Alright so, I have already posted about having regrets, but now we are getting to crunch time. I am hovering around that magical 160- 165 PT range ( 161, 163, 163, 164, 164, 164, 165) which puts me right where I want to be for 94% of Texas schools. If I score like this on test day, I will most likely get into UH, Baylor, SMU, St. Mary's, while missing out on UT Austin. So here's what I can do:

Accept a (most likely) good sized scholarship from St. Mary's. They are not a great school, but have good influence in San Antonio. That is where I want to practice post graduation.

Possibly accept smaller money to go to UH, Baylor, or SMU. Be 2-4 hours away from my wife and dogs since they will be in the San Antonio area. So I will have to commute every weekend to see them. The drive is not that long, but it does stink to be away from the ones you love.

Most of my improvement has come in the last month. I shot up from a 153 to my current range, and I am beginning to see some improvement that could make jumps elsewhere possible. Do I forego this year, study for September, and go for the big Kahuna at UT?

Which option would you choose?

I like James Clear.

He's one of those people who's constantly trying to improve himself. I get his emails once per week, and they always challenge me to ask myself, "Could I be doing this better?"

This is his guide to Deliberate Practice (I've also provided a link because many of the ideas he writes about are hyperlinked to sources.) I think there's a lot here that could be applicable to LSAT. Take a read a let me know what you think. Maybe you have some specific ideas of how to deliberately practice the LSAT.

http://jamesclear.com/beginners-guide-deliberate-practice

The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice

by James Clear

Read this on JamesClear.com

In some circles, Ben Hogan is credited with “inventing practice.”

Hogan was one of the greatest golfers of the 20th century, an accomplishment he achieved through tireless repetition. He simply loved to practice. Hogan said, “I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning so I could hit balls. I’d be at the practice tee at the crack of dawn, hit balls for a few hours, then take a break and get right back to it.” [1]

For Hogan, every practice session had a purpose. He reportedly spent years breaking down each phase of the golf swing and testing new methods for each segment. The result was near perfection. He developed one of the most finely-tuned golf swings in the history of the game.

His precision made him more like a surgeon than a golfer. During the 1953 Masters, for example, Hogan hit the flagstick on back-to-back holes. A few days later, he broke the tournament scoring record. [2]

Hogan methodically broke the game of golf down into chunks and figured out how he could master each section. For example, he was one of the first golfers to assign specific yardages to each golf club. Then, he studied each course carefully and used trees and sand bunkers as reference points to inform him about the distance of each shot. [3]

Hogan finished his career with nine major championships—ranking fourth all-time. During his prime, other golfers simply attributed his remarkable success to “Hogan’s secret.” Today, experts have a new term for his rigorous style of improvement: deliberate practice.

What is Deliberate Practice?

Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance. When Ben Hogan carefully reconstructed each step of his golf swing, he was engaging in deliberate practice. He wasn’t just taking cuts. He was finely tuning his technique.

The greatest challenge of deliberate practice is to remain focused. In the beginning, showing up and putting in your reps is the most important thing. But after a while we begin to carelessly overlook small errors and miss daily opportunities for improvement.

This is because the natural tendency of the human brain is to transform repeated behaviors into automatic habits. For example, when you first learned to tie your shoes you had to think carefully about each step of the process. Today, after many repetitions, your brain can perform this sequence automatically. The more we repeat a task the more mindless it becomes.

Mindless activity is the enemy of deliberate practice. The danger of practicing the same thing again and again is that progress becomes assumed. Too often, we assume we are getting better simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our current habits—not improving them.

Claiming that improvement requires attention and effort sounds logical enough. But what does deliberate practice actually look like in the real world? Let’s talk about that now.

Examples of Deliberate Practice

One of my favorite examples of deliberate practice is discussed in Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. In the book, Colvin describes how Benjamin Franklin used deliberate practice to improve his writing skills.

When he was a teenager, Benjamin Franklin was criticized by his father for his poor writing abilities. Unlike most teenagers, young Ben took his father’s advice seriously and vowed to improve his writing skills.

He began by finding a publication written by some of the best authors of his day. Then, Franklin went through each article line by line and wrote down the meaning of every sentence. Next, he rewrote each article in his own words and then compared his version to the original. Each time, “I discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.” Eventually, Franklin realized his vocabulary held him back from better writing, and so he focused intensely on that area.

Deliberate practice always follows the same pattern: break the overall process down into parts, identify your weaknesses, test new strategies for each section, and then integrate your learning into the overall process.

Here are some more examples.

