For months now I have been scoring virtually perfectly on logical reasoning, missing 1 to 3 questions on reading and endeavoring to avoid all out disaster on logic games.

I have been progressing through the tests and took PT's 70 and 71 this morning. I recieved a 175 and 176 respectively. The overall score was fine. I'm retaking a 172 and a 175 or 176 is about the neighborhood of score that I am hoping for.

The strange part was that on both tests I was perfect on Games and Reading. All my mistakes came on LR. I just had my best ever logic games and reading comp combination on a test and then sat down and did it again. But both times I ended up right in my normal range overall because I had my worst logical reasoning test in months twice in a row.

Anyways, I caught most of the logical reasoning mistakes in blind review. But, at this point I'm suddenly no longer confident of a couple point increase over my 172. It feels like I could get anything from a score lower than a 170 up to a 180. After all, my LR's could return to their norm and the logic games could maintain this new level or my games could return to their norm and my LR sections could stay in their slump from today.

Maybe tests 70 and 71 were different? Maybe I was in the mood for games? I'll see what it's like tommorow.

I was really planning to cram in as many PT's as I can through this weekend and just prep by reviewing them while I'm in school which starts next week for me. So there isn't much time for much of a fix other than to review all of the LR problems with even more attention.

Has anyone else experienced such a flip in which sections are their strengths? How did you settle it if you did?

I'll receive a study buddy request, approve it, then click on the message icon to contact them and then I'll get an error message saying the user doesn't exist. This has happened about 3 times so far. Anyone else having the problem?

We were oversubscribed.

There will be another one soon—and we'll post a recording of tonight's. Stay tuned!

[Edit]

Recording of the session here:

https://classic.7sage.com/webinar/personal-statement-workshop/

So I woke up extra early this morning before work and took PT58. I haven't finished BR'ing it, so I haven't looked at my score, but did anyone else find this test unusually easy? I'm wondering if my confidence is just playing tricks on me because I was able to finish both LR sections and LG with quite a bit of extra time. RC didn't really seem all that hard either. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance on it.

Anyone else who recently took PT58 find it on the easier side?

Hey everyone,

Just having some trouble that I thought someone here could clarify. I'm looking at my online LSAT registration for September on the LSAC site, but I don't see any information there on where exactly the room is I'm taking the test etc. I know it is at UofT, but no idea what room and don't see an address. I also don't see times listed. I'm wondering if this is what you get info for when you print out your ticket? Which I can't do till August 30th.

I'm confused

Interesting article especially for those who want to score 170+. I find it very helpful and in some way validates the advice about trusting your gut feeling after mastering the test.

https://www.1843magazine.com/content/ideas/ian-leslie/non-cogito-ergo-sum

To any other slow readers out there--what strategies have you used to understand LR and RC stimuli and passages well? I find myself needing to go through a significant number of LR stimuli and answer choices twice, and I often need 5+ minutes to get through RC passages (let alone decode the questions and answer choices.) I've done well with these sections outside of timed conditions, but I'm really feeling the crunch when the clock is running. What has worked for other people?

For the past week, when I try to print a test, it "prepares" the pages, and never progresses past the last few (ie 41/45). It just sits there...Anyone else have this problem? I've tried in Chrome and Internet Explorer.

...I haven't asked for advice on here yet (but always derive some good suggestions from others' questions), but I was wondering if anyone had any study tips for breaking past a last hurdle concerning the scoring on new PTs.

I originally didn't have any particular scoring goal in mind, but just had a kind of floor--that I didn't want to drop below--of 167-168. However, I'm now at a point where I'm trying to decide whether to take the September test or to cancel and take it in December (but at this point, I think I'll probably stick with the former) and am currently hovering around on the recent PTs (later than 65) at 172-173 (I admit that I have not BR'd these tests--right now, a terrible habit). As for the breakdowns, I usually get LR -1 to -4 total, RC -1 to -3, and LG -2 to -4, with the total amount wrong for any given (recent) test being around 8. Granted, these are better scores than I had in mind when starting out. However, it seems that it would be worthwhile to try to push beyond this final little plateau (to scores of 175 and above) if at all possible.

Now I know that I should foolproof the LG, and have really been just doing games the past 3 weeks while not studying the other sections, but I was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge of a plan of attack that would, over the course of 2 weeks or so, consistently yield a two or three point improvement?

