Stuck in high 150s

[FirstGear 11]

With only 7 days left until my next lsat write, I have very little time to improve. I'm stuck in the high 150s (155-159). RC and LR are hurting me the most. For LG, I consistently get -5 to -3. I run out of time and on average guess 3-5 questions, so the incorrect questions are typically my guesses. In LR and RC I typically am at around -10 for each. This again, due to time constraints. 

I already am behind in my coursework due to excessive time I allocated to prepare for the LSAT - which will hurt my admissions GPA due to less high grades to pull up my GPA, by the time of transcript deadlines. 

What are my best options here to improve given what little time I have ?

Edited January 13 by FirstGear

[deliciouskiwi 106]

I can't really speak for last-minute LSAT preparation, but have you considered waiting until after you graduate to write the LSAT and then apply next cycle? I presume it would be better for both your GPA and LSAT score.

[SadNWO 380]

Focus on the gpa for now. You can always raise your LSAT but a gpa is far more permanent.

[SNAILS 179]

Since this is very last minute, there isn't really any studying you can do.

My one piece of advice is to focus on your time management and progression throughout RC and LR. 

DO NOT spend 2 or 3 minutes on one question. Pace yourself so you have 17 minutes left at question 13 and 9 minutes left at question 20 (approximately). Do not try to do the last quarter of your section in 3 minutes because you stressed about hard questions early on.

[Starling 1058]

This is more of a recommendation for LR, but could work for RC too. If there's questions (topics, in the case of RC) you know you're good at, do those first. Don't do the questions in order - flag the ones that are hard for you and go back to them if you have time. 

There's no point trying to get the perfect answer on a question if it means you won't get to finish 5 others. 

Edited January 13 by Starling

[FirstGear 11]

11 hours ago, SadNWO said:

Focus on the gpa for now. You can always raise your LSAT but a gpa is far more permanent.

The problem is the university in my neighborhood (which is within my budget, as I would not have to relocate from the home I own), is the odd one that takes the average LSAT scores, not just the best one (U of A).

[FirstGear 11]

1 hour ago, Starling said:

This is more of a recommendation for LR, but could work for RC too. If there's questions (topics, in the case of RC) you know you're good at, do those first. Don't do the questions in order - flag the ones that are hard for you and go back to them if you have time. 

There's no point trying to get the perfect answer on a question if it means you won't get to finish 5 others. 

I lose my points mostly at Assumption and Weaken Questions. I find them not so much hard,  but tricky and easy to mis-select an answer, where when I look back at it, I wonder why I made such an error.

[VitalGiraffe 40]

5 minutes ago, FirstGear said:

The problem is the university in my neighborhood (which is within my budget, as I would not have to relocate from the home I own), is the odd one that takes the average LSAT scores, not just the best one (U of A).

You might be better off changing your test date then.

[Starling 1058]

27 minutes ago, FirstGear said:

I lose my points mostly at Assumption and Weaken Questions. I find them not so much hard,  but tricky and easy to mis-select an answer, where when I look back at it, I wonder why I made such an error.

Ok, I would definitely skip those and go back at the end if you have time. I don't know what study methods you've tried, but if you need to rewrite, I would highly recommend the Logical Reasoning Bible. 

[FirstGear 11]

On 1/13/2021 at 12:45 PM, Starling said:

Ok, I would definitely skip those and go back at the end if you have time. I don't know what study methods you've tried, but if you need to rewrite, I would highly recommend the Logical Reasoning Bible. 

I just wrote a few additional PTs, and landed all attempts in the 155-157 range. Consistently my performance in LG has been -3, -4, or in one odd case, -5. By coincidence, I guess 3-5 questions on each of them. So I have horrible luck at guessing and my error is from lack of speed.

I did notice if I take longer time per question, it's typically at grouping questions, especially grouping w/ repeated items.

I also run out of time at LR and RC, where I guess 3-5 questions in each. I usually get -12 - (-8) (average of -10) in each section, where very rarely my guesses are correct. 

I need a score in the 160s to be admitted to the law schools I applied to . This seems within reach if I just solve my lack of time issue, turning my scores in each section to -1, -7, -7, respectively. 

Edited January 14 by FirstGear

[Starling 1058]

12 minutes ago, FirstGear said:

I just wrote a few additional PTs, and landed all attempts in the 155-157 range. Consistently my performance in LG has been -3, -4, or in one odd case, -5. By coincidence, I guess 3-5 questions on each of them. So I have horrible luck at guessing and my error is from lack of speed.

