@ said:

I would say:

-> Take more recent PTs to see the score range.

If you hit the target score range or can open up 8+ hours a day just for studying LSAT, you can try taking the test again in November.

If you cannot hit the target score (e.g. 165+ or 170+) and don't have 8+ hours per day to study for LSAT to improve your scores to the target score range,

(1) consider not to apply to LS, OR (2) apply to LS, but open your target school list to the T25s or T30s, whatever looks feasible.

For (1), consider applying to a graduate school other than LS OR go to work full time if you received any offers. This is not a bad option especially if you are not sure whether you can survive in LS. You can come back to take the test and consider going to LS at a later time when you are more prepared for it.

For (2), after enrollment, if you still want to climb the ladder, thinking about transfer by the end of the 1L. But it will be challenge.

Respectfully, I disagree with your 8+ hours criteria. OP has to juggle work/school, and studying 40 hours minimum a week will inevitably lead to sleep deprivation or burnout. I think that OP should assess whether they can prioritize consistent and high-quality study sessions and take it from there. I personally found a sweet spot at 4.5 hours/day, it varies for everyone!

I'm interested! Diagnostic 154 and PTing currently at 173

@ said:

@ good to know! sorry you had a rough experience w/ tech issues... did you try contacting LSAC via email? Word of mouth was that they offered some retakes later in the testing week, not necessarily for all technical issues, but maybe if they were 'significant' enough... subjective yardstick, but it might still be worth emailing them if you feel there's a good chance it significantly affected your performance.

I did find this on the FAQ (https://www.lsac.org/lsat/frequently-asked-questions-about-lsat):

https://www.lsac.org/lsat/frequently-asked-questions-about-lsat

That's my plan. I figure they have a record of everything. Not sure if I have the mental capacity for a re-take but we will see what happens, and worse case scenario I take it again in October

@ said:

Not to freak anyone out, but since this is a legit concern this time around, anyone else planning to reg for October as a safety net since we don't have the benefit of seeing our scores (tbr 9/10) bfr the October reg deadline (8/25)?

Anyways, 🤞🤞🤞 all!!

Yep I am :)

Hi all, I just finished the August exam and I hope everyone did well! Did anyone else have technical issues??!

Unfortunately, I was interrupted repeatedly throughout my first RC section by a pop-up that said "reconnecting". It obscured the exam, but the time was still running. Because of this, I lost probably 10-15 minutes of exam time and had no opportunity to answer the last 7 RC questions because the pop-up was appearing every few seconds at that point. Not to mention, the entire experience was disruptive and threw me out of my flow state.

I eventually got my proctor's attention, but it was too late for the RC section. During the following section (LR), we had to pause everything at question 14 and test my WiFi speed. Not as bad as the RC, but the interruption still made it more difficult to focus.

I have a feeling that I'm not alone in this. I even tested everything multiple times on ProctorU before starting the test. Does anyone know what we can do?

PS: I only had one RC and it was Nigerian literature :)

Straightforward in my opinion

@ said:

It's really up to you. I've never done it that way and have been fine on comparative passages. I usually am either perfect or miss 1 question on comparative passages. I would say try out his strategy and see if it is right for you. If not, just read both together and then dive into the questions. Best of luck!

I totally agree. Thanks, you too!

@ said:

It basically makes you less likely to confuse the content of the two passages, which is something they try to induce in many answer choices.

This is what I am thinking. I am going to try out both strategies and see which one serves me best!

@ said:

Interested! I too struggle with a chronic disability, and it would be great to have support

Please join the group chat!! https://groupme.com/join_group/85324947/zHDB4NzD

@ said:

Yes, so interested!

Please join our group chat! https://groupme.com/join_group/85324947/zHDB4NzD

@ said:

Hello!

I'm interested! I personally struggle with fatigue when I study and what I usually do is workout before I study, then set alarms for 1.5hr intervals of studying with 30 min breaks in between. This way I force myself to practice during the 1.5 hr time frame and not dose off. Lmk if this works for you!

Hey, this is awesome! I made a link to a GroupMe: https://groupme.com/join_group/85324947/zHDB4NzD

This is a great technique. When I first started studying, my CFS was too bad for exercise. I've gotten back into working out recently and I find that it makes a huge difference physically and mentally, even when the exercise is low-intensity (like a walk). And a big YES to the time intervals! I am currently doing just an hour at a time and planning to work my way up!

