Hello,

I am taking the Aug LSAT-flex for the first time and I want to ask how to improve both sections before test time? I have been serious since May and I have been having trouble in getting the answers correctly. Somehow, I would know the answer right away but then I would second guess myself in picking the wrong answer and finding out that the answer I knew the first time was the correct on and not the other answer. Is there advice out there to fix it before test day? Thanks

Hey guys, I've spent quite a while on weakening questions in the CC. I took a break and formulated a weakening question for fun to see if I properly understand them. Would you mind taking a look at my Weakening Q and letting me know if I have a fundamental understanding of it?

Question:

AlwaysBeClosing: Every time I sit down at the couch, the dogs run up and sit on my lap. They must really like me because I don't see them doing this with anybody else.

Friend: My dogs are trained to find the weakest human in the room to get treats. Then, they sit on that person's lap. Therefore, my dogs don't actually like you, they just want treats.

AlwaysBeClosing: :(

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument made by the Friend in response to AlwaysBeClosing?

(A) ABC has never encountered a dog that didn't like him.

(B) The Friend's dog gets treats frequently before ABC comes over to the Friend's house.

(C) ABC's mom considers him to be an emotionally strong person.

(D) The dogs sit on the laps of people they've known for a long time. ABC has known them since birth.

(E) The dogs don't like most people.

Thanks!

Hi there,

I was hoping for some advice for how to break through the tough 158 to 160s gap. I've tended to score around a 158 and I'm really trying to get to the 160s, is there any advice for anyone who has jumped from the high 150s to low-mid 160s?

Hi! I am currently in a waiting period before I start work in December. My plan was to take the November LSAT and apply to law school in a year or two after working. If the November test is a LSAT flex should I wait until it is the original format? Will law schools expect me to have taken the original format if I apply in a year or two?

#help

Hey guys, I just started doing problem sets and I am having issues with the timing aspect of it. It takes me a while to understand and comprehend the stimulus. As a result, I am usually rushing through the last 2 questions with less than a minute left.

For those of you that have experience.. when did you start seeing improvements in timing? Do you have any advice for improving the speed at which you comprehend/understand the question?

I appreciate any suggestions.

-Kyle

(Posted on behalf of @t-skyjade)

First of all, I’d like to shout out to @Theo for publishing my thoughts for me as I’m currently unable to do so. This is my very first post after reading so many Discussion posts, and I’m here to seek resonance, advice, or any feedback you may have.

I’m Chinese born and raised, and I spent the past 8 years in the States for high school and college. I went to a very prestigious business school in New England and didn’t have the idea of going to law school until the end of my senior year. It’s been almost a full year that I have been studying for the LSAT full-time, and I started in the low 150- range. After going through all the Core Curriculum and taking more than 30 PTs, I’m now in the low to mid 160s, with BR scores that are in the 170 range consistently. As far as I’m happy seeing the progress, I feel like that I’ve been in the 160 bottleneck for too long and yearning to break it. I tend to miss 0-3 questions on LG, an average of 6-7 on LR, and 9 or 10 or sometimes more on RC…I know, RC is my weakest section and I have been reading additional, “extracurricular” readings on my own and redoing old RC passages from the past. In addition, I recently purchased the LSAT Trainer book by Mike Kim, and I honestly hope that I’ll get myself to the 170s before the October exam. If any of you have some advice on breaking the 170 curve, please, let me know what it is. Because all this time, I’ve been doing what I think is necessary to improve my score yet not knowing if it’s sufficient to do so.

At the same time, as you all know, the world is a volatile place due to COVID and China has canceled/not administered pretty much all of the LSAT exams from January to October. Even though pretty much other standardized tests are now back running, the country has canceled the January and March exams and I have received specific answers from LSAC that the October exam will not be administered in mainland China. I’ve been wishing to take the exam in other Asian countries, but currently, there’s the travel ban that makes it almost impossible to get your visa to travel abroad, let alone plane tickets. I’ve had my eye on a Southern Asian country and hoping the consulate will start taking visa requests soon this month so I can register for October exam prior to the deadline, but I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen if they don’t. I could wait until January, but I fear of losing the advantage of not applying early. The anxiety of having to wait for another application cycle eats me up, while every day I try to be resilient and cope with it by doing more studying. But I know I have to give myself an answer, which I’m unable to provide, and so the anxiety reappears.

