http://www.law.com/sites/almstaff/2017/08/07/georgetown-joins-list-of-top-law-schools-using-gre-for-admissions/

Hey y'all,

We got an email from Dean Rodriguez this morning that provides in relevant part:

At Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, we are firmly committed to meeting the evolving needs of the profession, and this means constantly evaluating the law school experience. ... With this in mind, starting in Fall 2018, Northwestern Law will allow JD applicants to submit either the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) for admission the following year (Fall 2019).

The GRE is a holistic exam that comprehensively evaluates qualitative and quantitative skills and is broadly accepted by thousands of graduate and professional degree programs, from biochemistry to public policy to philosophy. Gaining access to GRE test-takers, many of whom are engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, could benefit Northwestern Law and the legal profession at large by diversifying the applicant pool. Additionally, the GRE is offered a number of times throughout the year and in locations worldwide, making it easily accessible for prospective students.

This decision was made after careful evaluation, including a study conducted in conjunction with the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the organization that administers the GRE. In accordance with the American Bar Association (ABA) Standards for Legal Education, the study assessed whether the GRE is a valid predictor of first-year academic performance at Northwestern Law. Results showed that the GRE is in fact a strong predictor of first-year performance at Northwestern.

The ABA Council is currently reviewing its standards in regards to mandatory standardized tests required for law school admissions. ... In the end, we are optimistic that they will allow law schools greater flexibility in the admissions process, to the benefit of students, schools, and the profession alike.

Hopefully this will be of some encouragement and not distract you from your LSAT studies. LSAT remains the best preparation for the skills you need to succeed in law school. One of the reasons I've done well is because I'm super fast at assessing arguments and articulating assumptions: two skills you will not get from the GRE on its own. Also note that our JD-MBA program already accepts GMAT exclusively.

I honestly do not know if I should register for the September LSAT.

I have now until September 16 without work and school to dedicate time towards studying for the LSAT.

I had taken a Kaplan course back in May before I had discovered 7Sage. So it's not like I haven't studied at all. I have studied all the strategies for all the question types, but now it comes down to actually drilling myself and doing PT's. I have not completed all of the CC, however I have been watching the main strategy videos by question types without actually doing the problem sets (though I have done some questions to see if I understood the technique). In the next two weeks, I hope to complete the LG and LR bundle along with some RC.

For the last three weeks, I aim to do only timed PTs. I will be doing one PT a day, and then review the entire test the next day.

I am not sure if this is enough to be ready by the September LSAT date.

So the question is.. will this study schedule work to my advantage and should I just register for the September LSAT? The late registration deadline is August 9.

HELP! Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Hi 7sagers,

I am coming back for help again. This time is about anxiety.

I finished the CC and did most problem sets of LR/LG, a few of RC. So I think it is a good time to start timed sections/PT. I am just quiet anxious about it.

One of the reasons is I am kind of worried to see that I am still far from my goal (170+) in the timed tests. If I get a really low score, I might start to question whether I am in the right path/whether the last 2 month study really make any improvement at all. I know it is wrong to think this way, but I am still quite nervous. And I guess some of you might also went though some anxiety when you about to take PTs. How did you overcome it?

Another reason for why I am nervous might be that I am feeling tired and suffering from insomnia. I began study full time for LSAT in mid May, so it is about 3 months. Now I fall asleep around 3am, and weak up around 11am. The problem is I don't feel recharged after I week up. This started to bother me shortly after I start to study for LSAT. I can still do problem sets with the bad feeling, and I can still see the improvement. But I think if I want to take PT I need better mental status. I know some LSAT takers also suffer from insomnia. Love to hear any advice from people who have gone though this progress.

Thanks a lot in advance! :)

Redacted

I upgraded my LSAT course and now it says I'm weeks behind when I checked my study schedule! I'm panicking :( There's no way I could catch up on 40+ hours in one week... (work, other commitments, etc.) What should I do?

So we've all been working hard to get to our desired LSAT score...Countless hours of learning new things only to make small improvements in hopes of getting into our desired school. At the end of the day, you own the LSAT, it does not own you. No matter your score, at the end of the day, this is a very small step within the bigger picture called life.

The LSAT does not determine your self worth. Whether you get a 180 or a 140, you're still on the right track. Pick yourself up and go into battle.

