The law school rankings resource is useful, yet rather incomplete, considering I live in Canada and hope to attend a Canadian school...

What're the chances of one being set up? We don't have that many up here

After looking at the previous threads and realizing they were outdated, I want to know if this upcoming LSAT will resemble the single-serve PTs in the 70s, except with 5 sections instead of 4?

So, staples along the left, probably lacking the explanations of the LSAT in the front, 5 sections, writing sample, no answer sheet at the back, duh.

Hello guys,

My first study buddy meeting has been really good, but I feel like I've stumbled a bit on explaining the difference between MBT and MSS questions!

I've touched on how MBT relies on formal logic and validity, if the stimulus is true, the answer must be true. Whereas MSS is more general, you are trying to add a conclusion to the information above by drawing one out of the stimulus.

Any input here would be greatly appreciated!

Hello 7sage, it's been a while, good to see the forum is still bustling with activity and people putting in hard work in pursuit of their LSAT dreams!

It's October 2015, I was 6 months out from convocation, and I knew I had to get started. I thought it would be a good idea, in November, to enrol for the February 2016 sitting. After I signed up, I set out to find the right study materials. I asked a friend who'd just started their first year at Queens, and he recommended 7sage! So, it's November 2015 and I'm signed up for the February 2016 LSAT without a clue what I was doing. DO NOT DO THIS, wow, time and time again people on the forum say this and I wish I had listened, do NOT sign up until you are ready. In hindsight this was a ridiculous amount of pressure to put on myself, I hadn't even finished the curriculum when people sat the Feb '16 test...

A little bit of context, I had moved into my Aunt & Uncle's house with my two cousins in high school, because I knew it was a good environment for learning. Both of my cousins are extremely hard working, excelling academically and athletically. This provided the structure I lacked in University, where I finished with a 2.9 GPA. I found full time work in the construction industry, 7am-3:30pm, roughly 20km from my home, it was physical labour, for a good hourly. When the weather was good, I would cycle to and from work. I studied after work and on weekends, either after a long bus journey or bike ride. It is important to note that I was in a long-distance relationship at the time, so I was often travelling to or hosting my partner on weekends.

Anyhow, first things first, right? I learned about arguments and grammar. My English and Philosophy background helped, but it was eye opening, I was surprised by how much I learned from these sections. Then, it was time for my diagnostic! I ploughed through it, LG -13, LR1 -8, LR2 -11, RC -8, for a150/159 BR after to figuring out the LG section and changing some correct answers for LR and RC.

Because of my GPA, I knew I needed a good score, my initial aim was 90-94th percentile.

One thing I did not do at first was purchase any prep tests... I didn't think I would need them, and I had zero disposable income after paying for the 7sage Ultimate+, the LSAT administration, and maintaining my romantic relationship. I made cue cards as I worked through the syllabus, reviewing them every morning on the bus.

Once I hit the problem sets I spent SO MUCH TIME taking screen shots, rebuilding the worksheets into word documents, and printing them out. I got this down to a science, but still, it was a ridiculous endeavour that I did throughout the entire curriculum; doing it was mentally exhausting.

As I worked through the sets, there were times I blind reviewed really well, but never like any of @"Accounts Playable"'s posts... I highly recommend using hi posts as the blueprint for your BR.

There were times I wanted to quit, I relied heavily on my partner, my family, and this forum to keep me going while battling through the urge to pack it in after a long day of work and the 40km of cycling or the 2 1/2 hours of public transit. That being said, I did fall off... I had a massive addiction to Clash of Clans and Boom Beach, there were a couple weeks where I didn't study at all after work. My diet also took a nose dive, safe to say this was my all-time low. I'm pretty sure this happened from mid December through the beginning of January.

I essentially paid for the test again to push my sitting back to June 2016. But the universe delivered a gift when I dropped my iPhone in a heroic toilet that killed the phone and my CoC and Boom Beach addictions with it! That might be the greatest thing outside of my control that happened during my journey.

My grind through the core curriculum was completed April 5th, 2016. It was a great milestone, I remember my partner tearing up with joy, it was a long process, watching that green circle fill ever so slowly.

After that point I ordered every PT ever published, and patiently awaited the begging on my final phase of prep.

It is important to note that by late April/early May I started doing the guided meditations, cut alcohol out completely (aside from a sherry on my late Nana's birthday, and a shot at my Uncle's wedding), was doing approximately 90mins of cardio 5 days a week, and followed the "Dolce Diet" as best I could.

