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I am a little confused because I have been continuously checking the LSAC website to see if there are any updates on the day and time that I will be taking the November Flex Exam. To people who have already taken a Flex Test, when did you find out all the specific details of when you were taking it? We are two weeks away and I figured they would have this information available at this point.

3

Hi everyone.

I might be a little late to the party with this question but does anyone have a list of conclusion types?

Perhaps even with an example Q to go along with it for reference (if not I am still appreciative).

I came across a NA Q (PT 70.1.13, for those who are interested) and I struggled with this Q until I saw a comment that cleared it all up for me. I don't want to put this person on the spot by publicizing their 7sage username but to quote their comment, " [the] key to answering this conclusion requires identifying what type of conclusion is made. in this question, the conclusion is a comparative statement about the effectiveness of an ad". As soon as I noticed that the conclusion was in fact a comparative statement, I knew what I had to do and the AC I eliminated time and time again became the obvious answer.

That is when I had my 'aha' moment! So then I said to myself we can have a causal conclusion, comparative, one based on a likelihood/probability, cause and effect, etc. "What conclusion types are there and what do I do when I have spotted it" became my train of thought.

Being that the LSAT is a marathon and not a sprint, and with that being said, I am ready to close my LR gap a bit further now. I suspect that being able to identify the type of conclusion made in an argument helps close that LR gap.

Is this something that I missed in the CC?

High LR scorers: do you implement this in your analysis of an argument?

Very interested to hear your comments because I think this is key to what is holding me back in LR.

(I also struggle with RC and I think taking this ultra-sensitive approach might help me as well.)

Thanks 7Sagers!

0

I am signed up for the November LSAT Flex. I first studied for this test 2 years ago for about 3 months before having to set it aside for personal reasons. Started back up in May, after graduating from university, and studied for 6 months for 4-6 hours a day 7 days a week. My diagnostic from 2 years ago was a 149.

I've take almost every single PT some of them twice, except for 7 from the 80s that I'm planning on taking before test day. I am consistently scoring at a 169 without fail, I've surpassed 170 on four occasions but it's not consistent. My BR is always around 176. No matter what I try it feels like I can't get my actual score to reach that level.

My goal is a 170+. It feels like I've hit a plateau and its incredibly frustrating. Is it realistic for me to score above 170 on test day? Are there things I can do in my last week or so to increase my chances? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thank you for taking the time to read this.

1

Hi! My name is Jamie and I am a private LSAT tutor. I received an 177 on the LSAT and had a consistent -0 in both LG/LR and usually a -2 in RC (from a 10+). I specialize in LR tutoring and have multiple references I can provide. If you are interested and want to know more about prices, message. me!

2

Hello 7Sage!

I finished up my studies for the LSAT recently and I would love to offer my knowledge to those who are looking for support or another person with whom they can talk through questions or issues. I did not get a stellar score on the October LSAT (only a 162), but I regularly BR in the mid-170s. I know the material pretty well, but I just so happened to have issues translating that knowledge to the real thing under timed conditions (despite my PTs at 166 and 170).

I am more than happy to help with LR and LG. I am also available to talk through reading strategies for RC. I have a pretty simple, intuitive approach to the test, and I would love to help others looking to break the 150 or 160 barrier.

I know there are many other free tutors after the October test, but let me know if you are interested. I am happy to meet over Google Meets to go over some questions with you or talk through strategies on how to think about and answer questions.

Cheers!

Sean

EDIT: I’ve been so happy to help others this past week that I’m reopening this post. I am available for others to meet, if interested.

3

Been waiting months to write this post.. The journey to this score was longer, more difficult and more much painful than I imagined when I picked up some Kaplan Prep book in mid-2019.

It's taken a couple of days to be able to physically process but I finally scored 171 on an official take!

Took a ~diagnostic (had been studying a little before) and scored a 166.. this was what I would later melodramatically refer to as the 'kiss of death' - it was a total fluke and in no way was this representative of my skills at that point in time...subsequent PTs would prove that I was actually closer to high the 150s to low 160s. In the next month I took around 10 PTs (with no BR and no drilling) and never once was able to hit at or above 166.

Months later, 'I saw the light' and signed up for 7Sage. After completing the CC and doing about a month of drilling LR/RC full sections from the early PTs and full proofing every LG from 1-35, my first PT was a 169. This was my first major victory, which inevitably was followed by what felt like a setback, a 159.