Hi 7Sage,

It's my great pleasure to introduce our newest admissions editor, Micah Bateman.

Micah is an Iowa Writers' Workshop alumnus, PhD candidate, and experienced word ninja. He's the kind of editor that other editors go to for help.

Micah's also a bit of a genius. I'm going to embarrass him now, but I have to brag: he took the LSAT on a lark, without studying much, and got a 176.

I've worked with Micah for years at the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, a summer program for talented young poets and fictionauts, and I always enjoyed watching Micah answer student questions in our morning assemblies. He speaks off the cuff in eloquent paragraphs.

In addition to editing personal statements, diversity statements, and anything else you can throw at him, Micah will be our in-house résumé specialist. If you want a set of eyes on your résumé, he's the right guy.

Hey Ya'll,

I've taken Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Today off from LSAT for one last refresher weekend before I go all out for Sept 16th. Just wondering what your game plan is for these last 5 weeks?

I plan on doing 2 five section PTs per week from now until test day. I'll be blind reviewing and targeting for the the in between days. I also plan on taking 2-4 days off Early September to do one last refresher before the test date. How does that sound? Last 4 scores have been 169, 169, 171, 169

Hey guys

Its been 5 years since i left college

I think it would be better for me to get a recommendation from the office

Is it a requirement to get a recommendation letter from a professor?

So I take the LSAT on September 16. I started studying in late December with a cold diagnostic preptest (1) of 162. Reading comprehension was my strongest subject, I missed no more than three for an entire set (4 passages/complete pt) for the first 6 months of studying. Since December I've studied the logic games bible, the logical reasoning bible, done quite a few drills of logic games and logical reasoning, completed the core curriculum, and taken a number of pts. I'm currently taking a PowerScore in person course and supplementing it with additional pts and drills (I'm struggling to complete all of the homework before each class period, so I may have to cut back on the additional studying). The instructor has told me in class that I'm analyzing myself away from the correct answer in some cases. And sometimes I've noticed that my science background leads me to too critically analyze a science question (for example, I crossed off an answer choice about the virulence of a disease because of an improper assumption that I made from real world application - I know, dumb. But one of my weaknesses is clearly separating every day knowledge from not.) My general trend has been an upward one, hovering around 165-166, then two weeks ago I made a 172 on pt36. It felt great! But must have been fake. Now I've gotten 162 on two preptests in a row and am finding myself increasingly frustrated. My reading comprehension is more around -4 and -6 per pt, and I had been doing great on logic games, rarely worse than -1/pt, then on the last preptest I missed 8 in lg! I feel like I'm trending in the wrong direction at the last second, and running out of time. Obviously I want to be above 172, and looking at t14 schools. I'm terrified I'm only going to hit 162 and wind up at Bart's School of Law because I can't pay for anything else. I'm panicking and I don't know what to do. I've invested the time and the money. I'm highly highly motivated and have genuinely hit the books. I've been humble, paying attention to my lowest sections. It's like the whole thing rotates. One minute I'll make perfect logic games but do poorly on reading comprehension, and then the next I won't miss a reading comprehension and I'll miss an entire lg section. When I started, I rarely missed a paradox question, now I'm missing them frequently. I feel like I'm on a merry-go-round, and I can't pin anything down. Advice anyone?? Am I just destined to be stuck where I am? Not smart enough to break the plateau and hit the next level? Retaking is not an option. I must apply this cycle. With 40 days and (12 hours left I'm seriously panicking. Anyone, please help?!

Hopefully by the time someone responds I'll have the snot and tears cleared from my face.(/p)

When scoring a test that has a question labelled as Item removed from scoring do we leave it empty when inputting our answers? Does the analytics tool account for this computing our score? Similarly, does anyone know what this means?

So if a LR section was originally out of 25 questions and there is an item removed, do we calculate this section based out of 24 question instead?

I have been approved to type the essay (without any extra time). Does anyone know how this will impact my testing experience? Will I be in a room alone? With others who have accommodations? Will I still get the experimental section?

Also, I know LSAC doesn't report to law schools whether or not one has accommodations. However, I think it will be pretty obvious that I do given that my essay will be typed. I know it shouldn't, but do you think this could influence the admissions committees' decisions in any way?

