Community Profile

General · Looking for March 2019 Study Buddy

alenisleon902

Tuesday, Jan 29 2019

I’m down! I’m in California so we’d have to do Skype. I got my highest PT to a 169 with self studying with the LSAT trainer - I’m almost done with the CC and will be taking another PT to gauge if I’ve improved in the next week or so. I’m working to get into the 170+ range for the March test, and I want to get some BR done on PTs before then as well.

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LSAT · Blind Review Group

alenisleon902

Monday, Jan 28 2019

@ said:

Alright, great to hear! I was tentatively thinking this group could review one PT a week together preferably later in the week depending on what people’s schedules look like. Given that we’re about 9 weeks out from the test, I thought starting around PT 75 or so would work well. What day(s)/time(s) work best.

For the next 2-3 weeks I’m available whenever, but I return to work full time soon and evenings or weekends would be best then. I’m in California (for time zone purposes!)

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LSAT · Blind Review Group

alenisleon902

Monday, Jan 28 2019

Interested!

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General · Blind Review PT 65

alenisleon902

Monday, Jan 28 2019

YES! I took it in December before I signed up for 7Sage so I’d be interested in doing BR now that I’ve learned some more! PM when you’re available and we can Skype?

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General · LR before LG?

alenisleon902

Tuesday, Feb 26 2019

I think because LR is 50% of the test, it makes more sense to study that first since there’s just more to learn/more points to get and it takes time to master it. I can’t think of any specific disadvantage to studying LG first apart from the fact you’d only be working on 25% of the test vs 50% of the test 🤷🏽‍♀️

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General · 166 retake advice

alenisleon902

Monday, Feb 25 2019

@ said:

@ Those are great advice!! I recently picked up boxing and it's helped a lot, i agree exercise can do wonders. And just to clarify, by deep dive you mean I should do a few sections first to get a feel of where I'm tripping up, and then target those? Since I can only group questions in the bank by type, how do you suggest I target my weaknesses? And also, just wondering since you've done the trainer, what did you think your takeaways were for RC and LR? I heard their RC method was better than 7sage? Can you confirm? Again, thanks a bunch :smile:

Have you plugged in the PTs you've taken into the 7sage analytics? I would start by looking at that and seeing if any patterns emerge (like, are you missing a bunch of NA questions or something?) If you're consistently only missing a certain question type, then you might benefit from drilling by type. If you're missing questions all over the place, then you need to look at those questions together and see why you're missing them (like, do they have a bunch of conditional logic you're not 100% comfortable with?) Again, I wouldn't waste a fresh PT on this - you mentioned you've taken PTs from the 60's-70's, pick one of those and retake it and see what you're still missing. Retakes are great so long as you don't put any emphasis on the score you get on them. As for targeting your weaknesses in LR, I wrote down study guides for every question I got wrong, including if I was down to 2 ACs, why I picked the one I did, why the other ACs are wrong, etc. After doing enough of these, that's how I realized I struggled with conditional logic.

The trainer is great for making sure your foundational skills are SOLID. He puts a lot of emphasis on making the process of recognizing argument structure/flaws automatic, which I think needs to be second nature if you're aiming for 170+. For conditional logic, I prefer 7sage, but I think the trainer + 7sage together are a killer combo for LR. 7sage definitely filled in my LR gaps from the trainer.

And I love the trainer RC method so much that I didn't even bother going through the RC part of the CC. The main thing with RC is to read for structure - ask yourself why did the author write this/how does it relate to the rest of what I just read/what is it doing in the passage. But something I read on the forums that stuck with me for RC was that you can support every right answer with the passage - when I BR passages, I write down line numbers that support the AC next to the right AC.

Oh, and timing advice! The trainer gives you timing guides which I follow almost religiously. For games, you generally want to move on from 1st game at 7 mins, 2nd at 16, and 3rd at 25. I try to stick to this as much as possible because otherwise I'd just check every AC.

And find a study buddy, even if it's an online one! I've seen lots of improvement since I started studying with someone else - there's something about having to justify why you picked your ACs to someone else that doesn't let you get away with "it just feels right"

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General · 166 retake advice

alenisleon902

Monday, Feb 25 2019

The LSAT trainer is amazing, but if LG is your main weakness, I don’t know how useful it’ll be for you. My main takeaways from the trainer for LG was to always make sure I spend enough time on my setup, notations, and timing strategies - 7sage foolproofing is the best for LG IMO. What I’d do if I was you would be to foolproof all the games from the recent PTs you’ve done - grouped by type first then do them as full sections.