I did notice if I take longer time per question, it's typically at grouping questions, especially grouping w/ repeated items.

I also run out of time at LR and RC, where I guess 3-5 questions in each. I usually get -12 - (-8) (average of -10) in each section, where very rarely my guesses are correct. 

I need a score in the 160s to be admitted to the law schools I applied to . This seems within reach if I just solve my lack of time issue, turning my scores in each section to -1, -7, -7, respectively. 

I would still recommend skipping questions you're struggling with and going back. It's easier to focus if you know you only have a couple questions you're going back to left, instead of 10 more. Plus then you will be guessing on fewer questions. 

Other than that, it's just more studying I would say. There's no real short cut to make you quicker at solving problems. 

[Limes 1]

16 minutes ago, FirstGear said:

I just wrote a few additional PTs, and landed all attempts in the 155-157 range. Consistently my performance in LG has been -3, -4, or in one odd case, -5. By coincidence, I guess 3-5 questions on each of them. So I have horrible luck at guessing and my error is from lack of speed.

I did notice if I take longer time per question, it's typically at grouping questions, especially grouping w/ repeated items.

I also run out of time at LR and RC, where I guess 3-5 questions in each. I usually get -12 - (-8) (average of -10) in each section, where very rarely my guesses are correct. 

I need a score in the 160s to be admitted to the law schools I applied to . This seems within reach if I just solve my lack of time issue, turning my scores in each section to -1, -7, -7, respectively. 

Regarding the incorrect guessing in LR and RC, have you tried 7Sage's blind review method? I found it helpful. But I also second the comments above about time to study being important in improving a score. 

[FirstGear 11]

2 minutes ago, Limes said:

Regarding the incorrect guessing in LR and RC, have you tried 7Sage's blind review method? I found it helpful. But I also second the comments above about time to study being important in improving a score. 

Yes, that's how I determine guessing is the primary cause of my error. As after Blind Review,  I correctly identify that my guesses, were in fact incorrect - and without the time constraint, my judgment results in those questions being correct.

[Limes 1]

23 minutes ago, FirstGear said:

Yes, that's how I determine guessing is the primary cause of my error. As after Blind Review,  I correctly identify that my guesses, were in fact incorrect - and without the time constraint, my judgment results in those questions being correct.

I suggested it in case analyzing the incorrect guesses and why exactly the reasoning/selection goes wrong might help. Anyways, wishing you the best of luck! 

[AllanRC 206]

8 hours ago, FirstGear said:

I just wrote a few additional PTs, and landed all attempts in the 155-157 range. Consistently my performance in LG has been -3, -4, or in one odd case, -5. By coincidence, I guess 3-5 questions on each of them. So I have horrible luck at guessing and my error is from lack of speed.

I did notice if I take longer time per question, it's typically at grouping questions, especially grouping w/ repeated items.

I also run out of time at LR and RC, where I guess 3-5 questions in each. I usually get -12 - (-8) (average of -10) in each section, where very rarely my guesses are correct. 

I need a score in the 160s to be admitted to the law schools I applied to . This seems within reach if I just solve my lack of time issue, turning my scores in each section to -1, -7, -7, respectively. 

As the others have said, there is not a lot you can do in terms of speeding up this close to the exam. However, you can change the way you approach certain sections, which may yield beneficial results. For example, take the bolded section above. If you are guessing an average of 4 (3-5) on LR but yielding a score of -10 (-8 to -12) that means, even if you got every guess you ever tried incorrect, that your accuracy rate per attempt is around 70% (25-10 / 25-4). That indicates you are not spending enough time per question. You are probably better to slow down and attempt only 17/18 questions instead of 21-23. Your accuracy will likely increase to the point where you are hitting 90%+ (if you have the ability to grasp the logic slowing down has a very acute impact on accuracy), and with consistent guessing on the rest you will be in a better spot (0.90*18 + 0.20*7 = 16.2 + 1.4 ~ 18 > 15).

The above is what we tell our students and much more often than not, slowing down increases score. The same is apt to be true of RC.

Hopefully that helps and good luck on your write!

Edited January 15 by AllanRC

[jj77345 0]

One thing I did for RC that brought me from a 162 to a 166 (I didn’t change anything else) was writing a one sentence summary for each paragraph. It really helped me synthesize the info and focus because I found the passages kind of boring tbh and it was hard to focus on them. Hope this helps and good luck!