Alina, 157 and working toward 170: a live LSAT coaching session
This is what LSAT Unplugged coaching looks like. Alina came in at 157, aiming for 170 on the April LSAT LSAT. Steve Schwartz coached her live for about 31 minutes on both, and the whole session and transcript are below.
The numbers here are where Alina started and the goal we set together in this session. Individual results vary.
- Student: Alina
- Score when recorded: 157
- Goal: 170
- Target test: April LSAT
- Situation: Studying full-time, no other job, dedicating 28+ hours a week; scored a 150 on a recent practice test after previously scoring in the mid-to-high 150s; finished 7Sage foundations course in January, has been drilling non-stop since; just joined LSAT Unplugged less than a week before this session.
- Focus: both
- Worked on: necessary assumption, sufficient assumption, weakening, method of reasoning / parallel flaw
What we fixed in this session
Structure beats randomness. Drilling questions in isolation doesn't build your endurance, and your scores won't improve if you're not measuring them under real-time 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 that Alina had only taken 3 full practice tests and 10 timed sections total, so her timed-exam volume needed to at least triple in her final month before test day.
Drilling questions untimed does not build endurance or pacing, so measuring herself only by accuracy while doing full exams was giving her a false read on her real score.
The plan: I corrected her review process. That matters because she was reviewing missed questions right after finishing an exam while tired, and told her to eat first and review later so she retains the lessons instead of just recognizing the right answer without learning from it.
I identified necessary assumption and sufficient assumption as her highest-yield weak areas and told her to stop spending time on rare types like parallel flaw until those are mastered.
I gave her a specific pacing target of about a minute and a half per question for her first 10 logical reasoning questions, given her time-and-a-half accommodation of 52 minutes per section. She would bank time for harder questions later.
Where the session landed: Alina says her biggest takeaway is having a clear structure (2 full practice tests a week plus 2 timed sections a day) instead of free-flowing on her own, and I said he's confident she'll break 160 and push into the 170s if she follows the new plan.
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In Alina's words
I just didn't understand exactly what it would look like as to where I was.
Alina
I've noticed that I have to reread a lot, and I know that's really bad because you're just wasting time there.
Alina
I think the biggest insight for me is the schedule, knowing what to do next in terms of structure.
Alina
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 Alina's case: Alina had only taken 3 full practice tests and 10 timed sections total.
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, flaw questions.
Student reviews and finished results.
Full session transcript
Recorded August 2025.
Steve: Putting in 30 hours a week for 3 weeks or so, I would expect that will give you the lift from say a 157 to a 170 plus. This is Alina and she's looking to go from a 157 to a 170 and above in the next 3 weeks. My name is Steve Schwartz and I've been teaching the LSAT for the past 20 years. Today, Alina is going to bring me her biggest LSAT challenges and I'm going to help her address them as she looks to improve by 13, 15 points and more.
Steve: So tell me, where are you scoring right now?
Alina: Right now, the lowest I've scored, two weeks ago I scored a 150, which was a significantly big drop from regularly scoring before that, 155. I was typically within that range, and the highest I got to was 157, so that's a pretty big jump between scores. I was confused as to what really is a predictive model of where I'm at right now. I would try to sit down and mimic the test taking environment to make sure it was accurate, but I didn't understand exactly what it would look like as to where I was.
Alina: I've been studying for quite a while. I started 7Sage this past June. They have a foundations model where you learn the LSAT, and I took a very long time slowly trying to learn it. I finished that around January. Since then I've just been drilling non-stop, and I haven't really been taking that many practice tests, because everyone would tell me not to run through your practice tests. So I stuck to using PrepTests 101 through 110 or 111, drilling those non-stop. I was planning on taking a practice test, but I kept being afraid to, because it's not showing all the work I've been putting in.
Steve: Or so you thought. Then you got that 150 result and you're like, what's going on, I've got to radically change my approach. That's when you joined LSAT Unplugged, looking to level up your prep with coaching, classes, and a more personalized study plan. Your other results have been more in the high 150s, like the 157 you said. What's your ultimate goal for test day?
