studying is something I will borrow heavily from.

If you're at 170+ and not bombing a section, there isn't much left to learn from books. Just do PTs and really study the questions.

In my opinion, you clearly have an intuitive grasp of the content of the exam, and the LSAT trainer is unnecessary. For a February test I think your time would be best spent taking about 10 practice tests and blind reviewing them. You are only missing a handful of questions per test so I don't see the economy of working through the LSAT trainer.

This seems to be the consensus. Thanks for the replies.

[my prole called life]

I also had a high diagnostic. Studied for 6 weeks and got a 177.

At first I took a PT every three days and Looked over the 10 or so questions I missed. Then wrote out why I missed them.
The other two days I did drills. 8 games, 8 RC passages, 2 sections of LR, whatever it was for the day. The key was to make sure I understood what I missed.

3 weeks out I took a PT every other day, but first warmed up by doing 4 old games from the early LSATs. Nothing on my off days.

2 weeks out I took a PT every day.

1 week out I took 1.5 PTs every day

Again, the key for me was to evaluate every single question I got wrong, and get to the point where I could explain in my own words why the correct answer was correct and why the answer I chose was wrong.

Just starting out and in a similar boat. How many hours did you put in per day on average?

PT took around 2 hours and maybe 40 minutes for review. But I'm not too sure about review time.
Drilling 8 games, 8 RC passages, or 2 LR sections took around an hour. Usually less with games.

I'll dump some stuff I remember about studying although it was half a year ago. Someone might find it helpful

A big point for LR, once I built speed, was to actually focus on taking more time per LR question so that I didn't make stupid mistakes.

The most important improvement for me came from Reading Comp, because I had to develop a method of reading and annotating that worked for me. I ended up reading at a fast but very focused pace. I had to practice actively reading and engaging 100% with the text while annotating. It caused me to slightly increase the amount of time I spent reading the passage, but drastically cut down on the amount of time I spent on each question.

Another thing I got good at was knowing when I knew the correct answer and when I didn't, and when I didn't know the correct answer I never went with my gut but spent up to two full minutes trying to understand the question and finding the relevant parts of the passage/argument/whatever it was. This was made up for by me being able to accurately answer easy RC and LR questions in as little as 20/30 seconds. I routinely finished LR sections at -2 with 12-15 minutes to spare, but again I had to consciously work on taking more of time to ensure accuracy.

[jb111]

I'll dump some stuff I remember about studying although it was half a year ago. Someone might find it helpful

I have used a lot of what you said to structure my practice. Thank you for sharing!

I'm using this schedule right now:

Day 1: Full PT & then review and write out why I got any question wrong
Day 2: Full PT & then review and write out why I got any question wrong
Day 3: Full PT & then review and write out why I got any question wrong
Day 4: Look back on what I wrote over the past 3 days and identify the trends/weaknesses. Drill any recurring weak game/question types and write out a strategy to avoid my past mistakes. Flip through the PTs I did and remember what I could have done better.

Repeat.

Going to do this until the semester starts and then switch over to something a bit lighter when I have classes. Probably drill one or two sections a day and review. Full PTs on the weekend (think I have one weekend at school before the test date - will use those to gauge whether I take or cancel).

I think this is the right schedule for me because my biggest issue is just being completely comfortable with the time constraints and the mental strain of doing LSAT stuff for hours on end. At this point I can tell that RC is my weakest and I just need to keep exposing myself to passages. Scoring very consistently between 172-174 with RC being -3 to -5 and LR/LG at -0 to -2. It's weird, sometimes I feel really shaky on the LG but I always end up getting the questions right. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyways.

I know you said that you just had to practice RC and work out a system of annotating/saving time for hard questions/making sure you never went with your gut. Anything else? Although I think I probably just have to do the same and there's no magic pill.