Hi all,

I'm really interested in crowd sourcing some best practices for improving reading comp, especially from those of you who have seen significant gains in that section. It's a weak spot for many students and it seems perhaps to call for a more individualized approach depending on if you tend to over focus on details, or miss the tone of the passage, etc. As I work with more students to improve this section, I want to be able to give tailored advice that might not come from my own experience.

So, what has helped you improve? Does the memory method work for you? Have you tried any other methods with success? Have you picked up tips for pacing that made you a faster reader? How do you retain the passage? Do you use a notation strategy, and if so, how do you do it?

Go!!

Hi folks, looking for advice here. As a side note, I love the community feel and all the support on the discussion forum!

I'm trying to score in the high 160s or even maybe low 170s to get significant scholarship offers at my local law school options (the better school here has average 164 LSAT, with 3.67 GPA ). For reference my UG GPA was 3.87.

I started studying in January, but was still at a demanding job and my pace slacked. I picked it up again in June when I quit my job, and my plan has been to study June-Sept and take the Oct exam.

I've finished the Trainer and initially thought to use 7Sage just for LG, but now I've gone through the core curriculum for RC as well. I think the Trainer is great for LR, but I am wondering about going through the 7Sage core curriculum for LR as well - though this would put me behind on my study schedule.

Currently, I'm working through the LG bundle and seeing improvement, but it is slower than I anticipated. I usually drill games until I'm hitting JYs target time for them.

All that to say... lately I have been thinking that the Oct test is a stretch. I planned to begin PTing with BR next week (2-3/wk); If I go through the LR curriculum it will probably set me behind a week, giving me only 8 weeks for PTs. I believe I can do about 23 PTs even with the set back, but I had planned for at least 30 before the test...

I believe I could perform higher if I take in Dec, and some of the schools I am interested in will even take the Feb test. However, I'm concerned I will miss the window of time in which most scholarships are given out.

Any advice or suggestions very appreciated!

Hi all, just wanted to share a great tool that has been working well for me to organize my study tasks. I think there are some particular challenges for self-guided LSAT students regarding time management and where to focus, and perhaps some of this can be addressed with better organization. I have been using Trello to keep track of four main categories: To learn (core curriculum/fundamentals), To review (material I know I am fuzzy on or need to memorize), To practice (problem sets to drill), and then notes about what is currently tripping me up on each section. I have also organized my overall study timeline on this tool. You can add checklists to cards, and due dates for cards as well.

Works great for me - if anyone is struggling to get organized or keep track of work outside of the 7Sage syllabus, I recommend this.

This is purely for fun.

The Hamilton soundtrack was my pump up music before the LSAT administration in Dec. I went in saying, "I am not throwing away my shot!"

So, this is for the other Hamilton devotees out there. I know there are some of you on 7Sage.

If you haven't heard it yet, go listen to the opening number on Spotify. I don't even care how you feel about musicals, go listen to it.

...I guess we could also talk about other things that you love that bring you sanity during your study sessions...

Does anyone have a specific strategy for these? They seem to be cropping up more often, and I usually do it by gut instinct, which is fine with easy ones but hasn't worked as well for harder questions. I think this trips me up because I'm not sure what the LSAC wants here. I heard one explanation that you need to take all given premises from the stimulus and choose a conclusion that uses them all in some way... but should that the be goal if using all the given premises would make you construct a bad/illogical argument? I don't know if they want a solid, less flawed argument, or something that looks more like a typical question stem with issues, but that links all the ideas in a flawed support structure.

Help?

Hi all,

I can't resist reaching out to you all for some advice, as it's been so quality in the past!

I've finished both the course and LSAT trainer and I'm now two PTs in (not much, I know), and wondering if I should suspend PTs and do some drilling. Or just keep doing PTs with quality BR?

I really memorized as much as I could during the core course, and took my time to internalize the concepts before moving on.

I will take the Dec test.

First PT: RC 19/26, LG 19/23, 1st LR 21/26, 2nd LR 24/26

Second PT: RC 25/26, LG 14/24,1st LR 19/26, 2nd LR 23/25

On the second PT I messed up some rules on LGs and knew I was doing terribly, ended up panicking a bit and I only got to 3 of the 4 games. But my main concern is the variety of problem sections here... after my first test I thought RC was my worst section, now it looks like LG. LR looks much more consistent across the two tests. How can I tell what I need to work on the most?

