A few thoughts and questions on my LSAT process so far (started studying in July):

1) Reasoning - I've been doing a lot more of this recently and have found that I'm consistently weak on MBT, Sufficient and Necessary Assumption, Parallel, and Method of Reasoning questions. I've started doing sections untimed just to focus on prephrasing and writing out what I need to look for, etc and that has helped a lot. However, my scores still go up and down - last weekend I went through a section and got 3 wrong, then got 10 wrong in another section the following day. Any consistency is around the 5-8 wrong range, which is too high if I am going to get above a 160. I'm hoping things will come together and start to click before too long. Any strategies or ideas on the weak points I mentioned above? I'm trying to do extra practice questions on those types but not sure if it is just something that has to come with time. A mentor of mine just suggested that I start diagramming the stimulus and every answer choice for all of the types of LR questions that I struggle with.

2) Games - my scores go up and down. Last night I did a section with 5 wrong and the other day I did a section with 10 wrong. I have a feeling it just depends on the difficulty of the section, but then again there are games that JY says are easy and should take 5 minutes and they take me 10 minutes, as well as some games that he says are insanely difficult and I breeze through them. Overall it is hard not to get discouraged when I repeatedly do LR and games sections and get 10 questions wrong, don't finish the games in time, etc. I'm trying to remember that I need to focus on gaining a complete understanding of everything I'm doing right and wrong so I can efficiently improve, but right now it seems like I'm plateauing. I'm assuming this means I just have to keep pushing through and trying to gain understanding until I make a breakthrough? Any tips on breaking through a plateau?

Hey everybody! So here's my situation.

I have a 3.33 GPA (ugh) and I'm 3 years out of school. Applying for next fall so it'll be 4 years by then. Have a 165 on the LSAT but am retaking in a couple weeks and am confident that I'll do better - PTing in the low 170s, I feel there's a shot at a high score too.

Last cycle, I did ED to Emory but decided to back out. They offered me 80k in scholarships as well - a good deal but I didn't feel great about the whole thing, so I decided to wait another year, move to Nepal to do humanitarian stuff, and then attend next year.

I should also say, I have a pretty solid resume when it comes to volunteer experience/non-profit work - I want to do public interest law - and have been rebuilding homes in New Orleans post-Katrina for the past 3 years with a non-profit. I've also worked for several other non-profits, including the ACLU of Tennessee and the Family Equality Council.

Here is the thing though - I don't really want to be strapped to 200k+ in debt to have a public interest career. However, there is LRAP so I could have it all forgiven in 10 years, which is great. I would also like to attend school in the Northeast (girlfriend, family, etc.). The schools I'm thinking are NYU (top choice), Georgetown, and some others that are a bit of a reach, and also schools I'm fairly confident I'll get into w/ money - Emory, UGA, GW.

Should I do ED to NYU? Does it make a difference? If I were to get in, would that sacrifice any scholarship offer I'd get? Are my numbers so low that scholarships are impossible anyway? Say I get a 172 on the LSAT this time around. Would the advice be different?

Thanks, dudes.

Hi guys, does anyone know what the actual administration date for C2 is? 7Sage has it labeled as January 2016, but I have heard some conflicting information on this. Trying to figure out if I should be taking this.

thanks!

I am postponing. I have been consistently scoring about 3-5 points under my target score and I know that I can get there by December. BUT... since I am not getting my money back... I am considering showing up for the test on sept. 24th and taking it under real conditions. I would then cancel the score, because I am not ready. I feel like it will give me a confidence boost in December to have already gone through the process once. The only con I can think of is that a cancelled score will show up on my report, will anyone in admissions care? Is this a bad idea?

Good morning guys. Was hoping I can get some insight on a recent phenomena I encountered on my last 3 PT scores.

A week ago I was so excited to have finally broken 170+. I got a 173 on PT 30. I think I must have gotten cocky or overconfident because on the next test I did (PT 54) I got a 160! My most recent test was PT 21, which was a 172.

