34 posts in the last 30 days
I started out my prep with the LSAT Trainer, and have done two timed prep tests (one diagnostic and one after a few weeks of study). I just signed up for the 7Sage course, and I am wondering if anyone has any advice on whether I should focus on finishing the 7Sage course entirely before taking any more PTs?
Where you at, where do you wanna be, and what are you going to do get it?
Hi Everyone,
I'm just beginning to study for the LSAT. I'm a long ways away from actually taking the exam and suspect my actual date would be no sooner than 2016. However, I wanted to get started by aligning myself with some strategies/technique before I even begin to touch the prep tests. (Because of you, I understand not to go near them yet!!)
I am going to pick up some books but wanted to gain some feedback from you guys first. I would like to follow a schedule similar to PowerScore's 4 month program. I may add a month or two to the program in order to spread out the time and avoid burn out. I would like to use PowerScore's LG Bible and PowerScore's LR Bible. Based on your reviews, I would like to use Manhattan's RC Prep to fill that piece.
What are your thoughts about this combination? Are there any supplements I should add to this list of material? Once I finish this self-study program, I anticipate increasing my intensity through the three-phase cycle recommended by 7Sage. (Accuracy, Time, Endurance) Please let me know your thoughts! And thank you for all the feedback.
Best,
TM
How many copies of pt's do you recommend I copy?
Hi everyone!
What material would you recommend to supplement 7sage and in what order would you complete it relative to the 7sage curriculum and the practice tests!
So I've got three weeks left in the Army before I start terminal leave and I've finally reached the end of the learning curriculum and the only thing that stands in between me and 4-5 months of PTs is the LG Bundle. As I finished up the last few LG sections in the curriculum I saw a lot of people were having the same questions, concerns and other issues with how to approach their LG studies and utilizing the Fool Proof Method and since I don't really have a job or much to do at work anymore I thought I'd offer up my solution and strategy to address some of these problems. I think the Fool Proof Method is awesome, but I tweaked it very slightly for my purposes and I think it could help some people out to employ a similar strategy. If this helps you in any way, please pass it along to anyone else who may be struggling.
Top concerns I have seen from other people:
1) I think 10 copies of every LG is wasting paper.
2) I don't have enough time to do all the LGs.
3) I want to know the categories for every LG I'm doing.
4) When do I do which games and how often do I do them again?
Before I answer these questions directly, here is what I've actually done to set myself up for success. If you were fortunate enough to get the LG Bundle before LSAC made it vanish, then you have all the games from PTs 1-35 which is 140 games. If you have anything less than that, just scale down what I'm prescribing, but everything should still go along as I outline here. I got a few 2" 3-ring binders and filled them with document protectors. I then began with PT 1 and printed out 4 copies of the first game (more on this later), which if you have the LG Bundle is 8 pieces of paper since 7Sage was kind enough to format the old LGs like the new ones with 2 pages and plenty of room to work. If you don't have this I'd say add a piece of scratch paper in with each game to give yourself extra space to simulate what you'll have on the LSAT. I then placed all 4 copies of the first game in a document protector and put a sticky note on the front denoting the following: PT#, LG#, and then a chart with 1st-4th attempts on the vertical axis and Date/Time/Score on the horizontal axis (more on this later as well). I then repeated this process for each subsequent game so that now I have a binder full of 4 copies of each LG, although due to the volume of paper you'll need at least 2 or 3 binders like I mentioned above.
All the information I collect on the sticky notes I will put into a very simple Excel spreadsheet I have designed to track my progress. If you've read this far and are still interested, feel free to message me your email and I will send you a blank copy of the spreadsheet I designed so you can use it and tweak it how you see fit. In a nutshell it has space to log the date/time/score for every attempt for every LG in the bundle.
The first attempt is simply that, just my first shot at a new LG. I time everything with a stopwatch so I know how I'm doing, but I don't set a timer because that doesn't really make sense to me since I'm working to standard and not to time. If you time yourself and stop then you won't know how long the game is actually taking you, so always use a stopwatch (I hope this is common sense at this point). So once I finish I record the date and the time it took me and I blind review and then check my score. I then record only the score I got while timing myself since this is LG and there is no way you should get LG questions wrong during BR since you can just brute force the answers if need be if you really don't understand something. If you're missing LG questions on BR then in my opinion there is something seriously wrong in your methodologies and you need to perhaps relearn the basics unless you just misread a question or something like that.
After recording the data on the sticky note and transferring it to my spreadsheet I watch JY's video explanation and go over the game and then I put that LG in the back of the document protector it came from behind the clean LGs and take out the second copy. I then make my second attempt, timing myself, doing my BR, recording all data, and then rewatching the video if necessary. I then make my third attempt the next day, and my fourth attempt I make a week later, always following the same methodologies as I did on the first attempt.
