What do I do now?

[ofaircloth]

Hey,

So I bought the powerscore books and went through them all. I've been studying for like a month now and have been taking previous tests that I purchased from the most recent years. Every morning I wake up and take a test and usually get around 157 or so....

I'm taking the Feb LSAT and desperately need a 160 (no higher, no lower) and want to know what I'm supposed to do with the rest of my day. I have tons of books and questions but I just don't feel like I'm advancing anymore...

Any suggestions for a quick and effective study regimin at this point in the game???

Please help me out folks. Thanks

[Dave Killoran]

Hi O,

Thanks for the message, and for buying our books! I have a few questions that perhaps you could answer, and I'm hoping that will give us a better sense of how to advise you.

1. You mention you've been studying a month. Is that a month since you've started overall, or just a month since you finished the books?

2. The PowerScore books you have--is that just the three LSAT Bibles, or does that include the Workbooks, etc?

3. Can you give us an overview of where your strengths and weaknesses are? which section gives you the most trouble, and what types of questions are difficult for you? comments about timing would also be helpful

4. One comment--the current approach you have of taking a test every day strikes me as too aggressive. You aren't giving yourself enough time to review each test and absorb the lessons contained in taking each exam. In that vein, how rigorously are you tracking your correct/incorrect answers and questions types?

In short, any info you can provide that will give us a better picture of you as a test taker will really help us give you advice that is specific to your situation.

Thanks!

[ofaircloth]

Hey,

So I started studying about 2.5 months ago and finished the powerscore books about 3.5 weeks ago.

It seems like my strengths are with the RC (I usually get only about 6 wrong) and my weaknesses are assumption, parallel reasoning and the logic games. I also seem to do much better on sections 3,4,5 of every test. I usually get about a combined of 9-13 questions wrong on the first 2 sections.

I do take my tests up every day and look at all the wrong answers, but as soon as I look at the question again the answer becomes quite obvious. When it's not obvious I look at the answer and always understand why it is right.

I'm getting a tutor for Monday and Tuesday because I figure that can bump me from the high 150s to the 160s where I need to be.

Thanks for writing back though.

O

[Dave Killoran]

Hey O,

Thanks for the response. Since you will be seeing a tutor, I'll let him or her handle the mechanics of some of your assumption/parallel difficulties. Fortunately, with both those question types, there is a lot that can be done to improve performance, so I'm optimistic that you can improve there.

I do have a suggestion about your poor performance early in the test vs your better performance later, and that would be to do a set of about 10-15 LSAT questions before the exam starts (before you leave for the test, for example). That may serve to jump start your brain and get you in LSAT mode, allowing you to perform better from the start of the exam.

Just a thought. Thanks!