I know that this is hard, since I would assume that it requires making a diffuse range of skills incrementally better and that there is no silver bullet to breaking this plateau. It is also not lost on me that this might sound like complaining about a score that I've no right to ask for. However, I still felt that asking was worth a shot from those who have broken a similar plateau or those who are aware of this strategies with this particular barrier.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I just came across this explanation and I realized how much J.Y.'s humor has had a positive impact on keeping me upbeat while studying over this past year. Here's a post to appreciate the Yoda of the LSAT study.

Hopefully other 7sagers can share their favorite explanations too. :)

So I heard some schools prefer applicants to apply once as opposed to updating their application with a second LSAT score for reconsideration of admission. Does anybody know anything about this? I'm considering this for my September/ December prospects as I decide whether to apply to schools after receiving my September score, and potentially updating my application with a December score, or just taking September and December and waiting until my December score to apply.

Also, it seems to me that updating your application with a score is more appropriate for scholarship as opposed to admission prospects. Is this the case?

Hey guys,

Any advice on how can I further close the gap? I score low to mid 160s timed and score mid 170s in BR. It has been like this for about a month now, and the September exam is closing in... In average, I get about 4-5 wrong in each section of LG, LR, and RC.

The weird thing is LR. During BR, 2 or 3 questions that seemed really hard during the timed conditions, were actually pretty simple, and I find the answer relatively quickly. I just have no idea why I never able to do the same thing during timed conditions. I get to the 25th question in around 30 minutes, but have around around 3 omitted and 3 I need to urgently double check on. But 5 minutes just seems so short!

I have been averaging about 8-10 hours of prep (including drilling) daily, with a PT every 2 or 3 days. But despite the time that has passed, seeing the same PT score after PT score for a month is honestly soul-crushing.

So, here goes:

I graduated a little over 6 years ago and when I think about professors I could get strong LORs from, only one really comes to mind, the professor whom I did my senior thesis under. I had a good working relationship with this professor and ended up producing a pretty good thesis, however I did complete the work late and thus was marked down a grade.

As for professional references, I volunteered at a district court clerk's office and I've been working in the field of legal advocacy assisting victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, etc for the last 3 years, which included working at a city prosecutor's office for a year and a community based agency for the last 2 years doing more civil work. During that time through the work I've done on various task forces, community groups, and just generally collaborating and networking with our community partners, I've gained a lot of potential professional LOR possibilities from attorneys, prosecutors, agency directors, clerks, a chief of police, etc.

So I guess my point is, I've seen a lot of people saying education LORs are everything and professional LORs barely count for anything. My problem is that I have a lot more opportunity on the professional side.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I totally screwed if I can't pad my application with outstanding undergrad LORs?

What are good skipping strategies for questions on Logic Games and Reading Comp? Unlike LR, LG and RC sections require a certain investment in either a game or a passage so there's a kind of loss when you skip and come back at the very end to address those questions which are entirely dependent on a game or passage.

Also, is there a cutoff time or something else that goes into your determination for skipping on LG and RC?

Hey all!

I've started PTesting for about a month and a half now after going through the core curriculum. My average PT score is a 169 with lows at 166-167 and highs at 170-173.

After each test, I spend about 2h for BR and I noticed a pattern. Usually, when I score above 169, I am able to BR well and gain about 3-4 LSAT points after BR. However, when I score in my lower range I only am able to get an extra point during BR. I am mostly able to get 0 to -2 in LG so I'd say the BR is more about RC and LR.

I don't really know what to make of this... has anyone experienced the same thing? How were you able to increase your BR score and spot your mistakes?

Thanks so much!!

When you guys take 5 section PrepTests, how do you simulate an experimental section? I've just been putting in a section from an older exam, but because I'm the one inputting it it is easy to just disregard the section.

How do you guys simulate not knowing which section is the experimental section? Is there a way to do it?

Hi guys,

I'm sure the answer to this question is pretty simple (just wake up earlier regularly) but I'm very much a night person and even after a month of waking up at 6am trying to force myself to be mentally active earlier in the day, I still can't write a PT until 11 or noon at the earliest. I just wrote the June 2017 exam and am retaking (set to rewrite in December), but I'm seriously considering deferring law school an entire year to be able to write in June again for the sake of time. Is this extreme?? Should I just wait it out and see if I can adjust??

I should also mention I was PTing in the 166-172 range before getting a 158 (mostly due to test anxiety). So I feel like more time could be beneficial for the sake of my score anyway?

