Hey there - I'll echo the same I'm just terribly sorry.. (I've been through similar things myself, and major kudos to you because I can tell you first hand, getting through it... it isn't easy. I know that personally too. So my heart goes out to you.)

I agree with the others - my statement is similar but different than you. I'm in my mid-thirties, but always wanted to be a lawyer when I was younger, I just never ended up going to law school because life took me other ways. In 2024, my 18month old daughter was named as a victim in a multi-victim abuse case against two of her former daycare teachers. (thankfully, she really was always ok, but the prosecutor's pulled her in as a charge anyway). This experience is what fueled me to want to return to law school, and is what my statement is about. Also, my feelings about it were way more complex than many other people. My feelings and the emotional impact were one thing, but they were also different than most others who were involved, specifically because of how I view the current state of the justice system. And this is really the crux of my story.

So how am I approaching it:

• I'm not going into the dirty details of the case. They're not here to fact check my story, or relieve the trauma and feelings with me in depth. I absolutely mention the emotional impact, but I'm not dwelling on it. It sets the scene.

• I focus on what made me as a person care about this issue so deeply, and why it fuels my desire to go to law school. I talk about how going through the experience changed me (for the better still!), and why living through this experience will make me a valuable student and lawyer who can bring a unique perspective to the world.

• I'm tying it back to me - how did this experience ultimately relate to who I always was - why was I so empathetic in ways to the defendants that others couldn't be (because I've always cared about equity and fairness, a principle I could still maintain in the most personal circumstance), why was I obsessed with learning about details I didn't have access to (because I have this insanely deep drive to figure out the objective truth) etc... what I want to show them isn't just "Something bad happened to me, and now I care about getting in the legal system to fix what wronged me"... I want to show them that this experience showed me who I really am, what resilience I have, and how this reignited a passion I always had. And how that will make me a fantastic lawyer.

Hope that helps!!

@LSATsisyphus and @EagerEye - Science is also my absolute worst topic just becasue I dislike it…you should be able to make an account on Scientific American magazine, and you can search their archives. You should be able to download at least a few free ones. They’re a lot like what you’re going to see on the test which has been good reading practice for me: https://www.scientificamerican.com/archive/issues/

@MichaelWright Oh thank you!! I didn't know about this and like this idea! But will check out the blog post as well, thank you!

This is just food for thought, and anyone is welcome to disagree with me. I'm just going to put this out there...

Historically yes. In general, in a more formalized writing piece, prior writing guidelines said you shouldn't rely on a ton of contractions. However I generally feel AI has changed that perception. My sister is an English professor. As soon as AI was introduced she said she could instantly smell when someone had used AI without using any kind of software detector (and YES obviously they’ll use these AI detector tools, not the point of what I am saying).

Why could she spot it instantly? Because AI doesn't have a unique "Voice." In creative writing, voice is what separates you from other writers. Yes, companies are starting to modify that and try to give AI a style that that is tailored to them. But, I think in the literature community there is a return to the emphasis and importance of the "human" element of writing, which is distinction in your Voice and that comes out in your writing style.

Writing professionals used to try to be more mindful of traditional rules for formal/academic writing. Because the prior intent of that was to specifically adhere to a more formal tone when appropriate.

But AI co-opted that when it was first built. For the much worse (in mine, and many other writers opinions). And for you, your writing voice could be using more frequent contractions. And isn't a personal statement meant to represent you?!

 I would see it this way: 1) Are the contractions enhancing the tone/style of your writing or detracting from it? 2) Are you just using it to try to save space? If so, you'll probably worsen the piece if you jam them in everywhere to save a few sentences. It wouldn't be worth it in my opinion to make your writing suffer.

@Rena12345 thank you!! this helps a lot - definitely agree with your point that confidence at the core is what you need (especially for me). The point about the mask to avoid getting sick definitely a good point too, I didn't even think about that!

Have to commiserate because I'm exactly like you! RC is my anchor and I usually get -3 to -0. But LR... arrgg.. best I can do on a timed section is -3, but I usually average around -5 to -6, so it's what I spend most my studying time on.

If you're similar to me with LR, meaning your core understanding is intact (getting BRs in the -0 to -2 range), then under timed conditions it's most likely bad mechanical habits.

Everybody is different.. my main problems are "correct then flip" (I doubt my right answer and talk myself out of it). Time vortexes where you should bail earlier to save time. Flagging correctly!! I used to flag so much because I wanted to "go back and double check" - bad strategy. Only flag when you are truly stuck between 2 or 3 answer choices, and learn to trust yourself. It will usually only then be a few questions, and with fresh eyes you can spot the wrong answer on second pass.

Absolutely know your weakest question types - I skip right over any dense conditional reasoning/needs diagramming. Or heavy parallel reasoning questions. Get your easy points in the bank first, then go back with more time for these.

For now, I am stuck in -5 LR jail... hoping I can cut that down to -3 at least, in time for October!!

I've been similar to you - timed sections were consistently in mid 160s, and finally getting to my actual BR in low 170s on timed sections. Honestly the 7sage AI tutor is the one who pinned these and their nicknames, but they also came from reading my Wrong Answer Journal notes too. It has worked for me to focus on these (and again, these are my specific problem-points, might not be the same for you):

• Fixing "Correct - then Flip" : I'm a strong second guesser of my own abilities. One of my worst culprits is the "Correct-and-flip" pattern where I answer what I know, panic from self-doubt that it might be wrong, and then re-click a trap. Have to learn to trust my logic skills better. Especially true for the beginning of a section where questions are lower difficulty.

• Avoid the "Time Vortex" : Like others have said, you have to bail on a tough question after 60-90s to avoid sucking time from ones you could have gotten right. Go with your gut, flag and move on. And don't keep thinking about that question on the next one!

• Skip and Flag Strategically : Absolutely know your weakest question types. (For me it's dense conditional reasoning or math driven questions). "EXCEPT" Questions and Parallel Reasoning are also just big time sucks. I usually completely skip them at first glance. I want my time at the end when I don't feel rushed to go to my weakest questions. Even if you don't get enough time at the end for these and miss them anyway, the goal is to avoid the time vortex and secure points on questions you already had time and got right.

• The "Anchor Rule" : If you selected an answer you feel confident on but still have some panicky-doubt about it, I say to myself I'm not allowed to change my answer unless I can prove exactly why my original is wrong and another one is right.

• Don't "Over Flag" because of doubt or panic : If you end up having a third of the questions flagged because you just have self-doubt about the answer, you're not going to remember which ones actually need your attention.

• "Answer Reset" - If you read a question and none of the answer choices seem like they could be right - Stop, Start Over, and re-read the stimulus. Then re-evaluate every answer again. Don't get stuck trying to "prove" to yourself that a possible answer is right. You can get tunnel vision and completely miss the right answer. These can also be ones you choose to Flag and Skip. Coming back with fresh eyes can help a lot.

Hope that helps!

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.