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Ricky's LSAT Diary: 148 to 160

Updated September 7, 2026 · Steve Schwartz

LSAT Diary, 2011

Ricky crammed for the LSAT in under 2 weeks while working long hours in Texas and scored a 148 on his first practice test, then a 153 on the actual December 2010 exam. After moving home to Iowa and studying systematically for about a month, he raised his official score to 160 in February 2011.

  • Starting score: 148
  • Official LSAT: 160 (February 2011)
  • What he used: self-study with PrepTest books, Steve's advice on breaking down and grouping missed questions
  • Situation: worked 60-hour weeks as an outdoor education instructor in Texas before crash-cramming for a December test, then moved home to Iowa to retake in February
  • Written: 2011

In Ricky's words

That test just whooped my ass. It shocked me.

Ricky

Do not cram, you will lose.

Ricky

You know you've crossed an unfortunate plateau when you start laughing at jokes about sufficient and necessary conditions.

Ricky

Why this diary is here

I've been coaching the LSAT since 2005. From 2009 to 2021 I ran the LSAT Diaries on my blog: students wrote up their own prep and I published it as it came in, rough edges and all. Ricky's is here because it ends with a number: 148 to 160.

Underneath the score, it's about why crash-cramming in under 2 weeks backfires, and how a systematic retake plan turned a 153 into a 160.

Written in 2011. Logic Games comes up a lot; that section was removed from the LSAT in August 2024, so treat those parts as history. Everything else still applies.

Individual results vary. Score increases depend on starting point, study time, and effort.

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Ricky's diary, as written

The First Attempt

I took the LSAT twice, in December 2010 and then again several weeks ago in February 2011. The first time, I received a 153, and the second time, a 160. A lot of snobs turn the cold shoulder and dismiss anything south of 165. Pay them no mind. Everyone has different goals.

Personally, I take comfort in the fact that out of 100 college educated people who took the LSAT in February, I did better than 80 of them. Given that, and while I am very happy with my score and the improvement I posted and can show to law schools, I feel that I am still 5 to 10 points off of where I could be if I did this thing right. However there is little I can do about that now (I need to go to school in the fall). You live and you learn and you can't change the past. Learn from it and move on.

One of the big things I heard about the LSAT before I really dove into it is that you either "got it or you don't." This is both right and wrong. For example, a very good friend of mine who is now on a full ride at a top tier law school (I hate him, not really, but I do) did his undergrad in engineering and just for shits and giggles decided to take the LSAT and got a 172 on his first practice test. I wasn't so lucky. I thought to myself, "hey, it's a logic based test, I'm a logical guy, and usually a good standardized test taker, I got this, no problem." Ha. This is the first of many examples that show me being an idiot.

This fall, I worked as an outdoor education instructor in Texas. While one would assume that a teaching job in outdoor ed would provide ample time for studying, that was not the case. We were short staffed and overbooked. As a result, 60 hour weeks featuring 2 to 3 nights and intermittent Saturdays working outside in the Texas sun were the norm. While I'm sure some of you have studied facing similar obstacles, I just could not do it. I registered for the LSAT a week before the deadline, found some study material, and bought a book of 10 PrepTests.

In the next weeks, I finished probably 70 pages of the book and maybe a section of a practice test by the time I finished the season in Texas and moved home to start really studying. I had exactly 12 days to L-Day (get it, like D-day but for the LSAT).

8 days before L-Day, I took my first practice test. 148. That test just whooped my ass. It shocked me. I've been out of school for almost three years. I haven't had to think like that in a long time. I mean, there is no way they expect me to read four incredibly dense reading passages filled with paragraph long sentences about the diet of cavemen and how archeologists are using dental fossils to determine what they ate, and finish 27 questions in 35 minutes, do they? I've never taken a test that hard before. Whatever, I'll do much better tomorrow.

The next morning, I took it again. 149. I still had my sanity and my composure at this point. Let's give it one more try tomorrow. Halfway through my third test in as many days, I cracked. It was the infamous mauve dinosaur logic game that pushed me over the edge. I did not even know where to start on the problem. After four or five minutes, I couldn't even get the first answer. I stopped working, slammed my fist on the table, hurled my practice test into a wall, and let fly a chain of expletives.

