On top of great advice from others, I would highly recommend finding out the reason why you miss questions on your first pass. Are you simply running out of time? If so, doing timed drills with 10-ish questions might help you build your pace. If you aren't sure about if timing is the problem, try a timed PT with a few extra minutes (like 40-45 minutes per section) to see if that relieves the pressure.

If timing is not the issue and you actually have some time left over the end of the section, make sure you're using those final minutes to go back and double-check your flagged questions. Since you're scoring high on BR, I assume simply allowing yourself to see a question a second time will help you spot any mistakes you made at the first instance.

Lastly, try to pinpoint what you do differently during BR. Which question types do you consistently fix? Which specific flaws? For instance, do you usually miss a Part-to-Whole or False Dichotomy flaw initially, but easily spot it during BR? Build a 'checklist' of your most common blind spots. Next time you are having a hard time locating a flaw in a stimulus, run through that checklist.

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! It is definitely hard to write a full low-res summary during practice sections; you don't want to waste valuable time writing it all down. You are correct that you won't be able to talk out loud during the real exam, but you can at least mumble to yourself quietly enough that others can't hear.

Alternatively, you can write down just a single word or abbreviation per paragraph on your scratch paper. That is what I did sometimes; I focused on the structural purpose of each paragraph and just wrote down something like: 'AP' (Author's Perspective), 'OP' (Other's Perspective), or 'I' (Illustration). This didn't take much time at all but still allowed me to easily recall the roadmap of the passage.

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! Although I did not have a same experience, I want to share this page on LSAC called 'International Transcripts.' You can find the requirements for the UK on this page.

Generally speaking, once a student sends their transcript (along with other requirements) to the LSAC, the grade from non-American institutions is converted by LSAC into a qualitative tier like Superior, Above Average, Average, or Below Average. I believe they don't count into the school's median. I hope this helps!

Hello! Doing a full PT definitely feels different from doing individual sections; there is a lot more pressure and cognitive fatigue involved. Because the actual exam will be exactly like a full PT, it is crucial to physically and mentally train your endurance for that format.

I agree with @AltanM about starting by trying 2 sections in one sitting to gradually build your stamina. Once you feel more comfortable doing two sections in a row, try doing two sets of them with a 10-minute break in between (simulating a full PT).

To share a bit of my own experience: before I actively practiced taking 2.5-hour exams in one sitting, my brain completely went on strike by the time I reached the fourth section of my first real LSAT attempt. It was only after a prolonged period of regularly simulating the actual exam conditions that I stopped feeling fatigued at the end.

Even though diving into a full PT can definitely feel stressful, try to reframe it in your mind: you are doing the exact physical and mental conditioning required to crush the real exam!

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! I have heard that as well, and I do remember many PTs following that trend, but as @AltanM said, it is not necessarily a strict rule.

For instance, PT146's RC passages are pretty much in order of difficulty: Passage 1 is a 2/5, Passage 2 is a 3/5, and Passages 3 and 4 are 4/5. But if you look at PT137, the order does not strictly follow that curve: Passages 2 and 4 have the highest difficulty levels. I can't recall the exact PT number right now, but I remember a PT where the very first passage was more difficult than the third or the fourth passage. Still, some people do find that the first passage is usually the easiest, so they like to tackle it first to warm up their brains.

Regarding LR, there definitely used to be a much clearer pattern of questions increasing in difficulty as the section progressed. However, in more recent exams, the test makers have started planting difficult questions in the first half of the section, so that ordering is no longer a strict guarantee either. I hope this helps!

Hello! In addition to working harder on BR, I think you can learn a lot from a deep wrong-answer review. When reviewing, ask yourself: Why did you ignore the correct answer and instead choose an incorrect AC? What detail in the stimulus did you miss? Is there a typical flaw that you tend to find more challenging to notice on your first pass?

For instance, I had a tendency to miss Part-to-Whole (or vice versa) flaws more frequently than other typical flaws. When I realized this, whenever I read a stimulus and couldn't figure out the flaw right away, I asked myself if it could possibly be a Part-to-Whole flaw.

