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I just got to this spot in the CC. I have a basic understanding of what is going on, but I am slow and I can tell this is a HUGE weak spot for me. What can I do to drill this into my head? I took the four quizzes in the CC and did poorly, I reviewed and watched the video explanations but I want to do more. How did you guys drill this into your heads?

For example:

Negation 4 w/ Answers, Question 3 (CC)

There is little variation in the ratio of energy output to body weight among animals.

My gut reactions was to say;

There is A LOT of variation in the ratio of energy output to body weight among animals.

The answer was;

There is anywhere from a moderate amount to a great amount of variation in the ratio of energy output to body weight among animals.

Moderate did not even cross my mind....

So where can I go to get a lot more practice on this, how can I drill this all into my head to the point where I spit out correct negations without hesitation?

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I wanted so badly to burn them, but those just getting started came to mind. Kim and Bible Trilogy 2016, like new, because I relied mostly on JY. I also have every preptest available, but they are obviously used. PM me if interested. Just trying to help a fellow grinder out. BTW, I got into my top choice with a half-scholly!

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When I first started out studying last year, I wasn't notating at all and I was only missing -2, -3 on a section. I was reading a lot of books before then, so I think I was able to intuitively connect paragraphs and recall the most significant pieces of information.

But as I got further into my studying and began notating based off the curriculum and part of Nicole's presentation, I noticed an immediate drop in my scores. This was right after I began notating. I continued with this method until today, when I got a -9 on a timed RC and -3 on BR. Right after that I drilled a new section with no notes at all and got -4 timed.

Notating just slowed down my read, clouded my interpretation and bogged me down in details rather than reading at a consistent pace with no breaks for underlining, circling, and writing down details on the side. This all slowed me down and caused me to break in the middle of sentences, in between sentences and in between paragraphs. Not only did it slow down my read, I wasn't able to fluidly read a passage and ascertain the content or the main purpose or structure.

Breaking at the end of the passage to solidify your understanding is helpful and writing that down might help sometimes, but maybe for some people notating just isn't a good idea. You might have to return to the passage a bit more, but the time saved during the read more than makes up for it.

If any of you have similar problems, don't feel bad about not notating because I guess it just doesn't work for some people.

Onward and upward.

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Hi, I've been studying for the LSAT for about 5 months in total now and I'm preparing to take the June test. I'm aiming for a 170 and I just took a preptest (PT44) and got a 160 timed score with a 172 BR score. I don't know what is going on with me during the timed test, but I feel like my fundamentals are fine at this point. I feel a little discouraged and would appreciate any suggestions! My score break down was RC -12, LR -12, LG -0. I feel like RC being the first section threw me off because I didn't do any warm-ups before taking the PT, but during BR, I was able to bring my RC down to -1 and LR down to -6. Should I just keep reviewing and taking PTs until test day?

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Hi, during the core curriculum, is it advised to time yourself on the practice sets given (i.e., the 5 questions per set in the LR section)? Or is it better to not time and focus on strategy and comprehension?

Thanks

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Due to the recent elimination of the 3 take limit, I have been considering the possibility of retaking. However, I'm not exactly sure where to start as I have already studied the LSATs for over 2 years, pretty much took all the exams and went through curriculum and have taken the exam three times. My highest fresh non-official takes were a 163 and a 166, but my highest official take was a 160. Starting from a 140 diagnostic, I do understand that I made substantial progress but I would at least like to be able to score closer to the higher end of my score band or perhaps score into the high 160s or low 170s. How should my study plan look like? RC I have been underperforming on test days because I tend to freeze up on hard passages. LR is an inconsistent section for me as well and I have trouble on those harder flaw questions that don't follow a cookiercutter flaw. FInally for LG, I tend to struggle with sections that have those medium level games that require you to brute force

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Took a very niave PT back in Dec. Scored a 153. Then decided to start 7sage two weeks ago (studying for Dec. 2017). Took June 2007 and scored an actual score of 160. Blind Review-ed even higher! I'm sure this is a fluke because I can't believe I saw this big of an improvement after just two weeks of the CC! Thanks - y'all are inspirational! What's your largest jump?

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I am a veteran, and I received 18 total credits for my time served. On my transcript they show up as "TR". They do count toward my undergrad degree, but obviously there is no GPA associated. They aren't from another school so I can't just ask someone for a transcript. I guess my question is, are these credits just not counted?

