How to prepare for plan B? Forum

[Liberal Theory]

I don't think I'm going to make it this September. It's 3 weeks out from the LSAT test date and I have only cracked the low 160's twice over the course of 6 weeks of PT'ing so far. Even more discouraging is that both those scores were from PT's 7-18. I only have gotten around to doing two of the newer tests, 62, 71, and 63, and both times my scores were 154-159. I've been doing 5 tests a week for almost a month and will continue to do so until the 16th, but I know better than to expect to improve meaningfully by then.

I need some advice from some of the people here who have struggled too but succeeded in a high score eventually. My questions I want to ask are
-Does anyone recommend cancelling my score? I would like to know my score at least and I know most schools don't care-but with this GRE nonsense coming up I fear the game may change by 2019, when I plan to apply.

-How do I keep my LSAT skills from experiencing atrophy during the fall semester? I NEED to give myself every chance to get 4.0 I can this semester to have a GPA at least over 3.5 by the time I graduate in three semesters. My classes take study priority, and I also need to work to stay debt-free (until law school of course).

Should I test again soon as December, or wait until like June or September of next year? I don't want to test again until I know I'm T-14 stats ready, but I have already wiped out about 15 PT's already and I don't know I can stretch the rest that far meaningfully.

If it helps, I know my weaknesses. I have noticed I am slowly building speed in LG and average about -1 per game, and can do about 3 games in 35 minutes. I severely underestimated the difficulty gap of RC between the old and new tests so I need to adapt to that for now. And my LR sections are an enigma to even me, ranging from +14-23 on old and new tests. Mostly struggle with formal logic LR and parallel questions.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

[Pozzo]

1. Don't take September. You've so far not hit close to your target score on PTs, and going in with the intention of cancelling is a bad idea. Just withdraw.

2. Stop taking full PTs. Get back to the fundamentals: Pick up the LSAT Trainer, and Manhattan and/or Powerscore Bibles to get a better grasp of the material. Once you're there, practice problem sets by section and question type. You can intersperse a few PTs, but you should hold those until after you go through the books. PTs are how you gauge progress, not how you actually learn the material. If you keep taking PTs at the rate you are, you'll just burn through them without making any substantial gains.

3. Figure out how much time per week you can dedicate to LSAT prep during the semester and adjust your timetable accordingly. If you can still get in 10-20 hours a week, then consider June. (I wouldn't consider December if I were you.) If you can only commit a couple hours a week, then aim for next September to give yourself next summer to study.

Law school will always be there. Focus on your GPA this semester, because that's going to be huge. Then you can take the time after that to commit to studying while you gain some work experience before going to law school.

[LesPaul1995]

I don't think I'm going to make it this September. It's 3 weeks out from the LSAT test date and I have only cracked the low 160's twice over the course of 6 weeks of PT'ing so far. Even more discouraging is that both those scores were from PT's 7-18. I only have gotten around to doing two of the newer tests, 62, 71, and 63, and both times my scores were 154-159. I've been doing 5 tests a week for almost a month and will continue to do so until the 16th, but I know better than to expect to improve meaningfully by then.

I need some advice from some of the people here who have struggled too but succeeded in a high score eventually. My questions I want to ask are
-Does anyone recommend cancelling my score? I would like to know my score at least and I know most schools don't care-but with this GRE nonsense coming up I fear the game may change by 2019, when I plan to apply.

-How do I keep my LSAT skills from experiencing atrophy during the fall semester? I NEED to give myself every chance to get 4.0 I can this semester to have a GPA at least over 3.5 by the time I graduate in three semesters. My classes take study priority, and I also need to work to stay debt-free (until law school of course).

Should I test again soon as December, or wait until like June or September of next year? I don't want to test again until I know I'm T-14 stats ready, but I have already wiped out about 15 PT's already and I don't know I can stretch the rest that far meaningfully.

If it helps, I know my weaknesses. I have noticed I am slowly building speed in LG and average about -1 per game, and can do about 3 games in 35 minutes. I severely underestimated the difficulty gap of RC between the old and new tests so I need to adapt to that for now. And my LR sections are an enigma to even me, ranging from +14-23 on old and new tests. Mostly struggle with formal logic LR and parallel questions.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

If you are not applying to 2019 there is no need to rush. stop blowing through so many PT's in a week so you have enough by next year.