Hey 7Sagers, I'm leading BR calls for PT 81 (June 2017 LSAT).

I'm holding 12 sessions total. 4 for each of LR 1, LR 2, and RC. Each session will focus on only one section of PT 81.

All sessions will start at 7:30p ET and end at 9:30p.

Multiple sessions are meant to accomodate people's various schedules and to reduce class size per session.

What happens in these sessions?

I'll ask students to state which questions were circled for BR. We'll work through the questions the group nominates. I generally try to ask students questions to elicit the right response. Please wear headphones and try to be in a quiet place.

How should I prepare?

Take PT 81 and have the questions you'd like to BR ready. The first thing I'll ask everyone is which questions they'd like to BR.

Next Session

9/6 Wednesday - Section 1 - RC, Passages 3 and 4

7:30p - 9:30p ET

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/886067949

You can also dial in using your phone.

United States: +1 (646) 749-3112

Access Code: 886-067-949

Joining from a video-conferencing room or system?

Dial: 67.217.95.2##886067949

Cisco devices: 886067949@67.217.95.2

First GoToMeeting? Try a test session: https://care.citrixonline.com/g2m/getready

Future Sessions

Obtaining PT 81

If you have an Ultimate+ account, you will be able to view and print PT 81 under the Syllabus. You can also purchase PT 81 as an add-on to your existing course here.

Alternatively, you can purchase the paper copy of LSAT PT 81 on Amazon here.

Past Sessions

8/26 Saturday - Section 2 - LR

8/27 Sunday - Section 3 - LR

8/28 Monday - Section 1 - RC, Passages 1 and 2

8/29 Tuesday - Section 2 - LR

8/30 Wednesday - Section 3 - LR

8/31 Thursday - Section 1 - RC, Passages 3 and 4

9/1 Friday - Section 2 - LR

9/2 Saturday - Section 3 - LR

9/3 Sunday - Section 1 - RC, Passages 1 and 2

9/4 Monday - Section 2 - LR

9/5 Tuesday - Section 3 - LR

So, here goes:

I graduated a little over 6 years ago and when I think about professors I could get strong LORs from, only one really comes to mind, the professor whom I did my senior thesis under. I had a good working relationship with this professor and ended up producing a pretty good thesis, however I did complete the work late and thus was marked down a grade.

As for professional references, I volunteered at a district court clerk's office and I've been working in the field of legal advocacy assisting victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, etc for the last 3 years, which included working at a city prosecutor's office for a year and a community based agency for the last 2 years doing more civil work. During that time through the work I've done on various task forces, community groups, and just generally collaborating and networking with our community partners, I've gained a lot of potential professional LOR possibilities from attorneys, prosecutors, agency directors, clerks, a chief of police, etc.

So I guess my point is, I've seen a lot of people saying education LORs are everything and professional LORs barely count for anything. My problem is that I have a lot more opportunity on the professional side.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I totally screwed if I can't pad my application with outstanding undergrad LORs?

What are good skipping strategies for questions on Logic Games and Reading Comp? Unlike LR, LG and RC sections require a certain investment in either a game or a passage so there's a kind of loss when you skip and come back at the very end to address those questions which are entirely dependent on a game or passage.

Also, is there a cutoff time or something else that goes into your determination for skipping on LG and RC?

Hey all!

I've started PTesting for about a month and a half now after going through the core curriculum. My average PT score is a 169 with lows at 166-167 and highs at 170-173.

After each test, I spend about 2h for BR and I noticed a pattern. Usually, when I score above 169, I am able to BR well and gain about 3-4 LSAT points after BR. However, when I score in my lower range I only am able to get an extra point during BR. I am mostly able to get 0 to -2 in LG so I'd say the BR is more about RC and LR.

I don't really know what to make of this... has anyone experienced the same thing? How were you able to increase your BR score and spot your mistakes?

Thanks so much!!

Can someone expand and maybe give an example of the AC "offering an alternate explanation of the correlation cited"

When you guys take 5 section PrepTests, how do you simulate an experimental section? I've just been putting in a section from an older exam, but because I'm the one inputting it it is easy to just disregard the section.

How do you guys simulate not knowing which section is the experimental section? Is there a way to do it?

Hi guys,

I'm sure the answer to this question is pretty simple (just wake up earlier regularly) but I'm very much a night person and even after a month of waking up at 6am trying to force myself to be mentally active earlier in the day, I still can't write a PT until 11 or noon at the earliest. I just wrote the June 2017 exam and am retaking (set to rewrite in December), but I'm seriously considering deferring law school an entire year to be able to write in June again for the sake of time. Is this extreme?? Should I just wait it out and see if I can adjust??

