I live just outside Milwaukee! I am most likely retaking the LSAT but will decide for sure when I see my December test score on the 5th. If that is the case, I would love to have someone to study with! My email is lbalestrieri@.com

The LSAT Trainer is a really great resource in terms of Reading Comprehension - I think it was possibly the most helpful part of the book. I found that section to be more helpful in the Trainer than on 7sage, but LR and LG best at 7sage. So I would definitely spend some time going over that before you get too discouraged about the Reading Comp. For me, I always worked within the parameters of time - I've never practiced RC without timing myself. I think that it forces you to recognize the structure in a fast manner consistently so my advice would be to keep timing yourself to keep the pressure on time, because ultimately that's the most important aspect when it comes to the actual test. I feel like that's what the Blind Review method is for as well - going back and taking your time to recognize the structure of the passage. That way you get the opportunity to do both.

I appreciate all of the feedback everyone. @ I will definitely check out TLS, thanks for the advice. I think I will disclose it considering how much of an impact it had on my grades at the beginning of my undergrad, I'm just struggling at this point regarding how and at what point to do so. I'll consult TLS and hopefully I can get some answers there! Thanks everyone!

Thanks for your help!

It sounds like you should sit out this cycle. I was in a similar situation when I was in school last year - I worked (not full time, but enough) and was in school full time. I knew that there was no way I could do my best on the LSAT and my applications during that time because I had so much going on. Because of this, I took a gap year so that I could focus on the LSAT and my applications. Not going in the fall shouldn't be your biggest fear - a gap year, or waiting another year, really isn't the end of the world and I don't see how it would be "taking a left turn" if you end up going a year later. Also, there are some schools that let you begin in the spring semester if you really want to go as soon as possible - I would look into those and take the test in the fall instead. Burning yourself out and wasting money and LSAT attempts doesn't sound like the best idea. If you're set on this fall, the only thing I can say is that you have to somehow make it happen between your school and work. This will most likely result in a lack of sleep and a lack of performance in other areas of your life, including school and work and social life. I would make a schedule of your time off and set aside specific time to study and see how much time that gives you before you decide if its reasonably possible to get your score up. Good luck

I find that marking the structure of the passage works best for me - because most of the questions are structure related, not content related. I understand that there are certain elements in each passage: the author's view/opinion, main points, support for and against, application, and context/background material. I'm finding that if I can identify these elements before going into the questions it is very helpful. Something that helps while I am identifying these points is constantly thinking "why did the author write this?" - and then putting it into those categories mentioned above.

I started with the LSAT Trainer and then found 7sage and began working here. The LSAT Trainer gave me a good base before beginning here, but I found it more challenging in that I feel it is geared towards someone who already has some LSAT/studying experience. 7sage is much more comprehensive in that it splits its curriculum into smaller categories. Another difference is that The Trainer does give exercises, but you have to have the PTs purchased in order to do them.

I would say the main differences in LR is the organization of question types. The Trainer organizes them a bit more broadly and gives general strategies instead of splitting up into the large number of question types presented by 7sage. For me this is helpful because of the way I think - I like to organize into broad groups when I study so that it is easier for me to reference during the exam, if that makes sense. This especially goes for flaw questions - 7sage has a list of 19 common flaws while the Trainer splits the types of flaws into three categories. Also, the Trainer provides steps and general strategies for questions, which I did not find in 7sage. This is typically the trend for logic games as well, as I said, the differentiation of games is put into more broad categories. The Trainer gave good basic in terms of how to diagram Logic Games, but it doesn't separate types of games as much as 7sage does. I would say the biggest benefit of the Trainer over 7sage is the Reading Comprehension section as they cover it in much greater detail than 7sage. It gives strategies for different question types - which they split into structure related questions, author opinion questions, other opinion questions, detail questions, and comparative section questions.

