Struggling to Improve

[rozewiczp1]

Hello PowerScore,

My first LSAT is coming up this Sunday and I am very stressed. I am struggling with figuring out where to focus my studies. My goal has been ~165, my diagnostic was a 151, and after studying for 4 months, 9 practice tests, reading the PS Bibles and completing the live online course, my max score is a 157 and I've been averaging 156. I am not sure what I am missing or what I should be doing that I am not. I have tried to pinpoint my weaknesses but they seem to change each test. I feel like no matter what I do, I cannot get out of the 150's. Do you have any advice or suggestions? I am planning to register for the August test as well.

Thank you,

Peter

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Peter! Congrats on completing your first LSAT this weekend. Regardless of the outcome, it's both an achievement and a great learning experience for if you take it again in August. I hope you're getting a well-deserved break over the next couple days.

It's super common to feel "stuck" at a certain score. I think this blog post from PowerScore does a great job talking about it, so I'm going to send you there:

https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/how-to ... are-stuck/

I especially like the part in that post about tracking all the areas that give you trouble. Try to focus less on your result (score) and more on the process - each individual question type that ever gives you trouble. For each of those question types, are you consistently able to apply the recommended PowerScore approach during your practice tests? Or for example, is there something about say Assumption questions where during the test you're not able to consistently Pre-Phrase an answer? Break it down question type by question type and keep working on every area that gives you trouble. Improvement on the LSAT doesn't come overnight, it comes from months of repeating the same correct approach to each question type until those approaches become second nature.

Posting in detail on the Forum, or scheduling a session with one of our private tutors, about questions that gave you trouble are great ways to see where you can improve in your approach to certain question types.

Hope that helps!

[rozewiczp1]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the advice.

Best regards,

Peter