I'm taking the test in September, and I'm trying to really crack down so I can break my plateau and increase to where I want to be. It always helps to talk out certain questions and discuss study methods and techniques, so if anyone is in Orange County and wants to meet up, or would be down to work on certain problem sets & then discuss, let me know!
I've been taking prep tests almost every day, and my score hasn't budged by more than a few points from an average of 162. Most of my mistakes are in the Reasoning sections, and I know I need to speed up my Games time, but no matter how I study for the Reasoning I'm barely showing improvements there. I'm taking notes on the kinds of questions I miss most so I can review them again, but does anyone have tips on how I can go about fixing this trend?
Thank you!
I took the LSAT in June 2018 and did the writing section then. The rules say you don’t have to retake a writing section if you have one on file, but would it be detrimental to my application to have a hand-written writing section as opposed to computerized?
I put D as my answer to this question, but the correct answer is A. I don't understand why, since the stipulation for a work to be considered unique is for it to have historical or aesthetic value. How would that apply to an unflattering painting of someone's father?
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@ said:
It depends to what school you're applying too. I am also re taking the LSAT in November and in my humble opinion, if you get a higher score above the median you will be fine. Also, applying in November is not actually that late. You will still get scholarships and what not. Anyways if you think you can get a higher score than the school's median I would apply ASAP in November.
I’m hoping it won’t take 3 weeks to release scores by the Nov test so I can send it early December. As long as the test has appropriate curveballs (a hard passage in RC or a rough patch of questions in LR) I do believe I can earn a higher score, given that I normally don’t miss more than 2/3 on LG. But @ is right, a higher score will probably be better than applying earlier with a lower score
I took the September LSAT foolishly hoping I wouldn’t ever have to think about this test again, but the LG kicked me in the teeth & stole my lunch money, so now I’m registered for the November administration. The problem is my GPA isn’t the best and I wanted to apply early to help offset that a bit, but if I take the November test, I’ll have to apply in December. How big a difference does it make applying in October vs December? And if my score is within the bracket of acceptability, should I move on or take the November test where ideally LG won’t channel the spirit of Satan?
Hi Jay, I’m scoring in the low/mid 160s and BRing low 170s. Let me know if you’d be interested in studying together!
So I recently got into a law school with the Dean's Merit Scholarship, which would cover about 60% of the tuition (not sure if I'll be getting need-based from them or not). I am above their 75% LSAT, below the GPA median. Beforehand, I'd gotten into a law school ranked about 20 places higher and one I really want to go to, but they didn't offer any merit scholarships, just a little need-based $. For this school, I'm above their LSAT median but below the GPA median. Could I leverage my scholarship from the lower-ranked school to ask for more money from the higher-ranked one?
Thanks in advance!
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I love this question and the answer is “all of the above.”
Question type is the first pattern most people learn. The interaction between the AC’s and the stimulus is a little different for each type which is vitally important, and there are trends which certain question types follow in the type of argumentation you’re going to be looking at. Obviously, the correctness of the credited AC is also driven by what exactly the question is, so this is a really big one.
Beyond that, there are patterns in argument structure which can pop up in just about any question type. These are things like conditional logic, the common flaws, phenomenon/hypothesis, causation, and the big picture support between premise and conclusion. Can’t do well on the LSAT without pattern recognition on these.
And then there’s the detailing stuff which to me is the most interesting dimension of the test. Within the larger structure of the argument, there’s so much linguistic/grammatical stuff they can do to give things precise meaning in a way that has big implications. These can account both for the things many will write off as “careless mistakes” as well as questions that will drive you mad in BR. Complex noun phrases, for example, are an easy way for the test writers to generate a little extra difficulty:
My friend from Mobile with the red hair who’s a big Green Bay Packers fan and is the sous chef at my favorite restaurant where I used to work before I decided to go to law school likes a hot beverage made from the seeds of a certain type of cherry which is native to Ethiopia that became really big in Europe during the early days of The Enlightenment after the plantation system made it widely and cheaply available.
This just says “James likes coffee.”
If you can recognize and isolate the two complex noun phrases, you can handle this pretty easily.
Another important one is what I call “problem of knowledge,” though it includes a lot of other concepts like belief, intention, etc. So if a stimulus says someone knows or believes or intends something, that’s very different from establishing what actually is:
Susan knows the store closes at 8pm.
It’s only 6:30pm.
Therefore, Susan knows the store is still open.
See the problem? Knowledge messed everything up. This example is designed to be obvious, but the LSAT can present this with great subtlety.
There’s a ton of these types of things, and reverse engineering the questions to identify and learn them should be a big part of your BR and analysis.
