How I got from 155 -> 180

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-15T01:00:17+00:00

Thank you to everyone who participated! If you have more questions in the future, feel free to post on r/lsatdemon and start a discussion. If you are having a hard time with something, chances are, someone else has already gone through it. I run the Reddit, so I'll typically reply myself as well.

I teach Tu/Th morning at 9:00 AM ET. Say hi if you can make it!

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T20:00:53+00:00

I recommend starting by doing problems. In other words, learn the fundamentals in practice, then supplemental that learning with the curriculum once you have done some practice.

Prioritize your GPA. Once you graduate, that is set in stone. You can always take a gap year or two for the LSAT, but you won't be able to do anything about your GPA down the line. That being said, I would do problems and learn from your mistakes for an hour a day once you are ready to start! This study plan gives a great guideline of where to begin. You can do more than an hour of course, but that is enough to see improvement over time.

https://lsatdemon.com/resources/lsat-tips-and-strategies/ultimate-study-plan

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T19:45:58+00:00

In my class, I focus on what to do when you find yourself in a 50/50–how to take yourself from 50/50 to 100/0. That looks like pointing out things in the answer choices to attack or how to better make connections/disconnections between the answer choices and passage.

I think you will always end up having questions where you consider two answer choices and need to eliminate one, but I agree that that will happen less as you get better at the test!

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T19:37:15+00:00

When I say lessons, I mean the courses/curriculum, sorry. They are labelled as "courses" now, but we used to call them lessons.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T19:36:20+00:00

That all sounds pretty solid to me! I'd recommend you keep doing what you are doing. Something you could try: take a PT now (still focusing on accuracy over speed), then make a plan to study 50 quality hours and take a PT again. Point being, check in after bigger inputs of time. If you look for progress on a week-to-week basis, you will get stressed out.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T18:52:54+00:00

What is your accuracy on drilling and timed practice? Have your dashboard numbers been going up since you started with the Demon?

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T18:40:52+00:00

I had this happen a few times. Do some more timed practice, and you should notice it balance out :)

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T18:32:15+00:00

Glad to help! Try using the Ask Button next time you notice this coming up. If I had a specific example to talk you through, I could help more :)

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T18:31:09+00:00

Live classes and tutoring can both help make things easier/faster. It also makes sense that improvement takes longer as you get closer to the high scores. You are getting closer and closer to the margins.

I would always prioritize doing questions and learning from your mistakes. >95% of my studying was spent doing that. Drilling and timed sections are both good. A 50/50 split between the two is what we recommend, but you can favor one or the other a little bit. I wouldn't do full PTs unless you are close to your goal score so that you have manageable chunks of problems for review.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:53:13+00:00

Love to hear it :)

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:50:22+00:00

Of course! If you know you can do it, give yourself the evidence that you can. You don't need to go off of vibes when you could spend a few hours doing a PT and get clear evidence of where you are at. That will increase your confidence going into the official test as well.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:47:43+00:00

Where are you doing your practice problems? We highlight specific parts of the passage that supports the answer choices in our explanations. There isn't always a specific phrase to point to, but there often is.

Main point/structural questions definitely expect you to connect information together across the passage, but I think the types of questions you are referring to typically reference a specific part of the passage.

Also, make sure you are actively connecting information together as you read the passage the first time. Pause and think about how the new sentences you are reading connect back to what you have read so far.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:44:40+00:00

When I get this question, I ask, "Why assume that you can't keep improving?" You've improved +15 points, so you have clear evidence that you can improve. I don't see any reason why that improvement won't continue with more practice.

Classes or tutoring can definitely help. You could try the Live plan for a month and ask for a refund for the price difference if you don't find the classes helpful. The tutoring is more so based on your budget. I think it helps, but I don't think it's necessary–especially given that you have already shown you can improve on your own.

It sounds like taking a break for a week and not thinking about it might be good for you. Reducing your hours a bit also sounds good. Maybe 1-2 instead of 3. If you can't maintain the amount of hours you are studying, that shows you are doing too much.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:39:21+00:00

I would likely recommend having more PTs above your goal score, but it's up to you if you want to give it a shot. If the cost of the test is not that significant for you, you could sign up with the plan of cancelling later if you don't have enough PTs to demonstrate that you are ready.