Most importantly, ask yourself: What can you do to prevent repeating that mistake? Whenever you work on your wrong answer journal, you are doing it because you want to ensure you never repeat that same mistake again. For example, 'I will never misread Strengthen Q stem as MSS Q stem.'

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! Regarding your timeline, if you are 100% committed to completing your applications by Thanksgiving, you still have some great options:

• Shift to September (or October): Taking the test in September or even October still allows you to submit your applications well before Thanksgiving. This gives you a solid 2 to 3 months of studying.

• Take August AND a later test: If you feel you have made a massive breakthrough by August, you can take one on August, but leave the door open to retake in September or October if you want to try for a few more points.

Ultimately, you ideally want to take the official exam only when your PT scores are consistently hitting your goal range. Rushing the test just to apply a few weeks earlier usually isn't worth it if it means leaving points on the table.

Although some people do say that it didn't take a ton of time to reach their goals, way, way, many more people do spend a ton of time on LSAT to finally reach their goals. LSAT is a test of rewiring how you think, which simply requires a cumulative number of practice hours that you likely just haven't had the luxury to spend yet because of your busy schedule. It often takes a prolonged period of dedicated study to finally achieve a score you are happy with, so don't be too hard on yourself!

Hello! First of all, there is no single correct way to study. Everyone learns differently, so you will likely hear a variety of advice!

From my perspective, if you feel like you need to do more and you can do more, then why not do more? Since you’ve completed the RC curriculum and are already drilling, it is definitely not too early to start incorporating full PTs. However, if a full PT feels like too much right now, I recommend starting with individual RC sections.

It is fine to begin with untimed sections, but I suggest transitioning to timed testing sooner rather than later. If a strict 35-minute block feels too abrupt, try starting with 40 or 45 minutes and gradually shortening the time until you reach 35 minutes.

Regarding your last question: it is totally normal to not hit your target score soon after finishing the core curriculum! Learning the theory is only the first step. What ultimately gets you your goal score is regularly applying those methods through practice until they become yours. I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! I'm also an ESL! Like @jvrodrigues said, I highly recommend focusing less on the content itself and focusing more on the structural purpose. Ask yourself what the purpose of each paragraph is. Why did the author intentionally add this paragraph or sentence in this article, in this place?

Additionally, when solving questions, I would say focusing on the exact language of the answer choices really helps. An AC might look almost perfect... until there's a single word or phrase that makes it descriptively inaccurate. For instance, did the author ever actually say X is a 'primary' or 'chief' factor? Or consider a scenario where the passage says, 'Y is much more valuable than Z.' If an answer choice claims that 'Z has no value,' it is incorrect. Did the author ever say Z doesn't have a value? No, just that it has less value than Y.

Lastly, what I did personally was to build a vocab list consisting of any words from the PTs that I didn't know. Knowing the exact definition of every word on the test is not required, but it absolutely helps. I hope this helps, and good luck!

Thank you for sharing your wonderfully insightful story! To share a bit of my own experience, there was a question that I once spent over an hour investigating. It's a bit overkill, I admit, but it was one of the moments during my study when I truly felt proud of myself for acting like a real scholar :) Looking at your wrong answers definitely helps you refine your strategy so you never repeat the same mistake again, so you're doing awesome! Keep up the great work!

Hello! That's a really common experience, and from my own experience, it's often fueled by time pressure. We get stuck in that loop: 'I'm reading this again and still don't get it. Wow, two minutes just passed. Oh no.'

What helped me was shifting my focus from trying to understand exactly what the text is saying, to why the author added it. Focus less on the content/information, focus more on the structural purpose. Once you can label what the author is trying to do here (e.g. 'This is an illustration', 'This is to introduce someone else's perspective,' 'This is a part of explaining the process of photosynthesis'), just move on to the next sentence. When you finish reading the whole passage and revisit that part, you may often realize that the section that looked like nonsense earlier will be a lot clearer.

So the best thing to do next time is not to panic. Gently acknowledge it, shake your head, mumble if you want to, and if you still feel stuck, just identify a key purpose of this sentence and keep moving for the moment. I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello, I want to add my own strategy in case it helps!