At this point, I don’t think you should burn through any recent PTs. Spend time with the tests you’ve already taken (and retake them) to make sure you understand where your weaknesses are. What questions give you trouble and why? Move beyond question type at this point and try to understand why wrong answer choices are attractive to you. when I was PT’ing in the high 160’s it took me FOREVER to break 170, and it wasn’t until I did a deep dive that I saw the tricks I was falling for (for example, spending too much time on confusing conditional language when the right answer was very obvious, wanting to choose ACs with analogies because I like analogies 🤷🏽‍♀️)

I think drilling by question type is super useful but I think you first need to do a deep dive to analyze your weaknesses then make a plan of attack targeted to those.

As for motivation, make sure you’re not burning yourself out. It’s so important to take care of your physical and mental health as you study for this test! I do a mix of strength training, cardio and yoga to stay healthy and cut out most junk food as well and it’s done wonders for me. Remember to take care of yourself and don’t beat yourself up for taking days off from studying. I’m in my last month of studying and didn’t do anything LSAT related this weekend and took a PT today and got a 172. You have plenty of time to crush this test, so just hang in there and good luck!

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General · LSAT Trainer

alenisleon902

Monday, Feb 25 2019

I love the trainer and highly recommend it. I started studying in late Sept only with the trainer and I improved to the high 160’s (167ish average, highest was a 169) and signed up for 7sage in January to fill in the gaps I felt I had keeping me from a 170. That combination worked for me, and I just finished PT 72 with a 172. Areas where I think the trainer is super useful are mainly LR and RC. I stick to foolproofing for LGs but I liked the timing strategies, notations, and emphasis on proper game board setup the trainer puts on LG. I also LOVE the free study schedules on the trainer website, it definitely helped me get my sh*t together when trying to figure out how I was going to study for this test.

And if you want to get a feel for the trainer before buying it, there’s a couple of free chapters on his website: http://www.thelsattrainer.com/

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Admissions · LSAC fee waiver extension

alenisleon902

Friday, Dec 21 2018

Yes, once it expires you just reapply and go through their process again. A couple of years ago I had a waiver that expired in May and tried calling them to see if they'd extend it so I could take the June test and they just told me to reapply.

You should consider taking the test in July 2019 before your waiver expires, here's a thread that talks about why: https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/18733/why-you-should-probably-take-the-july-2019-lsat

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Admissions · I'm in a dilemma help

alenisleon902

Saturday, Jan 19 2019

Oof, that’s a rough predicament to be in. By applying early decision you’ve committed to attending Georgetown, regardless of what financial aid/scholarships they give you (if any). If I was you I’d call them up and ask them when you can expect notification of any scholarship award. I can’t find the early decision agreement anywhere on the Georgetown website but if I was you I’d double check your application to see what you exactly you agreed to when you applied ED. I don’t know if they’d be willing to release you from your ED commitment if you realize you can’t afford to attend after all, esp because of your DACAmented status. Or idk if they’d be willing to give you MORE money if you explain your DACA status. Regardless, you should reach out to the school (I wouldn’t tell them that you haven’t withdrawn your app/rejected the offer from wash u though...)

Here’s a recent thread on how strict ED is: https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/19170/how-strictly-is-early-admission-enforced

Good luck, I know trying to figure out how to pay for law school when you can’t rely on traditional loans/aid is incredibly difficult.

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Study Groups · SF Bay Area Study Group?

alenisleon902

Tuesday, Dec 18 2018

@ @ @ @ are all of y'all down to start off with a skype meetup to review one of the tests from PT 52-65ish on the 21st, 22nd, 26th, 27th or 28th of this month? I'm out of town until Jan 2 so can't do in-person until then but I'd like to start studying with others ASAP since Jan test is quickly approaching

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Admissions · Advice?...Withdraw from number 1 choice?...some other alternative?

alenisleon902

Saturday, Mar 16 2019

@ you seriously owe nothing to any law school unless you applied ED. I’m assuming you didn’t apply ED to your #1 choice and you didn’t ED your #2 choice either so you could just wait and see if choice #1 let’s you in and if they’d be willing to match the scholarship from choice #2 then go from there. If you applied ED to either of the schools then that’s a different story because of the binding nature of that. Congrats on getting that scholarship, that’s awesome!

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Study Groups · SF Bay Area Study Group?

alenisleon902

Saturday, Dec 15 2018

@ said:

I’m interested! I’m in Santa Cruz but can travel to San José-ish for weekend in person studying!

