Let me preface this by saying, I am a minority. The purpose of this is in reference to an article I read a couple days ago regarding affirmative action in higher education admissions (not trying to ruffle any political feathers...but if you want to read the article, I attached the link at the bottom).

As a minority, is it true that admission officers prefer certain sub-sects of minorities over others? For example, do they prefer Filipino applicants over Chinese applicants, or Mexican-Americans over Cuban-Americans (as referenced in the article)? And in the case of Asian minorities (hint: I'm Asian), does it help to specify what type of Asian you are, if it will indeed be preferred by the school?

From what I've been reading, it basically doesn't give you any advantage to say that you're simply Asian, but I'm wondering if it actually does help if you specify what type of Asian. Anyone have any experience with this?

Article: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450088/sessions-investigates-racial-discrimination-affirmative-action-college-admission

After being notified of your testing accommodation- Did you start practicing with your new time? I am interested in learning about how people with an accommodated time accounted for this during their prep before the LSAT.

Any feedback or comments are appreciated. Thank you!

I'm curious as to why there seems to be such a clearly delineated set of camps on the LSAT.

There is team LG - Who think LG are the best thing on earth. This is where we can consistently go -0 in 28min and feel confident in our answers. We pray we get LG as our experimental section because we love them so much. LR makes us cringe a bit, we might be okay at it, but we sure could use some improvement.

Then there is team LR - LR just comes naturally to them. Typically going -2 or less a section they blow through LR. Finishing early with time to review. They love everything about LR, no question type really throws them for a loop and they always feel confident in their answers. LG make them cringe a bit, they can get through the games but never with confidence and miss a fair chunk of points here.

I've been around these forms, Reddit and a couple of others and it seems people typically fall into one of these two camps. Very envious of the other.

I am team LG - the games come naturally to me, I love them and they are easy. LR on the other hand....how do you people do it?!

Which team are you?

Why do you think this is?

Someone please please tell me this is just an anomaly and that everything is going to be okay lol (seriously freaking out here)

I scored a 157 today on PT #69, my lowest score since the second week of May (when I started studying).

When I started studying I was consistently in the low 160s and now I have been consistently scoring in the mid 160s for the past month or so, and so I feel a bit blindsided by this score, especially because I felt confident about the LR sections and I got 16/25 on one and 20/25 on the other. I kind of knew I messed up on the LG section as I ran out of time (which hasn't happened in months). I feel like it may be because I've been super tired this week and I wrote the test after an 8 hour work shift, but it'd be nice to hear some reassurance!

Also, if this happened to you, any advice on where to go from here?

I am weak at disagree questions. I tend to miss these ones about 50% of the time. I find this weird because when it is agreement I ace it. Does anyone have a strategy for these kinds of questions other than making a Y/N chart to the side? How do you engage with the stimulus, what are you looking for in the AC, how can you tell what specifically they are disagreeing over?

I have an issue with B. The stimulus stated that an equal number of painters, sculptures and photographers entered, how then, can we conclude that the increased price had any impact on which art gets exhibited? since the overall submissions were equal for all three types of artists we cannot say that more painters and sculptors might have submitted works if their fee was lower.

Are we to assume that only rich but bad artists submitted photos and sculptors whilst, good photographers poor or rich can afford the $25 fee? nevertheless, and equal number submitted and they all met the traditional criteria and were all exhibited as result of.

this question confuses me.

Hi all. So I took pt 43 and got a 172 yesterday. Today I did blind review, and was up to a 176. Idk if it's technically blind review , I just took the test and redid it with more time and finished maybe around 4 hours along my start of the sopranos lol.

Now, I want to see which answers I switched over correctly and incorrectly and break them down into question type and practice those sections with some questions.

Is there anything you guys think I could do better here or is my process okay? And I'm really pleased with the 172 since it was my first actual PT since the June lsat and I'm doing a lot more untimed questions by section type and I think it's paying off. I'm aiming a PT a week whereas before I did like 4 PTs a week (very stupid as I've learned). but idk, I got in the 170s a couple times pting but didn't break 160 on the actual test. I basically did much lower than my PT average and I treated this studying like a full time job. Still do for September? So idk maybe I'm missing something and it was those beers all along. Jk. /rant

Thanks

Hey guys I have been stuck inbetween 156-158 for the past 2-3 weeks and need some advice about how to proceed with my studying and ultimately achieve my goal of a 160. I began the 7sage curriculum at the beginning of June and scored a 140 on the diagnostic. After the first month I made significant gains getting into the low 150s and then into the range I'm currently stuck in. I find that I struggle the most with LR particularly (SA/NA/descriptive weakening/flaw type) questions and for most of my wrong answer choices i always narrow it down to two answers (one of which is usually correct) but happen to choose the wrong one. In addition, with blind review I have reached160, however during the PT's I make some silly errors simply because I feel pressured due to the timer. So what Im wondering is if it would be more beneficial going over past exams and drilling questions i got wrong and fully understand what led me to the wrong answer and how to identify the correct answer or continue taking PT's? Because from now until Sept 16, 2017 when i write the exam all i have left are practice exams but i feel like I'm wasting my time because I scored almost the same on literally every PT in the past two and a half weeks and because I'm on PT52 of 72 for the package I've bought and my schedule created by 7sage requires i take at least 4 a week, which gives me no time to review. In other words, will it cost me on the actual exam if I don't take all these PTs?

