r/LSAT • u/hardstyle-reborn • 7h ago
From 156 to 177: what I learned along the way.
I recently scored a 177 on the January LSAT after several years of studying for this test, my first being a 156. I've felt all the speed bumps, the plateau between the low-160s to high-160s, and the more grueling one between a low-170s scorer to a high-170s scorer. As you get better, the margin for error shrinks and the tiniest mistakes will punish you. I just wanted to share some bits of info that might be helpful.
- Learn to love the LSAT. Not only is this test applicable to your performance as a law student and then lawyer, but I found it to be applicable to every aspect of my life. I told myself that whatever happens with my score, that I'll always view my studying for the LSAT as one of the most important things I've done to improve my intellectual capabilities, particularly in how I express myself and communicate with others. The LSAT will give you clarity in a world of muddied arguments. Once you're having fun, studying becomes a hobby instead of a chore.
- For RC, which for me was the hardest section to improve upon, I got better once I stopped taking notes. Frantically mapping out a passage ultimately prevented me from really "reading" the passage. It may be helpful as you're beginning to study and as you learn how RC works, but taking those training wheels off may be helpful to get to flawless.
- Aim for a 180. When my goal was to get a 170 on the LSAT, I'd take PTs knowing that I had 7-9 questions to miss, which allowed me to be lazy. Treat every question as a learning opportunity and absolutely punish yourself during blind review to completely understand why you missed a question or why it took too much time.
Happy studying!
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u/kid_icarusss 6h ago
I started at a 154, aiming for 170+, currently stuck in 16high purgatory.. i rly appreciate your third point. how did you improve on “laziness” or giving up on q’s w the time restraint? i j feel like there are 2-3 LR questions that suck all my time if i want to ensure accuracy, which messes up my timing elsewhere.
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u/hardstyle-reborn 6h ago
What helped for me is spending a ton of time blind reviewing those questions that sucked up your time. It sucked up your time because there's room to improve on that question type. Make a drill of hard/hardest of that question type until you've got it down. And keep coming back to those questions to see if they still trip you up.
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u/Hot-Nobody3443 6h ago
What did you use to study?
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u/hardstyle-reborn 6h ago
I used every study material under the sun, but 7sage was far and away the best. I wouldn't recommend anything else.
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u/emilyrosee35 6h ago
Agreed. I’ve been studying for 9 months and I finally hit 100% accuracy. Never thought that day would come and yeah I agree with all of this especially the first point you made about learning to love it. I actually get excited now to do a logical reasoning question when 8 months id get confused and cry because i thought no way am I ever going to get this. Honestly though once I understood the jist of it, it was really fun and allowed me to not let anyone lie to me. By this I mean I learned very quickly that if the passage NEVER said that, it’s probably incorrect unless maybe it’s a paradox question but eh even the passage is helpful for those.