LSAT

[Futureattorney1234]

Hello everyone,
My name is Monique. I am writing because I am currently trying to study for the LSAT. I am in a program and I am required that I take the August LSAT. I know I am not going to meet my goal score which is a 161 or 162. I am writing because I have the power score bibles logical reasoning and reading comprehension. I have read over the chapter must be true questions several times and it seems I am not understanding the material. When I drill these questions, I keep getting them wrong. Any suggestions? I also have moderate obstructive sleep apnea which is making it difficult for me to understand.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi Monique!

Thanks for sharing about your situation. It's good that you are concentrating on must be true questions. While it's important that you understand all the different question types, it's also the case the must be true questions are the type that occur the most frequently.

One suggestion is to be on the alert for conditional reasoning and be prepared to diagram it. Hopefully diagramming doesn't take you too long, but it can go a long way in helping you arrive at the right answers. Not all must be true questions have conditional reasoning in them (for example, there are lots of must be true questions in reading comprehension that don't involve conditional reasoning), but quite often they do involve such reasoning. Being able to see the reasoning diagrammed out as conditional reasoning can help you spot inferences, such as chains of conditional statements that can be joined together.

Lastly, you mention that you've read over the chapter addressing must be true questions several times. I just wanted to make sure that doing so doesn't come at the cost of exploring other chapters. If that is the case, that is, if you're stuck on that chapter and haven't moved beyond it, I think it could be quite helpful to move past it and perhaps return to it later. Perhaps understanding other question types will also help you appreciate the unique aspects of must be true questions.

[cindymik]

Hello.

I've taken the June LSAT and scored a 157. So far in order of least to most recent these have been my scores on PT: 157, 161, 161, 158, 157 (on actual LSAT), 157). I'm getting really worried about scoring the same as I did in June test on the August LSAT. Does anyone know if this looks bad to law schools?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi cindy,

First, it is quite typical for test takers to score a few points lower on the actual LSAT than they have been averaging on their practice tests, so your 157 score based on those practice test scores is pretty normal. Ideally, you'll be averaging a few points above your target score leading up to your LSAT in order to provide a bit of a "cushion." If your practice tests in the weeks before the August LSAT are still averaging 157-161, then you may want to hold off taking the LSAT until later, especially if you think that additional studying/practice would increase your score.

Scoring the exact same in August will not hurt you, but it also will not help you. However, if you score better in August, even by a single point, that can help, because every point matters on the LSAT.

On the other hand, if you score lower the second time, that does not look good as it indicates a trend going in the wrong direction. Generally, scores should be trending up with additional attempts due to additional studying/practice, and test takers usually do score better the second time, but not always of course.

I would recommend purchasing Score Preview, which allows you to see your score before deciding whether or not to cancel your score. In the worst case scenario where something goes wrong in August and you end up scoring lower than 157, then you can simply cancel your score and no one else will ever know how you scored. One advantage of Score Preview is that it can make taking the LSAT less stressful since you know that you can always see your score and then decide whether or not to keep it.

I'm assuming that your 157 is your only LSAT attempt and August will be your second attempt. If you've taken it more times, then you should also consider how many times you plan to take the LSAT.