Camila, 153 and working toward 168: a live LSAT coaching session
This is what LSAT Unplugged coaching looks like. Camila came in at 153, 154, aiming for 170s (mentioned 168 too) on the November LSAT. Steve Schwartz coached her live for about 15 minutes on both, and the whole session and transcript are below.
The numbers here are where Camila started and the goal we set together in this session. Individual results vary.
- Student: Camila
- Score when recorded: 153, 154
- Goal: 170s (mentioned 168 too)
- Target test: November
- Situation: Not working right now, prepping full time, currently taking full practice tests on both Saturday and Sunday at home.
- Focus: both
- Worked on: Reading Comprehension notetaking and highlighting strategy, must be true, most strongly supported, flaw
What we fixed in this session
The typical student drops 5 to 8 points from practice to actual, and one way to mitigate that is to make practice tests match real conditions.
Steve Schwartz
This is one session, in the middle of the work. I've been coaching the LSAT since 2005, and every session runs the same way: find the real problem, fix the process, reset the plan.
I diagnosed her Reading Comprehension slowdown as coming from writing too much and rereading science passages instead of moving on, and told her to shift from untimed to timed practice.
I told her to stop taking full practice tests on both Saturday and Sunday back to back. That matters because consecutive full tests risk burnout, and to do one full test on Saturday plus individual timed sections during the week instead.
The plan: I clarified she doesn't need to retake the LSAT writing sample since she completed it 2 years ago and it's on record, and told her the unscored writing sample matters far less than the scored sections.
Where the session landed: She agrees to start timed reading comp practice, drop the Sunday full test, and bring her toughest must be true questions to a live class.
If your prep looks like Camila's did, that's fixable in one session.
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In Camila's words
I try not to highlight everything, but I do try to write down the main conclusion, or the main thing each paragraph wants me to grasp.
Camila
Sometimes I'm extremely confident, and then when I don't do the way I want on a section, I get very frustrated.
Camila
I just can't grasp why I got it wrong and why the right answer is right, even when I think, okay, this might be it.
Camila
Questions people ask about LSAT Unplugged coaching
What happens in an LSAT Unplugged coaching session?
The coach finds the specific habit that's costing points, fixes the process, and sets the plan for the weeks ahead. In Camila's case: her Reading Comprehension slowdown as coming from writing too much and rereading science passages instead of moving on.
Who runs the sessions?
Steve Schwartz recorded this one. Every LSAT Unplugged coach scored 170 or higher on an official LSAT, and students are matched to a coach on learning style and weak areas.
Where can I see finished results?
On the student reviews page at unpluggedprep.com/reviews, with video interviews and official scores.
Learn the fixes yourself: flaw questions, must be true questions, Reading Comprehension.
Student reviews and finished results.
Full session transcript
Recorded December 2025.
Steve: For a little context, just share your current score, your goal score, and when you're taking the LSAT.
Camila: My current score is like 153, 154, and my ideal score is in the 170s, hopefully 170s. I'm taking it in November.
Steve: November, okay, awesome. And what's your biggest challenge or pain point right now?
Camila: Reading comp.
Steve: Reading comp, okay. A lot of students have trouble with notetaking and highlighting on reading comp. What's your current approach there?
Camila: I try not to highlight everything, but I do try to write down the main conclusion, or the main thing each paragraph wants me to grasp. At the same time, I feel like writing it down on test day isn't going to help, since sometimes I write a lot down. So I'm trying to manage what best works for me, because if I highlight the wrong thing and go back to it, it's not what I wanted. I'm just trying to figure that out.
Steve: That's exactly the issue, right, it's time consuming to write things down, it takes time to make notes and to look back at them later. How long are you spending allocating your time between the passage text and the questions?
Camila: Right now I'm not doing it timed. I don't know, I haven't timed myself, but sometimes with scientific paragraphs I take forever, because I can't manage to let go of something I don't understand, so I read it and reread it all over again.
