I wanted to describe my experience and see..... more or less... if I am on the right track!!

I took the LSAT December 2014 and scored a disappointing 155. I have so far been rejected from 2/4 places I applied, and I have no hope for the last 2 schools! I took a mini break since December because I started prep for my bikini competition on May 18th. I did (since December until now) study between 1-2 hours a day, I retook the entire Ultimate Course again, and I recently finished the LG Bundle.

I took #36 today and consider that my "baseline" score. I received a 163. Although I am happy that it's higher than a 155, some questions felt "familiar" although I did still have to go through the answer choices to determine my answer. I know, once I get into the 60s and 70s for prep tests, that they won't feel familiar any longer, which is good! However, I am still a wee bit disappointed that my mark wasn't higher, especially given the familiarity of the questions.

Regardless, I am going to take this process slow, as I felt I burnt out considerably last time... with doing 5-6 hours of studying a day, waking up at 3:30 AM to workout, working 40 hours a week, and getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night. NOT GOOD. SO, I plan on writing a prep test 1x a week (Saturdays) and doing a full blind review on Sundays. THEN, once the blind review is completed, I plan on determining where my weaknesses are, make a study plan for the week, and utilize the Cambridge packages for both RC and LR practice.

I don't have a specific "target score" in mind, but I would like to get as high of a mark as possible. I plan to rewrite in October but I strongly feel that this is an exam you do better on the longer you practice, so I would consider taking it in December of 2015 if I don't feel prepared by October.

Also, to eliminate the "familiarity" of the questions, I'm going to start next weekend on Prep Test #50!

Does this seem like a good plan!?

Hey LSAT prepsters.... I just signed up for that study buddy thing here on 7Sage. If any of you are interested, please respond back or check out that new study buddy sign up and we'll get connected ASAP. I live in San Jose and plan on taking the October LSAT. Let's push each other to greatness and support each other when we are feeling doubtful. I'd love to meet once a week and we can also do phone/internet chats as well. It's all about helping each other stay on track with studying and to break apart question types to see the tentmaker's themes and tricks. We can definitely crack the code and get into top schools.

I have not logged on in quite some time and can no longer find the place to print preptests from. I'm clicking n the test on the syllabus but it takes me to the page where I proctor and grade. Can someone help me navigate to the way to print the preptest itself?

So, to make a long story short I took the Dec 2014 actual LSAT and did pretty decently (164). I plan to sit for the June 2015 administration (2 weeks!) and I aim to take about 7-8 more PTs before then. Today I was considering retaking the actual dec LSAT (aka PT 74) but I'm not sure if it's a good call. To be honest, my fear is that if I perform even slightly worse, let alone much worse, I will freak myself out before the June exam and carry this defeatist mentality that I am worse prepared now than in Dec (which I doubt to be true as I have been studying consistently since Feb). On the other hand, If I have any weaknesses in my game now, it would be better to reveal them with perhaps two weeks left to try and do some damage control, than go in there blind, so to speak. The most recent PT I have taken in this study cycle has been 54 so far. The PTs I have remaining are a few high 50s, low 60s, 71 and 73.

What are your opinions? Thank you so much in advance, and good luck to everyone in June!

No test center in ALL of South Bay ALL YEAR is forcing me to look for a new test center. CSU East Bay Hayward is an Oct center.

Which building/room is the test held and who proctors it there?

I once took a kaplan test at CSU with tiny desks so it concerns me.

I thought I had cleared my major hurdles with logic games... Boy,was I wrong. If 68 is any indication of how future logic games will be then I am screwed. Did anybody figure these out at first try? This would have led to me walking out of the testing center and going home. The third is hard but the fourth is just ridiculous.

So today I did worse on my timed pt vs last weeks but my br went up 20 points ?

Still hitting low 150's on pt but mid 160's on br?

What exactly does this mean ?

