December Exam

[jcough346]

Hi Powerscore, I've been studying for quite awhile now and am very concerned about my score for the December exam.

I took a diagnostic in July before the online Powerscore course and received a 140. I completed the online class in early September and have been studying fairly religiously during and after the course (3-5 hrs a day). Despite an upward trend my practice tests have been hovering in the mid 140s and up to 148 as my highest. Specifically, my scores have been 140, 140, 142, 145, 137, 144, 145, 148, and 143. The last three exams I scored at the 22.7, 39.7, and 28.9 percentile (not pretty).

Ive made some gains on LG, from 0 games to 1.5 to 2.5ish games completed (decent accuracy).
And over the last three tests: RC: 11-14, 14-12, and 15-11 (Right-Wrong).
LR Ive moved upwards but nothing to write home about (Right-Wrong: 27-25, 29-21, and 24-27).

Considering where I started and the amount of time I had to study I had set an ambitious goal of scoring a 165 but as December quickly approaches that goal appears to be more of a Hail Mary than anything else. I refuse to throw in the towel and am in need of a very time sensitive, focused and tactical approach to improve my score. I am open to doing and trying anything at this point. (If you need a more detailed breakdown of my scores I would be happy to provide it).

Thanks,
James

[Claire Horan]

Hi James,

First, I want to say that it's really wonderful that you are being so honest with yourself about your present performance and how to realistically achieve your goals. You are exactly right in needing to be tactical.

If you took the LSAT right now, based on taking out your earliest scores and the 137 outlier, you could expect a score in the range of 143-148. This is because some differences in score are expected--the test's statistical reliability is not perfect. So, in other words, don't interpret a slightly worse or a slightly better score as necessarily showing regression or improvement.

Okay, so you could take half an hour to look at and analyze one of the tests that you got a 145 on. What would you have had to do differently to get a 150? A 155? A 160? This is not as dumb a question as it sounds. I am saying actually figure out how many more questions you needed to get right for each score and start with figuring out how you could have achieved a 150 (160 is too difficult to see at this point). Find the specific questions and which section they are in.

The answer for how to get a 150 could be:

-Master sufficient/necessary.
-Make diagramming basic linear games second nature.
-Answer more questions before time runs out.
-Answer _____-type questions more accurately.
-Complete the two easiest logic games without making mistakes.
-Complete all linear logic games (because you are better at those than grouping, for example).
-Do only 3 reading passages, read slower, and get all the questions right.

You don't want a "Hail Mary" play. You want a realistic strategy. So, figure out specific reasonable mini-goals based on which problem types are easiest for you and your time constraints. Don't obsess over this. But you should have a very specific idea of how a given performance will translate to a particular score--how many must you get right, on average, for that score and how does this break down.

I don't want to say that achieving a score of 160 is impossible in only this short amount of time. It isn't impossible. But maybe you could pick a date in November when you will average your recent timed practice test scores and determine if that score is high enough for the schools you are interested in. If not, either reevaluate your list of schools or reevaluate your test date.

Good luck!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi James,

Thanks for the question! I agree with what Claire has suggested as a first step, which is to namely determine the local areas that you are close on, and that you could use to gain a few questions here and there to get to 150. From there, you'd stage again into the next score plateau, and then again until you got to where you wanted to be. In a sense, that's a triage approach and it's quite effective as a short-term tool, which is appropriate since we are talking about the December LSAT!

Let me try to add a broader perspective that might help situate her advice and support it, as well as ask some questions that will help me provide some specific steps for you to take. When I look at your overall scoring (and thanks very much for providing that!), a few thoughts come to mind. First, your LG score has come a long way, but when you are stuck at 2-2.5 games it is a natural barrier to hitting the 160s. What's happening there? Tell me about how you select which games to do, which types of games are the most difficult for you, how long it takes to read the scenario, how long it takes to diagram the rules, and so on. Give me a sense of why you are only getting through 2 games or so at this point.