I used to get LR MSS and Resolution questions wrong because I missed a piece of information in the stimulus. To fix this, I started treating each LR stimulus like a treasure hunt. It sounds simple, but it shifts your mentality into something fun and exciting that requires your full attention to every single word and phrase. Treating it like a game set my mind to: 'Okay, I am going to discover every hidden clue in here, let's go!'

Alternatively, pretend as if someone very, very important to you is passionately explaining this to you. You will try to understand what they're saying and not miss a detail, regardless of what they are talking about.

It is totally understandable that you are glazing over things; the LSAT drains a great amount of stamina. But it is actually a great thing that you have identified your habit! Now that you know what to fix, you can consciously catch yourself and reset your focus.

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

@GraceKelly Hello! Seeing that you already get such a high score during your Blind Review, it shows that your foundational accuracy is already excellent. Because of that, frankly speaking, I don't think untimed drills will benefit you more than timed ones at this stage.

While untimed drills are great for learning the mechanics, they don't force you to make the quick, instinctual decisions required for the real exam. In order to actually gain speed, you need to train your brain to work under pressure, and you can only build that kind of pacing when you practice with a timer. Hope this helps!

Hello! As you mentioned, the essay prompts for the next cycle have not been released yet, and they may change. The 7Sage prompts up on the website now are for the current cycle, so they will be updated when the new prompts are officially released.

However, if you think your fall will be too busy to start writing many new essays, then I would say writing 'Why X' essays for schools that asked for them in the current cycle wouldn't hurt. They might suddenly get rid of them, but it's highly likely that they will ask for them again.

Regarding the length, I would say aiming for one page is very safe for now. It is easier to expand a concise essay than to cut one down. Once the specific details are released, you can always add more information if they allow for two-pagers. I hope this helps!

Hello! I totally understand why RC seems much fuzzier than LR. Adding to all the great comments below, I would say focusing on the exact language of the answer choices really helps.

An AC might look almost perfect... until there's a single word or phrase that makes it descriptively inaccurate. For instance, did the author ever actually say X is a 'primary' or 'chief' factor? Or consider a scenario where the passage says, 'Y is much more valuable than Z.' If an answer choice claims that 'Z has no value,' it is incorrect. Did the author ever say Z doesn't have a value? No, just that it has less value than Y.

A trap AC will often contain a subtle assumption or exaggeration that the author never provided as fact. With that being said, keep in mind that MSS and Inference questions in RC are very similar to the ones in LR; it is just that the stimulus is much longer. I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! It seems like Edit Note doesn't work for me either. It used to work before, so I assume there's a small bug to be resolved here.

@AstridRivera918 Hello! If you look at this page called Sample Admissions Timeline, October-November is considered early, December-January is still reasonable, and February is getting late. But as the page also states, it's better to submit when you're completely ready than to be in a rush and submit an unsatisfying application early. Hope this helps!

Hello! Based on my experience, I have not seen a case where a single RC section contains two full natural science passages. Sometimes a section might have two passages tagged generally as 'Science' (e.g. PT 146, Section 4), but one of them will be much closer to a Social Science (like history, psychology, sociology, or economics) rather than a hard natural science. As for guaranteed subjects, LSAC generally aims for a standard mix. I usually had Law, Social Science/Humanities, Art, and Science in my head as the categories.

Hello! Frankly speaking, I believe it depends on what you want to achieve before the exam. To speak from my own experience, I did more than one PT a week because I wanted to make sure that I looked at every PT question before my exam and actively trained my endurance. But as you can see from the other comments below, there isn't just one right way to study. I personally needed more than one PT a week to achieve my goal, but others may not require the exact same volume of study as me to achieve the same thing.

The most important thing is not to burn yourself out or make yourself sick of the whole process. I would say you should structure your drills and PTs in whatever way allows you to best identify your weaknesses, refine your strategy so you never repeat the same mistakes, and stay motivated until your August exam. I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! If where the wrong answers are clustered depends on the order of the question, I assume that timing is one of the issues. If you feel like you'r rushing at the end, then it means that you need to save up some time by increasing your speed on the first half of the section. To see if timing is the problem, try a timed PT with a few extra minutes (like 40-45 minutes per section) to see if that changes where wrong answers are clustered. And doing timed drills with 10-ish questions might help you build your pace. I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! I am so sorry to hear that you did not get into the schools you wanted this time around. As you are probably aware, the cycle has been tough on a lot of people considering the increase in the applicant pool.