I just asked probably the best boss in the world if they would write me a LOR; after agreeing to do so, he asked what sorts of things are the law schools looking to know about applicants? I told him I'd get back to him on this and could use any helpful suggestions you guys/gals may have. Thanks in advance!

I was just curious about everyone's study techniques. My work schedule has recently changed (I'm currently a teacher and we're out of school here) and I am now able to devote the majority of my day to LSAT prep. Before the change, I was working primarily in the early mornings and in the evenings and didn't necessarily have long enough chunks of time available to become overworked, unfocused, etc. Now that I have 8/9/unlimited hours a day to study, I find that I am eager to get a lot done but definitely start to see diminishing returns toward the end of longer study sessions.

What do you all do to maximize effective study time and minimize "zombie" brain? Anyone a staunch advocate for the Pomodoro Technique? Anything else I should consider?

Thanks!

I started out in early November with a 144 diagnostic and have been on a very slow and steady process of trying to understand all this logic AND learn games, I was a noob at games, hard. Anyway yesterday i took June 2008 PT54 and scored a 154 with a blind review of 167! (my best score thus far and my best blind review score by 5 points) things are finally starting to click and I just want to give a REAL LIVE SHOUTOUT to JY and Jon for this website being cheap and easy to access! I made a 148 on my February score which i wasnt ready to take, in an attemmpt just to try and get in this fall, and now i wish i wouldve waited bc my school is leting me retake it for June! Hoping this last month keeps enlightening me and i'm gonna do my best to To get in this fall, if not I KNOW FOR A FACT I WILL DO BETTER AND BETTER WITH 7SAGE's METHODS!!!

I'm about to head off for my first two-week vacation since starting LSAT prep in January.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for how to cut back while not losing too much momentum? We're not going to have wifi for the final week, and there's lots planned during the trip. I can probably dedicate an hour a day to LSAT early in the morning, before we set off for the day's "fun" (or, marital bickering!).

I was considering taking the Trainer to re-read, and also buying the Cambridge drilling packets to work through a little each day, as well as taking along some logic games.

Any suggestions welcomed!

Hey 7Sagers,

Had someone ask a question that I thought you could help with! Here it is:

I keep running into one problem consistently; I rush due to the time pressure and I always end up getting about 20% of my questions wrong. I'm not sure how to manage my time and relieve that time pressure so I don't jump on wrong answers too quickly. I end up worrying about not having enough time on the real test and missing the last bit of questions on a section. As a result, I rush and either pick a tempting answer or I miss reading and internalizing important details on the stimulus. Can you please give me some sort of advice to manage the stress of the time factor so I perform better in the questions?

Hi All,

I'm about 20% through 7Sage's course, and I've learned quickly that the format for the majority of the lessons isn't "sticking" for me because I'm a visual learner. The lessons that have transcripts and/or are just written, I do just fine comprehending. I've found that I have the videos on 1.2x to 1.4x speed because I don't have the patience to listen to all of the extraneous info, side comments, and attempts at humorous jibber jabber. In other words, I'm struggling because I don't feel like the majority of the foundational lessons are well-scripted and tend to ramble than rather get straight to the point. I have neither the time nor attention span for ramblings.

Any tips on getting through the rest of the material? I was disappointed to find that as I continued through the course there are little-to-no transcripts, as compared with the earlier lessons. I'm getting really discouraged, and I'm starting to default back to PowerScore at this point. I feel that as I try to push myself to really tune into the lessons, the more I lose attention to task. To give you a better idea, I don't listen to talk radio because it induces sleep (especially at the wheel...). Help!!!

Hey everyone,

First time poster but I have been a lurker for a few weeks. I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone have a list of some of the tougher preptests? I'm taking the June LSAT and I want to see where I stand on the especially difficult ones. Does anyone know which preptests people tend to do poorly on?

I just got my best score yesterday after taking the June 2007 preptest, does anyone know where that one stands in terms of difficulty?

Thanks!

Hey guys, we're proud to announce that David Busis is our new Editor and we're working together to redesigning the personal statement course.