As you can see, I basically feel that 7sage organizes its curriculum into much smaller categories than the Trainer. I found it very helpful to have both perspectives, but I think the Trainer would have been more helpful if I had started with 7sage and the smaller categories to get more of a feel for the questions and then had done the Trainer to get more strategies for answering questions. But I went into the Trainer with no LSAT experience so I feel I wasted some time figuring some things out. I definitely do recommend the Trainer as a different organizational perspective. If that doesn't make sense, or you're just curious about the Trainer's curriculum, I took extensive notes and would be happy to send you a sample of them, or at least what I put into my study guide as the most helpful material that the Trainer provides that 7sage does not. Just message me on here and I we can exchange email.

Hope this helps!

I have had a similar problem, but have improved on getting the last questions, especially in the Logical Reasoning sections. The questions get more difficult towards the end, so what I do is make sure I'm getting through the first part fairly quickly so that I have extra time to review the more difficult questions. Also, I use the extra time I have to focus more on the second half.

That timing sounds like a good plan. I tend to have quite a bit of time left over (5-9 minutes) that I usually go back and re-look at circled questions, but it might be a better use of my time to slow down during the second half then and give more time to those questions.

First off, yayy U of Wisconsin! I went there as well. To answer your question though, I have been struggling with the same thing. Its a little different for me however, I also scored a 157 on my December test, however I had been scoring around a 162 for quite a few PT so I know that I can do better and just failed to perform. What I have been doing is emailing admissions for the schools that I'm unsure about whether to apply now or wait for the February LSAT. From the responses that I have been receiving, they have told me that at this point in the admissions cycle I am better off waiting for my new score. Now obviously this may be specific to the schools I talked to, but I encourage you to do the same thing and just ask those schools directly and hopefully that will help you make your decision. Good luck!

I find that reading the question stem first works best for me, especially concerning timing. If I for some reason forget to do so, I always find myself having to go back and reread the stimulus again, which is a waste of time. My general strategy that I've found (from 7sage and the LSAT Trainer) is to:

1. Understand your task - read the question stem to trigger how to think about the question and decide whether you're reading for an argument or something else.

2. Evaluate the stimulus

3. Eliminate wrong answer choices (for most questions) - for some question types you will have a strong idea of what the answer choice is before looking at the options, but you should still eliminate wrong choices

4. Confirm the right answer - be sure not to compare two possible answers against one another, only compare them individually against the stimulus

Hope this helps!

I understand it in a practical sense to mean for every question ask these two things:

1. Descriptively accurate? - whatever the answer choice is claiming that the argument is doing must be accurate

2. Describing the flaw? - is what the argument is doing in question 1 actually the flaw

Some choices will be descriptively accurate but will fail question number 2 and that will not be the flaw.

There is a list of 19 commonly used flaws somewhere in the curriculum that is helpful to reference for these question types as well. Hope this helps!

I started off studying with the LSAT Trainer before I discovered 7sage. While it was very helpful to me and ultimately helped boost my preptest score, there really wasn't anything in it not covered in the 7sage curriculum. I made a study guide out of the materials from The Trainer, and I've found myself adding plenty to it from 7sage. I was stuck in my studying and so decided to sign up for this course - I chose the cheapest starter package. 7sage really is very comprehensive and went into question types etc in much greater detail than the LSAT Trainer. I don't mean to talk bad about The Trainer, because I really did like it, but 7sage covers what is in there and more. Plus the interaction available with the forums is very helpful. If money is an issue, like it is for me, I would suggest doing what I did and getting the starter package here and then going over to amazon to buy additional preptest booklets. You can get about 10 preptests for $22.50. The logic games explanations are on this site, however, if you want explanations for the other sections you may want to consider buying a more expensive package here.

As far as extending your package, any ad on will increase your time by one month. I'm considering rewriting in February and wanted help on my applications, so I bought the personal statement bundle for $0.59 and got an increase of a month for super cheap. Otherwise I believe adding one month is around $24, and two months is around $34.

Sorry this is long, but hope this helps! Good luck with your studying!

It's a lot of work, but you can definitely progress. I started studying in July and my first diagnostic was a 147. I had planned on taking the September LSAT but withdrew it because I wasn't scoring where I needed to, at that time my average was around 154. I just took the December LSAT and my average preptest score is 161, so I'm hoping to score around there. I'm considering retaking it as I'd like to score at or above 165. Don't be scared! You've started studying early, and you're a part of this program, which I didn't discover until I was months into studying, so you're on your way!