@ said:

I'm definitely interested! Taking the Jan 26, and I live in San Carlos but can drive anywhere.

@ said:

Definitely into it. Retake in March and going to work less. I'm in San Francisco and can drive to mid Peninsula or East Bay if need to.

What would you guys find most helpful? For me - working through and discussing a PT question-by-question (after having taken it under timed conditions) would be helpful. Any thoughts?

That’s kind of what I was thinking - I get most of the “theory”, I’m in the stage where I’m focused on perfecting my application during timed PTs and I’m really terrible at doing BR by myself so it’d be helpful to go through PTs as a group so we could maybe teach each other as we go.

I’m working through full PTs 65-81 right now, would y’all be down to do an online or in person meetup for one of these tests this weekend?

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General · Taking the Jan LSAT...Timing is still an issue

alenisleon902

Friday, Dec 14 2018

What’s helped with my timing was reviewing the LSAT Trainer’s final chapters on timing. For example, for logic games, I memorized the following numbers: 8/16/25, meaning when the clock hits 8 minutes I move on from game 1, move on from game 2 at 16 and move on from game 3 at 25. This has been super helpful in helping me make sure I stay on track. I also skip rule substitution questions bc they’re just a huge time suck for me - I usually just guess on this question and come back at the end if I have time.

For RC, I move on from the passage/questions after 8ish minutes. If I can’t eliminate more than 1 answer choice for a question I’ll skip it, move to the next one in the passage, and come back to my skipped question after I’ve done all the other questions for THAT PASSAGE. I’ve found that a lot of the times the other questions will help me understand the passage/previous questions better and I’m able to get the skipped question right.

For LR the biggest thing has been building my confidence in my choice for the right answer. A lot of the time I’ll get a gut feeling that an answer is right compared to another answer but I can’t quite figure out why. In that case, I trust my gut and choose the answer that I feel is right and circle/star the question to come back to at the end if there’s time.

TL;DR: 1. set timing benchmarks for yourself and MOVE ON when you hit them. 2. Trust your gut instinct and move on from questions and 3. Figure out what questions make sense for YOU to skip.

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General · Full Time Job

alenisleon902

Friday, Dec 14 2018

Chiming in because I’ve dealt/am dealing with this and have had some success balancing.

For background: I work an incredibly demanding social justice-y job that requires more than 40 hours most weeks, and have taken the LSAT twice, once when I was a senior in college (for a 159) and again during my first year in my job (for a 160).

In September of this year I realized I wasn’t happy with my work anymore and decided to revisit law school. I realized that what had prevented me from getting a better score on the LSAT was my lack of consistent studying, so for my third time, I realized I needed to COMMIT to the lsat above my job.

I started studying in late September/early October for the January 2019 lsat with a 12 week schedule from the LSAT Trainer. I purposefully chose a 12 week schedule even though the lsat was still 16ish weeks away so I had some wiggle room if work got too crazy and i couldn’t stay on track (this has proven to be one of the best decisions I made as work DID get crazy and I fell behind sometimes). I also grabbed a cheap monthly planner from Marshall’s and calendered out all of my lessons for each week, alloting ~2 hours on M/T/TH for lsat studying each night after work and 4-6 hours on Sat/Sun. I did this in pencil so I could move things around as needed, and checked off things on the calendar as I completed them.

I also scheduled random days off from work during the 16 week period so I could stay home and catch up on my studying/take some full PTs. This too has been invaluable, as I basically spend a full workday on the LSAT in the middle of the week. I’ve been averaging around a 168 with this method and am making a final push in December/January during my winter time off to hopefully break 170 before the January lsat. If I don’t, I’ve accepted that I may need to postpone until March so I get enough time to study and get the score I want.

Final suggestion: figure out if there’s periods of time that there’s a lull in your work - I realized that November/December was going to be less hectic for me than April-July, so studying for the January lsat made sense for me. Other than that, think about if you’re really ready to commit to this test/law school, and what sacrifices you’re willing to make to get the score you want. For me this has meant that i only watch one tv show a night with my partner at most during weeknights, and that i turn down invites to get drinks with my coworkers. Basically, I realized I can’t have it all right now but getting a good lsat score is absolutely a priority for me so I’ve been able to deal. Hope this helps!

