How to study for the second test

[shirsch]

Hi,
I took my first LSAT in September and scored at the low end of my range. I took the Powerscore Online course so I have the materials to study for the December test, but I am not sure where to start. I really want to break a 160. I find myself losing the most points in Reading Comprehension, and then on the Principle questions and Justify the Reasoning questions. Would you recommend just taking tests over again and focusing on the reading section or is there anything in specific I can do so I don't get as many wrong on the reading? Most of the logic reasoning I got wrong on this test were harder questions, so I will review those but I feel as though I will never be able to perfect some of those hard Logical Reasoning questions. I really appreciate your help!

[Lucas Moreau]

Hello, shirsch,

Reading Comprehension can be unexpectedly difficult, so don't worry too much about having trouble with it - lots of people are.

I would suggest not doing whole practice tests, but rather, doing individual RC sections extracted from practice tests. This will allow you to spend your time most efficiently, focusing on just that which you need the most progress in. Also, if you haven't finished all the homework and drills, there are lots of good problems there. The website also contains many useful supplementary materials.

As far as individual passages, try to focus on what's causing you to lose points. Are you running out of time consistently? If so, why? Perhaps you're rereading the passage too many times, or you're having difficulty with the wordy tone of the passage, or you have trouble connecting questions to the parts of the passage they reference...or perhaps some other things entirely.

Go through the passages and concentrate on your experience, not just the outcome - how do you feel five minutes in? Ten? Twenty? Are you getting the questions you feel confident about right and missing questions you don't feel confident about, or is it the other way around? The more specific you are, the better you'll be at finding the problem areas that'll improve your LSAT greatly if you study them.

Finally, for the Logical Reasoning questions, missing a few of the hardest questions from time to time is perfectly understandable. Some of them get intense. Remember, though, for every question, there's a strong argument proving why the correct answer is correct. There are no ambiguous questions, just questions that seem ambiguous.

Hope that helps,
Lucas Moreau