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Eventually everyone's LSAT score reaches a plateau. We define "the plateau" as any 4 tests in a row, taken within a 12 day period, where your score does not vary beyond a three point range. For example, 4 tests with scores of 151, 150, 153, and 151 taken between July 2nd and July 11th would qualify; 4 tests with scores of 164, 168, 163, and 163 taken between August 20th and September 4th would not.

The plateau cannot merely be defined as an inability to get beyond one's own personal best score. Some tests will, by their very nature, appeal to certain test takers more than others; a single test that contains 4 easy games that idiosyncratically appeal to a certain test taker's own particular aptitudes and therefore produces an unusually high score cannot be considered representative or typical.

Similarly, 4 tests in a row with scores that range over a period greater than 3 points demonstrate erraticism, not a plateau. Remember: the difference between a score of 151 and 155 might seem small; it's only 4 points after all. But a 151 is a 48th percentile score; a 155 is a 64th percentile. Those four points are actually SIXTEEN percentile points. In any given year, about 120,000 can be expected to take the test. Those 16 percentile points are 19,200 people!!!

Consider: the 200th ranked law school in the country has an average LSAT score of about 145. The best law school in the country has an average LSAT score of about 172. The difference between 200th and 1st is literally only TWENTY-SEVEN POINTS. Nationwide, the average student taking a Kaplan, PowerScore, or Princeton Review LSAT class improves their score by only 4 points. We're talking about very narrow ranges on the LSAT, especially when most academic courses at the high school and college level use a 100 point scale.

With regards to the 12 day time span: if your score plateaus but your tests are spread out over weeks and weeks, then you shouldn't have any expectation of improvement. If you only practiced the piano once a week, you wouldn't expect to play Carnegie Hall. The same applies here.

Finally, the exercises below are not a shortcut to score improvement or mastery of the test. Each of these exercises requires a foundation of LSAT specific knowledge and an intellectual investment in the individual components of the test (formal logic, arguments, game types, vagueness/specificity, etc.). But each of these techniques have been proven over time to help students break beyond the LSAT Plateau.

The Untimed Test

An untimed test is an ideal way to evaluate your current intellectual preparedness. Frequently, one attributes wrong answers to "timing," when in fact, by the end of a timed test, one probably doesn't know which answers one got wrong because of time constraints and which answers one got wrong because the question was misapprehended.

When you score and review an untimed test, you'll know that any incorrect questions weren't merely a matter of timing but a matter of misinterpretation, misapprehension, or misapplication. This should afford better insight into how you think about the test and your current level of preparedness.

Two Tests Back-to-Back

A good way to increase endurance, if one has a tendency to fade in later sections of the test. This should be a weekly ritual in the 4 weeks leading up to the test.

The problem with fading out at the end of the test is that a practice test with four 35-minute sections only takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. Your actual test day experience is going to be something closer to 5 1/2 hours (depending on the efficiency of the proctoring).

So take 2 full length tests back-to-back. Choose 2 four section tests. Eight test sections should take approximately 5 hours if you take a 15 minute break between tests, thus roughly recreating the length of the actual test day experience.

Also be sure to note if there is a signif

The Speed test

Take a test with 30 minute sections instead of 35 minute sections. Forcing yourself to perform under more stringent time constraints forces one to increase efficiency and rely upon available intellectual shortcuts.

A Selection of Abstract Questions

Similarly, there is some benefit to doing the same thing for Role of a Statement, Flaw, and Method of Argument questions, since these are the questions with the most abstract answer choices. Use the online Mastery books to find a large selection of these question types, and invest yourself intellectually in the correct answers and how that correct answer abstractly describes the argument you've just read. It'll help increase your comfort level with LSAT grammar, phraseology, and vocabulary and exactly what makes for a great "correct" answer on the test.

Read a Test

Pressed for time? READ a test!! Just circle on the correct answers in a test and READ the test. No, you're not actually taking the test. But you're increasing your familiarity with the test's use of language and how the correct answers relate to the questions. It's a great way to blow through a few tests in just a couple of hours.

Nonsense by Robert J. Gula

Possibly the best and most accessible book ever written on logical argumentation. An absolute must-read for those looking for scores 160 and above, and a crucial resource for those progress has stalled and are looking to break beyond the plateau. Read this book twice.

BAD ARGUMENTS by Ali Almossawi

For those struggling with FLAW questions in particular, this is a deceptively simple introduction to the concept of logical fallacies. Don't be fooled: this isn't a children's book!

3 HOURS TO A BETTER READING COMPREHENSION SCORE

If you haven't tried the 3 Hours to a Better Reading Comprehension Score workshop yet, it's a fantastic way to improve your ability to discern which portions of a reading comp passage are likely to generate test questions. Follow the instructions precisely!! Available online under the Notes tab.

The 17 toughest reading passages of all time

Text & links to follow.

The 30 Toughest Logic Games of All Time

Text & links to follow.

Familiarize Yourself with Logic Games Question Types

Text & links to follow.

Early/Late Answer Choices

Perform an assessment of whether you tend to "pronate" on wrong answer choices.

For questions you got wrong, create a two column list marked "EARLY/LATE."

If the correct answer was C, but you chose A, you jumped early. That is to say, you chose an answer that appeared BEFORE the correct answer. Add a mark to the EARLY column.

If the correct answer was B, but you chose E, you jumped late. Add a mark to the LATE column.

One should find that the early and late marks are relatively equal and randomized. Most test takers, however, will discover that they have a tendency to drift to one side or the other.

If you have more ticks in the EARLY column, it indicates a tendency to misinterpret the answer choices, meaning one has gone into the answers without a good sense of what the correct answer will actually look like.

If you have more ticks in the LATE column, it means one has gone into the answers with no clear prediction in mind, and is being influenced by the answer choices themselves.