I am interested in knowing what people, who had/have the 7sage curriculum, did during the curriculum. I am particularly interested in if those individuals drilled during the curriculum. I also do not mean drill as in doing the 5 questions at the end of every section, I mean full on drill a section of those specific question types then BR them. I recently purchased the 7sage ultimate, and I am now at 40% finished with the course, however the only reason I am not further in the course is because when I had the starter package I went through most of the curriculum without having the extra problem sets that come with the ultimate. Essentially, I was about 70% done with the core curriculum when I had the starter. Now, however, I have to go back and do all the other problem sets that come with the ultimate package. I do not mind doing this at all, however I was thinking of finishing the core first, which I do not have much of, and then going back to do all the rest of the problem sets as drills. Is this a good idea? I just feel that I will truly never finish with this course if I continue to drill in the midst of learning the core. My drilling is too precise, I mean I can literally take about 4hrs to understand every nitty gritty detail of a 5 question problem set for LR, as well as LG,this includes the ones I already understand, which means finishing this course will not happen anytime soon, and although the fundamentals are extremely important, I am not going to get any better at this test if I do not start drilling sections, and PTing. What advice do you guys have for me?

Is it more beneficial to Blind Review after every completed section or after taking the entire test?

Hello Everyone,

I see a lot of people mentioning their implementation of the Cambridge Packets. I would be tempted to purchase them, but I already own all of the Prep Tests from 1-38 as they are. Is there any comprehensive list that groups the sections according to types so I could group them up myself? Or is question-type based drilling that crucial to begin with? Don't have the most money right now, so any help would be greatly appreciated :( Thanks!

Sooooo, I just did Pt 27 S2 G2 which is the lizards and snakes game. That was challenging as hell. Did you guys struggle with this game as well? Also I am a bit flustered by the explanation of this game. JY makes the claim that the 1st premise of this game means that each habitat has 2 slots, but how do we know that if the rule just states MAX 2 PER SLOT? Max 2 does not mean every habitat has 2 slots. Also, during the exam you are not going to "ignore certain elements of the game." How did you guys go about solving this game?

Hi! I've posted before.... earlier this week as well... but I have a question for those in the 168-180 range!

Right now, I took a prep test and received a 170 w/ BR of 175 and a 168 w/ BR of 180. While I know two scores aren't a clear sign of a trend YET, I feel as if something has "clicked" within me for the LSAT, and I do feel confident that my mark on my next PT will be in that range.

I'm looking to be scoring in the 170s for my PTs from here on out, and looking to score a solid 170 on the October exam. With that goal in mind, I want to make sure I'm prepping in an effective manner. I also want to reduce my risk of burn out. So, with those two goals in mind, I will outline my situation below:

My boss is allowing me to work a reduced schedule, so I can being prepping everyday from 2-whenever I go to bed. I wake up, go to the gym, come home and get ready. As I'm getting ready I read through some LSAT notes. Things like... how to do certain questions/what to look for for Reading Comprehension/how to translate conditional statements, ect.

When I get to work, I study usually from 7:30-8:30. I do 1 timed RC, 4 passage section, and 1 timed LG section. I use ONLY the allotted pencils, sharpener, highlighters that we will be using during the exam, and I always time myself. I then correct the LG and leave the RC BR for after work.

When I get home I BR the RC, check my answers, and review them to see where my problem areas lie. I then usually do 1-2 LR sections and BR them. I do an additional 1-2 LG sections as well.

I plan to PT every Wednesday from 2-5, and every Saturday from 9-12 ish. On Saturdays, I try and set up the routine exactly how it'll be on The Day: wake up, go to the gym, come home and eat breakfast and have a coffee, start my exam, on break I plan to drink an energy drink and eat the same snack I will come test day. I do 5 sections. I want to continue like this until September.

In September, I plan on testing in areas with noise: open libraries, ect.

At this point, I've been through a lot of Cambridge packages, and I am doing prep tests 58-74. I left prep tests.... 45 ish to about 50 to use as the material for the LR/RC/LG drilling. I constantly drill past LG sections. My LG is usually -1 to 0 every single time.

Does this appear to be an effective strategy? I also have began reading articles on my train rides to and from work, to help with RC.

Should I be doing something else? I also fear burnout, so I was thinking of doing light studying every Friday from like... 2-5 PM, and then taking the evening off. Writing a PT Saturday, BR Sunday morning, and taking Sunday afternoon off.

Thoughts? I AM SORRY IT'S SO LONG! xo

How often do you find yourself finishing sections early? If so what sections particularly, & how much extra time do you typically have to go back and double check questions that you weren't 100% on?

