Hi guys I really need some advice on when to take the LSAT. I was planning on taking the October 3, 2020 exam and then the November 14th, 2020 to have law school applications done in December early January but I do not know what to do. I have been using khan academy for the past 2 months and keep getting mid-to highs 140s. I just signed up for 7sage and I NEED a 160. What should I do about the exams? should I postpone one and take it in January and delay applications? What are you guys' experience with 7 sage in terms of how many points did you increase in 2 months? HELP!!

Can it be harmful to take the LSAT twice? I took the flex in July and received a score I am content with. However, I know I can score up to 5-6 points higher but, sometimes I score lower than what i got on my PT as well. My question is if I scored say 3 points lower could this sabotage the score I have already have and do most schools evaluate both scores. I come here because I have seen mixed answers elsewhere.

Of course, you can't talk to yourself during an in-person exam with others in the room. But I am wondering if the flex rules might be more lenient with this, since there won't be anyone to disturb. Anyone have insight as to whether talking during the flex is prohibited?

Hi everyone! I registered for august lsat-flex and checked "I need a quiet/private room".

Has anyone had any experience with this "quiet/private room" option? What does the space they provide look like?

Thank you!~

Hi everyone, so it is taking a great deal of courage to post about this publicly, and I hope I will not be judged. I have been using 7Sage since December (doing it alongside normal college coursework) and took the July Flex exam. Right up to the exam, I was scoring anywhere from 159-163 on PTs. I got a 152 on the July exam and I am crushed, discouraged, and feeling hopeless. Was this just test anxiety? Is there any general advice that anyone can give me? Thank you, feeling down.

Often I take like 1 or 2 sections (timed) and need to take a huge break because I am drained and can't focus on the remaining sections. How do I fix this?

I took the July flex and had a good experience. If you have any questions about the format, proctor experience, etc..., I will answer. I, for obvious reasons, will not speak to specific questions.

I’m incredibly grateful to the 7Sage community for helping me get to his point—I’m absolutely thrilled to be attending my dream school. This is a truly wonderful community dedicated to helping each other master what is an intimidating, but surmountable, obstacle. Thank you JY and everyone else for creating such an amazing resource.

I had a lot of trouble with the LSAT. In 2015, I took the test once, cancelled after a bubbling error, and got a 166 on my second attempt. With that score, I got into a number of mid-range T14s, but could never have gotten into a HYS (my uGPA was a 3.91, so I was a splitter). I really wanted to go to HYS so I could have an easier door to legal academia, and I decided to go to graduate school instead for a doctorate (still not finished) with the intention of re-applying to law school eventually.

I half-assed my way through two more takes in the early days of grad school without really studying for the exam: I figured it would just “click” eventually. I got mid-160s both times, and I thought I had doomed myself out of a place like Yale with that number of takes.

In 2019, I finally dedicated myself to making my way through the entire Ultimate+ curriculum and the results showed: I went from the low 160s (my diagnostic after so long away from the test) to a 175 on the July 2019 LSAT. I studied every day for about three and a half months using 7Sage, and drilling everything I would get wrong. I felt incredibly comfortable on test day, because 7Sage had taught me everything I could possibly see on the test. There are only so many forms of questions they can ask, and if you practice all of them enough you will have the time needed to get through the 2-3 curveballs they will throw at you.

There are a lot of big-picture lessons that I took away from my journey to a higher LSAT. JY has already said them numerous times, but it always helps to enumerate them again:

I know that these points might seem obvious, but I can’t emphasize their importance enough. I really struggled to grasp them, but doing so served me well.

The LSAT is hard. Actually, it's really hard. But there is a light at the tunnel, and I hope anyone who is struggling with the test can take some solace in that it eventually does work out. I had one cancelled test and three mid-level scores for a top 3 school before I finally hit that 175. My path wasn’t ideal (don’t take the LSAT 5 times—I think I got lucky here), but it does show that you should keep trying if you are confident you can do better. I knew I could, even when the results strongly suggested otherwise, and I am glad I kept at it until it eventually clicked. Yes, I’m going to law school five years after I planned it, but I would have made this trade when I graduated college, and I am glad it has worked out fairly well in the end. Good luck, and please message me if I can be of help.

