I seem to be paralyzed when it comes to timed tests and am wondering if changing my approach might help. I have now taken 4 practice tests and scored roughly the same on all of them - a 154 and 3 152s. Now, my Blind Review scores are 162-166, so I know I can do much better, but seem to get tripped up by the time. In my job, I preach following the procedure untimed to reproduce it accurately and confidently, then speed comes with practice. I wonder if it would make sense here as well to go through the full test a few times untimed, but monitoring where I am at specific points, to get used to the process before diving right into timed PTs immediately after finishing the curriculum. How have others approached this? I'm scheduled to take the December test and want to make the best use of my time to maximize my potential. Thanks in advance.

When you register for the LSAT, having selected your region, the LSAC provides a list of testing centres along with dates and times. I know that things can change before the test, but are these times typically accurate?

For example, if I register for a test at location X and the date and time given is "02/10/2018, 2:00 PM", can I start preparing for this test safe in the knowledge I'll sit it in the afternoon? I don't want to prepare for my exam thinking I'll be taking it in the afternoon only to find out they moved it to a 9am a week before! :'(

Hey all,

Anyone wanna swap with me? I'm not doing anything for the next 4 hours so I got plenty of time to read :)

Comment below and I'll dm you :)!

Hi everyone!

I’ve noticed that when I’m doing BR, I sometimes struggle trying to come up with an explanation for why an answer is the wrong answer (especially when I’m picking between the last two). It does get frustrating at times and gets me tempted just to check answers lol. Any advice on that? Thank you! ?

Hello,

Just wondering, is it too late to the February LSAT for fall applications. Most schools I have chosen, have deadlines starting in March. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

So since the September scores came out I've tried my very best to keep a positive outlook and mentality. I took a few timed sections and did fairly well (-2/-4 LR, -0 LG, -1 RC) but in the back of my head I can't shake the feeling of that just being a fluke. I feel like I'm somehow cheating myself and that those scores are not really representative of my ability. I justify it by looking at my September results (-13 LR, -0 LG, -7 RC).

I tend to be someone who likes to offer motivation and to be encouraging to others. A lot of the time I'm even able to internalize it myself. But lately that's just not happening.

I now feel like T-14 is not possible for me. As someone with a crap GPA and an LSAT that doesn't impress, I'm just not going to get into the schools I want to. I KNOW I am capable of being successful in law school. I KNOW I could handle a T-14 and their work load. I just feel extremely restricted by my past and have no way of expressing that to these schools in any meaningful manner.

While I understand that a 163 is not a score to laugh at, a 163 coupled with a 2.7 cumulative gpa pushes me really far down the ladder of schools who will consider me. Even with a compelling story (4 years in the Marine Corps, 70 credits of 4.0 after the Marine Corps) I feel there is nothing I can do to make up for my discretion when I was 18/19 other than a high LSAT.

I know no one likes to hear people complain. I know I'm not the only one in a situation like this. I know I need to suck it up and be positive. I just can't seem to flip that switch right now.

I am sorry for the long post. When I try to talk to people in my life about this all, they just don't understand. I'll try not to be too much of a negative Nancy in the community...I just need to get this off my chest.

If I choose to upgrade to the ultimate+ course will I have access to video explanations of all the PT's RC questions as well as LG questions? I hate only being able to see the explanations of the games. From the list of what the higher package says it sounds like it does but wanted to be absolutely sure before dropping another $400 bucks.

Hey everyone,

I know I posted something like this a few days after the LSAT scores were released but I've come to realize that at that point I didn't mean it. I'm not sure if this serves any particular purpose but hopefully someone who reads this finds themselves in a similar scenario and it looking for a comparative experience.

Just as some background for those of you who didn't see that previous post, I received a 165 on the September LSAT and was devastated. I had been PT'ing in the low 170's and seeing a 165 in that email was gut wrenching. After initially opening the email, my first instinct was to criticize the test and the perhaps undue worth that applications officers give it. I mistook that anger for fuel and claimed to have rededicated myself to studying. However, over the last few weeks I have done some LG, taken a PT which I got a 169 on, and reveled in my anger. Over that time, I have come to the realization that even if the LSAT is overvalued and there are issues with the test, it is what it is. I realized that I had practiced "willful ignorance" leading up to the September test. The margin of error between the 170's and 160's is so slim that I had been getting lucky on the questions that pushed my scores into the 170's. With that being the case: I need to get better at timing my RC, start filming my PT's for insight, get more consistent with LG in order to go -0 consistently, and hold myself to a higher standard on BR. Criticizing the test gets us nowhere, bettering my own skills will.

