Hi friends!

Trying to stay cheerful after my trainwreck of a practice test today. I’m wondering if any other folks saw a drop between their diagnostic test score abd their first practice test score (after completing the core curriculum).

I’m planning on taking the September test, but today’s results have me freaked out about whether I’ll be scoring where I want to be by test day.

I didn’t feel as alert/“on” during today’s test as I did for the diagnostic. I also think I was trying too hard to use things I learned from the CC that it slowed me down further. Timing was definitely a big issue as I didn’t finish any of the sections.

Words of wisdom/encouragement to help keep the hope alive will be greatly appreciated. :(

My diagnostic (not quite cold) was 157. After going through the Powerscore LG and LR bibles my personal high score was 168. Just took my first PT after finishing the CC, and I scored 172 with a BR score of 174! Thank you 7sage!

Hi all.

I'm an international student studying for LSAT. My English is not perfect so please excuse me for my awkward writing.

So I received my June LSAT score this week: 161. Not too bad for my first test ever, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed because I've dedicated the past 3 months to studying full-time for the test. I have another 3 months ahead of me before I take the October LSAT in Asia.

In retrospect, I believe I've overworked myself these past months by cramming 3 PTs into a week's study schedule. I would take a full 4-section PT, BR, check the answers, watch video explanations for the Qs I got wrong, and move on. It was a tough task indeed, and it really took a toll on me that I was feeling too exhausted to go on at the end of each week.

A friend of mine who also studies for LSAT suggested a different approach: doing PTs one section at a time instead of doing 4 sections all at once. According to this method, I would complete one section, BR, check the answers, analyze the Qs I got wrong, and move on to the next section. Kind of like drilling for each section I'd say, only this time it's proctored.

She says it worked wonders for her performance but I'm not so convinced myself. My doubts are twofold. First, I might get too comfortable with taking PTs on the section-by-section basis that I would fare worse on an actual test. Second, I have a feeling that doing so would be waste of the more recent PTs I've kept pristine up to this moment; I think making best use of them is by taking them under the same (timed) conditions equal to a real test.

What do you think? Would you recommend trying this method? Thanks to all in advance for sharing your thoughts.

I'm in my senior year at FSU, and I'm currently taking 2 classes at school this summer, as well as working 20 hours a week, and doing this. Is anyone here strapped - or was strapped - with a similar workload? If so, how much of the cc are you able to complete in a week? If you've finished the cc, how long did it take?

I'm just wondering if unreleased PTs should even be considered in your score average. I just did really well on PT C2 but I'm wondering if this is just an easier test or it was just made a while ago so it's not as nuanced as the newer tests.

Hey all,

So I was an acting major in college, completely new to binge study sessions like the ones you need for the GRE and LSAT, however, I studied for around four months and got a 158- Verbal and 154- Q for GRE. Math was my worst subject, so passing the 50th percentile mark was cathartic for me. As I've been studying English and classical texts for the majority of my life, I never really focused on improving that score, since it was already fairly high percentile-wise.

This, now, brings me to the LSAT. If I converted the GRE to the LSAT on ETS' little calculator, I get a score of 161. Now, from what I've been reading, that's a reasonably good score, and qualifies as the mean score for several of the t-35 schools. My GPA was a 3.4 (because acting, amirite?) and I wanted to get anybody's thoughts on whether or not I should study for the LSAT and improve in that regard, or just apply using my GRE score, if 161 would be too high to attain on my own. I haven't done a diagnostic test, but I'm worried that I'll have to study for another four months for the November LSAT or further just to attain a score that's pretty close to the 161 equivalent GRE exam that I took. Thoughts?

Also, If I'm in that range already, which schools seem reasonable to apply for and which would seem like stretch goals? There's so much noise about how to about this fresh, it's making a newbie like myself a bit hesitant in taking a step in any direction.

Personal experiences welcome, brag about it, let me know what you went through!

Best,

Michael

Anyone have any tips on how to improve accuracy– especially with the LR sections? Timing/speed is not an issue for me, but I can't seem to improve on accuracy. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I recently completed the June LSAT and scored a 169. I know it's a good score, but it was under my target of 170, so I've decided to take it again in September before applying in October.

So far I've only studied on my own (that is, without a formal class), using LSAT PrepTest books and the logic games tutorials provided on this website. I've gotten pretty good at logic games, consistently scoring between 0-2. However, I'm less consistent at logical reasoning and reading comprehension. On average, I miss 3 per section, but it can vary between 0-6. I was regularly scoring 170-173 in the timed preptests I took leading up to the June LSAT, but I performed poorly on the reading comprehension section, which led to me scoring below my practice scores.

I'm now considering buying the LSAT Ultimate + course in order to guide my study over the next two months. I can spend 15 hours per week studying for the LSAT. So I'm wondering: is buying the LSAT Ultimate + worth it in terms of nailing down consistency in scoring in the low 170s in LR and RC? And if so, what what you recommend I focus on given the time available to me to study?

