LSAT Prep Tips: How I Scored a 172 in Two Months + Tutoring Giveaway!

Hi guys! My name is Nadia, and you may know me  from this video, which to my surprise kind of   blew up in that video I went over how I increased  my lsat score by 30 points from a 136 to a 166   and also in that video I told you that I applied  to 17 out of the top 20 law schools and that I   would be posting a video with all of my admissions  decisions and me reacting to them once I decided   where I wanted to go to school that video Never  happened because I didn't get into law school I   was weight listed and rejected at all 17 schools  that I applied to and 2020 was notoriously the   most difficult law school admission cycle of  all time due to the pandemic and unfortunately   I really felt that difficulty firsthand however  I was a senior in college about to graduate and   knew that I had to push forward and so I put  law school to the side for a little bit and I   ended up taking an administrative POS position at  cath I was incredibly lucky to start my career at   that firm and I was there for almost 2 years  before kind of pivoting and returning to my   roots in teaching to create a pro bono tutoring  service for underprivileged students and during   that time I also impulsively applied to three  New York City law schools on the last day that   applications were open again I was weight listed  at all three schools and subsequently rejected   even though I was an elsat logic games tutor  for years I always really hated the reading   comp section of the exam and I hated studying  for it and I just didn't want to retake the   elsat because I just hated that section so much  however after getting that last rejection off   of that last weight list last summer I knew that  I had to restudy for the elsat and take it again   so I studied for about a month and a half before  scoring a 172 on the September 2023 exam which   was super exciting because it was two points over  my goal score and I'm also happy to tell you that   this video has a much happier ending than that  last video did because with that new elsat score   I applied to schools last fall and I'm excited  to say that I've been accepted to multiple top   14 law schools and I will be attending one  of them this fall I know that I promised in   my last video that I would make that admissions  decision reaction video and I promise this time   it's actually coming your way soon but in this  video I really wanted to focus on how I raise   my elsat score from a 166 to a 172 in about a  month and a half and I'm also excited to say   that there is going to be a little giveaway at the  end of this video so definitely stick around until   the end so you can see how to enter that like  I said in my first video the elsat is a super   super learnable test and if you're dedicated  diligent and driven you can can really increase   your score even on the high end of this exam and I  really really hope that this video helps show you how after I got my last rejection off of the  weight list last year I took a diagnostic practice   test on July 16th and I was a little bit shocked  that I got the exact same score that I got on my   October 2020 exam which was a 166 so I knew that  I had to get the ball rolling and really start   studying and I also signed up for the September  2023 elsat at that time I work Monday through   Friday from 9: to 6:30 every day and even though  I'm a night person I knew that I would just be   too tired to study by the time that I got home and  so I kind of turned myself into a morning person   so in short my study schedule kind of looked  like this so on Monday and Friday I I would do   3 hours in the morning before work and on Tuesday  and Thursday I would do 2 hours in the morning   before work Wednesday I would give myself the day  off and Saturday and Sunday I would spend about 6   to 8 hours each day doing practice test and blind  reviewing so that's kind of like the skeleton of   my study schedule at least for the first few  weeks and I'm someone that really adheres to   routine and scheduling and so I really just made  sure to hold myself to that however one thing   that I did differently this time that I didn't do  last time was I gave myself a little bit of Grace   um I had a particularly rough summer all in all  and there were some really hard days and during   those days I wasn't really retaining what I was  trying to study and I listened to myself and if   I was just having a bad day I wouldn't study  I would just take the day off focus on myself   my mental health and I think that that played a  huge role in how I was able to increase my score   so quickly and not just immediately burn out the  elsat has really difficult material and if you   try to just push through and push through every  single day you are definitely going to burn out   and you're not going to retain what you're  learning and also on Wednesdays my scheduled   day off I made sure to like not go on elsat  Reddit or not listen to elsat podcast cast I   just tried to give myself a day away from the  studying that was kind of consuming the rest   of my life so yeah with the study schedule  out of the way let's go over how I spent my time during my first few weeks into restudying  I split my weekday morning study time between   KH Academy seven sage and law Hub KH Academy is a  free study resource made in collaboration with the   law school admissions Council and seven Sage is a  paid self-study program that has question drills   and video explanations for every answer choice on  the elsat and then law Hub is a paid resource from   the law school admissions Council that gives  you access to over 90 real administered elsat   practice tests it is $115 a year but if there's  any paid resource that you purchase during your   study time I highly highly highly suggest that you  buy lawhub because it's where you're able to take   practice tests and gain access to those tests so  I spent the first hour of all of my weekday study   sessions going through Con Academy and learning  about the reading comprehension section and kind   of getting myself acclimated back into studying  and what the questions are asking me um and then   I would spend the next hour or two either going  through seven Sage reading comprehension drills or   doing law hubs uh reading comprehension sections  before going in and then blind reviewing them   after getting that 166 on July 16th I then took  my second practice test on July 22nd and I scored   a 167 and I blind reviewed a 172 so I was super  happy to have a little bit of a score increase but   of course I knew I had to continue studying and so  I kept moving along with laub seven sage and Con   Academy and I would read a ton of Articles watch  a lot of videos I would go