Hi, any advice on how to best prepare for a retake at the end of August? I think I can do better than my July Flex score which was sub-165. I have done LSAT trainer, skimmed Loophole, and did most of the CC over the last 3 months. I also took PTs 73-89, C2, 61, and 50 (20 PTs) as part of my July prep. My 20 PT avg was 170. My most recent 10 PT avg was 172. Most recent 5 was 174. I diagnosed my July results as caused by a combo of 1) semi-external-being-at-home-factors which I plan to mitigate next time plus 2) nerves plus 3) a tough games section (cabinets...) which sort of mentally rocked me ( I may have gotten more than 5 wrong in LG) having gotten used to the -0/-1 LG feeling plus 4) just not my day.

I plan to drill a hard game problem sets daily (3 star plus games) and drill LR & RC sections. Any other "canonical" advice for re-take refinements for test takers who are pretty close to their ceiling but failed to execute on try 1?

Any advice on which remaining PTs to use as full PTs? I was probably going to only do 71 and 72 (whose games I have unfortunately already seen) in the last ten days or so.

Also, this is just me looking for encouragement/needing gas-up but my PTs do indicate I can do better on this thing, right? sigh... Good luck to everyone prepping for this thing. The highs and lows! Onwards!

Thank you!

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for how to prepare immediately before taking a practice test. I feel like if I don't prep a little before taking it, I get tripped up more easily by LR and RC sections. Do any of you do any drills before taking a PT to boost your confidence? If so, what do you do?

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any tips for improving as well as executing the RC section, thanks in advance!

Im just curious if my explanations have ever helped yall. I think ive posted a ton, perhaps the most of anyone Ive seen on the forums of explanations for questions.

Do you all find them helpful?

I have been studying on and off for about a year and a half. My initial diagnostic was a 150. I recently graduated with a 3.91 as a Philosophy major and I worked while in school full time, so I studied for the LSAT when I had the time. I took the June 2019 test since we could cancel it after seeing out score, and I ended up cancelling (151). Initially, I wanted to go straight to law school from undergrad, but decided its best to take a year off and work and give myself a little extra time to study. I am registered for the August flex test, but I am really stressed and discouraged because my score isnt improving. The most recent flex practice tests I took were both 155. I really want to go to a T14, and every other component of my application is very strong. I am a URM, great personal and diversity statement, and a strong GPA. The LSAT is the only thing holding me back. Getting a 165 would make me a strong splitter, so that is my new goal (initially I was aiming for a 170).

I dont want to take another year off, but i really dont know how I can improve 10 points in less that 28 days while working full time as a paralegal. I want to apply as early as possible to improve my chances, so I am planning to send in my application mid to late September. I am contemplating also registering for the October LSAT and taking that if my August score is not good...but regardless, how can I improve 10 points when in a year and a half I barely improved 5? In my untimed sections I always feel confident about most of my answers, yet I still miss a good amount of them. It is very frustrating. I average -8 LR, -10 RC and -7 LG. English is also my second language and while that was never an issue in school, it seems to be a barrier here for some reason.

I started my studies off with 7sage a year ago, went through the CC but found that it didnt help me too much at the time. I then went through the Powerscore LR and LG books, which helped me build a stronger understanding of the basics, especially for LG. I drilled linear questions for LG, which helped as well. Since then, I have been doing timed and untimed practice tests(about 4 so far), but im not sure what else I can do to help isolate the main issue. I think improivng my LG will be the easiest, and RC the hardest. LR is what is tripping me up because I feel pretty confident when answering the questions, but obviously something isnt clicking. Through BR and looking back at the answers, I usually see where I went wrong with missing small details or inferences, but even if I understand that question, I continue to make similar mistakes on the next prep test. Essentially, I am looking for any advice at all for how some of you overcame a plateau, especially breaking into the 160s.

Sorry that this turned into a mini rant lol, I just feel very lost and discouraged and I really really want to go to a T14. Any help is REALLY appreciated.

Hi 7Sage!

So Logic Games is my worst section in terms of reading the stimulus and rules and then articulating in writing the games onto a diagram on paper. My PTs score are highly affected by my inability to perform well on LGs. So as many people suggest, I printed out all the Logic Games from 6-35 (I already did PTs 1-5) and plan on working on those and foolproofing them. The problem is this process takes awhile, and i'm worried that just focusing on LG might affect my RC and LR studies. But I am desperate to improve my understanding of LGs.

