NEW INFO - Core Curriculum Update - Drilling Feature

Hey 7Sagers!

Update: After carefully considering feedback from several 7Sagers, we've decided to keep the pre-made problem sets available for the time being. You can find more information regarding this here: https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/34509/core-curriculum-update-pre-made-problem-sets

A few months ago we announced that we'll be replacing the pre-made problem sets in the Core Curriculum with an advanced drilling option! We're excited to announce that the old problem sets will be completely replaced by the drilling feature starting March 1st. This means that after February 28th, you will no longer be able to access the pre-made problem sets in the Core Curriculum.

I know this is a big change to the Core Curriculum we all know and love. However, we are doing this as part of our larger goal to make LSAT prep as simple and streamlined as possible. This feature is just one of the many ways we're working towards that. Instead of making a new post to announce this, I decided to simply edit this one because there are a ton of great questions and answers in the comments. I've picked out one of JY's comments from the initial post to include here. Hopefully his response answers some of the initial questions you might have about this change!

In the meantime, feel free to comment any questions you may have and review the initial announcement (included below). If your heart is set on doing the problem sets exactly as they are (I get it, change is tough), feel free to download them before February 28th so you can continue to use them.

We perceived two issues with the existing Problem Sets and replacing them with Drills is our attempt to remedy both.

The PSets are static sets of 5 questions in increasing order of difficulty and newness. For example, Flaw PSet #1 contains 5 of the easiest and oldest Flaw questions from PTs 1-35. Flaw PSet #23 contains the hardest and newest. As they are laid out in the CC, the expectation is that a student should just proceed through them one by one.

The issue with that is the typical student probably doesn't need to start with PSet #1 (too easy) and probably doesn't need to finish all the way to PSet #23 (time could be better spent elsewhere). This is inefficient. The Drill addresses this by giving the student the ability to set the difficulty themselves. A student can, based on how well they followed the lessons, set the difficulty to, say, medium, and see how they do. Based on the results of the Drill, they can quickly adjust the difficulty for the next Drill. (We're also working on auto adjusting as a new feature to be released.) Admittedly, this is also something that could be done with PSets: a student could jump into the middle of the PSets and work forward (if too easy) or backwards (if too hard). But that's very cumbersome and not everyone will know to do this. Drills will allow students to more efficiently hone in on what they need to practice.

The second issue is that PSets contain a disproportionate amount of older questions. Their questions are pulled from only PTs 1-35. The assumption was that the newer PTs should be saved for timed PTs. Two changes undermined that assumption. First, it's been 5 years since the PSets were created and many more new PTs have been released. Second, the modern LSAT only contains one scored LR section. The two changes together meant that we have many more newer LR questions that should not be in PTs. For example, PT 45 was originally released with two LR sections but the second LR section should not be in a modern PT. So what do we do with it? We pushed it into the Drilling pool of questions. We did this for all the LR sections we deemed to be "extra." This way, you still have a huge pool of modern PTs (with a rotation of LR, LG, and RC experimentals on the next feature release). You will also have a larger and newer (compared to PSets) pool of LR questions to Drill with. PT 76's second LR section is the newest section that we placed into the Drilling pool.

For those who are concerned about spoiling PTs, if you choose "Simulate Modern" and take PTs 45 and higher, there will be absolutely no overlap between PT LR and Drilling pool LR. In other words, you're guaranteed to have a fresh PT with a reliable PT score.

For those who are asking for the ability to self-select which sections should be in PTs v. Drilling pool, I think that's a good idea(?) but I can also see arguments against this. More choice is not always better. We're still debating this. At this moment there are no plans to create this feature but we may work it into a future release.

In short, we believe that Drills are a superior version of PSets.

If you’re familiar with our Core Curriculum, you’ll know that each core LR question type includes a number of pre-made problem sets related to that topic. As we continuously work towards improving our course, we’ve rolled out a new feature to replace these problem sets!

You’ll notice that above each problem set, there is now a ‘Drill’ option. https://imgur.com/8VszND7

Unlike the pre-made problem sets, the Drills will enable you to, well, drill each question type as much, or as little, as you’d like. You can also configure the difficulty to exactly what level you’re looking to practice at. It's basically a better version of the problem sets.

If you’d like to test out this drill feature, you don’t have to wait! The drilling option is already available for each LR question type in the Core Curriculum.