To aid in the redesign, we're looking to put together a diverse profile of personal statements to use in the course as instructional material. Therefore, we'd like for you to submit your personal statements. If your statement is chosen, we'll help you through some or all of the rewriting process to arrive at a polished final statement. This will come at no cost to you but we'd like to use your (anonymized) drafts as instructional content.

You have to be enrolled in a 7Sage Starter or higher course and have our existing Personal Statement course to submit for this.

Submission

If you'd like to submit, please email dillon@7sage.com (1) your PS draft (2) your undergrad institution, year, degree, gpa (3) your LSAT score if you have it already and (4) your basic demographic info. Please use subject "Personal Statement Submission".

If you have questions, please ask away!

Here's the hello from David himself:

I’m David, a professional writer and editor, and I’m currently redesigning 7Sage's personal statement course. I am a graduate of Yale, where I received a prize for excellence in the English major, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where I received a teaching fellowship. My nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic online. My fiction has won two national contests, received notable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2014 and been anthologized by Autumn House Press. I've taught English and writing at Phillips Academy Andover, the University of Iowa and Southern New Hampshire University. I’m a member of Blurb’s Dream Team of editors and the Editorial Freelancers’ Association. I’ve also been through the law school application wringer myself: I was admitted to Harvard and Yale Law School before I decided to pursue editing.

When Studying for LR I find something strange happens [This does not happen all the time, just sometimes]. During PTs (usually in the first section of LR introduced) I don't do extremely well (I get about -10/-11).. Later on when I visit the second set of LR I do a lot better (about -5/-6). This happens when taking full-length PTs, or if I decide to dissect 2 LR sections from a PT I don't plan on taking all at once (due to either time constraints or my lack of intention to fully utilize that particular PT.) I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. At first I thought it was a sign that I was improving, but now I'm not sure if it's a stroke of luck, or w/e. If anyone has any input let me know!

For anyone preparing to take the June exam, or has taken an LSAT exam in the past: what are you doing (or have you done in the past) to prepare at this point, beyond your normal studying? Personally, some things I've focused on are:

1. Being alert and prepared mentally around 12:30 every day, regardless if I'm working, studying, or even enjoying a day off. For me, this requires getting good sleep, eating a good breakfast, and getting adequate exercise.

2. Making time for rest and relaxation in these next couple weeks. I've accepted the fact that my score won't be hugely affected by any last minute studying in the nights before the exam, so I made sure to plan only light/moderate studying during those last several days before the test. Spending time with friends (not including going out and partying) is also included in my plans.

3. Simulating test conditions more accurately, including always using the LSAT proctor, using an analog watch, and testing/studying at around 12:30 (if life allows).

I'm curious to hear what everyone else is doing to prepare themselves for the exam. I'm also curious as to how everyone plans to approach practice tests in the next several weeks. Do you plan on saving some of the most recent ones you have access to for the last week until the test? Do you plan at taking any at all that week?

Hi All,

I seem to have a bit of a conundrum with regards to "prestige" and applying to law school. I feel an internal pressure to try to make into one of the T14, even though my confidence has been squashed to probably 1/10* (10 being borderline optimistic egomaniac).

I earned my bachelor's from Loyola U Chicago & master's from Northwestern. It sounds silly and perhaps pompous, but I almost feel as though if I don't make it into one of the T14, then I'm a pretty big failure and will be going "backwards" in my education/career. However, I do have some interest in Loyola Health Law (cert program is in the top 10 of the country), but ultimately I still have the little gremlin telling me that it's still not good enough.

Anyone feel me?

I have a friend of a friend who transferred from Yeshiva & finished his undergrad at Columbia, and then he went to Cordoza (Yeshiva) for law school. He feels similarly blah about not doing LS at one of the T14, even though he's working in Big IP Law in NYC and is doing *just fine.*

Thoughts, anyone? Really for me, since I've worked professionally for a good six years after grad school, I know that what I need is a "good fit." I've done the prestige thing in the working world, and at the end of the day, it doesn't really make a difference in my quality of life and current career prospects. I'm just worrying that switching from healthcare to law is a completely different ball game and I'll regret not trying to make it into at least one T14.

