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victorialn880

Joined: Apr 2025
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victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

Yeah, reviewing couldnt hurt. You could try to do a drill or two from each section first and decide from there whether you need to redo/review that section.

General · Anxiety around taking full Length practice Tests

victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

Do you meditate? I know a lot of 7sagers have used meditation to help with this. I actually think it's a good thing that you're experiencing anxiety now so that you can learn to work through it and will be less likely to be hit with surprise anxiety on test day (this happened to me). I agree with the posters above, the more you take timed pts and see them as just another test or even a really long timed drill, the more likely it is that your anxiety will calm. I'd recommend working out some coping strategies that you can incorporate into your test day ritual/process. You can close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths before each section to reset and tell your self that this is just another drill, because it is.

Also, try not to put so much weight on your score. No matter what your score is it is going to bring you closer to your goal because you are going to learn from this test. You're taking a full pt so that you can learn more about taking full pts. You are going to improve no matter how high or low you scored, and each pt, each question/game/passage you review is going to help you reach your goal on test day.

You can also try to develop an attack plan for each section. If it's an RC section you're going to read the passage, read the first question, read each answer choice, circle, and move on. Make sure that you write down your strategy and follow it each time. If you are following a set process, this can help to calm your nerves because you know exactly what you're going to do in each section.

Also, take things one step at a time. One word then one sentence then one question at a time. All you have to do is read this word, than read the next. Finish reading the sentence in front of you and keep moving on no matter what. You're going to reach the end eventually and when you do you'll feel amazing that you have another pt under your belt.

General · What is CC?

victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

CC = the core curriculum included in your course package (the lessons on the syllabus page). BR works in tandem with the CC and the work you do after, as mentioned by the previous commenter. Don't worry, I didn't know what "CC" meant when I first started either.

LSAT · Need some advice on what to foolproof

victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

Would you have time to do both? I'd recommend taking the games you've already foolproofed and redoing them by section. At the same time you can foolproof the games in 19-35 individually. Make sure to foolproof/review right away. I used to do each section at least twice, the first time I'd take it timed and then I'd do it right after untimed. You'll want to work up to doing fresh timed sections, but I think this alternative may help for now. You'll definitely be able to improve on LG, just don't skip a day of it. Try to do at least one timed section each day you study (I'd actually recommend 2-3 sections per day once you get the hang of things). I hope this helps!

LSAT · Timed LR Sections...Worth it?

victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

If timing is your issue, I think going through the 40s and 50s could definitely help. Try doing an LR "bootcamp" for a week or 2 where you concentrate the bulk of your studying on doing timed LR sections (2 LR sections per day with full BR and explanation videos). Some people have found it helpful to collect missed questions in a "scrapbook" to constantly review. Although this didn't work for me when I was in your situation, you could try it and see if it works for you. I always aimed for completing the first 15 questions in 15 min, 20 in 20-23min and the rest of the questions in the rest of the time - if I got through the first 10 questions in 7 min I knew I was on the right track. If a question is holding you back from keeping your time, learn to recognize this right away and skip it no matter what. I came back to skipped questions after I finished the 2 pages in front of me (ex: I would go through all questions on pages 1-2, and if I skipped say #3 I would come back to it as soon as I finished all the other questions on those two pages. Then i would bubble and turn the page to move on. I hope this helps!

LSAT · Is it common to not finish maybe 2 or 3 questions on the LR on time?

victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

I agree with commenters above and I'd like to add that I was in a situation similar to yours when I first started taking pts. I think the best approach you can take depends on what your BR score is. If you consistently only miss a few in BR (i.e. no more than 1 or 2), timing might be your issue, if you miss more than that consistently you may need to review by question type/go back to cc and/or make a "scrapbook" of each question you miss and review and break them down carefully, look for patterns and watch all explanations. If timing is your issue, try shooting for getting through the first 10 questions quickly (or quicker) as you may be over thinking them, especially if the wordy stimuli trip you up as soon as you see that they are long. I used to get tripped up by them too and I found that if I was taking too long to just read through the stimulus, then that question was one I needed to skip and come back to. When I did that I found that the question with longer stimuli (especially the ones in the first 15) were typically easier for me once my nerves were gone. Hope this helps!

General · 162 PT, 173 BR -- help please!

victorialn880

Monday, Apr 29 2019

I would definitely stick to focusing on timed drills at this point, but work in exploring new strategies as you see fit. Just make sure the bulk of what you are doing is always timed. I had this same issue and if it's LR that's holding you back, you should try getting through the first 15 questions in 15 minutes and the first 20 at the 25 minute mark. The most important for me was 15 in 15 - it's ok if you go a little over at first, it just helps you become much more aware of the pace that works for you and allows you to get through the typically "easier" questions without overthinking them. If it's RC that's troubling you, I'd say pick up the LSAT Trainer and read the section to see if it helps you pin down a strategy that you can use consistently with each passage. And if it's LG, always take timed sections (not individual games) and foolproof them - I would do 2-3 a day when I found myself backsliding on LG progress.

