Great Advice on How to get 160+ on the LSAT... Forum

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indy

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Great Advice on How to get 160+ on the LSAT...

Post by indy » Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:40 am

Note from Ken - I found this thread to be full of excellent advice from those who did amazingly well (a few 180's in here and may 170+) and I hope it will benefit you in your LSAT studies. Please add your advice now or after you take the LSAT. Also, for those looking for a discount on LSAT Prep, I negotiated $100 off from Princeton Review LSAT classes at http://www.top-law-schools.com/prlsat.html.

I'm writing to inquire of the methods/techniques ppl who scored 160+ used to get the score they did.

1) What score did you get?

2) What books did you use? (Kaplan, Powerscore LRB, Powerscore LGB, etc)

3) What prep courses did you take (if any)? Full length, weekend?

4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? (during school, during the summer, etc)

5) How many preptests did you do?

6) What would you change if you were to do it again?

7) Any other misc comments/suggestions.

Thanks,
Indy

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Post by asalie » Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:08 am

1) 165

2) no books

3) testmasters, 2x a week on weeknights, occasional saturday and sunday diagnostics

4) i studied while taking a large load of classes. additionally, i had most my classes clumped on tues/thurs, which is when my lsat classes were...and given that they are 4 hours at a time, my attention span was waning

5) probably 5 diagnostics

6) if i could do it over, i wouldn't take the prep course when i'm already sooo overloaded, and i'd do more independent study (i scored a 160 the first time i took it, with NO prep whatsover...so i think 5 points is a crappy gain)

7) i suggest, if you can, to leave a good few weeks to pure test prep. that means no classes, schoolwork, full-time job, etc. obviously this isn't very easy to achieve, but if i had to do it over again, i would put some time aside ENTIRELY for lsat prep.

good luck!

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Post by dtrossen » Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:56 am

I had a good discussion with someone a while back on this site under the heading "LSAT, GPA, Diversity Questions" on Jan 11th so check that out. Here is the core of my advice repeated from this discussion:

I scored a 175, which may be less than your >175 goal but the December LSAT was a bad draw for my skill set and my practices were 1 to 2 points higher. I think >175 is a bit aggressive for your starting scores but a target of 170 may be reasonable. I give the following advice to serious test takers who are scoring high already and want to go the extra mile.

(1) Master time management. Obtaining a sophisticated timer than controls time and question number is essential. By working with a timer during all practice tests I got a tremendous feel for time control that earned me at least 1 or 2 LSAT points.

(2) Develop a sophisticated strategy. A Princeton Review course is not for the very top test takers as the advice is too simple and the methods not conducive to scores deep into the 99th percentile. Your strategy should be custom to your strengths and weaknesses and should evolve as you analyze your practice test mistakes. If you are not a very top test taker follow the Princeton Review method and shoot for a 97th percentile score.

(3) Purchase the PowerScore books (there are two PowerScore bibles). Study these as these are a great place for your personal strategy to begin.

(4) Purchase as many real LSAT tests as possible. Take a practice test every day, preferably at the same time as your real test. Simulate testing conditions.

(5) Cut every single problem you miss on your daily test out of the LSAT book and save it. Review these missed problems often. Analyze the missed problems for trends. Refer back to the PowerScore books on problem types you have issue with. You must find where your mistakes are and correct them.

(6) Get in the mind of the test writers. Look for traps and don't follow the flock. Look for trap types you fall for in your cut out missed problem collection.

(7) Develop a system of notes and symbols to use on the test. You should have your own language for each of the section types that aids in your problem solving.

(8) Keep taking more and more tests with extreme focus on finding and correcting your errors. The mistakes in your thinking are there and with hard work you will find and correct them.

Following these steps will develop a speed and precision needed for a deep 99th percentile score. I spent one month with particular focus on the arguments and games sections. By test day I missed only one problem on these three sections. I missed 3 on reading comprehension which is a section I didn't focus on much and found it difficult to cut problems from. I missed a total of four on a terribly curved December LSAT and scored 175. In practice I had been between 176 and 177. If you are not a genius the road to a high score will come through long hours of serious test taking with the focus being on finding an eliminating thinking errors and avoiding traps. I hope this advice helps.