through other people's   study guides I tried at least a dozen different  methods and I listened to podcasts I read books   I read through Reddit I just did everything  that I could think of to try to increase my   score in case you were wondering some of the  reading comprehension strategies that I tried   out that did not work for me personally included  reading the first and last sentence of every par   paragraph only I also use three different colored  highlighters to highlight the author's main point   other viewpoints and then the author's opinion  and I also would read a paragraph stop and then   write down the main point of that paragraph  before moving on and the last thing that I can   think of is I would read a paragraph close my  eyes and then try to recite what the paragraph   was talking about and yeah none of that worked  for me I tried everything and nothing was really   working for me so over the span of the next month  I also took three more practice tests so on August   5th I scored a 166 and blind reviewed a 169 on  August 12th I scored a 166 and blind reviewed   a 166 and then on August 19th do you want to  guess what I scored because it was a 166 and   I blind reviewed a 165 so on paper I wasn't  necessarily getting worse but I definitely   wasn't getting better and my blind review scores  kept going down and so I decided that I needed to   make some changes I also decided that I needed to  sign up for the October exam in addition to the   September exam that I was already signed up for  and I also decided that I really needed to get a tutor before I get any further into this video  I just wanted to say that I know that private   tutoring is a huge privilege and that it is  not accessible to everyone I was an elsat   logic games tutor for years and I focused most of  my business on prono tutoring for lowincome and   first generation law students so I definitely know  the difficulties that come with affording tutoring   and I know that I was able to do this from a  place of privilege and that it is not accessible   to everyone however I was really plateaued in my  studies and I really thought that a tutor would   help me and luckily I was correct so as a former  elsat tutor I knew exactly what I was looking for   in a tutor I wanted someone who had a demonstrated  history of students with score increases on the   higher end because generally once you get past  a certain level of elsat scoring you are only   missing ing the hardest questions on the exam and  so it was really important for me to find someone   who could focus on those very very difficult  questions and help me increase my high score   I also wanted someone who would assign me weekly  homework because I know that homework keeps me   very accountable and I knew that I wouldn't slip  up I also wanted someone who would be available   via text if I had any serious and like kind of  emergency questions that I need answered and   then last I wanted someone who I liked someone who  I got along with because stting for the elsat is   a very serious and stressful Endeavor um and any  kind of like pocket of joy that I can work into   it I definitely wanted to and so I knew what I  wanted when I was looking for a tutor and once   I decided that I needed one I went on Reddit  and I ended up finding Sam from Houston elsat so Sam and I chatted for a while and he offered  me a free introduction session with him and during   that session he really listened to what I was  looking for and what I really needed um and after   our lesson he put together a study schedule for  me he assigned me homework and he gave me a kind   of like Excel tracking sheet so that I can keep  track of how I was doing and how I was scoring   and during that session we also agreed that I  would be focusing more on taking the October   elsat and that I wouldn't really push myself to  be taking the September elsat so I would still   take the September elsat but it would just kind  of be like a trial run ahead of the October 1 so   after our trial session uh Sam and I had our first  real session the next day and he really focused on   tips that he thought would work well for me so  instead of focusing on how to highlight or how   to read he kind of got a feel for my personality  and gave me tips on how I personally should think   he told me to think about why the author is asking  these questions which I think was a really helpful   exercise for me and he also really quickly figured  out certain biases that I didn't know that I had   with language so for instance if a answer Choice  said systemic in it my brain would negatively   think of that word and that would draw me away  from that answer within that first session he was   able to kind of realize these little errors that  I was making internally and really really quickly   adjust them he also had me explain my reasoning  for my incorrect answer choices on the homework   that I did the night before I also found that  explaining my reasoning and my choices for why   I ended up choosing the wrong answer was a really  really helpful task for me because I was able to   verbalize my thought process and really see what  I was doing wrong I learned so much during that   first session and from there he assigned me with  PDF homework that I could do where I can really   focus on implementing those tips and making  sure that I'm not making the same mistakes   that we went over during our lesson and he also  assigned me a practice test to do so I did that   and I scored a 169 and I blind reviewed a 176 so  just from like having that one lesson and having   my mistakes adjusted it just immediately gave  me a score increase which was amazing so from   that point on I use my weekday study time to do  Sam's homework and then blind review that homework   rather than focusing on random seven Sage drills  or random sections on laub after I finished my   timed homework I would usually write little notes  next to questions that I had some trouble with and   then after that I would blind review that homework  by writing down my thought process for choosing   certain answer choices or changing my answer  choices before sending the PDFs back to Sam and I   would also review those notes before every session  just to make sure that they were fresh in my brain   so this type of review I found worked insanely  insanely well for me when I was blind reviewing   before I would just blind review and keep all  of my thoughts in my head um and so that wasn't   really triggering any like muscle memory in a way  because I wasn't writing it down so during our   next lesson Sam really molded his explanations and  examples to my type of humor um and my personality   type which just made the studying experience a  lot more fun I don't know I just think that