Has this ever happened to anyone of you? I'm a little concerned since we pretty much have a week till game day so I just want to see what loose ends I can tie up. I know that my mindset of being cocky may have had a large impact. Any suggestions as to how I can be more consistent in staying in the 170 range would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!

Hey guys,

Happy to be part of an intelligent community. I have just started the program and am loving it so far. I was wondering what an average breakdown of questions by difficulty would be on a 50 question LR section.

How many 1 star, 2 star, 3 star, etc questions should I expect to find on average? Is it an even distribution where I will see a 10/10/10/10/10 split? Or are there a bit more 1/2/3 star questions?

Sorry if this is an idiotic question, but I am generally curious so I could get a gauge of where I am.

Happy Studying.

Hello! I am planning to take the december LSAT and started studying really lightly -- about 5 hours a week in June and then ramped things up to studying full time at the end of August -- about 36 hours a week. I am signed up for a prep course with Blueprint, which will end in time for the December test. After reading 7Sage's discussion forums and general advice, i'm now having cold feet about the timeline of things -- will 4 months be enough time to prep if I am studying full time? I don't think a year timeline is quite realistic for me...

Any experience/advice would be so appreciated!

7Sagers,

On Monday, September 19, at 9 pm EST, I’ll do another round of live lightning consultations.

What’s a lightning consultation? Basically, I’ll try to be as helpful as I can in five minutes. We might brainstorm personal statement topics, strategize about addenda, or discuss LORs.

If you want a free five-minute consultation about your law school application, I’ll need you to post a few things in the comments section:

I’ll get through as many people as I can in one hour, working in a mostly random order. Please don’t post to this thread if you can’t show up for the consultation. If you do show up, test your microphone beforehand. Make sure you have a strong connection to the internet, and that you can speak and be heard on GoToMeeting. If your microphone isn’t working, I’ll have to skip you.

To join, just follow this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/590465709

You can also dial in using your phone: United States +1 (408) 650-3123

Meeting ID: 590-465-709

Hey everyone!

I've finally officially finished the Core curriculum. WOO! There's still MUCH to improve, but I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Ready to gear up for the December LSAT!

Taking my first PT this evening post curriculum and am hoping that my confidence won't mislead me. AKA if my score is lower than I thought, I won't let it bring me down and use this as a great learning experience to improve much more on the ones to come. Positive mindset FTW.

How have you all attacked this beast post-curriculum? I work full-time 8-5 Mon through Frid and have been studying after work almost every night for 2-4 hours and on the weekend for 3-6 hours each day.

I'm thinking maybe two PT's plus BR every week? Like take a PT Monday, BR Tues and Weds, take a break Thursday, Drill Friday, and take another PT Saturday and BR Sunday. Or something along those guidelines.

Would love to hear everyone's suggestions/ideas.

I remember seeing that some people were offering tutoring, is that still going on?

One of the letters of recommendation id like to use would come from a professor i had while i was in Spain. He asked if he could write the recommendation in Spanish would that be acceptable or would Law Schools not accept it.

?

Trying to clear up my mind before the big day :)

1. Conclusion (most accurately expresses the conclusion)

- Usual structure: contextual + HOWEVER, point + supporting premises

- In this case, it helps to paraphrase the sentence following 'however' (turning point)

ex) Some farmers reported that pesticide A was not effective to kill B. However, they are mistaken. The method they used to measure the effectiveness was completely wrong blah blah

- Answer: Some farmers are mistaken with the effectiveness of the pesticide A.

2. MBT

- It has to be TRUE. so, when the answer choices contain a somewhat extreme word such as 'All', 'any', 'never', 'impossible'

it's helpful to check them. They might be too broad or too specific or too dramatic.

- Sometimes you just need to diagram with all the conditionals and find the one matches with that conditionals. In this case, valid arguments courses are just great. Focus on the relationship with 'All','any','Every' and 'most', 'some', 'few'.

- And mind the direction of the conditional arrows! Sometimes answers with reversed arrows seem so tempting.

