Am I deluding myself a bit?

[Triveal]

So, I took a hard diagnostic today (from Kaplan, for free; test 36 I think). Scored a 153, with -4 on RC, -24!! including 4 omitted on LR, and -10 on LG. On LR, I got through most of it and felt pretty decent about my answers, so my score on that was slightly surprising. I simply ran out of time on LG.

I think that means I'm in good shape because LR and LG tend to be easy to improve on. I'm not taking the test until at least June of 2012, so I'm confident I'll have time to get my LG down to -0/-1 in that time. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to improve on LR but I'm hoping for the best.

Problem is, I'm shooting for 175+. I spent the first three years of my undergraduate career expecting to go to graduate school in Chemistry (FWIW, I scored a 730 verbal on the GRE). I'm going to be finishing with B.S. from a top 3 university--science/math is my normal thing. While normally I'd say that's a good thing because it makes me stand out a little, it really did a number on my GPA. I'm expecting to finish my senior year with a 3.4-3.5 GPA tops, but I'd like to have a chance at top 14, perhaps even as high as CCN. Is a 20+ point jump possible given my diagnostic?

First post!

[LSAT Eliminator]

It's definitely possible.

The -4 on RC means you have good reading speed and comprehension, and reading speed is often what kills people on improving significantly. So, your in good shape starting off and I suspect that your LR score will come up extremely fast. You read well, so it is likely that you simply didn't really understand what it is that the test wants from you in that section (it takes some adjustment, that's for sure).

-10 on LG is also a good starting point, and that section is the easiest to improve.

Given that you nailed a 730 on the GER you probably don't have any test anxiety issues, so I'd say you aren't deluding yourself at all. It will take some hard work tho

[Ashley O]

Eliminator is right in saying that it will take hard work. 153 to 175 is a pretty significant jump, and not many people can do it. I'd get yourself into a good test prep course and get studying early and often.

[lesterine77]

Don't even look at the Kaplan stuff, Or Princeton Review.  They are horrible.  I bought the Logic Games Bible (powerscore, have to order, it's not retail) and signed up for their course and the advanced logic games online course.  I started going through the book about 3 weeks before the class started (on my own) and by the first day, I missed one maybe two questions on the entire games section as a whole.  I am good at games, but started using Princeton Review and it would take my like 2 hours to figure a game out.  And they have too many symbols and graphs.  Those retail books are horrible.  I personally found the Logic Games Bible to be great.  You can order it through Barnes and Noble, but powerscore doesn't retail their books. If you find one on the shelves, grab it up.  That means someone ordered it and never picked it up.  They are the best test prep company out there and if you are going to take a course, I recommend this one.  Every teacher scored a 99% on an official LSAT.  And to get that at say Kaplan, you will need to spend like 4 times the price of Powerscore.  If you do a full length course, you will not need the Games Bible, but I was glad I had it, bc I knew a lot of the stuff going in to my course.
Hope this helps.  Logic Games Bible by Dave Killoren by Powerscore.  Best out there

[xunalex]

i think its possible. But If you wanna get 175 plus ,that is tough for most of people. So i think you should make a good plan.