I've hit a plateau at the 159 - 162 timed range, with a BR between 167-170.I'm typically finishing RC with literally no time to spare and average around minus 6-9. LR I can usually get through every question in time, with the exception being skipping and guessing on a difficult parallel reasoning question. LR average is between minus 5-8 per section with the a few minus 3's. LG is undoubtedly my worst section. I usually finish the first three games (or easiest three) relatively comfortably, but always run out of time and end up guessing on the last game. If I'm lucky I'll have time to read through the rules of the fourth game and get the easy acceptable situation type question. My LG average usually falls between minus 7-9, but I've had a couple as bad as minus 11-12. I don't typically have trouble picking the right game board or setting them up correctly, however it still just flat out takes me too long to make the necessary inferences. I typically resort to not making multiple set ups before attacking questions. Most of the time I write the rules, then move straight to the questions and brute force the correct answer after POE for obvious wrong answers. This is partly because I'm terrible at deciding when it's going to be extremely helpful to make multiple set ups before hand, and partly because I'm not confident enough to do it thoroughly in a reasonable amount of time.

I truly feel like if I could just get faster (especially in LG but also LR) I could get over the hump, but obviously that's way easier said than done. I'd love to be consistently hitting 165 before October. At this point I have completed the entire 7sage core curriculum, about 3/4 the LG bundle, and taken PT's 36 - 38, and 51 - 60. I'm trying fine tune my approach for the final 7 weeks before October. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

I scored a 168 on June 2015. I made the decision to take it only 9 weeks before-- In those subsequent weeks I took 30 pt's. The 4 weeks before the test I took a pt every week day, and would study till I was on the verge of tears. It was brutal, and by the last week before the test I was inconceivably burnt out. I had to neglect taking the last pt's I planned to. I was going for quantity this first time taking the test, and now I'm gearing up for Oct 2015. I want quality this time; I want less hours of studying but I want to maximize the time I spend. Most of all, I want to be as fresh as possible on test day. Burnout is not going to slide this time.

Has anybody else experienced this crisis? At some point, quantity, the amount of hours and pt's, begins to yield little in terms of becoming better at taking the test. And it burns you out-- I scored 3 below my average in pt's for June 2015, which I hear is actually normal. How do I, with limited hours and only a few pt's (I'm planning on only taking 5-6 pt's before Oct), maximize the time I spend?

I believe that I'm going to find out that quality of study time, after thoroughly acquainting one's self with the LSAT, is far superior than the quantity of hours spent studying.

For the practice sets of 5 problems. It says to time ourselves. Should we time ourselves to see how long each question takes us? Or time in a limited time sense. And if so how long should I give myself to do 5 questions. Thanks

I am starting to get more answers correct. Do you guys view the explanation videos on the ones you got right? I want to get my money's worth, but not sure if that's a waste of time.

Are there any inaccuracies in this book? I am starting to get skeptic here, but I could just be cray cray.

7Sage has been a really great resource and community for all of my LSAT prep, but now I'm in, and I'm feeling lost. I start in the next few weeks. I was taking things one step at a time, never jumping too far ahead in the admissions process. So, until June, my only focus was LSAT studying. I started looking for 1L advice when I thought law school might actually be a realistic possibility after the June test. I have found so much conflicting information. Some people who recommend buying every 1L support book possible and others (mostly people I know) who went in completely blind and still graduated in the top 10% of their class. I have taken some of Larry's book recommendations, I have been reading Planet Law School (which recommends a million other support materials), Glannon on Civ Pro, and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning. I don't want to overwhelm myself by buying and reading every book ever written for 1L's (nor do I even have the time), but I also don't feel comfortable walking in without knowing exactly what to expect. I've been reading through Larry's Law School Master but it's so new it doesn't offer what 7Sage has in terms of community and consistency. I would love any advice!