((*I took the LSAT in 2013 at a horrible time in my life and earned what I consider to be a horrific score. Because of the stress, brain melt, and fatigue from my current full-time work situation, I'm concerned that I'll only make it by a few more points in October. To give some perspective, I feel that I need to jump an extra 20-25 points on my next LSAT to even think about considering applying to any T14.))

Do you guys have a strategy for what to do during a PT or a test when you just don't understand a passage after repeatedly reading it and are starting to run out of time?

Hello Folks,

Title says it all. I am around 75% of the curriculum and haven't done any PTs apart from my diagnostic. Do you suggest doing some or wait until I finish the curriculum. Also, I really feel that I forgot so many things already :(

Thank you in advance :)

This past week I've been mainly focusing on LR and decided to take PT 60. There was no huge increase/decrease in my RC section, but I averaged 4-5 more right in each LR section on this test. I was wondering if anyone else had any input, I know that LSATurday recently reviewed PT 60, if I'm not mistaken.

I graduated college in 2014 but I've owned my business since 2012 and have various business partners, consultants, and attorneys who I work very closely with. I was planning on asking them to write letters of recommendation for me but I recently found out the law schools want letters from college professors. My letters of recommendation from my business associates will be a lot stronger because they know me better than many of my college professors knew me. These people are highly successful professionals (CEOs, Lawyers, University President's etc.) whose opinion I think would hold just as much, if not more, weight than college professors who don't have as great of a relationship with me. Do you all think that having these people write my recommendations instead of reaching out to old professors will significantly hurt my application? Should I attach an addendum to the application explaining why I chose business professionals instead of old professors to write my letters? I will likely also be attaching a GPA addendum to my application as well.

Starting to wonder if taking the June LSAT is still possible. My last timed LSAT was 149 with a BR of 169, which is lower than last week's PT. I just can't seem to transition to timed practice. It's really frustrating. I've done all the cambridge packet drills, tried to complete the first 10 in 10 minutes, I've even jumped around in search for the easiest questions but nothing seems to help. I've come to a point where I can't even sleep. I go the whole day taking short naps with little drive to study. It's like I'm dealing with an immovable, unclimbable brick wall.

Anyone in this position? What should I do? This is BY FAR the hardest thing I've come across in my entire life and it's ruining me.

Hello,

So basically I have been studying for close to a year now and I am preparing to take the exam one last time. My February LSAT score was a 164 and I am really hoping to go up a few points. I am taking the LSAT in June and pretty much all I am doing at this point is taking fresh PTs, Blind Reviewing, and then reviewing those question types I get wrong. I have exhausted all possible drills, lessons, theoretical discussions, etc. I have taken Blueprint and 7sage all the way through. To put it short, I am looking for some insight/guidance that can go beyond what these courses teach and can provide some personal advice that has worked for people struggling with similar scenarios. From my last 5 PTs alone, there is a consistent trend. I cannot get to the 4th passage of RC, LG is flawless, and LR is usually in the -3 to -5 range. From those LR questions, it is Necessary and Flaw questions that continue to trip me up. I have drained every possible lesson/theory on Necessary questions. I understand their function, their role within a stimulus, and how to confirm whether the necessary assumption I choose is the right one or not (aka negating and seeing if validity still holds up). With Flaws, I have learned the 13 prevalent fallacies and how to spot them. Does anyone have suggestions or advice for how to destroy these questions? If I'm getting the question right, I still often times end up spending extra time on it to confirm my correctness (a nasty habit, I know, but something I just can't seem to shake). Finally, skipping is out of the question since my skipping is reserved for absurdly long parallel/parallel flaw questions that I do not want to bother wasting my time on. Any help at all would be so awesome! Thank you!