@drbrown2259 said:

I would check out the 7sage podcast episodes with high scorers because they talk about their study routines and what worked/didn’t work. Your estimate of hours available to study per week is probably unrealistic because you won’t be effectively studying after around the 4 hour mark. Besides, quality over quantity. 3.5 months is certainly possible for some people, but many need more than that to reach their potential. Just do your best to absorb the material and don’t rush yourself. Focus on quality BR and drill LG into oblivion. Reassess as you move along with your prep and adjust to what needs to be adjusted to.

Thank you for the advice! I really appreciate it. I agree that I should go slow and try to absorb as much as possible, instead of racing to finish the CC and preptests.

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 said:

@mds13h957 said:

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 said:

@mds13h957 said:

Hello, Everyone! I just took my first diagnostic, and I am wondering should I only BR the LR or should I also BR the games/RC? I have no clue whats really going on with the games, so I think the BR would be rather pointless. But for the RC, I think it could provide some benefit. Would love some input. Thanks!

I think if you sit and really try to figure out how to brute force some of the questions on LG, you may make some small breakthroughs. I wouldn't sweat it too much due to it being your first diagnostic.

Definitely go through each circled questioned untimed and spend as much energy and time as you need to break down each argument and see if you can find an answer that you can explain why it is the correct one.

There's always benefit when it comes to BR.

Afterwards, watch JY's explanations and take whatever notes you find helpful.

Honestly, before you complete most of the CC it will be much more challenging to BR due to the fact you still have lots to learn. However, don't let that encourage you. A big goal of taking a diagnostic test is to see where you're at as well as to sort of see how the test works and what skills you'll need going forward.

Thanks so much! I just finished BR and went from a 151 to a 160 after the BR. I am going to watch all of the explanations from JY. The games I did not BR because I have no idea how to diagram or approach the games. I will wait until the CC is over to BR games.

NICE! +9 on your first BR is beyond amazing... Just remember, if you can BR to a 160 that means the skills are within you and you just need to keep working on cultivating and improving them. Congrats!

You don't necessarily have to finish the entire CC to be able to blind review games, but since you get done with the LG lessons, it will be a lot more productive.

I think I am going to just watch JY. The game with the Cruise ship stumped me (-5). My sections after the BR were: -9 games, -2 LR, -4 LR, -7 RC. I think if I can bring my game score up, which I believe can happen with practice, i can hit mid-160s rather quickly! JY is incredible. I am referring this site to every aspiring lawyer I know.

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 said:

@mds13h957 said:

Hello, Everyone! I just took my first diagnostic, and I am wondering should I only BR the LR or should I also BR the games/RC? I have no clue whats really going on with the games, so I think the BR would be rather pointless. But for the RC, I think it could provide some benefit. Would love some input. Thanks!

I think if you sit and really try to figure out how to brute force some of the questions on LG, you may make some small breakthroughs. I wouldn't sweat it too much due to it being your first diagnostic.

Definitely go through each circled questioned untimed and spend as much energy and time as you need to break down each argument and see if you can find an answer that you can explain why it is the correct one.

There's always benefit when it comes to BR.

Afterwards, watch JY's explanations and take whatever notes you find helpful.

Honestly, before you complete most of the CC it will be much more challenging to BR due to the fact you still have lots to learn. However, don't let that encourage you. A big goal of taking a diagnostic test is to see where you're at as well as to sort of see how the test works and what skills you'll need going forward.

Thanks so much! I just finished BR and went from a 151 to a 160 after the BR. I am going to watch all of the explanations from JY. The games I did not BR because I have no idea how to diagram or approach the games. I will wait until the CC is over to BR games.

How long did the CC take? Also, how much more confident do you feel since you started 7sage compared to now?

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 said:

Welcome to 7Sage! :)

Nice diagnostic! I started right about there and through completing the CC and some hard work was able to pretty quickly hit the 160s. Missing 18 LG questions on the diagnostic is nothing, I'm pretty sure I missed 20, haha. The good news is that most people agree that games are the easiest section to improve on. So there's a silver lining to missing a bunch on LG.

As far as the best way to approach the CC, I think going through it at comfortable pace is best. The most important thing is to aim for a high score and not to be ready by a certain date. Having a tentative test date is fine, but all too often people lock themselves into a date and work towards that instead of a score. It's important to realize that this one test will count far more than your 3.95 even though that GPA took 4 years to earn. So don't sell yourself short, especially if you're aiming for HYS.

I found taking notes as going through the CC pretty helpful. I rarely reviewed them afterwards, but it did ensure that I was actively listening and was helpful if I ever did need a refresher to return to notes.

You'll see that you have problem sets under many of the lessons. Don't feel like you need to always do all of them. I generally did as many as I needed until I felt comfortable with a given lesson. So if after one easy, medium, and hard problem set, I felt like I had that particular lesson/question type down, I would move on. I would suggest practicing timing myself while doing the problem sets and then blind review them. It is important to remember that ultimately we have to get good at taking this timed exam and not just good at the LSAT in general.

When blind reviewing your first exam, I would recommend printing out a clean copy of the exam. This helps us to avoid fighting against our egos when we need to examine our reasoning on a circled question. Then go through the questions that you circled on the timed exam, but take as long as you need to dissect the stimulus focusing on the premises + conclusion. I recommend writing out a summary of both. I also find it helpful to write out why each answer choice is either correct or incorrect. If it was indeed a question I circled and got incorrect then I try to write out a little summary of what I did wrong and how to avoid it moving forward.

The last thing I do when BR'ing is watch all of JY's explanations, even for the ones I get right. There may be a more efficient way to get the answer or maybe you find out that you got the question correct, but through incorrect or faulty reasoning.

If you haven't already check out the entire lesson on how to properly BR: https://classic.7sage.com/lesson/the-blind-review-is-a-habit/

Good luck :)

Thank you so much for the tips! I am so excited to start this process.