I had a discussion with a coworker yesterday about taking the LSAT. I just turned 32 in May and she kind of frowned at my age. I felt she was frowing because she felt I am too old to be pursuing law school. By no means do I agree. I'm 100% certain (not really, but I would definitely bet my rent money and car payment on this!) I'm not the oldest person to pursue law school. I just wanted to know others perspectives. A little of my story. I never wanted to go straight from undergrad to law, so I never tried. Looking back on everything I probably would've had to drop out anyway. I couldn't find a job after graduating (2006) so I decided to go back to school for my paralegal certificate (2007). I've worked as a paralegal in various areas since. I've definitely wanted to get started with LSAT prep a lot earlier than now but life had other plans. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. Took my first LSAT Dec 6 2008, 5 days after being diagnosed. My score was horrible! Til this day I have refused to tell anyone my score. Now, under the circumstances I had no business taking that test, but I wanted to keep things as "normal" as possible. Admittedly, I wasn't even entirely prepared for the test. I finished chemo and all treatments in June 2009. Of course it took me awhile to jump back up on the pony so the LSAT was placed to the side. After more scares and more surgeries I'll fast fwd to 2013. I was ready to move forward with my studies. My health seemed to be ok. April 2013 I had surgery to have a tumor removed from the base of my brain. This surgery knocked me on my @ss!!! I was just not ready. At all! Worse than the chemo! It took me about 6-8 weeks to bounce back, but not entirely. Just enough to return to work. I've always suffered from allergy and sinus issues. For some reason the symptoms turned up in 2012-2013. I suffered back to back chronic sinus infections and ear infections. Lost slight hearing in one ear. Didn't even know that was possible. Antiobiotics and steroids no longer helped so here I was back in surgery about 8 weeks post "brain surgery"!! Probably not the best decision but obviously my neurologist and ENT were aware of my history. Again I got knocked all the way down!! The recovery for this one was even longer. After 1 more minor procedure in 2013 I was ready for 2014. After playing around with other materials I was fully committed to 7Sage. After lots of distractions, lazinees, stubborness and procrastination 2015 will be the year for me. I don't see the reason for having to take the test in October so I'll take it in December if necessary. I hate to say, "I only need a XXX." I've decided to see how far I can push myself to achieve the best score possible for me. Just because I'm that stubborn! I've decided to not let the LSAT have me! LOL Anybody else dealing with age or any other issues that may seem like the "law school ship" has sailed?

Hi All,

I apologize if this question has been already been asked before. For those of you who have already written the LSAT or are deep into PTing, I was wondering if you studied using any material other than just 7Sage (other than the LSAT Trainer)?

Basically, did you find that the curriculum of 7Sage was enough on its own (with appropriate drilling and PTing, of course)?

Which study method is better if you have enough time to take and BR 60 LSAT PTs... Take the 20 most recent PTs 3x's (56-75) or 60 PTs (16-75) once... Please explain your decision... I actually am on pace to accomplish 20 x 3...

Yo people.

I loved my LSAT watch from 35minutes.com. I used the heck out of it from Feb. thru July. Then I finally ripped the mechanism out (better it happen now than, you know, like the week before). So now I want a new watch.

I'm looking at this one. http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Score-LSAT-Watch-Exam/dp/B00SC6FJ3M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1438699397&sr=8-3&keywords=lsat+watch

And this one. http://www.180watch.com/

I stopped caring about price because I'd rather have a better watch than save ~$20-$30. You feel ??

Any thoughts? Priorities are ... Either 4 section color coding or none, love the nifty "section reset" button (otherwise I was planning on having my nails done to guarantee that they're long/strong enough to pull the little doohickey out ... maybe that last part belongs in the Confessional thread).

I've decided to take a break from PTs, and go back over the basics. I think one of my weaknesses is taking the Lawgic that we were taught, and applying it to the questions. So... if I can get someone to breakdown for me EXACTLY WHY and HOW we put questions into lawgic. Simplify for it me. How does it help with logical reasoning and reading comprehension questions, and then apply it to a question. I think this will help to unlock whatever block I'm feeling about understanding how this works exactly.

let's use a question I get wrong every time. Test 29 Section 1 Question 7.

Find the logical operator?

Identify two main concepts

Assign symbols to the 2 main groups

Apply translation rule

Find contrapositive

Translate back to English

Okay, I just wanted to post this. I know I post a lot sometimmmmeeeessss.

I don't know what my initial diagnostic score was, but I'm sure it was the worst. I started prepping for the LSAT last May of 2014. I started with Kaplan for a few months, then I eventually found 7Sage, but there wasn't enough time for me to get my *best* mark before the December 2014 write. I wrote anyways and received a sad 155.

I was discouraged to say the least! I didn't get into any of the schools I applied for (not surprising), but I decided to hit the books every single day since I took that exam, even if it was for an hour or two in the morning before work and on my lunch break.

I started taking timed PTs once a week since the end of May. I have taken 9 so far. I posted in June that I received my first 170! Yesterday I took PT 57 and received a 168. I took today to BR and I received a 180 for the first time EVER.

