Hey 7sagers,
Hope everyone's doing well. I am currently working on my personal statement and diversity statements and I was wondering if anyone knows of a specific tutor or company that help with revising and editing essays. If anyone has any positive personal experience with a specific tutor or company please mention them.
Thank you and good luck to everyone waiting for their scores tomorrow!
Hey 7sagers,
I just wanted to see what y'all think the best use of the 10 minute break between the 2nd and 3rd sections is. Any particular things to do or stay away from?
Thanks!
@rdhallan331 said:
@jmarin50 said:
@rdhallan331 said:
I would highly recommend working with a private tutor. I was stuck at 162 after several attempts. Then worked with two of the best tutors and got a 177 after 4 months of additional study after understanding the test much better. The tutors were expensive as they are well known and in high demand but were well worth the investment as I got into Columbia and NYU. Working with private tutors was well worth the investment.
Do you mind sharing who your tutors were?
I don't mind sharing the tutors I worked with. I went through about 6 six tutors before I found the two best. It may be better to dm me so I can speak more freely about what were the pros and cons of each.
Hey Ravinder,
Thanks for offering to share your experience. I just DM'd you.
@rdhallan331 said:
I would highly recommend working with a private tutor. I was stuck at 162 after several attempts. Then worked with two of the best tutors and got a 177 after 4 months of additional study after understanding the test much better. The tutors were expensive as they are well known and in high demand but were well worth the investment as I got into Columbia and NYU. Working with private tutors was well worth the investment.
Do you mind sharing who your tutors were?
@shahnurfatimas211 said:
@jmarin50 said:
Fool Proofing the core curriculum games was key to me getting to -0LG. 100% recommend.
@jmarin50 thanks so much for your feedback. do u mind explaining more about how you started fool proofing and how many games you did per day? this would be so helpful!
Of course! I can email you a document that I made that shows pretty much everything I did. If you have another preferred method of communication let me know and we could work something out.
Fool Proofing the core curriculum games was key to me getting to -0LG. 100% recommend.
The key to LGs is to not move on from a game you struggled with until you find out exactly what the source of difficulty is and making sure that you understand how to get around it. Also, getting all the points for a tough game does not rest solely on how good you are at the specific game but also on how quick you complete the easier ones. In my experience, the way I got -0 on LG was how quickly I learned to solve easier games such as pure sequencing or one layered sequencing games. The time buffer I have allows me to think thoroughly about the tough games which is absolutely necessary to a consistent -0 to -2. I am not sure how much time you have to study, but I find it very helpful to do at least a couple of games every single day. It only takes about 20mins but it keeps you refreshed on the different techniques. Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions!
Dear 7sagers,
Hope everyone is doing well. I was wondering if anyone has had a great experience with a tutor that they can recommend. I am doing pretty well on LG so the 2 sections I really need help on are RC and LR. I average a -5 on LR and I am hoping to bring it down to a consistent -2. For RC my scores I fluctuate pretty dramatically from -8 to -4 so I am looking for a way that can help me get a -4 or less consistently. The RC sections that I do well on tend to be ones where I am very familiar with the content, so my goal is really to find a plan that's "content-proof" which would allow me to get the same score regardless of my familiarity with the content, which I have been told is the key to a -4/-3 on RC.
Any advice or recommendations is truly appreciated.
Thank you!
@hksfu403 said:
I have tried a few tutors and have noticed that they all have their own teaching styles. I have a tutor named Kate who has helped me improve tons on Logic Games, she charges $40USD an hour I think, and then I have a tutor who is amazing at RC and LR and I pay him $125USD for 90min. Hopefully this helps.
What score range are you aiming for in RC and LR, and is your working with tutor getting you closer to where you'd like to be?
@lucykelly459 said:
There's an ungraded, unsaved demo on the LSAC website. Also, there are quite a few podcasts that discuss processes. We're fortunate to get to type our samples because imagine writing that whole short essay in pencil.
Can you please let me know where I can find those podcasts?
Hey 7sagers,
With the writing portion of the exam opening in 2 days, I was wondering if any of y'all have any recommendations or advice about how to best prepare for it. The only resource I have is the powerscore article but I really do not feel like it is enough. Any other resources or advice on how to prepare for it?
One of the "rules" that I have learned from Ellen Cassidy's loophole and just general LR practice is that we should be extremely weary of answer choices that say we "should" do something. For this specific question, I immediately picked D because it was very intuitive, but then I changed it and picked B which seems more positive than normative. My concern here is that no one said anything about what we "should" do, but rather what simply is. If the stimulus said something along the lines of "As it is our goal to improve the economy then........" I would have definitely not changed my answer. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Hope this make sense.
Admin Note: https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-72-section-3-question-16/
@fresalaura98890 said:
@jmarin50 Thank you for replying! If you don't mind me asking, what do you think helped you the most in getting a better score on the games?
Honestly just doing a ton of games really does the trick. But the key is not to move on from a game you struggled with to another one until you fully analyze what made this game difficult, the particular inference that was key to solving it in time and how to arrive at it, and how to apply it to future games. Let me know if you have any other questions or questions about a particular game!
Good luck!
Can the correct answer to a main conclusion question be something that was never explicitly stated in the stimulus? For example, if the stimulus says that we must reduce the gov deficit and in order to do so we must either reduce spending or increase taxes, and then goes on to say that for political reasons we can't reduce taxes, can the correct answer be that we must reduce spending? My concern here is that even though it was not explicitly stated in the stimulus, it is pretty much the conclusion of the argument.
Thanks in advance!
