Daniel, 168 and working toward 174: a live LSAT coaching session
This is what LSAT Unplugged coaching looks like. Daniel came in at 168, aiming for 174. Steve Schwartz coached him live for about 13 minutes on Reading Comprehension, and the whole session and transcript are below.
The numbers here are where Daniel started and the goal we set together in this session. Individual results vary.
- Student: Daniel
- Score when recorded: 168
- Goal: 174
- Target test: October 4th (about 2 weeks away)
- Situation: Studying full time, retaking to push from 168 to 174 with about 2 weeks left before the October LSAT
- Focus: Reading Comprehension
- Worked on: Necessary Assumption, Sufficient Assumption, Reading Comprehension global questions, Reading Comprehension local/detail questions
What we fixed in this session
A minute or two is pretty fast to read 450 words on an unfamiliar topic. Try slowing down and see if that increases your understanding.
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.
Daniel was reading passages in only 1 to 2 minutes; I had him slow down to 2.5 to 3 minutes to build a stronger mental map before the questions.
Daniel thought he needed outside science reading to handle STEM-based passages; I redirected him to drill actual released LSAT science passages instead. That matters because the test draws from too wide a range of topics to prep for directly.
Daniel always worked reading comp questions in strict chronological order and got stuck on hard ones; I told him it is fine to jump around and go easy to hard within a passage.
Where the session landed: Daniel agrees to slow his passage reading down to 2.5 to 4 minutes and to start doing questions out of order instead of strictly chronologically.
If your prep looks like Daniel's did, that's fixable in one session.
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In Daniel's words
All right, I'll slow down. Do you have a time estimate?
Daniel
I've never skipped around, but do you recommend it?
Daniel
Right. But yeah, I think that's all the questions.
Daniel
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 Daniel's case: Daniel was reading passages in only 1 to 2 minutes.
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: necessary assumption questions, sufficient assumption questions, Reading Comprehension.
Student reviews and finished results.
Full session transcript
Recorded December 2025.
Daniel: I had a diagnostic about 168, and I'm trying to get to a 174. I was prepping for reading comprehension because I wasn't getting almost perfect in that section, so I wanted to focus there. I also had weaknesses in LR, especially sufficient and necessary questions.
Steve: Gotcha. So we're going from 168 to 174 by the October LSAT, in about 2 weeks. You mentioned reading comprehension, maybe some LR types too. What's your current approach for reading comp?
Daniel: I read the entire passage. It doesn't take me long, I'm a quick reader, maybe a minute or two. Then before looking at the questions, I try to summarize what the passage means and predict what the questions would ask. I know the first question usually asks the main point or the author's purpose, so I predict what the passage means and go off that.
Steve: So you're spending a minute or two reading, and reading with anticipation, trying to predict what the questions and answer choices will be.
Daniel: Yes.
Steve: I'll be honest, a minute or two feels a little fast to me for an initial read. Do you feel like you're still able to get the gist, the main idea, and the author's opinion in that time?
Daniel: I usually do, but sometimes I forget what's important in the passage and have to go back, and that hinders me on the later questions.
Steve: So you're often getting it, but not always.
Daniel: Exactly.
Steve: You might consider slowing down. A minute or two is pretty fast to read 450 words on an unfamiliar topic. Try slowing down a bit and see if that increases your understanding.
Daniel: All right, I'll slow down. Do you have a time estimate?
Steve: About two and a half to three minutes for the initial read. That should give you enough context to knock out the general global questions, like main idea, primary purpose, passage organization, title, tone, and author's opinion.
Daniel: Do you recommend never looking back at the passage, to save time? Meaning, on that first read you should know everything so you never have to look back for a question?
Steve: I wouldn't recommend never looking back. Looking back is fine sometimes, especially for detail questions. The key is knowing exactly where to go back to. As you read the passage with the extra time I'm recommending, think to yourself: this part is where they articulate the main idea, this is where they give evidence, this is where they give details and examples, this is where they tell you who's advocating a point of view. For detail questions, you can go back to those specific paragraphs or lines. You're forming a mental map of the key details and where to find them.
Daniel: For the science-based, STEM sections, do you recommend reading more scientific articles and books to build background knowledge? There's a joke that attorneys go to law school because STEM isn't their strength, and that's a weakness of mine too.
