@ since the last 7 and up have i realized how important a thorough BR is.

YAS! I haven't even done many PT's with BR yet so I'm pumped to see the results, as slow as they may come. Keep me updated how the process is going. Your confidence is contagious!

I would definitely start doing timed PT's and doing clean-copy BR on them. Get at least 5 minimum under your belt... there is a huge difference, at least for me, mentally when doing timed v. untimed. Putting yourself in that stressful situation makes thinking under pressure a habit, and you learn to apply the logic from the lessons in that way, which could be a different way than the way your brain processes it/handles it when it is completely stress-free in untimed conditions. Just my 2 cents.

@ At this point in your prep, your confidence is as important as the skills you've acquired through months of preparation. You must go into this test with an unshakable resolve and conviction that you are going to own it.

I really needed to hear this. Thank you.

@ You have already earned your score, now go and get it.

I think I want to print this out and tape it to every surface I will see this week. That's such an awesome way to look at it.

I'm gonna get hate for this too, but the lowest ranked school I'd go to is U of Alabama. Honestly, since I want to practice in the South (Nashville/maybe B'ham) and am NOT interested in biglaw, UA seems one of my only options. Emery or Vanderbilt are potentials that I could probably get into, but I'm also not looking for over 150K in debt. I have residency/in-state for UA already, which puts law tuition down to 20K/year plus hopefully they will throw me some money.

Granted, it is T25 but I'm getting the feeling, as I only made the decision to go to law school less than a year ago and never explored other options outside the South, that it's skipped over. I'm not bitter at all, it's going to work for what I want to do with my life, but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on why. Location? The South? Limited range to large cities?

@ I still have to BR it so I'm curious to see what type of mistakes were made.

Post on here and let me know! I'm curious to see what you thought of it

@.marz But if it is SO BE IT because we are going to slay December regardless.

THIS. THIS. Trying to keep positive, because at the end of the day it is us against our own brain on this test, and even if the RC is more difficult, that doesn't matter because we have been prepping our ASSES OFF. We are going to go in there and take PT 77... just like we have been doing the past few months (...and months.. and months).

@ I feel the same way, before this I used to do script coverage for production companies so I felt my reading comprehension skills were through the roof, passages like that make me cringe and second guess myself... so seeing that others were struck by its difficulty makes me feel better as well.

Same for me, I'm glad you posted. It is nice to be in the same boat. 7Sage has saved me from insanity: being able to talk to people who understand what this test is really like has been invaluable.

UPDATE: Just finished BR'ing this PT (71). I was struck by how nit-picky they have gotten, but so be it, I'm going to have to become more nit-picky myself then. Must adapt.

To elaborate, I found it to be true on both the RC and the LR, but mainly the RC. For example, RC Q13. I put AC (A), but it is wrong because "real items for virtual currency" is not the same as "in-world sales for virtual currency"... we can't guarantee that in-world sales means real items. Oh.

I'm not complaining, because I have never found a question that doesn't have 4 legitimately wrong AC's, but damn.

Since I couldn't pay for the Ultimate package, as I had wasted thousands on other *useless* prep classes, I don't have access to all the explanations. If you are in the same boat as me, I have found lsathacks.com to be so so helpful. He gives it to you straight, and although sometimes I need more elaboration, it is generally enough.

@ That's mirror physics passage was out of control, absolute devastation.

YES THANK YOU. I remember staring at it and thinking, what the hell, I have read my whole life, I love reading, it's literally one of my strongest skills (comprehension, speed, ability to paraphrase) and yet it was so hard to visualize. Total mindf****.

Thank you @ and @.gill.sanford ! It is good to be reminded that they all play to our strengths or weaknesses at some point. I guess I just wanted a bit of validation that my RC skills didn't suddenly start sucking and that maybe it was this specific test that played to more of my weaknesses than strengths.

That was fast!

@

@.cox

- thank you SO MUCH for the care and attention you're devoting. really nice of you.

No problem!! I enjoy helping people not make the mistakes I did, I learned from them but maybe others can learn from them without having to waste $1500 on a prep course that was completely useless and then burn out!!!! hahaha.

Okay so clean copy. You take the PT, circling questions you aren't 100% of the right answer or you aren't 100% sure the wrong answers are completely wrong. Okay. Yay, done, woohoo!

If you don't have PDFs, I would advise copying the PT before you start it. Then you either take the second copy, (print off another, either one) and go through and circle the same questions you circled on the original, on your Clean Copy. Put your original away. Then go through, SLOWLY, and pick apart the stimuli, and go through the answer choices, taking as much time as you need to figure it out. Do NOT look at the right answer by any means, sometimes if I'm super stumped and I've been staring at it for a while, or I'm stuck b/w 2 answers, I'll move on and come back to it and then if I still can't figure it out, I pick an answer and then ask on here or something BUT I DON'T CHANGE MY ANSWER! If you want your BR score to accurately reflect where you are without any help, it can't be influenced by that. I just look it up occasionally b/c it really bothers me when I'm not sure.