Besides the feedback loop from hell, there’s some other thing that I would like to share. I keep my plan of going to law school very secretive and only a few of my closest friends know, as a way to protect my dream and I for a lot of people don’t understand why I want to overcome all the obstacles and become an American lawyer. People coming out of my undergrad college tend to go into finance, consulting, or other high-paying, fast-return jobs while I struggle getting my dream score on a standardized test. I tentatively told one person whom I thought was my friend of my law school plan and he belittled me to death. During quarantine this spring, he constantly told me “you are not going to make it”, “why aren’t you out there looking for real jobs”, “you still haven’t given up huh?”, “do you really think you could take the exam post-quarantine?”, and he even said “I’m treating you like this because you have not succeeded yet.” I cut that guy loose but those words traumatized me so much. Studying for the LSAT has been hard enough, and it’s really my dream of becoming a lawyer that makes me sit in front of my desk for 40-50 hours a week and do one PT every other day. It really hurts for someone whom you once considered a friend to trample something you cherish & enamored so much. It also made me realize that I need to protect my dream and shield it with my whole heart. A lot of times, I browse the “success stories” on the Discussion Forum with tears in my eyes, seek courage from people I’ve never met, know they’d understand me, and show me the benefit of doubt as time will prove my progress.

It’s been a difficult time as I get anxious and confused from time to time, but overall, I try to keep my composure and focus on what I ought to do. Luckily, I have noble friends that I can count on, very supportive parents and an extremely strong drive from within. I really have left myself with no backup plan. I don’t simply want to go to law school. I crave it. I dream of it. Every day, I hope there’s an easy way out for me and I could become a lawyer before I turn 30. Yet there’s nothing I hate more than victimizing myself despite that life gets tough sometimes. So it’s been hard reconciling with myself from time to time. Yet, I still try using other people’s words to encourage myself. One of my favorite quotes from the show A Series of Unfortunate Events is “how do we learn to give up in the face of all-powerful? We can never give up. You can never give up if you find yourself in terrible circumstances. You must keep struggling. You must struggle until you find a safe place to live. You must struggle until you find noble and reliable friends. Struggle. And struggle. Until the world can see who you really are.”

(And that’s when little Sunny comes up and takes down Count Olaf.)

I totally didn’t mean to use an analogy to compare myself to Sunny Baudelaire and the LSAT to Count Olaf.

If any of you is looking for a study buddy, please reach out to my email tskyjade@outlook.com

Thank you all very much.

Hello 7Sager's!!

I have started prepping again for the LSAT back in April, this is my second attempt writing the LSAT and the first time with accommodations. I have registered for accommodations and received more time then expected for my August LSAT Flex. I have been studying with regular time for the past few months and I am looking for advice. Should I keep practicing with straight time or should I change it to study with the accommodation. I never wrote the SATs or other standardized tests so if anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!

I was thinking of doing a zoom session of answering GENERAL LSAT questions (like Sami) to help give back. I wanted to make it fun as well cause I know corona is p depressing in the United States lol. I was thinking of like after every question I answer I do like 30 pushups or something! Please let me know. If its a lame idea thats cool too lol just wanna help give back

I was wondering about the best method to increase one's score. So far, I see that many people recommend reviewing the questions wrong or drilling more of it. I see little to do with question difficulty—I think this would be helpful. For instance, say you do a prep test, and you get a combination of wrong answers in logical reasoning such as Flaw, Parallel Reasoning, Weakening, and Must be True; from then, you look at each question's difficulty, and they range from 2 to 5/5. Now, let's assume that you notice a trend in that you cannot get past 3/5 difficulty in Flaw questions. Would it be reasonable to conclude that by drilling 2/5, in difficulty, Flaw questions until you achieve high accuracy, like 90%+, be a better way to improve and move on to the next difficulty? Even more so by reaching ideal times before moving on. I am trying to find methods that work for me, and it would be awesome if you have something to add.

Only going to take on a few more clients. Amount ive gotten last few days have been a bit overwhelming so to make sure I can do my own homework and devote quality prep to each of you im only going to take on a few more for now

Thanks for everyones trust in me so far!!! Ill try to help

I'm taking the test in August and I know LSAC said you must have your LSAT writing on file to get your score. Will I still receive my score if I do the writing a few days after my exam, or do I have to do it before the exam?

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that I am extremely privileged to be able to have parents that supported me and allowed me to study so long. Id say Ive been studying for about 8 months full-time. I didn't take a diagnostic but started at a 156 on the 2007 test Post CC. This was around July 2019. After running my wheels and just taking a ton of PTs I realize I was approaching studying the wrong way. I contacted @"Habeas Porpoise" and I had a pretty good study schedule that I stuck to for a while. Eventually, (for better or worse) i stopped drilling. I literally started doing EVERY practice test starting from PT1. I worked my way up. It was pretty painstaking, but I figured that I couldn't go too wrong if I just started from PT1. I had a lot of time until my test date (which I planned for March back then). For me, this grindy style worked to an extent. After getting from 1-40, I'm positive I had the basics down and was able to consistently be in the mid 160s. Its hard to say because I was doing 2 sections a day and blind reviewing, as opposed to full practice tests. At this point, I was writing explanations account playable style for maybe half the questions in every practice test (they are on the explanation videos) if u ever wanna see. I was doing this ESPECIALLY for RC, because I found that it was my worst section. Now, at this point, I was in the mid 160s, and RC was my worst section. I was going -1 or -2 on games, maybe -4-6 in LR, but like -7 to -8 in RC.