My thinking is that if I'm really serious about this, I should be able to conquer any given LG in four tries. Two in a row should see a huge time and accuracy improvement since it's so fresh in my mind, then the third and fourth attempts simply reinforce this improvement and the retention of the strategy. This also makes you more efficient since you know that each LG is simply a 7-8 day practice exercise. Trying to schedule out an additional 6 attempts to do all 10 copies just seemed ridiculous to me given that there are 140 LGs to do in the bundle. In my mind it's better to be able to develop mastery more quickly and then encounter a wider variety of games in order to make sure you're ready for everything. Of course, if there is an incredibly hard LG then obviously that may require additional attempts, but this should be a rare exception to the rule.
So to revisit the concerns I noted above, here are my solutions:
1) Obviously you're going to have to get over using some paper, so cutting that down by 60% should be a good tradeoff to help get you into law school in my opinion. And once you get your 170+ you can go recycle all that paper!
2) If you don't have time to do all the LGs, just scale down the above and do what you have time for. If you know it will take a week turnaround per LG and you can do 5 per day, then you know you can get at least 30-35 done in a two week period depending on if you take a day off or not. At this rate you could do more than 100 LGs before the June LSAT if need be (but you should probably be focusing on PTs). If you have to scale way down I'd recommend randomly picking PTs from 1-35 and doing all the games in that PT so you shouldn't end up doing all of the same kind of question and will get a better feel for the variability within a given test.
3) In my opinion you absolutely should never record the category of any game you attempt. If you do, it will negatively influence your work since you will know going in to use a chart or to sequence and group rather than just deducing what needs to be done. When you take the LSAT it doesn't say GROUPING GAME in bold type at the top of the page, so you should practice like its the real thing, which means no knowledge of categories.
4) I think I addressed this well in my strategy above, but it bears repeating: Make 4 attempts: 1st - Today, 2nd - Immediately afterwards, 3rd - Tomorrow, 4th - In a week (either a week from attempts 1&2 or a week from your 3rd attempt, that's your call schedule wise).
Anyways, I know this is a bit long but I hope it helps at least one person because as a longtime lurker I have gotten a lot of help from the community here and I wanted to try to do my part to give at least a little bit back. If anyone is still reading this and wants more details or wants photos of my binders or that Excel spreadsheet, feel free to hit me up anytime. Best of luck to all the June LSAT takers and to everyone else in your studies!
~Pacifico
P.S.- Though I am more than happy to help anyone here with any issues they may have, I will not send you the LG Bundle as that would violate both 7Sage and LSAC regulations. Please don't put me or anyone else in that position because I am trying to help people here and won't break the law to do so. Thanks for your cooperation!
P.P.S. - I don't check my inbox on here anymore, but if you have any questions you can DM me on Twitter @pacificosoldati and I'll do my best to help you however I can.
Hey 7Sagers! May is right around the corner and with that, we're looking for new photos for both the front page and specific lessons. Here's an example of the existing pictures we have up, submitted in the past by users like you:
We're not looking for the exact same type of pictures shown above, those are just examples of what we've had in the past. Think outside the box! We love that stuff.
Need some examples of what we're looking for?
* Photos of you studying outside in the great outdoors
* Photos of you studying on the bus or metro
* Photos that show your beautiful-and-handsome-self studying (3rd person instead of 1st person perspective)
Pictures can be taken from any video capture device and include yourself, your PC/Mac, Smart Phone, Tablet and/or notes.
Did you take a photo that would be perfect for one of the lessons? Send us your photo and a link to the lesson you think it's best suited for. For example:
A photo of a camera for:
http://classic.7sage.com/lesson/camera-lens-resolution-mp-question/
Or herbs for:
http://classic.7sage.com/lesson/herbs-as-drugs-method-question
Multiple submissions are welcome! The prize is a $100 Amazon gift certificate per accepted entry!
Deadline is June 5th.
Send all submissions to dillon@7sage.com with the title "PHOTO CONTEST".
Hi everyone,
I took a day off and wanted to start working on my personal statement but I'm confused about how that whole process works? Is there a prompt we get from each law school we are applying to? This is probably a stupid question but I haven't really looked into it ...
I already have a ton of the PrepTests you can find on the LSAC website, but they don't correlate with these much older (PrepTest 30-40ish) versions 7sage used. I've tried searching for them, with no luck. Any suggestions?