when   you're having fun while you're studying it doesn't  seem like it's a chore or something that you need   to do but I think the one thing the one tip that  I got that really just changed the way that I   thought about everything was keep he told me to  think about the authors of the passages on the   reading comprehension section as if they were like  a mutual friend that I was meeting for the first   time at a party he said you're surrounded by four  people because there's four reading comp passages   in a section and the better you get to know those  people the better that you will do on the elsat   basically that was literally hands down the best  outside advice I've ever been given because it was   a example that I understood and it really just  changed the way that I thought so that advice   helped me a lot and when I took my next practice  test I got a 170 which was really exciting because   it showed me that the 169 was not a fluke and it  also proved that I was on an upwards trajectory   and I was away from that 166 Plateau so I had one  last tutoring session before I ended up taking the   September LSAT and and I didn't take any practice  tests or do any homework in the week leading up   to my exam because as I said in my last video I  think it's really important to give your brain   a little bit of a rest before you put yourself  through such a strenuous and long exam like the   elsat and so during that week before the exam  I really just tried to focus on like self-care   and doing fun things um the night before my elsat  two of my best friends came over and we had like   a Legally Blonde watch party with like tie takeout  and it just really put me in a good mood for chest day so I felt really good going into the  September elsat I knew that the October   exam was only a month away and that if I didn't do  well in September I could just retake in October   however let me tell you about the horror story  that was my September exam someone on the roof   roof behind my building started jackhammering  for at least like 10 15 minutes my Proctor   told me that he couldn't see me and so we had to  pause the exam that pause ended up being 3 hours   long I couldn't move I couldn't exit the frame  otherwise my test would be disqualified the AC   in my apartment broke and it started getting super  super hot after that the entire sky went black and   a thunderstorm started at two points during my  exam the doorbell rang there was like this spider   in my bathroom that I let live there cuz why not  he decided that on my elsat day was going to be   the day that he left the bathroom for the first  time walked into my room and then climbed up like   behind my computer so he was in full-fledged View  and he was not like a Itsy Bitsy Spider he was a   big boy anyway I ended up finishing it was like  5 or 6 hours because of that long break break   and yeah I thought about canceling my score and  I ended up not doing it because I thought I could   just take October if I didn't like my score  and yeah it was the worst experience of my life so after the September exam I continued on  with tutoring and I took another practice test   after having two more lessons with Sam and  I scored scored a 172 and I blind reviewed   a 180 so I think I only got one question wrong  for that 180 but that was like the best day of   my life it felt amazing to be able to achieve  something like that and to see again that I   was just on an upwards trajectory in terms  of studying late September came around and   score release day came and when I checked  my score I got a 172 on the September that   I was like absolutely shocked even with all  of those insane distractions and just things   that were happening on test day I scored two  points above my goal score and so from there   I stopped studying and I went straight  into working on my applications for law school so yeah that is the story of how I  increased my elsat score by six points in   just a month and a half and I know that I was very  lucky to have been able to do all of my studying   on such a short timeline but also know that I was  incredibly lucky and very very privileged to have   been able to have had the resources that I did  and it's something that I don't take for granted   and it is something that Sam also does not take  for granted so with that being said I am super   super excited and very happy to announce that I  am partnering up with Sam from Houston elsat and   we will be giving away 5 hours of free private  tutoring with him to a lucky winner I was able   to increase my elsat score within three sessions  with Sam and we both really wanted to be able to   give someone else that experience for free so I'm  so so so excited to announce this and if you want   to enter there are just two very simple rules  that you need to follow the first one is that   you need to follow Sam on Instagram and I will  link his in stagram profile in the bio below and   then the second rule is that you have to like  and comment on his giveaway post that is going   to be live by the time you're watching this  video all submissions need to be in by March   23rd and a winner will be announced within 48  Hours of the contest closing and with all that   being said please go ahead and follow Sam and  like and comment on that giveaway picture but   also if you are looking for a tutor I highly High  highly recommend Sam he is incredible and really   just got me over the finish line and helped  me achieve goals that I didn't think would be   possible for me to achieve so definitely go ahead  and book your free consultation session with him   and yeah I'm just really grateful that I have  platforms like this to be able to talk to you   guys give study tips and hopefully help even  just a little bit on your road to law school   um educational Equity is is one of the most  important things to me it's something that I   hold very very dearly and close to my heart  and that is why I did pro bono tutoring for   so long but yeah I just really hope that  this video helped some of you I hope that   you guys go and enter the giveaway with Sam  and I and I will see you guys in the next video

Channel: Nadia Cianca

Views: 19,183

Keywords: lsat, study, law, law school, law schools admissions, law school admissions test, study plan, self study, lsat trainer, powerscore, lawhub, 7sage, 172 lsat, 170+ lsat, increase lsat score, test prep, lsat increase, logic games, reading comprehension, logical reasoning, test score increase, how to get into law school, how to study for the lsat, how to get a high lsat score, how to self study for the lsat, top 14 law school, top 14, lsat tutoring, lsat tutor, high lsat score

Id: VN7QAC8ymn4

Length: 22min 23sec (1343 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024