So for those of you who underperformed your expectations, take some time and face the hard truth. The score is what the score is. The LSAT is what the LSAT is. You can either chose to criticize circumstances, or work to change them for December. Below are some quotes that I've been reading over from my Bartlett's book the past few days and if you've gained nothing else from my ramblings, maybe these will make your attention worth it. Good luck to everyone and their studies.

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” -Thomas Edison

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” -H. G. Wells

Has anyone had luck studying while working out - particularly doing cardio? I've tried drilling while on the treadmill but find it tough to write steadily. Any ideas/suggestions on other ways to be productive while at the gym?

Hey guys, I wanted to hear the general opinion on explaining medically backed semester drops. I had to withdraw from an entire semester, but my G.P.A was unaffected because of documentation. On my transcript, it clearly states that the semester in question was a medical drop, but I was wondering if it would be necessary for me to disclose why the drop occurred. Thanks in advance!

Hey guys! Two questions.

I am going to take the test in December, which coming up pretty quickly. My timed tests are consistently at 160 and my BRs are 166-170.

Would I be able to make my BR score a reality in two months?

Also, I am currently doing two PTs a week and BRs between the two, but I have trouble concentrating when doing BR and so even just the two days between the two PTs feels like it's not enough time for me to learn much.

Should I switch to doing only one PT a week and spend the rest of the week with BR?

As title. Am I allowed to use the Core Curriculum as I'm going through my BR?

This is an emotionally-charged topic that has sometimes led to threads being closed by @"Dillon A. Wright" but there's a great article in the New Yorker about the topic. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/the-limits-of-diversity Highly recommended for anyone interested. I think it could actually be made into a really good RC passage.

I'm going to be the 9,000th person to post this thread on 7sage, so I'll cut to the chase. Here are my stats: 3.78 LSAC GPA, 166 LSAT (first take), solid PS, and (what I'm assuming will be) great LoRs since I'm so close to these professors because of all the work I did with them in undergrad that I'd call them friends. I'm 26 and have been out of college for going on four years. My average LSAT score is a 169 and the errors I made on the September test were almost exclusively due to test-day stress and strategic fumbles. It's a bummer that my score is below my personal average, but I am confident that buckling down on procedure and timing (coupled with the comfort of my first score being a good one) can boost my score in December.

So here's the issue. My PS is good, I'm happy with it, and I think it sends an important message about me. The editorial work I do professionally is freelance and the furthest thing from earth-shattering, but the flexibility has made it possible to commit my time to the LSAT for the past year. I have led a pretty ordinary, comfortable life, so that paired with my lackluster work life has made me pretty attached to this statement/terrified of what in the actual hell I'd write about if I had to reapply to my target schools, which are Cornell and Georgetown. Everyone around me is saying "just apply to Cornell and GULC this cycle super early and then reapply if you need to." I could realistically get my applications out by the end of this week (10/20), but again, the thought of writing an entirely new personal statement if I need to reapply is giving me nightmares. My gut is telling me that I should just wait until even earlier next cycle, much as it pains me to do so. Essentially, as most other people who post this sort of thread, I'm probably just looking for validation that waiting is the smarter thing to do here. That said, any and all thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

Hey all,

I just went over the September 2017 exam and realized how many silly mistakes I made. Out of the 11 LR questions I missed, I really should not have missed 7 of them. In RC, I shouldn't have missed 3 - they were all super easy in hindsight. Over the past few months I've been thinking of what I did wrong on and leading up to test day, and I thought I'd post the biggest mistakes I made in hopes someone might learn from them (including me :) )

1. Being a night owl, but waking up early.

For the last two weeks leading up to the exam, I forced myself to wake up at around ~6am every day, eat breakfast, get ready to take a PrepTest by 8:30am. Thing is, I'm definitely a night owl, and I never really got used to waking up early. Additionally, when school started to really hit (I'm a senior in undergrad), I wasn't going to bed till 11 or 12am, yet I was still waking up at 6am because I felt I had to condition myself.