Hello fellow LSAT studiers/7sagers, gust wanted to hear peoples thoughts on study habits for full time workers and those who are also married and studying. What are some of the schedules people stick to, study habits, or ave. hours one may put in weekday vs weekend? Also any guidance on ensuring your spouse gets attention while also giving you space and support one may need for studying for this crazy exam? Any guidance or advise on these topics would be much appreciated!

As for me, I intend on sitting for the January LSAT. I started studying at the beginning of this month and have been putting in 2 to 3 hours a week day (Mon - Fri) and 5 to 8 hours btwn Sat. and Sunday (aiming for 10 to 12 hours a week). Is this enough time?

-Thanks!

What kind of camera/camera setup do you find most useful?

Title says it all. I bombed the June LSAT (159) vs. my average preptest scores of 169. I attribute this decrease to a few factors: nerves, primarily, and the fact that my preptests were all generally older tests, so I had little exposure to the most recent exams. I've since purchased preptests 62 - 81, I use 62 - 71 as drills and 72 - 81 as full exams. Beyond that, I did not do 5 section tests and am doing that for all my full practice exams (2x a week).

My drilled sections are still timed, I'll divide tests 62 - 71 into sections, which I'll time myself through to completion. The only difference between these "drills" and a full timed test would be that a full test conforms exactly to the structure of the real LSAT, so fatigue becomes a factor.

Has anyone else had a similar decline in prep vs. actual scores? Further, do you feel it's reasonable to approach my practice scores by the September sitting? Initially my scores for 62-71 were lower, but have recently climbed up into the 169 range, and my full exam marks are still a bit lower, 163-167 range. (Fatigue is evidently a major factor for me!)

For the past several weeks I've found recording my PTs quite helpful.

But I'm curious if people have any strategies they follow when reviewing their footage? Are their specific aspects that you focus on?

At the moment, I have two main aspects of my review.

First, I record my times for each question to try and focus on which questions I struggled with, even if I was confident I had the right answer once I selected it. This has been helpful because, then, I go ahead and review those questions more in-depth even if I got them correct under timed conditions. Second, I try to keep a notebook of various observations about my strategy, trying to tweak my timing to be more parallel to my confidence level (e.g. I can tell from the footage that I was 85(ish)% sure that I had the right choice after A (and did), but I spent too much time closely reading the other answer choices.).

Are there other techniques that people have used that they find helpful? @"Cant Get Right" , I was listening to your AMA the other day, and you seemed to be a strong advocate for video recording/review. Any suggestions?

Thanks, everyone!

There is a group on here that are applying to Canadian Law schools if you want relevant info for schools / want advice from a Canadian perspective check out lawstudents.ca

Hi!

Does anybody know how long letters of recommendation are good for once uploaded to the LSAC website?

Long story short I had to postpone applying until this year after I already had asked for and received my LOR on the LSAC website. Do I need to ask them to send them in again, change the date on their letters, or anything else?

Thanks for the help!

bummed out! Debating on whether to go through the CC one more time and give it another shot in November. Is it possible to go up 10 -15 points from here to November?

7Sagers,

On Thursday, July 12, at 9 p.m. ET, I’ll walk you through the factors that affect your chances of admission. Afterwards, members of the 7Sage admissions team will field your questions.

:cookie: Everyone who comes to the webinar will get early access to the new 7Sage admissions predictor.

:warning: You’ll have to register for this webinar in advance.

→ Please register for the webinar (July 12, 2018 @ 9:00 p.m. ET) here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xvshq1iqQ-G15KK1Wy8Hmg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Zoom might prompt you to download something before you can join the webinar, so I’d advise you to show up a bit early on Thursday.

I have been telling everyone that I will be going to law school this year (including someone who is going to the same school I plan to go to as a 1L)... what can I tell people to not look stupid for waiting a year? Everyone thinks I'm starting this september. I know it doesn't matter what they think... just looking for a good excuse to not look stupid. Or a reason to maybe hold off a year, even if they think I got in.

Hi all,

Last June I scored a 142 on a practice test. After reading about the LSAT for a week I scored a 148. I took the CC on here and scored a 153 on my first practice test. It has been really slow progress since then. Last month I was consistently scoring a 165-166. I am registered for the July exam and have gone back down to a 158-162 this month.

IDK if test day being so close has caused me extra anxiety or preptests 74-77are harder. I'm thinking about postponing my test to September but I'll be moving from Sacramento to Boston on September 1. That might be a lot to deal with.

I'm thinking of taking a few days off from the LSAT...

Any general advice or ideas on how to be positive? What do you all do when you're feeling this way?