Steve: If you had a year, I'd say yes, but you've got two weeks. So instead, just read actual LSAT passages about science topics. I'll challenge one thing you said, about needing the knowledge. I don't think you'll fail to get it, because they draw from such a wide range of topics: you have the riddle basins of attraction passage, one of the hardest reading comp passages ever, and one on macrotopus bugs or something, I don't even know what that is. Nobody knows all of natural science. But you can raise your comfort level with unfamiliar topics just by doing more reading comp passages. You've got about 400 released and two weeks left, so dig back into the oldest ones you'd never touch otherwise, read them on the beach, in the bathroom, whatever, to fall asleep at night. Just get exposure to dense text on unfamiliar topics and see, can I get the main point here?
Daniel: Do you recommend doing RC every day, or taking it full timed, the whole exam, once or twice a week before October 4th?
Steve: For you, going from 168 to 174 in two weeks, my focus would be timed exams at least once a week, maybe twice. Do you have other obligations, or are you studying full time?
Daniel: I'm basically studying full time.
Steve: Then two exams a week is reasonable, along with detailed review. That's my primary focus. Second, since reading comp is your biggest struggle, do timed sections of reading comp too. I'd prioritize only timed work given your limited time frame. On a longer time frame, say January or February, I'd add untimed work, but for you, timed plus review is the way to go.
Daniel: For logical reasoning, any tips for necessary and sufficient questions? That's one of my weaknesses. I'm near perfect on other LR, but those I struggle with, it's a 50-50 chance of getting them wrong.
Steve: So, necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.
Daniel: Yes.
Steve: I'd drill each in isolation to get clarity on the proper approach. Quickly: for necessary assumption, you're looking for something that needs to be the case for the argument to work. If it weren't the case, the conclusion falls apart. You're looking for an answer where, when negated, it destroys the argument, because the argument relies on that assumption. For sufficient assumption, you're looking for new information that, if true, guarantees the argument 100%, no ambiguity. It doesn't matter how strong it is, as long as it guarantees the argument. So necessary is more moderate, sufficient is more extreme. With your limited time, watch one or two of the course lesson videos I did on these, full recordings with example after example. But reading comp matters even more for you, it's a third of the test. The small adjustment of giving yourself more time to read, doubling from a minute or two to two to four, will make a major difference in your understanding, and you'll still have time to go back. Work on that pacing: can I double my reading time while still having the security of knowing I can go back for detail questions?
Daniel: Do you recommend five or six minutes for the entire reading comp section, since there are four sets? What's your timing recommendation for those?
Steve: Four sets: three long passages, two dual shorter ones, but we'll call it four for simplicity. 35 minutes divided by four is 8 minutes 45 seconds per passage. Say 3 minutes on the passage and 5:45 for the questions. Three minutes on the read with 5:45 remaining gives you just under a minute per question. Don't go beyond three minutes on the read, or you cut into the questions. As an average, 8:45 per set, though some will be harder than others.
Daniel: Do you recommend skipping the harder questions within a passage? Say there are five questions and question two is hard, so you go to five and come back. I don't want to get stuck, since there's usually one question per passage that eats up my time, and I have to rush because I do it in chronological order. I've never skipped around, but do you recommend it?
Steve: You can jump around. I won't call it skip, since I want you to eventually do everything, but you can do questions out of order. I recommend that to a lot of folks in reading comp. There are three categories: global, local, and inferential. Global is big picture, main idea, primary purpose, title, tone, author's opinion, passage organization. Local is more detailed, going back to specific lines supporting a choice. In the paper LSAT these have line references, in the online LSAT they're highlighted in turquoise. Inferential is harder, it requires reading between the lines, and it's analogous to LR questions like parallel and strengthen or weaken, so save those for last. Yes, jump around, easy to hard, to build your base as you go.
Daniel: I don't know the order, like humanities first then science, but do you recommend skipping harder passages and doing easy ones first?
Steve: There are four categories: natural science, social science, humanities, and law. They could be in any order, humanities isn't always first or last. The dual passage could be anywhere. I generally say do them in order, because switching topics mid-decision wastes time. But if a topic sends you into a fight-or-flight freeze, sure, skip it and come back later. If you want to do the dual passages first or last, that's fine too, they're easy to recognize. But for a 174, you need to attempt and bubble in every single answer with full effort.
Daniel: Right. But yeah, I think that's all the questions.
Steve: Awesome, Daniel. It's a pleasure. If anything else comes up in these final weeks, reach out, email or text. Happy to help.
Daniel: Thank you so much.
Steve: Yeah, for sure, man.
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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