I developed what routines that I could, did what worked for me, and focused on not stressing about the things I couldn't do. I would often visualize test day, I was talking to people about the LSAT at every possible opportunity, and I kept telling myself and everyone who would listen that I was confident I would score in the 170s, confident in my preparation, and I would succeed.

Part of my routine was a list of positive affirmations, I would say theses to myself every day after my morning meditation. I also discovered "bulletproof coffee" and after the fall/winter where I consumed like 5-8 double doubles a day... cutting down to 32oz of bulletproof coffee was a huge change, but I think it paid dividends for my sleep quality and energy levels.

My first prep test was actually PT 35, not realizing I had "seen" the questions before until afterwards when I realized the syllabus called for 36. I wound up completing 12 PTs before my sitting in June, including the diagnostic. I also watched every webinar that I could find time for, though I must admit, I rarely watched them work through the questions at the end. I took what I needed from the explanations, updated my cue cards, and focused applying those principles during my PTs and especially during my BR.

I did not have the luxury of writing at 1pm during the week, so I tried to do that on the weekends as best I could. That being said, it did not always work out. The only thing I really could control was how strict I was while taking the PT, I added an extra section from the curriculum PTs, and dropped my pencil when the proctor said so.. There was no way I was going to be tagged for a violation during my sitting.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2014, and didn't apply for any accommodations because I was told by my learning strategist that the test would involve "draconian measures" to prevent cheating, and I wouldn't be given accommodations because I didn't have them for exams during my undergrad. So it was 5x35mins for me, to be honest I never wrote a single timed writing sample before my sitting, but I reviewed JY's pointers and made sure to review it close to June 6th. I made sure to force myself to BR every PT as best I could, by the end of the whole process, I think I had filled out 2 whole notebooks between the curriculum and the PTs. Sometimes it would take me a week to complete a review, sometimes less.

3 weeks out from my test, my partner decided to end our relationship, she had her reasons, but the next 3 weeks were a blur. I know that I ate the same breakfast, drank the same amount of coffee, would do the 24 min guided meditation before and after work, and was riding my bike like a madman to and from work. I probably averaged 6.5 hours of sleep a night, with my alarm going off at 4:15-4:30, I tried to be in bed between 9-10pm every night.

I did score a 173 on PT 65, the week before my test... so I felt quite confident and encouraged, especially after briefly participating in the June pep rally. Hearing JY and Nicole's advice and feeling the love from everyone in that webinar was amazing.

When I wrote PTs on the weekend, I recorded the time and amount of my water and food intake, along with my bathroom breaks. There was only one PT where I had to run to my bathroom toward the end of S3.

For my last three Weekend PTs, I tried emulating my bike ride to the testing centre, I ate the same meals, I wore the same clothing I planned to wear on test day. I became obsessed with these details.

The day of, I did everything the same as I'd done on my dry run on Saturday the 4th. I woke up, same coffee, breakfast, I warmed up, I biked the 14km to the campus; after completing my undergrad there, I had no issues accessing the room. After arriving I stretched, meditate, I sauna'd a bit in order to ensure any excess water was gone, that wasn't part of the routine but it helped, showered, ate my same meal, sat down and wrote out my game plan for each section, writing out how many minutes I wanted to allot to each RC passage, I think it was a 7,7,9,10, listened to my Eminem pump up playlist, and walked over to the testing area. The game planning wasn't part of my routine either, and in hindsight, I should have warmed up then on top of the game planning, since it had been hours after warming up at home when I finally started by test around 130pm.

After arriving in the registration area, I was relaxed, sat off in a corner by myself, ignoring everyone, waiting for the proctors to take us over the the testing area. I didn't say a word to a single person other than a proctor.

Once I opened that booklet, I went into auto pilot, except S3... It was the second LG section, after opening with LG, I knew that it could be the experimental section AND I SLOWED DOWN once the first two games were ridiculously easy sequencing games... I also knew the first section had rules very similarly worded to the game from PT 76 that I'd warmed up with that morning. THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA, DO NOT DO THIS!! I didn't even finish the section in time, guessing the final 3 questions. That is awful, considering I knew I had to go -0 on LG in order to score 170+...

I was extremely lucky to walk away with a 169 (LG -1, LR -3, RC -6, LR -2), if my gamble on that experimental section had gone badly, I could be sitting here telling you about how I'm sitting down again for a re-write, but, I'm not. I had scored bang on my average, despite the break up, despite the 6 years of my life where I was a brutal student and at times never thought I'd pursue academics or even finish the degree. I had a construction job to fall back on, I had grown complacent, at one point using ADHD meds without any of the proper studying habits in place to make proper use of them... but persistence paid off, I didn't give up, and 7sage never gave up on me.