First official take was May and I got a... 166. At the time, my PTs were all over the place (169, 159, 171, 163, 165...) and 166 was actually my prep test average. At the time May was the only flex scheduled and it felt like this Covid thing would be over by now and we'd be back to full length tests so I never put too much stock into this one. I had taken a PT during the interregnum (after I wrote it but before I got my results) and had gotten a 172 (highest yet) which fueled me to push further still.

Going into August my PT average was just above 170. But something happened on LR of that section.. its been commented that the first questions in that LR section were unusually hard and that just got to me; i'm sure that it tanked that LR section and also probably the first part of my next section which was RC.. if it was a 5 section test then I'm confident than another LR would have been able to balance me out to a 168 but alas another 166. What was crushing was looking at an official take that was the same as my diagnostic; even though I knew by this time my diagnostic was inflated - I was frustrated and embarrassed that I "hadn't" made any progress (even though I know I had)...

Anyways, something happened after August and I just started to care so much less. By this point I had not had a PT below 168 since April... I felt assured that I would be able to get above a 166. But then, about a week before October I had two back-to-back PTs where I got a 167... these PT scores felt crushing, it felt like I was slipping at the very second I needed to be at my peak. In some ways this weirdly made me care less... 'caring less' weirdly ended up being the key to doing well on that exam.. anyways felt like I did okay on LR, RC and LG but my couple of low scores before the exam made me second guess... I was hoping for anything above a 168 and was registered for November as well hoping that I could at least increase my score and then to push forward and get out of my slump by the November exam.. but alas it wasn't necessary I got a 171!!!

And yet, I still feel like this post has not adequately captured the ups and downs that have comprised this journey. It wouldn't have been possible without 7Sage and J.Y.! Thank you to everyone who interacted me me on the forums (particularly on my posts where I was asking for help or, oftentimes, just complaining and looking for solace).

8

Hi everyone! I recently got back a 174 on the October LSAT and some people reached out with questions about study tips, so I thought I would type up a comprehensive post about how I approached studying, as well as some section tips. Warning - I tried to be comprehensive but it ended up being super long - if any of it is unclear, definitely ask in the comments or PM me!

STUDY JOURNEY -

I began studying in March - I was home from college because of 'rona, and had a lot of time on my hands, which enabled me to study as my primary activity in addition to classes. My diagnostic was a 160 - I was solid at RC/LR (missing 2 and 5 on LR, and 5 on RC), but much weaker at LG (-10), so I had my work cut out for me. I come from a liberal arts/polisci background, so reading was my strong suit, and anything quantitative or puzzle-oriented was not.

March through May, I just worked through the core curriculum. I took careful notes on paper, and whenever I missed an LR/RC question, I added it to my "Wrong Answer Journal". This was absolutely critical for me - I wrote an in-depth analysis of each choice, why I thought I missed it, one portable takeaway, and what strategy I thought the test-writers were using to make a trap. This took forever, and was boring - but making this (and flipping through it when I was bored/before I went to bed) was incredibly important.

In May, I took my first post-CC PT, and got a 171, and then a 173 - I thought I would have this down in no time. But then my scores dipped, and settled primarily in the high 160s. I was consistently struggling with LG, rarely finishing on time or just getting blown out by hard games. This was where foolproofing came in handy - I created an excel sheet, and tracked my accuracy/time for sections. I would do a section, score it/watch the video, do it again, and then redo it the next day. Then, I'd do it one more time a week from then. I did this daily, with 2-3 sections a day. Doing this method with tests 1-35 (16-35 are CC, and 1-16 I broke into sections) helped me. I plateaued in the high 160s until June, but I eventually broke through it, and fixing LG through foolproofing was a large part of it.

A large part of the plateau was also due to isolated areas in LR/RC. I realized quickly that I was struggling on science passages in RC, and on strengthen/weaken in LR. Using the analytics functioning 7Sage was invaluable here to pinpoint areas of weakness. I then built problem sets focusing on those questions/redid portions of the CC (and, as always, used my Wrong Answer Journal religiously). I also read Loophole, which really helped me for strengthen/weaken.

By the end of June, I was in a pretty good grove - I was mostly in the low to mid 170s. But I would have off days sometimes, and occasionally revert back to high 160s, and never knew why. I signed up for the July LSAT, scored a 180 four days before the test, and assumed I was set. Then, on the first section (RC), I just completely blanked - I had tech issues with my Internet connection and then I just completely lost focus for the rest of the section - I couldn't regain it. I couldn't understand why this happened on the real day - getting flummoxed on section 1. My score came back - high 160s.

