PowerScore student Marvin Dike blogs about his comprehensive study methodology so that our readers can learn from his experience. Make sure you read Part I!
Congrats! You completed the PowerScore class or you finished reading all the PowerScore Bibles, so you’re ready to take the LSAT soon right?! WRRROOOONNNNGGGGG.
All you’ve really done is gotten a grasp of the foundation of the curriculum. You haven’t mastered it. You understand conditional logic, you can read a question stem properly, you know how to approach a reading comp passage. Not close to mastering any of it, to be honest. If you’re okay walking into that test without mastering it then be my guest. Best of luck. But, if you’re smart and want to actually master the test, you’re in a good place. You have a foundation to build on, so let’s build, shall we?
How do I know you’re not ready for the LSAT yet? The LSAT is a test of patterns. You haven’t done enough practice tests to see the patterns, yet. It’s one thing for someone to tell you the patterns! It’s another, more valuable thing to be able to see the patterns for yourself and get comfortable with them.
Learn from Practice Tests
When you take the PowerScore course, they recommend you take at least 4 or 5 times practice tests throughout the course. During this time, I didn’t take my scores all that seriously because I wasn’t done with classes yet. There were lessons we hadn’t gotten to that I was being tested over still. Make sure to take the time to review those exams still! You can learn a lot about your mistakes and successes in that time of reflection. After the course, I took about 10 PTs over a few months and never scored over a 153. I was living in that 150-153 and infuriated. To be honest, the thought of “maybe this law school thing isn’t for me” began creeping into the back of my mind. But I stayed positive.
I would go over the test and be like “Wow, how the hell did I miss this? How did I miss that?” None of the questions were above my head but I was answering them incorrectly. A combination of time pressure, lackadaisical reading, and falling for traps seemed to be an issue. After getting stagnant in my scores, I took a step back and evaluated.
Evaluate Yourself
My advice to you, if you’re in this same predicament, is to read about and watch videos of other students who make the jump you want to make. I looked to students starting off in the mid 140s and got to mid-high 160s or higher. Without sounding arrogant, I refused to believe that these students were just somehow smarter than me. What are they doing that I’m not doing? There has to be something different. At the time, I was doing all the homework, re-reading the curriculum, doing every problem set question available. All of that still had me sitting in the low 150’s. Keep in mind, those scores were after I took the PowerScore course. So what gives? It wasn’t PowerScore’s fault either, it was mine.
An Ah-ha! Moment
It doesn’t matter how hard you’re working if you’re working wrong. A coach once told me that he’d rather me swing the bat correctly one time vs swinging the bat wrong 100 times. What’s the point of practicing if you aren’t practicing right? During my evaluation, I had a eureka moment. This happened maybe 8 weeks after I watched one of Dave’s videos. At some point in the video, he said that all LSAT’s are essentially the same. Why? Because if you have a wide variance in test difficulty, you can’t properly compare scores. So, the tests have to be similar to ensure they can be properly compared across the board. The LSAT makers need a certain distribution of scores.
Think of a bell curve and the ideal distribution that a bell curve wants. LSAT makers need the median test taker to fall in the low 150’s. It needs another small outlier of test-takers to fall in the 145 and below range. By proxy, it also needs people in the 170’s range. The LSAT makers do not want a huge distribution of scores too far to the left or right of the median. Why is this important? Because it means the LSAT has to have a certain number of hard-difficulty, medium-difficulty, and easy-difficulty questions. After figuring that out, looked at my test scores again and the analytics behind it. Like clockwork, all of my tests were the same story. I got 95% of the easy questions right, 50/50 on the medium-difficulty questions, and only 10% of the hard questions.
Adjust Accordingly
It killed me knowing I was the guinea pig the LSAT feeds off of. I was getting the questions right that they wanted me to get right and vice versa. I was the poster child for the LSAT sucker. But, I’ll say it again. LSAC needs people scoring in the 170’s. As crazy and diabolical as the LSAT makers are, they reward the elite for picking up on their clues. They’re willing to reward you for having certain skills in each section. They’re willing because they need the elite to get them right.
Fortunately, I figured those skills out. I know what skills the LSAT values and I’ll break them down for you so you can improve. Before you get too excited, I have a disclaimer. I’m not talking to those of you that are in the 140s. I’m talking about the skills that separate the people in the mid 150s and the elite test-takers scoring in the 170s. This is for those of you that already have a foundation and want to go from average to great.
Approaching Logic Games
In the Logic Games section, there are two skills that LSAC really cares about and reward you for having.
- Can you make deep inferences?
- Do you know when there are not deep inferences to make?
I point this out because when I first learned to split the game setup on LG, I wanted to do it constantly. This is counterproductive. Do you know when a certain game only has a few possible game possibilities and scenarios? Do you know when the game is very open and you simply have to let the questions and the rules drive the game? These two skills are more precious than gold. So how do you master that? I’m glad you asked.
This is a tedious process, but I guarantee that, assuming you don’t make a mistake reading a question or a rule, you’ll never miss a Logic Game question. Use this tracker and print out about 24 copies. You can also download it here. The spreadsheet has columns and rows for you to log every Logic Game you take. Write down the date you take an exam, the time you got on it, and your score. Log every single game you take unless you’re taking a timed PT. It’d tedious, but essential for your success.
