I'm 30, work full time, and have a Bachelor of Education and this was my very first time writing a real LSAT. I had LR, LG, LR, LR, RC and I felt like I completely forgot how to do anything in LG and am pretty sure I guessed for the majority. After that, I didn't feel very confident in anything I was doing. I applied to law school for September 2020 and it's too late now to take the January test.

I'm debating between A) cancelling my score and abandoning any chance of law school Sept 2020 and taking the LSAT again and applying for Sept 2021 or B ) risking it out and seeing what my score is and applying anyway. The school I really want averages LSAT scores and their average acceptance score is 160. I'm really worried I scored less than 140. I'm leaning toward cancelling my score - any advice?

Congrats to everyone who made it thru the torture today!

Hello everyone, I got two LG sections on my test and I really want to figure out which one was the real one vs. the experimental. I feel like I did well on one and not so well on the other one. One of the sections had a game talking about the departments to be approved by a University and birthdays and the other one had games talking about ingredients on a recipe and people visiting different countries. If anyone got just one LG section and tell me how it looked like that would be awesome! I feel like the RC passages were pretty straightforward. There was one science passage that was a little convoluted but the rest were okay. I hate RC but I feel like on this test that was probably my best section. LR... well more of the same. Not so much to talk about those two sections. I have no idea of what to expect in terms of the results. Anyone else feeling anxious?

It's been a few months, and I've been reflecting on how great 7Sage was as a prep for my second LSAT. I took my first one after working full time for a summer, and was definitely underprepared. I dedicated two months to working on 7Sage and doing many(!) practice tests last summer, and it paid off. I jumped 22 percentile points with the basic version of 7Sage. I thought JY's approach was fantastic and helped significantly more than the other course I did. Explaining the reasoning and linguistic reasons for why answers are what they are, rather than simply identifying patterns, makes all the difference. Thank you JY and 7Sage!

Hey fellow 7Sagers,

I was wondering if you guys had strategies you could share about how to best review/blind review an RC section?

Cheers,

I have received my LSAT score but due to technical difficulties I'm unable to complete LSAT writing section for 5 days. Do you think I should submit applications in the meantime?

November will hopefully be my last take. I first took in June when I was mid - high 160s (with one 170) and cancelled because I was nervous on test day. Wrote again in September with Prep Test scores hovering in high 160s - low 170s and scored 164. Gutted, I'm going for one more try and am finally consistently hitting the mid 170s. Last month of PTs has been 177, 174, 175, 163 (was sick) 166 (next day - still recovering), Tuesday's 172, and today's 173. My diagnostic last December was 157. When I started out I had no idea I'd ever be where I am today: looking to go knock a 170+ out of the park on Monday.

I've learned some incredibly valuable lessons along the way. For one thing: never stop respecting this test or it will punish you. Next, don't forget that the light at the end of this tunnel is law school, then the Bar exam, followed by a meaningful career practicing law. Finally, this test is intended to quantify your ability to understand and reason with complex/dense words and situations - consider that getting better at these skills is early preparation for your future career.

No matter what happens I know without a doubt I, personally, wouldn't be hitting these scores without the excellent content of this site and the brilliant, dynamic support found here on the forums. If I'm having a bad prep day, I know I can find the right motivation here - it's happened multiple times. So, with that, thanks to all for sharing the adventure. To those taking the November exam: may the logic come easily and may the curve be generous.

Hi,

When JY lists 5 minute ideal time for LG, is that assuming after foolproofing or under test conditions?

For anyone who has written an afternoon lsat (12:30pm), do you have any tips to fight the afternoon sluggishness and stay alert?

Hi all,

I wanted to thank 7sage for providing amazing and affordable resources for my LSAT journey. It was a long and exhausting, but definitely worth it. I studied for over a year, and it was always encouraging to see stories where people had improved significantly. I hope that my story helps others to see that improving by 18 points or more is totally possible with hard work! Good luck to everyone on the rest of their LSAT studies!

I’m not seeing any, so just checking.

