LSAT Diary: Improved from 146 to 161

This LSAT Diary comes from Lindsey, who
improved from 146 to 161 on the October 2013 LSAT - a 15 point increase!

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Thanks to Lindsey for sharing her experience and advice!

Lindsay's LSAT Diary:

I started out studying for the June 2012 LSAT roughly three months before the test. I’ve wanted to be lawyer for as long as I can remember and took as many law-related courses during my undergraduate career as possible. I got a 142 on my first test ever and felt not only devastated but also not smart enough to conquer the test. Even worse, I continually score in the mid to high 140s on all of my practice tests.

Though I took an LSAT prep course, I was bombarded with school and a part time job that consumed my time immensely and I did not take advantage of all the resources given to me through that course. I falsely believed that I was at least adequately prepared for the exam once June arrived, even though I hadn’t fully addressed my problem area, logic games.

I would go weeks without studying or would study one to two days a week, directing more of my time towards writing papers for class. I was also taking a brutal history summer course that same summer, which hindered my time to study even more. Rather than take a practice each week, I chose to focus more on mastering concepts, which did not help me in the long run because I was not able to finish logic games in the allotted 35 minutes. I had only taken 4 full length practice tests by the time the real test rolled around.

My advice for students taking an LSAT prep course is to take more practice tests than the course offers in class. I took all the practice tests the course offered in class, but that was not even close to being enough. You should be sick of them by the time you take the actual exam, which looking back, I wasn’t. As well, do not just do the homework the course assigns each week, do more! I cannot emphasize this enough.

Unsurprisingly, I did not perform well on the June 2012 test (I got a 146!). I expected higher, but with my lack of sufficient study skills and energy directed elsewhere, in hindsight the score was not actually surprising. After receiving that score, I was determined to do better (a whole lot better the second time). Rather than hurry and take the October or December exam that yea, I chose to devote a considerable amount of time preparing and decided that waiting until 2013 to take the test again was a good idea. During this time, I realized just how much time receiving a solid score on this test requires.

I graduated in May of this year and took full advantage of my freer schedule and lack of school obligations. My only responsibility was holding down a job (a part time job because I did not want to make the same mistakes I did not last year). I fully realize how lucky I was to be able to devote this amount to the exam and attribute it to my higher score. I even moved back home, where I was delivered from the responsibilities of paying for rent each month because I was so desperate to get a higher score and devote massive amounts of time to studying.

I took a practice test each week (sometimes two but rarely) after I had mastered the concepts, which I believe was key towards achieving success. Once I finally understood how to complete any type of logic game (all that fun formal logic), I then took many practice timed logic games sections.

Reading comprehension was always my best section, followed by logical reasoning, but I found that difficult logical reasoning questions continually hurt my score in that section, especially strengthen/weaken questions. So I made sure to focus on those types of questions and stopped being afraid of the more complex logical reasoning questions. After taking all of the practice tests on Steve’s blog within a six-month period, I felt extremely prepared for the exam this October. With that said, I was a bit worried because I was consistently scoring in the mid to higher 150s, when my ultimate goal was to score at least a 160 on the October test.

I even changed my diet to one consisting of healthy foods (like brain foods) filled with antioxidants, exercised almost everyday, and played brain games online. I believed that these endeavors were just as important as studying effectively each day. I ended up getting a 161 on the October 2013 exam, 15 points higher than my score in June 2012! I was pleased and relieved that all that hard work paid off. I am glad I didn’t give up!

Photo by bobaubuchon