3. MBF

- It has to be FALSE. so usually I think this type of question has quite complex conditionals and the answer is just lying in somewhere between these complex arrows. Usually I think the wrong answers have either different scope or reversed directions. So in this case, we don't know if this will be true or not.(CBT/CBF).

- But the right answer(MBF) will negate one of the arrows outright.

ex) All the farmers in the western village have both cows and cats.

- Answer: Jake, a farmer in the western village, doesn't have cows. (something like that...)

4. FLAW

- There are too many flaw questions. (duh...)

- The answer choices describe what the argument did (something wrong)/didn't (do something he/she supposed to do to make a valid argument)

- It really helps if we can see the flaw before we move on to the answer choices.

- I think "Correlations->Causation" and "Sufficient->Necessary(or the other way around)" are the two popular types.

- And I also saw many "source attack", "pretending it is the only way and there is no other way", "I only see what I want to see(only mentions about the benefits or negatives", "unrepresentative sample", "It's either A or /A (no middle ground)", "from capability or probability to definiteness (she is capable of doing it so she will do it)" etc.

- When the answer choices describe something in categorical terms with lots of referential talks, it is always helpful to match each phrases with the ones in the argument.

Not sure if this would be helpful but...

I guess so far this is what I've learned and felt. It would be great if you guys can share some more! :)

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Might be a known fact already but just in case anyone is wondering, according to the folks at LSAC as of today, the ticket can be printed in black & white or color, and if you choose to wear glasses instead of contacts on test day (but aren't wearing glasses in either of your photos), it will not affect your admission. :)

Some may laugh and think "practice makes perfect", but I feel this exam has the tendency to catch up to people who have submerged themselves into the exam and get to their heads like a nasty Criss Angel. I started studying at the beginning of May, working through the program during my summer. August 1st hit and I had only written 1 PT (at the beginning of the summer). I postponed till December because I didn't want to rush, and I had a goal of writing at least 10-15 exams before Sept24. Not being ready scared the shit out of me and I vowed to not let that feeling come back in November, so come Sept.1 I sat down with 30+ purchased exams with the goal of completing them all before December. I'm already a student at McGill university, but I've planned it out to write 2-3 (hopefully 3) exams a week. Obviously it sucks not being able to go out and get shitfaced with my friends on a Tuesday, but this exam is my top priority! So i ask: is doing 3 exams a week until Dec a bad idea if I can stay on top of all my other school work? .

I have not done any of the Preptests in the 70's. I am sitting for the September exam. Should I be focusing on these instead of the earliest tests? Are they easier/harder generally?

I am aiming to take the LSAT in Feb. 2017, If I do this will I still have a chance at being admitted for school starting Fall 2017 or would it be best that I wait until Fall 2018? Also, how many schools would you suggest I apply too? I have been told that the more schools I apply to the higher my chances are at acceptance. Right now, I have about 14 schools that interest me, in which about 5-6 are "very hard" to get into while the rest are all "safety schools". Also, each time you submit a new app. to a law school, do you have to ask/request new LORs', as I have about 4 on file, but I was not sure if they expired? And how exactly does it work with schools you have applied to before but was not accepted? Any advice you all could give me will be greatly appreciated, thanks :-)

I'm working through drafts of my personal statement and realized that it may overlap with one of my LORs.

Basically, I took Public Speaking and Storytelling as electives during my senior year of college. I had expected them to be complete fluff classes but they actually turned out to be really helpful and I connected very well with the Professor. My PS is going to focus on my personal development speaking, attempting stand up comedy, and how storytelling/public speaking has helped me decide that I want to be a trial lawyer.

One of my LORs is coming from the Professor who taught these classes. She has already submitted it to LSAC and I'm not exactly sure what she wrote about. Would it be a problem if my PS and an LOR overlap some? Should I ask this professor about the gist of what she wrote so I can tailor my finished product accordingly?

