Someone please tell me it isn't hopeless.

[KKershaw]

So here is my short history with the LSAT

Summer 2014 - While working on my undergrad social work degree, I decided I wanted to go to law school because of several interactions I had with the attorneys I worked with at my job.

February 2015 - Took my first mock LSAT administered by the pre-lw club at my school. I got a 134. In my defense, that was the firs time I had ever looked at a real LSAT.

March 2015 - Started the online virtual online course. At this point, I was also working full-time, and going to school full-time plus taking extra classes in order to complete my minor on time. I would like to say that I put a lot of effort into the class, and worked really hard, but that isn't the truth. In fact, I think I only watched part of the first video and made it through maybe the second homework lesson in the book.

May 2015 - took the in-person weekend course

June 2015 - took an actual LSAT and got a 141.

October 2015 - Signed up for the Online virtual course again, but didn't manage to get through one lesson - Again, full-time student, extra classes etc '

June 2016 - I am enrolled in an online course that started June 30. I made it to the lesson, have watched all but one of the supplemental videos, and have completed some of the homework each night.

Today I took a timed test and got a 143. Now, I'm not trying to get into an Ivy league school or anything like that. In fact, according to the school's site, 152 is the median LSAT score for students who were admitted last year. My goal is a 156. This seems like a pretty daunting task at the moment. Can someone out there tell me it's not hopeless?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi K,

Thanks for the message! First, it's definitely not hopeless From your timeline, it's clear that you've had a lot of conflicts in your studying, and that has unquestionably had a negative effect on your ability to increase your score. But, the score increase you seek is not out of the question given where you started, and I think you will see a much better increase than the 7-9 points you have so far once you can get an extended period of time to focus on studying for this test.

Second, before I go into further detail, can you possibly clarify something for me? You mention being in the online course and then later mention attending an in-person weekend course. The online course you were/are in—is that a weekend online course (what we now call the Accelerated Course) or is it our regular Live Online course (which is basically our full-length course but conducted online)? Once I know the answer there, it will help me give better, more focused advice for how you should proceed.

Please let me know about the course and we'll keep on talking about how to get you where you want to be. Thanks!

[KKershaw]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply and encouragement. The course I am enrolled in currently is the full-length online course. I attended a weekend course last year in Kansas City.


Krys

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Krys,

Thanks for the reply! The reason I asked that question was because I wanted to make sure you were in the right class. And you are, so that makes me feel even more comfortable with your situation For where you started and for the type of score increase you seek, I wanted to make sure you were in a longer, more comprehensive course, and you are. That is the class designed to produce the largest score increases, and will serve you best.

I know you are a bit concerned right now as to whether you can get where you want to be, but I want to reassure you that you still have plenty of time. What is really required here is for you to be able to carve time out of your busy schedule to be able to study intensively. In rough order of what I want you to focus on, it would be:

• 1. The lessons. These are the heart of the course, and they focus on conveying the strategies, concepts, and techniques that we use to break down this test.
  
  2. The homework. I see you have started doing some of the homework each night, and that is excellent. Keep that up! The important thing is to do some questions of each type in order to make sure you have the concepts down, and then to work on those question types that are giving you the most problems. For the former, there is a list of "critical homework" in your online Student Center which will help you identify those sections that we think are most important to learning the ideas. For the latter, you'll naturally sense what doesn't make sense, and of course your test results will help direct your studies as well.
  
  3. The concept reviews. These are helpful to cementing your knowledge of what is broadly covered in each lesson. Make sure to review these when you something doesn't make sense.
  
  4. The remaining online resources. These sections tend to either reinforce main concepts, or explore lesser-tested concepts. So, they are lower on the priority list. Pick and choose the ones you feel are causing you trouble.

The reason I listed these out in order is that with your time at a premium I want to make sure you focus on those areas that will give you maximum benefit. And, of course, as you continue to move through the course, we can make adjustments to what and how you are studying. They important thing is that make as much time as you can for your preparation, especially right now. This isn't a test you can cram for, and so if you can lay a good foundation in the month of July, it will really help you later on. And stay positive—you have plenty of time and room to increase, and you need to believe you can do it in order for it to occur!

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!