Cooking: Jiro Ono, the subject of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, is a chef and owner of an award-winning sushi restaurant in Tokyo. Jiro has dedicated his life to perfecting the art of making sushi and he expects the same of his apprentices. Each apprentice must master one tiny part of the sushi-making process at a time—how to wring a towel, how to use a knife, how to cut the fish, and so on. One apprentice trained under Jiro for ten years before being allowed to cook the eggs. Each step of the process is taught with the utmost care.

Martial arts: Josh Waitzkin, author of The Art of Learning, is a martial artist who holds several US national medals and a 2004 world championship. In the finals of one competition, he noticed a weakness: When an opponent illegally head-butted him in the nose, Waitzkin flew into a rage. His emotion caused him to lose control and forget his strategy. Afterward, he specifically sought out training partners who would fight dirty so he could practice remaining calm and principled in the face of chaos. “They were giving me a valuable opportunity to expand my threshold for turbulence,” Waitzkin wrote. “Dirty players were my best teachers.”

Chess: Magnus Carlsen is a chess grandmaster and one of the highest-rated players in history. One distinguishing feature of great chess players is their ability to recognize “chunks,” which are specific arrangements of pieces on the board. Some experts estimate that grandmasters can identify around 300,000 different chunks. Interestingly, Carlsen learned the game by playing computer chess, which allowed him to play multiple games at once. Not only did this strategy allow him to learn chunks much faster than someone playing in-person games, but also gave him a chance to make more mistakes and correct his weaknesses at an accelerated pace.

Music: Many great musicians recommend repeating the most challenging sections of a song until you master them. Virtuoso violinist Nathan Milstein says, “Practice as much as you feel you can accomplish with concentration. Once when I became concerned because others around me practiced all day long, I asked [my professor] how many hours I should practice, and he said, ‘It really doesn’t matter how long. If you practice with your fingers, no amount is enough. If you practice with your head, two hours is plenty.’” [4]

Basketball: Consider the following example from Aubrey Daniels, “Player A shoots 200 practice shots, Player B shoots 50. The Player B retrieves his own shots, dribbles leisurely and takes several breaks to talk to friends. Player A has a colleague who retrieves the ball after each attempt. The colleague keeps a record of shots made. If the shot is missed the colleague records whether the miss was short, long, left or right and the shooter reviews the results after every 10 minutes of practice. To characterize their hour of practice as equal would hardly be accurate. Assuming this is typical of their practice routine and they are equally skilled at the start, which would you predict would be the better shooter after only 100 hours of practice?”

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The Unsung Hero of Deliberate Practice

Perhaps the greatest difference between deliberate practice and simple repetition is this: feedback. Anyone who has mastered the art of deliberate practice—whether they are an athlete like Ben Hogan or a writer like Ben Franklin—has developed methods for receiving continual feedback on their performance.

There are many ways to receive feedback. Let’s discuss two.

The first effective feedback system is measurement. The things we measure are the things we improve. This holds true for the number of pages we read, the number of pushups we do, the number of sales calls we make, and any other task that is important to us. It is only through measurement that we have any proof of whether we are getting better or worse.

The second effective feedback system is coaching. One consistent finding across disciplines is that coaches are often essential for sustaining deliberate practice. In many cases, it is nearly impossible to both perform a task and measure your progress at the same time. Good coaches can track your progress, find small ways to improve, and hold you accountable to delivering your best effort each day.

For additional ideas on how to implement deliberate practice, I recommend this interview with psychology professor Anders Ericsson, who is widely considered to be the world’s top expert on deliberate practice.

The Promise of Deliberate Practice

Humans have a remarkable capacity to improve their performance in nearly any area of life if they train in the correct way. This is easier said than done.

Deliberate practice is not a comfortable activity. It requires sustained effort and concentration. The people who master the art of deliberate practice are committed to being lifelong learners—always exploring and experimenting and refining.

Deliberate practice is not a magic pill, but if you can manage to maintain your focus and commitment, then the promise of deliberate practice is quite alluring: to get the most out of what you’ve got.

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FOOTNOTES

Interview with George Peper. GOLF Magazine. September 1987.

Hogan’s precision with the golf club allowed him to play the game in a different way than most. Once, another golf pro came to him for advice and said, “I’m having trouble with my long putts.” Hogan simply replied, “Why don’t you try hitting your irons closer to the pin?”

Ben Hogan was relentless in his quest for improvement. According to one New York Times article, Hogan once received a shipment of golf balls before a tournament and examined each one carefully with a magnifying glass. “Some of these balls have a little too much paint in the dimples,” he said.

