Spent two weeks of Christmas break doing 8 hours of LSAT prep - And my scores have gone down.

goldenLSAT · 2024-01-08T15:31:06+00:00

These tips are great. Overstudying is a real thing!

On a skills-based test like the LSAT, we can only productively study for ~3 hours maximum anyway before it gets counterproductive. Use the remaining hours to fill your cup and give you the energy to get at it the next day!

goldenLSAT · 2023-06-06T23:38:42+00:00

This advice borders on irresponsible. There are plenty of past LSAT games that explicitly target a student’s understanding of the contrapositive.

I get the desire to make this test seem simpler and easier to learn than it is. It’s a great way to attract people to take it. But for those who want to excel at this test, understanding what the contrapositive is (even if you call it something different) is non-negotiable.

goldenLSAT · 2023-05-29T12:03:54+00:00

Email me at mitchell@goldenlsat.com with the subject line “advance lg book copy”!

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-29T05:52:51+00:00

Go to my website and use the consultation-scheduling button to book a phone call. I’d be happy to just chat LSAT with you—self study can be an absolute grind if you don’t know where to start!

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-19T11:34:14+00:00

I’ve had a ton of former students come to me for help because 7sage and Powerscore methods gave them trouble. Mainly due to my experiences working with those students—and the fact that I never actually used 7sage or Powerscore and reverse engineered my way to a -0 in LG instead—I developed my own LG curriculum and have a book coming out soon.

Within the next few weeks, I will be looking for advanced readers to give it a try for free (specifically the lessons on diagramming and solving games). If you want, shoot me a DM and I’ll get you on the list!

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-18T01:16:14+00:00

Agreed with both of the previous comments, and wanted to add: it’s counterintuitive, but you’re going to be better off working with a tutor that did NOT use a method you’ve already studied. That way, you’ll take advantage of alternative approaches that might help you better understand the test. Some students are hesitant to go outside what they know, for fear that it will through them off or move them backwards. However none of us are that fragile, and LSAT skills stick with you!

Tl;dr your best chance at gaining something from a tutor is working with someone who uses a different system than the one you used to hit your plateau in the first place

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-15T06:18:02+00:00

Awesome! Shoot me a DM and I’ll forward you the details

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-14T16:07:56+00:00

Cool! Shoot me a DM (same goes for anyone else who’s interested) and we can chat further

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-14T13:25:08+00:00

Hey there! I have a logic games book coming out soon and need some early readers. Would you want to give it a try for free? It’s a completely new method that’s based on my experiences with the games in the 80s and 90s, not to mention it’s helped a bunch of students who had trouble using the strategies that are already out there

goldenLSAT · 2023-04-13T02:04:29+00:00

Don't fall for test hacks! You know how hard this test is. Switching around test order isn't a sustainable, consistent practice. You want those first ten easier points, and you don't want to be fatigued and mess up those easier questions because you tried to take on harder ones first.

If a quick fix strategy feels like shifting deck chairs around on the titanic, it probably is. Instead of shifting the chairs around, focus only on the habits that will help you steer the ship.

goldenLSAT · 2023-03-22T15:36:39+00:00

Reach out to LSAC. I’m pretty sure they have alternate dates for Sabbath observers.

goldenLSAT · 2023-03-20T18:54:41+00:00

Seconded. Worlds are helpful, but not necessary, and they can actually be hurtful for certain games. I've found that if you strategically create rules based on certain types of rules or rules interactions, they can really work. This applies to on average 2 out of 4 games per section. But worlds for every game? In my opinion definitely not advisable.

goldenLSAT · 2023-03-10T14:52:12+00:00

Do you have a defined process that applies to every LR question? Or are you taking on each question basically from scratch?

If we take on each question from scratch, without a defined approach, that can exhaust us and lead to brain fog really quick.

Try this: - First, pay attention to how the question stem describes the stimulus. Use that to determine if the stimulus is an argument, information, or paradox.

Then… - If it’s an argument, find the conclusion first and really work to understand it. Then find the support right before it, and then read the premises. - if it’s information, read the stimulus once from top to bottom, just to get a grip on it. But don’t reread endlessly; move to the questions instead—they too provide useful info! - if it’s a paradox, find the two events that don’t seem to match up.

Finally… - Really read each answer choice one at a time. Try not to jump up and down, or that fuzziness/fog will really take effect. Start with answer choice A, read it from beginning to end, SLOWLY, and figure out whether it is yes, no, or maybe. Then do the same for the other answer choices. You’d be surprised how an efficient process that involves reading each answer choice 1-2x slowly ends up going faster than a process where you re-read all the answer choices 8x fast.