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Post by bigwes58 » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:39 am

1. 163

2. All of the Kaplan Books, that came with the class

3. Kaplan 6 week class

4. I studied pretty hardcore for 3 months doing something at least everyday (like one section practice for 90 days) in my room quietly, pretty serious

5. I took 6 preptests, timed independently

6. I'd study even more shoot for 165+, every point after 160 makes a huge difference.


7. You can't study too much, the efforst you put in now will pay off in the end, you will be in a better situation, dont leave any thoughts that you couldve tried harder.

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Post by nicksta83 » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:25 pm

1) 174

2) Kaplan, but it sucked so i just bought a book full of 10 ACTUAL TESTS. That's key, use the actual LSATs only.

3) None, had no time since I'm in grad school. I would have if I had had some time.

4) I started out by just sitting down and taking the tests with no time limit. Once I got the format down well enough, I started instituting a time limit of +5 minutes over the normal, and worked my way down so by the end my time limit was 5 minutes below the time limit. (incidentally, on the actual test I still felt quite rushed despite being prepared for 30 minute sections instead of 35...nerves i guess and the fact that i forgot a clock).

5) How many preptests did you do? Parts of about 10, 5 or 6 complete tests.

6) Like I said, take a prep course although i hate those things and am very happy with my score. Also I may have gone even lower on my fake time limits to ready myself. and BRING A WATCH!

7) In the books they tell you these set-in-stone ways to break down the arguments and logic game sections. I disregarded most of what they said. Practice a lot, and build a system that works for you. Take their advice, but don't let it rule you, b/c it may not work for the way your mind approaches the questions.

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xikzhao

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Post by xikzhao » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:35 pm

1) 177

2) i used the princeton review book for help with the logic games and a bit for the logical reasoning. the book gets dissed, but i thought it was fine. it is important, as someone else mentioned, not to treat any method as the word of god, so to speak. for everything that i thought worked well, i found a lot more that needed tweaking. after taking a bunch of practice tests, you kind of figure out what works best for you. once you have a good strategy/routine that yields a score that you're pleased with, i'd stick to it and work on narrowing the variance between tests. consistency is most important.

3) dtrossen and i disagree on this. i would say that if you can stay motivated and focused, studying alone (or i guess taking tests with a friend/classmate) works just as well. the key is practice, and from what i hear, people that take courses really only do better because they did all the homework and practice tests. you can do that without spending a grand.

i did not take a course, and i do not consider myself a naturally good tester. i think i scored around 1300 on my sat and 27 on my act for college. i started the lsat at 160.

4) i studied for the test while working full time. i started studying in late august, taking two practice tests a week. i originally took one during the week (at night) and one during on the weekend, but night tests proved to exhausting and did not mimic the actual day of the test. so for the last month, i took off work one morning a week to get in a test. i would also advise taking 5 section tests and redoing all the games sections.

5) there are 50 prep tests, breaking 10 of them up would yield 40 5 section tests. i took 30 prep tests, saved around 5 tests (in case i wasn't happy with my score and needed to take the feb. test, i wanted some to practice on). the rest i did in sections.

6) i would have taken the lsat earlier than i did.

7)
a) buy a silent timer, it helps a lot
b) get into a routine before each practice test and repeat it before the actual (ie eat the same thing, shower, read a rc section, a few arguments, and logic games whatever)
c) make your practice tests as close to the real tests as possible. that means testing in the morning (or at noon if you taking the june test) and realizing that the testing place won’t be perfectly silent.
d) aim for good raw scores. the scaled scores for the olders tests are quite different from the ones now.
e) good luck, and try to enjoy it... studying for the lsat isn't nearly as bad as cramming vocab for the gre.

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Post by Freedom » Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:19 am

I'm writing to inquire of the methods/techniques ppl who scored 160+ used to get the score they did.

1) What score did you get? 178

2) What books did you use? (Kaplan, Powerscore LRB, Powerscore LGB, etc). I "bought" books that had practice tests and only did them. I did not go over there review crap because I already did well on my practices.

3) What prep courses did you take (if any)? Full length, weekend? None, I jacked practice tests from my friends taking paid classes.

