There's so much discussion on how mind-boggling it is that the law school racket defies basic economics: demand is dwindling, but price is skyrocketing. I don't think there are too many law schools per se. I think that there are too many lower-ranked schools flooding the market with debt-laden graduates, and when you have 200-300k in debt, you can't exactly practice Small Law.
We're all likely to witness a massive shutdown of law schools. But, maybe, there will be a change in how law schools operate. The system simply has to reflect input vs. output to some degree. If one goes to Harvard or Georgetown or Berkeley, then paying 200-300k provides a serious opportunity to repay the note. On the other hand, if one goes to Florida Coastal and takes on 200-300k, then they're just screwed.
So I for one commend UNT Dallas Law for making a change to the status quo. They're providing an affordable opportunity with realistic expectations.
The LG bundle from 7Sage is fairly cheap. Get that and work through it un-timed; it did wonders to my LG (went -0 on gameday, PT73). I worked up and down that thing until LG became second nature. FWIW I never did any of the games timed (outside of loads of PrepTests), and achieved speed and clarity. I think if you're willing to do at least one problem set per day you'll see steady improvement.
HTH
I'm so happy you've decided to sit for the exam tomorrow!
Best case: you get the score you've worked for (hello, Happiness!).
Worst case: you get another test day experience under your belt.
You've got nothing to lose! Get ready to rock that mother****er tomorrow!
http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/timeline-and-tips-for-the-best-possible-law-school-application/
These guys are awesome! They answer a lot of question for free here as well:
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=197451
(Great insider comments from former admissions officers)
Best of luck to those applying this cycle!
It seems like there's not really a whole lot of consistency in any of the categories. I'd definitely suggest re-going over the lessons (or getting the lessons if you don't have them) and drilling problem sets. It's possible for you to be ready for December if you're studying full time. If you can afford to, though, I'd recommend pushing your exam to February. It'll give you a little bit more time to iron out the wrinkles in your game and build confidence. (The vast majority of schools only take your highest anyways, so there's always the thought that you could take December and, if need be, re-take in February.)
Can you give us a breakdown for each of the past 6 tests?
#1
LR: -X (combined)
LG: -X
RC: -X
#2
......
So we can see any trends in your mistakes.
Retaking is not frowned upon at all. LSAT/LS applicants are WAY down; it truly is a buyer's market right now. They only have to report your highest--that's all they care about. As for the PhD from an ivy, I'm not 100% sure and maybe others can chime in. From what I've gathered schools don't report grad school grades, so they don't have a major effect. It definitely is an excellent "soft," though.
Sorry to those that didn't score where they should've. 7Sage is such a great resource and with more time and effort you'll absolutely do great. Keep your chin up.
Diagnostic: 151
Actual: 167
(RC: -5 LR1: -6 LG: -0 LR2: -5)
Couldn't have gotten that donut without you, 7Sage!
Here's a great bridging-type tip:
[Mock Stimulus]
Every weekday in Pleasantville the mayor goes home on lunch. Her husband is a stay-at-home father and architect. He has planned many buildings for the city of Pleasantville. They have been lauded as some of the most beautiful in existence. Last Tuesday there was an accident causing Main Street to be closed off. Therefore, the mayor did not get to see her husband for lunch.
Any new information in the conclusion must be included in the correct answer choice. The correct answer has to include something about not seeing her husband for lunch (either last Tuesday or a generalization about road closings and seeing him/he not being able to see her). Also, you're probably thinking "Cool, but couldn't he go see her for lunch?" or "Couldn't she take a side-street to get home?" or "Why couldn't they drive in opposite directions to two different airports, thereby flying to a destination in a previous timezone where it would still be lunch and they'd have awesome stone-baked authentic Italian pizza?"
[Mock Answer Choices]
A.) If one is the planner of the most beautiful buildings in existence then one will surely get a contract with the city of Pleasantville.
B.) If there is an accident on Main Street, the mayor cannot go to her favorite delicatessen for lunch.
C.) If the mayor's husband is busy working on a new and exciting project, then she will not get to see him on lunch.
D.) If Main Street is closed off, the mayor will not be able to see her husband for lunch.
E.) If the mayor does not see her husband on lunch, then she will fly to Disneyland.
-A.) is wrong because, really, what does landing city contracts have to do with anything?
-B.) is wrong because what does her favorite deli have to do with anything?
-C.) is wrong because we don't know if he is in fact working on any project. It requires an additional assumption.
-D.) is the correct answer because it bridges the loose ends. It says that if Main Street is closed, then there is no way they meet up on lunch.
-E.) is cool and I just hope she takes her lovely darling children.
Using this technique will allow you speedily check off incorrect answer choices that don't have the information pertaining to the conclusion. Hope this helps!
(I'm obviously not a test writer, but it should make sense, I hope.)
I wouldn't worry about pre-36 PTs anyways. They're basically worthless (extreme, maybe?). The composition of question types, wording, feel of recent PTs (60ish-now) is pretty different. That's why 7Sage uses older PTs as problem sets for practice--you should too. 36-60 should give you enough full-length timed practice for 60-recent.
The way I thought about this question (I know it says high school, but bear with me):
Student A took Ceramics 101, studied little, and got an A.
Student B took Engineering 647, studied a lot, and got a B.
Answer (C) confines the studying to a single course and resolves the discrepancy.
If keyboard mode is ON, then you use the "~" key to toggle BR on/off for the selected question.
Ideally you should take as many as possible. The important thing though is that you're getting something out of each PrepTest. So don't just do 3 tests a day until you burn through them all (extreme, I know). J.Y. recommends doing a least one test every other week (min.) up to three tests per week (max.). To answer your other question, you should start testing after building a solid foundation of understanding (not a specific date from your LSAT administration date).
