I took the December LSAT and due to a bubbling error which bled into my performance on the 5th section, I scored 10 points below my recent 10 PT average. I was disappointed but I'm committed to retaking in June or September and waiting a year to start law school.
My question is regarding a strategy moving forward. I've been studying since early this summer and have worked my way up from a score in the mid-140s to the low 170s. I've taken every test from the 40s and up and selectively picked through every other test all the way down to 1. What now? I was thinking about revisiting my LSAT Interact course with a fine-toothed comb and possibly focusing on doing a section a day + review? I’m concerned about having an overabundance of time with no structure. Any tips on how I can turn my bubbling error into an opportunity?
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- JorieB701
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Elle Woods
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- ohthatpatrick
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Atticus Finch
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Re: Preparing for a June retake
Ouch, that is so lame. And given how hard you've worked, it sounds like the Universe doesn't care too much about fairness. 
I think working through Interact again is a great idea (do all the Challenge sets, if you didn't the first time), mainly because it reminds you of everything and isn't as lonely as just staring at timed section after timed section.
You could definitely get in the habit of doing at least two games sections per week (like start from Test 1 and work forward). Games is mainly about staying in shape (like doing arithmetic or running scales on a musical instrument). Even though you've seen these games before, you can still benefit from doing them again, assuming you're working off a clean copy. Set ambitious timing goals for easier games. See if you can get through a Normal Ordering game in 5 or 6 mins tops.
You could similarly do timing drills in RC and LR, with the hope of keeping LSAT on your radar while mixing up the modality of what practice feels like.
A great drill is "Do the first 10 LR questions in 10 mins" (work your way up to "do the first 15 Q's in 15mins"). This isn't as huge a time/energy suck as doing full sections, so you can intersperse this intermittently into your life.
For RC, you can practice "going off your gut" by only giving yourself 7 mins to get through a passage + Q's.
The other modality to work off is the OPPOSITE of a speed drill ... it's an untimed ANTICIPATE THE ANSWER drill. Basically, for LR and RC, try doing a passage or set of Q's where you cover up the answer choices and initially write your own prediction of what a correct answer could be.
This hopefully increases your sophistication by making you really try to get inside the minds of a test writer's head. (You can similarly try to guess at least one trap answer!)
I would give all the tests between PT70 and PT83 a rest until you're two months out from your actual test (whether that's June or Sept). At that point you'll have vague memories of these tests, but most of the correct answers will still need to be earned anew.
You can also try to get into using the Forum more to answer people's questions (we moderators don't respond to students with YELLOW names, unless they're asking a brand new question ... we hope that other people in the forum community will come to their rescue). I've seen some "long-term studiers" become really valuable helpers on the forum by just checking on new posts and answering other students' questions. Supposedly, the highest form of learning is when you could teach it to someone else.
Overall, take breaks and mix up your practice style as much as possible to avoid getting burned out. And hopefully you'll be able to cash in on the score you deserve later this year!
I think working through Interact again is a great idea (do all the Challenge sets, if you didn't the first time), mainly because it reminds you of everything and isn't as lonely as just staring at timed section after timed section.
You could definitely get in the habit of doing at least two games sections per week (like start from Test 1 and work forward). Games is mainly about staying in shape (like doing arithmetic or running scales on a musical instrument). Even though you've seen these games before, you can still benefit from doing them again, assuming you're working off a clean copy. Set ambitious timing goals for easier games. See if you can get through a Normal Ordering game in 5 or 6 mins tops.
You could similarly do timing drills in RC and LR, with the hope of keeping LSAT on your radar while mixing up the modality of what practice feels like.
A great drill is "Do the first 10 LR questions in 10 mins" (work your way up to "do the first 15 Q's in 15mins"). This isn't as huge a time/energy suck as doing full sections, so you can intersperse this intermittently into your life.
For RC, you can practice "going off your gut" by only giving yourself 7 mins to get through a passage + Q's.
The other modality to work off is the OPPOSITE of a speed drill ... it's an untimed ANTICIPATE THE ANSWER drill. Basically, for LR and RC, try doing a passage or set of Q's where you cover up the answer choices and initially write your own prediction of what a correct answer could be.
This hopefully increases your sophistication by making you really try to get inside the minds of a test writer's head. (You can similarly try to guess at least one trap answer!)
I would give all the tests between PT70 and PT83 a rest until you're two months out from your actual test (whether that's June or Sept). At that point you'll have vague memories of these tests, but most of the correct answers will still need to be earned anew.
You can also try to get into using the Forum more to answer people's questions (we moderators don't respond to students with YELLOW names, unless they're asking a brand new question ... we hope that other people in the forum community will come to their rescue). I've seen some "long-term studiers" become really valuable helpers on the forum by just checking on new posts and answering other students' questions. Supposedly, the highest form of learning is when you could teach it to someone else.
Overall, take breaks and mix up your practice style as much as possible to avoid getting burned out. And hopefully you'll be able to cash in on the score you deserve later this year!
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- DominicG543
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Vinny Gambini
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Re: Preparing for a June retake
Reviewing is definitely important, but I think you could do it not as often as you think now. It is really important to know your normal capacity of work for the day so then you can plan anything: learning new material, reviewing old topics and relaxing (of course). Maybe you should work three days without any plans and then, make consequences and decide how your plan should be created in the best way. Then you could write it and put in the place which is always behind your eyes. (It will help you to visualize your goals) So, have a good luck!
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