I know there's probably no way to really predict/quantify this, but is there a way to add 'non-traditional' as a factor (like the URM toggle)?

I wish I had LR scores like that consistently! Your LR is my RC. I'm sure a tutor can give you some better advice, but just from a person who likes RC:

Is there a topic you strongly dislike? - for me it is anything Physical Science related. I save the Science as the last passage no matter what. I just find I can focus more on my most challenging topic if I have more time at the end. Regardless if it ends up being an easier one in difficulty level.

Similar to that- if you're 1-2 paragraphs in and you know it's going to be a really difficult passage for you, try skipping it entirely and save until the end. High scorers do that on LR all the time, but RC really isn't much different. You may have spent 30s+ already reading, but getting stuck into a time vortex on the 3rd passage is worse than moving on to one where you could have gotten more right vs getting to that one last and truly running out of time.

How are you highlighting/note taking? - I think a lot of people who struggle with RC think more note-taking/annotations will help. But too much, and you start to lose what the text is actually saying. It can make the micro-level questions easier, but then understanding the main point or tone can get lost in your head.

Any 'provable' type questions - always find the answer back in the text. Don't just rely on your memory. Also - read around those passages/statements too when you refer back. A lot of times the answer to those questions is actually not in that literal line, but is in another part of the passage (or above or below those sentences).

Try using that search bar - sometimes it's easy, you plug in the same word from a question or answer choice to then find in the text. But think of the synonyms as well to use for searching. Sometimes the answer choices take a term that can be interchangeable (and you MUST be sure it is interchangeable) to what was used in the actual text which makes it harder to find. If you search the term you know it's actually referring to, you can find the passage point quicker.

Keep track of the author's tone the entire time you're reading. I think this quickly gets lost when people start to focus on the details. But then you get the "what would the author likely agree with..." or "the author's attitude can be considered...." questions - and if you're totally lost, those questions are hard to answer without essentially re-reading or skimming a lot of the passage.

Last - (and I know this is hard), but think of it as an opportunity to learn something new and have fun with it! If you approach it how you would an article you really want to read, you'll find yourself engaging with the text a lot more than just "scanning" it for where the answers will be.

Hope that helps a little!

@JacobBaska Thank you!! Yes this helps a TON! Your last bullet point was my main fear, knowing application numbers are at an all-time high. That's why I figured the early advantage is an asset.

I have an interesting situation in that I'm a mid-thirties non-traditional applicant. I've worked professionally in commercial insurance underwriting and project management for the last 12 years. My GPA is on the lower end for even T30 schools, but not crazy low (3.66) - which is why I do feel I need to focus on the LSAT score a lot. I'll see how September is tracking. If I had to do October or November because of a low score, I wanted that to be my 'cutoff' window for myself to submit by the end of 2026. But that seems to align a lot with what you're saying as a goal submission deadline. I live in NYC and have to stay there because of my kids, which means my targets are: NYU, Columbia, Fordham or Cardozo.

@PhoebeHopp thank you!!

@maxwellmoose45 Hey I posted something very similar to you a month or so ago. I was stuck at mid 160s for months. I don't know where your main struggles are, but if it is LR - 7Sage users pointed me to the book "The Loophole for Logical Reasoning" by Ellen Cassidy - and it was a massive help!

I do not have a "math brain" at all, so the typical way with heavy diagramming, memorizing a massive list of indicators, translation rules, etc... for a lot of LR, just did not click for me. But in The Loophole, she focuses way more on language, and breaking down the stimulus, which I found to be incredibly helpful. She also has a system of identifying and using "Powerful' vs "Provable" language in the answer choices for each question type. She also breaks down how to identify a typical correct answer trait, vs Trap answer trait, but way more in depth (almost like how you would learn the Classic Flaws for example). And that was invaluable to me. Suddenly questions where I used to have to focus on every answer choice to rule it out, I only had to do 2 or 3 - massive time savings!!

If your problem is in RC - I might have other suggestions, but I always feel like how to improve on RC depends mostly just on how you read specifically and then figuring out a strategy to maximize success.