All this ended up doing was making me really tired all the time. I was averaging 4-5 cups of coffee a day, and consequently I definitely did not feel 100% on test day. I think you should condition yourself, but don't be uncompromising in it. As in, if you are lacking sleep, get sleep!

2. My no-burnout strategy backfired.

Everyone told me not to do a PT a day, so I thought - I'll just do a PT every other day leading up to the exam! Guess what. Still burns you out. I did that for the last two weeks leading up to exam week - I think I was still burnt out come test day.

3. I got to the test center too early.

I was really paranoid I would be late to the test center on test day. Consequently, I woke up at around 5am that morning - had my coffee, ate breakfast, and got to the testing center by 6:30/7am. Unfortunately, we didn't actually start the exam until ~10:15 - 10:30. So while others had only been awake for 2/3 hours, I'd already been up for 5!

4. I was a chatty-Cathy before the test.

Okay, this is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I met this girl who got to the testing center as early as I did. We talked for like the whole 3 hours straight leading up to the exam. It was amazing. It was like a movie - two starcrossed lawyers find eachother during the LSAT - like some kinda rom-com. We talked about our goals, our life ambitions, our childhoods, everything!

But all that talking actually wore me out, leaving me tired before we even started taking the exam. I think before the exam, you should try to hone your mind. Focus, get in a zen-state if you will (some 7sager talked about meditating beforehand).

5. I overdid it on the caffeine.

As soon as I woke up, I had a breakfast with a coffee. Then when I got to the testing center, I started sipping on a 5-hour energy. This left me jittery and nervous through the exam, especially at the beginning, and compounded the effect of #6...

6. I flipped shit at the experimental section.

I actually started crying. I had experimental RC, and it was all going really well! The first three passages seemed really easy, and in fact they all were about topics I'm well-versed in. But, before I even got to the last passage, the proctor called 5 minutes. I started tearing up right there and then. All the hard work and studying leading up to the exam felt like it went down the drain. It would be 7-8 questions I would miss automatically, kissing my 170 goodbye. I carried that defeated feeling through the rest of the exam, and it showed.

7. I threw the strategies out the window and tried to mind-muscle my way through.

Being distraught about the experimental section, I just lost all grasp of the strategies. I wasn't even diagramming logical chains for inference questions. Simple contrapositive answers felt like a foreign language instead of ez pz lemon squeezy. I forgot the distinction between necessary and sufficient assumptions. I wasn't identifying the conclusions, I wasn't rephrasing referential phrases. Nerves got to me and I threw all techniques out the window.

I still ended up getting a 167 on the exam, but that was 6 points lower than what I had averaged in previous PTs. I hope you all can learn from my mistakes, as I hope I will come the December test. I think bottom line is you have to find what works best for you. A lot of people were pushing me to wake up early all the time, and it didn't pay off. I let nerves get the best of me and I didn't follow J.Y.'s wisdom.

But December 2 is a new day, and I'm hoping to kill it :)

7Sage,

I just saw an email that my account will expire in a few days. This service and community was instrumental in helping me get to where I am today. Happy to answer any general questions about 1L (so far), LSAT, application cycles, whatever. Hope this can help someone!

Well, add another school to the list.

http://www.law.columbia.edu/news/2017/10/2018-pilot-accept-GRE-score?utm_content=buffer3a14f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Over at blueprint.com, someone posted predictions before the Sep. LSAT. He predicted (correctly, it turns out) that the LG section would not have any weird games. He thinks that this will be the norm in the future, because LSAC is scared of turning off potential test takers who might take the GRE instead. Wondering about what others think about this. Plausible, or not?

So I've been looking into books to help me better prepare beginning my pt's. I've obviously ran across powerscore, but am unsure as to whether or not it's worth it due to the reviews I see here and there. Suggestions?

I'm writing my personal statement and I talk about my fathers business in the auto industry and how I've grown up helping him and learning from him and working by his side..and using this knowledge and his connections to start my own business.