I'll redo the games too, untimed, I do all the questions, but you can just do the circled ones.

Pretty much it! It's tedious but an important process.

@ I know 3-4 PT's a week is pushing it... however, would you recommend anything else? I know my mind needs to rest, but with 16 days left, its kinda hard to!

*Cue anxiety* I'm taking it in December too, and it's my second time. I didn't get to all the PT's I'd planned to, but my BR process made up for that because I'm improving faster than I'd be if I was zooming through PT's and not taking the time to learn from my mistakes. That's a waste of PT's. I'd recommend doing a sampling of PT's in the 60s and make sure to hit the 70s, that's what my tutor told me.

I'm no expert for sure but this is a conglomeration of everything I've learned from the amazing mentors on here, tutoring, and just the mistakes I've made. Good luck! We got this!!

@ -I BR every PT. but clean copy? first time i've heard that. what does that mean? as in i BR the same PT but a fresh copy, with no previous answers? I will try that, but holy moly... does that sound time-consuming.

Talk to @ about this. Here's a really helpful discussion that I think really applies to you. http://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/30531

It is time consuming. But it's worth it. Quality over quantity. You print out another complete clean copy, and circle the ones on it you circled on the original. You're not doing "more work", but you are eliminating your ego from the equation. You're not tempting yourself to say, I had it right, not even gonna really go through it again. It gives your brain the easy way out, and unfortunately most of us (me included) have brains that will do that every time, even unconsciously. This way, you forget what you even put.

@ with no previous answers?

You shouldn't even be looking at/considering previous answers when you BR anyway. That's the whole point! Using previous answers either just strengthens flawed reasoning you used to begin with, or it creates a struggle between picking the same answer. Either way isn't good.

@ -I am taking a PT every other day, and BR'ing the days im not. at some point next week, im going to most likely crank it up to a PT every day.

I think @.hopkins can get in on this.... 6 PT'S A WEEK IS THE WORST IDEA EVER. Not trying to be mean, I promise, but I did that myself and it did NOTHING for me but burned me out, created frustration, and unmotivated me. It doesn't give your brain a rest, a chance to process anything. You shouldn't be BRing the same day you take the test. I take at least 2, maybe 3 days to BR. I promise that is a bad idea. Please do not do that, from personal experience!

thank you @ ! But I don't have access, I couldn't pay for any other courses but the starter :( Since I had mistakenly put so much money in other *ahem* completely useless, ineffective, ridiculously expensive prep courses about a year ago before I was aware of 7Sage or anything.

I figured it would be addressed eventually, it's pretty much the only thing that's not user-intuitive on this site. Thank you for the help!

Have you done any of JY's curriculum? That's been huge for me. It's bumped by LR up to -5, -6 on every section. His RC lessons have been super helpful too, for retaining information, so more time reading and internalizing the MP's of each paragraph of the passage, and less time on the questions because you don't have to go back and forth as much.

How many PT's are you trying to do per week? Are you doing clean copy BR? That's also HUGE.

@

said:

What is REALLY weird is that when i drill sections or drill sets, i go between -4 and -8, which is what i wish i was.

You shouldn't be drilling sections at this point. That's not going to prepare you for the longevity of the actual LSAT, and you need to be building endurance for test day.

I agree with the tutor, slow down. When you BR, make sure you are writing down why each answer choice is wrong. Definitively. Not in your head, write down a reason why. Write all over that BR, diagram, whatever it takes so you know 100% why each is wrong and the right one is right. Also, look at your watch at Q10, Q15, Q20, and Q25. Or every 10, whichever works for you. Get a rhythm down so you know in your head a sense of 1:25 for each question. The Trainer is also good b/c it gives you guidelines for where you ~should be by each question. Obviously that differs for everyone, but it's helpful to have a structure to analyze your timing against, and to make small goals for improvement (E.g., Get to Q15 2 minutes earlier).

Are you doing POL for LR? As in, eliminating wrong answers before you look for the right answer? The LSAT Trainer really made me realize that it is so much more efficient to look for wrong answers first, because it is easier to say why something is wrong than to try and determine for each AC, "oh is this right? It looks right, okay, wait no, here is the flaw..." So you're trying to do two things for each actual AC when in reality it's easiest to just look for why it's wrong, and then come back to the ones that you didn't cross out. Does that make sense?

I applaud your tenacity; you are going to get there, just stay strong and make sure not to burn out!!!!! MAKE SURE NOT TO BURN OUT!!! (make sure not to burn out!!!)

