Hey y'all—

Just popping in from 1L land per @DumbHollywoodActor 's request to share some thoughts about 1L prep—specifically, Larry Law Law's KTCOOLS course. I started Larry's course around this time last year and I don't think it's too early to start thinking about this. Here goes.

People thought I was crazy. My study group thought I was crazy. That's because when you get to law school, the administration and mentors etc. will tell you to brief cases and wait to practice taking exams. Do not do these things.

So—I learned all of the things that I think differentiated me from KTCOOLS. I'm not saying it's sufficient/necessary, but that's where I got the ideas for how/what I did.

My personal tips include: take all of your notes by hand, don't have your computer or phone out in class, and start outlining by the middle of the semester. First-pass outlining is typing your notes. Real outlining (what you will actually use on the exam) you do at the end of the semester. And make all of your own outlines. The reason you outline is to master the material. Use A or A+ outlines from upperclassmen who had your professors only to supplement your own or to get ideas. Only use supplements if 1) they are written by your professor 2) the professor recommends (rare) and/or 3) to get enough of the law internalized to do hypos early on. Be warned that supplements will almost definitely lead you astray with at least a couple of your professors, so you may need to "forget" what you learned in order to practice exam taking when it comes to what your professor actually teaches. But that is a small price to pay for the experience of taking practice exams, refining your methods, and getting used to legal analysis under timed conditions.

I'm not going to have time to address specific questions/comments, but much love to all :D Dave knows where to find me and he can bring important questions to my attention, but for now, I'm signing off and thinking of you all very fondly.

Hello! I don't know if it's kosher to ask for guidance on this subject so if it isn't...please ignore. But I got invited via email for a video interview with Cornell law! I'm freaking out! I have no idea what to expect or what to think will happen but...does anyone have any pertinent advice to this kind of interview and how to prepare? There's no deadline...no information included....I guess I'm going to just do my research (especially on Cornell!) today and dive into the interview some time tomorrow when I'm at home and hope for the best?

http://news.berkeley.edu/2012/08/22/intense-prep-for-law-school-admissions-test-alters-brain-structure/

Interesting

I defer one year and apply for 2018. If I ask for LOR now, are they accessible for next year application?

Does anyone happen to know when registration for this Sept's LSAT starts?

I must check it at least every other day haha.

Update: LSAC says in May

Hey guys! While we're not finished with PT80s explanations, I know a lot of you are eager to get your hands on the PT itself. So, we decided to release PT80 early with limited explanations until they're complete.

Once the explanations are available (which may not be until after J.Y.'s May BR group) they will automatically be added to your account if you still have PT80.

For a limited time, you can pick up PT80 for $5.97 here:

https://classic.7sage.com/addons/

This comes with the printable DRM e-doc and a +1 month extension to your account. If you do not have a full course, you'll only have access to PT80 for 1 (one) month, so please keep that in mind while purchasing!

If you have LSAT Ultimate+, this PT has been automatically added to your account.

For the past month or two I've been averaging between a 164-167 actual score and between a 172-175 blind review score on the PrepTests, both older and newer. It seems like I've tried and done everything to improve my actual score up to the BR numbers, but nothing really changes, any advise would be much appreciated.

I find that the LR section tests four fundamental aspects:

I. Our ability to make inferences

Which it tests through Most Strongly Supported, Must Be True, Must Be False, and Necessary Assumption questions.

II. Our ability to support an argument

Which it tests through Strengthen, Pseudo Sufficient Assumption, Sufficient Assumption, and Principle questions.

III. Our ability to weaken an argument

Which it tests through Weaken and Flaw questions.

IV. Our ability to recognize structure

Which it tests through Main Point, Argument Part, Method of Reasoning, Parallel Method of Reasoning, and Parallel Flawed Method of Reasoning questions.

(Miscellaneous: Resolve Reconcile Explain and Point at Issue).

Organizing question types this way helps me see the bigger picture of the section instead of approaching each type independently and getting bogged down in the weeds of the particular type. Look at how much sense it makes to test these things for aspiring law students and how fundamental these are to being a lawyer and practicing law in the future. Each question is a symptom of something larger and each question you get wrong is a question that's exploiting some weakness in your fundamentals. With this framework, you can better identify and track the fundamentals you're deficient in. For example, instead of just seeing that I miss an inordinate amount of Pseudo Sufficient question types, I now see that I'm missing something fundamental about my ability to support an argument. Now I can focus on the fundamental aspects of this shortcoming and I can complement my Pseudo Sufficient Assumption drilling by focusing on the related question types.