The Making of an Expert by K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely. Harvard Business Review. July-August 2007 Issue.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this email, please forward it to a friend and tell them they can join my free newsletter at jamesclear.com/newsletter

Hello all! I was hoping I could get assistance with the order in which I should study for the LSAT! I am taking the exam in September but I thought it's better to study earlier since it's my first time taking the exam! I have been studying logic games for 30 minutes a day for a week now. I was wondering if that's a good amount or the right thing to study first. Should I start with logic games then reasoning then comprehension or is there a better order? I am going to try and do an hour a day for the remainder of the time I have before the exam I just want some good tips starting out so I am best prepaired! Thanks so much!

Are their any more premise or conclusion indicator(s) words that have been found that we can add to the list?

And even words indicating a switch in the argument?

Hey there, has anyone on here seen of, or complied a list of the more difficult RC sections in LSAT history? Wanted to try and tackle them all before sleighing the beast in two weeks.

Hello, I have a question about the letters.

1. Should we show our PS DS or any essays to the prof?

2. I have a couple of letters and wonder what steps to take after LSAC received the letters...I thought we can choose letters, but no? If we submit them, will all of them be sent to all schools?

3. When they say at least 2 letters, but accept 3, how many do you submit? I heard 3 is better, but also heard if the contnt is the same (almost) you should not bother Adcom to read the additional one.

4. I'm meeting another professor. She is quiet busy but I hope I can get a letter from her asap...how can I be polite but still ask her to write a letter as soon as she can?

Thank you for your help.

Sorry if this is redundant due to being asked and answered elsewhere. Direction there would be good if so, but I can't find an answer with a few searches.

I just upgraded my membership. Previously, I had used the question bank + filtering to drill questions marked as high priority from my PT + blind review. Now that I have access to new questions, I would like to filter again for those question (yes, I still suck at some of them) but not see all the ones that were available in my lower level subscription. That is to say, I only want to see the "new" ones that are available given my new upgraded membership. Is there a trick or way to do this? I guess it won't kill me to redo old questions if not. . .

Many thanks.

Hi all,

In December, RC, which is my best section, was the first section and I felt like I wasn't understanding any of the sentences I was reading. So I read the sentence again and again but I just kept feeling like I didn't understand it...I guess this is a form of test anxiety.

How can I prepare to prevent such disaster in June? Any thoughts?

Thanks! :)

This professor is a good guy, and I like him a lot. He was kind enough to send back a draft. Can I pm one of you guys to get your opinion on the quality?

I am working towards a faster pace for the test questions but have tremendous difficulty lowering the time spent. I can score close to perfect on the logic games with an additional 20 minutes and LR & RC roughly the same. I am not certain how to overcome this with multiple factors of working full time and being a single mom of 2. I am scheduled to take the Feb 2017 LSAT and feel unprepared for the time factor. What is the most efficient way to decrease time? And should I schedule to take the LSAT in June 2017 given the issues above? Thank you for your help:)

I'm prior service and had two of my army psychiatrists write me a letter to send to the LSAT people asking for extra time due to my ptsd and the fact that i have minor ADHD take ritalin and propranolol for tests,how are they with giving extra time? is it a difficult process? anyone think i have a chance?

Hey 7Sagers,

We're very happy to announce that we've come to an agreement with the LSAC to re-release PrepTests in a very limited format. Specifically, they will be viewable and printable as digital rights management (DRM) protected electronic documents.

You can find them on the syllabus page by scrolling down to the PrepTest and clicking it. The e-doc will be next to the silent videos. You can see what I mean here:

https://classic.7sage.com/lesson/preptest-36/

We want to make it clear that these are not PDFs - they are DRM protected electronic documents (e-docs). Please do not refer to them as PDFs. We would feel really bad if a student enrolled in a 7Sage course thinking they would get PDFs when, in fact, they would not.

Currently, PT36 - PT80 are the only tests available as an e-doc. Assuming all goes smoothly with these, we expect to be able to release other PTs slowly over the course of 2017, so watch out for those!

I'm sure you have many questions. Please PM me with your questions. I will answer them as a followup post to this announcement. Please do not start new threads on this subject because we will delete them.

[Edit: All PTs are now available as e-docs!]

Hey guys! It's me again.

Although, I have just started studying not too long ago... I can sense that time will be an issue for me. I find myself rereading the first two sentences multiple times. I think this might be the case because I'm often that last student writing the test. I have ALWAYS taken my time with writing tests and knowing that I only have 35 minutes per section gives me anxiety.

Not sure how I will be able to get through this.

Help!

I am just curious to know for logic games, people who are scoring well in that section, once you find what you believe to be the answer choice. do you move on to the next question? or are you also verifying the the other answers as well just to make sure the answer you chose is correct?

Hi all,

Sorry if this has already been asked and/or answered.

