Same Scores Past 3 Months-20 days left

[Nikki Siclunov]

Sam,

Yup, that's exactly what I would do too, if I were you - a day without any LSAT can be incredibly beneficial. Don't underestimate the effects of stress and proper test mentality on your performance!

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the benefits of tutoring, particularly in your case. I'm afraid the issues you're having, especially with RC, are well beyond the capacity of an LSAT forum, even one staffed by PowerScore instructors Sitting down with a seasoned instructor who can diagnose precisely what you're doing wrong is perhaps the best thing you can do in the next two weeks. I realize that this advice might be construed as self-serving, but - self-interest aside - tutoring does provide the level of personalized assessment and help that no other venue can possibly compete with.

Glad you like the blogs!! Let us know if there is anything else we can help with.

[JWLee]

Hi Nikki & Sam

I just want to say thank you because I share almost same situation with Sam and this forum is very helpful for me.

I’ve been studying for LSAT for the past 3 months. I spent 1 month for reading Powerscore LG and RL bible. And I have taking in Powerscore full length online course for 2 months. I have a plan to take June LSAT.

My initial score was 143 before the course. But I hit 149 2nd and 3rd timed prep test, after finishing first 3 course lesson. I believed it was promising score and kept going studing.

But My score had not gone up, even lowered for these 2 months. My score was fluctuating from 142 to 149. Especially, LR score was serious. My LR raw score was 60~68% after first two prep test. But during 5 Prep test, my LR score was fluctuating from 36 to 58%.

I know what is my problem. First, I’m a slow reader, so I’m always short on time. I was only able to finish 3/4 RL and 3/4 RC passage during PT. It is natural. Actually, English is not my native language. It is my 4th language. I graduated foreign university. So I’m good at minority and humanity passage, but not good at American literary or art & science passage.
Second, I’m still struggling to apply LR method I’ve learned to real LSAT problem. Now I can recognize each question type almost 100%. But I believe I need more practice to increase accuracy.

I’ve taken 5 PT last week and finally broke into the 150s 3 times. But it’s only 2 weeks left for June LSAT. My goal is not super high. Mid or high 150 is fine for me as first test taker. I’m little bit nervous because I’m not sure weather or not I’m able to archive my goal. What I need to do? more practice test? or basic concept recap?

Anyway, thank you for the great discussion. I’m a little bit relived I’m not alone. And I’m enjoying forum discusstion between Sam and Nikki.

Thank you.

JW Lee

[wshah11]

Hey JW Lee,

Glad my experience posting here is helping others too. I too, am happy that I am not the only facing the same experiences these past months. I would recommend checking these blogs out more they are resources for alot of answers I've have been having that I haven't even bothered posting because I find the answers there!

Sam

[wshah11]

Hey Nikki,

So I just came back today from my rest day yesterday and fell pretty refreshed. I am planning out the rest of studying and I could use your wisdom on determining it. The 26th,28th,30th,1st, and 3rd I have decided to do my last PT's. I plan on starting off the morning warming up with 2 LG's, lunch, taking the test, Review and fix and call it a day on those days. For the days in between I'll be focusing on RC like we talked about on a lighter load. I'll be sticking to the number of passages you provided earlier. And after each PT If I see any huge or problems pattern still. I will be using the in between days reading over and practice those concepts. Any more suggestions till then?

Also for my last day June 5th. I was thinking of doing 1 LG, 1 Reading Passage, and maybe 5 LR questions in the morning and for the rest of the day go out with friends and relax. Should I do any more stidying then that on June 5th?

Thanks
Sam

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hey Sam,

This sounds like a solid plan! It may be a bit of an overkill to review each PT on the same day you take it. Assuming you'll have a fair number of questions, games, and passages to go over, it may be wiser to review each test on the following day instead. Score it immediately, then put it aside for the rest of the day. Then, the next day - re-do all the questions you missed, then thoroughly review the entire thing. This should take up a significant chunk of time during your "in-between" days. Spend the rest of these days focusing on RC, as we talked. Try not to exceed 4-5 hours of LSAT prep/day.

I completely agree that you shouldn't do anything on the day before the test. The warm-up routine you mentioned would be great to do in the morning of June 6, about an hour or two before the actual test begins.

