3 Weeks Left- Waiting for the Score Jump Still

[KiriA]

Hi all,

I understand this question is asked a lot and I’m sure my situation is no different than most, but I wouldn’t feel like I did everything without discussing.

I began studying at the beginning of May to give me 4 whole months of studying and had a diagnostic of 156. I used a combination of a study guide from another company and the Powerscore Bibles and have been consistently scoring around 161-162. I utilized a test analysis program to help pinpoint areas of weakness and had focused on those more. My blind review has always been 170+. I’m also a subscriber and listener of every Powerscore podcast episode.

I feel like my pacing is quite good, although I think it may be a little too fast (I usually have 3-4 min to review in LR & 2 min in RC), but find that when I spend TOO much time on a question, I begin to second guess myself, often changing a correct answer.

I feel like at this point, I should be seeing a little bit more of a score increase than +5. I understand the concepts, I review each test, and I often notice the questions I miss are a solid mix. I even took a week long break when I felt burned out.

Is it more beneficial to continue doing what I’m doing, hoping to see a score jump before the exam, or is there a change that can possibly help?

Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi KiriA!

Score plateaus are definitely frustrating! But as you say, they're also fairly common so I've got some links for you below with some advice for how to overcome that plateau. The main thing to remember is to really focus on perfecting your process for answering questions--make sure that you are consistently and carefully applying the strategies every time so that you are training yourself to attack these questions in the most efficient way possible. It's one thing to understand the concepts, but to score highly on the test you have to train yourself to really apply these same concepts again and again.

Score Plateaus: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/how-to ... sat-study/
How to Increase Your Score When You Are Stuck: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/how-to ... are-stuck/

These posts are from a former PowerScore student who discusses his regimen for drilling and tracking questions, which can be very useful for training yourself to apply strategies efficiently:
https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/my-lsa ... en-part-2/
https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/my-lsa ... en-part-3/
https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/my-lsa ... en-part-4/

These posts about how to review practice tests and questions are always helpful!
How to Review Practice Tests: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-be ... ice-tests/
How to Review Practice Questions: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/how-to ... blem-sets/

In sum, I would suggest mixing up your LSAT studying. Make sure you're tracking questions that you miss and thoroughly reviewing them. Maybe have some games/passages/sections that you do over and over again until you've really got them down. And focus on the process of going through questions: Are you consistently identifying conclusions and thinking about how the premises support that conclusion? Are you remembering to prephrase? Etc.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[Kwatt2]

Hi, this is not an unusual message. But I am not seeing improvements with only 2 weeks left until I have to write. I have been writing practice tests almost every day; if not, I am going over incorrect and correct answers looking at why they were correct/incorrect. I am not able to finish on time, yet, but I make sure to go back and finish all of it. My score is about a 154 for the first attempt. Once I go back and review my answers and try them again, I am able to bring my score up to a 164-165 [20/23 LG, 15/26 LR & 12/27 RC (I know RC is my weakness — not a fast reader)]. A score of 154 is pretty much my diagnostic score, so I am feeling quite discouraged. When I do the practice sets through our homework, I am getting 4/5 or 5/5 on almost all kinds of question types. I know you have probably heard this an infinite amount of times… and I figure the response will be to keep practicing.

However, is it realistic for me to see improvements before the August test? I feel pretty discouraged that I may not be able to improve fast enough by the test date. My goal score is 170+ and I practice daily, run the concepts over, but my score does not reflect this. Help?

Best,

Kelsey

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Kelsey! There are some very helpful links provided above by KelseyWoods, so I'd recommend reading all of those if you haven't yet.

Now as for your situation, I'm sure you're anxious about the test but you're in a good situation! Now it's true that going from a 154 to a 170+ in just over a week is a pretty tough ask. But the good news is that the August LSAT is not the end of the road! The August test won't count towards your limit on how many times you can take it. You can take the LSAT again anytime, all the way up to and including the February exam, and still attend law school in the fall.

It sounds like you're getting good at doing the question types, since you're scoring well on all of the homework and on the practice test reviews. That's a great sign! It means you're grasping the correct way to approach all of these question types. But understanding how to approach the questions doesn't mean that you immediately flip the switch and start scoring drastically better. You want to get to the point where you can apply all of the correct approaches to every question type automatically, without even having to think about it. When it comes to applying all of the methods that we're discussing in the PowerScore Bibles go from "oh yeah that makes sense" to "I naturally apply all of these methods without even having to think about it". That's not something that happens overnight! It takes a lot of arduous practice tests and review. I like to use the analogy of learning to build furniture. You can gather all the furniture making tools and watch all the instructional videos (this is analogous to learning all the tips and tricks for all the question types on the LSAT), but your first few pieces of furniture you build aren't going to look too pretty! You need to hammer out a bunch of ugly tables until you can internalize how to comfortably utilize all those tools without having to think about it. At least this is what my "handy" friends tell me. At the end of the day, it's a process! You've got plenty of time to get where you want to go.

The August LSAT allows for a Score Preview. Now maybe you have the test of your life and score a 170. But if not - don't get too discouraged! View it as good practice. Take some time off studying (maybe a couple weeks or whatever you need) and then be prepared to dive right back in and practice away. Use the practice tests as an opportunity to apply all of the methods that we discuss in the Bibles. Review those tests and see which questions gave you trouble. Re-examine the methods that you used to approach those questions. Cross-check with the explanations given on these forums. Keep honing your approaches and practicing them until it becomes second nature. Again, you're in a good position to do exactly that! Best of luck with the August LSAT and all your studying.