I have a hunch that the priority value, be it 0.6, 1.2, etc., is a numerical representation that reflects the expected number of problems of whatever type that you would miss on an upcoming exam. Is this correct?

Hi friends -

I wanted to follow up on a question I posted a couple of months ago, about what comes after the CC. I'm now close to the end of the Core Curriculum. Well, actually...I still have most of the Logic Games curriculum ahead of me, but I've had prior exposure to a very similar methodology for Games, so I'm hoping to cover the lessons in about 2 weeks' time.

However, I am still a little uncertain about how to best go about the Drilling / Timed Sections phase after the CC. Here's what I'm thinking:

Logic Games:

-Despite what I wrote above about prior exposure, I know this will be my weakest section when it comes time for drilling. I'm going to need tons of practice.

-I was thinking that I can Foolproof about one PT section per day (PTs 1-35) until I feel like I "own the games," as JY puts it. I'm estimating that this might take say, about 4 hours per day.

-Additionally, redo a previous PT section that I've already Foolproofed, to make sure I can still do it (maybe another 35-60 minutes)

-Questions: What do y'all think about the aforementioned approach? And as I get more comfortable, should I move from Foolproofing to doing timed sections, before I start doing full-length PTs (36 onward)?

LR:

-Simultaneously, while working on the LG Foolproofing, I can do the LR Drills for PTs 1-9 that 7Sage provides in the Ultimate course.

-Question: Should I do timed sections after this first set of drills, before I start PTing?

-Question: Should I save the LR Drills for PTs 10 onward for my BR/PT phase?

RC:

This seems to be my best section thus far. I was thinking of doing a timed PT section per day (PTs 1-35) while Foolproofing LG and working on LR Drills.

Of course, this would probably require about 7 hours of training per day.

Then, once this phase is complete, I was thinking of doing two PTs per week in two 3-day cycles: -Day 1: PT or full-length exam

-Day 2: BR and score + review video explanations

-Day 3: Drill weaknesses

Question: Any thoughts on this PT/BR schedule?

Would love to hear what folks think about this plan -- and what's worked well for you as you've pursued the drilling and testing phases of this journey.

Tagging @"Alex Divine" and @Mellow_Z since both of you offered excellent responses to my earlier post :)

Many thanks! This community is just awesome, and I'm thrilled to be a 7Sager.

https://www.amazon.com/10-Actual-Official-LSAT-PrepTests/dp/0998339784/ref=sr_1_39?ie=UTF8&qid=1502068608&sr=8-39&keywords=lsat

Hello everyone,

I feel as if I've hit a low point in my prep.

I am scheduled to review question types: MC, MSS, Causation-Phenomenon-Hypothesis, MBT and the 9 Valid Arg Forms, and Mastering the Memory Method for RC with Daniel' approach @danielznelson.

I started looking at LG to get a sense of the moving pieces on the board in sequencing, but I am getting a bit disenchanted that I can't upgrade to Ultimate+ so that I can have access to all the games in one place. It really sucks, actually, since I'm beginning to understand the strategies.

I think I fell to an all-time low on Saturday night when I realized that though I was able to finance a new car for work, and while I'm happy to have it, all I could think about was how it sucks that I still can't upgrade to Ultimate+ and what will the car loan mean for law school financial aid in 2018-2019?

I missed my Friday session because I was at the dealership, and today I'm out of it. Am I overthinking this ???

Okay so I bought The LSAT Trainer book and read just the RC section and did the practice drills. Well, I took my first full length timed RC section (PT 47) and scored absolutely horrible! missing 6/8 more than normal. Is PT 47 just unusually hard or did I screw up my RC strategies?

I currently work 9-5 on weekdays, in addition to a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday morning. My weekend work is pretty physically demanding, so I'm kind of tired after even though those shifts are quite short. This has been going on since the beginning of my LSAT prep in late May. I generally take practice tests around 7pm or later, or, on the weekends, after a tiring morning; I know this is far from ideal, as many recommend making Saturday morning your PT time.

Has anyone had a similar experience re: only taking PTs when already tired? I will have some actual time off in 2 weeks, so I'll be able to PT when I'm fresh in the morning at that point, but I'm curious as to whether it'd be unreasonable to expect a little improvement in my performance simply because of the increased energy. I realize this might very well be extremely wishful thinking, but I figured I'd ask.