Hey 7Sagers,
Had someone email me with this question and thought you could help! Here it is:
I have completed my degree program in Strategic Communication and would like to read International Law. However, is it true that I would have read Law for degree and masters for five years ? Again, is it true that if I pass my LSAT exams very well I could read Law for three years ? Lastly, I desire to enroll at either Harvard or Yale University, how do I get admission and a full time scholarship?
I've taken a look at the curriculum that 7Sage has to offer; I'm very impressed and ready to purchase the course but before I do so, I'm wondering if it's applicable for the Canadian LSAT. I'm not even sure if they're different, I just don't want to spend all that money and time for a poor score due to this over site. So, I guess my question is, does 7Sage prepare you for both the American and Canadian LSAT?
Thanks in advance!
Do you read for specific details? Or do you just vaguely remember where details they are? I'm trying to cut down on my time in RC, but I'm having a problem quickly locating detail questions. How do you do it? For me, I can read a passage and understand the main point, the relationships between the paragraphs, and the author's attitude, but I take too much time on detail-oriented questions. It's either I look at a passage broadly, or in detail, but not both.
Thanks.
Back in February I made the decision to write the LSAT in June. Currently still in my undergrad: I choose to drop 2 of the 5 courses I was registered in to take this past spring semester. I went out and purchased all the "PowerScore" prep books and used their 4-month study plan as a guide. I found myself studying non-stop balancing school and the LSAT was difficult, but I am a highly motivated individual with a strong work ethic and was able to keep up the pace (for the most part). However I was stuck in my decision whether or not to write the LSAT in June, I'm currently 1.5-2 weeks behind that study schedule (PowerScores 4-month). If I were to follow through with that study plan it would require me to pretty much "rush" through prep-tests (waste valuable resources). So I’ve made the decision to hold off on writing until Oct. I believe that I can score so much better if I’m not rushing through materials and various prep tests (also I’m not where I want to be in terms of my score). It's not that I don't know the concepts. I've pretty much completed all of PowerScore’s publications (Bibles LR, RC,& LG), I know how to answer questions and don't struggle very much applying any of these concepts to LSAT problems whether it be games, reasoning (RC is a bit more challenging for me), however time is an issue (applying the concepts quickly becomes tricky) that is why I think I just need more time to solidify these concepts and then work on performing them quickly. However I don’t really know the proper approach for my studies going forward? I know "pretty much" all the principles (already been studying for 3 months) so starting with the basic's (Like every LSAT course/study plan does) would not suit me (or do I actually need to re-learn them if I’m not where I want to be) I don't believe I need to re-learn basic concepts (ex, sufficient and necessary, cause and effect etc…?). So my Question is what do I do going forward? Do I just use these next 5 months writing 1-2 prep tests a week and then take the time to go through it all week? Consistently do timed sections in LR and RC every couple of days and then review? Repeatedly bang out logic games? I'm just stuck and don't know how I should study for these next 5 months?
Some advice would be greatly appreciated thank you!
Hi everyone, so I'm taking the test in October and I'm currently averaging 167 with BR at 173. While I do have a solid amount of time to study before the test, I'm feeling frustrated over a few things. Any advice on how to fix out some (all, any!) of my current problems would be *immensely* appreciated (thanks to all for your help/support thus far!) So here are my questions:
1. How do I increase my BR score?? What keeps happening is that I second-guess myself on questions I originally got right in LR and then get 2-4 questions wrong in BR (hence the 173).
2. I've scored 167 the last 4 PTs and I don't know how I can analyze my results better in order to address my problems. I usually get between -6 and -4 wrong in LR and between -4 and -1 in RC.
3. Most importantly, where do I go from here? What should I focus on? I've been taking 1PT a week and BRing thoroughly, but should I postpone taking any more PTs and focus on drilling RC and problem question types for LR or is BRing more important? As of last week I've been writing down explanations for every answer choice for every question in LR and RC, so maybe that's the way to go?
Like many of you I read that NYTimes article featuring Jonathan and grew very concerned. Jonathan (and the other 7Sage mentors) represent a high bar: obviously smart, entrepreneurial, and graduates from great universities. I know that Jonathan clarified some of the article's mischaracterizations in an earlier post, but the point still sticks: now seems like a terrible time to go to law school. I'm considering pocketing my LSAT score for a few years till the market recovers. Thoughts?
If you guys are looking to listen to or read the transcript of Obergefell v. Hodges, here's a link: http://www.advocate.com/politics/2015/04/28/listen-oral-arguments-obergefell-v-hodges
Hello,
I downloaded all of the PDFs from the link that have subsequently been removed; however, I'm not sure if these still exist in the course contents list. All of those PDF files used to exist right beside the lessons. Is that still how it is? If not, how do we know when we should be incorporating the PDFs?
I have been trying to upgrade from my free account, but when I click on "Payment Information" nothing happens!
