So I used a test over the past week as practice sections / experimental sections for full PTs. Do I enter those technically completed tests into my 7Sage analytics? Or will that skew it all up? For example, I used PT 16 mostly as experimental sections for two PTs I did within a week, and then as timed sections otherwise for practice (also within the same week). Thanks!

So i study full time, my study schedule generated by 7sage is around 20h a week, some weeks may be more and some less. My question is if i mostly complete the 20 hours in 4 days (Thursday-Sunday) is that ok? or should i divide them equally to 7 days?

@keets993 @eRetaker

I'm writing this because I promised to and because the internet has a sort of strong response bias where only those who do well to report back on their experience.

I ended up with a B in Civil Procedure, a B+ in Constitutional Law, and a B+ in Torts for a total of a 3.2.

As a consequence, it is a little bit hard for me to claim that I know what helped me and what didn't with regards to how I prepared before or throughout the semester.

My 0L prep: I bought E and Es for Tort law and Contracts since I didn't know what classes I would have. Once I found out I focused mainly on the Torts E and E. I also listened to the Sum and Substance audio lectures for torts. My goal was to be able to take practice tests early in the semester in at least one class. I read Getting to Maybe. I also learned to touch type over the summer before law school.

Preparation during the semester: I was fairly busy just reading and rereading the texts, as well as outlining. As a consequence, I did not begin taking practice tests any where near as early in the semester as I had hoped. However, I still ended up going through quite a few. My Torts professor made all of his past exams available. I took all of them, using their model answers and comparing answers to some of them with my peers. In Constitutional Law, I took the three practice exams which my professor made available as well as others from other professors. In Civil Procedure my professor did not give us an old exam so I tried other professor's exams and also just spent a lot of time going over my class notes and re-reading cases as well as looking at other people's outlines who had taken him and trying to incorporate any nuggets of their wisdom into my own outline and memory.

What I think probably worked?

First of all, it is pretty clear that not much worked very well.

Typing Practice: I would say that learning touch typing was very important to me not doing substantially worse. It is hard to make any claims for sure, but in Civil Procedure where we did not have a word limit most people seemed to have typed a lot. I felt like mine was on the short side, but probably more because I never felt like I had a great grasp on the material no matter how much I studied. I would not have wanted to compound that by also having had to struggle to literally type the exam. Most of my fellow students seem to type faster than me(I now type about 70 words per minute max and probably more like 50 when I am composing the sentences rather than just copying). However, at a certain point I am sure there are diminishing marginal returns on investment in typing. I think that it is worth learning to touch type before law school if you don't know how. I further think that whenever you type notes up for an outline or work on a legal practice assignment you should consciously maintain this skill.

Substantive 1L prep:

I had read the E and E and listened to the sum and substance lectures on Torts before 1L. I felt much more comfortable in that class. I also had a fairly good exposure to American history and the Constitution before 1L which I think led me to be fairly comfortable in Constitutional Law. In contrast, I felt lost and adrift for most of the semester in Civil Procedure. As a consequence of this, I struggled through Civil Procedure readings and instead of using the time which I had saved in Torts and Constitutional Law to practice exam taking early in the semester, I spent it on trying to understand Civil Procedure. Consequently, I don't really think that the 0L prep ended up helping me all that much. However, if someone were to actually dedicate themselves to it and then to practice exam taking once in law school, I think that it could help.

Non-substantive 1L Prep:

While the prevailing view is that reading Getting to Maybe is about the only thing that you should do prior to law school, I think that is pretty much backwards. I read Getting to Maybe and listened to the LEEWS audio tapes over the summer. It was basically impossible to practice anything in them without having something to practice on. This meant that I don't think that I necessarily gained all that much from them. I think that they are more useful once you actually have something to apply them to.

My Recommendations based on my 1L experience:

0L Prep: I think that if I were to decide how to prep for 1L again, I would read supplements for all of my 1L classes(or just the first semester classes if I knew what they were early enough). I wouldn't be trying to learn everything perfectly since you don't know if your prof and casebook are going to agree on every element of a tort with your supplement. However, I would try to get the gist. I would go through the E and E questions and such.

If I couldn't touch type, I would definitely still dedicate some time to working on that.

1L prep: I would do the readings and outlining and all the other normal 1L stuff. However, I would hopefully do it a little faster and more easily. I would try not to worry about cold calls or really focus on them. I also would as I think I did, still participate a fair bit in class and attend office hours regularly. Having a relationship with the professor is important even though grading is blind.

