LSAT Success Stories – 160 to 177
Few things make us instructors happier than getting that glowing email from a student who has just achieved his or her goal score. While these students tend to have certain traits in common (a reasonable timeline, diligent studying, etc.), we’ve also noticed that successful students take many different paths to reach their goals.
Recently, the MPrep Instructor Manager team set out to investigate what habits and practices lead to successful outcomes for our students, with the hope of inspiring others just setting out on their test prep journeys. We asked our instructor pool to nominate students, and then reached out to these students to conduct brief interviews.
Today, we’ll be sharing three stories from recent students, with the hope that we’ll be able to continue sharing more of these profiles in the future.
Name: Zack
Grad school plans: Planning to attend the University of Minnesota
Zack’s decision to attend law school came in August of 2017. After a sudden loss in the family, Zack became involved in tying up financial and legal matters. He found that the detail-oriented nature of this work suited him, and began exploring law school more seriously. From the get-go, he visualized becoming a lawyer as a part of who he was. He told himself, I’m going to be successful on this test, I’m going to get into law school, and I’m going to become a lawyer.
Zack prepared for, took, and retook the LSAT in between deployments with the US Army. For him, being a little older and coming at the test with considerable military and life experience was helpful: he had the discipline to do what was needed to achieve his goal, even while working and caring for a newborn. Zack also attributes his success to his LSAT instructor, Laura Damone. He found her so knowledgeable and engaging that he even sought her out as an instructor when he took the course a second time before his LSAT retake.
For new LSAT students, Zack shared some advice: he felt that the biggest mistake he made the first time he studied was burning himself out with studying. By the time he got to his test day, he’d peaked a month prior. He advises other students not to “go too crazy with it—-really do take it easy as you head in. You want to be fresh!”
Name: Ryan
Grad school plans: Hopes to attend NYU, UVA, or Columbia
Ryan, a marketing associate from Salt Lake City, Utah, is currently preparing for the November 2019 LSAT, but in many ways, his story is already a success. Ryan began studying for the LSAT in June, primarily through Laura Damone’s online LSAT class. Ryan’s initial practice test score was a 160, and as an English major, he found the logic games section to be “horribly daunting.” Laura not only gave him drills and advice through his coaching sessions, but also shared her own experience in studying for the LSAT. For Ryan, knowing that she’d been through the same challenges was a huge confidence boost, and helped him to feel empowered to improve his score.
Since then, Ryan has seen his practice test scores grow to the upper 160s, and most recently scored a 177 on a practice test! For students looking for score growth, he recommends LSAT Interact and the Navigator tool, which helped him to see clearly what difficulty or types of questions he was missing. He also emphasized the importance of being willing to let go of questions. Facing the hard truth that almost no one achieves LSAT perfection allowed him to create a personalized timing strategy for Logic Games and take more control over which questions he attempts. Finally, Ryan advised students to be mindful that “the test sneaks up on you.” To other students, he would say: Focus on your deficiencies first, and don’t let the fact that the test is two-three months away keep you from studying!
Name: Kendall
Grad school plans: Northwestern University or University of Michigan
Kendall’s LSAT story is one that many students dream of: she achieved her goal score in just 10 weeks! When Kendall first began studying for her September 2019 LSAT, her practice test score came in at a 160. She took her LSAT course while working full-time, fifty hours per week. Ultimately, she achieved her goal score of 169!
Kendall noted that she used only ManhattanPrep resources while studying, and found the explanations and assistance she received through her course to be the most helpful, along with her individual coaching sessions. She took about eight practice tests along the way, and wishes she had spent more time practicing difficult logic games—on test day, she ended up getting what she describes as one of the most difficult LG sections administered in the last decade, which cost her some points. She advises other students to “fully commit to studying,” even going so far as to say that, “If you can’t fully commit, you need to wait until you can. Even if you’re working full time, like I was, you need to prioritize studying.”
Don’t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person LSAT courses absolutely free. We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.