Steve: Got it, so you know it's taking you longer than it should, but you're not timing yourself strictly.
Camila: Yes.
Steve: Your LSAT is only a month and a half away, November, like a lot of folks joining this stream. You got to think about transitioning from untimed to timed, so you get a real world sense of what's going to work on test day. It's not enough to get questions right, you got to get them right under test day conditions, considering pacing and time management. Let's get you into real world conditions, and you can make a more informed decision, since what you're currently doing isn't working well. For context, the students who do best on reading comp tend to mark very little, or not at all, because it takes time to write and time to read.
Camila: Yeah.
Steve: Do you think you could start introducing timed reading comp sections on a regular basis, maybe a couple a week?
Camila: Yeah, definitely.
Steve: Okay, and have you been taking full length practice tests as well?
Camila: Not strictly, but I'm starting this week, I'm trying to do at least 2, since I'm not working. But that's the goal.
Steve: Okay, and when are you taking those 2?
Camila: On Saturday and Sunday.
Steve: Okay, so that's 2 consecutive days.
Camila: Yeah.
Steve: How does the Sunday exam feel after having just done one on Saturday?
Camila: I'm trying to manage my time and do them early in the morning, so I have the rest of the day. I don't know if I should do it on a weekday, since there's so many people around me and I can't concentrate. Saturday, everyone leaves and I'm alone.
Steve: So it sounds like the Saturday exam is the better one. On test day, will you be taking it from home, do you think?
Camila: No, I'm going to a test center.
Steve: Good, so you won't have distractions around you. Generally I recommend against timed exams on consecutive days, it can lead to burnout, it's exhausting to do a full test, let alone another the next day. When are you able to review the Saturday exam?
Camila: That's true.
Steve: So maybe you want to take that exam Saturday, since the home environment is quiet, and then review it Sunday. If you could only do one exam a week, maybe that's all you can do.
Camila: Okay.
Steve: And then maybe the other days over the week, if you don't have time for a full sitting, do a couple individual sections. Do you think you could carve out an hour and 10 minutes to do 2 timed sections back to back?
Camila: Yeah, that's actually what I've been doing, like one or 2, and then I review them, but it takes a long time to review and write them down, and I'm doing everything. So it takes a good hour for me to do one untimed, review it, then do one timed and review it. So I'm doing 2, not 4.
Steve: That's fine, you work with what you've got. At least one sitting a week under real world time conditions gives you the chance to work out your reading comp strategy, note taking, highlighting, extracting the main point, and build endurance at the same time. We want enough at bats under real conditions so on test day you've seen it all before. The typical student drops 5 to 8 points from practice to actual, and one way to mitigate that is to make practice tests match real conditions. Some folks take 4 individual sections over the week and call it a full practice test, but that neglects the endurance factor. Take that one exam Saturday and you're ahead of a lot of folks, and over the next month and a half you're getting 5 or 6 exposures under your belt. Have you done practice tests up to this point?
Camila: A little bit here and there.
Steve: Okay, good.
Camila: Yeah.
Steve: Awesome. And what other struggles are you facing right now with your prep, to get you those next 10 to 15 points?
Camila: I'm also doing LR, and the must be true questions are killing me right now. I don't know why, because sometimes I have good days and sometimes bad days, and it's a struggle. Sometimes I'm extremely confident, and then when I don't do the way I want on a section of the practice test, I get very frustrated, and I'm like, why am I struggling with this all over again.
Steve: We got to raise your baseline, that's the biggest thing. Must be true has different types, formal and informal logic. Some questions want you to extract a paraphrase from the stimulus and find it in the choices, others want you to diagram conditional statements. Within inference as an umbrella category, you also have must be true and most strongly supported. Are you focusing on must be true specifically, or is most strongly supported where you're good?
Camila: Yeah.