The average LSAT score is 151, and I couldn't even get that. I was frustrated, terrified, panicked, and angry.

I started looking at this blog a couple of days before the meltdown and mustered the energy to leave the fetal position and email Steve, the editor of LSAT Blog, a whiny email explaining the situation and asking for help on an LSAT hail mary. He promptly responded with some encouragement and references to a few past posts that helped me out. Soon thereafter, I accepted the fact that I am remarkably foolish for thinking I could beat the test in two weeks, and decided to take the test in December as a dress rehearsal. Once I accepted that, I went into the test relaxed. The pressure was off, I was going to retake in February.

The only thing that really threw me off on test day was having to write the "certifying (I won't cheat) statement" in cursive. I haven't written anything more than my name in cursive in over a decade. Besides that, it was hard, but I felt alright about it. In early January, I got the score back: 153.

Round Two

After a few days off, I bought another round of books. I realized that I still put myself at a disadvantage. From everything I read, they said to really improve it takes 3 to 4 months of studying. I had about a month and some change to go before L-Day Part Two.

I moved back to my home state, Iowa, and started studying the right way. I took Steve's advice and started breaking down my practice tests, grouping the questions and analyzing which ones I needed to improve upon. I used that information, targeted those areas, and the scores on my PTs started to creep consistently into the mid 150s. I stopped any partying (which was pretty difficult while moving back to a college town and working at a bar) and was studying 4 to 5 hours a day. My scores on LR and RC were drastically improving.

Believe it or not, and contrary to popular belief, I think RC might be the easiest area to improve on once you understand how to read the passage and keep track of the points of view. I was still getting my ass kicked by logic games. My mind just doesn't work like that. I knew I didn't have enough time to get really strong at those games, so I did what I could and focused on two of the more popular types of games, linear and grouping. My scores were now around 157 to 158 consistently and I was starting to feel better. I set my over/under on test day at 157. If I got it, I would be content, over happy, and under pissed.

Luckily, I have never really gotten test day anxiety, and I felt good going in. The test itself is a blur. LR felt harder, until I thought about it and realized that all LR sections, past, present, and future, are the same. I got caught spending too much time on one RC passage, but I thought I recovered alright, and the games were slightly less awful than usual. There were several people in my testing room who felt the need to have a coughing competition at the end of one section. LSAT during flu season is a crap shoot. I felt good, it was over.

Test score came back a month later: 160. I was happy.

My Advice

Here is my advice for all of you:

Do not cram, you will lose. It can be done in two months with some success, but it shouldn't be. If I had another month or two to study, I could be several points higher, I'm sure of that.

Do a ton of practice tests in real conditions: three sections, ten minute break, two sections. Do not deviate from that. No allowing extra time, answering a text, working after the buzzer, or taking a bathroom break.

Get an LSAT study plan from Steve and simplify your life. Know your weak areas and attack them. Understand how and why you got every question wrong.

Come up with a badass playlist to listen to on L-Day. That stuff gets you jacked.

Do your research before buying books or signing up for a prep course. Don't sign up for a course just because they have an "improve your score guarantee." Anyone who is exposed to the test that much is going to improve their score no matter what. It helps for some, but you don't need a prep course to improve. Use the books but adapt the strategies to fit your strengths. Don't diagram too much on LGs, and don't underline too much in RC. You're wasting time you don't have.

Relax on test day morning. I know it is easier said than done, but if you've done the appropriate prep you will be fine. If you have done PrepTests under the right conditions, nothing is new. The worst thing you can do is freak out about it. Get out of your head and trust yourself. If something throws you off, take a deep breath, close your eyes for a second, and move on.

As much as I hate to say this, I do miss studying for the test. You know you've crossed an unfortunate plateau when you start laughing at jokes about sufficient and necessary conditions and finding logical flaws in conversations about anything. Love it or hate it, but if you want to be a lawyer, it has to be done. Try to have fun with it. Good luck.

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