I put it in a way that talks about how I can be a GOOD and hard working student and how these things have prepared me for my future endeavors, but it doesn't really answer the "WHY" aspect. I want to shoulder the weight my dad carries and I love thinking and reasoning and debating and writing (I actually do, I'm not just saying it to sound law oriented). I want to be paid to think and let the pen be my sword (is that how the saying goes?).

But so what? Why not write a book , ya know? Lol. My reasons for going to law school aren't based on really concrete things but more so these abstract ideas of representing what I think is the symbol of higher thinking in human beings.

What should I avoid doing in talking about "why law"?

Thank you guys, please ignore the messy and terrible writing here I promise my PS is better! If you'd like

To Exchange essays slide in those DMs.

Is anyone else having trouble printing Necessary Assumption Questions from Tests 1 through 9? I have tried switching from Safari to Fire Fox without any luck.

Just finished watching a webinar by @"Cant Get Right" regarding what to do once you have finished the core curriculum. I was fascinated at the concept of confidence drills because I seem to spend a lot of time beginning of the section. I almost never finish a section on time - particularly LR. The webinar recommends doing some sections with a kind of reckless abandon in order to modulate your confidence on questions. Eventually you'll be able to see how much confidence you feel you need on a given question to get it right without eliminating wrong answers. However, I was wondering if anyone had any insight on how to do confidence drills or where to start. Is it wise to drill easy questions under-timed pressure? How much time would that be? Would it be better just to go through the 1-16 clean PT sections and just figure it out there instead? Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks again to everyone!

Also, here is a link to the webinar about what to do once you've finished CC. Very useful and insightful information here

https://classic.7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/

I just wanted to make sure my idea on weaken is correct.

Let's say we are given A-->B....

.

Can I Say "A(O) B(X) = Even when A was present, B did not appear" and "A(X) B(O) = Even when A didn't happen, B still did appear" to weaken [A --> B] ??????????

Dear 7sage diary,

I just took PT 68. Holy moly, those last two logic games were quite something.

Haven't done any BR for the test yet so don't spoil too much.

Anyways, I remember complaining about my drastic score drop after taking PT 70. My score for this test (68) is now a one point improvement from my highest score; therefore, a drastic improvement from the most recent score of PT 70.

From this I learned that proper sleep and pacing through each question (meaning not rushing through the first 8-9ish questions as if they afford that kind of treatment) is more ideal than before when I would speed through while sleep-deprived. I didn't get to a couple questions each LR section, but I tend to skip those parallel reasoning questions until I have time. If not, I would just guess based on stimulus concluding word strength. So I'll probably work on those too.

It's quite irritating though. I'm currently spending a huge amount of time on full proofing, but this PT threw me curveball LGs. I ended up not getting to finish the final game. I scored like -7 on this LG section. If only I had gotten -1 or 2 on LG and scored one and/or two each on each of the other sections, I'd break through to my target score.

Overall, can't complain. I only just started full proofing 3 weeks ago and this has been my most successful PT. 1 point increase is a blessing tbh. Feels like I'm doing something right.

Hopefully I can get to a 7 point increase by hopefully Dec or Feb.

Sincerely,

Me.

How was the LG experience for you in PT 68?

Hey! Yes, that's us. The 18 percentile-40 percentile peeps. Let me tell you, THIS SUCKS. Let's get it out there once in for all- THIS SUCKS- but guess what? You can either take it and leave it as is, or regroup and retake, perhaps more than once..or twice. I graduated summa, took on all programs law school related as possible. President of this, senator of that..and then BOOM- LSAT SCORE. I got a 146 and thought that was bad. Sure enough, I got waitlisted/denied to the schools I thought I would get into. Then, I thought to myself it's fine I GOT THIS, and took the September. Well, turns out I magically lowered my score to a 142. I already signed up for the December, since I really just want to score a 150 and I'll be very happy. This is fine, however, the real question lies on what I'll be changing. What's the new game plan? Well, for starters I signed up for 7Sage (powerscore didn't work for me, obviously - but I know people who did amazing so I guess it just depends), I'm taking PT's and I'm putting in the time. Think to yourself, did I do the best I could? Should I try a new study plan/method? I hope I can make the 150's mark for the December, but I can already see admissions committee having a heart attack over my scores. We'll see what happens but just know we're on the same boat. Good luck to you, you're not alone.