@ScienceAlex thanks for the tips!

I've never used Anki, but I'm going to try that. I was also planning to do what you did with the AI upload of the transcript to see its analysis. I don't really use the 7Sage one much here. If I uploaded just a section of LR and a section of RC to see, would I just tell it what PT/Section number I used? And then beyond "analyze my reasoning", were there any other specific prompts that you used to get helpful info back?

@ZKhan thank you! I do think this is my trap, like one of the other commenters said about default relying on intuition as a trap. This definitely helps reinforcing its quality over quantity.

@Andreyd0925 Thank you!! This helps to hear!

@PhoebeHopp Thank you! This is very helpful! That's actually fairly close to my current routine (using my worst tagged questions for untimed drills) , so helps so much knowing I'm on the right track.

@RubiOrellana Thank you! I'll check this out!

That's the worst part of it for me, the "hide" button change....I didn't practice too much in the old interface except when doing the lesson plans and loved that it was right next to it, and I used it pretty regularly.

When I started in the new one, I kept doing the same thing, flipping it on and off to use, and then forgetting you have it on/wasting time. It's annoying and every second is valuable!

So I started practicing basically without it, unless having an "EXCEPT" question, where I'll turn it on for answer elimination. I think if you're doing any question where you know you are going to approach answers with POE, turn it on right away and then you'll get practice only having to hopefully turn it on/off once, thus saving the little bits of time.

Can you make more!?

This helped a lot- I'm a very visual learner which is why the diagramming alone with just arrows & trying to remember those rules tends to be pretty hard for me for conditional reasoning. It giving you a real time check/feedback too to be sure you're doing it correctly is fantastic.

@J.Y.Ping Great thanks!

Very sweet, this made me smile :)

@David_Busis A quick comment on an error it keeps producing - I do like it and find it valuable, BUT - it keeps mis-reading/doesn't understand when you have adjusted your timing. I have accommodations for testing for 150% time, so I typically practice with those conditions. But then if I ask it for analysis, typically it will bring up that I'm practicing in "standard" timing and I'll do better under my expected timing, which is just not true. It will say this when I've done a section on 150% time.

Also, agree it's sycophantic like all AI models - which is nice when I need a little confidence boost to keep going when I get something wrong! But too much, and I worry it can actually derail people's progress if they have some false hope/think they're doing better than they actually are. Which could end up being worse if you start slightly prompting it to boost yourself with the questions you ask. I noticed this when I asked after an LR section, "How would this influence my overall score because I'm already very strong in RC?" And it instantly agreed with that, even though - yes I've gotten perfect passages and sections where I only get -1 or -2 in RC, but have also had some ones with as much as -6. And I would hate for it to keep giving me the impression that "it's ok - you got this still!" when I actually have some areas I really still need to improve.

My sister tutors for the SAT and says a really common mental trap for students is to make excuses for themselves when they didn't get something right they already feel confident in ( "I got distracted briefly on that question..," and "oh I just read that one too fast...", "I have a headache today, that's why it was wrong.." etc. )- those things could very well be true, but I could see the AI reinforcing some of these thoughts based on prompts you put in, possibly to your detriment.

I'm a critic of AI, but I do think it has some very limited useful applications and see how this could be improved to be very useful to students to continue to identify learning gaps and help with study strategy, but I would be very careful about monitoring and fine tuning the product to trim where it could actually be hurtful to students.

@businessgoose Second this - also check out the app Insight Timer. Calm is a good one too but Insight Timer has more meditation techniques that they will teach you.

If you're doing that well at your age already, give yourself a major pat on the back. I regret not treating myself that way at your age. For what it's worth, I'm finally going to Law School at 36 years old after feeling pretty much exactly like you when I was 24 and wanted to go the first time. I actually believe I'll perform 100x better with going now than I would have as my younger self.... I've worked in advertising, commercial insurance, and the production industry, getting to the top of my game there, and got married and had two kids. It's amazing what time will do to bring your confidence up.

I promise if you give yourself a break, you'll thank yourself later.