Took the Diagnostic test before I started any studying

[rcm585]

I took the diagnostic June 07 test before beginning any of the Interact lessons. I haven't taken a test resembling anything like this in years due to many years of engineering study and scored quite low, a 143.

I didn't manage my time very well and here are my stats.
LG: Answered 21 out of the 23 with 18 correct
LR: Answered 34 out of the 50 with 17 correct
RC: Answered 23 out of the 27 with 11 correct

Is the score in any way representative of what my "max score" will be?
Is that even something I should be thinking about at this point?
What should I take away from the practice test before beginning my studies?
After how many practice tests or lessons will I begin to see improvements, and a score resembling my "max score"?

[ohthatpatrick]

A 143 definitely isn't auspicious, but it's not a dealbreaker.

I remember a PhD physics student I once had in my LSAT class who started around 139 and ended up in the high 160's. It was clear that his analytical mind was capable of mastering the thought processes LSAT demands, once that thought process was explained to him.

However, that guy probably set the record for the most improvement I've ever seen firsthand.

Most people improve 8-15 points from their starting point, but the lower you're starting, the more improvement you can realistically achieve.

Unfortunately for you, you already got 18 out of 23 on Games. Typically, that section is people's worst to begin with but offers the most drastic opportunity for improvement.

Since you already started out pretty successfully there, you're definitely going to need to plan on nearly acing that section on the real thing.

Clearly, Logical Reasoning is your biggest concern. 17 out of 50 is only 34% of the available points. (50% accuracy of the ones you attempted)

There are two separate mindsets you'll need to straddle as you practice LR over the next few months ...

1. Initially, when you do practice problems, go as slowly as you need to to fully understand the stimulus and to completely convince yourself of the correct answer (and, more importantly, convince yourself WHY the incorrect answers are broken). You want to REALLY master the thought processes that surround how to read the stimulus, what to proactively think about before you go to the answers, and what to analyze in the answers to detect whether they're legit.

2. When you're taking practice tests, DON'T get bogged down in every question. The fact that you left so many questions unanswered clearly indicates that you are laboring over your reading/decision-making. Try to cultivate an instinct of "I'm not getting this; I gotta move on."

Notice that almost sounds like opposite advice, but essentially when we're practicing we want to give ourselves the opportunity to understand something deeply. Once we finally "get" how to think about something correctly, our speed at doing so will increase.

But we will all face problems on the test that are just really confusing and not worth any extra-investment of time (you'd probably find that your accuracy on these time-suckers does not benefit from the additional time invested). So make sure you develop a muscle for "letting go, moving on" so that you get to attempt all the questions.

In terms of improvements, you probably won't see much for the first month or two of practicing (depressing, right?), particularly because your areas of biggest weakness are the reading-heavy parts, LR and RC. Those take longer to improve at because you have to develop new reading/thinking skills and do enough practice problems that you start to pick up on familiar patterns. Also, when you first start reading and learning about "Question types", you mind initially becomes MORE cluttered with terms/labels/tendencies than it was when it first took the test armed only with pure intuition. You have to wait a while before the terms/labels/tendencies become second nature and AUGMENT your intuition. So be patient with yourself.

In reality, almost all LSAT takers would not be anywhere near their max score until they had been practicing regularly for 5-6 months. Many people don't have the time/enthusiasm to invest in studying it for that long, but realistically that's what it takes before you start plateauing and hitting a stage of diminishing returns.

Hopefully this hasn't come across as too bleak. On the upside, it will be a really fun 5-6 months, because the test is very interesting and the better you get at it, the more fun it becomes.

Good luck!

[rcm585]

Thanks for your key suggestions. I will definitely keep that in mind over the next 6 months. It was also very comforting to hear the experiences of that physics student. I'll just aim a bit higher.