Carly, 141 and working toward 150: a live LSAT coaching session
This is what LSAT Unplugged coaching looks like. Carly came in at low 140s, 141 to 143, highest practice test 146, aiming for 150 plus on the April 12th LSAT. Steve Schwartz coached her live for about 22 minutes on review process, and the whole session and transcript are below.
The numbers here are where Carly started and the goal we set together in this session. Individual results vary.
- Student: Carly
- Score when recorded: low 140s, 141 to 143, highest practice test 146
- Goal: 150 plus
- Target test: April 12th
- Situation: Single mom working full time, works for the courts, wait listed at Cooley, Syracuse, and Stetson pending her April LSAT score, has already been denied by 5 schools because of her low score
- Focus: review process
- Worked on: logical reasoning questions generally, including dense wordy stimuli
What we fixed in this session
If you put in those additional 5 hours reviewing your mistakes, that alone could get you the 5 point increase over the next 3 weeks.
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 that Carly's review process stopped after her weekly coaching session and she was not doing any deep solo review of her missed questions on her own.
I corrected Carly's habit of second guessing her first instinct on answer choices, pointing out that her subcoach had shown she often talks herself out of the answer she originally knew was right.
The plan: I told Carly to stop chasing the bare minimum score of 145 that one school required and instead aim for 150 plus. That matters because a higher score creates more school options and scholarship use.
Where the session landed: Carly commits to putting in additional solo review hours over the next 3 weeks and to aiming for 150 plus instead of the 145 minimum a school told her would qualify her.
If your prep looks like Carly's did, that's fixable in one session.
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In Carly's words
I did know it, I didn't even have to keep reading, but I do because I'm scared.
Carly
I'm down to try whatever at this point, trick my brain into it.
Carly
I can do it, I know I can.
Carly
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 Carly's case: Carly's review process stopped after her weekly coaching session and she was not doing any deep solo review of her missed questions....
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: the Socratic Review Method.
Student reviews and finished results.
Full session transcript
Recorded October 2025.
Steve: If you put in those additional 5 hours reviewing your mistakes, that alone could get you the 5 point increase over the next 3 weeks. This is Carly, and she's looking to go from the low 140s to a 150 in the next 3 weeks. My name is Steve Schwartz and I've been teaching the LSAT for the past 20 years. Today Carly is going to bring me her biggest LSAT challenges and I'll help her address them as she looks to improve by 5 to 10 points and beyond. So where are you scoring right now?
Carly: I'm very frustrated, I'm scoring in the low 140s, 141, 143, and I can't seem to break it, Steve, no matter what I do. I took another test the Saturday before last and got a 141 and was feeling very discouraged, and my coach had to leave town, so they set me up with another coach for that week. I just want to get into a law school even if I got a 150. I'm wait listed at Cooley, Syracuse, and Stetson right now, they're waiting for my April LSAT score, because other than that they love my entire application, my 3 letters from judges, my story, my personal statement. I've been through literally hell and back, and God saved my life and gave me a purpose to help women in domestic violence and dependency courts, and I know this is what I'm supposed to do. In a leap of faith, I spoke with you on the phone and said I don't have the money to do this, and you suggested a firm, and I went with it. Someone at worship practice handed me $1,000 and told me God told them to give it to me. I know God has me here on purpose, but he's not going to just do it, I have to put in the work. I'm very frustrated because I'm a single mom, I work full time, I try to do 2 hours a day, doesn't always happen. Last night I tried to get on the call at 8:00 and I was just exhausted and I couldn't. I feel like that's what's keeping me back, I don't know what else to do.
Steve: I'm sorry to hear about the struggles in this situation, but I want to see what I can do to help guide you on that path. We want to get you 150 plus, right?
Carly: Yes.
Steve: Okay. What's your target test date, how long do we have?
Carly: I'm scheduled for April 12th.
Steve: Okay, so we have about 3 weeks.
Carly: That's only because I already have all these applications, I've spent hundreds of dollars, and I've been denied to 5 schools already because of my low LSAT score. The last time I took it, it was a 143. The highest ever on a practice test I've gotten is a 146, and I was told if I got a 146 they'd take me. But lately it hasn't been happening, I get to section 3 and 4 and my brain wants to do anything but this.
Steve: How many hours a week are you putting in?
Carly: I'm meeting with my coach once a week, I'm trying to do a practice test once a week, and I'd say it's probably at least a half hour to 45 minutes 3 to 4 days a week. The other days are definitely a full 2 hours, I'm doing an hour of study time and then I'm on the calls with your coaches at 8:00 in the classes.
Steve: So you're joining the classes, you're joining the one on one sessions, you're following the plan, would you say that?