Been studying since June this year and will take the real thing on Monday November 25th. I just high scored on PT 71 at 175!! I'm really confident now for monday and feel like the hard work will pay off. Good luck to everyone who is testing as well and just know you will do great! Thank you 7sage!!

I know we can bring regular pencils to the exam (it's printed on the admission ticket) but can we also bring pens? Or is LSAC providing pens?

For the stylus/pen they are providing - is it a decent pen? As in, will we want to use it over the pencils so we don't have to go back and forth?

Also, just to confirm - we still can't bring mechanical pencils right??

I have trouble recognizing these sentences in the LG sections I know they are fallacies, but how do I know a sentence is a sufficient not a necessary condition or vice versus ?

What do I do?

What do I study?

I was contemplating doing a couple of PTs.

Or should I do one full one, BR it, and then do drills? Make my own PT with the hardest questions i can find?

I am almost out of fresh PTs (have like 5 or 6 left)

I am scoring early 160s, I am seriously hoping for 160+ this week

I have been studying full time since I joined, and really want this to be the last time I write

What do you think?

Good luck to everyone writing!

Any tips would be nice :)

seriously i always do this and its such a stupid reason to loose marks... any tips? Am i just being too rushed or lazy or not bothering to understand a rule. i always tell myself i will pay more attention next time but end up mixing things up...

The videos are down from youtube but they are still available on the 7sage website for free. Is this supposed to be the case? You don't have to pay for a course to get these explanations.

Hey everyone,

So I am taking the test in one week for the first time. I am happy with my LG and LR scores but I cannot seem to imrpove on RC. I thought by now, my score would have improved but it hasnt. It is very inconsistent. Any advise on how to improve or if it is even possible to improve in a week?

I’ve been to nearly every lsat tutor and training program there was, and I just haven’t given this test the effort it needs in order to improve. I’m hoping by taking a test a day and doing my best to practice all that I can, whilst being in my senior year at NYU can help!

If you have any tips, advice, or ANY comments at all please let me know below!

How should I study?

Too ambitious?

I am back to discuss another cookie cutter argument form. Here is the link to the cost benefit argument structure that I posted about previously: https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/21220

This one is known as Phenomenon Hypothesis. In this argument form, an observation about the world is made, followed by a proposed explanation. This post will discuss some common answer choice types LSAC uses to effect the strength of a hypothesis in explaining a phenomenon or observed occurrence.

1. Affirm/Deny Mechanism

Tells us exactly how the hypothesis would explain the phenomenon.

For example, if I say: there is a correlation between white blood cells and strong immune systems, therefore white blood cells cause strong immune systems.

A mechanism would be explaining a plausible way for white blood cells to improve immune systems. Like: white blood cells contain disease fighting chemicals that kill all bad bacteria. So this information strengthens our hypothesis by providing a plausible mechanism.

To deny the mechanism or weaken, we would show that white blood cells have nothing to do with the immune system.

2. Corroborating Data Set

This is when we bring in a new data set which corroborates or jives with the notion that our hypothesis explains our phenomenon.

For example, if I say: bees left a part of Florida that was experiencing a heat wave, so it probably was the heat which drove them out.

A corroborating data set could show that a heat wave happened recently in Nevada and the bees left as soon as it began. This corroborates our hypothesis and makes it stronger by showing that we introduced the purported cause and got the intended effect, right away. This does not make our hypothesis have to be true, but it does make it more plausible or strengthen it.

3. Competing Data Set

The opposite of a corroborating data set. So, a new set of info that makes our hypothesis a less attractive means of explaining the phenomenon.

To stick with the bee example, we could show that another state experienced a heat wave and the bees stayed put. This would show that we have our purported cause without the effect. This does not kill the argument entirely, but it does weaken or make it slightly less plausible.

4. Consequences

Science operates on eliminating hypotheses. We determine what would be necessary if a hypothesis were true. Such that:

Hypotheses true——> Consequences True

Next, we test those consequences. If they are not true, the hypotheses is not true. If they are true, our hypotheses does not need to be true but it lives to fight another day. We then find more additional consequences that would be true and test those. The hypothesis that survives this consequence testing is deemed best and closest to truth, until proven otherwise.