The accuracy of this categorization may be proven by its potential to predict your performance on other question types. So if you find that you get a certain question type wrong more than others, see how you're doing on associated question types.

What do you all think about this? Is this an accurate framework for the LR section? What helps you improve on LR?

Two questions regarding BR:

Does it decrease the utility of BR to review the same day you took the test? I try to do it next day but that kills some time I have after I've taken the test. I just want as accurate of a BR score as possible so I wait for the following day to review. Is it a big deal if I start reviewing same day as the test?

Does it decrease the utility of BR to review using the same marked up PT you used for the test? When I blind review now I have one copy of the test I use for the timed test and then once I have the questions circled I use a clean copy of the test to look at the questions. My thinking is that I do not want to be influenced during BR by my markings like crossed out answers and underlined conclusions, but getting a clean copy just for review isn't always practical.

I can't love 7 Sage more:))) consider to extend my 7sage account since I am full-time work now. Anyway, it will be hugely helpful.

I was hoping that I could get some group thought capital on timing of taking these tests. Background is as follows - I am a (much) older non-URM who is planning on doing a joint JD/MBA. I was planning on doing the LSAT first, then taking the GRE based on advice from Pacifico in June, 2016. I have a couple of years on that schedule before I can start school, so that would give me enough time to give LSAT a year, and GRE 6 months. Spivey mentioned that I need top scores to get into a top place or there is very little chance I can get return on investment with the years left in my career.

Now, with the announcement that Harvard is accepting GRE in hopes of attracting more STEM type candidates, I am wondering if I should take the GRE first? I would hope that enough other T14 schools follow Harvard in the next year or so to give me a decent list of places to apply to. Perhaps I could avoid having to take the LSAT, which I am finding very tricky. I have education and significant work experience in 2 of the STEM fields.

If I could get a high GRE and use that for both law and business school, I could cut my wait to start by perhaps a year.

What would you do?

Thanks for your thoughts.

When did you guys start if you don't mind..

I was deathly afraid to take my first PT. Happened to line up on my birthday on the weekend.

I didn't take a diagnostic and this was my first PT after going through the curriculum.

Thankfully, I got a 161. My second was a bit lower; but I'm still optimistic. Not sure where my ceiling in terms of score so I'm just gonna work as hard as I can until June and see what comes out of it.

Thanks 7sage.

Hey guys! Since I know a lot of you just took the February LSAT, I wanted to hold a little contest of sorts. It's relatively simple, nothing flashy-- but the 3 people who post the most detailed, well-written review will get our Admissions Course for free. If you already have our Admissions course, you'll get a +1 month extension or a PT explanation of your choice. (If you don't have a full course, this will only last for a month!)

Here's the details:

All you have to do to be eligible is post a review of any test center at which you took an officially administered LSAT (anyone is eligible for up to 3 entries).

Instructions:

-- Make a new discussion post in the "Test Center Reviews" category and title it like this:

[Test Center Review] Test Center, City, State/Country

-- Include the following categories (feel free to copy/paste):

Proctors:

Facilities:

What kind of room:

How many in the room:

Desks:

Left-handed accommodation:

Noise levels:

Parking:

Time elapsed from arrival to test:

Irregularities or mishaps:

Other comments:

Would you take the test here again?

Date[s] of Exam[s]:

Examples of some well-written test center reviews:

--https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/8859/test-center-review-cedarville-university

--https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/6873/test-center-review-northeastern-university-boston-ma

--https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/6887/test-center-review-furman-university-greenville-sc

I'll be choosing 3 winners on March 30th, 2017.

Thanks!

Hi 7Sagers!

You know what helps you do well on the LSAT? Meditation.

You know what helps you live a good life? Also, meditation.

Lucky for you, I have two codes for 1 free month of Headspace. I'll send it to the first two people who want it.

How did I get these codes? By meditating, a lot using Headspace. :)

.

I came across this gem of a video today from TedX talk. I find it really relevant to a lot of questions that I have had and that people keep bringing up -why is my hard work in studying for LSAT not translating into a better score? I think this video does a good job of answering these questions and giving tips from research. I hope you all find it as useful as I did : ) (3(/p)

Some tips that I learned that I think have been around for a while but now I feel like are backed up by evidence:

1). Be disciplined. High scorers don't necessarily have high IQ's they are just more disciplined and focused. So cut distractions in your life and form good habits. (3

- When you make time tables, don't forget to schedule in something you love everyday. It's a lot more easier to study when you don't feel like you are miserable. So have a balanced life.(/p)

2). Take a lot of practice test and let your practice test score be a determinant on how you are going to do on the real test. This means do the test exactly as it would be real time and don't think that on test day you will score a lot better. It can happen but its not likely. The best preparation is to use these tests as a guide.