4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? (during school, during the summer, etc). On an off for a year. Semi-intensively for 2 months (about an hour a day), Intensively (40 hours) before I took the exam.

5) How many preptests did you do? I have no idea. I only did pretests.

6) What would you change if you were to do it again? Not much.

7) Any other misc comments/suggestions. Dunno, don't kill yourself? If you score what comes naturally you'll probably have an easier time at the law school you get into eh?

Thanks,
Indy

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Ken

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LSAT Studying Advice

Post by Ken » Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:53 am

1) 173

2) Princeton Review books and the real LSATs.

Simply the best source for taking and learning about the LSAT is to get as many real sample LSATs as you can. While other companies may seek to recreate the LSAT, they do not have the benefit of the experimental section which is utilized to weed out bad questions on the real LSATs. Order as many real LSATs booklets as you can. Try to learn from your mistakes by reviewing your errors.

The Powerscore books came out after I took the LSAT, but I have heard that they are excellent.

3) I taught the LSAT and GRE for Princeton Review. They needed a new LSAT instructor and they hired me based solely on my initial diagnostic. Thus, I was able to teach myself for free while teaching others.

While in my unbiased opinion, my classes were excellent, their effectiveness heavily varied by the quality of the instructor. Ask to sit in on 1 or 2 classes of all the test prep companies you are considering (they generally will let you in and there is certainly nothing to lose by asking). Evaluate whether the instructor is a great instructor or not and ask other students after the class if they are learning from the class and materials.

I recommend considering several test prep companies if possible. I have heard that Testmasters is one of the best test prep companies out there. (http://www.testmasters180.com). Note that I get no benefit from recommending them.

4) I studied the LSAT for an entire summer. I simply told my parents that how I fared on the LSAT was more important or as important as my four years of college. Thus, it was essential that I have the time to properly prepare myself. I was somewhat rewarded, going from a 167 to a 173. While not everyone will have such indulgent parents, try to make the time to seriously focus upon preparing for the LSAT. Few things in your life will have more of an impact and this is time well spent.

5) I took over 40 prep tests. When I took the LSAT there were a lot fewer prep tests out there. Now I would likely take as many as I possibly could and not take any of the quasi ones Princeton Review and others have created.

6) Take more real prep tests. Study my mistakes more instead of just continually taking the quasi LSAT tests Princeton Review created. Now that more prep tests are available, I would focus solely on the real tests.

I would buy and learn from the Powerscore books. They seem designed for those who want to score in the upper echelon.

7) Any other misc comments/suggestions.

The LSAT is FUN!!! I am not kidding, but I really enjoyed the months I spent studying for the LSAT. I felt that by learning to master the test I was becoming more intelligent. It is the best standardized test out there and to become great at the logic games and argument sections will make you a better lawyer and smarter person. View it all as a game. Similar to a very complicated crossword puzzle. The excitement I had for studying allowed me to study for hours and resulted in my score.

Take a logical reasoning course while in college. It will likely be titled "Introduction to Critical Thinking" or with a similar title. This will greatly assist you in diagraming, which is essential to succeeding on the games section.

Speed is the name of the game. I had many students complain that if they had all day they could get every answer right, but because of the time constraints they had problems. Practice under rigid time limits to get your pacing down. If you are stuck on one problem and it is just one problem (not part of a many question game), just make your best guess and move on.

Guessing wisely. It is not so much about finding the right answer as eliminating the wrong ones. Try to quickly eliminate 3 of the choices and then hone in on which of the 2 is correct.

Find a personal system that works for you. While you can learn how to diagram from your LSAT course, also utilize symbols that work well for yourself. No one else has to understand your diagrams, just you.

Save time whenever possible. I used to first complete the entire section and only then fill in the bubbles in the answer sheet. I felt that by not having to go from the test booklet to the scantron for each question saved me a lot of time. You could do this on a smaller process and just fill in after completing each large section or page. Note there is a risk here that time could run out without your having filled in all the bubbles, so have your time management down before utilizing this tip.