Carly: I'm not following the study plan they gave me. Sometimes I'll start watching the videos and I'm not engaged, because there's no dialogue where I can ask a question. It's not as much helping me to watch the pre-taped videos as it is to be in the class and have that dialogue.
Steve: All right, so you're the kind of learner who wants to be there live and have that real time interaction.
Carly: It helps me because I process better and understand it better. I'm finally starting to understand the flaws in arguments and see holes in things I'd never seen before, and infer things I was never doing before. But especially the word salad ones, very wordy, it takes me a hot 6 minutes just to understand what the thing says. It helps me when other students explain what's going on.
Steve: It's good that you have access to those classes, we have them 4 nights a week, plus your one on one coaching, so that's 5 live experiences. But it can't only be that you're studying when it's live. You've got to have time to take the practice test, which you're doing, but you also have to review it in depth, and that takes time. The group work and coaching are just part of the process, they give you the tools and show you where to look. The real progress comes from sitting down by yourself and applying what you've learned. If your entire LSAT journey is just showing up to live sessions, it's like going to the gym, watching someone else lift weights, and hoping you get stronger. What does your review process look like?
Carly: I think maybe that's partly something I'm really not doing either. My review process is meeting with my coach and going over the questions I flagged and why I got them wrong, and that's it, that's where my review stops with the practice test.
Steve: Yeah, so that might be part of the issue.
Carly: I get what you mean, I'm just by nature a social person, so if I could be talking with other people I'll stay there all day, but if it's me alone with a book I'm just zoning out.
Steve: But the truth is a lot of the work has got to happen on your end, and you've got to find a way to do that solo work. It could be that you're studying with your imaginary friend, or you just find a way to trick your brain into being engaged with it, and your friend could be the LSAT question, or you're talking to the people who make the LSAT.
Carly: I'm down to try whatever at this point, trick my brain into it.
Steve: I don't care how ridiculous it is as long as it works. The thing is that you're sitting there for a 2 and a half hour practice test, but then there's got to be another 2 to 5 hours of review time for that exam, and that's not talking to your coach, that's not joining a class, that's you sitting there struggling with the questions. If you're getting 140s, that means there's going to be a couple dozen questions worth reviewing, that's going to take a lot of time. If we added in another 5 hours of study time per week, and that was you studying solo reviewing that single practice test, that would do wonders for your score. I'm serious about this, because when I did a lot more one on one work with students directly, I'd find there were some people whose time with me that week was the only studying they did, and it just is not enough. You're doing a lot more than that, you're doing that plus those 4 live small group classes, but still a lot of the work happens solo, it just has to.
Carly: I work for the courts, so when I'm not in court I'll go downstairs into the law library and try, even if I can only get half a section in on my lunch break, I try to at least do something a couple days a week from work too.
Steve: That's good, so let's 10x that. We only have 3 weeks, so it's time to go really hard on it. Her review has ended after she'd flagged a few questions, brought them to her coach, and got help understanding them, but that's only the beginning. The review that leads to breakthroughs looks like this: revisit the entire section, then ask why did I pick that wrong answer, what did the test maker want me to fall for, and why didn't I like the right answer. You're not just correcting yourself, you're reverse engineering the trap so you can avoid the same mistake next time. If Carly can start doing that consistently on her own, not just with her coach, that's going to lead to a 5 point boost right there.
Carly: So do you think if I really put another 5 or 6 hours in each week, I could get to that 150 by test day?
Steve: It's possible. 5 or 6 hours a week times 3 weeks is another 15 to 18 hours of solo review time, which could be the highest leverage thing you can do right now, since you haven't really been doing it. You've had the coaching and the small group classes, you don't necessarily need more of that, but there's another kind of work you haven't been doing enough of, sitting with the questions and learning from your mistakes. If you can do that for just one full test per week over the next 3 weeks, that's 15 hours of high leverage review, and that alone could make the difference between a 143 and a 150 plus.
Carly: The subcoach I had last week pointed out something my other coach never did. She said, let's say I've gone through the choices and I like A but also D, and I liked A right off the bat but now I'm questioning myself with D. On the ones I was reviewing, it was almost always the one I picked on the test and got wrong. She said, Carly, you know the answer and you don't trust yourself. And she was right, I did know it, I didn't even have to keep reading, but I do because I'm scared. That was something I'd never thought about until last week.
Steve: That's a good insight, and sometimes we second guess ourselves when we don't need to. It could be that for some questions you're confident, you get to pick it and move on, because there's another question later in the section where you've got to allocate that time instead.
Carly: Sometimes I only get to about question 15 before I start running out of time, and then I'm just picking, and I'll stop and make sure at least the rest of the section is filled in, because I want the opportunity to get it right even if I'm guessing. That's about where I run out of time.
