If you've taken the sample on LawHub, how did LG go? I found games 3 and 4 were a bit difficult -- were there any splits/SBGs that I may have missed or did you just plow through using rules? Any recommendations on games similar to game 3?

The LSAT took me....well, a while. Here's the proof:

March '19: 161

November '20: Cancel (Proctor issues)

January '21: 166

June '21: 170

I wanted to post this to reinforce a point made many times on 7sage: the LSAT is learnable. It's a beast of a test, but you can tackle it. Believe in yourself and your ability to learn - especially after a tough PT or disappointing real score.

So thankful for this community and all of ya'll. I might have to stick around and teach some.

Also - JY you are my idol.

Do you read? Exercise? Drink 3 Red Bulls? lemme hear it.

I'm in need of a distraction. PT 88 just went, well... :')

I took PT 62 and it was an absolute dumpster fire. On my ten most recent PTs I've averaged 170+ but everything went wrong today. For the first time in months A) I didn't finish games and B ) I had to guess on some LR questions (I didn't get to every question).

I'm likely burnt out as I'm adjusting to my new full-time job and I'm struggling to find the right balance/study schedule. I got a 166 in January and don't plan to apply until Fall '22. I don't have a dream school, I just want to do my best and keep options open.

I'd love to get everyone's advice -- especially anyone who successfully retook. Thanks!

For game three, do ya'll just brute force your way through? Or is there something I'm missing?

These types of posts were really helpful for me while studying, so I felt like I owed this post to the forum. I’ve tried to boil it down to 8 things that I wish I could tell an earlier version of myself that was studying for the LSAT.

Timelines are Man-Made

At one point, I was so convinced that I needed to be a KJD. After an unsuccessful first LSAT take, a few awesome people challenged my thinking and I’m glad they did. It afforded me more time to study for this test and get some great work experience before school. This has been said 1,000x, but don’t take the LSAT before you’re really ready. Like PTing-above-your-target-range ready - based on my experience, the test day penalty is real. Please learn from my mistakes :)

If you want to hit your full potential, take JY’s post about how studying can take over a year seriously. Unless you’re an LSAT unicorn, that’s just how it is. This isn’t another college exam where you’re being tested on knowledge, instead the LSAT tests skills. Skills take time to develop and finetune. Accept that the timeline will likely be long, exhausting, and even slightly annoying. It’ll make your life easier.

And btw, when people say things like “you’ve been studying for HOW long?” or other snide bs, just don’t listen to them. If you want to perform at your best, it may take a while. I started studying in the spring of ‘19 and received my 170 in June ‘21. I didn’t study that entire time, but collectively it took over a year.

“The difference between a 165 and 170 is strategy”

I received a 166 on the January exam. Based on my last 5 PTs, this was a fat underperformance. I knew why my score dipped: I panicked during LR and RC. The harder question to answer -- why did I panic?

Then I heard this quote about strategy. I think @Sami or @canihazJD said it (thanks!) on the podcast. Unlike LG, I didn’t have any real strategy for LR and RC. Once I started implementing skipping rules in LR and started standardizing my approach to RC, I became far less likely to panic and saw less volatility in my scores.

Strategy builds confidence and you’ll need confidence when shit hits the fan on test day.

Logic games can be slain

I was NOT good at LGs ( -10 or so a section) and it took me a long time to get to -0/-1. I would get frustrated when I’d read about how “learnable” they are -- really, just a bruised ego on my end. Here’s a quick overview of what worked for me.

I did games over and over and over again. I foolproofed games 1-35 and would foolproof games after each full PT I took. Eventually, I’d dedicate full study days just to foolproofing a gametype. Sequencing. Grouping. In/Out. Etc. By the end of these days, my brain was mush. That being said, I started to see inferences far more quickly. It also helped me anticipate splits/SGBs and the right ACs.

Also I adopted a section strategy - here’s a high level overview: during timed sections I would read the first two games before deciding which game I’d tackle first. I’d do the same for the third and fourth games. This approach helped me build confidence under timed conditions. Having a strategy can really help you feel under control and forget about nerves.

I’d also put my finger on the screen to make sure I didn’t misread a rule - weird, I know. But I found that at a certain point, if I was struggling with a game it was because I misread a rule. Back when the LSAT was made of paper, JY recommended touching every word with your pencil. This is kinda my adaptation to the times. Everyone functions differently, but I had a tendency to jump the gun while reading rules. Touching each word forced me to slow down and understand the game.

If possible, use your most productive hours on study

Try to study for the LSAT before other activities burn you out. Work and classes, for example, can eat up a lot of mental energy. Personally, this meant studying before work. I didn’t enjoy waking up at 5 but it was well worth it. ALSO - don’t compensate for a lack of sleep by drinking a ton of caffeine. Coffee is great...but in moderation.

Meditate

Do it. I would usually do a mix of guided and unguided. I used the Waking Up app for guided meditation. In general, mindfulness is the best - not only for your studies but in your personal life as well. If the LSAT is a real source of anxiety for you, I’d recommend trying out worry scripting. A Google search will point you in the right direction!

Your PT Scores Don’t Matter! Focus on Improvement

Sorry if that comes off as blunt, but it’s true. I used to care a LOT about my PT scores, but they’re just practice. If you hit 100 free throws in practice, it doesn’t really matter, does it? But if you actually work on your mechanics, that can really pay off come game 6. (sorry for the metaphor, I love Giannis)

PTs are a tool for learning, so don’t focus on scores. Leave that for the Reddit users. All that matters: you learn from your mistakes, you maintain your strengths, and you execute on the real thing.

