@rahulsatija300827 That sucks... but okay thanks for letting me know!

I read that we could have a plastic water bottle... little did I know that a plain glass cup full of water, and no ice, was not allowed on my desk! Not sure why, but this and the chapstick shows you the weird little intricacies with what you're allowed to have on a desk ¯_(ツ)_/¯

How is the writing portion administered? My initial thought was over ProctorU, same as the real LSAT, but we didn't sign up for any test dates/times for the writing portion. But I know that there is still a video and time requirement to ensure that you don't get extra help, browse the internet, etc. Any knowledge about this?

@tams2018903 said:

will they include an experimental section as well?

I'm pretty sure that the fourth section is the experimental section. LSAC is not going back to 2 LR sections; they plan on keeping 1 section per subject (e.g., LG, LR, RC) and putting the experimental section back in. Which makes sense IMO because they still need to test future questions/question types.

EDIT: More info here -- https://www.lsac.org/lsat-august-2021-and-beyond

Finally found an answer here in this post by "Theo - 7Sage": https://classic.7sage.com/lesson/features/

So disregard this post!

i'm also interested in being added! I'm in the same exact boat, and trying to improve to hit high 160s/low 170s before June.

@evanlafontaine006459 said:

LG is the easiest section to improve so I would work on that. I watched JY's video explanations for the games that gave me trouble. I'd do my board setup, watch the video to see his, if my setup was correct then I'd tackle the questions on my own then finish the video. I did this multiple times. Now I'm consistently scoring between -1 to -3

Unfortunately I'm not really looking to improve for LG since I'm usually -0 to -1 questions per section. I would love to hear any tips you have for the other sections though!

I apologize in advance for the long post, but this really helped me out with more difficult stimuli. Especially when it comes to AP questions, so please read carefully!

Yes, after the "but," it changes from the context (e.g., other people's arguments) to our argument. We know that the conclusion is right after "but" for a couple of different reasons; let me explain how I learned (maybe from the powerscore books, i forgot).

Place a "why" in front of every sentence and see what other sentence that backs up. Or, have your supposed conclusion and say ", BECAUSE " and see if the structure makes sense. I'll run through an example with 2 separate conclusions -- the right one and the one you mentioned above.

Example 1

Conclusion -- "History amply demonstrates that when people are free to use their own judgement, they invariably believe themselves to act wisely when in face they are often arbitrary and irrational."

In our argument, we have two other sentences -- (1) "But that is why precisely mandatory minimum sentences are necessary" and (2) "There is no reason to think that judges are an exception to this rule."

- For the second sentence, let's place a "why" in front of it. "Why is there no reason to think that judges are an exception to this rule?" Probably because "history amply demonstrates that ... they are often arbitrary and irrational." That adds up, so we have a point in favor of this conclusion.

- Let's look at the first sentence. What is "But that is why precisely mandatory minimum sentences are necessary" talking about? We know that it refers to the opposing argument. Even so... let's see if it backs up the supposed conclusion. Can we say "History demonstrates that ... they are often arbitrary and irrational BECAUSE mandatory minimum sentences are necessary"? This seems like it should be flipped.

Example 2

Conclusion -- "But that is precisely why mandatory minimum sentences are necessary."

In this argument, we have two other sentences -- (1) "History amply demonstrates that when people are free to use their own judgement, they invariably believe themselves to act wisely when in face they are often arbitrary and irrational" and (2) "There is no reason to think that judges are an exception to this rule."

- For the first sentence, can we say "Mandatory minimum sentences are necessary BECAUSE history amply demonstrates ... that they are often arbitrary and irrational"? Sure, that makes sense.

- For the second sentence, can we say "Mandatory minimum sentences are necessary BECAUSE judges are not an exception"? Sure, this also adds up.

So, this method shows that the conclusion is really "But that is precisely why mandatory minimum sentences are necessary." How does this method sound to you?

I slightly disagree with @cpr2mc252-1's statement. I had originally planned to take the LSAT during the April date, but ended up pushing it to June. I did this for a couple of different reasons -- the LSAT is expensive, so if you do not think that you're going to do well enough, then why take it and waste over $200? Also, I don't see the point in showing law schools a slightly lower LSAT score when you could have waited a few months and scored some points higher.

Yes, it sucks that taking it in August means that you'll have to deal with the experimental section. But IMO that's a preferable option to rushing your preparation and taking the LSAT when you aren't ready. As you've probably seen with PTs, the LSAT isn't something that one should rush into with the mentality of thinking that the LSAT writers will be nice that month. Rather, they can be sadistic and throw at you the next infamous game --- having an easy test is a miracle that does not happen often.

Hey all, thanks for replying! I went ahead and reached out to a couple people, but if anyone falls through, I'll reach back out to others.

Please forward me the invite too please!

Yes you're right -- it's NOT saying that "more people do not consume all the other addictive substances COMBINED more than caffeine." Just for any one substance!

So that's a good question! Just to restate the sentence, it says "This is significant because as many people consume caffeine as consume any one of the other addictive psychoactive substances." To translate this into plain English, it means that for any other addictive psychoactive substance, people do not consume more of it compared to coffee.

The way I'm translating it makes it apply to any other addictive psychoactive substance, and in the case of the answer choice, it's alcohol. I wouldn't interpret it as saying "more people do not consume one of the addictive substances," because that sounds like you're quantifying how many of the substances they do not consume -- they do not consume only one addictive substance (e.g., ONLY coffee or ONLY alcohol, it could be both).

Your other interpretation, "more people do not consume all the other addictive substances more than caffeine," is close to the sentence's meaning, as it says that caffeine is the most consumed substance -- this is pretty similar to what I had written above. Does that make sense?

Don't think of it as evaluating whether the argument itself has merit or not; that's a bit tricky since we don't know whether the opponent's argument is good, bad, flawed, etc. Rather, think of the merits of the opponent's argument as the 'meat' of the argument -- that is the "zoning laws too strongly promote suburban single-family dwellings and should be changed ..."

The key thing to note in this question is the ad hominem flaw -- this is attacking the opponent rather than the opponent's argument. The politician is trashing the opponent's lifestyle, but not addressing why we shouldn't promote suburban single-family dwellings, etc. Who cares about how the opponent lives? This has no effect on the argument. That's why (D) is correct -- it paraphrases to "discussing the opponent's lifestyle does not affect the opponent's argument."

Does that make sense?

I've used ProctorU in the past (not for the LSAT), and they run a script that ensures that you do not have a monitor even connected to your laptop. You would also need a webcam, so unless your other monitor has one, they can't ensure that you are only using one screen (as far as I know).

If you take the LSAT again, you could always try to get an accommodation from LSAC or use their technology lending program. It's probably a bit late for that now, but could work in the future.

@kwaltz72530 said:

They send out a link a week or two before the test and you sign up then. For the Feb 20 test day, the email came out Feb 11.

Cool, thanks for the info! That's what I thought but just wanted to check, since i couldn't find that info online.

I'm also interested in this! Scoring usually around 165, and aiming to break the 170s. Solid on RC and LG (timing is still somewhat an issue but always -0 on BR), and i'm working to improve my LR.