General · Meditation and Mindfulness

victorialn880

Wednesday, Feb 27 2019

@ yes my bad, insight timer, hope you find it helpful :) thanks @

General · Meditation and Mindfulness

victorialn880

Wednesday, Feb 27 2019

Another free meditation app is inside timer. I tried calm and headspace but couldn't get into them and had a little more luck with inside timer after it was mentioned here on a different post. Meditation can really help with test day anxiety even if you haven't experienced it during prep.

LSAT · Reading Comprehension Scores Variable

victorialn880

Friday, Feb 22 2019

Try the Trainer. RC is a beast to master and it's hard for a lot of people. If other methods haven't worked for you, some people recommend picking up the Trainer and working with that. It helped me with RC - I never finished a section on time but I was finally able to after. Although take my advice with a grain of salt. I feel as if RC success is very personal and I only started finishing on time after doing countless passages, trying countless methods, trying the trainer, THEN creating a simple process that I could follow combining everything I had learned. Good luck!

LSAT · From 168 to 170s in six weeks?

victorialn880

Wednesday, Feb 20 2019

I did a ton of RC passages, dedicated a lot of time to practicing and reviewing them and frustratingly still got anywhere from -12 to -3 on a given timed section. I think RC success is very unique to the individual and does require a lot of practice like mentioned above. I literally read any discussion post on here about RC that I could get my hands on and tried to do what everyone recommended. In the end what worked for me was being consistent with a process that I came up with (after all this practice and reading the trainer). Redoing recent pts really helped me as well as making sure I was on top of my game with LG by doing 2-3 sections every day i studied. Good luck!

LSAT · How to Speed Up on RC Once Accuracy is Good

victorialn880

Wednesday, Feb 20 2019

I agree with @ about finding the answer in the question before looking at the answer choices. I would advise developing a process that you can rely on no matter what the passage is during the section. Mine was 1) Read passage (no marking) - don't rush but don't dawdle (you should try to think about what this means for you at this point in your studying)

2) quickly think about the main point of each paragraph - which will usually point to the main point of the passage

For questions:

read question

find answer in passage

read answer choices and loosely eliminate (if you're not sure it's wrong, don't cross it off - very crucial for me)

go back through AC's, choose and MOVE ON - this last part is what I had the most trouble with, but trust in the accuracy you know you can and have already been achieving

4a) if it's a tricky question still choose an answer and move on, but mark it to come back if you have time. I never had time during practice, but felt better doing this just in case, which allowed me to move on without regret

Hope this helps, good luck!

General · 17 point gain

victorialn880

Tuesday, Feb 19 2019

Congratulations!! :smile:

Admissions · LSAT Addendum...proof needed?

victorialn880

Sunday, Dec 16 2018

I agree with @ but I also heard from the assistant dean of admissions at Berkeley that providing proof is always preferred (like an unofficial report/ screenshot from college board or something). The more you can document, the more credible you'll seem is essentially how it came off

General · 172 from 152 Diagnostic

victorialn880

Monday, Dec 10 2018

Thank you! Also shout out to my study group @ and @ who I am extremely grateful for

General · Score Improvement for January

victorialn880

Monday, Dec 10 2018

I think it depends if you have any difficulty with fatigue on full pts, but otherwise I would recommend so. I saw the most imrpovement when I would focus on timed sections as opposed to pts but sometimes it can be hard to translate progress to a full pt. I'd recommend the typical1 pt per week but definitely adjust as you see fit

LSAT · Foolproofing LG Bundle twice?

victorialn880

Monday, Dec 10 2018

I agree with @ i did all of the LG sections 60-83 before sept then redid them all before november and I remembered way less than I thought I would. Once you do so many games they start to blur (except the really weird ones) so I'd recommend redoing the recent sections you already did but I'd suggest to practice by section instead of by individual games. Do excessively focus on foolproofing LG by section but I'm not sure you'd have to go back to the bundle in order to do so (I opted not to after I thought about the limited amount of time I had until november because like you I still wanted to work in sufficient pt work). Good luck!

General · Score Improvement for January

victorialn880

Monday, Dec 10 2018

I'd recommend foolproofing whole timed sections of LG (try to do a new one and an old one every time you study LG as opposed to doing a whole section over and over until you move on. Check out the trainer for RC (but leave this for last) and do a section of LR every day you study, getting down your timing and making note of why you missed the questions you did (of course check whether you consistently miss certain question types and drill those if necessary). Good luck, I'm sure you'll be able to improve by Jan!