JW Lee - thanks for posting your question on this thread. English is also not my native language (it's my third, as a matter of fact), so don't let this fact discourage you. Logic is the same in every language - that's part of its beauty Yes, you may find that your reading pace is a bit slower than average, but what the RC section seeks to measure is reading comprehension, not reading speed. I myself am a very, very slow reader - it sometimes takes me as long as 4 minutes to read a passage. I still answer all the questions with a few minutes to spare at the end The point is that if you know what you're doing, if you approach each problem, game, or passage in an optimally efficient way, then your reading speed will be almost irrelevant to your ability to quickly and accurately answer each question.

Of course, I cannot predict if you'll be able to reach your goal of mid/high-150's by June 6. No one can. But if you are able to isolate specific weaknesses and address them head-on, I see no reason why your scores won't continue to improve until then. I've seen many students for whom a certain concept doesn't click until literally a few days before the test. That fact alone should give you confidence that you should continue reviewing the basic concepts - especially the ones you tend to struggle with the most - alongside timed practice sections and tests. You need to do both, as each type of exercise serves an independent purpose.

Good luck, guys!

[wshah11]

Hey Nikki,

Good news, today I got a 154, highest score yet! I guess taking it easy and having that break day helped? I learned a couple things from this PT that I was wondering if you could assist on.

1. I got a lot of must be true questions wrong in LR
2. A lot Justify questions wrong in LR
3. RC speed still needs improvement I am still hitting that 3.5/4 RC passages. I need to increase my speed.

These were the conditions that helped got me the score today that were different from all other previous LSAT PT's.
1. I got a 100% on one of the LG
2. The science passage really interested me. (I did the best on this one, my weakness, go figure)
- I guess I got lucky on this test with the RC science passage? Hopefully it shows my skills have been improving.

Last note, in the previous post you mentioned to not review my exam throughly on the same day I take a PT, (Which I will do right now) does that mean I should only do the PT on the days assign to taking PT's and no other review? Just looking for some clarification.

Thanks
Sam

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Sam,

Good job on that last test! See, I told you - a mental break is all you need to get out of that rut

Judging from your lower-than-average accuracy on MBT and Justify questions, I suspect that you need to brush up on your conditional reasoning skills. Both question types are associated with stimuli that contain conditional reasoning, so it's entirely possible that this is at the root of the problem. Just a theory.

As far as RC is concerned, one's level of engagement with the text is a good predictor of accuracy: the more interested you are in the subject matter, the better you will generally do. So, you may want to scan all four passages before you delve into the section, and choose to start with the one whose topic you like the most. Inversely, since you're having trouble finishing the section anyway, you may want to leave for last the passage that you are likely to find the most foreign and/or uninteresting.

As far as test reviews are concerned, you should generally avoid reviewing your tests on the same day that you take them. As I mentioned earlier, leave the test reviews for the days when you're not taking practice tests.

Good luck!

[wshah11]

Hey Nikki,

Just took the December 2009 LSAT and scored a 158! 4 point jump in two days? (Anything you might know that might explain this?) I did significantly better on my LR sections then ever before. I did very well on my LG section as well, while slightly improving on my RC section. Still though, my RC section is my lowest score and is still bringing down my overall score by how much I am missing on it. Today, I lost one question on LG section due to time, I completed 1/2 LR sections on time with the other I had to guess on the last two. While with RC, I had just barely made it. (Couple seconds left.)

I think the key now is to keep doing these PT's every other day, focusing on reviewing my exams and doing RC in the days in between, like we discussed, and doing the 4-5 hours a day studying. You are totally right, I need to keep my mind as fresh as possible, its been showing that burning out my brain everyday has not been too beneficial. If I just get this timing down I am sure I can even get more points! Anything else you suggest to keep doing during these last upcoming days? Or should I just keep doing what we talked about?

Thanks
Sam

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Sam,

The score variations you are seeing are natural I wrote about this with another student last year, and I think you might find my response helpful. It's my first reply at: lsat/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7473.

And definitely click through and read that link on the LSAT Casino. It explains what you are seeing, and why you will continue to see some variations.

And, having read through this thread, i agree with Nikki's advice, and think you should keep following it. Thanks and keep working hard!

[wshah11]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the advice about the Casino Effect. You had perfect timing, because I just took another PT right now and scored a 149. I dropper significantly from my 158. (Just when I started to think I had the hang of things) I did significantly worse on both LR sections on this on (Dec 2014) then the one I just took 2 days ago. My RC section was weaker too, but my LG section stayed the same. I also completed all the sections timed too.

According to your Casino Effect Article, maybe I was dealt a "Bad Hand" on this exam. I'll still be taking 2 more before next Monday. I'm trying to see what score range I'll be scoring, but this is too much variation at this point.

Thanks
Sam