I got ready to take it in August - by now, I was PTing a solid 175 average, and figured I just had a bad day. August came and went, and it was similar - I felt jittery and nervous in section one (LG), and it threw me off for the rest of the test. Another high 160s.

I figured at this point that I had a solid grasp of the material - my PTs were high, but something was happening on the real day. What I learned to do here was to study less. I cut back the number of tests I was doing, started taking them as shorter flex tests, and began meditating daily. I also realized that on the real day, I was altering my routine in some ways (extra coffee, studying before the test, etc), and needed to just exactly replicate my practice test routine. I felt more locked in than ever - my PT scores before October were in the 175-180 range with a mode of 177, and relaxing played a key role. On the test day, I pretended it was just a practice test - I woke up, chatted with my family, listened to some Beethoven, and took it. I got a 174, up 5-7 points from my previous two takes, even with a slight test day penalty of 2-3 (sometimes, that penalty just happens on the real day - such is life).

SECTION STRATEGY

For the latter half of my studies, I was mostly in the mid to high 170s (usually around a 175-178 but hit 179/180 5-6 times). This was starkly different than the first half of my studies, which was mostly low 170s (but with some inconsistency and dips into the high 160s) - I think this was due to using a lot of material and, subsequently, creating section strategies that worked for me. What works for you might be different - but experiment! Try new approaches.

I ended up using most of the materials available through 7Sage/LawHub. I did PTs 1-16 as individual sections, 16-35 through the CC, and then 35-89 as full PTs (I skipped around a bit but eventually got to them all). I did 3 tests a week initially (Weds Fri Sun), but cut back to 2 when I started to feel stressed and burned out. Consuming all of this material was essential for me to really gain a level of comfort and familiarity with the test that helped me build section strategies

LG - honestly, nothing fancy here for me. The games repeat over and over again, so the real secret is just doing all of them (or as many as you can). I started out -10 or worse, and got to a consistent -0/-1 just by doing games daily - you can too! In terms of specific strategies, I was always big on splitting into sub gameboards/solving as much upfront as possible. I also would not erase inferences - I would sketch a new board for each question, so I could look back at previous work. I would also begin with questions that fed new rules/conditionals, so I could have more boards available for the open-ended questions without new rules.

For timing, I would try to get game 1 in 5 minutes or less, and then get to game 3 with 22 minutes left on the clock. I always tried to get to game 4 with 13-15 minutes if possible to prevent myself from running out of time (after a few really scary game 4s in some of the 30s/40s, I never wanted to risk not having at least 13-15 minutes for a nightmare game).

LR - this was where developing a timing strategy was essential for me. I never struggled with finishing on time, but I would get stuck on hard questions and fall into a rut, not being able to figure them out. This often happened for hard strengthen/weaken questions. I watched a video on 7sage (I think by @CantGetRight) about timing strategies/post CC exercises, and he recommended a confidence drill where you go through an LR section by mostly just picking your first intuition without checking your work or second-guessing. The objective is to see how accurate you can be, and better test your confidence threshold for a right answer. I tried this, and realized that I was shockingly accurate on questions 1-10 when moving quickly/without second-guessing. I also started to realize that when I skipped a hard question and came back with a fresh perspective, I would be far more likely to get it. This was the basis for my timing strategy - I started speeding up on questions1-10 (30 seconds per question, to finish 10 within 5-6 minutes), and skipping any question once I spent over 45-1:00 on it. The result was that I would finish 14-15 minutes early, but with several (like 5-7) questions flagged that I wanted to spend more time on. I would then have ample time to approach those with a fresh perspective. This helped get me from missing 3-5 to a consistent -0 or -1 on LR by the end of my studies.

RC - This was my worst section by far at the end of my studies - I would go anywhere from -1 to -3, and it just depended on my day (vs a -0 or -1 in LG/LR). While I was a consistent -0 or -1 on LR/LG, RC was always the wild card. But I did improve a bit - I had improvement from the -4/-5 I started and, ultimately, if you want a mid-high 170, it's a game of inches. A few things helped. First, doing more sections. RC is similar to LG in that there is repetition - wrong answer choices are wrong for similar reasons across sections. Wrong answers will often lack textual support and trade on your assumption about a topic, while right answers may pull something from a fragment of a sentence you totally glossed over. Second, pay attention to whether the question is most strongly supported or explicitly stated - if it's the latter, you need to find a line that very, very clearly says the thing - there is not really room for inferences. Third, I spent more time with the passage upfront. I realized that I could breeze through the questions when I really got the passage, so I started reading it twice - first time through I would take notes (summarizing each paragraph and an overall summary of the piece), and the second time through I would just read it without notes to understand tone and the big picture. This would take me around 3 minutes total, but saved time with the questions.