Any advice from reformed night people would be appreciated!

Good morning 7Sage,

As a few of you already know this weekend I gave myself a reality check. Obviously a few weeks out from test day is NOT the best time to realize you just aren't where you want to be, but that's where I am at. So I need some advice from you wonderful people. Before I ask, I need to make it clear; Postponement of the exam is not an option. I will sit for the Sept 16th exam.

So this weekend I woke up and really thought about where I am with this test. Not just my score range, but what I have done to improve, what my weaknesses are etc. I was not happy with what I realized. So I'm going to lay out how I feel, and where I am and I'd like some suggestions about what to do between now and September.

1.) I have not touched RC. Like really, haven't looked at the CC and have just glanced through the Power Score book but have put no work into this section. I know the general consensus is to read for structure, make note of what the paragraphs say and so on but I personally have spent next to no time on this section of the test. My sections range from -4 to -8 and obviously these are points that are costing me that higher score. As of now I just wing it, read and answer questions. I know I need to figure RC out, but I'm not sure where to start.

2.) I do not use a skipping strategy in LR. People like @"Alex Divine" @"Cant Get Right" and a few others have been stressing to me how important this is. I am stubborn though, and can't let go of a question until I have an answer. Up until this point, I do not utilize any form of a skipping strategy on LR. I typically go -2 to -5 on a section in LR. On any given test I go around -8 total. Obviously again this needs work. I'm not sure if a skipping strategy will work for me. I've tried before and it causes mass panic. It's something I'm considering however.

3.) RRE, MSS, Weaken and Flaw. On the modern test I just suck at these kinds of questions. The answers no longer seem as obvious to me and I find it really easy to justify the wrong answers. These question types are killing my score on the more modern tests but my brain doesn't want to adjust the way it sees them. I'm not sure how to go about looking at these questions any more. I looked back at the CC and felt confident but that doesn't translate into the PT. Especially if the PT is 60+

Those are my main three issues I am currently grappling with. It may sound like I'm not ready to test, and in reality that might be true. My average PT score right now is a 169, it's not where I want it to be. However, for reason out of my control, I have to test in September. Any advice would be awesome guys, thanks.

Today signifies the 1 year marker since i started on my LSAT journey.

Stay strong, ma peeps!!

Looking forward to sharing in everyone's success come September!!

Hey all - last four prep tests (67-69,76) I've sat on a 168. It's always been different range, LR -3 to -7 total, games -1 to -3, and RC -4 to -8 (definitely my worst section). I am taking the Sept. test, and I'm wondering what those of you in a similar boat as me plan to do to continue getting better. Background: I started studying in June using the LSAT trainer, haven't used anything else except prep tests 40-60 or so.

Thanks all!

Side note, thank you 7sage for this forum! Makes me feel like there are others maniacally trying the kill this test like me!

Hello! Thanks in advance for reading :)

I'm taking the December 2017 LSAT. I've been enrolled in an LSAT course with Blueprint since mid June and it ends mid September. I was planning on enrolling in a 7sage course after the Blueprint course ends and using that to bring my score up until December. I'm stuck at a 152 practice test score right now though, and after doing a bit of reading I'm worried that my goal of reaching at least a 170 by December is too optimistic. Is it possible?

I've completely lost my motivation in the past few weeks though which hasn't helped, and the last three practice tests I took were basically the same score. I started off studying for the LSAT pretty optimistic and I think that's why I had a 9 point increase within my first month of studying. But now that I've lost my motivation I haven't improved at all in almost a month and studying keeps feeling pointless, like I'm not improving or learning anything anymore. I keep making the same mistakes for some reason and it's really disheartening. We've finished the Blueprint curriculum and learned all of the strategies for every question at this point, but knowing everything now has also made me more confused, if thats possible. Every practice test I feel overwhelmed by all the strategies we learned and I end up taking too long to answer questions to sift through the information in my head or I'll mix up the strategies for the question types. I'm also an extremely slow test taker and have only gotten probably 1 or 2 more questions answered per section since my first practice test.

I won't be taking the LSAT in December if I can't get to 170-175 in my practice tests by then. Which means I'd have to delay taking the LSAT till February and apply to the next cycle, which means I wouldn't start law school until Fall 2019....this is the worst case scenario for me. I really would like to be starting law school by Fall 2018. I have really high expectations for myself getting into a good school though, which is why I would delay myself a cycle if it meant I could get into USC or NYU or something...

