Self-study
Hey guys I told myself that if I ever got a score I wanted I would write one of these because I benefitted so much from reading other people's journeys when I was studying and seeing what advice and wisdom they had. So here is mine, This is gonna be long but I think worth the read. Hope it can help at least someone out there. And if you want to skip my whole anime arc to look at section tips you can do that, it'll be at the end.
(Background)
When I started out I probably was something like -12/-11 in LR and RC and literally couldn't do any logic games at all. Also, I want to say I'm very intellectually curious but I'm not some genius at all. I think I'm just normal when it comes to intelligence, so keep that as a frame of reference. I'm a History Major so I had a decent base reading and writing, but I wasn't a good reader honestly and the LSAT would show me this (more on this later). I started studying the summer of my junior year going into my senior year. I did the syllabus and because of my low GPA, I had to absolutely crush this test. I eventually graduated with a 2.97 GPA from UF. Yea I know, I was a bad and immature student (especially my first year) who wasn't smart enough to wing it like others or like I had done in high school. With my bad GPA and feelings of guilt and insecurity over my college career, I knew I wanted to kill this test to not only give myself a chance at going to a good law school but hopefully one with some money paid off as well. I also knew I wanted to kill this test to prove to myself that I was smart enough and capable of being a truly great lawyer.
First Summer Studying (Full-time Summer 21)
I fell in love with 7sage from the start and didn't use any other website really. Let me just say J.Y. wherever you are I hope you are somewhere rich and happy because you deserve it. Anyways, my goal from the beginning was always the divine 170s. So when I started studying I tried to do it right. I took my time diligently going to through the syllabus and getting a good foundation. I literally did 100% of the syllabus and completed it very carefully and put a lot of hours in. This helped but also kind of didn't because of my planning. By the time I got to logic games and doing them over and over again to where I could start to get a grasp my summer was almost over... lol. Not to add reading comp and I knew ok I'm just not gonna be ready in time. Like I felt like even if I keep studying into the fall I could at best get a 160 and it would all get rushed and be a mess because classes would start up again and make studying kind of unrealistic/ impossible. So I delayed a cycle. And told myself that I would go into studying next summer with a good base and just know-how of how to study. I think this turned out to be a great idea.
(Some tips)
DON'T BE AFRAID TO TAKE THE TIME YOU NEED TO GET THE BEST SCORE YOU KNOW YOU CAN GET. It will be worth it and this test is beatable. Trust me, I and many others that are not as smart as you have done it. If you look at it from a purely monetary perspective this test is so worth it. You can literally earn 100,000 in tax-free scholarship money from doing well in this test and even something like 50,000 in scholarships from schools is very achievable. The only thing is, for most people, J.Y. is right; you should be looking at like a one-year timeline to get a crazy score like 170. This is just my opinion and I also want to say you know yourself and the type of student you are and if you are just really smart, or a really good reader already, have a good base and etc. THIS TEST IS VERY MUCH ABOUT KNOWING YOURSELF. I know a lot of people who study 3 months (not even studying that intensely) and get a crazy good score, but they're also the type of people I could see doing that. It is not really the norm I think, and I certainly was not like that although I've always really wanted to be that type of student.
(Fast Forward One Year) Summer of 22' studying full-time
So one thing that's awesome about this test is I think it really is like a sport, a very skill-based and technical sport like soccer for example. Meaning that your skills at this test won't just disappear when you stop studying and you kind of have the muscle memory and foundation after you've seriously studied. When I finished my senior year I started studying and after about a month of drilling I took a PT to see where I was at and I got a 159. I thought great it's early June I should start to see about a 3-point gain every month of studying and by August and September I'll be in the 170's... Lol anyone who has been through the fire knows how silly this is. Silly in the sense that I was in October ( 4 months of full-time studying later) with a fresh PT of 159 and a looming existential crisis. After my first PT that summer of 159 I struggled a lot to consistently improve. I was in the low 160's a lot. And my highest PT score was 168. I took an official LSAT in August and got a 157, took one in October and got a 159, but in November I got a 169 on an official LSAT. This is not normal my most recent PT up to that test was a 162. I don't want to sell any pipe dreams so don't think this will happen to you, I honestly got very lucky and blessed. Leading up to November, I was even ready to delay by another cycle and felt that I was just about to be truly able to dominate the test with some more months. But leading up to that November test I had now been studying 6 months straight plus a few months from last summer. I really did feel like I had it in me to reach that score. My blind review was really good to the point where I felt a lot like damn I could and should have gotten these and these right and that would have put me where I want to be. I feel like the more you put into this test the more you start to get a mastery over it and honestly loved that about it. I kind of miss it to this day. The test is just so technical, repetitive, and doable that the whole thing is really one big game. I think it's useful to think of yourself as an athlete when studying for a test. It might help you enjoy it more and I think it will let you avoid burnout
I want to talk a little about burnout and my experience with it. Dealing with this is what ultimately allowed me to get my goal score and not delay my application for another cycle. I was down in a bad rut leading to my November test. my last chance at a good score for me this cycle. There were bad nights when I cried myself to sleep and was questioning whether I was smart enough to be a lawyer. I felt like I was barely making any progress at all when I looked at my PTs. At the same time though I knew that I was a lot better at this test than that. I knew what I could do if I was in form on test day and confident. So for the last week leading up to November, I didn't study at all. This was a lot for me because this was the longest break I had taken in 6 months I think and fuck me did it sure pay off. In my opinion, this test is not a test of hustling and grinding. Like most things in life consistency is King. Yes, you need to work really damn hard, but you also need to have patience and be kind to yourself. There will be times when you will doubt yourself, when you will even question your ability to read, and when you'll ask yourself how you will ever be a lawyer. This is normal. Understand everyone in this test is on their own journey and NEVER NEGATIVELY COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE. You have to be kind to yourself and understand that progress is not linear. This is a performance test and not a knowledge test. But if you are studying right you will get better slowly but surely. Trust.
Ok that was my journey and now some general tips for how to study right: aka the fun part
LR:
-The most important thing about this section is learning how to dissect and digest arguments. A good LR taker will instantly recognize ok premise, conclusion, and premise and this supports this but this argument is actually hilariously bad for example this bc of 'X' oh and wouldn't you know that's answer choice B. Being able to read and analyze for argument structure is key and is how you should think about every question.
-When you're truly good you get this feeling that all questions are honestly the same.
-YES BLIND REVIEW RIGHT
RC:
-It is very important to understand the connection and flow of each sentence/ paragraph to each other and how it all connects.
-You will automatically become better at going through the questions and reasoning through them by watching the videos.
LG:
-Keep trying, and keep trying, and then still keep trying
-And then keep trying. Foolproof that is btw
-The whole "LG is fool proof"philosophy 7sage pushes is right in spirit but misleading i think. LG is still very hard. Even if you are amazing at it and getting -0 you can have games where you slip up.
-The most technical and straightforward section keep chipping away and honing your skills and eventually you can get to around to something like 0-2 wrong.
Well this has been a little embarrassingly long, but this test was my life for like almost a year cumulatively so idc. Ultimately I hope you come to learn more about yourself and grow as a person from this test like I have. And remember this is just some stupid test at the end of the day and it doesn't define your worth as a person or who you are. Hope you all reach your goals bc y'all are more than capable. Enjoy the ride sagers!
P.S. waiting to hear back from schools right now but so far I have gotten into FSU Law with a full ride ($62,000) and that's as a super splitter like me (2.97 169). Dream big and don't let your head drop! you just might surprise yourself...