3). Don't just work hard -work hard by doing the right things. If you are not scoring well, figure out the technique that you are doing wrong and work hard to improve that instead. Working hard and just taking a lot of PT's or watching videos is not going to pay high dividends in terms of score unless its combined with really figuring out our issues and work on it. The example of Michael Jordan was really illuminating. If you shoot a ball in the hoop with the wrong technique 1000 times, that just means that now you really know how to shoot that ball with the wrong technique.

4). Don't let other people tell you that IQ is going to be a determinate in how you score. That's not something we can control and that's not a trend that's found across high scorer's.

Good Luck! and Happy Studying (3(/p)

Hey everybody!

I wanted to share my 18-point increase story with you all and outline how I did it while working full time. I started studying for the December 2016 LSAT in late July on very short notice. My wife is in graduate school in a very remote part of Missouri and the only job I could find was 1.5 hours away at an agricultural law firm. I’ve worked a full eight-hour day every day since August 1st and only studied for a little over a week before starting my job, so it’s pretty much been a constant balancing act.

I’m not anything special. I have a very average intelligence level. My diagnostic PT was a 145. I had to work my tail off for the score I got, and the score I got reflects my best effort over six months of, on average, four or five hours of studying a day (minus Fridays). That’s what I have to work with and it reflects my absolute best effort. Sure, I’d love it if I was naturally smart enough to get a 170 with ease, but at the end of the day the most fulfilling part of this entire process is the knowledge that I gave it everything.

I was blessed to have the amazing advice and wisdom of Sage Daniel (@danielznelson) throughout my prep process. If he was able to take every single 7sager in the world as his personal pupil, I would make it mandatory. As it turns out, he went to middle school and high school with my wife and came to our wedding, so we had a connection to begin with. If you are stuck at any point of your prep and need to break through a plateau, get in touch with Daniel and let him help you. It’ll be the best thing you could ever do for your LSAT score.

My daily schedule was the same throughout my entire LSAT experience. I would wake up at 6, study from about 6:30 – 8:00am, get ready for work and go to work from 9 – 5, then either work out and study till 11pm or go home and study until 10:30 or 11pm. Some days I would also go to the library until 10 or 11pm if I wanted a change of scenery. I would also utilize any spare moment I had at work (down time, lunch breaks, etc) to do a few extra logic games, complete an RC passage or two, or peruse the 7sage discussion forums. On slow days at work, I would sometimes get in an extra two hours of studying this way.

The way to beat the LSAT is to become obsessed with it. Steve at lsatblogspot.com has a great document of 101 tips for the LSAT from pupils of his that improved ridiculous amounts (like 140 to 170), and the biggest take-away from that list is that the people who conquer the test are the people who make it their life. I did that, and it paid off, especially near the end of my prep. If you really want it, you have to mold your entire life around the test. For instance, I decreased my frequency of working out, started timing my morning chai tea so that I would be most awake around the time I knew the LSAT would start, started some basic meditation that I would do before each section, made sure that I was always putting in focused study time on weekends from 8am to 1pm, and much more. I made a binder, divided into sections for Games, LR, and RC, and filled it with notes, reminders, tips, and tricks that I learned from the LSAT Trainer, the 7sage curriculum, my conversations with Daniel, and my personal discoveries as I studied. I’ve condensed that binder into a bullet point list that is at the bottom of this post that covers the most important things I learned for each section.