:)

@ Clean copy BR or it didn't happen.

RT. it helps SO MUCH, you're not fighting your ego and it lets your brain totally reset from the question. Even erasing with a great eraser, which I used to do (yes, I know it's totally crazy), you could still sometimes see what you crossed out, etc and your brain subconsciously focuses on that. Gotta make it work hard, cause it wants the easy way out :)

@ Are you jotting down reasons why each wrong answer is incorrect during BR?

I actually do write them down! My clean copies are scribbled all over by the end of it. I don't think I am looking at them enough in the context of the " big picture" though, in terms of how I am thinking overall for LR and for those question types. I have always had trouble tying together small observations to see larger patterns. How do you record/write down/make sure you keep track of your weaknesses, and then how do you address them? Would drills be good at this point?

@

said:

I've got my clean copies and I'll be back at it on my lunch break!

You need more than 12 hours to combat burnout. Let me tell you from personal experience. Take a few days off, don't think about anything LSAT related, don't get on 7sage, don't do those games. In fact, maybe do some other similar games AFTER a few days off, more exposure is always better than doing the same 3 games 20, 30 times. Just my personal experience. Obviously repetition is good, 4-6 times, until you get it, which it seems like you do, but not at the expense of not repeating other games as well. For all you know, the games on the test could be 4 games that happen to not be similar to those!

@ Reading Comp somehow went from my best to worst section and more practice doesn't seem to be making much difference.

SAME. I went from -3 or 4 to -5 to -7... and I don't understand!

Thank you @ for your help! it definitely makes sense now.

Thanks for your quick response!!! :)

Hmmm. I do see why A would be correct, but I guess the lack of structural logic gave me trouble here. It seems to be more about understanding human emotions which seems super rare for the LSAT to throw at us. I was looking for a logical flaw, but I guess he just was viewing unhappiness differently.

the only thing that I'm still iffy about, after your explanations, is D. Morg says "the only risk in quitting is that of not finding another job." But why does Morg stating that make it true? Brooks could have other risks in mind, like being thrown out of his apartment, or not being able to eat because he has no money. Is it wrong because he doesn't DIRECTLY mention two kinds, so if he doesn't DIRECTLY mention them, he can't exactly conflate them?

Also, you can get invaluable help on here if you're active, people are so willing to help you unpack and figure out problems. Plus there's inexpensive, but amazing, tutoring available.

http://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/29684

I'm using the Starter and I am finding it super helpful--you get the lessons, and a good amount of example videos, which have worked wonders for me. I had more LSAT background going in, though, but honestly haven't really used any of it as I have re-worked the way I think about things/my methods, etc based on JY's teachings. The LSAT Trainer definitely helped a lot, Powerscore, not so much. Ditch the PS and use 7SAGE and the Trainer. Just my 2 cents.

@.flanders I'll keep on going because there is always the next PT!

That's such a good attitude! It sounds like you have a little test anxiety to me. I personally don't experience it but I know a TON of people do. What helps for me is before I start, even while time is going, I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, steady myself, then open my eyes and I'm ready to attack it. It's like I turn my test-taking self on. That sounds so weird but it helps me. The more you test, the easier it will get. Especially if you do all of them proctored (get the app, or the link on here!), so that the real test will be exactly the same. You just gotta put yourself in a position to do well, even if it's having to sit in the same spot or use the same pencil or have a certain routine. Everyone is different. You're going to do awesome, just keep at it. I've been going since May and it's so worth it. :)

@ Omg I started prepping with Kaplan and it was the worst.

i actually have this unnatural hate towards them. they completely messed with my head, and made it so much more difficult to get on the right path, since i had these lingering acronyms in my head for everything. they. had. so. many. acronyms.

Can we add Kaplan to the list of books we would gladly rip apart and toss to a fiery death in a huge bonfire?

@ Why would you recommend not taking the October exam? Most law schools take the top score, including Georgetown, Cornell, and Northwestern. If I end up with a 170+ I'll just not retake.

I recommended it based on what you said your confidence level is, based on my personal experience! Only you know if you are ready or not. :) To me, the LSAT is such a mental game, that going in with less than 100% confidence isn't worth it. I've already taken one test, so I'm being really careful about my next and final one. That's all !

@ It's just a little bit frustrating because I had intended to take the October LSAT and my family is pressuring me excessively to take the December and get it over with. They dont understand that the LSAT really takes time and I know I'm probably just not going to listen to them and focus on my score > an earlier application cycle, but its difficult to navigate around angry parents.

Can I just say that I completely COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THIS. Then again, sometimes it's me struggling against copping out, and giving myself an excuse to not go in thinking I am going to do as well as I had hoped. You got this!