Mastering the LG Process
Time yourself and go through a LG. If you miss a question or feel it took you too long to do, print that game out 8-10 more times. Yes, the same exact game. Then, look at the explanation for that game. Do the game again immediately after seeing the explanation from memory. As soon as you read or watch the explanation, do it again. Why? Because all LGs are essentially the same. The inferences repeat. The point is knowing how you got to the correct answer and memorize the inferences. Once you’ve seen the explanation and redo the game, log your time on the spreadsheet. Now step away from that game and return to it a day later. Yes, again. If you miss any question or take too long, go through the process again.
To be clear, on average you “should” take 8 minutes and 45 seconds per game. But, this isn’t how game work. Many Sequencing games or Basic Grouping games should take less than 5-6 minutes. There are also very difficult Grouping games with subcategories that will take you 10 minutes. Personally, I don’t use that 8 minute 45 second market on all games, but use it as a guide. Once you finish a LG and get all the questions right in a reasonable time, you’re done with that game for at least another few weeks.
What Studying Should Look Like
So, as a quick review, two things can happen when taking a new Logic Game.
- You do a Logic Game timed. Within a reasonable amount of time, you get all the answers right. For now, you are done with that game.
- You do a Logic Game timed. Either you miss a question or take too long. Then, you watch or read the explanation and re-do that game immediately, The next day, you do that game again. If you’re perfect on all these conditions, you wait a few weeks to do that game again. All the while, you’re logging each time you take it. Date. Time. Score.
When you first adopt this method, it’s long and annoying because you’re missing a question on so many games and looking up explanations just to re-do them. It may take an entire day just to get through 4 or 5 new games and apply the process because you’re missing a lot. I promise, though, after diligently doing this for a few weeks, you’ll have fewer and fewer games to review because you’re getting them perfect and fast on the first attempt. You start to see inferences repeat.
For reference, here’s what I did every day for Logic Games just to add clarity. I started off on LSAT 1, Game 1 and worked up to PT35. I did them in numerical order on purpose because I wanted the LG further down the line to be more indicative of the games on the current LSAT. There are a handful of games that are old and perhaps less applicable to current LSATs. I did them anyway to be thorough. My goal was to use all practice tests from PT 1-35 as drilling material and from PT36 and up as timed, proctored test material. I did every LG I printed out at least 2 times. Even if it was easy! If I got one correct in a timely manner, I’d still make sure I did that same game 3-4 weeks later.
This process allows you to understand so much. You have a much better idea of when to create Templates, you understand rules and can read rules better, you’re more comfortable with what techniques work for you.
Additional Tips & Tricks
- To improve on games, try to “flash memorize” as many of the rules as possible. After you write down your rules and make inferences and templates, spend an extra 20-30 seconds staring at and memorizing the rules, or at least most of them. You can lose so much time moving your eyes back and forth from rules to questions and risk overlooking or reading something wrong. Do I always memorize every rule for every game? No, but I definitely memorize most rules for every game. Try to make that a habit! It’s worth the 20 second time investment upfront.
- Understand the importance of circling your “random items.” Basically, any rules that aren’t talked about. When there are two random items, they’re essentially indistinguishable. They aren’t unique with respect to each other. So, when I see a Global question asking something like “which one of the following must be in ___ position,” I know that both floater items are wrong because they’re the same. If two answers are ever the same, both are wrong. This goes for any section!
- One very important skill/concept I’ve talked about with Dave is knowing when rules do and do not matter. It’s fundamentally as important as understanding sufficient and necessary condition. If you read the Bible or take a PowerScore course, you understand Mistaken Reversal and Mistaken Negation. In Logic Games, understanding that also applies. I like the terms “negating sufficient condition” and “satisfying necessary condition” a bit more. They speak to me more.
For example, let’s use the following rule.
“If X is on 5, then P is on 7.”
X5————->P7
You have to know that if any point P is in 7, the rule goes away, it no longer matters. You’ve satisfied the necessary condition, the rule is null, you cannot contradict that rule. Essentially, X can go in any slot. Conversely, if at any point X goes in any slot besides 5, you negate the sufficient condition and the rule falls away. It no longer matters. When the sufficient fails, the rule goes away. When you satisfy, the necessary rule goes away. And, of course, you gotta know the contrapositive. When you negate necessary, you negate sufficient. This skill helps with Logical Reasoning, too. Know that when the sufficient is failed, you can’t conclude anything. And when you satisfy the necessary, you can’t conclude anything.
- That log sheet is your best friend. You should be looking at it to see your times and scores improve.
Overview
- The LSAT is a test of patterns. Maximize your ability to pick them up with more tests and diligent practice.
- LSAC rewards certain LG skills. Can you make deep inferences and do you know where there are not deep inferences?
- Don’t just practice to get questions right, practice so you cannot get them wrong ever again.
In the next post in this series, I talk about Reading Comp and Logical Reasoning.
P.S. As of June 28th I finally got my first 170 on a practice test. Hopefully, that wasn’t a fluke score and I can repeat it a 20 more times before taking the real LSAT. Thank you so much for the positive feedback, you have no idea how amazing that makes me feel. I’m glad I can be of some help. You are not in this alone. The frustration, the uncertainty, I’ve been there. Let my mistakes be a chance to learn. This approach takes some organization, patience, and diligence.
Thanks for reading,
Marvin Dike
More from this series: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V