Cancelling your score is not the end of the world. First, avoid cancelling if you can. There will be a natural tendency to think that you did worst that you actually did. And to put yourself through the torture of 3 more months of LSAT prep plus possibly delaying your applications is not a fun thing to do. That being said, if something occurred during the test that you not would not be repeated and if you really feel like you bombed, cancelling may be the best route. While multiple LSAT scores are averaged by most law schools, a cancelled score is viewed as a slight negative but will not bring your average score down. Cancelling is only an option to implement after much decision and perhaps consulting with others.

Do not panic during the test. I probably lost a few points because I panicked when I got an experimental games section that was harder than anything I had ever seen before. I kept on thinking back to that games section during the test and it was not until the last section, which was another games section, that I realized the first one was the experimental section. Just relax and be confident during the test. Mistakes happen. I missed 8 questions and still did amazingly well. You can miss 20 and still have an excellent score. The LSAT is a forgiving test, trust in your abilities while taking it.

Get a good nights rest the night before. I was sharing a hotel room with a fraternity brother (there is no way I could get a good night's sleep on a Friday night at the Fraternity house) and his idiotic girlfriend calls at 1 am from Germany wishing him good luck. I barely slept after that. Paying for my own hotel room would have been a good investment. Most students will not need to rent a hotel room if they live in a quiet area.

Relax the day before the test. When you wake up the morning of the test tackle a few problems to get in the mindset.

View where you will be taking the test ahead of time so there is no rushing around trying to find the lecture hall. Get there in plenty of time. Do not let others stress levels be contagious. You are primed and ready for battle after doing all of the above.

Definitely take a prep class as for most it is money well spent, but I do wish it were cheaper.


Overall, study hard but enjoy your time studying. This will be the most effective time you spend for how you fare on the LSAT is as important as your 4-5 years in college.
Last edited by Ken on Mon May 08, 2006 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

katnyc

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slient timer, saving tests

Post by katnyc » Tue May 16, 2006 9:41 am

Great great discussion. Couple of questions:

1. Silent timer. I haven't purchased one yet .. should I at this point? I usually just use my watch. If so, should I get the one that does question/by/question countdown or the regular one? I heard that LSAC might ban the fancier slient timer.

2. Saving tests. I never though of this but it makes sense in case I need to retake for whatever reason. Five is enough?

3. What about test center conditions? I'm assuming they will be sub-optimal in at least one way. I've heard that they'll switch rooms at the last minute sometimes so I wonder if it's worthwhile to call LSAC to find out what room so I can visit in advance. I fear the very very small writing surface in auditorium settings. (I'm registered for Queens college outside of NYC).

I plan to try to take the test at the same time as test day and perhaps try to have some routine of what I eat, wear, etc. Okay, maybe I'm overthinking this - time probably better spent figuring out the LR questions I've gotten wrong. :)


Thanks!

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katnyc

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Post by katnyc » Tue May 16, 2006 1:29 pm

That could be true. The last I heard on the topic was in January so it could well be banned already. When I get a chance I'll check the lsac website.

katnyc

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Post by katnyc » Tue May 16, 2006 4:16 pm

Thanks for looking that up. I guess the basic slient timer would be okay.

I know of someone who colored his deluxe slient timer with a black marker so it would look less like the deluxe. Not sure if he got away with it for the Feb exam.

I read on the Kaplan test center rating site stories of beeping watches and the like. Hopefully that won't happen test day, but like you said people do it anyway.

dtrossen

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Post by dtrossen » Fri May 19, 2006 12:58 pm

I don't consider the first diagnostic to be very informative. In my case my first exam I was clueless on time management and missed a ton of questions just because of time and surprise value. But by test 2 and 3 I had a feel for the test and was scoring well. So my first test was 163 or so but my test 2 and 3 average was around 170. Final score was 175. So if you get a feel for the exam and then take a few more tests I would look at those as your base. From that base you may be able to add somewhere between 4 and 8 points with a lot of hard work.

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Post by SecGator3 » Sat May 20, 2006 12:52 pm

Can anybody who has taken the Powerscore course speak to its value concerning logic games? I know the Powerscore Logic Games Bible is supposed to be really great for that, but is the course similarly educational (do they even include the LG Bible with the course?)? I am thinking of doing a Powerscore course in August/September for the 9/30 LSAT but am considering buying the Logic Games Bible now.