Here, I contacted @"Cant Get Right". He helped me with RC strategies, and surprisingly, we found out that if I read faster and was more rigorous, I would probably score higher. This doesn't work for everyone, but Im guessing my background as a collegiate debater ingrained in me the ability to read faster. At this point, I was determined to get a high score. My goal at this point was still a 168 on test day. So for the next 3 or 4 months until March (it was December at this point) I took 2 sections a day and alternated with full practice tests. It was at this point (i think if you cross reference the times on the explanation videos) that i took RC REALLY SERIOUSLY. After practice test 45, up to like 70, i think i wrote an explanation for EVERY RC question in every test. I would write why the right answer is right, and also why every single other answer choice is wrong. Honestly, its hard to tell if it helped lol. Id like to think so because RC ended up being my best section, starting at -8 to -10, to -0 to -3. On harder sections (like the token section) I scored -2. On candor I scored --4 (whole section).

At this point, I was hitting 169-172 on PTs and was ready for March. The test was cancelled. Idk i was pretty sad because I felt ready and I was quickly running out of PTs. Until they announced the Flex, I just retook old practice tests, because I didnt really want to commit to taking new tests until I knew when the next test was.

They announced the May Flex, and I moved up from the 70s. At this point, my study schedule was pretty intense. Id take a practice test, and write an explanation for EVERY question, including all LR and RC questions, and post on the forums. Id post an explanation PRE knowing the answer, and if I got it wrong, would post an explanation saying why I got what I got wrong and why the right answer is right.

Did this help? I would like to think so. At the 170 level, I dont think its necessary to spend 10 minutes reviewing a one star question in LR. But I like to be better safe than sorry, and reinforce my reasoning even for the easiest questions. i was doing 2 sections of games a day as well. i was also reading the Economist or the Atlantic for an extra 30 minutes - 1 hour everyday.

Then comes the May Flex. I cant say too much about the test, but nerves got me and I choked on LG. 168. Had a ton of time on the last game, misread a rule, and it was over lol. Couldnt think straight, and in 3 minutes, wasnt able to even do one question on the last game. At this point, I wasn't really sure what to do. I was happy and grateful for my score, but I felt I left so much on the table. I felt I worked so hard and I ended up scoring a bit below my average. I was scared to retake, because I didnt think I could work any harder (nor do I think that its smarter to just do more) and I didn't want to be disappointed again.

From May till July, i had about 15 PTs left. I think I did 10 of them. Same thing, posted an explanation for every single question. If you go from the 70s to the 80s youll find my explanations for almost every question. I wanted to make sure I knew the test inside out. At this point, I was consistently scoring around -1 to -3 in RC. -0 or -1 in LG. And LR was the decider. Sometimes -0, sometimes -7 lol. So I worked on LR for 2 months. I peaked with a 177 PT, and was averaging 173-174 ish.

All the time, starting from when I bought 7sage, I made sure to follow J.Y.s advice. Didn't really party or drink, took sleep seriously, and made sure I had a healthy mindset with exercise and diet. I recognize I'm very privileged to be able to do that. I got a full decked out home gym the moment corona hit, and I think that helped. I woulda gone crazy if it wasn't for that, as I've always been big into fitness.

So, coming into July, I was really really confident. From time to time, I had time problems. the 35 minute sections seemed brutal at times. But it would never cause a disaster for me. On PTs id always get at least a 170 at this point. The test was ok. i do think I rolled p unlucky. I know the curve balances out but with LR being my weakest section and rolling what I perceive to be the hardest LR section, it was brutal. Still, got a 172. Not gunna retake because I think 1-2 below PT average is fine. Its not worth it to retake for me. Also, I only have 5 fresh PTs left, and I want to save them for tutoring/teaching purposes.

Throughout this whole time, It really put a smile on my face whenever someone commented my explanations helped them. It was a goal of mine to be an approved sage, and I'm glad it finally happened! For the next year, Ill be taking on students part time while enjoying my life before law school.