Now for the actual study schedule. I broke my studying down into two phases – an understanding phase and a preparation phase. Since I had just over four months to get ready for the December LSAT, I spent the first two months learning the test and second two months taking practice tests and working on my weaknesses. Do not start taking practice tests until you have a broad, functional, relatively comprehensive knowledge of the test. Knowing how the LSAT works and what it will try to do to you is half the battle. To that end, spend the first half of your prep (or at least two months) just learning the test. Read the LSAT Trainer, go through the entire 7sage curriculum and take religious notes, answer questions on the 7sage forums, read the Powerscore bibles (but only to do the problems and get extra practice – I wouldn’t recommend their games-tackling methods, for instance), subscribe to Steve from lsatblogspot.com’s weekly LSAT emails, do the free logic games at Cambridge LSAT’s website, read papers on formal logic, do at least 4 logic games a day and watch JY’s videos for them, read a book or two to keep your reading skills sharp, get used to reading RC passages quickly, choose a few LR sections a day from the early PT’s to do untimed, etc. I used predominantly the prep tests from 1 – 39 for this part of my prep, which lasted from late July until mid-September. This approach paid off bigtime for me. I was shooting for a 160 on the December LSAT, and when I took my first PT in late September after doing nothing but learning the test for two months, I hit a 160.

Then comes the preparation part of the process. This entailed starting with 1 PT per week on Saturday mornings for two weeks, then doing 2 PT’s a week until two weeks out from the LSAT. I understand this might change for some of you depending on your timeline. I started with PT 67 and worked my way up through PT 77 a week and a half before the LSAT. The weekend before the LSAT I took a retake so that I could build confidence. For me, I took my PT’s on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings (Fridays were my off day – make sure you have an off day every week! It’s important for mental health). In the days between your PT’s, your focus should be identifying your weaknesses and drilling them to find ways to improve.

I want to add a little bit of my personal experience here to explain what I really mean by drilling your weaknesses. This is where your obsession has to change focus but increase in its intensity. After every PT, I would go through the 7sage analytics. This gives you a good idea of where your weaknesses are. However, I would also do my own set of analytics, and this is where you can really break down your weaknesses. For me, Flaw, NA, and MSS were my original weaknesses. Up through the December test, I would count how many of each I got wrong and drill them over and over. This worked to some extent, as I was able to achieve a 163 on the December test, tying my previous best PT score. However, it was in prepping for the February LSAT that I discovered what it really takes to conquer your weaknesses. You have to get much more in-depth with your analysis. Ask yourself, “Why did I get this wrong? Was the issue in the stimulus or the answer choices?” For me, it was the answer choices. “Did I not reading the answer choices carefully enough? Did I not understanding how the answer choice impacts the argument? Or was the issue in my lack of scrutiny? Did I not think carefully enough through whether or not the stimulus actually says what the answer choices says it does?” In short, you have to get down to this level of nitty gritty in order to truly understand your weaknesses. I realized after several PT’s that I wasn’t fully understanding what certain AC’s were doing to the argument. This was especially troublesome on Strengthen and Weaken questions. Only by getting to this level of understanding will you know your weaknesses.

That’s how you understand them. Now, the way to conquer them is to write out explanations for why each and every answer choice on a troublesome question is right or wrong. I did this for LR and RC and can honestly say it was the single most beneficial technique I ever used for increasing my LSAT capabilities. I wish I had started doing it earlier, so if you are in the later stages of your prep, start doing it today! Write your explanations out by hand, and then, if the question is really hard, type a full explanation. In my opinion, this is the key to breaking through that huge mid-160’s plateau that so many of us struggle to get out of. A week after implementing this habit, I rocketed to a 167. I’m telling you, it works. You just have to put in the time.

The list of tips for each section is below. Before I go, I want to share with you one more thing about the mindset for the LSAT that I believe is very important for anyone setting their sights on the test. I grew up on a small-scale, draft-powered, self-sustaining organic farm in New Hampshire. I fully intend to buy some land and have a farm again myself once I am out of law school. Part of our farm’s unique appeal was that we used teams of oxen for all of the farm work, rather than tractors. Over the years, I spent hours each day with our teams of oxen, hauling firewood, plowing gardens, bringing in the harvest, and much more. Years of this kind of closeness have shown me the intricacies of these massive animals’ gentle personalities (some of them weighed over 3,000 lbs). They are smart, goofy, athletic, loyal, devoted, caring, and courageous in ways I will never be. Not to mention tremendously, unbelievably, mind-blowingly strong. But one thing that all of them have, no matter what their personality differences may be, is an unquenchable sense of commitment to the task at hand. I’ve stood next to them as they’ve strained to move a giant downed tree, falling on their knees and back up again, foaming at the mouth, clashing their horns together, just for the sheer joy of trying. Even when I managed to get them to rest for a few moments, they would restlessly paw the ground and shake their heads, eager to throw themselves against the yoke again and conquer their nemesis. As you approach the LSAT, think carefully about what you are willing to put into it and what you hope to get out of it. If you’re willing to be even half as consistent and committed as these oxen were, you’ll go far.