Hope this helps!
I don't know how hectic your life is outside of LSAT, but you have quite a bit of time between now and your administration. I'd say a test per week (preferably Saturday around 9:00 am) would be perfect. 7Sage has a free proctor app that is really helpful so I'd recommend that as well. Some people like to do timed sections, but I don't really see the point because you want to save all the recent (PrepTest 36+) tests for simulated conditions. Why waste a section? You won't be tested on one section on test day. But with that said, you could do old (pre-36) timed sections, if you think it would help.
I think the key for anyone in your position (~8 months till test day w/ prior learning) should first focus on getting a solid foundation and then do every PrepTest from #36-72+ under actual conditions. More than likely after you've done the Core Curriculum and read the Powerscore books you'll have a "hey, I think I know what I'm doing here" level of confidence, but there is absolutely no substitute for timed tests under realistic conditions. Don't worry when you take your first couple of PrepTests. You'll most likely feel bogged down. That is a good thing because it means you're applying previously learned strategies and techniques. Don't fret too much about speed/time at first. Pattern recognition and mental conditioning will speed you up naturally.
For right now, just focus on learning technique and strategy with emphasis on comprehension. If you don't get something, review-practice-review-practice-practice-review until you do.
If there is anything else please don't hesitate to ask (myself or others). 7Sage has an awesome, caring community of people that really want to help. You're in good hands here.
I have the Ultimate, and I believe there is a video for every question.
I've been studying full-time since the first week of May and on my diagnostic I got -16 total in LR. On my most recent PT (last Saturday) I got -8 total. Over the last few tests my average was ~10 wrong total. Logic games came relatively tough to me, so I focused on those heavily over the last several weeks/months and have seen great improvement with the 7sage method and logic games bundle (my average over the last few tests is less than -2!). (Dare I say the games are a little fun now?)
I've recently began to devote much more time to LR and have noticed a downward trend with total number of incorrect. I think you'll see great gains with 7Sage; I can't recommend them highly enough. They teach big picture stuff so when a question stem is thrown at you you never feel overwhelmed. You're armed with argument analysis. You'll know how weak/strong the argument is, what it's (may be) missing, what the main conclusion/premises are, and so forth. After you've got that down, the only thing left is to dig deep into your own personal errors (be it lack of time, "just not getting it yet", test fatigue, etc.) and practice. Lots of practice.
I wish you the best of luck and you're very smart for starting your prep so early. If you're determined, there is no reason you can't get a great score.
I'd say do the 7Sage first. They're the gold standard when it comes to logic games and their approach to LR is foundational and adaptable. The LR bible is good for nitty-gritty mechanical stuff (which is good), but 7Sage will instill skills and more than logistics.
(I think you'll get useful things from the books, but I'd focus on theory right now.)
Hey Alan,
I never used to get the 502 message until after the site maintenance last night. I use Firefox and clearing the cache seems to fix it momentarily. More importantly, when I try to view/print a logic game section from the bundle it says "File Not Found." I hope this is fixed soon because the logic games bundle is a life-saver.
In Parallel questions you're matching the technique/method used by the author. They're tough because, as Riemann mentioned, the physical order of the technique can change in the correct answer.
For example:
Stimulus layout: P, SC, P, MC
Correct answer: MC, P, SC, P
These questions require a firm grasp on argument structure/how the premises support the conclusion.
Some things I think help find the right answer/eliminate wrongs:
- If the stimulus contains an argument with two people discussing two things, then the correct answer must have the 2 + 2 form.
- If the stimulus uses absolute numbers as evidence, then so must the correct answer. (Vice versa with percentages.)
- REALLY IMPORTANT is how the author uses qualifiers such as some, most, none and all. Very often incorrect answer choices are very attractive because it will fit the form but swap one of the qualifiers for another (thereby making the premise/conclusion stronger/weaker than the original). A quick method of ruling out wrongs I use is to pay close attention to the author's conclusion. If the conclusion says "therefore, SOME 'things' are 'X'", I'll scan the 5 answer choice conclusions that don't use "some" (or the similar) and eliminate them quickly. This can also be used to analyze the premises.
I hope this helps.
Congrats! It really comes down to your estimated potential. If you were at a plateau for awhile and feel "maxed out," then it's probably a good idea to not chance going down in score.
How much room do you feel you have left to improve?
You should primarily focus on the ~200 that are ABA accredited (as on LST). When it comes to information, Law School Transparency really is as good as it gets. It has all the quantitative data you should need. (Job prospects being paramount.) The only information left is qualitative, e.g., location, faculty background, quality of public transportation, student satisfaction and similar. For this information your best bet is to narrow down your choices, then research websites and hit the forums such as Top Law Schools.
Also, this is one time where being an egoist is greatly justified. Don't worry about meeting a particular law school's needs. Trust me, they don't really care about yours. And besides you're paying them ~$200k to meet your needs.
If I could make a suggestion? I wouldn't necessarily aim to have it "done" in three weeks. The Bundle did magic on my LG game, but it took time. At first, I couldn't even get 10 right (let alone understand what the hell I was doing). Leading up to game day I was averaging -1 on fresh PTs, and on my actual exam (PT 73) I went -0.
I'd suggest working up and down all those LG sections and doing at least one full section per day--utilizing JY's explanations on the ball-busters. I think over time you'll be amazed at how easy they become.
(And FWIW, I never practiced my non-PT sections timed. I cared more about working through every set up/question till I did understand what the hell was going on. Speed came naturally.)