started in the 150s, now scoring in the 160s-170s. i also study full time 6 days a week (Mon-Sat), around 4-8 hours a day, although im a bit loose with it since i travel a lot :)))
i make a point to start at 9 am every day (pretending i'm clocking in for my job) and do a warmup (5x1 star, and 10x any star). after that every day is usually a mixed bag of taking a ton of the live session classes (cannot recommend enough) and try to get a solid grasp on the nitty gritty details. i try to do at least 1 full LR or RC section with blind review and wrong answer journal after. every saturday i take a PT to finish off the week. the next monday i begin with blind review on the past test and then straight into WAJ.
when i was starting out, i did the 7S 1-1 tutoring for MANY weeks and i don't really think it was worth it. so dont buy in. just get the live session membership.
currently reworking my system and schedule a little since i've changed my 7S membership back down to the regular one so i can focus more on honing in better timing and reading skills. open to any tips!
edit: i will say, i neglected blind review a LOT when i was starting out. DO NOT make my mistake. blind review is your best friend and the new 7S platform really makes it a lot easier to do.
Anyone in/near Iowa City want to meet up and study together? Looking to work in-person. Can hash out the details if ppl are interested.
Whenever I try to add live classes to my calendar on the new 7sage it redirects me to a download file for apple calendar. I am unfortunately not an apple user and have to use the classic 7sage to then add the classes to my calendar. Is there a method I'm missing or can we have this added?
@Mdwa1999 A few days before the test, I typed up and printed a sheet of things that I normally catch myself erring on during PTs (reading too quickly, not focusing, not catching literal language, A->B and A-m->C = B-s->C, etc. etc.) and just scanned over that a couple times to keep the worst parts fresh.
I also retook 10 questions of varying difficulty (timed) just to get into the groove of reading and answering quickly, but did not check the score afterward so I wouldn't discourage myself.
At the end of the day, I still locked up but having done a first round, I feel more prepared in knowing what awaits me. Just gotta keep grinding at it.
I'm taking the LSAT at home for the first time (had a terrible in-person experience so trying this), but I was wondering if anyone with a gaming PC setup has been dinged for having multiple monitors, mic arms, etc.
I've made a second setup with just a laptop, XL gaming pad, and additional monitor as my "testing zone" but was wondering if secondary monitors/graphic mousepads are dinged and not allowed. Should I keep it to just the laptop and mouse?
Would love to hear about other ppl's experiences testing at home and how I can optimize my setup for seamless testing without having to rework my desk the day of.
IDK if this is prevalent to your case, but I have craaazy test-based anxiety and definitely lock up during tests. What I've done to mitigate it is to take PT's in as similar of conditions to the real deal (I plan to take remotely in Nov). What helps most for me is attending the proctored Saturday exam time that 7Sage offers.
Aside from that, when I lock up during an exam, I take the few seconds to close my eyes and take two really deep breaths. I remind myself to read carefully and try to remember the goal of the question stem. That helps in filtering out what is relevant/not.
My strategy for reducing time is to answer the initial 10-15 questions in a section quickly and efficiently so that I can bank time for later on where questions tend to get very tricky/need diagramming. The key to any LR Q is to know exactly what it's asking of you (i.e. Necessary Assumption, Flaw, Conditionals, etc.)
As for grinding PTs, I would say yes but make sure you're very aware why you got the question wrong and how you plan to mitigate that in the future. That helps so that you're not mindlessly burning away at your question database. Quantity =/= Quality.
definitely agree with all the advice already given, but wanted to add my 2 cents
what pushed me from 150s to 160s was understanding question types at a very high level. it's reading the question stem and knowing innately what sorts of answers we're looking for (i.e. if it's a sufficient assumption, then i will have to look for a gap and fill it to the tee, if it's an MSS then the stimulus will lead to the answer, etc.) but also reading suspiciously. if you go in thinking the question is going to bait you with an assumption, then it becomes easier to see.
i dont agree with only drilling 4-5 star questions. while i think studying for 1 stars is a little pointless, the vast majority of your test will be 3-5 stars and the 3 star questions offer you the opportunity to see a really large array of the different ways lsat writers can warp the question types and trip you up. i think quantity is very important when youre starting out as long as you review and understand why you got the question wrong.
study-wise, i took 1 pt a week and that worked for me. i think with blind review and wrong answer journaling, 1 is more than enough. especially if you're also drilling on the side. on top of that, i attended a lot of the live sessions that 7sage offers and drilled on my own on the side. when i started out, i had a tutor that had me doing stair climber drills (3x1 star, 3x2 star, 3x3, etc. only progress upward when you get all of them right) for the question types i struggled with the most. as of now im just taking a section or two a day, blind reviewing, and WAJ. moreso trying to iron out errors in thought process and maintaining a good reading speed at this point.
im not gonna lie, going from 150 --> 165 was harder for me knowledge-wise than 160 --> 170+. once you take a TON of these questions, you start anticipating what sorts of answers will crop up, whether they're correct or traps.