I should note that I've gotten some great, and some really not great, scores on days that I'm exceptionally tired…maybe there really is no correlation?

Thanks in advance for any insights you might be able to share---so grateful for this community!

p.s. in case anyone suggests I PT before work, it's just not feasible. My commute isn't incredibly long but I don't sleep well at night--getting up at 5 to PT before my commute isn't worth it.

Do people actually study words commonly used on the LSAT? Thoughts?

Hello everyone!

So I recently purchased the LG Powerscore Bible since I have not had much practice with logic games and I really needed some type of guidance to get me started. I finished the workbook within 3 days and I was just wondering if the LG Powerscore Bible covers everything well or if it just introduces us to the easier games?

I feel pretty good now that I have completed the workbook, however I don't want to get too excited especially if the questions and games in the book are some of the easier batch and don't cover everything that we might tackle on test day. Now that I have completed the workbook, I will be starting to do the LG games and follow the 7Sage method (ie. printing 10 games/BR method, although I think I am going to focus on this method since I save a lot of paper and I save a lot of time doing all the games.

https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737

I am writing the LSAT in September, or well at least that is what I hope for. If I feel I'm not ready by September, I will definitely take the December test since I do not want to rush myself.

Also, which games would you guys recommend if I am a bit on a time crunch? I work only once a week and don't have any other activities planned for the month so I aim to study 7-8 hours 6 days a week. I have just got down logic games. I will be now moving on to RC and LR in terms of learning strategy in the core curriculum (Yes, I'm weird.. I did all the logic game sections in the CC before going on to LR and RC since I took Kaplan previously).

Any advice would be great! Thank you!

I am almost done learning LR as part of the CC. JY uses diagrams often, when explaining the answers. So far, I am doing really well without using any diagrams. Does this mean I am naturally good at LR,or do most people not use diagrams?

Hello fellow 7Sagers,

I am currently in a dilemma of whether I should purchase the LSAT Trainer? I have bought the Powerscore LG Workbook and I have found it to be quite helpful in terms of working out logic games, however my real struggle comes with logical reasoning and reading comprehension. I have heard good things about it, I don't really want to waste more money on the book if it really won't help me.

I am not sure if the LSAT Trainer is more of a workbook or more of an all-inclusive book on mainly strategy. I am of course using the core curriculum, however I am still struggling with LR and RC.

Any suggestions are helpful at this point.

Thank you!

I have taken PT J07, 36,37,38,52,60. I have only enough time for 16 more tests. Which should I take before the September LSAT?

Hello! Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated :)

I am going to be finishing my in-class Blueprint prep course in about a month that's for people taking the September LSAT. I recently decided however that I wont be doing the September exam anymore and will be taking a few more months to study for the December LSAT instead. The Blueprint class has been an extremely helpful beginning for me since it's put me in a structured schedule with fun lessons that are easy for me to understand. I went from143 to 152 in a month and I think I can probably make it to 160 by mid-September, but I'd like to get to over 170 by December.

My dilemma is I don't know what the best way to do that is. Do I renew my online blueprint account until December and just keep practicing those online practice questions on my own? I also considered doing another in class course of some kind just to keep me motivated in a schedule but those are so expensive and I feel like I wouldn't get that much benefit from it since I already do know the basics. I've also considered buying a 7Sage package but I have some concerns with that like unnecessarily confusing myself with the different strategies that 7Sage presents in comparison to Blueprint. I don't want to feel like I'm wasting time starting from scratch or that I have to unlearn the Blueprint strategies just so I can relearn from 7Sage or whatever other companies' strategies without confusion. I'm also not great at self-studying. I do have motivation and discipline to study a lot and work hard, but I usually need to be in some kind of structure like a class in order to do that to my greatest potential. This brought me to consider getting a tutor that I could see weekly and that could just customize helping me based on what level I'm already at and adding to strategies I'm already using. What do you all think would be the best option to get me to a minimum of 170 by December?

Also if you have tried a tutor before did it work for you? Any really good tutor recommendations? And if you have studied for the LSAT using two companies before, did you feel like it got confusing or that you had to start over?

Thanks for reading!! :)