Any idea when the PT80 explanations will be coming out, particularly LR (not just games)? I am going over and BR'ing my December exam and I am extremely stuck on a couple of the questions.

I don't think this is a spoiler... but in my opinion, the LR sections seriously increased in difficulty from even just the early 70's. Instead of planting a couple insanely difficult q's spread out across the test or near the end, there were times when it was quite early in the test and there were 3 mind-boggling insane questions all back to back.

I'm writing in Feb. I know I'd benefit going into the next test knowing that I thoroughly reviewed the most recent PT and fully understood where I got tripped up.

Thanks in advance.

I am scoring somewhere between -4 to -6 on LR now (yesterday I had a -11 but I was frenzied and used the "5" setting on the 7sage proctor when I already have enough distraction). Anyway, I have noticed that what absolutely kills me, regardless of how much I try, is necessary assumption. I know that you are supposed to boil it down to the base necessity for the argument to exist, but my mind trails to the assumption that will often fix it. It's to the point where if I could just sort out NA, my LR would probably give me 2-4 extra points on the test.

Does anyone look at NA in any specific light that gives them clarity when doing these types of questions?

When reading passages, are there any signs/ signals that one should look out for that may be an area of interest that questions focus on?

The professor that I am receiving the LOR from just asked if the LOR should be school specific or if he can write a general LOR. I am applying to 7 programs, and I haven't seen a specific prompt to make them specific to the school. Can bot my recommenders send an LOR that is generic in nature?

Feel free to delete if this is not allowed.

I was recently accepted to W&M Law with a decent scholarship after applying with a fee waiver. (Thank 7sage!!!) I have never been to VA and don't really know anything about this school, but with my acceptance and scholly, I am really considering it. I was just wondering if anyone on here has attended or knows anything about W&M that is worth sharing with me that I should consider. I know this is common to discuss on TLS, but they kinda scare me (lol.)

Thanks :)

Hi 7sagers,

I was just wondering if "Evaluate" (as in, "Which of the following would be most helpful to know in evaluating the argument above?" or the like) questions are in the 7Sage curriculum? I was looking through the curriculum but I didn't see anything.

Which also makes me wonder if there are any other question types missing/hidden if that is the case. Any thoughts on this would be helpful.

Our 89 Point Increase Story

Tuesday, January 24, 7:00 PM EST

Please join us for a very special evening with the Sages

Josh Aldy @"Cant Get Right"

David Brown @"Accounts Playable"

Daniel Z. Nelson @danielznelson

and

Nader Parham @"Not Ralph Nader"

We will share our LSAT journeys, our struggles, and most importantly, how we were each able to overcome our individual challenges. The LSAT is a highly dynamic test which means that each of us will have unique obstacles to overcome. The LSAT is different from other tests in that it provides all the information we need to answer every question, so if you can learn to read it, you really can master it. If you can see yourself in our struggles, we hope you can see yourself in our ultimate successes. If we can do it, we believe you can too.

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Q&A to follow the presentation, so bring your questions!

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/616746445

You can also dial in using your phone.

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Hi All,

Does the below statement make sense? I am trying to get a big picture view of these 3 ideas.

CAUSATION --> PERFECT CORRELATION* ( ---) CONDITIONALITY

Causation implies Perfect Positive Correlation.

Correlation (regardless of strength) does not imply causation.

Causation implies Conditionality. I.e. If A causes B, we can also say A is sufficient for B).

Conditionality does not imply Causation. Just because A is sufficient for B, does not mean that A causes B. It could be, for example, that A

Perfect Correlation (and only perfect correlation) implies conditionality

Conditionality implies perfect correlation.

*I am assuming A ALWAYS causes B. Is this the case on the LSAT? Can we say that if A causes B, A always causes B?

I'm pretty frustrated right now with my scores. When I BR I score in the 170's. But under time I score between the range of the high 140's to high 150's depending on the test specifically which logic game I get. But I'm consistently doing bad on Logical Reasoning under time. When I have all the time in the world I get around 3 wrong per section. But under timed conditions I can get up to 22 wrong both sections combined. What should I do?

I just sent both my LOR's out to each respective recommender, and I warned my boss that she may be receiving one soon. Does LSAC not send them out automatically?

Hey guys! If you're taking the Feb. LSAT and your account is inconveniently set to expire a few days before the test date, just email me (dillon@7sage.com) and I'll extend your account for free through the Feb. test. (Make sure you include your 7Sage email!)

I can guarantee you that my inbox will fill up with these, so give me time to reply to them all. If your account expires by the time I get to your email, don't worry, I'll reactivate it for you. :)

For those of you who are expiring after, good luck on the LSAT! We here at 7Sage are rooting for you.