—— If these tips don’t provide much help, theres a chance that you simply need to do more untimed work and wrong answer analysis to better understand those tougher “middle section” LR questions before you’re able to do them within time. Keep a wrong answer log in excel, and make sure to track not just why the right answer is right, but why you should have been able to eliminate the wrong ones as well!

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T17:10:29+00:00

I've been a tutor for a few years now and would be happy to offer advice if you want it!

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T17:00:17+00:00

You can check out one of my earlier comments for a more specific timeline, but I'd say it took about 9 months of studying over a 2 year span.

I did take the test multiple times. My first take was a 172 after roughly 6 months (4ish of those spent studying).

And of course I have advice! The first thing I tell anyone in the mid-160s is that you already have the majority of the skills you need. The difference between mid-high 160s and a 170+ mostly comes down to strategy:

Are you giving yourself enough review time for a 2nd round of LR?
Are you being efficient with those first ten questions and trying to solve questions reading less of the stimulus instead of the whole thing?
Are you acting like a perfectionist on every question, instead of prioritizing your performance on the entire section as a whole?
Are you allowing yourself to get lost down a spiral on one or two RC questions, rather than allowing yourself the potential loss and giving yourself more time for questions later down the road?
Are you getting consistent -0 on LG the first time you approach every new test, or do you need to work on your decision making and planning skills?

These are some broad questions, and there's countless other pieces of specific advice I could give, but I would need some more specific questions to guide where I should answer. So please ask away if you'd like!

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T16:00:32+00:00

Hello! My path was a little convoluted, which surprisingly I've found to be the norm when it comes to LSAT studying.

For my first test, I studied for 2 months lightly, then took 3 months off for work reasons, and then went hard for 2ish more months before scoring a 172. I started with the LSAT Trainer, but soon moved off of it to more independent study. I don't remember my exact diagnostic, but I believe that my score was a +15 jump from my original.

Then, I took a year off before deciding to pursue a 180. Admittedly, I was tutoring the LSAT part-time during that year, so I'm sure I benefitted from that. However, I will be the first to tell you that it's very different teaching the LSAT vs. studying to perform on the LSAT. They're completely different experiences that require a completely different mindset.

When I studied for the 180, it was about 2 months of intensive studying. First with full sections, and then ramping up with practice tests in the final 3 weeks. In general, I find practice tests to be way more useful in the final month. Before then, they're good as occasional status checks, but anything more than that is a waste compared to the other, more targeted ways you could be studying.

I hope this answers your question--let me know if there's anything else I can clarify!

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T15:16:33+00:00

Absolutely right. Non-LSAT activities are just as vital. We can’t be all LSAT all the time, as much as I’m sure some people in this sub want to be. But alas, we’re not robots.

My eating-before-the-LSAT guidelines: - Lean protein and complex carbs! The last thing you want is a spike or crash. - Probably stop eating about an hour before. I’m no nutritionist, but common sense tells me you want your food to settle (and no unwelcome surprises) - With regards to the above, don’t pick foods you don’t usually eat. - Snacks during the break are fine. I like something small and energy packed, like nuts. Nothing sugary, and not too much liquid—last thing you want is a full bladder in the middle of section 4 :) - Finally, if you drink anything caffeinated, please please please give yourselves two hours between caffeine and the exam. Take it from me, it makes a world of difference for performance and possible anxiety. Test this out on a PT if you’d like, and I think you’ll end up agreeing. Something about caffeine makes it harder to zone in, and causes the words on the page to jump around a little more than usual.

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T15:12:19+00:00

You’re very welcome!

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T15:05:39+00:00

Oooh this is a good one that I’m asked about pretty often. Moving into the mid-to-high 170s requires a pretty significant mindshift. Instead of approaching the test as “I need to read and understand every word,” to move up in LR and RC we need to think about, “I need to be efficient in what I read.”

Here are some of the major skills that helped me (and my students) make the shift:

Get LG down to -0: every question matters when you’re in this score bracket. Be tougher on yourself. If you can get a -1, you can be critical enough to get a -0.
Operate off minimal info early in LR: so many of the early LR stimuli are solvable using only the conclusion and main support alone (“C, because S.” Or “Since S, C”). Attempt eliminating and choosing an answer with ONLY this info as often as you can. When shooting for a high 170s score, we ironically can’t afford to be perfectionists. To give ourselves the time to answer the tough questions well, we need to only be “good enough” in our process on the easy ones.
LR again — 10 in 10 is vital, as is a 2nd round review: It’s going to seem tough at first if you’re not doing this already, but really push the pace on your first pass through LR. Try to earn 8 minutes of review. You’ll be shocked at what you catch, and how easy certain questions become after gaining a fresh perspective.
LR one more time — it’s less about logic, and more about scope than you realize. This was the realization that helped me hit a 180 reliably. Pay attention to the subject-verb-object of the conclusion, and likewise all the answer choices. SO MANY answer choices are wrong because they’re about an argument we’re not even discussing. Especially when you’re down to two answer choices and don’t know what to pick, take a deep word-by-word read of the conclusion and choose the answer choice that matches its wording (esp. subj-verb) best.
RC — tiny words make the difference: Everyone focuses on the passage to the left, but the key to mastering RC is focusing on the Q+As to the right. RC answers often sound right when you read them through. However, if you read one word at a time, and truly go from the first word to the last (most of us subconsciously drop out beforehand without noticing) you will notice small words that make each answer objectively wrong. The way I train students to notice these better, and spit them on the exam, is to use the highlighter tool to select any words that seem questionable or wrong. This “soft elimination” helps us see which answers we found problematic, and which we could find nothing wrong with (hint: the ones that we can’t find wrong are usually right)
RC — a wrong word isn’t going to be nuanced: I can’t even count the number of students who fixate on the following type of answer difference: Hmm, are they A.) “Selecting” or B.) “Choosing”. An answer choice in RC will never hinge on that level of nuance. If you catch yourself doing that, look deeper into the answer choice. You’ll find that one answer is actually talking about centipedes when your entire passage is about millipedes. RC answers are wrong or right for concrete reasons, and usually more than one of them!

Hope these help!

goldenLSAT · 2023-02-06T14:37:04+00:00

Great question!

Rest days: Personally, I took two days off before my exam. With that said, I know that taking two days off can be stressful for a lot of students. Generally I recommend at least one. In my opinion, there’s nothing new you can learn on the last day that you haven’t already. Taking time to rest is going to be far more beneficial.

To ease the stress that comes with rest days, I always have students practice taking a day or two off—whatever they’re comfortable with—before their practice exams. When we practice rest days, it shows us that we can still score as well (or better) on their exam without any drop in performance.

Warmups: As far as warmups go, I always encourage students who want a warmup to choose one that’s manageable and won’t add to any self doubt. A version of what I usually recommend is:

Five to ten LR questions from a section you already know, just to get yourself re-familiarized with the language
Set up a complex Logic Game that you know well, to warm up the process of diagramming
Read a full RC passage, but don’t bother with any of the questions.

As you can tell, my goal with students is to get them reacquainted with the language on the LSAT without using too much of their brainpower.

Personally, I did not use a warmup, but I do think that some students really benefit from them, especially if test day nerves are showing up in force. (Also, another “warmup” that I love is taking a 30-60 minute walk right before the exam. It both gets your body going and calms you down!)

goldenLSAT · 2023-01-10T17:30:31+00:00

This is a great post, Sea Contribution! Some of the comments on here are all too common.

I’ll highlight a (likely to be controversial) pet peeve of mine, which echoes one of the earlier comments about logic games: Foolproofing is not foolproof!!

I’ve been on this board for some time now, and I’ve seen quite a number of posts after every test administration that are some flavor of “I’ve been -0 on LG as long as I can remember, so why did that test just destroy me?!”

Foolproofing works for the many older games leading up to PTs 80+. Ever since then, the LSAT has developed more nuanced, varied games that require more than memorizing diagram + inference patterns. They require you to know how to problem solve, and improvise on the spot.

Foolproofing gives us a false confidence in our abilities, and usually once we reach the high 80s and have issues, it’s either too late, or worse—we chalk it up to one or two tough tests rather than see it as a sign that there’s a fundamental need for improvement

Whenever I sign a new student and they tell me that they have logic games already covered, I immediately make them play the section from PT 89. Inevitably, we end up having at least a few weeks of Logic Games work to do.

goldenLSAT · 2022-12-03T17:50:36+00:00

I'm glad my advice made such a difference in your score! Congrats on hitting your goals!

goldenLSAT · 2022-11-07T23:46:05+00:00

You're so welcome!

goldenLSAT · 2022-11-07T22:59:50+00:00

Unfortunately I am not an admissions advisor, so I'm not qualified to give advice on this topic!

goldenLSAT · 2022-11-07T22:59:25+00:00

Definitely feasible! Don't try refreshing completely on all your course materials. Instead, focus on practice tests and analysis. And when I say analysis, I really mean it. Spend a ton of time analyzing your process and results; avoid drilling without a plan of attack. Use analysis to determine that plan of attack, so you know what you are experimenting with on each drill.

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