Improve score from 163 to 173 in two weeks?

[paultonm]

Hi! Desperate post here. The top line: My latest score is a 163. My goal is a 173. I have done very little studying until this week. I have two weeks till the test. Is my goal realistic, and regardless, what should I do?

The longer version:

I signed up for the January LSAT at the last minute a few weeks ago. I was promptly hit with an insane work + holiday schedule, so this week is the first I've studied in earnest for a long time. My latest practice score is a 163, and I'm working quickly through the PowerScore LR and Logic Games books. (I usually score near-perfect on Reading).

I've noticed that I do well EITHER on LR or Logic Games, but not both. Example: two tests back (scored a 161), I attempted 3 of the 4 logic games, missing only 1 of the questions I attempted. (Missed all but 1 of the questions on the fourth game, where I just put random answers). On that same test, I missed several LR questions and only a couple reading questions. On the test where I got 163, I only missed a total of 5 LR questions across the two sections, but missed literally half of the logic games section. (I missed five reading questions, all of which were questions I skipped to save time - but that's the most I've missed on LR across multiple tests).

I think this may be a stamina issue? Typically I do best on whichever section is earlier.

Additionally, the questions I miss in LR are inconsistent -- there's not really a pattern to it. I generally do well (miss about 2-3 questions in each section), but out of the blue I'll miss several questions in an LR section. By contrast, I'm consistent in Logic Games: I'm fine, just slow, at linear games. Grouping/arranging kinds of games are bad news.

I work very well under pressure, and have a relatively free evening and weekend schedule between now and the test. (Save, unfortunately, the couple days RIGHT before the test, due to unexpected work travel). That said...am I being over-optimistic about improving my score 10 points in two weeks?

And regardless, what is the best thing I can do right now to boost my score as much as possible?

[overheadSPIDERS]

10 points in 2 weeks is intense. I'm sure it's doable, but... Have you considered pushing your test date back to March? There's a pretty high chance you'll see at least one grouping game on the test. If you were to push back to March, I'd focus on speeding up linear games and learning basic grouping games (do the exercises in the powerscore books) and then trying to figure out if there's certain question types you're missing most often on LR.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi! Desperate post here. The top line: My latest score is a 163. My goal is a 173. I have done very little studying until this week. I have two weeks till the test. Is my goal realistic, and regardless, what should I do?

The longer version:

I signed up for the January LSAT at the last minute a few weeks ago. I was promptly hit with an insane work + holiday schedule, so this week is the first I've studied in earnest for a long time. My latest practice score is a 163, and I'm working quickly through the PowerScore LR and Logic Games books. (I usually score near-perfect on Reading).

I've noticed that I do well EITHER on LR or Logic Games, but not both. Example: two tests back (scored a 161), I attempted 3 of the 4 logic games, missing only 1 of the questions I attempted. (Missed all but 1 of the questions on the fourth game, where I just put random answers). On that same test, I missed several LR questions and only a couple reading questions. On the test where I got 163, I only missed a total of 5 LR questions across the two sections, but missed literally half of the logic games section. (I missed five reading questions, all of which were questions I skipped to save time - but that's the most I've missed on LR across multiple tests).

I think this may be a stamina issue? Typically I do best on whichever section is earlier.

Additionally, the questions I miss in LR are inconsistent -- there's not really a pattern to it. I generally do well (miss about 2-3 questions in each section), but out of the blue I'll miss several questions in an LR section. By contrast, I'm consistent in Logic Games: I'm fine, just slow, at linear games. Grouping/arranging kinds of games are bad news.

I work very well under pressure, and have a relatively free evening and weekend schedule between now and the test. (Save, unfortunately, the couple days RIGHT before the test, due to unexpected work travel). That said...am I being over-optimistic about improving my score 10 points in two weeks?

And regardless, what is the best thing I can do right now to boost my score as much as possible?

I agree with Overheadspiders here, that this is going to be tough and perhaps you should consider pushing it back. In particular, this tells the reason why: "I have done very little studying until this week. I have two weeks till the test."

If that's not possible, the good news is that your reading is solid, which means that your problems on this test are most likely related to not knowing what they want as opposed to simply not being able to pick up everything they say). this means one approach you can try is to cherry pick the concepts you learn. For starters, go to http://students.powerscore.com/self-study/ and grab the one-month study plan (it's free). It covers all three Bibles, but just ignore anything related to RC. That reduces the chapters we direct you to to the essential ones, so for example in LR it will have you skip chapter 13 (formal Logic) because it's not tested much (directly at least). This "selective focus" approach gets you the most amount of info on the most important topics in the shortest period of time

Random misses in LR stem from not knowing the concepts they are testing (and the right tools to combat those ideas). you will want to learn the basics in Lr as quickly as possible to get better there.

And stamina could very well be an issue here!

Please let me know what you think, thanks!