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katnyc

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Post by katnyc » Mon May 22, 2006 9:11 am

i would buy the PS bible now. See how you do. if you don't get where you want to, take the PS cource or get a PS tutor to help you on games.

I bought the games book first, but didn't make much progress til I was in class and got to see someone work through problems real-time.

lsatagain

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how to get back in th LSAT groove

Post by lsatagain » Sat May 27, 2006 3:14 pm

Any ideas?
I scored 177 almost 10 yrs ago straight out of college, now retaking it, because although accpted to top law scools, I chose not to attend. Problem is I can't even break 170 now. My problem is the games, not having enough time, and just having a hard time with them. Can anyone give me any suggestions? thanks

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Post by mike245 » Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:37 am

1) What score did you get? 179

2) What books did you use? (Kaplan, Powerscore LRB, Powerscore LGB, etc) Powerscore bibles, Princeton Review (bad) and REA (bad)

3) What prep courses did you take (if any)? Full length, weekend? No class.

4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? (during school, during the summer, etc) 2 months, 4 hours a day. I work full-time and tutor evenings 2x a week, so I squeezed in sessions usually 8 pm - midnight, except on weekends. I took lots of timed tests (about 5 a week) under tightly timed conditions, and then used off days for study and review.

5) How many preptests did you do? 33 + a few extra games sections

6) What would you change if you were to do it again? I would have scrapped the REA and Princetown Review books. Both were awful and actually detrimental to my early study attempts.

7) Any other misc comments/suggestions. The advice in this thread really works! I was originally practicing around a 170-172 until I got the bibles, which really pushed me up score-wise. I highly recommend both of them, especially the logic games bible.

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Post by GygesRing » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:38 pm

1) What score did you get?
170; 180 (I retook)

2) What books did you use? 10 Actual, Official LSATs; 10 More Actual, Official LSATs.

3) What prep courses did you take (if any)? Full length, weekend?
None.

4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? (during school, during the summer, etc)
Took a prep test every few days leading up to the test, would review the answers that I got wrong or had marked as difficult while going through the test (didn't want to miss understanding a question type just because I got lucky during a practice test.)

5) How many preptests did you do?
~17. (12/5)

7) Any other misc comments/suggestions.
Stay. Calm.
Last edited by GygesRing on Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:36 am, edited 3 times in total.

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alex

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Post by alex » Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:31 pm

1) What score did you get?

173


2) What books did you use? (Kaplan, Powerscore LRB, Powerscore LGB, etc)

Basic Kaplan book, 10 More Actual LSAT's, Next 10 Actual LSAT's


3) What prep courses did you take (if any)? Full length, weekend?

No course, but used online tutor


4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? (during school, during the summer, etc)

Three months


5) How many preptests did you do?

20


6) What would you change if you were to do it again?

Maybe start a month earlier


7) Any other misc comments/suggestions.


Courses help some people, but I found I really just needed ocassional tutoring help on specific questions as I worked through my practice exams. I also found that it helped to start out untimed on practice tests, and only gradually increase my speed and endurance, per my tutor's recommendations.

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LR trouble

Post by nd_06 » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:31 pm

I'm in testmasters weekend course now but, to be completely honest, I don't find it that useful. My original diag was a 159 but just from taking a few practice tests I found I have a better feel for the test and now consistently score (give or take a point or two) about a 169.

I want to consistently and confidently break 173+ but I always seem to mess up LR. For some reason I always miss anywhere from two - four on each LR section and figuring I make a few more stupid mistakes on LG and RC that brings me to about a 169.

Anyone have an recommendations for mastering LR?

Any suggestions are greatly, greatly appreciated!

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letylyf

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Post by letylyf » Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:30 pm

I was lucky enough to have a father who was able to explain any logic game to me quickly and helpfully, so I didn't buy any review books, but the review books I did look at were much less helpful than an actual person.

Based on that, I'd have to recommend taking a class, or at least going with one of those options where you can spend time at the test center and get questions you got wrong explained to you. I didn't take one (no time or money), but I've heard the best things about Kaplan and not the Princeton reviews.