Steve: So the insight where you want to stop second guessing yourself, speed up a little. When you take a practice test, especially in the 140s, there's so much to review, you can't possibly do it all in a single coaching session, and there's not enough time to analyze every question there, you've got to do that on your own. If we get you 10 more insights like that, that alone could give you the 5 points you need in the next 3 weeks. If you spend 4 minutes on question 8 trying to be perfect, you're stealing time from question 22, which might have been way easier for you. This isn't about rushing, it's about recognizing when a question is worth 90 seconds and when it's not.
Carly: I can do it, I know I can.
Steve: I know you can too.
Carly: Putting in the work, focusing and prioritizing, making sure I get dinner done and my daughter taken care of so I can focus, because it's just me and her. The goal is to give her a better life than I had.
Steve: Awesome, let's make it happen. You've got your motivation, you've got your why, I'm here to support you. If you have any questions or need anything, you can reach out anytime, I'm always happy to help.
Carly: I guess I never know if it's you or one of your people, so I'm always scared to be like, is this really Steve?
Steve: It's bot Steve.
Carly: But no, I believe this course was sent to me from God and it was purposeful, and I want to put 110 percent into it. I've come to the realization that if I don't get the score I want April 12th, I'll just keep studying through the summer and sit again maybe one more time, then try again real early next cycle, because even though I applied in December and early January, we're now in April, so even if I'm sitting on the wait list, I'm still at the end of the cycle.
Steve: That's okay. It's better to apply a little later with a higher score than earlier with a lower score. If you put in those additional 5 hours reviewing your mistakes, that alone could get you the 5 point increase over the next 3 weeks. If you need more time, that's okay too, a lot of these schools will still take June LSAT results.
Carly: I met with an admissions director at a school with a Tampa Bay campus, she was impressed with everything and said, "I cannot accept you less than a 145, you are 2 points away, you can do this. If you get a 145 I can help you, I cannot help you unless you get that." But I don't want to be the lowest guy on the totem pole either, so it's frustrating, but I know I can do it.
Steve: Let's go for it. Don't go for the 145, go for the 150 plus, I know you can do this. Aiming for the bare minimum keeps you boxed in, it means your plan rests on one school's admission policy staying the same. The smarter play is to push for the highest score you can reasonably get. A higher score doesn't just expand your school list, it can completely change your financial picture, more options mean you can compare offers, negotiate scholarships, and pick the program with the least debt. I've seen students go from thinking "I'll just take whatever I can get" to having 3 great offers with significant scholarships, just because they raised their target beyond the minimum. Minimum scores are for meeting requirements, ambitious scores are for creating leverage.
Carly: My next question, this will be number 4, I'm only allowed to take this 7 times, right?
Steve: Yeah, the retake limit is 7 times, and also 5 times in 5 years.
Carly: Oh my god, so I will only have one more time after this.
Steve: Yeah, probably. Let's look at your practice test scores as we go into the April test, and then you'll be able to make a more informed decision about whether you take it or want to save that take for June.
Carly: But then that's when I'm like, do I not take April and just be like, screw this cycle?
Steve: It depends on where you're at. I think if you take what we talked about today and apply it in the next 3 weeks, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to go ahead with April. But if for whatever reason your practice tests aren't where you want them going into April, you could just withdraw and go for June instead.
Carly: You know how you can buy the score preview? I cancelled my January one because it was lower, is that still considered a take even if I cancel the score?
Steve: Yeah.
Carly: Dang, okay, we're getting down to the nitty gritty here.
Steve: Let's go forward, you've got a plan, you know what to do, it's just a matter of going hard these next 3 weeks to make it happen.
A test date isn't a finish line you have to cross, it's an opportunity you can use well or waste. If your practice scores aren't close to where you want them, going through with the test just to get it over with often means burning one of your limited attempts and locking in a score you're not proud of. Decide based on how ready you are, not the calendar: if you scored on test day exactly what you're scoring in practice right now, would you be happy to send that number to law schools. If not, keep training.
Carly: Thank you, Steve.
Steve: Of course, Carly, and if you need anything you can always reach out, email, text, anytime, I'm happy to help.
Carly: I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to meet with me today.
Steve: My pleasure, of course, you have a good one.
Carly: You too.
More coaching sessions: Zabdi, 141 to 155, Abigail, 147 to 160, Leah, 153 to 170, Dominic, Alina, 157 to 170. Student results and reviews.
I've written free explanations for every question in LSAT PrepTest 159, 158, 157, 156, 155 and 154, with the right answer and why each wrong answer fails. All LSAT explanations are here.
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