This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Sarah, who took the December 2011 LSAT and is currently waiting for her score.She's got some great LSAT advice for you about she prepared the second time around.
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Sarah's LSAT Diary:
Before I took the LSAT the first time, in October 2011, I was scared out of my mind.
I'm usually a very good test taker: my first time taking a practice LSAT I scored a 163. I set up what I thought was a good schedule, bought the necessary books, and settled in for a solid 2-month study period.
What I noticed as the two months went by really threw me: I was doing worse and worse on Logical Reasoning. I started out with around a -2 or -3 on the section. This, I thought, was very good, but since it wasn't perfect I got out my handy books and looked through them for any tips or tricks I might use to narrow my margin of error. I went through the questions in the book, worked on the LSAT PrepTests, and looked over my mistakes, making sure I understood where I went wrong. The whole time I kept making more and more errors. I went from a -3 to a -5, and at my worst I made 11 mistakes on a single section.
Finally, it was the day of the LSAT. I had done a PrepTest the day before, and scared myself silly because I scored a 159, not finishing the Reading Comprehension section and scoring a -9 on an LR section. I was completely frazzled when I walked in to the test room. When I finished, I was so relieved to have it done and behind me that I couldn't stop talking or smiling for at least an hour.
Three weeks later came the bad news: I scored a 158. This was the worst score I had ever gotten on an LSAT. After a ten minute crying jag and asking the cosmos “why me?”, I pulled myself together, signed up for the December sitting, and prepared to study for a re-take.
This time, I corrected exactly where I went wrong in my previous round of study. First, I did not take enough practice tests, or if I did, I took one section at a time. Second, when I did write a section of the test, I often did not time myself doing it. Third, I did not fill in a bubble sheet when I wrote practice tests. Lastly, I concentrated far too much on the questions in the book, which were NOT actual LSAT questions. This in particular, I think, is what made my score decrease progressively on the Logical Reasoning section.
Studying for the re-take in December consisted entirely of taking timed LSATs. I saw my score in Logical Reasoning, and the test itself, rise considerably. At one point I actually had a perfect LR section, and scored about a third of my tests in the 170's (my highest was a 173), which I never managed to do the first time around.
This time, I walked in to the test feeling nervous, but under control. I hadn't done a test the day before. I had drunk my weak hotel coffee, ate my homemade muffin, taped my picture to the LSAT ticket, and was ready to roll.
What I really want to stress with this whole experience is that re-taking the test is hard, but not the end of the world. If you did not score as well as you had hoped, try again. Try a different strategy, look for a person or a community to help you get through, look at where you went wrong the first time around.This time, you will know exactly what to expect.
Photo by bdorfman
