151 to 165+? Forum

[frenchlavender]

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of retaking the LSAT (the third time), cancelled my first one and got a 151 the second time. I'm going to wait until the September LSAT though. I want to sign up for an in-person prep course because I feel like I work better in-person rather than online or self-studying. I just don't really know where to start. I have all the PS bibles, I think they're great but their location is pretty far away from where I live but Kaplan is 5 min walk away from my office.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

I'm really confused what to do. To the people who are studying the LSAT for roughly around 6 months. What're your schedules?

[dbalkaran]

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of retaking the LSAT (the third time), cancelled my first one and got a 151 the second time. I'm going to wait until the September LSAT though. I want to sign up for an in-person prep course because I feel like I work better in-person rather than online or self-studying. I just don't really know where to start. I have all the PS bibles, I think they're great but their location is pretty far away from where I live but Kaplan is 5 min walk away from my office.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

I'm really confused what to do. To the people who are studying the LSAT for roughly around 6 months. What're your schedules?

20 points seems like a big jump to me, I think 5-7 points with a moderate study schedule is more realistic and 7-15 is feasible with a rigorous study schedule. I guess anything is possible, but I wouldn't count on being able to jump from a 151 to a 171. The first time I did a prep test I was in the low 150s and I was eventually able to get into the low 160s putting in maybe 10 hours a week.

You'll need to figure out what works for you, I don't think anyone on this forum can tell you exactly how much time you need to put in to get the score you want because that depends on the person. What I would say is that every point on the LSAT is worth big $$$ when it comes to scholarships so it's worth it to put in as much time as you possibly can. Just trying to provide some advice based off of my mistakes/experiences.

[Thomas Hagan, ESQ.]

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of retaking the LSAT (the third time), cancelled my first one and got a 151 the second time. I'm going to wait until the September LSAT though. I want to sign up for an in-person prep course because I feel like I work better in-person rather than online or self-studying. I just don't really know where to start. I have all the PS bibles, I think they're great but their location is pretty far away from where I live but Kaplan is 5 min walk away from my office.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

I'm really confused what to do. To the people who are studying the LSAT for roughly around 6 months. What're your schedules?

If your last ditch option is Kaplan, then I think you're doing this LSAT-prep thing wrong haha I'm shocked you haven't heard of 7sage. It's amazing. Also, I hope you did prep tests (not just one or two but literally all 75 of them...multiple times). That's the way to improve, not by sitting there and looking at the LSAT Bibles for 6 months.

How much did you study for your first and second time? Was that a "I gave it my all and I ended up with a 151?" or was that more of a "i looked at the Bibles for a couple of months and then showed up on test day"? That might determine how much you can improve.

I improved from a 154 diagnostic to a 166,167. This was with almost a year of 30+ hours of prep every week (practice tests, reviewing). I definitely burned out towards the end so I definitely wouldn't recommend doing this for a year but for 4-5 months you should be able to see your score improve drastically.

[Mikey]

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

1. Yes, if you put in the work it is possible. But only if you put in hard work!
2. Kaplan isn't really respected among LSAT takers tbh. I recommend 7sage but you want an in person class, which is something I don't know much about but I have heard nothing but great things about both testmasters and Manhattan prep
3. I would say to just self-study so you can focus on your own weaknesses, but if you have to take a course then do that first and then self-study afterwards once you have all of their techniques at hand.

[Thomas Hagan, ESQ.]

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

1. Yes, if you put in the work it is possible. But only if you put in hard work!
2. Kaplan isn't really respected among LSAT takers tbh. I recommend 7sage but you want an in person class, which is something I don't know much about but I have heard nothing but great things about both testmasters and Manhattan prep
3. I would say to just self-study so you can focus on your own weaknesses, but if you have to take a course then do that first and then self-study afterwards once you have all of their techniques at hand.

Agree with everything but I would also add Blueprint for another in-person class that's worth checking out!

[dbalkaran]

If your last ditch option is Kaplan, then I think you're doing this LSAT-prep thing wrong haha I'm shocked you haven't heard of 7sage. It's amazing. Also, I hope you did prep tests (not just one or two but literally all 75 of them...multiple times). That's the way to improve, not by sitting there and looking at the LSAT Bibles for 6 months.

How much did you study for your first and second time? Was that a "I gave it my all and I ended up with a 151?" or was that more of a "i looked at the Bibles for a couple of months and then showed up on test day"? That might determine how much you can improve.

I improved from a 154 diagnostic to a 166,167. This was with almost a year of 30+ hours of prep every week (practice tests, reviewing). I definitely burned out towards the end so I definitely wouldn't recommend doing this for a year but for 4-5 months you should be able to see your score improve drastically.

+1 on this.