The point of this post is thiiiiissss. I remember reading so many discussions when I started last year about people reaching (what seemed like) impossibly amazing scores. I was so insecure with my ability and didn't really believe that I could do it. I also was naive to think that you could fully prep for this exam in such a short time period. And, while I don't mean to discourage those reading this who are within that tight time frame, I can say that I benefited most from sitting back, reassessing, and taking my TIME with prepping. Sure, I would have loved to start at a law school for this September, but when I was prepping back in 2014 I would literally wake up at 3 AM every day and study until 10 PM every night (after an 8 hour day, so I would study in the AM for 2-3 hours, on my lunch break, and then from 5-10 daily). It was exhausting to say the least. But, and more importantly, I wasn't ever giving my brain any opportunity to absorb the information it was taking in every single day. I couldn't let my brain process how to answer questions. I used to get so much test anxiety when sitting down to write a PT at 3 AM that I would almost make myself physically ill and then cry when a dismal 152 would pop up on the grader and I would wonder how on earth I could ever increase my score.

SO. THE point is this. You can do it, everyone has it in them, all it takes is consistency, perseverance, belief in your ability, and TIME.

:)

In 2 out of my last 3 PT's, I have scored over 175... Unreal.... I would have never guessed I would do this in my wildest dreams. Thanks 7 sage and community

Hi guys,

I'm retaking the LSAT in October, so I already have familiarity with each LSAT section, but not in the in-depth way that many people on this forum seem to have. I have the Powerscore Bible for LG 'cause it's my weakest section, but I'd like something to drill and keep somewhat sharp on Arguments and RC (was getting -2/-4 on PTs in those sections). Since I'm pretty good at them, I don't want to drop $50 a piece on the PS Bibles and spend a ton of time on them.

Does anyone know about the viability and/or helpfulness of the "LSAT Superprep" book published by LSAC to help me drill in these sections? (Thinking maybe it could help me understand the sometimes baffling logic of LSAC) Or is there maybe a better way?

Thanks for your help!

Christian

http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-62-section-4-question-08/

http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-62-section-4-question-10/

Hi all, I just took PT 62 today and I would like to get some input from other 7sagers regarding the answer choices for these two questions. I scored a 173 on the exam, but there were a couple of answers that still do not sit right with me after watching each explanation ten times. For question 8 the stimulus refers to "diverse cultures," but the correct answer choice includes the phrase, "all of the world's cultures," which seems overreaching. I initially circled this answer choice (C), but I changed it to "A," which I thought was incorrect as well. As for question 10, it seems to me that the flaw is that liquid water is not sufficient for primitive life to evolve, but the correct answer choice reads, "fails to consider that there are conditions necessary for the evolution of life in addition to the presence of liquid water." How does this introduce the notion that water is not sufficient? It just points out that there might be other necessary factors. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been really delaying making this thread, partially in hopes that I would start hitting the scores I need to soon, and wouldn't need to basically rant.

I started studying in May, finished the core curriculum + all Cambridge packets in 2months, and July 8th I started doing Practice Tests. I've done 8 in total, I do 3 a week, M, W, and F, mainly in accordance with my local university library's schedule. I blind review the lsats the entire day after, so on Tuesdays, and Thursday, and on the weekends I take it a little easier and blind review half day on Sat and Sun. I should mention that my BR scores are never much higher, they're always around 161, which worries me as time is clearly not the problem. I generally catch my silly mistakes in BR, but reading LR I almost always just go with my original answers. :/

I never took a diagnostic as I didn't want to discourage myself by getting a low score, and also didn't want to do LG without having proper diagramming skills. If I had to guess, I would say it would be pretty low, probably 140s, but I guess I'll never know.

Unlike most of the people on 7Sage, I'm from Canada, and here all you need to get into a vast majority of the schools, even some of the best ones is an LSAT score of 160+, assuming you have a stellar GPA, which I'm happy to say I have. For my particular school of choice, a 162 on the LSAT would guarantee me a spot according to the index score used for this year, and 160 would most likely get me in off the waiting list.

Now getting to the rant part, I'm stuck in a slump. My last 5 LSAT scores have been: 159, 157, 156, 158, and today was 157. The corresponding raw scores were 74, 69, 71, 70, and 73.

According to the analytics I have the most difficulty with Flaw/Descriptive weakening questions, and Law passages (the irony :L).

LG is my strongest section, I usually go -3 and it's usually due to either not having enough time or misreading some rules. RC is weird for me, there are days like today, where I went 20/26, and others where I go 18/28. LR is another weird one, it's all over the place. Average is 66%, usually 17/25, but some days I go 20/25, and today oddly enough I went 19/25, and 15/26.