Hi, everyone! I have been lurking on the boards for a while, and want to finally reach out and say hello. A little about me ... I'm a military spouse living in Japan, and prepping for the October LSAT (when it is offered here in Asia). I started studying in January of this year, using the Powerscore books, which did help some. My very first PT was a 155, and after 5 good months of studying, I tend to score in the mid 160s (my last PT today was a 166). I am starting the 7Sage CC in hopes of really maximizing my score on the October test. We will leave Japan next May, and my goal is to be ready to start law school in fall 2019. I am older (I'll be 36 at the end of this month) and mother to one amazing daughter, who is 9. My husband's time in the Air Force is winding down, and pretty much works out that his last 3 years of service will be the 3 years I'll be in law school. I'm excited...I'm terrified...I've got all of the emotions! But I really have appreciated this community, and had already started to incorporate some of the techniques in my studying. I decided to spend these last 3 months giving it my very best effort by following the curriculum so that I can rock it on test day.

Nice to "meet" y'all and I look forward to participating in the forums and learning/sharing with you!

Hi-

I'm planning on taking the June 2019 LSAT and am trying to decide which materials to buy. I've taken 1 diagnostic test and scored a 152 on it, and am looking to score in the high 160s for the actual test. Starting in September I will be a full time undergrad student and so am considering in between the Premium package and the Ultimate package. My dad thinks that I should just get Premium that way if I dislike the course I can find a different one but if I like it then I can just extend it. I agree but also just don't know if I have the time during the semester to go through the full course. Any suggestions?

If you have ever learned a new language, you know that after translating a new word, phrase, or sentence, you don't just stop there. You write that word, phrase or sentence down on a flash card and you DRILL it into your brain hundreds of times until you can recall its meaning instantly without thinking.

Similarly, when you are learning how to play basketball, you don't stop practicing your free throws once you get the ball in the net. Professionals spend hours shooting and scoring hundreds of free throws so that the motion becomes perfectly ingrained in their muscle memory.

Or think about learning how to play the guitar. Any guitarist knows that just because you have played a song perfectly once does not mean you are ready to perform. You have to play the same song perfectly over and over again before you can say that you have mastered the song.

But repetition doesn't just help you master a given phrase, skill, or song. By performing an action repetitively, you strengthen the capacities and skills you need to successfully perform that action. By strengthening those capacities, you will be better equipped to approach different actions that require the same skills.

Think about the basketball player. Once he has mastered the free throw he will likely be much better at shooting three-pointers, or from any distance for that matter.

Or think about the musician: by simply mastering one song, a guitarist becomes much better at plucking, playing specific notes, and keeping tempo. So even though he only knows one song, she will be much better equipped to learn and play new songs.

So what does this mean for the LSAT?

First, it means that getting a problem right once is not enough. The reason is that doing that problem over and over again CORRECTLY is how you build the skills and capacities you need to approach different and more difficult problems. The skills and capacities I am talking about include processing, comprehending, and retaining a lot of information. They also include understanding and manipulating logic and arguments. Simply solving a lot of different problems gives you no opportunity to develop these skills.

In short, my first radical claim is that taking a PT and conducting one BR basically does nothing to improve your skills. It's because doing something once or twice just isn't really practice.

But there is more.

When studying, your focus should not be on developing the skills you need to approach the LSAT. Since you get these skills through repetition, my second radical claim is that YOU SHOULDN'T BE WASTING YOUR TIME ACTUALLY SOLVING THE PROBLEMS. When you approach a new LSAT problem (LG, LR, or RC), look at the answer and the explanation and make sure you understand the question, the stimulus, and why the answer is right. Then repetitively review the steps you need to take to correctly solve that problem. This is how you will get better at reading, solving games, or LR problems.

Finally, you should focus on practicing the same problems a lot, and not be trying countless new problems. If you can master (and by master I mean that you have almost memorized) 5 PTs, you will have done so much more to build LSAT skills than by simply taking and reviewing once 50 pts.

So yes, what I am telling you to do is print out one PT, circle all the answers before looking at the questions, read the explanation as you go through each question and answer, and then PRACTICE each problem over and over again until you get to the point that each answer feels intuitive, obvious, and incredibly easy.

That is how you study for the LSAT.

I'm trying to sell my LSAT Workbook trilogy as well as the official LSAT preptest books. Anyone know where I can see them? I paid a lot of money for these and barely wrote in them so they're basically brand new. I've already taken the LSAT and want to get rid of them. Thanks!

When it says "very high" what does that mean?

For example, the necessary assumption section has 21 problem sets... Do you do all of these before moving on to the next section?

Hey all,

I just completed PT 51-- and I have a huge gap btw my Timed and BR Score. It seems I'm mostly struggling with LR and RC.

*LR

Section 1

Timed - 15/25

BR - 24/25

Section 2

Timed - 18/25

BR - 24/25

*RC

Section 3

Timed - 20/28

BR - 25/28

*LG

Section 4

Timed - 22/22

Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated - especially with respect to LR and RC. Thank you so much!! Very grateful.