My aim for writing the LSAT was to show law schools that I was capable of working that hard and achieving such a good score, I intend to argue that my ADHD diagnosis late into my undergrad was a big turning point for me, and turning that around couldn't have happened over night, but it has, and I am more than ready to pursue my dream of a legal career.

Thanks to you, 7sage, I will do that with confidence.

Sorry for the length!

Looking back, I would have put way more work into RC, and worked on trusting my gut more... I had changed an answer in the first LR section from the correct one to an incorrect one, and with that my 170 became a 169! Those short cuts with the webinars and BR early on might have made the difference, but in the long run, I never reached @"Nicole Hopkins"'s benchmark of 15 PTs for a 170+... maybe with 4 or 5 more... who knows.

Cheers everyone, thanks for reading, best of luck moving forward! I will lurk around here for a bit but, I'm training for my first sprint distance triathlon in 6 weeks and might be busy sleeping more than ever before!

I only see "No Active Terms/Programs for this Law School" when I select a US school and choose to start/submit an application, the Canadian schools show the Fall 2016 options but say the Fall 2017 aren't available yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

So, I finally finished the curriculum and bought the LSAC copies of almost every PT. My initial intentions were to write 36, as per the study schedule, but I photocopied 35.

My diagnostic from 11/19/2015 was 150/159 BR.

I was at the Queen's University campus, had a logistical problem figuring out the photocopier and finding a space to study, the libraries were swamped. Where I picked to write was in the basement and there were students everywhere around me. I wore similar clothing to what I plan to wear on test day, ensured I had my usual amount of caffeine for that time of day, and reviewed my cue cards before writing.

Sat down, realized I forgot a scantron, went and printed a bunch of copies, plugged my headphones into my partner's computer, started the 5 section proctor video and set to try it.

Complete PT35 S1, S2, then my "experimental section" (PT16 S1 G1, PT17 S1 G2, PT27 S2 G3, & PT18 S1 G4), took a 15min break, then finished PT36 S3, S4. Initially I felt confident that I only remember some of the recent questions, and the experimental section went really well. I was only checking time by asking my partner to switch back and hover over the proctor screen. My timing was good, had time the review at the end of each section, I know it should be taken with a grain of salt because 35 was chopped up and fed to me slowly over the curriculum.

Scoring

PT 35

Scaled 168

Raw 87/101

86.1%, 95.8 Percentile

S1 -6 (LR), S2 -3 (RC), S3 -3 (LG), S4 -2 (LR)

Experimental Section

PT16 S1 G1 -0

PT17 S1 G2 -0

PT27 S2 G3 -1 (I guess my copy was missing Q !19 so I'll treat it like a missed bubbling or something)

PT18 S1 G4 -0

How should I feel about it? Turns out I missed 2 softballs on 35, but I think it was a good intermediary test before I write 36... Goal is to finish 26-30 PTs before I try to write in June.

Hello again

So, still stuck in the 165-169 window after 6 full PTs with an extra section added into the first 3.

My highest LR priorities given my analytics are

Flaw/Descriptive Weakening (1.2)

I was unfamiliar with the flaws and their manifestations

RRE (1.0)

was not grasping the nature of the issue, thereby not being able to find something that would actually explain it

PSA (0.9)

wasn't treating them enough like SA questions, and often skipped these

MSS (0.8)

forgot to see what was actually supported by the stimulus and making massive assumptions in my ACs

NA (0.7)

forgot to bridge/block

So, after my PT last weekend I stepped back and reviewed the relevant curriculum and webinars in order to give myself a refresher, and I will start drilling LR sections during my lunch breaks and after work on the days I'm not doing a PT/BRing.

Any thoughts about this and/or advice would be greatly appreciated

Finally done the core curriculum, what a ride... but I'd really like a big shiny 100% to show there, not a green pac man pursing his lips.

I was interested in the idea of going into "survival mode" when you've fasted for at least 12 hours, and trying to write a PT first thing in the morning, 6:15 am, with nothing in my system but some coffee and H2O.

Safe to say it wasn't wise...

Learned some valuable lessons about how to avoid sloppy mistakes and ALWAYS bubble in "C" when I don't know and have chosen to move on.

A big -7 RC (tied for worst ever aside from diagnostic) ruined my -9 total LR and -0 LG for a 165. But, the key is to keep moving forward. BR was only a 167 and I've since eliminated the reasoning that made me change a handful of correct answers to wrong ones.