Alina: My ultimate goal is 170. I just didn't know how possible that would be from where I was starting, because I'm taking the April LSAT. I want it to be my last one, but I'm prepared to take one more after this if I don't get the score I want. I always figured I'd just keep taking it until I got a 170, because I'm not walking away without it.
Steve: Okay, so you really want that 170 in just the next couple weeks.
Alina: Yes.
Steve: When you look at the time you could put in over the next few weeks, how many hours on average could you do per day or per week?
Alina: Because my LSAT is one month away, I've dedicated as much time as I need for it. As of now I thought I could dedicate around 4 to 6 hours a day, closer to 6 on the weekends. I'm prepared not to have any study breaks in terms of days off, so that would look like 28 and up hours a week toward the LSAT.
Steve: So you're willing to put in whatever it takes, 5 hours a day on weekdays, maybe more on weekends, even 30, 35 hours a week full-time. Of course, we don't want you to burn out. Burnout is real and it can destroy your LSAT score. The last thing you want is to be sick of the LSAT the week before the test, at the point where whatever you get is what you get. The way to avoid that is to moderate your energy level, even if you have the leisure to study 6 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's okay to grind full-time, especially with your test date coming up soon, but be strategic in how you schedule that time.
Steve: When Alina told me she was willing to put in 5, 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that she wanted to divide her study time over the course of the day, I knew she had a massive opportunity, because she has both the time and the discipline to avoid studying in massive blocks, which is a recipe for burnout. Shorter, focused deep work beats grinding for hours straight. If you have the leisure to study full-time, I recommend a few hours in the morning, a break for lunch, then a few more hours. That still lets you maintain sleep, diet, exercise, and relationships, and it's probably the most you could reasonably do in a day anyway, because the LSAT is a skills-based test that takes time to sink in, not one you can cram for.
Alina: I figured I had a pretty good schedule, because a friend told me she can't sit down for 4 straight hours, and I don't know many people who can either. So it's a morning 2-hour block, an afternoon 2-hour block, and a night 2-hour block.
Steve: You mentioned spending a lot of time watching foundational videos and drilling questions, but then measuring yourself with timed exams. There's a massive disconnect there. Drilling questions isn't the same as dealing with the time constraint, which isn't the same as dealing with the endurance factor.
Alina: When I first was doing practice, I was doing it on time, 10 questions at a time, and I'd do great on those. But once I sat down and did 26 questions back to back, that changed. Now that I've been doing a section every day, I feel like I'm getting better at stamina, but I can still feel it, I can see when my attention starts to drop.
Steve: Okay, so you're recognizing stamina is an issue. How many full practice tests would you say you've done up to this point in total?
Alina: I think 3. I sat down for 3 full diagnostics, though I've done a lot of individual sections outside of those.
Steve: So 3 full diagnostics, 3 sittings with the endurance factor of 4 sections. Ballpark, how many timed sections, 10, 50, somewhere in the middle?
Alina: So far, 10. I started doing timed sections at the beginning of March, trying every day to do a section.
Steve: Too many students avoid taking full practice tests for far too long, that's one of the biggest LSAT prep mistakes I see. Drilling questions in isolation doesn't build endurance, and your scores won't improve if you're not measuring yourself under real-time conditions. Even 100% accuracy when drilling by type doesn't mean much, because you've got to get questions right under test day conditions, which means working on pacing and endurance, not just accuracy. In that final month I typically recommend a timed exam minimum once a week, reviewed in depth, plus individual timed sections on the side for pacing. It's okay to get low scores on early practice tests as long as you keep taking more to build endurance. The last thing you want is to be fatigued on section 4 and see your performance drop just because it's section 4, and the only way to avoid that is practice and exposure. So timing is only a recent focus of yours?
Alina: It became more of a focus a month or 2 ago. I have test accommodations because of pretty bad test anxiety, so that's what I started working on a few months ago, so I know I have this much time and I don't freak out. I think it's more the stamina piece that's been a longer struggle.