Sort of irrelevant but I did book a one week trip next week to take my mind off things and relax, and i was wondering what sort of studying/review/PTs i should do there and how much time i should still allocate for LSAT prep. Finally, for the 5th section on the exam (essay) should i be practicing this and actually doing some from PTs, or since it doesn't account for my grade not worry about it.

I know I asked a lot of questions but I'd appreciate some advice/feedback.

Thanks!

Hey 7Sage,

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Unless your hope is a full-ride (do they give those anywhere?), how do you plan on paying for law school? Outside of taking a cue from Kim K's surrogate and getting paid $100K to grow a celebrity's baby in my stomach, I'm not sure how else to afford this other than dreaded loans. :-(

I have been studying for the LSAT for 4 months now and have been consistently getting 156-157, and have been working my way to 160. I took a PT on Sunday only to get a 152... and I am feeling extremely discouraged because of it. Any tips to help remove myself from this mindset?

Hey 7sagers,

I think it's time for me to ask for some LORS. I understand that most law schools require academic, but what does this actually mean? I have had mainly sessional professors and I did not have a lot of contact with them. I have four professors in mind right now.

One is a professor who I have had a close relationship with, however I did not receive in an A in the class. I am not sure if it is a good idea to ask her.

As for another professor, I have had him teach me one class but he did say that he would love to give me a reference letter. Nonetheless, I went to his officer hours, and I've met him outside of class for dinner with other students as well.

Recently, I took only one class and I did receive an A from the professor and he does know who I am but I did not have a lot of contact with him as he did not really respond to any student's emails. He didn't even attend office hours. Though, I do believe he would give me a good reference letter since he did like me as a student in his class. I did exceptionally well in the class.

Lastly, this professor taught me two classes where she was my TA for one class, and a professor for my other class. She knows me fairly well, however I have not had any contact with her ever since my last class (which was a semester or two ago). The class I had with her was super interactive so she does know me pretty well. Plus I did really well in her class!

Basically, I have done pretty well in their classes but I am not sure how to approach these professors and what LORS are really looking for. I have always been a student that sits in class, engages in the class, and gets A's but I haven't had A LOT of contact with my professors. I am basically a student who aims to do exceptionally well in classes but I didn't have a close relationship with my professors.. which I probably should have now that I am applying for law school.

Not sure how I should email them and what I should include in my email that I am sending to them.

Also, is it recommended to email the same reference letter across schools since some of them ask for only two whereas some ask for 3?

Sorry in my advance if I made this confusing to understand. Just a little stressed since applications are coming up!

I retook the RC from the June exam yesterday, and still missed 5 (on the actual exam I missed 7, wrecking my score). I've got to say, I am very confused about some of these questions, even upon review and under untimed conditions. Fair to say it's one of the hardest RC sections of all time? I had 2 RC sections on test day, and the experimental one was SO MUCH EASIER.

Is anyone who took the June exam willing to go back and forth about some of these questions?

As I'm currently fool proofing the games, I've been noticing that my neck is killing me. I'm guessing it's because my head is down and I'm focused and most likely a tense. If it gets bad enough, the pain literally will run down my arms. I've always struggled with back issues but it's always been centered in my low back. It surely does not help that I sit at a desk all day for work as well. Any suggestions from others with the same issue? Thanks!

Anyone have LR question stem flashcards?

So my last few PT's have been 168, 170, 173.

Obviously the random noise is evident here - days I felt good, days I felt bad etc.

My question is for those of you who went in with similar scores on test day, what were your methods to prevent the dreaded 3-4 point drop from PT to actual score. Obviously there is no 100% answer, but did you do anything to keep yourself calm and focused? What did you do to prevent yourself from slipping?

Did you do any sort of warm-up problems?

So I didn't do so well on this game because I played the children multiple times because it didn't say that they had to be played exactly once, so should we assume that they need to be played at least once unless stated otherwise? Thank you!!!

Here is a short story:

A man was walking through a circus. As the man walked passed the elephants, he stopped in confusion. The elephants were being held in place by a small rope tied to one back leg. No chains or cages. It was fairly obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. "Well," said the trainer, "when they are very young and much smaller, we used the same size rope to tie them, and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe that this rope can still hold them - so they never try to break free."