Steve: Must be true is looking for something 100% guaranteed, no ambiguity. Gravitate toward more moderate language in the choices, more likely to have been required than extreme language. You can drill these, inside the program we have the categorizations and lists in your study plan, drill on must be true questions over the week. If you don't have time for a full exam, drill 10 to 15 must be true questions and review them with the Socratic review method, or bring them to coaching or class.
Camila: That's what I have to do, I've been drilling them, I know there's a list of all the types, but some questions I've written down that I need help with, I haven't had time to go to class and say I need to work on this. I try to talk it out myself, but some of them I just can't grasp why I got it wrong and why the right answer is right. There's some very specific ones I need to talk out in class.
Steve: Carve it out, make it a priority, log it on your calendar. Say, at least one or 2 nights a week, show up for class on logical reasoning and send in your questions. We build the class agenda around the needs of the students in the group, so if you want a class devoted to must be true, or specific questions from specific exams, we'll cover it live. Ideally you join live, but even if you can't, we'll send you the video afterward, another way to get exposure and clarity.
Camila: Okay, okay, yeah, I'll definitely do that.
Steve: My biggest recommendations: full exam every week, only Saturdays, not Sundays. Individual sections over the week to work on pacing, 2 back to back if you can. Since must be true is a pain point, prioritize that, it's one of the most common types. The 3 most common types in logical reasoning are necessary assumption, inference, and flaw, the highest leverage question types because they show up most frequently. Must be true falls under inference, and you're good on most strongly supported. We also have flaw and necessary assumption. Are those areas you struggle with too?
Camila: I'm feeling pretty good on those.
Steve: Okay, good. So then just focus on must be trues, pacing, and endurance. Those are my biggest recommendations for you at this stage.
Camila: Okay, alright, um, also,
Steve: yeah, go ahead, please.
Camila: I took this test like 2 years ago, and I did the writing section, but I don't know, I guess I'm blocked right now because I have everything on top of me. I don't know if I should do the writing section again, if it's like yearly, do you by any chance...
Steve: Great question. If you've done the writing sample before and it's on record, you don't have to do it again. You can if you'd like to, but if you did it before and feel okay about it, I wouldn't stress it. The scored portions of the LSAT matter so much more that I wouldn't give the writing sample any attention.
Camila: And okay,
Steve: The biggest thing is you've got to have it on record for them to release your score. When scores don't come back on release day, sometimes it's because someone didn't do the writing sample, so for anyone watching, make sure it's on record. But for you, you're good, you're set.
Camila: Alright, um, yeah, one last question.
Steve: Yeah, one last question, shoot.
Camila: What do you recommend when I take a practice exam or a section and it's not the way I want it to be, and I get very frustrated, like I'm so over it, or I feel burned out? What do you recommend, or what did you do, because sometimes it's just very stressful.
Steve: I hear you, burnout is real. We build days off into your study plan for a reason, at least one a week, to refresh and reset. For you that might be taking Sundays off: practice test Saturday, review it same day, Sunday off, pick up Monday with more review. The other thing is building endurance overall, so on the 6 days you're studying, do at least one timed section a day to build your focus muscle, so you can sit for 35 minutes and maintain focus. If you're spiraling mid-section, close your eyes, take a breath, box breathing helps, a couple seconds in, a couple out, as a mental reset. And remember no one test date will make or break you, since you can always retake, and law schools only take your highest score. If a passage or question didn't go well, that's okay, you can still get a great score missing one here or there, and maybe the one you struggled with was the unscored experimental section anyway.
Camila: Okay.
Steve: But keep at it, Camila. It was a pleasure to connect with you again. Keep showing up to class, put in the work, and keep in touch if you have any questions or need anything. I'm happy to help.
Camila: Okay, great, thank you so much for your time.
Steve: Of course, my pleasure, have a good one.
Camila: You too, goodbye.
More coaching sessions: Zabdi, 141 to 155, Abigail, 147 to 160, Leah, 153 to 170, Dominic, Alina, 157 to 170. Student results and reviews.
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