I should also mention I was PTing in the 166-172 range before getting a 158 (mostly due to test anxiety). So I feel like more time could be beneficial for the sake of my score anyway?

Any advice from reformed night people would be appreciated!

Good morning 7Sage,

As a few of you already know this weekend I gave myself a reality check. Obviously a few weeks out from test day is NOT the best time to realize you just aren't where you want to be, but that's where I am at. So I need some advice from you wonderful people. Before I ask, I need to make it clear; Postponement of the exam is not an option. I will sit for the Sept 16th exam.

So this weekend I woke up and really thought about where I am with this test. Not just my score range, but what I have done to improve, what my weaknesses are etc. I was not happy with what I realized. So I'm going to lay out how I feel, and where I am and I'd like some suggestions about what to do between now and September.

1.) I have not touched RC. Like really, haven't looked at the CC and have just glanced through the Power Score book but have put no work into this section. I know the general consensus is to read for structure, make note of what the paragraphs say and so on but I personally have spent next to no time on this section of the test. My sections range from -4 to -8 and obviously these are points that are costing me that higher score. As of now I just wing it, read and answer questions. I know I need to figure RC out, but I'm not sure where to start.

2.) I do not use a skipping strategy in LR. People like @"Alex Divine" @"Cant Get Right" and a few others have been stressing to me how important this is. I am stubborn though, and can't let go of a question until I have an answer. Up until this point, I do not utilize any form of a skipping strategy on LR. I typically go -2 to -5 on a section in LR. On any given test I go around -8 total. Obviously again this needs work. I'm not sure if a skipping strategy will work for me. I've tried before and it causes mass panic. It's something I'm considering however.

3.) RRE, MSS, Weaken and Flaw. On the modern test I just suck at these kinds of questions. The answers no longer seem as obvious to me and I find it really easy to justify the wrong answers. These question types are killing my score on the more modern tests but my brain doesn't want to adjust the way it sees them. I'm not sure how to go about looking at these questions any more. I looked back at the CC and felt confident but that doesn't translate into the PT. Especially if the PT is 60+

Those are my main three issues I am currently grappling with. It may sound like I'm not ready to test, and in reality that might be true. My average PT score right now is a 169, it's not where I want it to be. However, for reason out of my control, I have to test in September. Any advice would be awesome guys, thanks.

Does anyone have a list of the hardest and most unique games that they have encountered?

Today signifies the 1 year marker since i started on my LSAT journey.

Stay strong, ma peeps!!

Looking forward to sharing in everyone's success come September!!

Hey all - last four prep tests (67-69,76) I've sat on a 168. It's always been different range, LR -3 to -7 total, games -1 to -3, and RC -4 to -8 (definitely my worst section). I am taking the Sept. test, and I'm wondering what those of you in a similar boat as me plan to do to continue getting better. Background: I started studying in June using the LSAT trainer, haven't used anything else except prep tests 40-60 or so.

Thanks all!

Side note, thank you 7sage for this forum! Makes me feel like there are others maniacally trying the kill this test like me!

I have been studying for the LSAT for less than one year and would like to further improve on LR. I have read that many people have learned to identify each question type and apply unique strategies for tackling that particular question type. Currently, I am not employing this method and I am unsure if I will see great results if I learned this technique. If necessary I have no issue putting the time and work in to learning this method, but I am unsure how helpful it will be. If you have used this method, has it had a positive impact for you? Do you believe that learning this method is necessary in order to perform well on LR?

I have recently spent a ton of time perfecting flaw questions and I have improved immensely on them. For most questions, I can adequately predict, articulate, and attract out the flaw into an AC. For some odd reason though, all of this work on flaw questions has drastically made my NA accuracy and also my understanding of them, decease. This is a bit alarming, as I have done a tremendous amount of them already.

At the moment, I just feel lost when I am answering a NA question type. I went back through the CC and refreshed my knowledge on blocking and bridging types. But even after this, I almost never can guess the nessesary assumption, regardless of the difficulty.

I can very much see how NA and flaw are related. Because of this, I was wondering if anyone who does well on NAs treats them like a flaw question when it comes to identifying the gap. But then the difference between the two would happen in the answer choices. I.E.- flaw (describe the flaw) and NA (go a bit more concrete and bridge the flaw into the argument or block the cantropositive of it).

I made this post specifically because, although NA questions aren't necessarily new to me, I feel as if there is a tiny wall that is preventing me from this "ah ha" moment and I just don't see it yet.

Any advice on how to view a NA question type would be great. Thanks!