7Sage has awesome free videos on YouTube explaining how to do every single logic game. I took a Kaplan course and didn't find it to be that helpful. The guy teaching was helpful, but it's pretty expensive and the methods Kaplan teaches for certain things is just not good. Forgot to mention that in my previous post.

[frenchlavender]

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of retaking the LSAT (the third time), cancelled my first one and got a 151 the second time. I'm going to wait until the September LSAT though. I want to sign up for an in-person prep course because I feel like I work better in-person rather than online or self-studying. I just don't really know where to start. I have all the PS bibles, I think they're great but their location is pretty far away from where I live but Kaplan is 5 min walk away from my office.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

I'm really confused what to do. To the people who are studying the LSAT for roughly around 6 months. What're your schedules?

20 points seems like a big jump to me, I think 5-7 points with a moderate study schedule is more realistic and 7-15 is feasible with a rigorous study schedule. I guess anything is possible, but I wouldn't count on being able to jump from a 151 to a 171. The first time I did a prep test I was in the low 150s and I was eventually able to get into the low 160s putting in maybe 10 hours a week.

You'll need to figure out what works for you, I don't think anyone on this forum can tell you exactly how much time you need to put in to get the score you want because that depends on the person. What I would say is that every point on the LSAT is worth big $$$ when it comes to scholarships so it's worth it to put in as much time as you possibly can. Just trying to provide some advice based off of my mistakes/experiences.

Gotcha. Yeah, now I'm totally considering taking the testmasters class now for the June lsat, but still gonna take it on the September, I want to have some space to self-study and work harder after the course. Commute is still far but hopefully it'll be worth every mileage lol

[frenchlavender]

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of retaking the LSAT (the third time), cancelled my first one and got a 151 the second time. I'm going to wait until the September LSAT though. I want to sign up for an in-person prep course because I feel like I work better in-person rather than online or self-studying. I just don't really know where to start. I have all the PS bibles, I think they're great but their location is pretty far away from where I live but Kaplan is 5 min walk away from my office.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

I'm really confused what to do. To the people who are studying the LSAT for roughly around 6 months. What're your schedules?

If your last ditch option is Kaplan, then I think you're doing this LSAT-prep thing wrong haha I'm shocked you haven't heard of 7sage. It's amazing. Also, I hope you did prep tests (not just one or two but literally all 75 of them...multiple times). That's the way to improve, not by sitting there and looking at the LSAT Bibles for 6 months.

How much did you study for your first and second time? Was that a "I gave it my all and I ended up with a 151?" or was that more of a "i looked at the Bibles for a couple of months and then showed up on test day"? That might determine how much you can improve.

I improved from a 154 diagnostic to a 166,167. This was with almost a year of 30+ hours of prep every week (practice tests, reviewing). I definitely burned out towards the end so I definitely wouldn't recommend doing this for a year but for 4-5 months you should be able to see your score improve drastically.

Congrats on your score. That's an awesome improvement! I definitely studied a lot. My only mistake was not timing myself soon and taking lots of preptests. I'm pretty solid in LG and that was my mistake too, I focused too much on it. But now I'm thinking of taking the testmasters class haha I think everyone kinda said already that Kaplan sucks haha. I'm thinking of taking the September lsat but the june lsat prep course they offer then self-study from there on until the September lsat.

[frenchlavender]

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

1. Yes, if you put in the work it is possible. But only if you put in hard work!
2. Kaplan isn't really respected among LSAT takers tbh. I recommend 7sage but you want an in person class, which is something I don't know much about but I have heard nothing but great things about both testmasters and Manhattan prep
3. I would say to just self-study so you can focus on your own weaknesses, but if you have to take a course then do that first and then self-study afterwards once you have all of their techniques at hand.

Thanks on the testmasters advice. Highly considering it now, probably end up using their class. I'm gonna check out 7sage, seems like everyone loves it. I don't think I work too well with self-study, unfortunately. I'm definitely going to work very hard this time especially that I'll be paying a grand for this ugh haha

[floatie]

Thanks on the testmasters advice. Highly considering it now, probably end up using their class. I'm gonna check out 7sage, seems like everyone loves it. I don't think I work too well with self-study, unfortunately. I'm definitely going to work very hard this time especially that I'll be paying a grand for this ugh haha

One thing to keep in mind - if you want to take the Testmasters course for the June LSAT, aren't planning on taking it until Sept, and claim that you're not good at self study (nothing wrong with that, btw), then I would caution you against that particular strategy. You don't want to forget certain techniques or lose steam as you're going towards the September LSAT. The classes are designed so that, with proper effort on your end, you're at the top of your game going into the LSAT. Why not take it in June, see how you do, and if you don't like the results, retake in September?

Also, +1 on testmasters. I had a great experience with them!