If you wanna learn more about me and what I can offer tutoring wise, visit this page, im at the very bottom.

https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/4760/7sages-approved-tutors/p1

If you can learn anything from me, its that I literally brute forced my way to a 172 lol. If anyone wants any specific tips or more details on my journey feel free to PM me!

I’m taking the test in October and I feel a working with a tutor might help me break my plateau in LR. Can anyone recommend a 7sage approved sage tutor who they have worked with in the past? I have a budget of around 40$ per hour.

I have taken 5 timed PTs.

By the third and fourth sections my mental exhaustion is so severe I get slow and stupid.

It is debilitating to the point where the easiest LG takes forever to complete.

Mental exhaustion prevents me from finishing sections.

I quit drinking liquor a long time ago.

I excercise 5 days a week.

I take Seroquel and Lithium for bipolar disorder at night.

I drink coffee every morning.

When I BR I structure my time to match a timed PT.

I take 1 PT a week.

I have taken 5 timed PTs.

Hi all - Was wondering if I'm crazy or not...

In my time studying for the LSAT, I from time to time come across people who claim to have scored 170+ on a diagnostic, and in this case, today I stumbled on a website that offers different advice to people who score 170+ on it.

I majored in Philosophy, graduated summa cum laude, and came into the LSAT with an understanding of logic and argument structure. I aim for 170+ as well but in my diagnostic I had never seen anything like the AR section and didn't finish a single section in time scoring a 155. Even scoring in the 160's without understanding the element of timing and the content of the exam seems extremely difficult.

Am I assuming incorrectly that other people are taking their diagnostics before studying anything?

Am I gullible for believing that people are just walking in off the street and scoring in the top 2%?

Another part of me feels like there is NO WAY someone can just sit down with 0 preexisting knowledge about the LSAT and crank out a 170+. But it is apparently common? Furthermore I see people claiming to score consistently above 170 within a few weeks of studying. I feel like its the equivalent of someone just deciding to take up basketball and making it into the NBA just showing up to a tryout without ever practicing.

If anyone here has been able to do this, how do you think it was possible? High caliber IQ? familiarity with content or time constraints?

Crying as I write this because anyone who's been in the LSAT boat knows the damn STRUGGLE and how hard we work at this shit every day. Just sending some encouragement to anyone feeling discouraged right now.. you CAN do it!!!!

Hey guys! I've been studying for the LSAT for about a year, and am planning to take in August. A month ago, I began averaging near my goal score. I scored 6 PTs in a row at about that range, and then suddenly, I saw a 4 point drop. I thought it may be a fluke at first, but I have now scored 5 tests in a row below my average from last month. I don't feel burnt out, I haven't changed my approach at all, and so I'm not sure how to diagnose/resolve this issue.

Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, please let me know what approach worked for you.

Hey guys, the highlight function isn’t working on my Mac using law hub, has anyone taken the flex on a Mac and been able to highlight?

Hey all, I'm new to 7sage and I noticed theres a whole bunch to do before we even touch on real practice tests. Should I really be waiting that long or should I sprinkle some in here and there before then?? Let me know what worked for you guys!

Hey Guys. Can anyone PTing in the late 160s and 170s take a look at my analytics and recommend a method of study. I plateaued at 158-161 and have been unable to improve for a month.

After the Tuesday quarantine hangouts I've been keeping an eye out for the YouTube videos to be uploaded. Just wanted to share with those who may not have been aware of this resource or maybe forgot about it! Posting the link that brings you to the first lesson!

Hi everyone! I'm taking the LSAT for the first time on August 29. I'm kind of confused about the timeline of the LSAT and the writing section. LSAC says that the writing section "will be available in your online account eight days prior to every test administration." Does that mean that I must complete the writing section within that time frame? I'm confused about this because the website also says "Beginning with the August LSAT-Flex, all test takers must have a completed writing sample on file before they will receive their score or have their score released to law schools." Could someone please clarify this for me? I'm planning on applying to schools this October, so I'm assuming I can complete the writing any time before then? Thanks in advance!!

CRINGE

3 tests within a week and it's the same score. All 3 had me performing high on one sections while the other 2 sections alternatively dipped. I've taken every PT up to 69. I'm drilling like a machine everyday for 10-12 hours. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Should I scale back and read more on strategies (I find those painfully boring and would rather review my mistakes). This exam is making me want to take an IQ test and ask questions about how I was able to go through undergrad. The caffein in my body can feed a town for an entire year. 12 hours per day and I'm still stuck in mid 150s. How does one even get the same score all three times? I'm literally crying.

Do people find it helpful to do drills, or is it better to just go right to doing practice tests? I have books with a bunch of practice drills in them but I’m taking the LSAT in October, so would it be better to just skip them? I understand the concepts but don’t know if it’s worth it to keep reinforcing them