Prep suggestions for September retake?

[tianweiliu94]

Hi everyone,

I recently got my scores back for the June LSAT, and ended up with 168. Since my goal score was 175, I’m applying to retake the exam in September. Up till now, I’ve been doing mostly self study, and have gone through an ungodly amount of textbooks + over 15 practice tests.

What would you guys recommend as a next step, for getting that 7-point increase? I’m thinking of taking classes (since I’ve exhausted all my self-study materials), but am not sure if it’s worth the time and money to get a private tutor. However, that being said, taking group classes seems like it might also not be so smart, since I’ve already fairly grasped the LSAT basics and methodology.

Thoughts?

[Dave Killoran]

Hey T,

Thanks for the message! My initial thought is that you are right—if you have studied a lot of the LSAT basics and even advanced stuff, taking a course might not give you as much value as it would otherwise. I think you'd still get a lot out of it, but tutoring might be more focused.

Two additional thoughts: first, the tutoring decision would be made easier if I could see your last few score breakdowns (I need score analyses, a la the ones we have at http://students.powerscore.com/self-study/index.cfm). That would help me assess which of a class or tutoring was likely to be the best time/money decision. Second, regardless of the approach you decide on, one thing I would want you to do is ramp up the number of tests you take. 15 is a solid base, but I'd like to see you do at least 15 more in the coming months. Once you have the techniques down, it's a matter of practicing relentlessly so everything becomes second nature.

That's a start, and please let me know about your score results if you can. Thanks!

[tianweiliu94]

Hey T,

Thanks for the message! My initial thought is that you are right—if you have studied a lot of the LSAT basics and even advanced stuff, taking a course might not give you as much value as it would otherwise. I think you'd still get a lot out of it, but tutoring might be more focused.

Two additional thoughts: first, the tutoring decision would be made easier if I could see your last few score breakdowns (I need score analyses, a la the ones we have at http://students.powerscore.com/self-study/index.cfm). That would help me assess which of a class or tutoring was likely to be the best time/money decision. Second, regardless of the approach you decide on, one thing I would want you to do is ramp up the number of tests you take. 15 is a solid base, but I'd like to see you do at least 15 more int he coming months. Once you have the techniques down, it's a matter of practicing relentlessly so everything becomes second nature.

That's a start, and please let me know about your score results if you can. Thanks!

Dave,

Thanks so much for the prompt reply. I definitely will be taking more practice tests in the coming months.

For my actual June LSAT, the breakdown was thus:
Logical Reasoning #1: -2
Logical Reasoning #2: -5
Logic Games: -5
Reading Comprehension: -1

For most of my practice exams, and definitely for the last 5 I took, I had been averaging around 173 - 175, but with generally the same ratio of errors in each area as above (that is, with most mistakes in LR and LG sections). During the exam itself, I ran out of time on the Logic Games and for the second LR section, which leads me to believe that something in my approach is fundamentally holding me back - hence my concern as to whether a tutor would be best to help me focus on the two sections, or if I need to take a course to re-learn the basics.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi T,

Looking over what you've sent, I'm wondering how much pressure played a role in your most recent performance. I say that because it's hard for me to think that there's something wrong with your basic approach if you have multiple practice tests at the 175 level. You've shown you can consistently score in that range, and that doesn't happen by accident. So, when you see a drop like this on the real test, the first thought I have isn't that your approach is wrong. And because of that I certainly can't see that you need to re-learn the basics—you are well past that stage

Second, as you may have seen from our recent posts on the LG (http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-jun ... es-1-and-2 and http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-jun ... es-3-and-4), this test wasn't a bad one at all for LG so your time problems make me wonder about what happened during your exam. If you take more practice tests and your score goes right back into the mid-170s, then it's extremely likely that your general methods and techniques aren't the issue.

If you have been practicing at a higher level and then see a sudden drop on test day, it's usually down to one of a few things:

• 1. Something about this particular LSAT. In other words, a Casino Effect.
  
  2. Something that happened externally at or before the test, such as some of these factors.
  
  3. Some type of pressure or anxiety issue. This is perhaps the biggest problem for high-level testers, and is often the culprit when there's a fairly large drop from practice scores that were consistently higher.

So, looking at that background, I feel like a course isn't the optimal approach. I feel like a tutor would be the better method to use, since a tutor can focus solely on the issues you have and a tutor can easily identify whether any problems exist in your knowledge base.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!