[frenchlavender]

Thanks on the testmasters advice. Highly considering it now, probably end up using their class. I'm gonna check out 7sage, seems like everyone loves it. I don't think I work too well with self-study, unfortunately. I'm definitely going to work very hard this time especially that I'll be paying a grand for this ugh haha

One thing to keep in mind - if you want to take the Testmasters course for the June LSAT, aren't planning on taking it until Sept, and claim that you're not good at self study (nothing wrong with that, btw), then I would caution you against that particular strategy. You don't want to forget certain techniques or lose steam as you're going towards the September LSAT. The classes are designed so that, with proper effort on your end, you're at the top of your game going into the LSAT. Why not take it in June, see how you do, and if you don't like the results, retake in September?

Also, +1 on testmasters. I had a great experience with them!

The 3 something months of preparation kind of scares me though lol also, I already took the lsat twice and plan to really only take it the 3rd time. Did you take the testmasters in-person class? did you get a good score increase?

[floatie]

The 3 something months of preparation kind of scares me though lol also, I already took the lsat twice and plan to really only take it the 3rd time. Did you take the testmasters in-person class? did you get a good score increase?

I did Testmasters online since I had/have an atypical work schedule. I was able to increase my score from a 157 to a 173 (with a 166 in the middle). 3 months of solid studying to get a 165+ is enough if you are diligent about putting in the work. With testmasters, there is an absolutely insane level of homework (insane in a good way, as its a few hundred practice questions per week, plus they give you I think 20 practice tests) so if you keep up with all of the work and diligently review your mistakes and progress, you should be able to break 165.

[frenchlavender]

The 3 something months of preparation kind of scares me though lol also, I already took the lsat twice and plan to really only take it the 3rd time. Did you take the testmasters in-person class? did you get a good score increase?

I did Testmasters online since I had/have an atypical work schedule. I was able to increase my score from a 157 to a 173 (with a 166 in the middle). 3 months of solid studying to get a 165+ is enough if you are diligent about putting in the work. With testmasters, there is an absolutely insane level of homework (insane in a good way, as its a few hundred practice questions per week, plus they give you I think 20 practice tests) so if you keep up with all of the work and diligently review your mistakes and progress, you should be able to break 165.

Did you read or study using any other materials other than testmasters?

[floatie]

The 3 something months of preparation kind of scares me though lol also, I already took the lsat twice and plan to really only take it the 3rd time. Did you take the testmasters in-person class? did you get a good score increase?

I did Testmasters online since I had/have an atypical work schedule. I was able to increase my score from a 157 to a 173 (with a 166 in the middle). 3 months of solid studying to get a 165+ is enough if you are diligent about putting in the work. With testmasters, there is an absolutely insane level of homework (insane in a good way, as its a few hundred practice questions per week, plus they give you I think 20 practice tests) so if you keep up with all of the work and diligently review your mistakes and progress, you should be able to break 165.

Did you read or study using any other materials other than testmasters?

Yeah, I used the Manhattan Prep books between my first and second take.

[Hi-So - ArshavinFan]

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of retaking the LSAT (the third time), cancelled my first one and got a 151 the second time. I'm going to wait until the September LSAT though. I want to sign up for an in-person prep course because I feel like I work better in-person rather than online or self-studying. I just don't really know where to start. I have all the PS bibles, I think they're great but their location is pretty far away from where I live but Kaplan is 5 min walk away from my office.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible for me to get a 15-20 point increase?
2. Which LSAT prep course should I take? Thoughts on Kaplan?
3. I have 6 months to prepare for the LSAT, should I take the course soon or self-study a little bit as a review and then take the course?

I'm really confused what to do. To the people who are studying the LSAT for roughly around 6 months. What're your schedules?

Yes its possible, i started off lower than you did, and I went from the 140s (I had a 141-143 - it was over 6 years ago) to a 165 recently. But it took a long time. and I'm going for 170 now. Wont happen overnight though, no.

Honestly, 7sage is the best course in my opinion. If youre going to take a real course i would say TestMasters though. I like their curriculum although they over-explain certain concepts.

6 months only - AHHHH not enough time in my opinion. Youre going to end up disappointed. Give yourself 1 to two years.

[spursforever]

.

[ptittle]

A 15-20 point increase is definitely do-able. Many of my tutees have increased from 140s to 160s, and that typically takes around 3 months, sometimes a bit longer; someone just increased from 140 to 157 in two months (she'll be rewriting for another increase).

Once you attain your accuracy target, increase your stamina gradually (doing two sections back to back, then three, then four, then five). I find that most people are fast enough by that point, but if you're not, you can tweak a bit to increase speed. (Tweaking too soon, and you start to miss things, reducing your accuracy).