MISC TIPS

1] Don't burn out. I genuinely enjoyed studying for the LSAT, and treated it like a game - LG was a set of fun puzzles, RC was a chance to learn cool new topics, and LR was brain-twister exercises. If I hadn't had fun, I never could have made it through 89 tests worth of material. Yet, I burned out too sometimes - if you find yourself burning out, cut down the number of tests you're doing weekly. Watch a movie, take a day off, etc.

2] Find a study friend! I was fortunate that my best friend was studying for the test alongside me - we took every PT concurrently, and would review together that night - it made the journey so much more fun.

3] Take care of yourself. I was averaging a 174 before my first take, and a 175 before my second take, yet I scored 5-7 points lower on each test. It's because I was stressed out and worried about failing, which resulted in some serious test day penalties - I really recommend meditation, not studying much the week of your test, and treating your real day just like a practice test (don't change your routine at all!)

4] Shake off your off-days/lower PTs. I once got a 180 one test, and a 166 the next. Progress isn't linear, and everyone makes mistakes or has weaker days - getting high scores (and, subsequently, consistent high scores) is really hard, and it won't happen overnight. Give yourself months and a lot of tests to iron out aberrations and find a consistent pattern.

For those of you who got a disappointing score - I was there too. I thought I would never hit my PT average, and that I wasted my time studying. But don't give up - if you got it in practice, you CAN get it on the real day. Just be ruthlessly analytical in figuring out what went wrong, and work to fix it - if you do, it will work out. You're going to be a great lawyer someday, and this test won't stop you. You're going to kill it.

72

Hey all! I got a 179 on the October LSAT and I'm looking to tutor in my city soon, but before I do, I figure I'd gain some lower-stakes experience. So, if anyone wants a free tutoring session, comment on this post and let me know! I probably won't be doing very many, so preference will go to the first few people who comment!

(I assume this isn't against 7sage rules because I'm not charging any $, but if I'm wrong, please let me know and I'll delete the post.)

7

Hello. I scored a 163 on the October Flex. My GPA is fairly unimpressive so this score is too low for the schools I want to apply to. My goal score is 165+ and I likely won't send an application until I achieve that score. With that being said, is it in my interest to keep the 163 or delete the score from my LSAC account? Are there any advantages/disadvantages to keeping it? Please advice!

0

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5

I just wanted say thank you to all you wonderful people. On my third attempt, I've still scored lower than my PT average (thanks test anxiety), but I've decided to move on and apply with what I have----169 (shredder be damned), which I am beyond thrilled with. I was set on retaking in November, but I realized that I've reached the point of diminishing returns, and now it's time to leave the obsessiveness, which has served me well to this point, behind.

I've loved using 7Sage all this time---nearly a year. J.Y.'s videos have been awesome, and the supporting team and community have been likewise. Feel free to AMA if you care to.

8

So I’m currently a Junior in undergrad, just took October and got a 167 which I’m happy with. I would like to get into Georgetown, so I believe I’m at there median (some sites say 167, some say 168) and my gpa is solid through almost 2 and a half years (3.87). Whats everyone think about Georgetown if I can keep my Gpa up? Also, since I’m only a junior, I won’t apply for another year and a half right? I didn’t know if I could send them stuff early or not, honestly don’t know much about the application process so any help would be great!! Thanks guys!

0

Hey guys!

This might be a dumb question, but the transcript request stuff on the LSAC website really confuses me. Do I need to actually call my university and ask them to send my transcripts to LSAC? I currently have my school listed and it says that I have a transcript that has not been processed, but it has been close to three weeks... If anyone knows anything please let me know! #help

0

Score Breakdown:

LG - minus 0 to minus 4

LR - minus 4 to minus 5

RC - minus 3 to minus 7

LG mostly I think I mess up because I go too fast or because of rule substitution questions towards the end. I am working on foolproofing, but yet to consistently hit -0. LR I am working on my weaknesses and mistakes and same with RC. RC is a hit or miss depending on passage difficulty. Is there any advice to break into 170s at least before my November test date?

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