My question is: should I take a month or two to just focus on PT LGs 6-35 with no PTS to improve my LG score, or just do some LGs here and there while still taking PTs?

(Btw, I do work full time from 8-5)

Thank you!!!

I’ve been studying for the lsat for some time now and I’ve peaked in early-mid 160s. Having a hard time figuring out how to increase my score and I only have about 10PTs left.

I’m looking for some advice. I know section breakdown is important so:

LG: -2/-0 wrong*dont need help with LG

LR: -4 wrong per section

RC: -6/-8 wrong per section.

I’m aiming for a 172+ and do think I can hit my score with enough work. I know I need to improve on RC, maintain LG and improve LR. But I need help with improving LR and after I study RC a bit more I may need help with that. I’m mostly looking for someone to help guide me.

Currently working part time but my job is working me more than that. I had to move home because of COVID and can take time off of work if need be. Ive considered taking about 3-5 months off of work just to focus on lsat full time.

Hi Everyone,

Currently working through the CC and getting ready to start taking practice exams soon. I was wondering if it's possible to add an extra (exprimental) section to one's PT's?? If someone has done this could you please explain how?

Thank you!

How similar is the digital LSAT to the PTs available on this site? i.e is their a timer in the corner and can you shade out answer choices?

Question for anyone who can answer: I completed an Lsat on July 2019 but subsequently cancelled my score and retook in January 2020 and kept that one. I was going to complete my lsat writing this month for this upcoming application cycle but do not have a launch link because I guess my first test was over a year ago and you get a year to do it, but I thought it was still attached to the specific test you end up using /don’t cancel so I thought since the only score I will be using is from January I would be fine.

Is this going to be a really big issue? I will call them tomorrow cause it’s a weekend but I am honestly worried that I won’t be able to apply this cycle because they are saying I did not do it on time and I believe it is still required. What do ppl think?

test

I listened to a few of the episodes of the 7Sage podcast and remember hearing someone talk about how they recording themselves taking practice exams. Has anyone else experimented with this? If so, how and what did you use to set up your phone/camera to watch yourself? Also, did you find it beneficial? Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Hey... this summer has been whacked for my personal life and has gotten in the way of studying. So far, I've done 6 PTs. I typically score -12 on RC (rough life ik), anywhere from -8 to -3 on LR, and as long as I can get through the questions, perfect on Logic Games. Yet, the highest PT I've done was a 157. Today was a 155 (I didn't finish LG). What should I do? My Mom (who is not a lawyer nor knows anything about the LSAT truly), suggested that I write August and she would pay for October. Get two writes done. My struggle is, do I even try for August still? Please advise. Thank u sm.

What do you guys make of your BR score? Do you see your BR score as your potential timed score or is there always going to be a margin of difference between timed and BR? On my second PT I got a 156 timed, and 168 BR, so a 12 point differential. Have you guys found that you are able to close the gap between the two scores over time? Is there like a goal differential I should be setting for myself, such as 5 points or something?

I was asked by a tutoring place today to provide a copy of official score report. How do I get that? I cant see where to find it.

Before I begin, I think it would help if I stated my strong and weak points so that if they differ greatly from yours, you don't have to waste your time by reading this post (since it wouldn't help you much). I started studying for the July LSAT in May and even though this only gave me two solid months, I was confident it would be enough because I have very few skills but one of them is that I can motivate myself. If you can sit down and read a textbook for 5-7 hours straight, then the recommended 900 hours of studying for the LSAT would be overkill.

My strong points: Logic games (more specifically pacing myself), Logic Reasoning (more specifically finding the point of the argument and trap)

My weak points: READING COMPREHENSION... It haunts me in my sleep

My PT schedule:

The first few weeks I took a practice test once a week. I started in the 70's (just so I can start learning from the most recent tests and not just be introduced to them at the very end).

