Your trajectory seems to be similar to mine, so I'll share what I did in case it helps you. I should precede this with the disclaimer of "NOT generally recommended" -- however, it worked for me, suited my goals beautifully, and I'm glad I took this approach.

Here was my basic timeline, starting last fall:

Oct. 3:

I've been idly considering law school but not sure if I'm capable due to a very nontraditional background. I take a practice test cold -- mostly on a dare from my brother. I score 155 but am shell-shocked on LG's and only manage to answer a few questions there before running out of time. I take another 20 minutes, do my own version of BR on LG's, and come up with a 171 BR score. I'm shocked.

I decide I want to go to law school and sign up for LSAT Premium on 7Sage immediately (my brother had done the research on prep companies which was a huge advantage). I also sign up for the Nov. 17 LSAT.

Oct. 4 thru Nov. 4:

I go through the entire core curriculum and work nearly all the exercises. I listen to videos on 2-3x speed unless I'm having trouble understanding. Most of my study is on the go (often in the car) since I work full-time and drive a ton for work.

Nov. 1-15:

I do 8 practice tests (36-40 and 54-46). Scores are 165-169, plus one 171. I BR as much as possible -- BR scores are 167-171 with one 174.

I use 7Sage analytics like crazy -- I review CC videos for question categories, prioritizing the categories I miss most. I focus on low-hanging fruit -- the work that will raise my scores the most with the least amount of time. This includes questions / areas that I was able to narrow down to 2 choices, question categories in which I got the answer correct but wasn't positive of the answer, and questions ranked "easy" that I missed.

I review most of the questions I missed and go over them until I understand why I missed them.

I review LOTS of LG's because I'm still struggling most with that. I print a ton of LG sections, work and re-work them every spare moment, and watch videos repeatedly to ingrain the process.

Nov. 17:

I score a 171. Ironically (or perhaps according to strategy), I get my best score in LG.

My bottom line: with my initial 155 / BR 171 I knew that I could succeed if I raised my general level of understanding and then worked surgically at the areas that both needed the most work and provided the greatest opportunity for extra points. 7Sage provided the on-point, solid instruction and guidelines I needed.

Most of my problems were with RC and LG but I found it was imperative to do ALL the CC for the foundation of knowing how to think consciously the way you need to in order to ace the LSAT.

While this process is arguably "wrong" and "much too rushed," it was the best choice for me, all things considered. I had decided (for personal reasons) that if I was going to do law school I wanted to start this year. Thus delaying for a better score would have yielded a net negative result -- no matter how high a retake score I received -- and I determined to just do the best I could on Nov. 17 (with the option of a Jan. 26 retake if needed).

My advice, for what it's worth: go for it. Be surgical and smart about how you spend your time. Instead of half-assing all of it, make sure you have a solid overall understanding and then pick certain categories that you will completely master. I believe you'll score better (and move faster) if you are solid on most of the questions but completely lost on a few, rather than being somewhat sure on all of the questions but only being able to narrow them down to 2 choices.

On the LSAT, you don't win by being almost right all of the time -- you win by being right almost all of the time.

@ said:

@ yes, but I probably won’t have time to read it beforehand, so I’m afraid we’ll be looking at it live.

Fabulous, thank you! Here's a link to a Google doc with comment / suggestion access in case that makes it easier. Others' suggestions are welcome also.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18IP_ooGOZThA2BLM5U-ztXHwV695WNalkKGEqjvPdDg/edit?usp=sharing

I'm interested to know:

General thoughts on content / flow

How do I cut it? (It's too long, right?)

How can I communicate the ending more powerfully?

You said don't worry about posting too long of a question here... Does that mean we can post a personal statement draft and get a live lightning critique?

Got my email (and it's also posted online in my account).

If it helps on knowing the curve....I got a 171 and looks like I answered 9 questions incorrectly.

Also: 7Sage gets so much credit for that score. JY, I will be happy to write you the best review you've ever seen. It required hard work of course, but 7Sage gave me the tools so that my work was effective.

It's within the range I really wanted and knew I was capable of, but still almost more than I'd dared to hope for.

I'd echo previous posters. I sent 3 for each my schools (they required 1-2 and accepted 3-4), but only because all 3 were stellar recommenders and I believed the combination of the 3 (because of their varying perspectives and relationships with me) significantly strengthened my application. Otherwise I would have used only the minimum number.

I originally had a different 3rd recommender in mind but decided against using his letter because it overlapped too much with someone else's and I thought the other person's alone would be stronger.