Mainly, I would try to practice exam taking very early, taking about 1 exam per class every week rather than trying to cram them in at the end as I ended up doing. (This semester, that is basically what I am going to try to do, except that I need to read the supplements while doing my work for each class, while applying for jobs(which is a little more frantic with my grades), and still won't be able to start any practice exams for at least a month.

Other Lessons Here:

First of all, my law school related advice obviously is not that of an expert and all the old guides and stuff from TLS are probably better.

Second, it really is true at least in my experience that LSAT has very little ability to predict your grades. I had LSAT high of 180 on my retake which is of course pretty much as above the median as you can get. From the beginning of class, I have nonetheless found my peers to be every bit as smart and as hardworking as me which is pretty much as I expected. They just for whatever reason either were not as good at the LSAT or alternatively didn't put as much of a systematic effort into improving on the LSAT as 7sage enabled me to. That worked to my benefit by ensuring that I got my scholarship and therefore have a tolerable level of debt if I either chose not to try to get Big Law or if by virtue of grades and other circumstances(for example a recession) I end up not exactly having a choice in the matter.

So don't go to a school thinking that you will be able to get good grades based on an above median LSAT or work ethic and that those grades will make the experience worthwhile. Go if because of a combination of your drive to be a lawyer and how good a financial deal you can get, you will be happy with your decision even if you end up with below median grades and maybe a below median(financially) career outcome.

I'm still happy with my decision to come here and will be as long as I end up with some legal job because with basically any job(as long as I find one) I can pay back my small debt pretty quick. If I like said job, I can stick with it and have opened a door that was not available to me before law school. If not, I won't be trapped in that job or the law forever or even for more than a couple years. Additionally, while I felt like I was struggling in Civ Pro, I have generally liked being in law school because the classes have been interesting and at least at Michigan the people have by and large been very friendly and nice. I have made friends who I hope to have for life and am overall very happy to be here.

That brings us to the last point:

Some of you may have heard of the notable exception to the general niceness of the people at Michigan Law School. https://abovethelaw.com/2018/12/law-school-student-mocks-the-disabled-because-why-not/

https://www.reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/a8h96r/dont_be_this_stupid/

This student has lost the respect of everyone in the law school who knew who he was(and law schools especially Michigan where a large share of the 1L class stays in the Lawyer's Club are pretty close knit communities). He probably would have trouble transferring since the Dean would certainly tell any other school that asked of the situation if asked why he was transferring down or parallel. Therefore, he is likely very much alone and deservedly so. Having got my own generally discouraging grades today, I can tell you that it is the friendships with classmates which make them tolerable. So if you happen to have vile and unmerited negative feelings about your classmates at whatever school you eventually attend, you should get some help, you should not drink to excess, you should not tell people about them other than a counselor, and you should definitely not send out an email to the whole school disparaging students who are part of your community.

The school is taking some actions in response, but has generally dealt with it quietly(perhaps because they are worried about publicity or perhaps because they are worried about the student's mental health and substance abuse problem). They are also taking positive steps. At 4 today we have a(previously scheduled speaker) for Martin Luther King Jr. day which is focused in part on disabilities and there is a mandatory event on Friday.

If anyone has any questions about Michigan Law, 1L, 0L prep, or my experience in law school so far, feel free to ask. Obviously I am pretty busy and am going to get more busy as a result of my need to improve my grades and expand my job search. I justified taking the time to post this on the basis that I was too stressed out by seeing my grades to get much done for a couple hours anyway. However, I will check back and respond to any questions sooner or later.

Does anyone have any insight on how you video yourself? And once done, how do we upload it to our computer or youtube?

I'm trying to figure out how to do this and not being very successful. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I'm about to take my first LSAT this Saturday and I already know I'm not going to get a high score.

My questions is, what can I do or what actions should I take to improve my score the second time around?

I kind of know what i'm weak at but not really.

My highest PT was 155 and I get a consistent 147-149. Honestly, my aim is 155-160.

[Edit 3: All done! Total analytics downtime ~ 1.5 hours :) Everything should be working again. Please let us know if you run into any problems]

Hi everyone,

The 7Sage analytics will be offline tonight starting at:

8:30pm Pacific

11:30pm Eastern

During this time you will not be able to score new PrepTests, delete existing PrepTests, or mark questions with a flag. You will be able to view your existing analytics. Maintenance is expected to take three hours, although we hope to get it done sooner.

Sorry for any trouble this may cause!

[Edit 1: Used to expect three hours of downtime, now expecting all night based on latest simulation runs. :(]

[Edit 2: Figured out how to run things faster. Expecting three hours of downtime again :)]

Does anyone else notice a shift in language from test 82 to 83? Also I notice that in LR there are more difficult questions at the beginning and easier questions at the end.