Thank you! That's very helpful to help me memorize them! I'd still like to understand how I'm mis-diagramming the Misc. group of logical indicators with that second question with the mammals/cats example, so if anyone has any insight I'd love to hear it!

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/335058/LSAT-cancellations-withdrawals-absences-What-s-the-difference

Sorry that one doesn't address withdrawing but this link does.

I believe it does and that is why I chose to withdraw from the test before taking it for the September test. Here is a good link to an explanation of withdrawing/canceling/an absence. Hope it helps!

http://blueprintlsat.com/lsatblog/lsat-advice/cancelling-the-lsat-vs-taking-an-absence/

I have ADD so also struggle with focusing when studying. I take medication and it does help, but its still something that I struggle with. I find that it takes me much longer than it should to be productive, and many days I find I get nothing done at all because of it - which is very frustrating. I am not planning on asking for accommodations. I'm seeing my doctor again shortly and I'm hoping that adjusting my medication may help more. I have adjusted to this by allowing myself more time to study - once I get focused and going I find that I can continue to work fairly well, however, it takes a lot of time to get to that point. It helps when I eliminate all possible distractions around me - such as electronics and other people - on my computer I temporarily block social network sites and other things I get distracted by through an app. I also make lists of even the smallest tasks to keep myself focused - it also helps prevent me from getting frustrated because I can see my progress better. And actually, signing up for this course has been very beneficial because its easier for me to pay attention to the videos than it was for me when reading a prepbook - it holds my attention more and keeps moving whereas it was easier for me to pause when reading. I struggle the most on the Reading Comprehension section because it is difficult for me to pay attention for the longer passages. It may sound obvious, but for me, a lot of it comes from just forcing myself to keep going and "practicing" paying attention as well as "faking" interest and attention in the passages. I am nervous for the fact that there will be other people in the room making noise during the test and creating distractions, so I am considering studying at least part time in public places such as coffee shops to practice working around that. Good luck!

I know how you feel! I was awful at logic games and they still are my weakest section. I did the LSAT Trainer before coming to 7sage and I still couldn't even complete half of the questions before time ran out. My worst score was a 29% on them. After taking the course I'm averaging 60-70%, which I know still isn't great. However, it's much better from where i started. You can still score above a 160 and not do that great on that section. I recently scored a 162 on a preptest while only getting a 65% on the logic games section. Remember that LR is 50% of the test! You'll have to put in the work, but its possible. Don't get discouraged!

In my opinion I think it would be best to start as early as possible, especially if you'll be working full time. I started studying in July thinking I would take the September test, and I ended up withdrawing before the test and took in December and am now retaking this Saturday. I would give yourself as much time as possible in case you find yourself progressing slower than expected like myself

@ Thanks! I've been sitting here constantly checking my email and refreshing the lsac page. I've started to think I did something wrong on the paperwork or bubbled the wrong test. Hopefully I get it soon!

AHHH I still don't have my score! =[

@ I'm not sure I understand what you mean. In terms of approaching each individual question, I follow the 7sage approach - meaning I read the stem, then the stimulus, then eliminate answer choices, then choose the correct one. But what I meant was that I go through each one fairly quickly - if I am unsure about an answer choice or am stuck between two I pick what I think is the best answer (just in case I don't have time later to come back to it) then I put a star next to that question so I know to come back to it. I get through LR with between 6 - 8 minutes left over. At that point I "redo" the questions that I've starred - basically giving myself a chance to BR them before time is up. I usually work backwards when I do this since the more difficult questions tend to come last so I know those are the ones that I've most likely gotten wrong. Like I said, I feel approaching those questions for a second time after I've gotten my mind off of them and on to other questions helps me to get them correct. I hope this makes more sense as to what I meant!

That's exactly what I do. I go through the questions fast enough so that I have 6-7 min at the end to go back over questions I wasn't sure about - I do this instead of spending more time on those questions initially. I find coming back to them with a "fresh(er)" eye helps me to get them right. I average about -3/-4 on each LR section