Second, how many questions are you finishing in RC and LR? Would I be correct in suspecting you are running out of time in each section? If so, how close to finishing do you get? Inside each section, have you noticed any patterns in your misses? Do certain passage or question types bother you more than others? This is what Claire was driving at with her questions, and she's right to direct you to focus on some of the more straightforward elements.

In RC, do you find yourself re-reading the passage a lot? And, what's your strategy for reading the passage—do you try to pick up all the details, or do you go for the big picture? Do you make a lot of notes or do a lot of underlining?

Last, do you keep a log of the questions you miss? If so, how is your accuracy when you go back to those questions and redo them?

Ok, that's a start, and pending your responses I'll probably ask more followups and make some suggestions (plus, if you are wondering if something is useful to mention, it probably is ).

I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

[jcough346]

For whatever its worth, I took an untimed practice test today and scored a 159. RC (23/28), LG (18/22), and LR (33/51).

In July I began an online Powerscore course that went through August and a few days into September. Our instructor encouraged us to go through the entire course again which took more than a month (a lot of time which I regret committing to). During the course and up until now I have taken about 9 practice tests without reviewing right and wrong answers (big mistake). Also in that time I worked on practice questions that were giving me trouble.

After entering my test scores into the Test Scoring section of Powerscore I've noticed I struggle basically with everything. There really is no section or question type that I dominate. There are some obvious mistakes like getting "easy" questions wrong, or going through and noticing phrasing and wording that I didn't understand during the exam but easily understand going through after. Despite subtle improvements across the board it seems that Im generally about 50/50 on each question type.

Your also right that the time pressure kills me. I can get though about 20 (+/- 2) when the time kicks in and Ive got to move through a bit more sloppy than I otherwise would like to in order to finish.

Under the current time constraints, my new strategy is to take a practice test timed, and then take the exam again untimed without checking the answers. Then go through the exam start to finish reviewing all right and wrong answers along the way. After that process ends, repeat.

[Dave Killoran]

For whatever its worth, I took an untimed practice test today and scored a 159. RC (23/28), LG (18/22), and LR (33/51).

In July I began an online Powerscore course that went through August and a few days into September. Our instructor encouraged us to go through the entire course again which took more than a month (a lot of time which I regret committing to). During the course and up until now I have taken about 9 practice tests without reviewing right and wrong answers (big mistake). Also in that time I worked on practice questions that were giving me trouble.

After entering my test scores into the Test Scoring section of Powerscore I've noticed I struggle basically with everything. There really is no section or question type that I dominate. There are some obvious mistakes like getting "easy" questions wrong, or going through and noticing phrasing and wording that I didn't understand during the exam but easily understand going through after. Despite subtle improvements across the board it seems that Im generally about 50/50 on each question type.

Your also right that the time pressure kills me. I can get though about 20 (+/- 2) when the time kicks in and Ive got to move through a bit more sloppy than I otherwise would like to in order to finish.

Under the current time constraints, my new strategy is to take a practice test timed, and then take the exam again untimed without checking the answers. Then go through the exam start to finish reviewing all right and wrong answers along the way. After that process ends, repeat.

Hey James,

Thanks for the update! What I often say about study is that if you commit to a certain path, along the way you have to review what you are doing to make sure it's providing you the benefit you want. For example, going through the lessons again can be a huge benefit, but only if you know what it is you need to get from them beforehand. It strikes me that you may not have been in the best position to see what the issues were, hence the feeling of lost time.

Ok, so knowing that, I think there's high value in going through tests. BUT, you must track every miss and difficulty you have. Put it in a spreadsheet if you can (or use the sheets we have in our study plans, here: http://students.powerscore.com/self-study/index.cfm). This will allow you to compile a list of problems you have, which can then be divided into various groups (concept, question type, error type, flaw type, etc). Try to be as detailed as possible because later on this will allow you to diagnose the issues as much as possible. Review that list every week, and see what's being added to the list, and why. that will help guide you back to the areas you need to review.

Please let me know if that makes sense. Thanks!