We had another great BR session on Saturday and finished the parts of the Nov. test (PT 86) that we were unable to go over in JY's group sessions. Next we're taking PT 50 and meeting to BR it on Sat., Feb. 2. I've been hosting in the fancypants lounge area of my building in Long Island City, Queens. We've had about 4 people each time, and I make snacks. Please message me if you're interested.

I badly need access to PT86 in the next couple of days. I have tried contacting book stores in my area, but o won’t get it through them until the day before Saturday’s administration of the lsat. Are there options to purchase access to that one file alone? Thanks

This was my first BR using 7Sage's method on the June 2007 test. I haven't BR the other sections yet but my BR score on LR wasn't that much of an improvement compared to my timed score. On my first section timed my score was 18/25 and after BR it was 20/25 and my second session my scores stayed the same with 20/25 on both the timed and the BR section.

Should I be worried that my score increase hasn't improved that much after BR? I'm worried since the BR is supposed to show how much your score could improve.

I still have yet to get through the CC as I'm just on the first diagnostic PT but I have already taken the LSAT before and received a 155. I'm just worried that I didn't see improvement after this BR. I also followed the method closely and for each question that I circled (which was almost all of them) I wrote out an explanation for the stem/stimulus and then using a blank PT wrote why each AC was wrong or right.

I’m been having an issue with this app since the last update (Version 2.1.1). When I open the logic games tab, it refuses to show me anything other than the discussion board (as in, the discussion board that’s supposed to just be under the discussion tab)... so I am unable to access the LG video walkthroughs. I saw in another thread that someone had a workaround through another tab but nothing i’ve tried has worked for me. Any help from anyone is greatly appreciated!

More specifically in Penn and down since I didn’t apply higher than Penn. Duke seems to have really good resources but I found this out through speaking to the LLM dean and JD-LLM students. I was looking into Cornell and couldn’t find much about it online.

Hi I’m trying to find an in person tutor for my boyfriend. His test is in 7 days. He just needs a few pointers. We live in Vista Ca! Please help!

Does anyone know if the LSAC tablet's have writing capability? The low resolution summaries of each paragraph in RC passages helps me tremendously. I have played with the demo in their website but do not see a writing tool.

Regarding whether other people's argument and conclusion can be used to answer a question(not the author’s) if the author himself did not provide an argument? Since in one lesson, JY said that other people's argument is distinct from the author's argument. So if the author himself just cites other researchers' arguments and conclusions can we use those to answer the questions?

I keep hearing that LR in the newer sections is more difficult or at least different. When does that change take place?

I’m taking the LSAT next week but still really struggling with logic games. Sometimes I’ll just freeze and have no idea what to do with it after making the game board and writing the rules.

Im only a few points shy of my target score and my LR and RC are pretty solid. Is there anything I can do to strengthen logic games in the next week and a half? Any strategies that can help me?

Thanks!

#help

I could really use some advice. I'm currently enrolled in the Blueprint LSAT classroom course originally meant for the upcoming January 2019 LSAT which I have since postponed to March 2019. I've been attending these classes religiously and have been studying full-time for the LSAT for the past 6 weeks. I've got two classes and two PTs with them left but my lack of improvement has got me desperately searching for answers on the best plan of attack from now until my new test date. My original diagnostic at the start of their course was 152 and my best PT is just a 3 point improvement of 155 which is far from my goal of 165+. With only two weeks left with them and only a little over two months until my test, I'm wondering if I should ditch them now and go for 7Sage or just commit to Blueprint's course, finish up and practice their methods until test date. I'm sure most of you are probably not familiar with their approach but I guess I'm more curious on whether two months of full-time studying with 7Sage would be enough to attain my goal of 165+, or whether that time would be better spent practicing what I've already learned from the other guys. I'm also curious if my time with Blueprint might help me get through 7Sage's curriculum faster or if I'd just be starting over from scratch. I just signed up for the trial course and from the get-go it's telling me that 3 months is not enough. Unfortunately, I intend on attending law school this Fall so the March 2019 test is my last shot, meaning I've only got a little over two months left to prepare. If 7Sage is still worth it in your opinion, which course should I aim for (I was thinking Starter or Premium since I have such little time left)? If there are any former Blueprint(ers?) who are now 7Sage converts, or past/current 7Sage students or even admins that could provide some insight, I'd very much appreciate it.

I've narrowed the choice down to:

CUNY School of Law

Pace University

Fordham Law

I would appreciate any comments on your experience(s) at the above testing centers! Trying not to think about how my testing site choice will determine if I get paper or digital test.....