1) 180

2) I used a Kaplan review book that was a year old and bought one of those 10 practice test books. I also spent hours searching online for practice tests (even just individual questions) and explanations.

3) I didn't take any courses, so obviously it's possible to score perfect without them, but I do recommend them if you have the leisure (time/money are always problems).

4) I took last year's December LSAT and probably studied at least an hour every day from mid-September and solidly through November. I was lucky enough to have a job in a relatively quiet environment with enough time on my hands to study, so that was a big factor in motivating me to study sufficiently.

5) The 4-5 that were in my book, about 8 in the ten actual tests book, and maybe 5 or so I found from random sources (Kaplan and Princeton both sponsored practice tests at my university, looking online, asking friends who've taken it for their old tests, etc).

6) Not a whole lot.

7) Actually I don't recommend taking time off from work or school solely for the LSAT. A lot of people get burned out, and then you're almost worse than when you started.

I was lucky enough to find an amazing guy and we started dating the week before the LSAT, and I went from extremely stressed and freaked out to relaxed and even semi-confident. I know there's not a magic formula for everyone, but it helps an awful lot not to be stressed and constantly worrying taking the test itself. I actually had time to check my work - twice - on every section because I was so focused. (I'd never even approached a 180 on practice tests, funnily enough. A 177 was the best I'd previously done.)

I guess my advice here is don't push it. Study hard, discipline yourself, but create for yourself the best test conditions you can... for me, that meant not taking any practice tests in the few days leading up to the real test.

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DelDad

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Post by DelDad » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:05 pm

Never added my 2 cents -

I'm writing to inquire of the methods/techniques ppl who scored 160+ used to get the score they did.

1) What score did you get?
178, June 2006. Started from a 165 on a non-timed preptest in April. Final score was a few points higher than my 10-test average leading up tot he real thing.

2) What books did you use? (Kaplan, Powerscore LRB, Powerscore LGB, etc)

Powerscore LGB (recommended), LSAT 180 (marginally recommended), Barrons (crap), PR's Cracking the LSAT (pretty good). An Introduction to Logic, by Harry Gensler (very good intro to formal logic, which I found helpful.

3) What prep courses did you take (if any)? Full length, weekend?

None

4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? (during school, during the summer, etc)

I studied 2 hours a day, three days a week, for two month leading up to the test. In the second month, I started spending more time in the evening going over mistakes/hard problems. In the last two weeks, I upped my studying to 3 hours per day. I stopped 4 days before the test.

5) How many preptests did you do?

33

6) What would you change if you were to do it again?

I would have skipped all the books except the LGB and the formal logic introduction, and done more preptests instead. I would spend more time, from the start, reviewing mistakes. I would have identified and memorized a list of flaw types that show up in LR problems

7) Any other misc comments/suggestions.

The biggest factor in getting ready for the test, from my perspective, was getting comfortable with the test. Doing preptests under timed conditions was invaluable. I found doing them in a public library (which had a little noise and an uncomfortable chair) was more useful than doing them in the comfort of my home, because it got me ready for what indeed turned out to be sub-optimal testing conditions on the day of the real thing.

No matter what the books or class tells you, if you find that something works (ie it gets you the right answer in an acceptable amount of time) stick with it.

Be public with your practice - these forums are great for constructive peer pressure. Join one of the "support group" threads and keep others posted on your progress and troubles. Help them out when you can - it will keep you thinking about LSAT questions and bring you good karma.

For LR problems:

If you are having trouble or trying to get to "The next step" in LR sections, the following helped me:

Leading up to and including test day, if I hit a question I had to think about *at all* (Meaning I realized I was going to need to reread or if the answer didn't immediately leap out at me), I put a huge circle around the question in the test book, marked down a "D" (my guess answer of choice), and moved on to the next question. After getting all the ?'s I could do fast (meaning within about 30 seconds) out of the way, I went back and did the more difficult one's (the ones I had circled and put a default answer down for) in order, knowing that I had more than the originally allotted 1:30 for each.
Last edited by DelDad on Sat May 26, 2007 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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run42

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Post by run42 » Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:06 pm

Might as well hear from the slacker contingent here:

1. 165
2. no books
3. no prep courses
4. studying: a total of three or four practice tests
5. preptests: 3-4, as above
6. What would I change: Wow. I would have taken it a lot more seriously -- some of the study methods of other people on this thread are very impressive to me (and absolutely reflected by the scores they got). I would have relied less upon what I've always taken to be my G-d-given testing talent, and realized that the LSAT was different from the PSAT, SAT, or GRE (on all of which I scored in the 98th-99th percentile with negligible studying; my practice work for the LSAT was probably as much as for those other three tests combined). Yes, that's really pretentious on my part... but hopefully my hubris can be an inspiring example, and inspire you to follow the preparation method of nearly anyone else on this thread rather than mine.

Abra

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Post by Abra » Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:41 pm

1) What score did you get? 167

2) What books did you use? I used the powerscore books and all the preps tests I could get my hands on
3) What prep courses did you take (if any)?None

4) How long did you study for, and under what conditions? I studied for about 6 weeks, fairly intensively.
I had a month off and pulled several 12 hour days, which seems excessive to me now that I look at what other people had to do to get a similar score. I was in a rut at around 160 for 4 straight weeks. I began doing preptests everyday, two in a row, and soon my scores went way up. I was at about a 170 average in the two weeks before the test, so my score was a little lower than expected, but I attribute to test day jitters. I considered taking it again, but decided to apply and see what happens.

5) How many preptests did you do? 30+

6) What would you change if you were to do it again? I would have started a month earlier...

Another thing I really liked to do was to drill several sections of the same type in a row. Doing 3-5 games sections in a row under timed conditions makes doing 1 section a breeze. I ended up only missing 1 point on games, which compared to how I started, literally in tears, was a drastic improvement

spursfaninla

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my strategy

Post by spursfaninla » Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:07 pm

score sept 30th: 164
december score 173 (I am adding this more than 6 months later!)
current average: 172(ish), last 15 lsats...
number of LSATS taken: 33, plus the sept 30th.

No courses.

Read Kaplan 180 (GREAT book), Arco's book (terrible), Kaplan's games book (my weak link), and bought a book with 100 games. That last one was very helpful for just getting tons of practice with games.

Taking tons of tests definitely is the key. My average the first 10 tests or so was about a 164, which is what I got. When I practiced more, my average went up to about 168 the next 10, and then 172 the next 10. Keep taking tests, this is a very coachable test.

I had the same improvement on the SAT in high school. 1150, 1240, 1320, 1340.

If you are not naturally freakishly smart (and I'm a Mensa member, actually, so take that with a grain of salt), I think this test responds well to just putting in the hours. I wish I had spent more of the summer doing what I did in October and November, I would be shooting for a 175 this time instead of a low 170's...

I spent time taking 2 practice tests a day on the weekends or one a day on weekdays (I work full time), finding my mistakes and understanding the problems I had with my logic. When I could not take tests, I spent a good hour a day doing games. Mostly from understanding more fully the contrapositive and the Ness/Suff. logic problems, I eliminated a bunch of my mistakes. My LR and RC went from 4-5 wrong in each section to 1-3, and I have scored many perfect sections now. I typically average 5-6 wrong on the games. If i could do it over again, I would have gotten a good "system" book like the bible, and I would be set.
Last edited by spursfaninla on Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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sbjohnsn

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Post by sbjohnsn » Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:27 pm

1) In June 2006, I got a 156 after studying for only two weeks before the test. The only official LSAT I took before the June test was the one provided for free on the LSAC website. After I got my dissapointing score, I bought the Kaplan games book and 10 real LSATs. In September, I was able to improve my score to 165!

2) Kaplan Games book (missed 0 LG in Sept. as opposed to 10 in June) And of course, 10 real LSATS

3) Never took a prep class.

4) I studied for the September exam during the end of summer and the beginning of school. It was hard to balance studying for the LSAT and studying for school. I can't imagine how hard it would be to prepare for the December exam with all the pressure of the end of the semester.

5) 12 in total; 1 before the June exam, and 11 before the Sept. exam

6) I would have studied really hardcore after finals in May and knocked the LSAT out in June.

7) Use lots and lots of old LSATs!

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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