Hi,

I've found a post that lists PT sections with live commentary videos but I am looking for real time videos where 7sage students (Leia, Natalie, etc) solve logic games.

Does anyone have a list for such videos? Thanks!

@"Dillon A. Wright" Also, I think the live commentary videos for 59.1.Game 4 are not working; the first video shows the message "video file not found" and the 2nd one stops in the middle of the video (@05:41)

I'm planning on taking the test in September. I already did all the core curriculum. I have also gone back and review sections where I need help. But, I am not improving very much. I am scoring147-152 on timed PT. During blind review 160, which is around the score I want. During my reviews things make sense to me, but once I am taking a PT test, I feel everything I know goes out the window. I know I don't know everything, but most of the time I just make stupid mistakes. So, does anybody have any tips as of how I can study in a way I can see improvement. I feel what I have being doing in the past its just not helping, since my score is not improving!!!

Im talking about intensive review. How do you guys tear apart an RC passage?

Hello! Thanks in advance for reading :)

I'm taking the December 2017 LSAT. I've been enrolled in an LSAT course with Blueprint since mid June and it ends mid September. I was planning on enrolling in a 7sage course after the Blueprint course ends and using that to bring my score up until December. I'm stuck at a 152 practice test score right now though, and after doing a bit of reading I'm worried that my goal of reaching at least a 170 by December is too optimistic. Is it possible?

I've completely lost my motivation in the past few weeks though which hasn't helped, and the last three practice tests I took were basically the same score. I started off studying for the LSAT pretty optimistic and I think that's why I had a 9 point increase within my first month of studying. But now that I've lost my motivation I haven't improved at all in almost a month and studying keeps feeling pointless, like I'm not improving or learning anything anymore. I keep making the same mistakes for some reason and it's really disheartening. We've finished the Blueprint curriculum and learned all of the strategies for every question at this point, but knowing everything now has also made me more confused, if thats possible. Every practice test I feel overwhelmed by all the strategies we learned and I end up taking too long to answer questions to sift through the information in my head or I'll mix up the strategies for the question types. I'm also an extremely slow test taker and have only gotten probably 1 or 2 more questions answered per section since my first practice test.

I won't be taking the LSAT in December if I can't get to 170-175 in my practice tests by then. Which means I'd have to delay taking the LSAT till February and apply to the next cycle, which means I wouldn't start law school until Fall 2019....this is the worst case scenario for me. I really would like to be starting law school by Fall 2018. I have really high expectations for myself getting into a good school though, which is why I would delay myself a cycle if it meant I could get into USC or NYU or something...

I'm starting to feel very overwhelmed and burnt out and I think that may also be why my score hasn't increased. My overwhelming stress has almost been like a barrier to my score. How have you dealt with burnout and/or loss of motivation? Any advice on how I can re-energize myself and start to make point gains again? (Thought I'd point out that I have been employing the BR method recently, but maybe I haven't done it enough since I haven't seen much gains from that yet). Also, which 7sage course would you recommend? I'm between the Ultimate and the Premium. If I'm not going to be using it for more than 6 months, is there a point to paying $200 more to get the Ultimate?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

Sarah

I heard JY mention that there are 8 types of game boards. Is there a place where that is described in a consolidated manner in the syllabus?

I'm not using the modern tests yet but I just encountered my first Eval question on PT 36. Do these QTs appear more or less often on modern tests? They don't seem to be covered in the cc.

Today has been a pretty active day on the 7Sage forms. Trust me I know, this place is a damn obsession for me. We need to all stop for a minute and breath.

With the September test a couple of weeks away, everyone can feel the pressure starting to crush down on them. We have a few weeks of study left, scores are fluctuating, sections are biting us in the ass and it's filling our heads with "what ifs?" And "should I's?"

Don't panic. We've been at this for weeks, months, and even years. We KNOW what this test is asking of us. We KNOW that we have good days and bad days. We know a lot.

Come September 16th, we will sit down to take a 5 section LSAT. That test will include;

• At least two LR sections. Each section will have NA, SA, Flaw, RRE, MBT, Para Reasoning, MC,Disagee/Agree, argument part and a few others. WE KNOW THIS. You know how to approach the questions, you've done it hundreds of times before. Chin-up, focus, and charge in.

•At least one LG section. There will be 4 games. We've done tons of them before. The game board is key, understanding rules is important and inferences are what the questions ask about. Look at game pieces, see how they interact, spend the time upfront. You've done it a hundred times before. Even an odd game is doable, you just need to know what is being asked. You KNOW how to do Lg.