@ said:

https://discord.gg/nZcaMfB7

It says invalid link for me. I would love to join

@ said:

I've debated whether I should seek accommodations. It seems that many, if not most, top scorers have them and I feel that I am putting myself behind the 8 ball by not seeking them. Thoughts?

While I'm sure this question came with genuine intent, I don't think it's fair to associate accommodations with top scorers. As an accommodated test-taker who worked their way up from the 150s to the 170s, I know that my scores are a product of my work ethic and commitment to the LSAT. When I did not have accommodations, I was not on an equal playing field with other test-takers. Now, I have a fair shot at demonstrating my full competitive potential while having several disabilities.

Accommodations definitely do not make the LSAT easy. With extra time/some small breaks, my LSAT is almost 5 hours long, which makes it an endurance test. I still feel the intense pressure of time constraints like everyone else, and on top of that, I have health problems that cause stress throughout the exam. When speaking with friends who are taking the LSAT without accommodations, our struggles, as well as the trajectory of our score improvements, are relatively the same. Many of them are the top-scorers you are referring to, and their path to the 170s took just as much time and hard work as mine did.

I see in this thread that you have conditions that can qualify you for accommodations and do not wish to invalidate your personal experiences. If you think they are right for you, go for it! I don't know where you are at in your studying journey, but for me personally, the need for accommodations was pretty salient soon after my initial diagnostic.

The LSAT disadvantages incredibly talented and intelligent students with disabilities, and we deserve a shot like everyone else. I just don't want this discourse to contribute to the myth that people use accommodations to gain an unfair advantage or have an easier path to a top score.

@ said:

@ said:

Yes, thank you for answering my questions!

It's just a bit inconvenient to click 151.4% and manually scale it down to 150%. I am confused as to why 151.4% is there if accommodations are +50%. I much preferred only having to click one button to simulate accommodated testing conditions!

Hi there,

I wanted to get back to you on this.

If you are taking a PrepTest, you will still have the option to select the +50% accommodation. See the GIF below:

Note that the 150% accommodation was always actually 151.4% to get to 53min. The only difference is that now we accurately display it as 151.4% instead of rounding down the display to 150%.

When taking a drill, the timing depends on the number of questions/games/passages in the drill. I believe the behavior was the same with the old and the new UI. There is an override for 35m exact timing. However, in order to get other precise timings, you must fiddle with the "-/+" buttons and will not get round minutes. Sorry!

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Ah, thank you. It's good to hear 151.4% accurately reflects the accommodated exam environment. Appreciate it!

@ said:

@ said:

Unfortunately, this happened to a friend of mine and they didn't let him register! He called LSAC. Worth a shot to call though, just in case. Best of luck!!

Thank you:) I called and emailed. The person on the phone said no but the person responding to my email allowed it!

Yay I am so glad you persisted!

I would write your master game board + rules in pen and then switch to pencil. The main issue with writing and erasing in pencil on your master game board is that you will end up erasing valid scenarios that may be useful if you get a global (must be true/cannot be true/etc.) question. Having a bunch of valid scenarios as a reference will speed up your response time and prevent you from brute-forcing all the answer choices.

The one exception, in my opinion, would be the last question in the game. At that point, you could perhaps save 10-15 seconds by writing on the master board instead of copying the board. Hope this helps!

@ said:

I went from a 168 diagnostic in April of 2021 to a 180 on the June 2021 test. You can here at bit more about my story here (https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/31292/7sage-podcast-episode-62-7sage-tutor-scott-168-to-180-lsat), but I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have!

Short version: I studied 4-6 hours a day for 10 weeks. Most of my improvement was in LG, but I had to deal with consistency issue in LR and RC as well. I can definitely tell you that the tactics that get you TO the 170s differ from those that get you to the high 170s. While getting to the 170s requires a lot of studying and skill development, pressing through to the next score bracket required that I intensely review my PTs and go over each wrong answer with exacting attention.

Wow Scott, this is both helpful and impressive. So excited to read your story!

@ said:

@ said:

Hi Juliet,

Thanks for letting us know. I have a question and comment!