Any advice?
Hey Guys,
I studied roughly 6 months for the February LSAT, took the test and scored relatively lower than my PT average. I had a pretty bad test day; they tried to kick me out off the bat et cetera. I scored a 159 while my general average was around a 164 or higher.
I am thinking about retaking the June LSAT. After taking a small break, I feel so much better looking at the test. Things just come to me naturally in a way that seemed so foreign before. HOWEVER
the problem is I only have roughly 3 PTs I have not taken. What should I do?
I took about a month and a half off, and when I look at old PTs I don't consciously remember any of the questions, however I am scoring oddly higher (167 range). I don't know if this is due to the break, or subconscious memory.
What do you guys think, can I learn with these 'old' PTs?
Should I reserve the untainted PTs to one a week?
I'm at that point where I'm consistently scoring in the 168-172 range in Blind Review, but still trying to get the hang of completing sections in the allotted time. I've been told that setting the time to 40 minutes and slowly inching my way down to 35 minutes can help with timing. Is this true? I've been kind of wary of this because I feel like it's a waste of valuable preptests. Can any high scorers attest to this strategy?
Thanks.
I have been a registered premium member of 7sage since Jan 2015. I raised the question if 7sage would remove all PDF files from the lectures (http://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/14447) in light of the policy change dated Apr 6, 2015 (you can search my username in the post). However, later on, due to work, I didn't get a chance to log into 7sage until today. Consequently, I missed to download all possible PDF files, posted on Apr 8, 2015, which are no longer available up to today when I just logged in and checked. I wasn't notify by 7sage at all that they had posted all PDFs that is available for downloading. The lectures without proper reference of the real & printable LSAT questions are useless, while the price for the preparation course remains as if the proper preparation materials are still being present.
I am pretty sure this would not be a problem for myself, and there are other users possibly experiencing the same. I was wondering if there are any other ways that could help solve the problem in an efficient way (other than purchase each of past LSAT tests for the questions that are referenced in the 7sage lectures).
Hi everyone!
After fluctuations in PT scores (My most recent was a 158, BR 167 after a high of 166, BR 175-yikes!) I've pretty much decided that I will not be taking the June LSAT. With such a variance in my score range, it just doesn't seem stable enough. Plus, the closest testing center is all full anyway...
Anyway, I'm at the point where I'm wondering how to keep myself motivated and make sure my head is in the game. There is still plenty of time before the October LSAT but I'm not sure how to go about utilizing my time in the best way possible. I've started typing out my reasoning for eliminating LR answer choices but it seems to take forever and I'm not really sure that my reasoning is even correct (another question: how to best attack and eliminate wrong LR ACs?). I've gone through the fundamentals again and feel stronger with lawgic but lawgic isn't always the easiest way to approach an LR question.
I would like to have my apps in by Thanksgiving but that means working on personal statements while studying and working full-time. I'm just afraid I'm going to burn out! These past few weeks, I've been slacking on studying because I've resigned myself to not taking the June test and I'm worried that this will happen throughout the rest of the summer months as well. What are all of you October/December test-takers doing to stay motivated and how can I best utilize the remaining time to make sure that my score doesn't plummet down?
Thank you for your help :) I really feel comforted by the stories and questions I see in the 7Sage Discussion Forum!
anyone else having trouble with the way the correct answers show up below the LG videos? i can hover my mouse over the choices, and see the % selected, but i can no longer see them highlighted in green... thoughts?
Hi so today's test was higher than last week's timed. I'm a bit bummed bc I missed br on a logic game ( 6 points )I thought I rocked .
My BR was only 10 pts higher on ones I circled. so I'm missing some basics. Today scored 154.
My goal is 160 in 6 weeks. Is that feasible ? I reviewed video and Manhattan for LR n comp. Also, I note several ones I missed I either misread or changed my answer during timed portion/ not br. Anything I should pay attention to?
Logic games are still my worse but it was june 2009 dinosaur game so I still have hope.
All suggestions are encouraged.
Some background- I have been stuck around the same score (+/- 2 points) for quite a while. I took 57 recently and saw a drastic jump in my score. I really want to feel happy as this is the first time I've done this well. I've changed things up a bit in terms of the way I BR, drill, etc. I am, however, concerned that it was a fluke/serious outlier. Full disclosure: I won't be able to take another full PT for a few days and am eager to know if this legit! That's what led to this post.
It looks like one of the BR groups is taking the PT this week. If anyone is willing to share their general impressions of this PT, I would really appreciate it. Difficulty relative to other tests, section to section, etc. I've had a hard time nailing down (even in BR) what exactly I'm struggling with since the type varies quite a bit.
Thanks!
