Is It Worth It?

[Coreysmommy]

I took the testmasters course for the October test and completley bombed. I mean I went from taking diagnostics ranging from 150-162 and ended up scoring a 139 on my actual test which I took in DEC. I have came to the conclusion that I will not be accepted to any of the 15 schools I applied to with that score no matter how good my PS or my LOR. I have decided not to take the FEB test and wait until June. Is taking testmasters over again worth the 625.00? I tried to study by myself but it's just not working.

[Fidelio]

Well in response, a few things come up in my mind :

1) Did you send ALL of your apps? If YES, don't enroll in TM until you recieve your responses from the schools.  Some may very well accept you.  Even if you do enroll in TM again, you don't have to enroll 5 months in advance, so what is the hurry?

2) If you haven't recieved replies from schools or have recieved "ding" letters from ALL the schools, yes enroll in TM, however take it in a different location.  Psychologically it will be better for you.  A new environment, most likely a new instructor, and a totally different set of faces.  It will create a fresh atmosphere.  In contrast, if you enroll in the same location at TM, you may get squeamish nostalgia that may associate your future TM studying to your December LSAT performance. 

HTH

[theunderdog]

coreysmommy,

my condolences for the unfortunate score.  whether this is good news or bad news, i've been at the lsat since jan '05.  and all the while, i've self-studied, taken testmasters, studied powerscore materials, spoke with blueprint students about their methods, yadda yadda.

quite honestly, what you see in the LRB/LGB is what you get in testmasters.  TM wasn't worth my $1250 b/c i studied those bibles beforehand and got pretty much nothing from the course.  and it's not worth your $625.  if you can, i'd work with a personal tutor instead.  depending on where you live, there might be many of them -- and one great tutor can definitely put you back on the right track.

there's a saying...

fool me once, shame on you.  fool me twice, shame on me.

don't let this be shame on you...   you can still study on your own and achieve a much better score.  the only way to go now is up.

hope you're encouraged.

[drama gal]

I would take another prep course but a different one.  I highly recommend Powerscore.

[Tulane1L]

I think before you do anything, you need to figure out what went wrong that day.  Did you miss an entire section, or did you miss an equal amount in all of them?  If you are just struggling in one big area, then focus on that, with the bibles or a private tutor.  Were you very nervous?  If so, take more practice tests with other people proctoring them (preferable not your friends/family) in areas that resemble the testing center (libraries, schools in you have access to them)....Did you use real pratice test from 2000 on?  The old ones have very different games/RC sections, and the fake ones (like in Kaplan) are pretty much worthless.  Most people drop a few point on their real test.  A drop of 5 points from the practice average is to be expected (unfortunatly...I did) but a drop of 20 points on the real thing indicates that something went very wrong that day.

Before you sign up for any more courses, etc, you really need to analyze your results and figure out exactly what on the Dec. LSAT tripped you up.

Best of luck to you!

[queencruella]

Sorry about the test, but I don't think that TM is going to be your best bet, especially if you went in and did a lot worse on the test than on the practice exams.  Take a careful look at your results to see what happened and then decide whether it's worth another course (somewhere else) or just studing a bible or having private tutoring.  You're probably having problems that aren't going to be addressed in a class where you can't get personal attention. 

[BrandonTexas]

fool me once, shame on you.  fool me twice, shame on me.

I think you are mistaken my friend.  I believe the quote is...
"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

[NYmortgagepro]

here's my advice for you. I would take 3 random preptests from different years under timed conditions. 150-162 is a big gap in scores. After you take 3 tests you can gauge what type of questions are your weak ones. Get the LRB and LGB and focusing on the questions you had trouble with. I would recommend getting the ultimate setup guide it's a great reference when you start doing a lot of tests. Once you get consistent with the score you want go take the test.

 

[lawgirl79]

fool me once, shame on you.  fool me twice, shame on me.

I think you are mistaken my friend.  I believe the quote is...
"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

180!!

[lawgirl79]

I took the testmasters course for the October test and completley bombed. I mean I went from taking diagnostics ranging from 150-162 and ended up scoring a 139 on my actual test which I took in DEC. I have came to the conclusion that I will not be accepted to any of the 15 schools I applied to with that score no matter how good my PS or my LOR. I have decided not to take the FEB test and wait until June. Is taking testmasters over again worth the 625.00? I tried to study by myself but it's just not working.

Since you have already taken the class, I wouldn't bother with another.  As for me, I took Kaplan (what a waste).  I also worked for hours on end with the LGB and LRB.  I scored a bit lower than I had hoped- I think the length/fatigue got to me.  Were you working with individual problems?  It may be that you need to work on entire tests to prepare yourself for the marathon length that the LSAT is.  I with I had done this more myself prior to taking the test.

Also - have you considered having your test hand scored?  If there was a long block of incorrect answers, you may have misbubbled.  If you contact LSAC you can see if it's not too late to have it looked over. 

Good luck - I am considering retaking in June myself - Feb is way to close to contemplate.