Even though the auto-builder will become the default, we will still be able to build our own sets when we click out of the default, right? I prefer to build my own because I want to "save" questions from later prep tests for PTs and full timed sections.

Another small note- I have noticed a difference in the timer on the drilling function. As someone with accommodations, I have to click on the timer, manually change the 100% to 101%, and then I am able to click on the 150% option. I found the previous timer a lot easier because I was able to add 50% time in a simple click. Thank you!

Hi there,

Yes, you will still be able to create your custom Problem Sets using the "Advanced Builder" feature. Please see the screenshot below:

I appreciate your feedback on our new Digital Tester timer. You can adjust the time on our new Digital Tester timer from 50 to 300 percent. You have the option to use the "+/-" buttons or the presets to do this.

You can select +50% accommodation by selecting the time adjustment and then clicking on the "timer box" you will then have the option to select 151.4%. After you select 151.4%, click on the "-" button until it says "150%." See the GIF below:

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions

Yes, thank you for answering my questions!

It's just a bit inconvenient to click 151.4% and manually scale it down to 150%. I am confused as to why 151.4% is there if accommodations are +50%. I much preferred only having to click one button to simulate accommodated testing conditions!

Same. I had COVID and slept through the email. I am stuck with 2:30pm now, and I have chronic fatigue and normally lose my energy around 1pm daily. I would absolutely love the opportunity to reschedule if a spot opens!

@ said:

Whoever says a year is fucking with you. Ballpark: 100-150 hrs. Do all the logic games at least twice and the harder ones at least 4 times. It's the best shot at a 160+, so if you want it bad enough you'll get there in under 3 weeks.

I'm glad it took you a shorter amount of time, but for me and many others, it did take a year (and I'm still not at -0 consistently, I'm on the cusp). I went through a few months of learning the core curriculum and the basics of diagramming game boards/rules. Then, there's the component of learning about conditional logic and how to draw out inferences. As I studied LR and RC, this skill strengthened naturally. After that, I began doing untimed sections and fool-proofed games I misunderstood. Any time I felt as though my process could be better with a game, I watched the explanation video and re-attempted it until it felt intuitive. A year in, I am still fool-proofing, but everything is timed and I am focused on the highest level of difficulty. I have strong muscle memory with LG and feel comfortable with unconventional game boards and rule substitution questions.

LG has been the hardest section for me because it causes a decent amount of anxiety. Because of this, preparation and repetition have been key. It has been more effective for me to study a few hours a day (1 hour a day while I was working/in school and now 4.5ish hours a day) and then do self-care activities so my brain can process and absorb LG strategies. The more games you do carefully, the better you can grasp the concept of world-making and splitting. Before you know it, you'll be able to split and solve at least a few games per set, leading you to speed through the questions in just a few minutes.

I'm hanging out at around -0 to -2 right now with a 176+ as the goal for August/September. Take your time and believe in yourself. Rooting for you!

@ said:

Awesome! Is this AI-powered like the LSAT Demon's drilling feature where you're given questions based on your strengths and weaknesses with past questions?

This would be awesome. I like the Demon's drilling feature a lot but I have used 7Sage for over a year and don't want to build new analytics from scratch on another software.

Hi Juliet,

Thanks for letting us know. I have a question and comment!

Even though the auto-builder will become the default, we will still be able to build our own sets when we click out of the default, right? I prefer to build my own because I want to "save" questions from later prep tests for PTs and full timed sections.

Another small note- I have noticed a difference in the timer on the drilling function. As someone with accommodations, I have to click on the timer, manually change the 100% to 101%, and then I am able to click on the 150% option. I found the previous timer a lot easier because I was able to add 50% time in a simple click. Thank you!

YES retake! Your GPA makes you such a qualified candidate and a higher LSAT could get you some incredible scholarship money. You are so so close to that dream score; keep up the good work!

If you need some motivation, I would definitely recommend the Thinking LSAT podcast by LSAT Demon. They insist that we don't settle, especially when we are on the verge of a higher score. That advice has helped me keep pushing. :)

Unfortunately, this happened to a friend of mine and they didn't let him register! He called LSAC. Worth a shot to call though, just in case. Best of luck!!

Badass! Congratulations