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Tamara's LSAT Diary: 159 to 166

Updated September 7, 2026 · Steve Schwartz

LSAT Diary, 2011

Tamara, a 45-year-old computer programmer, registered for the LSAT almost on a whim with 10 weeks to prepare and a first practice score of 159. Studying casually around her full-time job, she scored a 166 on the December 2010 LSAT and began hearing from top law schools through LSAC's data sharing.

  • Starting score: 159
  • Official LSAT: 166 (December 2010)
  • What she used: LSAT Blog recommended official PrepTests, self-study, no formal course
  • Situation: 45-year-old computer programmer with 15 years in software, considering intellectual property law, studied casually around a full-time job
  • Written: 2011

In Tamara's words

Take it easy... know the question types, know your strengths and play to them.

Tamara

Most fun I've ever had with a No. 2 pencil, but each one takes a full half hour?

Tamara

The results of ten weeks of casual preparation? A 166.

Tamara

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. Tamara's is here because it ends with a number: 159 to 166.

Underneath the score, it's about a low-stress, moderate-effort study approach of 3 to 5 hours a week over 10 weeks while working full time.

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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Tamara's diary, as written

Starting From Scratch

Patents and intellectual property rights interest me, and friends who are lawyers suggested my prospects for practicing intellectual property law are good. I've worked in computer software for 15 years while I attended college for degrees in communication and computer science. I had high school ambitions for law school, but high school graduation was 25 years ago. Almost on a whim, I registered for the December 2010 LSAT. I had ten weeks to prepare.

I didn't pin any specific outcome on the results. Everyone who completes a law school application takes the LSAT. So instead of pondering "should I apply to law school" and "how will I ever afford it," I decided to take the test and see what happens.

My first stop was the public library. I opened the phonebook sized guide and took the practice test at the front. Reading comprehension, no sweat. Short answer logical questions, hm, some of those I'm getting backwards or not right. And these puzzles? Most fun I've ever had with a No. 2 pencil, but each one takes a full half hour? Many hours later, without timing anything and with ample breaks, I had a practice score of 159 (but test prep book warmups are not equivalent to the actual tests).

So my journey began. Next step, internet, where I quickly found LSAT Blog. Based on the advice of using official LSAT practice tests, I ordered five, one for each of the last five weeks of preparation. I didn't share this goal with anyone other than my housemates, people who could see the huge tome labeled LSAT preparation on the coffee table.

The first five weeks, I focused on accuracy on the two weak spots: short answer (logical reasoning) and logic games (analytical reasoning). I spent weekday evenings casually answering 10 or 20 logical reasoning questions, then working on the types I got wrong. I learned about the question types, and how to identify the argument and conclusions. I followed a strategy of discarding the obviously wrong answers right off and then selecting the one best answer from the remaining answers.

Building Speed on Logic Games

Logic games? Definitely hard. Fortunately, it's the same type of reasoning required to solve the trickiest real life computer programming problems. I photocopied logic games onto individual pieces of paper and carried them with me, so that a wait at the mechanic or the vet became logic game time. I worked on them in the break room at work, where I sat and tried to figure out the contrapositives and grouping and scheduling and charts and placing square people at round tables.

After one particularly memorable game, my speed picked up. I started doing two games every time I sat down, finishing one and immediately starting another, and finally got to where I could solve two in a half hour. Three. I needed three. And eventually four. Would I ever compress two hours of work into 35 minutes?

The last five weeks I focused on completing the test in the allotted time, and getting my 45 year old eyes trained in on bubbling selections accurately on those tiny cramped answer sheets. Each Saturday I woke up at the time I'd have to wake up for the real LSAT, drove to the library, and took a practice test. I still needed more speed on logic games. Sometimes getting three completed during a practice test. Sometimes. Almost, but not quite. I had accuracy: if I got to a game, I got all or all but one of the questions right. If I worked too fast, jumped to a false conclusion, didn't re-read and carefully map out the initial information, I got the whole thing wrong. Accuracy took time, precious time, but I'd rather get two completely right than four completely wrong.

But at the same time, I remained casual about the results. If I got a good score, I'd continue down this path and apply to schools. If not, that was OK too.

Test Day

Game day rolled around. Got there early and joined hundreds of others sitting around waiting to be assigned to a room. Then we had interminable delays while the proctors figured out that even if you'd grown a beard since your license picture, you still were allowed to take the test (a rather common thing, you'd think, considering that LSAT studying didn't seem to allow time for shaving).

The wait to get our LSAT test booklets was long and frustrating. The proctor misread and mispronounced instructions. I settled into a zen-like calmness for the rigmarole and tiny uncomfortable chairs. I never thought to practice sitting in a horrible chair with a tiny platform and no place to rest my pencil. Logical reasoning, reading comprehension, logical reasoning, a break to walk around, more logical reasoning, will this never end? It's well after noon, and the quiet and tedium are taking a toll. Finally the analytical reasoning, the logic games. Read them through, ranked them in order of attack, worked the first, third, fourth. Time was called, and I bubbled in C on the blanks. Oh, and I never did work down my list of things to do and practice that writing sample. Arguing on the best choice for a summer camp? Whatever.

They collected our packages, and the whole thing was over. And I'd gotten to three of the four logic games. And I was jubilant, driving home, calling friends who practice law, my sister, anyone who might care: I'd finished the LSAT. Finished. It is done, and now I'm sharing. Keeping my plans quiet helped keep it low key. Then we could wait for the scores to be published together.

The results of ten weeks of casual preparation? A 166 that I can send off with my other data to a nearby top 14 law school. Due to LSAC data sharing settings, my email inbox is filling up with other schools inviting me to open houses, waiving admission fees and talking scholarships, all without ever breaking a sweat. Take it easy. Know the question types, know your strengths and play to them. You can improve your LSAT score with 3 to 5 hours a week of consistent but moderate effort over a ten week period and maintain your job. Friends and family will barely miss you. Next up? Applying to schools. Again, I'll do my best to achieve good results without being too attached to any particular outcome.

More student stories: LSAT Unplugged reviews and finished results, all success stories.

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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