Is my brain just not wired the right way for LSAT? Forum

[missjd]

I took LSAT twice already: 1st time - 149 after prep course, 2nd time (a year later) - 143 with self prep (i admit i did not put enough efforts, had ft job and a baby).
now i'm taking another prep course, feel like a total looser . but still hope get at least close to 160, this time, i'm studying hard. is it realistic at all?

[Mikey]

put the time and effort in, and you will get where you want

[studyingeveryday]

Hey! It definitely is realistic to start from where you are to reach 160. You know yourself that you didn't put in the effort that you need to, and that you didn't have time. Don't be discouraged! Usually, I think prep courses are only helpful for mastering the basics or getting on a schedule, but I think it might help you since you do need to learn the basics first to get past that 150--but make sure to study on your own as well which is where the most important improvements will happen, not in class during a prep course. Browse these forums for tips and don't take the test until you know you're ready to score where you need to (as in, you've gotten that score during practice tests at least close to 5 times).

[Rigo]

Maybe not. If you didn't put in the time, it's hard to say.
Law school isn't for everyone. Hell, it isn't for the majority of applicants.

[maybeman]

Unless you have close to a 4.0 and/or local objectives for employment, don't spend the money on another prep course. Or if you do, go hard and aim for a 170, not a 160.

[Instrumental]

I'm inclined to think it's possible. Take a lot of PTs and analyze each and every question you got wrong. Find out why the right option makes sense, why you missed it, why you chose the wrong answer, why it doesn't make sense. It's laborious, but if you keep at it, I think you can change your mental approach. For most if not all LR, there are certain consistent themes you'll see. For example with "what is the necessary assumption" type questions, all you are doing is making a bridge from the stated premise in the prompt to the stated conclusion in the prompt.

For LG, practice games over and over. For the most part, games are the same just with a different background story to set it up. Almost every game is going to begin with the following steps:

1. Write down the "tokens" aka "game pieces"
2. Draw out the board
3. Write down the rules more succinctly.
4. Make inferences and connect the rules.
5. If possible, write out variations of the board based on a rule or multiple rules so that you have every possible iteration.

If you're having trouble at any step, analyze why and work on specifically that and your method of thinking that is causing you trouble.

And then for RC, you're mostly looking for the same things in every passage. Viewpoints, Structure of the passage, Tone of author and people discussed, arguments made, and of course the main point. Remembering where certain details are described is important as well just so you can quickly reference them when you are inevitably asked about it. And also reading all the answer choices before jumping to the passage helps with speed because you may find that you don't need to return to the passage at all as the right answer will often jump out at you.

Make sure you can summarize each paragraph and understood everything before you move on. And never rush reading the passage, that just means spending more time reading it when you inevitably have to go back and reference the passage repeatedly. I'm not one for annotations, I think they slow you down too much, but others can work well with it so you'll have to find what works for you.

And also don't aim for 160. Aim for the best score you can get. The LSAT is already doing its best to make you lose points without you automatically assuming you aren't going to get them.

[kindofcanuck]

That is quite possible.

Fortunately for you, brains can be rewired to score much higher on the LSAT. LSAT prep should function to completely revamp the way you think, to study written passages from 1 line to a page studying them for their logical structure.

My bigger question for you would be what went wrong with the prep course, or what didn't happen in your self-study. I agree with Instrumental, the single best way to improve is to take a question you got wrong (or got right but weren't sure about), and write out for every single answer choice why one is right and four are wrong.

[Blueprint Mithun]

I took LSAT twice already: 1st time - 149 after prep course, 2nd time (a year later) - 143 with self prep (i admit i did not put enough efforts, had ft job and a baby).
now i'm taking another prep course, feel like a total looser . but still hope get at least close to 160, this time, i'm studying hard. is it realistic at all?

I doubt that your brain isn't 'wired' the right way for the test. If you're capable of understanding logic and are a decent reader, then you have the potential to be a strong LSAT taker. Some people will pick up the test faster and more easily than others, but achieving LSAT mastery is more about hard work than natural aptitude. This a test full of repetitive patterns, and there are tried and true methods to succeed on it. It's all a matter of putting in the time and work to learn those methods, and more importantly, to practice them until they become natural.

I'd suggest setting up a schedule where you're doing some LSAT prep most days of the week. And don't feel obligated to take the test by a specific date - plan on studying until you make significant progress, and are nearing your target score.