December - need to go from 170 to 175+ and need LR help Forum

[Russellwestbrookzero]

Hi All,

Ive been prepping extremely hard for the December LSAT and a little over a month to make significant gains in my exam. I feel very comfortable with both RC and LG, but consistently do not score well on LR. My GPA is not ideal(~3.5) so to get into a top 6 school (which is my goal) I will need a 175+.

I have been taking practice exams for about a month now and my scores (timed) have ranged from 168-172 and I generally score around 170. Here is my usual breakdown:
RC: -1/2
LG: -0/-1
LR: -6/-9

The LR is really prohibiting me from getting a higher score; I will have a good section but then will blow a -5 on the 2nd LR portion. This has happened consistently and I am always under time pressure to finish the questions. Any tips on how to improve on this section so get to around -4 total by test day? Given my scores in the other sections would it make sense just to do LR sections for a couple of weeks to shore up my weaknesses?

Here is my plan until the exam:

1. Continue reading over the fundamentals of LR
2. Focus on timed LR sections the next two weeks until my scores significantly improve
3. Take full length timed practice exams - two weeks before the exam start taking the most recent tests.

Appreciate your help!

[Law2020hopeful]

I'm replying to say that I am in the exact same boat as you, almost.

I'm averaging -0 on RC (I started out at -3 on my cold diagnostic so it was relatively easy for me to figure out the RC nuances)
I'm averaging -2 on LG (I started out being completely psyched out over LG and couldn't even get +10 on a section so that's a huge improvement)
I'm averaging -5 on LR (per section not per 2 sections) and I started out averaging -8/-9 per section. It's more frustrating because I feel like RC and LR should have more of a score correlation between them.

It's SO frustrating that I'm having trouble improving my LR. Generally, at least a couple of the questions i miss, I was debating between the right answer and the answer I chose, so those I always understand but then there are the questions I just miss entirely and it's really frustrating.

I'm currently taking the TestMasters course (on lesson 7/8 so halfway done) so obviously I still have things to learn and I hope that helps. What I did though, was get the Manhattan LSAT books and I started to read the LR one and write my own notes on the fundamentals of LR and each question type. I think it's helping.

I also joined 7sage (the free account) and am reading stuff there as well.

I would say make sure you drill the fundamentals and once you have those down cold, drill questions (I love TestMasters because I can drill only type 1 or type 2 questions if I want so if you're in the market for an online course I recommend them) and then drill sections (I time myself but I don't stop if I go over 35 minutes- though I've only gone over 35 mins once).

Hope some of this is helpful.

[guynourmin]

One thing I don't see many people mention that you did is that you are under pressure time-wise on LR. For me, it is the section that requires no focus on time at all, and I see many more people talk about LG/RC time constraints so I (maybe falsely!) assume its not as big of an issue for many.

If the first 10 questions cost you 60 seconds each, then you should have about 90 seconds per for the remaining. Just skip like nos. 16 & 17 or something, and that will free up 3 min per section. So, now you aren't under a pressure. Are you going -4 (just the skipped Qs)? For me, I need to constantly tell myself to slow down on LR! dumb mistakes add up - most PTs I was getting 3-4 wrong per, but only 1 of them should have been wrong and the rest were me mis-reading because I was going fast. Then I'd have 7-8+ minutes left over at the end but not know where to focus my review!

Obviously slow down isn't the right advice for you, but I do think at high scores dumb mistakes can really sink you. If you have to skip 2 questions to make a 3-4 less dumb mistakes, that might help? good luck!

[34iplaw]

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Just a heads up. Use another test/score tracker in addition to theirs. They will remove your access the day of your test.

[Blueprint Mithun]

Hi All,

Ive been prepping extremely hard for the December LSAT and a little over a month to make significant gains in my exam. I feel very comfortable with both RC and LG, but consistently do not score well on LR. My GPA is not ideal(~3.5) so to get into a top 6 school (which is my goal) I will need a 175+.

I have been taking practice exams for about a month now and my scores (timed) have ranged from 168-172 and I generally score around 170. Here is my usual breakdown:
RC: -1/2
LG: -0/-1
LR: -6/-9

The LR is really prohibiting me from getting a higher score; I will have a good section but then will blow a -5 on the 2nd LR portion. This has happened consistently and I am always under time pressure to finish the questions. Any tips on how to improve on this section so get to around -4 total by test day? Given my scores in the other sections would it make sense just to do LR sections for a couple of weeks to shore up my weaknesses?

Here is my plan until the exam:

1. Continue reading over the fundamentals of LR
2. Focus on timed LR sections the next two weeks until my scores significantly improve
3. Take full length timed practice exams - two weeks before the exam start taking the most recent tests.

Appreciate your help!

Two pieces of advice for you:

1. Track which question types you are getting wrong, and compile the results from multiple tests to see if there are any patterns. Spend more time working on your weaknesses.
2. Set a benchmark of a certain number of questions to have completed by a certain point. For example, the first 10 questions in 10 minutes. Make it your goal to hit this consistently. It will help you develop an intuitive sense of the right pace at which to work. Also, since LR questions typically get harder the further you get in the section, it makes more sense to finish the easier questions quickly, so that you have more time to complete the harder ones.

[and-peggy]

I would also suggest going back and reviewing each question (or at the very least the ones you weren't certain about and the ones you got wrong- maybe circle them while you're marking down answers) and thinking through why the right answer is right and why the wrong answers are wrong. This can take a lot of study-time, but it helps you to more easily and quickly identify the right answers when you actually take the test if you do it enough.