I'm starting to feel very overwhelmed and burnt out and I think that may also be why my score hasn't increased. My overwhelming stress has almost been like a barrier to my score. How have you dealt with burnout and/or loss of motivation? Any advice on how I can re-energize myself and start to make point gains again? (Thought I'd point out that I have been employing the BR method recently, but maybe I haven't done it enough since I haven't seen much gains from that yet). Also, which 7sage course would you recommend? I'm between the Ultimate and the Premium. If I'm not going to be using it for more than 6 months, is there a point to paying $200 more to get the Ultimate?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

Sarah

Today has been a pretty active day on the 7Sage forms. Trust me I know, this place is a damn obsession for me. We need to all stop for a minute and breath.

With the September test a couple of weeks away, everyone can feel the pressure starting to crush down on them. We have a few weeks of study left, scores are fluctuating, sections are biting us in the ass and it's filling our heads with "what ifs?" And "should I's?"

Don't panic. We've been at this for weeks, months, and even years. We KNOW what this test is asking of us. We KNOW that we have good days and bad days. We know a lot.

Come September 16th, we will sit down to take a 5 section LSAT. That test will include;

• At least two LR sections. Each section will have NA, SA, Flaw, RRE, MBT, Para Reasoning, MC,Disagee/Agree, argument part and a few others. WE KNOW THIS. You know how to approach the questions, you've done it hundreds of times before. Chin-up, focus, and charge in.

•At least one LG section. There will be 4 games. We've done tons of them before. The game board is key, understanding rules is important and inferences are what the questions ask about. Look at game pieces, see how they interact, spend the time upfront. You've done it a hundred times before. Even an odd game is doable, you just need to know what is being asked. You KNOW how to do Lg.

•At least one RC. You know what, to hell with the notion that "modern tests RC is hell". Do you want to psych yourself out? Instead take it one passage at a time. Engage with the passage, and be an active reader. Familiarize yourself with structure. Be proactive in how you read. Anticipate questions, identify attitudes and be willing to adapt. Eliminate answers that are wrong, and the right will eventually show up. We KNOW that there are 4 passages and we KNOW that one will be on a subject we probably don't care about. So make yourself care, don't get caught up in stress on how hard it is. We KNOW what RC looks like.

•One experimental section from the list above. Like I've said, we KNOW what to expect from each section. We have done it over and over and over again. Focus on the questions, the assumptions, the argument structure, the inferences, the passage layout, the authors attitude. Do NOT focus on how hard the test is.

You've got this people. You've done it before, you'll do it again and then you'll do it in September. Review your fundamentals, address your worry spots, but remember the LSAT is a standardized test, it can not change THAT much. You are capable, you can do it, prove it to yourself.

And remember, this is just a test. It doesn't define you.

** Edit: This test was not blind reviewed before I graded.

Ok guys, so today was the big day.

I took my first timed PT as vowed to do to determine if I would going to test in September or December. To give an idea of my place in the CC I finished LR and LG and had just started RC. I wanted to be done with the CC but essentially life happened. Hospital, car problems, family, you name it - it happened.

So my final score is: 158

Lg - 4

LR - 8

RC - 11

LR - 5

The first LR I knew was going to be worst because I was all flustere. I also knew RC was going to be exactly that lol.

I wanted to crack 160 but that was with the idea that I would've been done with the RC CC. I have NO idea what to do. Should I post pone?

So i just did my first cold diagnostic, and got a 145.... exact numbers are -9 on LG (very rushed but answered all), -17 on 1 LR (Took my time and answered B just to fill in the last 8 questions and missed them all), -13 on another LR (realized i needed to speed up and still answered B on the last 5 just to fill something in), and -12 on RC (Took to much time and didn't finish the last 6 and filled in B and missed them all, plus rushed the 3rd passage trying to get to the 4th). Its my first time ever even looking at the LSAT outside of some pretty generic explanations. I was expecting a lower score but am still pretty discouraged. Timing was AWEFUL, reasoning was clouded because my timing was AWFUL, i had no idea on some questions. lol it was a pretty big crash and burn. LOTS more red on my answer sheet than black. Anyway, i guess i just had to vent and ask if anyone was or is in this same boat. Also wanted to ask advice from any of you in your experiences.

Is there an auto play feature that will start the next video instead of having to use the next button and hit play each time. This definitely would make things easier.