Any advice for how to proceed? I need high 160s and would be thrilled with anything past 170. I'm BRing around 178, so I given enough time I get what is going on in all sections.

I only got through about half the LG bundle before PTs, and I know it is the least intuitive section for me. So I plan to work through the bundle, but not sure if I should suspend PTs in the meantime. I would like to do 20-30 PTs before the Dec test, but obviously only if that is the most beneficial strategy here.

Thanks for any advice! Good luck to everyone.

Hi fellow 7-Sagers,

Looking for some advice here; is process of elimination the best strategy for answering all types of RC questions? It seems like reading through all answer choices can be a real time sink, but I have been under the impression that POE is best most of the time on the test (apart from certain LG questions where you can hunt for the correct answer and/or move on right after you find it). Thoughts?

Hey folks, is anyone here who is taking the LSAT with English as their second language interested in learning together? I've been hearing more inquiries about study strategies for people who encounter a significant language barrier with the test. Let's use this thread for ESL students to connect and see how much interest there is, in addition to sharing helpful strategies with each other.

Hey folks,

Lately I've been meeting many other 7Sagers who are interested in pursuing a public interest legal career. This is my own area of interest, and in the course of getting prepared for school this fall I've learned a lot about the realities of this type of work and how to position yourself to do it. If I get enough interest on this thread, I'll host a webinar in a couple of weeks for any and all public interest folks.

As we do here at 7Sage, I want to both encourage everyone, and also help people consider if this is a feasible and realistic career path. With few exceptions, public interest career paths are tough, unconventional, and require flexibility and tenacity to break into.

Here are some topics we would discuss:

- What types of legal careers fall within the designation "public interest"?

- How to mitigate debt

- The importance of where you go to school

- What to focus on during school

- How to stay in public interest work for the long term

Interested?

This happened!

(For those unfamiliar -- Left: Allison. Right: Nicole)

Proctors: Very professional and helpful.

Facilities: Really great - held in the SU law school building. One advantage here - you can take PTs in this building to get used to the space before your administration (I suggest coming on a Friday, when they have less classes). I took 3-4 PTs here before my actual test and really felt at ease due to familiarity with the space.

What kind of room: Large lecture style classroom.

How many in the room: Probably 50

Desks: Long table desks shared by 2 students each for the administration - there was plenty of room to work.

Left-handed accommodation: I didn't pay attention to this, but there was so much space it probably wasn't an issue.

Noise levels: Very quiet.

Parking: Tough in this area, unless you want to pay for on campus parking; I got dropped off

Time elapsed from arrival to test: This was my only complaint, mandated arrival time was 8:30, then check-in, after which you are not allowed to use the bathroom... we didn't begin the test until close to 10, so it can be a long time to wait before the break to use the bathroom.

Irregularities or mishaps: One person did not have a scantron inside her shrink-wrapped test booklet. The proctors had to stop the whole room to go find her a scantron, and it probably delayed our start time by about 15 minutes. However, I'm not sure the test center or proctors could have done anything differently to avoid this.

Other comments: My main complaint is the severe restrictions on bathroom use, but the LSAC is to blame for that, not the test center.

Would you take the test here again? Yes

Date[s] of Exam[s]: 12/5/15

Hi all, received my score yesterday and I couldn't be happier. Came in at a 173. I studied full time since June, which is not such a long time by certain standards, but I really did it full time, 40+ hrs/wk. I am thankful to all the folks who make 7Sage what it is - I have no doubt that this is the best way I could have prepared for the LSAT. 7Sage prepared me to work hard and take the test seriously because there's no BS in the curriculum, or on the discussion forum. I benefited enormously from the advice on here - both JY's voice in my head from all those videos, and the active mentors who give so much time to help other people succeed.

I know the report we got yesterday was a let down for some. If you're feeling that way, just know you are in the best prep community, and you can keep advancing if you are willing to put in the time and effort that it takes for you to get there - which is different for each person (but not easy for anyone!).

Just got an invite for a Skype interview in a couple weeks. Has anyone else done one of these? Tips?

I know I'm not in until I'm in... but should I take this as a good sign or an entirely neutral one?