Steve: You're aware it's an issue and giving it more focus now. We're going to talk about adding more timed work and more full exams into the mix, especially since you have the luxury of being a full-time student studying for the LSAT.
Steve: I generally divide LSAT prep into 3 phases: accuracy, pacing, and endurance. Some students over-focus on accuracy, drilling by type. Others do nothing but full-length timed exams for endurance. What gets left out is the sweet spot in the middle, pacing, because time management is its own skill, not just a function of intelligence. You've got to make sure you have enough time for the harder questions that truly need it, which means speeding up on the easier ones first. I recommend roughly a minute or so per question for the first 10 questions in logical reasoning, building a time bank for the tougher ones later. Trust your gut, don't second guess yourself. If you think something's the answer, it probably is, and that time is more valuable later than spent double and triple checking.
Steve: Aside from endurance, timing, and test anxiety, are there any specific weak areas within logical reasoning or reading comp?
Alina: After a practice test I immediately write down what I'm consistently missing. On my most recent one I noticed necessary assumption, sufficient assumption, and weakening questions were what I missed most. I've also put a lot of focus into method of reasoning, or parallel flaw, where you find the flaw and match it in another argument. It's not that common, usually only one per section, but I don't know how to break those down. I've watched all the videos, and for some reason I can't get myself to find the right answer, though I see it once it's explained. If it were more frequent on the LSAT I'd be in a scary position. Besides that, it's mainly necessary assumption and sufficient assumption, and occasionally value judgment and strengthening questions.
Steve: That's a solid breakdown. Parallel flaw, if there's only one or 2 per section, isn't worth a ton of time until you've mastered the more common types like necessary assumption and sufficient assumption. Necessary assumption in particular is one of the most common question types, so mastering it gives you a much bigger lift than something that hardly ever comes up.
Steve: When Alina told me she struggles with necessary and sufficient assumption questions, I knew she had a massive opportunity, because those, along with flaw and inference, are among the most common types in logical reasoning. Leveling those up means an immediate boost, especially since logical reasoning is 2/3 of the test, and any gains there carry across both sections. I'm not saying to ignore parallel flaw, but until necessary assumption is mastered there's no reason to spend time on rarer types, especially with limited time before test day.
Steve: How do you distinguish necessary assumption from sufficient assumption? It's based on the key word in the question stem. Necessary assumption questions use words synonymous with necessity, like depends upon, requires, and assumes. Sufficient assumption questions use words synonymous with sufficiency, like allows, enables, follows logically if assumed, and properly inferred if assumed. Too many students fail to distinguish the two and get both wrong, so getting clear on what the question is asking is the first step.
Steve: You mentioned when booking this call that you might need to review better. What does your review process look like now?
Alina: I just started trying the Socratic method, because my old review method wasn't great. I'd see what I got wrong, watch a video, think "okay, I got it," close the video, and move on, then get another question of the same type wrong later, flabbergasted that a 5 minute review hadn't taught me anything. I think it's because I'd review right after the exam, tired and disappointed by my score, then have to sit through a 2-hour review, which isn't ideal. Now I stop after the exam, go eat something, and come back to review with a more positive mindset, that I won't get it wrong next time. That's been a lot better motivation to actually go through the lengthy review.
Steve: I think so too. Studying full-time means you can test in the morning, have lunch, then review, without it all being one 5-hour sitting. That's a good way to go about it.
Steve: If you're aiming for 170 or above and not documenting your review, you're leaving points on the table, and your competition isn't. One student gets clarity on why they're getting things wrong by articulating their thought process and the traps they're falling for. Another just looks at the answer key, thinks "how could I have been so dumb," and moves on. A structured wrong answer journal, where you lay out why wrong answers seemed right and the right answer seemed wrong, and the patterns across your mistakes, makes you far less likely to repeat the same mistake. Writing it down forces the clarity that actually prevents you from missing it again.