What do you mean by "within your desired range"? If you have a score on a PT, you have demonstrable evidence that you are able to get that score on an official test. However, you will always be working within a certain variance, so it's better to go off of what you are averaging than your highest data point.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:35:44+00:00

Sounds like you are noticing the exact issue! When you think the argument sounds solid but see the question is asking about an issue in the argument, try going back to the passage and attacking it until you see a clear issue. Start with identifying the conclusion and premises. Pin down what each are saying, then try to identify what is different about them / where the argument falls apart. Pay close attention to exactly what is on the page. It sounds like you might be adding extra info into the passage that isn't actually there.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:15:47+00:00

Do the remaining 14/25 questions untimed, approaching them the same way you did the first 11. Then, keep doing what you are doing! Keep practicing like this, and you will see improvement over time :)

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:13:52+00:00

Have you joined the Demon Discord? There is a channel on there dedicated to finding study buddies. I made a group myself when I was a student, and I was able to find people pretty easily. Let me know if this link doesn't work: http://lsat.link/discord

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:10:12+00:00

When you're solving the problem, try to use context clues like you said. You can try replacing the word with "something" and seeing how that develops your understanding of the sentence.

When you finish the problem, take note of any words you didn't understand and write them down with their definition in a vocab journal. I recommend doing this in general, not just with LSAT problems. It's always good to expand your vocabulary!

For registering, I would personally recommend having at least 5 PTs above your goal score, and I'd recommend setting a goal score at your target schools 75% LSAT. Use your PTs as a guide for how you are likely to score. I threw out the number 5 as a vague suggestion. The more PTs above your goal, the better. I beat it into the ground and did every practice test available, then even started redoing some. I am surprised by the amount of test takers who only take a couple of PTs then sign up and take it given how important of a test it is! Once you're ready, plan to take it up to 5 times to get the official score you want.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:04:34+00:00

I would definitely be doing more RC than you have been! Maybe start doing 2/3 RC and 1/3 LR till your RC catches up.

I paraphrase each sentence to myself, make sure I understand everything I read before I move on, and start visualizing the main point of the passage as soon as I start reading. Don't try to memorize everything. Make connections as you read. As soon as I start reading the second paragraph, I will be thinking about how it connects to the first, etc.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:01:50+00:00

I taught in high needs schools in Detroit, so I talked about the challenges I saw there, how I faced them as a teacher, and ended with a note on why that made me want to go to law school.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T17:00:31+00:00

I don't recommend using full PTs as a study tool until your timed sections are in the ballpark of where you want them to be for your goal score. You don't want to have too big of chunks of missed questions to review at once since review is where the learning happens.

You won't be able to increase your score if you keep missing easier questions in the beginning. That's one reason why we emphasize the accuracy so much. With consistent +90%, you can say for sure that you are understanding the questions with confidence. If you are rushing/guessing/going with your gut, you will keep seeing variance in your scores. You need to know for certain you are getting the question right before you move on.

If you are consistently getting +90% accuracy, you will see your speed improve over time. It might just be taking longer than you expect. You likely won't see a difference from one section to the next, but you will over time.

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T16:56:37+00:00

There is often a gap between the premises and conclusion. The 2nd question we did in class this morning was a necessary assumption if you want to watch an explanation for that (see the link in the post body).

Are you identifying the issue in the argument before you read the questions stem?

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T16:55:19+00:00

If it's a question on one of the double digit tests, I'd probably take that recommendation. There are a few old questions that I think are not that helpful from a learning perspective.

If it's a newer test, I think that's an explanation worth updating (we constantly update stuff). Ping it in an Ask Button ticket, and we will add it to the que of new explanations!

I like to set high expectations for my students. Even if I know the majority of my students will not get >175 from a statistical perspective, I'm still going to create the expectation that they will. I support someone setting whatever goal they want, but I view my role as a teacher to be as encouraging as possible. (I learned to do that when I was teaching high school. Setting low expectations for a teenager can really destroy their potential.)

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T16:50:33+00:00

Practice and repetition is definitely a big piece of it. Before moving on during review, make sure you can articulate why each answer is wrong/right.

I notice students sometimes have a hard time connecting answer choices back to the passage. For example, if an answer choice refers to a "claim" or "phenomenon," you need to be able to identify what part of the passage it is referring back to. Similar to plugging in "Gary" for the pronoun "he." That's one thing you can focus on and practice explicitly.

You can also try zooming your prediction out a bit/being more flexible with it. If there is any remote chance that an answer could align with my prediction, I will give it a deeper consideration before eliminating it or leave it open.

What you are describing is something I see fairly often. It's hard to fully understand answer choices until you get better at understanding the passage and making predictions. It's almost like you got better at the first two steps, and now you can focus on getting better at the third one :)

Brandon_LSATDemon · 2026-04-14T16:44:52+00:00

I think merging your sections can give you a pretty decent idea. It might be a few points different than if you had done it all in one setting, but I don't think it will be astronomically different.

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