General · 172 from 152 Diagnostic

victorialn880

Monday, Dec 10 2018

@ My study hours varied widely. I was pregnant when I started studying and had intense morning sickness when I started so I took my time through the cc and just studied at work when I could. Went slow into pts as well but a few months later when I stopped getting sick I would measure my study time more by sections and/pts. On pt days I would do 1 or 2 sections in the morning (started at 8) pt around 9/9:30, break, redo LG then blind review some. Days I wasn't doing a pt I would 2-3 timed sections with a redo of any LG sections and blind review of others. I didn't start consistently doing well at LG until after I foolproofed 1-35 AND had to take a week or so off to do 2-3 LG sections a day. With RC the trainer really saved me. it helped me focus more on establishing a consistent process that I had to use every RC section if I wanted to do well. I was still scoring -5 to -7 after this method but my goal was just to finish the section on time because i had only done so about 3 times in all of my prepping. I was able to finish with a few minutes to spare on test day which was a first for me. I think the mental game accounted for a huge part of my prep as well as figuring out strategies so I took plenty of breaks and never pushed myself when i was overwhelmed. Sporadic studying through out the day was key for me. If you want any more specific details feel free to message me or respond here!

General · 172 from 152 Diagnostic

victorialn880

Monday, Dec 10 2018

If I can be helpful in any way that'd be the best reward, thank you all for your kind words!

General

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Sunday, Dec 09 2018

victorialn880

172 from 152 Diagnostic

I will be eternally grateful for this site and this community. My initial diagnostic was a 152 and I started studying a few years later. I was lucky to have decided on 7sage after researching other prep companies and I couldn't have made a better decision. Started studying feb/March of this year and after a bad test center experience and a cancel in Sept I miraculously got a 172 in November. I had only managed 2 171s while studying and that was only on retakes. Otherwise I was scoring between163-166 but my BR scores were always above 170, usually in the 175+ range. My mindset played a huge role in my score the second time around, as I had through the roof anxiety in September along with a 2+ hour test delay that I did not see coming. I had a newborn at home during the November administration (I delivered on Oct. 30th) so I thought my stress about leaving him and leaving him enough milk was going to negatively affect my performance but I think it played the opposite role - it pushed the lsat out of my thoughts because there were more important things to worry about. I accepted that however I did during November it didn't matter, I was still applying and everything would be ok no matter what. This was thanks to advice that I read on this forum a few weeks before the exam to just do what you have to do, in the long run your score and the school you attend will fade into the background, what you make of your career is what's going to matter. Your best is all you can do - especially because I felt as if I was more prepared this time around, I didn't take many prep tests in the few weeks before November (for obvious reasons), but I was scoring in an ideal range during timed sections. I think the key was getting out of my own head, accepting where I was at progress wise when test day came around and just approaching sections like I'd done time and time again, relying on habit, not worry. Never give up on yourself no matter your previous scores or circumstances. I was so close to accepting sept. (Which would have been a score nowhere near 170) as my only chance since I thought it would be close to impossible to test with a near two week old baby. I'm so glad that I didn't.

General · How much can RC improve in 7 weeks

victorialn880

Saturday, Dec 08 2018

I've heard that Berkeley favors high GPA over a high lsat score and a 165 is really good, great job! This is a small sample size but I've met a few recent students at Berkeley with similar gpas and lower last scores than you, I think it sounds like you have a pretty good shot applying now especially with those softs (tough major, grad school). But if you do plan to retake, the trainer did wonders for me for RC if you haven't tried that yet. Best of luck!

General · How to overcome LSAT Panic/Anxiety

victorialn880

Sunday, Nov 18 2018

I agree with what @ said. Having a process or a baseline to rely on reallys helps. But if you've been scoring well consistently try taking a long time off before the test (a week or two maybe, with only a few section drills here and there to make sure your habits are solidified). I had a baby a few weeks ago so I did nothing LSAT related for about two weeks and did a few section drills yesterday and during this past week and I think this helped ease the intense anxiety I felt during the September test (which I've never experienced before). I think giving myself a break helped me to better rely on the habits that I've developed for each section as opposed to over thinking everything. My brain just went into autopilot and it was a huge anxiety killer for me.

General · Haven't received confirmation for Nov 17th accommodated testing - will I be able to take the test?

victorialn880

Tuesday, Nov 13 2018

Try emailing instead of calling. Not sure if this will work but I wasn't hearing back about my accommodation request so I sent LSAC an email and the next day I was all set up.

General · Neck pain - anybody else?

victorialn880

Monday, Nov 05 2018

I agree with @. Make sure the height between your desk and chair isn't making you hunch over more than you should (I have a longish torso and study in libraries so I always lower library desk chairs as low as possible and/or sit on higher desks).