Logical or analytical reasoning? Forum

[Blougram]

I signed up for the June LSAT as I am seriously contemplating a mid-30s career change. My idea was to take it "cold" and try to study more before the December administration. So far, I have taken a few older tests with the results in the following span:

Logical reasoning: 21-25
Reading comprehension: 24-26
Analytical reasoning: 11-17

So, yes, I'm struggling with the analytical section. I stress out; part of my brain jumps down rabbit holes "Hm. I wonder why the antique dealer would only sell the harpsichord on Mondays". I also tend to miss inferences that you can make from the original setup. When I read the solutions they seem to be obvious, but yet, I miss them. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to make the most use of my time before next week? There is a huge difference between getting 21 x 2 vs. 25 x 2 on the logical reasoning section. I feel that might be within the realm of possibility, whereas boosting the analytical reasoning section seems utterly impossible, which is why I'm inclined to only focus on the logical reasoning.

Cheers,
Blougram

[generic noob]

Why would you take an official test cold? Firstly, even though law schools say they care only about your highest score, they think doing well on your first try is definitely better. Secondly, it would cost less at this point to postpone your test for a small additional fee and buy the 10 official preptests than registering twice.

[CottonHarvest]

Analytical Reasoning, which you will usually hear called Logic Games (LG), is the easiest section to improve. I would say you definitely need to postpone. Get the LSAT Trainer to help with LR, the PowerScore LG Bible, watch 7Sage explanations of LG on YouTube, and a bunch of preptests. With your current scores on LR and RC, there is no reason you can't be a 170+ scorer. There is no need to rush into the test now. Just postpone and take September or December.

[MediocreAtBest]

Postpone until September, you're doing yourself a disservice if you take it in June especially since you obviously have a ton of potential if you're getting mid 160s without any real preparation. Postpone, get a great score, you won't regret it.

[Slippin' Jimmy]

Don't take in June. When I started I wasn't much better than you at LG, and now I'm -0/-1 in most sections. You're just going to have to do games over and over and watch the 7sage videos for every game you do. In addition to doing some kind of course (I recommend 7sage) you'll probably want to do every LG from ATLEAST PT 29 at some point.

[Blougram]

Thanks for the tips! I'll seriously consider postponing. I guess I had an almost fatalistic idea that there isn't that much you can do to boost your LG score. Either you have the right mindset (call it intelligence, inclination, whatever) or you don't. When I was a kid, my best mate loved these kinds of tests; he would devour puzzle books. Now, he's a tenured physics professor

I've always done well on verbal tests (despite English being my second language) but struggled with math. Case in point: when prepping for the GRE I didn't pay that much attention to the verbal section, but spent considerable time on algebra and geometry refreshers. The result? Verbal: 170/170, math 158/170.

It's comforting to know that people have been able to crack the LG section. I guess the number of possible games is finite.

[Experiment626]

LG is basically a few different base types that once you've mastered them you can deal with the slight changes that get thrown in from test to test, minus the occasional random ass one that doesn't fit and you have to figure out on the fly but even knowing how to attack the regular ones will help you devise a plan if you get that test that has the one non-standard game.

I agree with the others that you should delay and study. Once upon a time they used to average your scores if you took it more than once.

[Blougram]

Except for the extra fee, are there any real penalties to taking the LSAT multiple times (by which I mean two)? Put differently, will your average Top 20 Law School reason along the lines of: "Well, he did get 170, but it was on his *barely concealed disdain* second attempt. He only scored 167 the first time around. We will assume that this is his true ability"?

[Slippin' Jimmy]

Except for the extra fee, are there any real penalties to taking the LSAT multiple times (by which I mean two)? Put differently, will your average Top 20 Law School reason along the lines of: "Well, he did get 170, but it was on his *barely concealed disdain* second attempt. He only scored 167 the first time around. We will assume that this is his true ability"?

Only school that cares about multiple takes is Yale. Only issue you would have is if you absolutely bomb the first test (I'm talking sub 140s) then there's a very outside chance you'd have to write an addendum.

[zkyggi]

Removed post...