Unplugging is essential

For a while, I tried studying 7 days a week. This was a terrible, terrible idea. It led to constant burn out and, frankly, poor mental health. You can’t replace rest. You can’t replace socialization. You should view these elements of your life as necessary conditions for getting your best score. (they’re also important in their own right, obviously)

A few things that worked for me:

Finally, be kind to yourself

Seriously. If you’re reading this post, you’re likely highly motivated - I know this because you’re reading some dude with a weird username’s LSAT ramblings. I’m willing to bet you put plenty of pressure on yourself. Remember that this is a learning process. Like I’ve said, the LSAT is a skills test. So work your ass off but remember that patience is a virtue. Trust that good things take time.

Best of luck on the test and beyond!

Hey all -- I'm looking to increase my speed on LR and RC. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Here's a breakdown of how I usually approach the sections:

LR: I average roughly a -3 per section and I rarely miss a question in BR. However, I tend to finish with very little time left and occasionally drop an easier question because I don't have the time to return to it. Also, if the section isn't going particularly well, I might not get around to a lengthier PR or PF question.

RC: My greatest score variability is in RC. I average a -5 per section and sometimes miss questions in BR. During timed sections, I usually start with the comparative reading. I'll read Passage A and then run through the questions once before returning to passage B. I've found that this is an effective method for getting questions right, but I usually spend too much time doing this (compared to J.Y's suggestions). I then have to push harder on the remaining passages. For a normal passage, I tend to spend more time on the passage (say 4-5 minutes) and move through the questions fairly quickly. I usually finish the RC section with about 30 seconds left.

Because of technical difficulties and a terrible ProctorU experience on the November Flex, I decided to accept a voucher from LSAC and retake in January. This means that my score has been canceled and the cancelation will be visible to law schools. Any idea on how schools view a situation like this? Will my situation require an addendum?

Title gets to the point. Recently I've found myself in a slump -- less fired up about studying, hovering around the same section averages, PT scores dipping a bit from inconsistency, etc. I only have a few PTs left and I want to make them count. I guess my question is:

Have you experienced a study slump w/ the LSAT? How'd you break it and get back to trending up? I know those are broad, loaded questions lol.

Any advice on what era to focus in on? I feel like they're running out of undisclosed sections from the more recent testing dates, but I could definitely be wrong ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Now that the 2020 election is (mostly) behind us, I wanted to share how LR has completely taken over my life. On election night, I couldn't stop thinking about sufficiency vs necessity. Some pundits and social media users were freaking out about one state in particular -- Florida. I'm not a poli-sci guy, but if you understand the electoral college you'll know the following two conditionals are pretty close to accurate:

But D didn't win Florida, so can we conclude that D won't win the election? NO! What about WI, MI, & PA? Not to mention, there's also AZ and GA. I believe many people confused sufficiency and necessity. D failed the sufficient condition. We can't conclude anything else about D. (Bonus Point Flaw: Florida may be an unrepresentative sample of the general electorate).

R won Florida, so can we conclude that R will win the election? NO! Once again, the sufficiency-necessity error. R needed to win Florida to have a shot at 270 electoral votes. Winning the state certainly helps R's chances, but it doesn't guarantee a victory.

So I'm about halfway through my RC section, when my screen goes completely blank. I'm thinking "what just happened?". I reach out to my proctor -- they say something along the lines of "just reconnect". I refresh the page and it reconnects. I've lost time. I ask my proctor for time back and they shoot back "continue".

I try to collect myself and deal with the situation. A few minutes later, my proctor interrupts me saying they need to take control of my computer to reconnect the video. This takes a while. Once again, time ticks away and I don't get it back. This was my 2nd section. I was absolutely shook. I barely finished on time and had to guess on questions. As you can imagine, the 3rd/next section didn't go so well.

I've already filed a complaint with LSAC. Does anyone know what they usually offer as a remedy? I took the test a while ago (May 2019) and I've been studying for months. Would score preview be on the table despite having taken the regular LSAT before? If push comes to shove, I can take it in January. Obviously not ideal, but I still have plenty of material and PTs. Please advise.

I took a major dip from my last 5 PTs and overall PT average when I wrote in January (166). I've decided to retake. I feel like my fundamentals are solid (usually BR 178 or higher), but my strategy could definitely use some tweaking.

I'm a perfectionist. I've heard repeatedly that the best way to tackle LR and RC is by skipping questions and coming back to them. For whatever reason, I just can't seem to trust this strategy under timed conditions. I usually finish both sections with a minute or two left on PTs, but on test day I seem to second guess myself far more and my focus tends to break more easily (which is another issue altogether).

How do you know when to skip a question in LR and RC? How do you train yourself to feel confident in doing so?

In March of 2019 I took the test after 2ish months of studying and received a 161. I wasn't ready. I picked up studying again in June of 2020. I had to cancel my November Flex because of technical issues. I just got my January FLEX back and it was a 166. I'm honestly dead inside -- my last 5 PTs averaged a 173 and my overall average is a 169.

I genuinely don't know what to do at this point. I'm considering walking away because:

(1) my transcript would now read 161, CANCEL, 166. I'm worried about how taking the test 4 times would be viewed.

(2) I'm working full-time now and this test is mentally exhausting.

(3) I don't know how I could prepare differently -- I felt ready for January.

On the other hand, I don't want to sell myself short. I have PTs left and I'm not planning to apply for at least 2 more cycles.

I'm targeting T20 schools. Should I retake? Let it be? Wait to see if the 5 section test comes back? Lmk your thoughts.

I'm prepping for the January Flex and was hoping to get some tech advice. I had issues that caused me to cancel my November score (my connection was lost through ProctorU but my Wifi seemed fine...?). I've heard investing in an ethernet cord might be worth it. Thoughts? Other ideas?

if you already have a ProctorU account through LSAC, you can schedule your April FLEX now.

if this is your first test, you might have to wait for the email tomorrow. Not sure.