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General · Hovering within 1-2 points of goal score over last 3-4 PTs - should I cancel March test?

alenisleon902

Thursday, Mar 14 2019

@ I’d say take it. If you’ve hit your goal score and your PTs vary within a few points of that, I’d take that to mean that you know the material, those couple of points in variation are normal. I think it’s a myth that you will for sure score below your average on test day - it’s a possibility but it’s also possible that you’ll score right at your average or at the top of your score range. For what it’s worth I have similar score fluctuations but I feel comfortable with my last 5 PT average so I’ll be taking the March test. If I underperform, I’ll just take again in July 🤷🏽‍♀️

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Study Groups · Anyone interested in doing online study sessions?

alenisleon902

Thursday, Dec 13 2018

I’m interested! Planning to take in January and am working my way through full PTs 62-81

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General · RC Help - 3 weeks out

alenisleon902

Tuesday, Mar 12 2019

@ do you listen to the Thinking LSAT podcast? If not you should listen to episode 64 (it’s on Spotify) where they talk about inference questions in RC. Basically, they say that the way those “inference” q’s are worded in the question stem is misleading and ppl tend to think that we have to go deep into the author’s head and find a speculative answer choice while we should actually be treating these q’s as must be true q’s that will be supported by the passage, just like every other q. I miss a lot of these as well and I’m gonna try this tip to see if it helps!

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Study Groups · SF Bay Area Study Group?

alenisleon902

Sunday, Dec 09 2018

I’m interested! I’m in Santa Cruz but can travel to San José-ish for weekend in person studying!

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Admissions · Retake or Apply?

alenisleon902

Friday, Mar 08 2019

Retake. You’re so young, your GPA is so high and you have so much room for improvement in your LSAT score that I can’t imagine doing anything besides retaking. Waiting a year to start law school isn’t the end of the world. If you want to work in the legislative process, you don’t need to wait to be a lawyer to do that. Go intern for a political campaign/issue or some local politician’s office. You’ll get some good exposure and valuable experience before law school. I’m 4 years out of school and won’t be applying to law school till the fall and I’m so glad I took the time between school to do something else.

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General · Let’s Share Our Study Spaces (for motivation 🙂)

alenisleon902

Monday, Feb 04 2019

@ spotify has 2 awesome playlists that I use later in the day when I'm starting to get bored and need some music for studying - "chill lofi study beats" and "lo-fi beats" (i think you can also find something similar on youtube...) My boyfriend works with STEM college students and he uses both of those playlists as well when they're studying/doing reviews. Check them out!

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General · Let’s Share Our Study Spaces (for motivation 🙂)

alenisleon902

Monday, Feb 04 2019

I have a desk in my living room with all my LSAT books stacked on one corner and fresh flowers on the other (the flowers are a 'treat myself' for getting through another week of LSAT prep!) I also have a small corkboard above my desk where I pin up flashcards/reminders/etc (like the group 3/4 logical indicators and valid argument forms) and I keep them there until I've memorized them. Honestly if you're studying during the day, try to place your desk in a place that gets as much natural light as possible - it drives me crazy to study under fluorescents so my desk sits near a window. Having a bit of color in my desk in the form of colorful pens, my simplified planer, highlighters and of course my flowers also makes it more likely that I'll feel positive during my studying which means I can study for longer + get more done!

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General · Suggestions for final month of studying

alenisleon902

Thursday, Jan 03 2019

@ said:

I think that it's possible to get a 170 but it's also possible that you'll get a 165 (and quite frankly, more likely). I would definitely not take AND BR a test every day. That's a recipe for burnout. Instead, do one or two PTs a week and drill your weaknesses like crazy. Do as many NA questions as you can get your hands on, and take the time to understand why every wrong answer is wrong and why the right answer is right.

Thanks for the advice! Definitely recognize the possibility of scoring several points lower than my average but crossing my fingers (and studying my butt off) to try to minimize that chance :)

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LSAT · struggling with 4 star Necessary assumption questions

alenisleon902

Friday, Mar 01 2019

@ said:

Hi guys!

So Ive noticed that after taking practiced LR sections, that 4 star necessary assumptions are one of my weaknesses. I was wondering if someone else had encountered this issue and how or what solution they took to correct it?

Yes, totally struggled with this. I went back to the CC to review NA, throughly reviewed every single NA question that I’ve seen in my old PTs, seeing what was attractive about the wrong answer choices, and did NA drills. I get these questions right now most of the time, but they still stump me every now and then so I make sure to slow down and pay extra attention when I get to one of them in a PT

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Discussions

Suggestions for final month of studying

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