Steve: With the time constraint or endurance, do you find yourself overthinking and getting bogged down, or rushing? What's your tendency with timing?
Alina: On some questions when reviewing I notice I didn't read the stimulus clearly, or jumped over words trying to go faster, and then had to reread, which wastes even more time. You need to actually understand it the first time or you won't get the question right. Sometimes I miss a question because I didn't read the correct answer choice correctly, didn't understand it when I first read it. The questions I get wrong most are usually the hardest ones at the end of the section, consistently. And when I review, I sometimes never even considered the correct answer as a possibility in the first place, which is a bigger gap than seeing it but picking wrong.
Steve: Good that you're aware of that. The first step of solving a problem is knowing you have one. So fully understanding the stimulus is an issue, and properly considering all the answer choices through the lens of the question type. And we want to make sure you have enough time for the harder questions later that truly need it.
Steve: Let's talk about adjustments to your program. First, we've got to get you doing more timed work overall. The time for foundational videos and drilling has passed, since you have less than a month till test day and only 3 timed exams so far. I want you doing a timed exam at least twice a week, reviewed in depth that same day, maybe spilling into the next. Space them apart, don't do them on consecutive days, say a Monday and a Thursday.
Steve: Next, more timed sections, since you've only done 10 total since the beginning of the month, about 2 and a half weeks ago. On days you're not doing full exams, do at least 2 individual timed sections, since we've got to work on your pacing. Timed exams help with endurance, and 2 timed sections back to back help with pacing and some endurance too.
Steve: In this final month, taking real full exams under test day conditions is non-negotiable. Combined with thorough Socratic review, and 2 timed sections a day on 4, 5 non-exam days, you're doubling, tripling, quadrupling the volume of timed work you've done. That's going to produce a massive improvement in pacing, time management, and endurance. Getting those 10, 15, 20 points in the next month comes from timed exams and deeper review, first and foremost.
Alina: Now that I'm doing 2 exams a week, do I start with the later exams or the newest ones?
Steve: We budget it so you end up covering the newest ones. With roughly 3 weeks left, 2 exams a week is 6 full sittings, plus several more done as individual sections, so 12 exams total. We're up to exam 158 in the numbering system, so subtracting 12 puts us back around 146. These are ballpark estimates, but you'd work through 146, 147, 148 and on, culminating with 158 two days before your test.
Alina: If I'm starting this week of actually grinding, what kind of jumps am I expected to see, to know I'm on the right track?
Steve: Great question, but with such a limited window, progress benchmarks wouldn't be meaningful, it's too compressed, and LSAT progress isn't linear, it comes in fits and spurts. I'm not going to promise 3 points a week. What I will say is that all of this together, 30 hours a week for 3 weeks, the 2 exams a week, 2 timed sections on the other 5 days, plus foundational work on necessary and sufficient assumption, should give you the lift from a 157 to a 170 plus. Necessary assumption is a high yield area, so with only 3 weeks I'm not going to say to spend much time on parallel flaw since it's rare. Nail down necessary assumption first, then pacing, then endurance. Maybe a little parallel flaw in the last week if you want.
Alina: What can I do when I'm reading a passage, I'm at the third paragraph, I'm lost, and I don't even know what the main point is anymore because it's jumped 9 times?
Steve: The first step is to not get to the third paragraph without knowing what it's saying, by pausing after the first paragraph or even the first sentence. Read with anticipation, asking what role each statement plays. In reading comp, one sentence might set something up, another might provide a counter example, another might be your thesis statement summarizing the main idea. Even by paragraph 1 you should have a sense of the main idea, or at least recognize by paragraph 2 that paragraph 1 was just background.
Steve: LSAT reading comp passages are deliberately written to be as boring as possible, even the interesting-sounding ones. If you're getting bored or falling asleep, fake it till you make it, manufacture curiosity, act like it's the most fascinating thing in the world. Keep asking what role each sentence and paragraph plays: are they setting the stage, presenting one viewpoint to counter it later? Most importantly, what's the key sentence where the author states their central idea? If they could leave you with only one concept, what would it be? That's the main idea, hold onto it, because most questions refer back to it.