Hi all. I am considering taking the July 2019 LSAT which will be my first go. Given that it is the first launch of the digital version of the exam, I have some reservations. Mainly, I am afraid of the fact that since the majority of my studying will be on paper, I feel less prepared for a paperless exam. I am aware of the benefits of the exam (e.g. no bubbles!), but I still like to simulate as realistic a testing environment as possible.

Does anyone know if any of the PTs will be made digital so we can simulate tests in a realistic way?

I believe that for the first digital exam, testers will be allowed to see their score prior to accepting it. Is this a worthwhile tradeoff?

I haven't checked out the LSAC tutorials yet, but I'm sure they will be somewhat helpful.

Anyone else have similar concerns? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

:P Hey guys,

Wanted to start a thread regarding lsat score increase in the last 2-3 weeks before exam.

Saw a few posters that had pretty decent jumps 2-3 weeks before exam.

Example “ Richard Rorty wrote:

i did it. I had a couple 162-3's, and a 165 I think. Two weeks and two days to go I got a 167 and then exploded to 174, and continued to score there. 173 on the real thing.”

For those that have increased more than 2-3 points , or even if 1 point, what were your last 2-3 weeks left study methods. Did you continue to study the same way as you’ve been studying? If you did anything different , what did you change or start doing ? Any specific plans?

Also what kind of score increase did you achieve ?

Anyone break through from anywhere in 160s to anywhere in 170s in that time period ?

Would really appreciate your responses !!

So for me, I have a tutor now and his plan for me is to focus on my strong suits and perfect those (LR) by constantly drilling the LR question types I’m seeing a pattern in getting wrong and then don’t move on from that type until I could “tutor” him and explain why the correct answers are correct and the wrong aren’t correct.

Then keep drilling LG ( kinda same method as for LR). As for time (which is a huge issue of mine) DON’T RUSH. Just keep practicing the games over and over and the deductions will start to become more clear to you and you’ll spot them faster and be able to work through the game faster naturally. When you rush you put pressure on yourself and can miss key deductions- which I can attest has seriously ruined games for me that would have went well if I just spotted that one deduction.

Also a trick he taught me that has been working well is, look for the least restrive entity in the answer choices for “could be true/could be false” questions, esp if you’re pressed for time. Then for “must be true/must be false” questions, look for the most restrictive entities , cause that are USUALLY (not always) the ones the questions will be most focused on. Try and make as many deductions as you can in the beginning before going to the questions. At first I thought this would waste time but it’s helped me TREMENDOUSLY. Some questions I could answer in literally seconds just from a deduction made in my main game board in the beginning that made it possible for me to see the answer right away.

Now RC, this is my ok section. I say this because untimed I don’t perform badly. Around -4 or -5 (although my goal is -2/-3) but timed I’m getting around -8 or even -12 because I barely get around to the last passage and if I do I only have time to answer the 1st or maybe 2nd question if I’m lucky :cry: . I think the best I did timed was -6 or -7 and not sure how lol.

He said this would be the most diff to increase a lot in in the next two weeks but keep practicing and work on not reading the passage fast but reading the passage in a way in which you grasp the idea of what is being written properly.

Also read in a way that you are paying attention to how it’s structured and make sure you can clearly identify the conclusion. For main point questions that’s what you look for. And for the summary questions you look for the answer that the majority of the passage speaks about, usually a topic that 2 or 3 of the pharagraphs all speak about.

Are any of these tips helpful to any of you?

I have some more but not sure if people would actually even care to read them lol.

However, if anyone has any other tips please share !

So to get back to the original topic, if anyone can answer that has

Please share and also say what scores you went from and what you did to get there !

Best of luck to everyone, keep pushing !!

I took my full fresh PT for the first time in months and after taking it, I couldn't study anymore and had to call it a day. Exhaustion. I BR'd one game and compiled a list of LR questions that I should BR before grading them but I'm so doing them tomorrow.

Do most of you BR full PTs on the day of taking them? Unless I'm on advil like 3 times a day, which I don't think is a great idea though I am no doctor, I doubt I can do full PTs AND BR them on the same day. But that automatically reduces the number of hours I study daily on PT days. Kind of torn here.

Please share your experiences.

P.S_ I'm currently studying full time. On a non-PT day, I typically spend 6 hr-ish(Meal/bathroom/rest/daydreaming/Browing on the internet excluded) fully dedicated to the LSAT.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BshMKC9BxND/

Looking for a meet-up in central NJ to go over questions, etc.

I've been saving a few problem sets from each lesson to do at a later time. My thinking behind this is that I'll be able to use them as practice. Is this this a good idea, or should I do all of the problem sets after each lesson?

I know it is ultimately my choice, but I'm curious about the opinions of others.