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Never give up on your dreams.

The LSAT is your rope - keep pulling, eventually it'll snap.

Any study groups in the Chicago area or anyone interested in starting a study group? Send me a message if interested. Thanks!

Hey guys,

I've been looking up 509 reports for schools I'm interested in, and I keep seeing where school report how much grant money their students are given. I know there are federal grants and private grants, and in undergrad I qualified for a federal pell grant based on my mom's income through the FAFSA. Does anyone know anything about how hard grants are to come by in law school? Especially federal need-based grants? And I should probably already know this, but do we have to fill out a FAFSA for law school? I think I read somewhere that we do, and even if we've been out on our own working, we still have to include our parent's financial info on the FAFSA. If anyone could shed some light on this that'd be great! Thanks.

Hi friends,

So I took the LSAT two years ago (October 2015) and scored pretty terribly. I had definitely underestimated the test, and foolishly thought that taking a two-week intensive course just a month before would set me up nicely. In the week counting down I was PTing at about 150 and for whatever reason, was content with this score. I ended up getting blown apart on test day, scoring a 145 officially. I was pretty devastated, and at that point realized that I needed to approach the test much more seriously than I had been.

In the end I got cold feet and didn't apply to any law schools, instead entering a Masters program. Law has always been my end game, and two years later, nearing the end of my Masters, I'm making a push to write again. I think I'm on pace to bring myself over the 160 hump if I stay at it -- PTed at 157 Sunday evening -- but am worried that in the end, my old score will deter schools from accepting me. I'm wondering if anyone is able to either provide me some assurance that there is yet hope, or otherwise, let me know if I've got the odds stacked against me. If it helps to gauge my chances, I'm from Canada, which I understand has much fewer schools and is thus very limited.

My GPA is solid (3.7), I have strong academic and professional references, and think I have some good soft creds with my Masters, sports involvement, and volunteering. How do you think I would fare with two scores of 145 and (hopefully) 160-165? Your insights would be very much appreciated!

AE

I'm currently at the point where my test scores range between 166-172 and I rarely miss more than two questions per reasoning section. However, my performance on the other sections is more volatile, particularly on games (-1 to -8). I studied intensively for about 1.5 months in preparation for the Dec 2016 test, which I cancelled. I then took roughly 8 months off before recently resuming studying for Sep. My improvement on games has been steady but slow and I still often run out of time on 2 or more questions. Can anyone offer some suggestions for study methods beyond the foolproof method? I drilled 20 dif games so far today but my performance started slipping by the 16th or 17th game...thanks!

Hey everyone,

I know i'm still studying like a mad-man for the LSAT, but I want to get my ducks in a row regardless of if i'm taking the September or December. As of today i've had four LOR offers from various people and I'm not quite sure who exactly I should take since I believe the typical amount is 3. I've heard four is overkill, but please correct me if i'm wrong!

Head of my major - I took his course and was the only person to receive an A in his class. I routinely went to office hours and he had me organize review groups before exams to help those who were struggling. I have a great relationship with him and he's even offered to proof my applications and personal statements.

Congressman - I am a summer intern for this Congressman who i've had a great experience with. There is a good handful of us who are interns, but I routinely get pulled to attend exclusive meetings/summits/interviews/roundtables/etc by him. I know the LOR would be a solid one, as he has told me himself that he would love to write one for me for law school.

Senator - I was a fall intern for this Senator who has remained in touch. This was another incredible experience from start to finish. She has well offered to write me a LOR due to the extra hours I always put in and flexibility in rather crazy situations. This woman threw me a surprise birthday party to put this into perspective.

PHD Professor - This professor was an amazing class with an even more amazing professor. She was incredibly kind, informative and helpful. She always took the time to send me detailed notes on my work and offered at the end of the semester to write a LOR for getting an A in her course. She's the youngest tenure professor in my major.

I've heard academic is always a better option but I feel all four would be excellent LORs that I'm lucky to have. What should I do? Who should I turn away? Should I take them all? I also still have two more semesters to get LORs if need be and I have a couple of tentative offers as well if you guys think these aren't a good fit.

Thank you so much!

So I've been trying to develop a circling method for BR/time saving.

The best thing I've come up with so far is one circle for questions I'm not a 100% sure on, two circles for questions I found the answer choices difficult, and three circles for questions I plain just don't understand. I tend to finish my sections with a bit of time 2-5 minutes so I'm hoping this can focus my spare time. Does anyone else use a similar method for which questions they address first?

Hello all,

Applied for LSAT accommodations around the end of July and still have not heard back from the LSAC. It will be 14 business days this Thursday, so they are still within their window, I was just curious, from those who have gone through this process before, is it common for them to take the full 14 business days to reply?