SECOND TIME IMPROVEMENT POTENTIAL

[steve.westberg]

Can anybody post how much possibly one can expect to score in second time? If first time is in 150s then is it possible to pull it up to 170s?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

You're saying that your first practice test was in the 150's or that you're first official LSAT was in the 150's? That makes a difference. You know everyone is different; some work harder than others, some are quicker to make inferences.

Personally, my first PT was a 143 and during the 10-12 weeks that I studied for the LSAT I pulled up my score 30 points and scored a 173 on my highest PT. Really the sky's the limit, if you have good guidance, work hard, and learn the material.

[timsportschuetz]

Statistics seem to show that IF you are one of the re-takers that improves their score (keep in mind, there is a significant chance that you will score the same and/or decrease you score), the vast majority go up by 2 or 3 points.

[TracyA21]

You're saying that your first practice test was in the 150's or that you're first official LSAT was in the 150's? That makes a difference. You know everyone is different; some work harder than others, some are quicker to make inferences.

Personally, my first PT was a 143 and during the 10-12 weeks that I studied for the LSAT I pulled up my score 30 points and scored a 173 on my highest PT. Really the sky's the limit, if you have good guidance, work hard, and learn the material.

What are some tips for methods you used to improve your score/ how many hours a week were you studying ? things like that.

[ohthatpatrick]

That teacher actually doesn't work here anymore, but from what I remember from stories he told, he was actually living at home at the time and LSAT was pretty much his full time job.

I don't know his specific study habits, but I remember him saying that he basically had to have a mental Rolodex (young people probably don't know what that is, but that's what he would say .... it's a flipbook of contact info) of what his system / approach / series of questions / series of moves needed to be for every different type of content on the test.

Essentially, since he wasn't initially good enough at intuitively finding correct answers to get a score he was happy with, he had to really rinse and repeat (until he knew them by heart) the things he would need to think or ask at every juncture.

Part of this is knowing the tendencies of all the major LR question types / games / RC passage types.
Part of this is sensitizing yourself to strong / weak language so that you can be appropriately scared of either one (depending on whether your task favors stronger / weaker language).
Part of it was gaining pattern recognition with some of the recurring argument patterns (Causal Explanations, Comparisons/Analogies, Studies / Samples, Statistics, Conditional Logic)

Ultimately, this mental Rolodex isn't going to boost our score much (if at all) until it stops being something where we have to ask ourselves, "what is this? what am I supposed to do next" and becomes something hardwired into our thought process. Once it guides and informs your intuition, you start to move faster and more accurately.

I should disclaim that the idea of moving up 30 points in 3 months is virtually unheard of. In 10+ years of teaching LSAT, I've seen one student do that.

If you've completely internalized the expert advice of whatever books / lessons / teachers you're consulting, and you can't seem to increase your processing speed for LSAT reading material, you may have started to hit your ceiling.

If you're still mostly reverting to old habits and never fully gained or implemented the systematic understanding of the test that books / lessons / teachers try to impart, then you might still have some substantial plateau shifts in front of you.

You should estimate that to make meaningful progress, you'd probably need to be averaging at least 10 hours of LSAT practice per week.

Good luck.

[MatthewN522]

I took the LSAT in November and my score was absolutely...horrible is an understatement. When the test was disclosed, it showed I skipped 7 question. Didn't even answer them, though I rememer working until the page said stop. the 7 questions I "skipped" were on the last page of the disclosed book, but I do no recall it. To myself, I would never skip questions because hey, no points deducted for wrong answers, and 1/5 chance of a correct one. That being said, my score was still bad even if I had taken it again. I printed out that test and retook it and scored a 146, and the last PT I took was a 147. So, I purchased Manhattan Prep books for RC and LG, retook this last Saturday, and I am pretty sure I did better than the last test, but not the 155 I need to be competitive for A&M. So, I have scheduled for the March 30 LSAT and I am looking at the online course, in act I was in part of the class today.


I'm not looking for a perfect 180 (though would be nice), I just want to get to that level. I do want to take the sourse but I am wondering what access to materials I will have during and after your online class? I feel I am on the verge of cracking some of these LGs and know that being in your class will help.

[ohthatpatrick]

Hey, Matthew.

Sorry for the delayed response here. These forum posts don't go to anyone's email, so they are sometimes lost in the shuffle. In the future, if you have any questions about a course, email the teacher or email student services at lsat@manhattanprep.com to get a same-day reply.

During class and for another 3 months following class, you have access to all our books and online materials. And after those 3 months following class 10, you can renew your online access for another three months for something like $45.

That Sunday class ended up not running because it never got the 4th student it needed (to be financially solvent).

But hopefully you've looked into other classes we're offering. Let us know if you have any questions about any of them, but again, email us rather than posting a question here.

Good luck!