LR:

Games:

RC:

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new to 7sage and I want to say that I look forward to all these discussion forums they encourage me alot. To everyone that is here, just taking the decision to take the LSAT already makes you a winner. It does not matter the score that you are getting, just be encouraged. I really do appreciate all the ideas and advice in this forum. I wish everyone the best.

Does anyone else do this? I may have been way above my target score on this test if I didn't fall into this trap. The worst part is, I do it all the time. I think I remember an answer but it is actually the answer that I chose the last time I took the test and it was incorrect.

Any help in combating this would be greatly appreciated!

Is it better to take practice tests after you finish the course or during?

Taking full timed PT's have been great for tracking progress, getting used to the feel of the test, and, with blind review, it helps to pin point knowledge gaps and problem areas. However, I still get tripped up on occasional mental fatigue and loss of focus for LR and RC. After how many full PT's does that problem go away? Or does it stay with 176+ scorers too?

It's amazing how easy a question will seem on BR and then I go back and see the answer I picked and think I must have outright lost my mind on that question.

I've taken 38 full timed PT's under test conditions, 22 of those with blind review. I'm trusting the process and keep on going thinking that my score will continue to inch up point by point as it has, but I'm surprised by how easy I still can lose focus.

I'm consistently scoring in the 171-175 range and 174-179 after I blind review. Like I said, some of the ones I blind review I realize I still have things to learn, but on others I can't help but think they are due to loss of focus/lack of stamina/mental fatigue given how easy they were on BR.

I'm on track to do at least another 30 full timed PT's before the June test, but I'm concerned that since after all of my practice I'm still losing focus on 3-5 questions/test there might be some behavior pattern I'm not recognizing that I'm unknowingly reinforcing by continuing to take PT's without addressing it.

I've tried to narrow down the possible causes by making sure I don't do a test without a proper meal or a full night's sleep, if they're doing construction right outside my window I won't take one then either. (There's still some noise when I take the PT's, but not anymore than what I think there would be on test day.) Those little things have helped but I'm running out of ideas of what else might be the cause besides that I just need more practice.

What would be helpful to hear is that those kinks work themselves out with more practice and if I took another 30 full timed PT's then focus and stamina won't be an issue to the extent that I'll miss questions over it. I want to be careful not to reinforce some bad behavior for another few months only to realize it too late.

We all hit high points and low points in our LSAT journey. At the moment, I am devastated, drained, and confused on how to proceed. I want this more than anything and I am constantly questioning whether or not it is possible at this point.

To be more specific, I am capable of -0 on LG, -2 in LR, but RC...I consistently score -8 to -10 and I just now scored -14....like I legitimately got more incorrect than correct. I am at the point of questioning if it is even possible for me to improve in RC because I legitimately have tried everything. Absolutely everything. After weeks of not PTing and only drilling RC, my score was WORSE than before I started drilling. I am sharing this personal failure of mine to encourage anyone out there who might be self conscious of their current performance. I know that I definitely am. Transparency is liberating...at least in my opinion. So here I am being transparent about the fact that I absolutely have no idea what I am doing in RC :)

Anyways...I'm not posting because I am seeking advice for RC. I am posting because I know I'm not the only one who has been here. We all want this and we all know how devastating a taste of failure is. For anyone out there struggling at the rock bottom of your LSAT goals...you are most certainly not alone. For anyone who literally has shed more than a couple tears over this test...you are most certainly not alone. For anyone who questions the practicality of your goals on the daily...you are most certainly not alone.

So let's get up, brush ourselves off and destroy this thing because I, for one, am too prideful to let the LSAT defeat me.

Hi, I started the 7Sage Course a couple of months ago. I have been going through each of the course sections, but I am wondering how others pair this course? Do you take practice tests while also progressing through the course? Did you finish the course first(LR,LG,RC) and then start practice testing?

I was aiming to take the June LSAT, and started the 7Sage course, supplementing with PowerScore Bibles... I feel like I am making a lot of progress and understanding questions and concepts much better, but am curious to know how others scheduled their practice exams?

Thank you so much!

I know how to strengthen and weaken correlation within a stimulus. However, my problem is that while under timed conditions, I somehow miss the correlation within the stimulus. Because of this, I miss most of these types of questions seeing as I do not approach how to strengthen or weaken the stimulus accordingly.

Can someone please be so kind to give me advise on exactly what to look for to instantly pick up on correlation within a stimulus???