Steve: Spend time in reading comp, don't neglect it, but since logical reasoning is 2/3 of the test and that's where you've mentioned issues, I'd spend at least 2/3 of your time there, since gains there are doubled across 2 sections. Highest yield next step is logical reasoning, necessary assumption versus sufficient assumption. The other thing is pacing, speeding up on the easier questions in the first 10 or so. What are your specific time accommodations?
Alina: I have time and a half, 52 minutes per section.
Steve: Then aim to knock out the first 10 questions in roughly 15 minutes, a minute and a half per question, so you have more time for the tougher ones later. With standard timing I'd say a minute a question, but with time and a half, 15 minutes for those 10 works. Either way, you bank extra time for later questions where you need to slow down to fully capture the stimulus.
Alina: I've been trying not to use a full 2 minutes on the earlier questions, because every time I look over, the first 15 I always get right, and after that it gets bad. I get scared that going under 2 minutes risks the questions I do know how to get right. How do you know when to just leave a question and trust your gut versus staying to make sure?
Steve: This is partially self-control and pacing. You have to trust that an easier question is what it looks like, if it's question 5, there's no crazy trick, it's as straightforward as it seems. If you're typically scoring in the high 150s, your fundamentals are solid enough to go with your gut, pick it, and move on. I'd never time individual questions, because some you'll knock out in under a minute, while others later might need 3 or 3 and a half minutes, especially your least favorite topic or question type. You borrow time from earlier in the section to save it for later, where it's truly needed.
Steve: So ballpark, a minute and a half per question on the first 10, or 15 minutes total. But go with your gut, pick it, move on, double and triple checking there could cost you later. You've only done 10 timed sections and 3 timed exams, we're going to at least triple that over the next few weeks, and you'll get into your rhythm as you do more of it.
Alina: Absolutely, I'm excited.
Steve: One more thing before we wrap, the review process, since you've just joined the program and haven't started using the spreadsheets or trackers yet. I recommend a spreadsheet, Excel or Google Sheets, with separate columns for the stimulus (or main idea for reading comp), the question type, so you can spot trends, and the answer choices. Note what you chose versus the right answer, what made a tempting wrong answer tempting and what makes it wrong, and separately what made the right answer seem unappealing at first and what makes it correct. If you never even considered the right answer, note that too. Add a column for key takeaways you can revisit before your next practice test.
Steve: This will take more time than your review has up to now, but you have the schedule to go all the way with it, which is a massive advantage over students who are working full-time or balancing classes with the LSAT. I'd encourage you to go all in on this.
Alina: I'll find the time.
Steve: Good to know, and you're clearly committed to making this the number one priority for now.
Alina: Yeah.
Steve: Go all the way, and look at the lessons in the course covering the review process. Before we sign off, what's the biggest insight you got from our call today?
Alina: The biggest insight for me is the schedule, knowing what to do next in terms of structure. When you're free flowing on your own, you don't know if what you're doing is correct or what to target. Knowing that 2 practice tests a week is normal and helps with pacing, and 2 timed sections a day helps with the other areas I'm falling short in, means there's a direct solution to each problem instead of guessing.
Steve: Exactly. I'm glad you have a concrete plan of attack, now go implement it and make the most of the time you have.
Steve: Alina only joined the program less than a week ago, but I'm excited by how quickly she's picking up the concepts and her willingness to change her approach. She was previously free floating with her study, without a clear plan of attack, but now she's got structure. She needs to spend a lot more time on full timed exams and individual sections for pacing, and on reviewing everything in depth and tracking mistakes. It's a lot of work, but she has the time available and is clearly dedicated. Structure beats randomness. If she follows this system, I'm confident she'll finally break that 160 mark and push her way into the 170s over the next few weeks.
More coaching sessions: Zabdi, 141 to 155, Abigail, 147 to 160, Leah, 153 to 170, Dominic, Logan, 172 to 175. 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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