Regarding your personal statement, although I am not an admissions expert, some schools highly encourage reapplicants to submit new materials. For example, the UMichigan explicitly states:

If you wish, you may resubmit your prior essays; we strongly suggest, however, that you consider new or refreshed writing. Likewise, we encourage you to provide us with any new information you think would help us evaluate your qualifications.

Seeing that, it may worth to write a new one.

Regarding the LSAT, if you are almost certain your score was the primary reason, then getting it up to the medians of your target schools will be huge.

Lastly, it could also be that you applied a bit late in the cycle. Considering the larger applicant pool, applying late means there are a lot of candidates in line to be considered before you. Applying earlier next cycle with a new score and refreshed essays will put you in a much stronger position. Best of luck!

Hello! Adding onto what Altan said, I would highly recommend finding out the reason why you miss questions on your first pass. Are you simply running out of time? If so, doing timed drills with 10-ish questions might help you build your pace. If you aren't sure about if timing is the problem, try a timed PT with a few extra minutes (like 40-45 minutes per section) to see if that relieves the pressure.

If timing is not the issue and you actually have some time left over the end of the section, make sure you're using those final minutes to go back and double-check your flagged questions. Since you're scoring high on BR, I assume simply allowing yourself to see a question a second time will help you spot any mistakes you made at the first instance.

Lastly, try to pinpoint what you do differently during BR. Which question types do you consistently fix? Which specific flaws? For instance, do you usually miss a Part-to-Whole or False Dichotomy flaw initially, but easily spot it during BR? Build a 'checklist' of your most common blind spots. Next time you are having a hard time locating a flaw in a stimulus, run through that checklist.

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! When I was studying, I took notes on key takeaways that I absolutely didn't want to forget. I frequently referred to my notes during my free time to remind myself of the core strategies I needed to apply. As I studied more and began to realize my own specific weaknesses, I added those to my notes and would read through them right before getting into a PT.

Like you said, you don't want to spend so much time on notes that it feels like you're wasting study time or just blindly copying things down. However, it is definitely helpful to jot down the high-yield concepts and personal reminders that you feel are most important.

Hello!

To share my own experience; I took my first exam when I was scoring in the high 160s on my PTs, but I ended up getting a low 160. Honestly speaking, I did even worse on my second exam. Naturally, I lost my confidence and really doubted if I could do this.

I sat down and recalled my test experience. I remembered how fatigued I felt in the middle of my second exam. During my third section, I lost focus and thought, 'Shoot, it's over.' I lost my motivation and basically gave up. After reflecting on that, I decided to train specifically for endurance, because I realized that was a huge problem for me. I started doing PTs under strict, realistic test settings: 2 sections in a row, a 10-minute break, and then 2 sections in a row. As I practiced this more and more, I could feel my ability to remain focused all the way through the last section improving.

Another big problem for me was reacting emotionally to completed sections. I decided I could not let my past performance ruin my future performance. After a section that went wildly wrong, instead of thinking, 'Wow, I must have lost 15 points there; I'm doomed, I have no hope,' I forced myself to think, 'Okay, I probably did terribly on my first section, but that means I just have to do really well on my remaining sections. Let's go, I'm going to put in my best effort.' That was an important mindset shift I had to actively train.

In short, it may help to really analyze exactly how your exam went and what you physically and mentally experienced while sitting there. Since this was just your first exam, look at it as your first real opportunity to experience what the actual test environment is like. Use that privilege to improve for next time!

I never perfectly overcame the LSAT fear, but I kept pushing forward through practicing and studying. That was how I regained my confidence. You can absolutely do the same!

I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Hello! There is this page on 7Sage that provides some tips to a recommender, in case that recommender has never written a LOR for law school before. And in general, it would be helpful for your recommender to have your resume and/or personal statement, just as the resource they can refer to.