•At least one RC. You know what, to hell with the notion that "modern tests RC is hell". Do you want to psych yourself out? Instead take it one passage at a time. Engage with the passage, and be an active reader. Familiarize yourself with structure. Be proactive in how you read. Anticipate questions, identify attitudes and be willing to adapt. Eliminate answers that are wrong, and the right will eventually show up. We KNOW that there are 4 passages and we KNOW that one will be on a subject we probably don't care about. So make yourself care, don't get caught up in stress on how hard it is. We KNOW what RC looks like.

•One experimental section from the list above. Like I've said, we KNOW what to expect from each section. We have done it over and over and over again. Focus on the questions, the assumptions, the argument structure, the inferences, the passage layout, the authors attitude. Do NOT focus on how hard the test is.

You've got this people. You've done it before, you'll do it again and then you'll do it in September. Review your fundamentals, address your worry spots, but remember the LSAT is a standardized test, it can not change THAT much. You are capable, you can do it, prove it to yourself.

And remember, this is just a test. It doesn't define you.

Hey guys,

i'm using the cambridge drills to practice SA questions, I'm wondering if someone has access to them and could help me out? It's question 15 and question 16. They are from prep test 2 S2 Q17, and PT 3 S2 Q12.

Cannot for the life of me understand what I did wrong. Not sure what the rules are with writing out problems that aren't posted in 7sage, but if someone has these drills, could you DM me? (or post the explanation here, if that's allowed)?

Thanks!

Hi All,

Does anyone have suggestions for external sources for logic puzzles? I've been noticing on the newer tests that the unfamiliar games are seriously tripping me up.

I usually am paralyzed by them during the test; however, immediately after I finish the test, I will take a fresh look at it and be able to solve it with little, if any, issue. I know a lot of this is psychological, so I want to get as familiar as possible with new logic games and become comfortable with thinking on the spot. Every logic book I looked at does not even sort of reflect the type of scenarios I see on the LSAT. The puzzles don't have to simulate the LSAT questions exactly, but I would like become familiar with unusual puzzles that are at least somewhat relevant to the newer games. My research has led me to the conclusion that there are not many resources out there for this.

Has anyone come across anything that might be helpful OR does anyone have any other suggestions for fixing my logic game paralysis problem?

Thanks!

** Edit: This test was not blind reviewed before I graded.

Ok guys, so today was the big day.

I took my first timed PT as vowed to do to determine if I would going to test in September or December. To give an idea of my place in the CC I finished LR and LG and had just started RC. I wanted to be done with the CC but essentially life happened. Hospital, car problems, family, you name it - it happened.

So my final score is: 158

Lg - 4

LR - 8

RC - 11

LR - 5

The first LR I knew was going to be worst because I was all flustere. I also knew RC was going to be exactly that lol.

I wanted to crack 160 but that was with the idea that I would've been done with the RC CC. I have NO idea what to do. Should I post pone?

This may just be me, so take it for what it is worth, but I think changing the LG foolproof bundle to include all LG games from 60s and 70s would be perhaps more useful that games from 20s and 30s. I mean they are ALL good practice, but I think the 60s and 70s (and 80s) games are more reflective of current games and are the best ones to foolproof. The "minus or add a rule" that was common on earlier games doesn't ever show up in the 60s and after. The substitution question (which has been a bitch for me to get the hang of) shows up on nearly every test from the 60s on and will likely show up on the next test. I wish I'd spent my foolproofing time on the substitution questions rather than the minus or add rule, the latter which will probably be irrelevant on the next test.

Just saying for me I think foolproofing later games is potentially more valuable (particularly 60s onward). I think there are some great weird games in the early tests worth doing, but also some that seem pretty unrepresentative of current tests. So I think doing early games is a great idea, but I think focusing foolproofing on later games is smarter.

Any thoughts?

So i just did my first cold diagnostic, and got a 145.... exact numbers are -9 on LG (very rushed but answered all), -17 on 1 LR (Took my time and answered B just to fill in the last 8 questions and missed them all), -13 on another LR (realized i needed to speed up and still answered B on the last 5 just to fill something in), and -12 on RC (Took to much time and didn't finish the last 6 and filled in B and missed them all, plus rushed the 3rd passage trying to get to the 4th). Its my first time ever even looking at the LSAT outside of some pretty generic explanations. I was expecting a lower score but am still pretty discouraged. Timing was AWEFUL, reasoning was clouded because my timing was AWFUL, i had no idea on some questions. lol it was a pretty big crash and burn. LOTS more red on my answer sheet than black. Anyway, i guess i just had to vent and ask if anyone was or is in this same boat. Also wanted to ask advice from any of you in your experiences.