Moving from low 170s to high 170s Forum

[DrLeoSpaceman]

Hey all,
So I've been studying for about a month and a half and have gone from a 163 diag. to low 170s PT average (most recently 173 on PT 62). Usually, my section breakdown looks something like this: -3 RC, -3-6 LR total, -0-6 LG. So the greatest variability is in the games section. I find the 7sage videos very helpful but sometimes I run into a game that I just set up wrong and I bomb that game. On LR, I've gone -0/-1 before so I know I have the potential for further improvement. What would be your advice for gaining consistency in these two sections? My study schedule is basically just taking PTs and reviewing afterwards/trying to understand why the wrong answers were wrong and the right answers right, etc. Is there a different approach I should take going into the higher 170 range? Thanks!

[t-14orbust]

Games should consistently be -0/-1. I just printed out every single game I ever did and drilled a bunch of them each day separate from my PTs. Any of them that I got any questions wrong on I would just reprint and put back in the pile.

[AJordan]

Unless you are specifically set on Yale you really don't NEED higher than a 173 so that should ease your pressure a bit. Getting more consistent up the 170s simply comes with knowing the test, knowing yourself, and then getting lucky. You've got to go -0 on games. If you've done them all though, there's not much else you can do other than practice them over and over again. As for LR, when you're missing so few you can start to sort them a bit. Are you missing more than one of any type of question? Really understanding everything you're doing wrong is going to be key. Finding a resource to help you sort through the upper madness is probably going to be helpful. We all have our limits.

[Cheyenne]

What did you do to move up to the 170s in such a short period of time? I'm at 160 right now and am trying to get to the low 170s before September.

[DrLeoSpaceman]

@Cheyenne After I took a few hours to get comfortable with the Logic Games I saw some big improvements. I think you can also find easy points in the less "familiar" types of Logical Reasoning questions (Parallel Flaw, Formal Logic, etc.). I've heard people say that it's difficult to improve LR, because you've been developing the relevant skill set for most of your life (understanding arguments, identifying logical flaws..) so a few months of LSAT studying won't always have a great effect on your fundamental logical skill. I think this is especially true of Reading Comp - it's tough to change how well you can read. But you can make HUGE gains by learning the sort of LSAT logic that isn't used as much in the 'real world.' Focus on mastering symbolic logic - get into a habit of symbolizing arguments and looking for false contrapositives, and many questions that looked hard before will become more intuitive.