Example:

There was a UFO sighted over Nevada, close to Area 51, it must be aliens.

A consequence of this hypothesis being true would be that aliens exist, are able to travel, or can build things. If we find out any of these are untrue, the hypothesis is no longer possible.

This form is sort of like a Necessary Assumption for science.

5. Block/Introduce Alternative

This answer choice would either build up or break down a competing hypothesis.

In our Alien example, we could say that the US military was conducting weapons testing during the time the UFO was reported and in close proximity to the sighting.

This being true would explain the observed phenomenon without our hypothesis needing to be true. It also is more plausible than our hypothesis. So, our argument would be weakened.

To block out such an alternative, we would just say that the US military was on holiday the day of the sighting and conducted 0 activity in Nevada. Ruling out an alternative hypothesis, helps make our hypothesis slightly more likely.

6. Temporal Affirmation

If a hypothesis is going to explain a phenomenon, it needs to make sense time wise.

For example:

On Monday, it rained and the highway had 35 car accidents. Normally, there are only 10 accidents per day. I hypothesize the rain created poor driving conditions and thus more accidents.

For this to work, we need the additional accidents to have happened after the rain. To strengthen the hypothesis, we say that the day was average at first and the accidents piled up after the rain

To weaken this, we show that there were already 32 accidents that day, before the rain.

7. Irrelevant

Most Answer choices you see on phenomenon hypotheses questions will have nothing to do with how the hypothesis explains the phenomenon.

Always ask yourself: Does this piece of information have any bearing on how the hypothesis explains the observed phenomenon?

For our Alien example, some irrelevant answer choices might look like:

Aliens are more intelligent than Lizards.

Human beings do not have sophisticated enough means to communicate with Aliens

The UFO was sighted by 3 people with doctorate degrees

A similar sighting happened in Nebraska, in 1984.

These things are all great, but they do not address whether or not the object was in fact Aliens!

This list is not meant to be exhaustive and I am sure there are many other ways to strengthen or weaken such arguments. Feel free to share any others below :)

I legitimately have near 100% accuracy on five star questions, but am constantly getting one and two stars wrong. I just did a PT and got 171, but I missed 4 1-star LR questions. It just doesn't make sense to me, how do I train myself to go for the obvious answers when necessary? For example PT66 S2 Q8. I spent 2.6 minutes on this question and got it wrong, meanwhile getting every single 4 and 5 star question correct in under 1.25 minutes.

I had assumed they would but now I am not all that certain. I was registered (and unprepared for Oct) so I cancelled, but I was also hoping to apply before Jan 1st for a number of scholarships and now I feel like I might have made a terrible mistake!

Edit: I just realised that LSAC is only closed on Dec 25th, maybe 26th, and Jan 1st. I thought they'd be out from the 21st to the 1st or something. If anyone knows any better I'd be happy to hear it thanks!

@"David.Busis"?

Any guesses?

Thanks!

Hi. Ignore the crappy title.

I am one of the lucky people who wrote the September 2019 test and I just can't forget the LG. If, I hope not, but if history repeats itself and a similar LG section comes up in November test, what will you do different to not fu.k up this time? Even if you did not write the September test, what would your strategy be to handle an unusually difficult LG section? Besides crying of course.

Thank you.

And good luck to my November people. I wish the best for you.

Hello,

Im just a little confused about necessary assumptions when using the negation test. We've been taught that if the answer choice, negated, would make the arguement not make sense or destroy it. My confusion is to me the argument is the premise and the conclusion. So am i looking for it to destroy the support between the conclusion and the argument or am i just looking for it to make the conclusion less likely to happen? Or am I looking for an assumption that would not support the relationship between the conclusion and the premises?

I got this question right during my PT and wrong during BR. I kept fluctuating between A (the right answer) and D (the wrong answer). I totally get why A is right but I do not understand why D is wrong. SOS.

Many thanks.