Thanks for providing such a thorough response! You're absolutely right; that example typifies how the LR questions are structured and it drives me bonkers. It's especially present in Flaw questions, and I do think by isolating the bricks that make up the sentence, I'll have a clearer picture of the simple meaning. LSAC is nothing if not subtle, but I suppose our job is to become human subtlety detectors, huh?
Does anyone have any strategies or tricks for these questions? The latter is heavily lawgic based, which helps at times, but I'm still getting more of them wrong than any other question type.
After advice from here, I cut down the number of PTs I took and started working more on drilling and BR, but improvements have been minimal and feel tenuous. Are there any tips to BR I could try? Should I try doing more timed sections, or maybe go back and read over the curriculum sections for the questions types that I seem to be consistently missing? I've been studying for a while and I'm pressed for time, and I want to put in my all before I take the test next month. Any advice would be much appreciated.
@ said:
I’d be interested! I’m located in San Bernardino County. Willing to meet at a half way point or whatever is good.
Great! Message me what times your available so I can match up everyone’s schedules. For now it’s looking like virtual is more convenient for people.
I’m retaking the LSAT in November and looking for a few people who would be interested in studying together. I’m located in Orange County, but I’m also fine meeting virtually. My problem sections are LR, and I’d love to be able to BR with others to see how we conceptualize these questions. Let me know if interested!
Maybe step back from studying for a few days, give yourself time to reset. Racing against the clock doesn't help much with the LSAT, but your mental state can make an enormous difference.
Hi,
I'm retaking the LSAT, & I have 2 powerscores and quite a few books of prep tests from last time. So I was wondering if it was worth it to get the Ultimate Plus as opposed to the Ultimate, since the main difference seems to lie in the prep tests and I already have many of them. There are also more section explanations, though. If it weren't for the fact that you have to pay the lump sum in one go instead of on payment, I would probably just opt for the Plus. Thoughts?
They reassigned my test center from UCSB to the Hyatt centric downtown & I was wondering if anyone knows whether in similar occasions they offer free parking to test takers and what the difference is taking it at a hotel vs school
I was freaking out because I thought the test was not at 12:30pm despite what my ticket said. I thought perhaps they did not indicate for PDT, but it is 12:30 PM in June all over the country, right?
Also, my ticket is printed in black and white. Is that okay, or does it need to be in color because of the photograph?
Does anyone know when the webinars are uploaded to the 7sage podcast?
Hi! So up until recently, I've been treating NA and SA the same, and the answer is no. We can't negate the SA answer choices to see if it works, because the conclusion has to follow logically from the premises. What's been helpful to me is spotting any new ideas/terms they introduce in a premise without clarifying. How does this idea or term tie back to the argument? What premise would close the gap?
I've used to miss an average of 5/6 on RC, but now its closer to 2/3. I've been told it's helpful to avoid scrutinizing the details of the passage and instead focus on putting each paragraph in context of the whole. Does paragraph one present a problematic situation, paragraph 2 outline the history of the situation, while paragraph 3 proposes a solution? It used to sound counter-intuitive to me. Wouldn't understanding the minutiae of the passage mean I'd answer the questions faster? Maybe. But I didn't answer them more accurately. Working on low resolution summaries and timing also helps.
Since the LSAC says we have the option to cancel our scores after we see it, and also to retake it at a later date free of charge, I'm definitely leaning towards taking the July LSAT. However, I was wondering if those rules applied for those who get paper instead of digital on the actual exam day. The website doesn't differentiate at any point, but I was just curious if anyone knew for sure.
I'm retaking the LSAT after a year of putting it on the shelf. I self-studied the first time mainly through the Powerscore books, but wasn't satisfied with my score, so I'm taking a year to do it again, this time through a 7sage prep course. If anyone is in OC and would be down to get together every now and then to study, let me know! Or even if you're not, but are open to hashing out questions online.
I usually categorize it the same way I would for 'most' or 'usually'. It allows for instances where, for example, lying is NOT the morally appropriate thing to do. So an answer choice that says something along the lines of, "it is always the case that" would be a red flag. Hope that helps!
In every webinar and in most student testimonials, people mention identification of patterns as being one of the key processes to answering quickly and accurately. Are these patterns more than identifying what kind of question it is? Do they mean the structure of the questions themselves (premises, conclusions, fluff)? Or is there a formula for each question type that goes beyond any of that?
This is a really dumb question, but on the LSAC website there are only testing dates available until July. But the pdf of test dates for 2018 includes a September and November that aren't on the main site. Why is that?
Fewer PTs, more question analysis, drills, and intense review. Got it. On the bright side, I have a good idea of the questions I'm consistently missing, so I'll use the time to correct whatever is tripping me up on those. Thanks for the help everyone!
Did you have a question on angiogenesis (prevents obese rodents) on one section and a question on BSL (?)on untreated and treated cows?