My PT average has dropped from roughly the high 160s/low 170s on the older PTs to reliably the lower 160s on the PTs in the 70's. I'm planning on taking in Sept. and this shift in my performance is unnerving especially this close to gameday. Has anyone experienced this before/have good advice on ways to change my mindset in approaching the most recent PTs?

Hello guys so I have a question. Whenever doing timed sections/PTs I always used to go into them with the mindset of attempting all of the questions be it LG,RC or LR. However needless to say, I never get to all of them. I usually get about 3 games done,3 passages and I usually end up attempting between 19-22 questions in LR.

What I noticed when I go into a PT with the mindset of finishing each section is that I do end up making careless mistakes that could've been avoided had I been just a bit more prudent. I ended up speaking with someone and they advised me that to get better with time, that I should start off not going into a section with the intention of finishing it but with the intention of getting the ones I attempt correct. And once I start getting high accuracy, to then start being aggressive and start attempting a bit more questions little at a time.

At first I hated the idea because how could someone with a certain goal in mind NOT finish the whole section? But once I thought about it, going into a section with the mindset of only completing 3 passages/games and 19-22 LR questions may not be such a bad idea because that is how much I usually get complete whenever I AM attempting to finish the section ANYWAY. So I came to the conclusion that trying that method should at bare minimum keep my score where it is at if not better because now I would be focusing more on the problems I am attempting and being more prudent in the hopes of eliminating careless mistakes.

I took a PT on Saturday with this method and just like I predicted, I ended up getting the same score I would have gotten were I going in with the mindset of completing each section.(Probably would have done worse actually seeing as how it was a pretty tricky exam and slowing down probably helped me get more points that I would not have otherwise gotten).

So in all, I guess my question is, has anyone on here ever used the what I like to call, "work your way up method"? And if so, how did it work out for you? And even if you haven't used it I would love to hear your opinions on this method. It'd be much appreciated. Thank you!

I recently finished the cc and just wanted to see how some of you may be organizing your time with PTs and doing the fool proof method. For example, I'm going to take another PT but I still have to finish fool proofing the logic games from the last one. I'm afraid that if I end up taking PTs w/o finishing fool proofing, everything will stack up. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

Greetings all 7sagers!

I have noticed over the last few weeks that the discussions seem to be getting more and more panicked/negative/self-doubting/worried/pensive/etc. I am as neurotically worried as anyone about the LSAT (and it is less that two weeks away!) and I am in need of some inspiration! I think it makes sense to not complain about what others are not doing but to instead be the change you want to see in the world. Soooooo.....

Is anyone else excited about the opportunity to finally put this all of this practice and learning to the test (pun intended!). Come glorious conquering or complete failure or somewhere in between it will be a great challenge and one I can accept the outcome of because I am going to give it a great shot. Everything I have. And at the end of the day my score does not define me whether good or bad. If I score a 180 that does not define me. If I score a 120 that does not define me.

What a cool opportunity. I hope all of you get your rest, exercise, eat well, do a little last minute review, and enjoy family and friends.

Please respond AND start your own discussion with your own spin on something positive. Let's make the discussion board a place for both lament/worry/fear AND fearlessness/encouragement/joy.

Hey guys, hope the studying is going well. I have a question about PT scores that maybe some of the more experienced members can answer. To date I have taken 6 PTs, including my diagnostic. My score had been hovering around the 160 mark, until earlier this week when I took PT 68 and scored a 162. I was quite happy about that increase in score, despite the fact that it was only a 2 point increase over my average. Today I took PT 69 and scored a 171. I was ecstatic to say the least.

My question is if this huge improvement was a reflection of a statistical anomaly/easier test, or if this a true reflection of my increased ability. I know it's hard to say without more data, and I do intend to take at least 4 more tests prior to writing on the 24th. I would just like some opinions from those of you that have knowledge about these sort of occurrences.

Thanks guys, and all the best to those of you who are writing on the 24th!

Hi! I'm taking the LSAT for the first time in two weeks and was wondering if anyone would like to share their horror experiences with test centers/proctors? I want to be able to prepare myself for the worst!