LSAT Advice

[edec360@gmail.com]

Hi there! I was hoping to get some feedback on what my course of action should be. I have been studying for the LSAT for about 2.5 weeks now. I have finished the Powerscore LR bible, and LR coursework (minus a few drills that I left to keep going back to and practicing throughout my studying). I am working through the RC bible and coursework right now. My diagnostic was a 150 and I need to get a 165 for a special program I am applying to. My most recent PT, 146, this past Sunday, was untimed with the experimental section. I got a 155. The week before I did an untimed non experimental PT (106) and go a 158. My time over is about 2-5 minutes for LR and 10 minutes for RC.
I have been studying about 5-6 hours a day with one off day on Saturday.
My question is, if I am taking my LSAT in Septemeber, should I try to get a tutor in order to reach the goal I have? If I do not score a 165 I may not get into the program. I have a backup LSAT for November, but I am hoping to apply early in on the cycle. A further comment I have is that I am finding about 50% of the wrong answers I am getting are between two choices. I found the Powerscore podcast about this, but it is frustrating because after the fact I can explain exactly why the right answer is right for 90% of them, but on the actual practice tests I am struggling to discern between convincing wrong answers and right answers. I will be having about a week between now and my test where I will not be able to study or PT at all and so I am a bit nervous to make sure I can get where I need to be.
Thank you!

[Esthernningham]

I think you should retake the previous LSAT exams yourself. The structure may be the same. The context of each sentence may change.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi edec360!

I think that Esthernningham's suggestion is good: the best course of action for you might be to take as many practice tests as possible before the September exam. It's possible that you could also benefit from a tutor, but it isn't absolutely essential to have one.

Since you've already taken more than one untimed exam, I'd consider taking the remainder under actual timed conditions. Some students need to ease into it more by taking multiple untimed exams, but currently you're not getting an accurate picture of how you'd be likely to score on test day. That will mean that you're likely not finishing each section within the allotted time, but you will be getting a barometer of what your score is likely to be. Taking as many LSATs as possible is useful for that measurement function--e.g., you can figure out your average score across tests, can see your highest score, your lowest score, etc.

And hopefully you'd also be able to see your scores trending upwards. That is, especially since you've already worked through PowerScore's materials, taking as many tests as possible itself will generally help you get better at the test. I should note that if you take test after test but don't actually review them, then you might not see much of an upward trend. But if you keep taking practice tests, reviewing each one after you're done to understand why the wrong answers are wrong and why the right ones are correct, then go back and drill yourself on problem areas using PowerScore's materials, that's what can lead to an upward trend in your scores. If you have 5-6 hours to dedicate to studying per day, that should be enough to fit in a timed test as well as review of it.

Lastly, hopefully the podcast gave you some useful info about choosing between answer choices. I can say that what you mentioned doesn't seem to be the worst problem to have, as it seems good that you are regularly winnowing it down to two answer choices, one of which is correct. One thing that could be helpful in this situation is to make sure to check the answers against the stimulus. While it's not always ideal to have to read the stimulus a second time, if you have the answer choices narrowed down to two contenders, going back to the stimulus to find support can help you choose between them.