A 5 increase is certainly possible. If I were you, I would focus on games because this is where people see the biggest improvement. I personally started at -7/8 at games and now I am around -1/-0. So there is your 5 point increase right there. Good luck!
@dimakyure869 said:
"You are wrong..." is not the same as "the claim is wrong," taken as "the claim is factually incorrect" just as, "the conclusion doesn't follow" isn't the same as, "the conclusion is false."
You could be wrong to make the claim because the claim is in fact false, but that is not the only reason. You being wrong is subjective and prescriptive.
That said, I don't think the answer depends on whether Murray thinks the claim is factually incorrect or Jane is wrong for making the claim. You could remove that sentence or toggle the meaning, and the attack on question would still be the same.
Murray:
You avoid criticizing others for doing the same thing
So you are motivated by personal dislike
So you are wrong
Makes Sense! Thanks a lot!
In PT 13, Section 4, Question 7, when Murray says "You are wrong to make this claim", does he mean that the claim being made is wrong? It is one thing to claim that a statement is wrong( false) and another to claim that the person making it is in the wrong. For example, one can say something that is factually accurate but at an inappropriate time. This makes the the person in the wrong but has no actual relevance on the truthfulness of the statement. I think this distinction is very relevant to answering the question, though not absolutely necessary.
Admin Note: edited titled. Please use the format "PT#.S#.Q# - brief description of question"
Not sure which section specifically you are referring to, but you can always find very good explanations and commonly raised questions/concerns (which may be the ones you have) on both the Manhattan PREP and Powerscore forums. They are especially helpful for LR in my experience.
Dear 7sagers,
I started prepping for the LSAT last Month and I plan on taking it in June 2021. I am making progress in all 3 sections and I am optimistic about the multiple choice questions part of the exam which is ultimately what makes up the score.
One thing that I have no idea about is the writing sample. I do not know where to start, how to prep for it, whether there are resources out there for it, its importance for admissions decisions, and its relevance and applicability to the material covered in the other 3 sections. Can anyone point me to a starting point so that I could at least have an idea of what to expect and what to do in preparation?
As an immigrant who moved to the states not so long ago, writing is certainly not one of my strongest suits. This is why I am particularly worried about this section and why I want to make sure I do the best I can to prepare for so that it wont be a hindrance in admissions decisions.
Any advice or recommendations is appreciated.
Thank you!
@jmarin50 said:
I like Tony's strategy. It's not bad advice since the time invested in improving RC could likely help you more on a point for point basis in other sections.
If you're really looking to improve, though, I recommend speed-reading exercises. Some will scoff, but part of the challenge of RC for me was physically being able to read fast enough. Understanding all the content is practically a Sufficient Condition to scoring 24 or higher, one that takes a lot of practice reading. Being able to scan the text quickly enough is a Necessary Condition to scoring perfect, though.
You can practice for just 10 min a day:
spend a minute to get your default speed in WPM.
spend 2 min or 2 x 2 min reading one line per second
spend 3 min or 2 x 3 min reading one line per half second (two lines per second)
spend 2 min reading and note your new speed in WPM
Note it's important to keep pace regardless of how fully you understand what you're reading. This is how you can improve the physical speed at which your eyes move.
There are a few other methods that helped me score a 172, but that's the one I think other people are least likely to mention. I can also describe the speed reading exercise in greater detail if you'd like.
Yes, I would definitely love to hear more about your methods and how/where you practice those methods. Is it on an app or some website/platform? Thank you!
@hsiyad8r1 said:
In my opinion, while it can help to read from similar outside sources like the ones you've mentioned (I personally read from the Economist daily just because I like to), to improve in RC you ultimately have to get better at reading for structure, improve your short term memory, and start being able to anticipate the types of things the questions will ask you about from the passage.
This is a longer post, but I HIGHLY recommend you take a look at it if you're looking for guidance on RC improvement. I've been implementing some of the things mentioned by this 7Sager who scored a 179 and it's helped me make the most improvements by far (RC is also my worst section).
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/26560/my-guide-to-reading-comprehension-part-1-long-ish-post
Thank you!
@ddboling198426 said:
Well, you definitely want to read a lot every day, just so that you familiarize yourself with reading dense and challenging material. In addition, you also have to hone RC skills that are unique to the LSAT (understanding structure, referential phrasing, grasping difficult explanations, keeping track of viewpoints, understanding tone, and finding main points) and that you wouldn't normally do when casually reading. Nevertheless, over the years I've heard good recommendations about the following and that's why I make it a goal to read at least 1hr every day from these sources:
The New Yorker
The Economist
Harper's
Scientific American
Science Mag
Arts & Letters Daily
SCOTUS Blog
1000 Word Philosophy
Thank you!
Hey guys,
One of the sections I struggle the most on is reading comprehension, and from what I read online, the best way to improve is to simply read more.
I am looking for sources of reading material that would strengthen my reading comprehension skills and expose me to the type of reading that I would be seeing in the LSAT. Some of the sources mentioned online were the economist, wall street journal, and published articles/papers from the top 3 law schools.
Any idea if reading material from these sources actually helps or if there are other useful sources out there?
Thank you!
Hey guys,
I was wondering if there was a way I could take a 4-section LSAT, see what my grade would be for that, and also see what my grade would be if it were a flex. I would like to take the 4-section test to increase my exposure and test endurance and also because the August LSAT is a 4-section test.
On a side note, for someone who tends to do relatively well on logical reasoning, isn't having one less LR section a disadvantage? Pre-covid, LR was 50% of the grade and now it is only 1/3. Did they make up for that in some manner or does LR now just simply determine a smaller chunk of the grade?
Thank you!
Great insight!