I've been reading the Trainer, and am on Chapter 10, but stopped after I started taking PTs, will get back to it asap, and try to make sure I read one chapter everyday.

So sorry for this loooooooong background story, but I need help getting out of this slump and I'm so sick of coming home and marking my LSATs only to find out I keep getting 157ish. I'm hoping maybe as long as I keep at it, I'll eventually just increase my score, but I keep thinking like no matter what I do I always end up at the same score. Like days where I rock LG and RC, I mess up LR, and other days I rock LR and mess up RC.

Is there any other material I should get, like potentially read through the Manhattan LR, or go back and review 7Sage core lessons?

By Oct I need to get 160+, and I would even be happy with literally just getting 160, but I'm worried as people say the later tests are even harder, and if I'm scoring 157 on these earlier, apparently easier tests, I don't want to know what will happen later on. Which is why I think I'm going to start jumping around, I've done PTs 39-46 so far, and I think I should do 60s next week?

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I apologize again for making this exceptionally long.

* Oh and regarding time, I generally haven't had a problem with not finishing sections on time, that being said I don't have extra but I somehow always seem to just finish before time runs out, don't get any time leftover to go back to any questions, but when I go through questions I usually pick one without the intention of having to come back.

So just bombed my fourth PT and I think it's about time I reevaluate my timeline and goals in here. Mid 160's is my target but I can't seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel here. So far my PT have been embarrassing at best. My initial diagnostic was 146. I've taken PT 36 - 39. So far I've gotten 133 (Didn't even think that was possible), 141, 146, and 147. I started the course in April and finished a couple of weeks ago and just started PT. Thing is, my BR has been comparably much better, in fact, probably right where I'd like to end up at. I've BR at 150, 156, 168, and 162. On RC I'm averaging -11.5 on LR I'm -14 and LG I'm -17. On BR for RC I'm -5, on LR I'm -7, and LG -8. A lot of these are really brought down by my first test where I pretty much locked up like a deer in headlights. But still, I'm thinking tempted to start from scratch here. Thing is, when I come back for BR, even for the ones I get wrong on BR, I'm seeing very clearly where I was wrong and most of the time, the right answer is the one I struggled with debating for. It leads me to believe there is something that's sunk in. I just don't know if this means I should continue PT and BR to a greater extent to work on timing and understanding the stimulus quickly, or if I should come back to the fundamentals of the course again before taking any more exams. Even since my first PT I've noticed a difference, especially in LG where I am at least completing a couple of games, but I'm nowhere where I thought I would be with 60 days until October. At this point, I'm thinking I should push this out till December. I'm already working full time and I'll be starting school at the end of this month. If anyone could help me gauge the mess I've made here, it'd be much appreciated.

So I was reading a blog post on personal statements by the Yale Dean of Admissions, and she linked to this video as a "law school reality check:"

I know we have all heard these critiques about going to law school before, but watching it in the context of what not to do in my personal statement made me second guess everything I was planning on writing.

I'm hoping to get thoughts from you guys (because posting this on TLS would likely make me cry) regarding the video. How have you convinced yourselves that you're not whom this video is making fun of, and how will you prove that to law schools in your applications?

Thank you and I apologize if this is old news.

Hi all. I'm about to do my June 2007 preptest tomorrow according to my syllabus. I know I'm supposed to emulate the test conditions to be the same time as what the real test would be held (early morning). However I can't do it this week b/c of my child's school schedule. The timing is super tight so I would be distracted during the test about being tardy to pick up at school. Would it be terrible to take the preptest any other time during the day when I feel alert? Or....should I wait and move on to the rest of the core curriculum and do the preptest next week when I have the time. Thanks so much.

Hey all!

I know the topic retaking PTs (and the value of that) has been discussed many times, but I just wanted to get a little more specific advice.

Like many others, I have exhausted all of the PTs, except for 72-74. There are some PTs that I have reviewed very extensively. Some PTs I have only taken once and may not have done a very thorough review. I think there is value in finding which ones I am less familiar with, and re-taking + BR. Right now my main focus is working through the Cambridge drilling packets, and really honing my fundamentals.

What can you glean from the score inflation of retakes? For example, I just took a PT and scored a 180, but I remembered the logical reasoning very clearly, so I don't take it seriously at all. RC and LG I did not remember as well. How about for a PT that I do not remember as well, what can I take away from the score?

I am just worried that for the questions I have reviewed a lot previously, I am remembering the right answer, and sure why it is the right answer in that instance. But I want to be extra sure that I am reinforcing the right reasoning skills and not just the right answers.

Thank you so much!

Julia