Preparation

[niketown3000]

Hello,

I am in a bit of a conundrum. I have just recently finished the Virtual LSAT course for February, but want to take the LSAT in June. I have 3 months to prepare and have completed some of the HW (all the drills) in the PowerScore books. I have most of the practice tests that have been release (plus the PowerScore) ones. I am currently averaging around a 165 and want to bring my score to the 170's.

Do you have any recommendations on how best to spend my time preparing to go to the mid 170's? I have completed all the most the virtual modules, all class lectures, and about half of hw problems. I have taken 4 practice tests also.

I still feel quite shaky in the material so I want to setup a study plan over next 3 months. I will be able to study 25-30hrs per week from now until June. I am continuing to miss on average 5-6 in Logical Reasoning, .5 - 1 entire game in LG, .5 - 1 passage in RC. I know I have to work on timing, but in addition to doing more drills/sets timed do you have any tips on how to spend my time? I really want to do well, and I know how helpful you guys are!

-Niel

[Steve Stein]

Hey Niel,

First of all, congrats on your current level--I'd say that your average score reflects a grasp of the material that might be a bit better than "shaky." It's great that you're crushing the other two sections--that shows a pretty solid understanding, and a bit of improvement in the logical reasoning sections will yield a great score.

I'm sure that there are several questions on any given section that give you no problem whatsoever. But are you getting caught up in particularly difficult questions? How many questions do you skip as you go through a section? Out of curiosity, do your wrong LR answers tend to be grouped together--that is, might you get 5 or 6 in a row right, followed by 2 or 3 in a row wrong? Also, how often you do underline or bracket the conclusion of a stimulus?

[niketown3000]

Hello,

So I just wanted to clarify how many questions per section I am currently missing:

LR: 4-5 Q's
LG: 4-5 Q's (1 Game)
RC: 4-5 Q's (1 Passage)
Scores Avg is actually around a 162 (sorry) trying to get to the 172's

I am just trying to figure out a detailed (step by step)process for how to effectively analyze my performance on practice tests. I remember my LSAT instructor Jeremy told us that Nikki would spend an entire day analyzing practice tests. Can anyone provide some insight into what he did or own ways of analyzing?

Also, here is my plan for the next 3 months. If it is not too much, can you please give me a detail critique of my plan and how I can better prepare for June LSAT. I don't think I will be burnout with this plan.

Keep in Mind: I have access to prep tests 7 - 60 so I plan to take them all.

Month 1: (03/01 - 04/01) - Become Expert in Foundation (L1-L5)
-Analyze past 5 practice tests taken to see areas of improvement
-Go through entire Virtual Course Modules again, emphasis on areas I have been hurting
- Lecture a lesson to myself on lessons 1-5 and breakdown problems on board and acts as though teaching the materials
-Find new drills online and redo PScore ones for Conditional / Causal reasoning (hard time)
-Do John Dennings Prephrase excercise 2 times per week to become more accurate at Prephrasing
-Timed Prep tests (3 every 2 weeks) or 1 a week?
-Analysis of new prep tests taken that month

Month 2: (04/01 - 05/01): Become expert at lessons 6-11
-continue to implement logged analysis of past practice tests and how to improve
- Timed Prep tests (4 every 2 weeks)
- Lecture a lesson to myself on lessons 6-11 and breakdown problems on board and acts as though teaching the materials
- Find new drills online and redo PScore ones for Paralell Reasoning...
-Practice notating and skiming RC passages to get in 2 min, and continue John Denning's Prephrase Excercise
-Start to focus on Killer Logic Games and get analysis of them

Month 3: (05/01 - 06/11) - Study Killer Logic Games, LR Stems, and RC Passages
- Study Killer Logic Games, LR Stems, and RC Passages
-Practice notating and skiming RC passages to get in 2 min, and continue John Denning's Prephrase Excercise
-continue to implement logged analysis of past practice tests and how to improve
- Timed Prep tests (2 to 3 per week)...too excessive?
- Create and follow timed pacing guidlines for each LSAT section
- Create and mimc your own LSAT questions for ones you get wrong to analyze how they create questions



I know it seems excessive, but I really want to practice to get a good score. PowerScore has given the a great foundation to build off of with practice so just need advice on parts of my plan that do not work/areas to add.

THANKS!

[Nikki Siclunov]

This sounds like a good plan, but I would keep the number of practice tests to 1/week in the first month, and 2/week after 4/1. You should aim to take about 20 practice tests until June 11.

Here are a few things you should do when reviewing your practice tests:

1. While taking a practice test, notate any question you had trouble with. Even if it later turns out that you got the question right, it pays to review that question again.

2. When scoring your test, mark the questions you missed without indicating the correct answer choices in your booklet.

3. Do something else for a few hours to clear your head - do not review the test immediately after it's done.

4. Re-do all the questions you missed, and try to figure out the correct answers to these questions on your own.

5. Review all missed questions against the correct answers, including any questions you had trouble with. Identify the reason(s) why you struggled with these questions: was it the wording of the stimulus or the conclusion? Maybe you did not understand the structure of the argument? Did you misunderstand the question stem? Perhaps you failed to prephrase a reasonably good answer to that question? If the stimulus contained conditional or causal reasoning, did you have an issue with the diagram? Was the answer you chose a common "decoy" answer for such types of questions?

6. Using your homework and any supplemental questions available at your disposal, identify similar questions or games to the ones you struggled with. The similarity may be as simple as identifying similar question stems, or as involving as figuring out what aspects of the argument you struggled with the most (conditional or causal reasoning, numbers/#, formal logic, etc.)

7. Over time, you should start seeing patterns in the types of questions you are missing. These patterns should help you hone in on your weaknesses and address them well before the test date.

Good luck!