After 3 weeks I took a PT every other day. This lasted for about 2 weeks. In the 6th week of studying I took a practice test everyday, sometimes twice a day. (HOWEVER, since I was getting only 10-15 wrong each time, it didn't take me long to review the test and learn from my mistakes. If it takes you half the day to understand where you went wrong then you shouldn't take two PTs a day. Only take another PT after you fully understand where you messed up on the last one). This phase of taking one everyday lasted for about 2 weeks. (I took around 40 practice tests in total).

My resources:

I started with the powerscore LSAT bibles, I read 70% of all three and then realized I wasn't learning anything new. Also, I found out about 7sage way to late in the game. I think it was week 6 when I found them. I don't regret not starting with 7sage though, powerscore lays down a better foundation (in my opinion) so that when I started using 7sage I didn't feel the need to watch any of the introductory videos in the syllabus section.

After I took a PT, I would do a blind review and would treat watching a video of J.Y. explaining the problem as the last resort. Even if I got the question wrong on the blind review and looked at what the answer actually was, it benefited me to take time and try to figure out myself why that was the answer.

Logic Games:

Someone said you need to master this section first, before you do anything else. I completely agree, I spent the first 3 weeks 50% focused on logic games and 50% focused on LR and RC. It felt good to only be in week 4 but to have an average of -1 for LG. My tip for logic games is to try different ways to diagram. As soon as I started to diagram almost every game as a chart rather than just lines, I felt much more comfortable and my average score for that section went from a -5 to a -1.

Logic Reasoning:

As soon as I felt like I (just about) masted LG, then I moved on to logic reasoning. Most of my study time was spent on logic reasoning (I didn't know July was going to be flex). I didn't catch on to the "read the question first" strategy for the longest time because powerscore doesn't recommend it. Reading the question first really helped me, I also slowed down my reading and tried to focus on the minute details of the argument or set of facts. This is not a tip and it's not really helpful but its what honestly increased by score over the weeks: I started to gain an intuition for what the trick LSAC had up their sleeve was. I would read an argument and focus on a specific word or tone and I anticipated what the WRONG answer would be. I know a lot of LSAT study sources tell you to anticipate the correct answer (which is very helpful) but if you can find the knack for anticipating the trick answer, that will make you a million times more comfortable.

Reading Comprehension:

I barely improved on this section and it frustrated me to no end. The only tip I have, which I used in only the last week of studying, is to feel free to either not take notes, take copious notes or only take limited notes, whatever. I know LSAT tutors usually tell you to have a set strategy for note taking but I found it useful to just judge for myself based on the passage. If there was a science passage, I would take notes on the structure. If it was an art passage, I would maybe take notes on the different view points. For philosophy passages I always felt comfortable and never took notes. Point being, feel free to decide while you're reading the passage if you should take notes, you know best what will make you understand the passage.

Last week preparations:

This may sound like superstitious over kill but this was really important for me. I didn't study the day before the test and the morning of the test I did 8 LR questions and one LG to warm up.

The week before I only took 3 PTs and did minimal studying.

I had a planned breakfast (every time I took a PT I ate the same exact thing at the same exact time each day, just so I knew it wouldn't upset my stomach). In case anyone cares, I had a white cheddar babel cheese at 9:30 and my LSAT was at 10:30. I would wake up at 7:00.

(DISCLAIMER: You may find the next sentence corny and overly superstitious). I made sure to wear the sweater and socks I wore when I scored my highest PT score. That may sound stupid but it gave me comfort which means a lot on test day. To continue with the corny mental preparation, I watched the movie Marley & Me the night before because when I cry, it calms my nerves. I encourage you to wring out your emotions like a wet towel the night before your test. This will make you feel emotionally drained the next morning (too numb to be nervous) but your brain will be good as new.

Also, I started exercising to take a forced mental break while studying so I definitely put in a long workout the day before my test. My muscles were sore and tired which meant I wouldn't be fidgeting.

Lastly, I convinced myself that I didn't actually want to go to law school and that this was just for fun. I know that sound impossible and weird but it relaxed me and I focused more on the test and not on how I was doing on the test.

This was a long post but I really think you'll pick up at least a couple of useful tips, even if you're in the last week of studying!

Took the july LSAT and scored about 8-9 points lower than I was Pt'ing. Planning to retake in October, what are the best tips people can give me to make that improvement in the next two months to get up to 170 and not have the same underperformance