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Hi all,

(Background Info) I was originally going to sit for the June LSAT, allowing me (hopefully) ample time to perfect my applications to apply early cycle next fall. However, the semester and work got in the way and I did not want to sacrifice my grades to simply devote more time to studying LSAT when the LSAT can always be postponed. Thus, now taking in September. Being as that I plan to apply early cycle, can any fall LSAT takers share some advise on how they balanced both of these goals to crush the LSAT and also produce an awesome application? Please note that I work T-F 8-5 at a law firm as a legal assistant. FWIW, I have my past

Criminal Law professor that specifically offered to write me a LOR and am close with my Faculty Advisor who I plan to ask to write me a LOR. I also plan to ask one of the partners at the firm I work for to write me a LOR and have a great relationship with all of them.

Also, can someone please let me know if the following are considered medium/good/great softs? I am not sure how to accurately assess where I am on the soft scale.

  • 3.91 cumulative GPA, Note Taker for Students with Disabilities, Deans list all semesters, Academic Excellence Award 2016 (I think this will be replicated for 2017 as well), Secretary of Psi Chi Honors Society, Secretary of Interdisciplinary Research Counsel, Cal Water Scholarship Recipient, founder of pre-law program at my university, Church Volunteer regularly since 2011 (do law schools even care about this??), and have worked as a legal assistant at a Labor Law firm throughout all of undergrad.
  • Thank you in advance!! :)

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    I have an issue with the harder flaw reasoning questions. 99 times out of 100 i can point out the flaw. Hell i can make a stand up comedy routine about how stupid you are for coming up with your conclusion with the flawed reasoning in the stimulus. my issue is pinning down the abstract language that exists in the answer choices. I get them wrong like half the time. I am the Tom cat and the LSAT makers are Jerry mouse in this scenario. Im getting got way too often. 50 percent of the hard flaw questions i get wrong. And when i watch the explanations, my flaws are right, i just can't pin down the abstract language down. (random example. PT 41 section 3 question 20)

    Has anyone else struggled with this and how did you really get better at this? I of course do BR and mark down the questions and refer back to them. I just feel like theres an infinite amount of ways for them to be so convoluted and vague and subtle with the right answer. I have a positive attitude when i come up short on other questions but its hard to not get frustrated when i miss those questions specifically. Its like I'm getting beat by the same move and it huuuuurrtttss.

    I know i have to keep practicing. Im not taking the LSAT until September and i hover around the low to mid 160's on my PT's. sort of just wanted to vent on the forum, sort of want to see if this is a problem anyone else has and if theres hope and what they did to master this.

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    I've been scoring consistently in the high 160's and low 170's for a while now but my latest score on my last prep test was 160 and I took prep test 60 today and scored 155. I'm feeling pretty discouraged right now especially with the June LSAT coming up in a couple weeks. I'm finding the simplest of questions really hard and I have to reread the LR stimulus a couple times to understand it. My mind is cloudy and I can't concentrate fully on the exam. Would this be considered burn out? I would feel guilty taking time off for a couple days when it's so close to the test date. Any advice please?

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    I'm in the middle of PTing for the September LSAT. My target goal is 175. I'm currently in the upper 150s-mid 160s in terms of PTing. I also work full-time, so it's harder to get my PTs in on most days. I'm going to explain my strategy now and ask for some tips/feedback:

  • Wake up before work, take 1-2 timed section tests. Try to review the sections during my lunch break at work, and after work through the end of the day. Do this most days during the week. Rest on Fridays. PT on Saturday morning, review it all day on Sunday.
  • I try to work out at least 30 mins a day -- this is for both health reasons as well as because I think working out really tends to keep your mind sharp. I don't go to the gym or anything, I usually either do a fitnessblender 30 min at home video or I go on a jog (usually the latter).
  • What happens is that I usually end up exhausted. Ramadan is also coming up, so I'm worried about becoming even more tired with the fasting component. I most likely will not be working out during Ramadan.

    What do you guys think? What PTs should I focus on more? What resources should I tap into? Anything wrong with my method? What would you add/improve/take away? etc. I'm looking for any kind of feedback really. Is my target score feasible within that time? I'm aiming for T14 schools.

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    So during my first time studying for the LSAT, I took 2 PT's in preperation (64 and 66); both were about a year ago. Now that I'm slowly entering the PT phase, how inflated would my score be if I took them later on in the process? I never did a comprehensive review of them (I had no idea what I was doing lol) so I don't know how much I will remember them.

    Thoughts?

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    For my most recent PTs, I scored 159-167-159-167-157. I am frustrated at the huge fluctuations in my scores and starting to feel burnt out. I am planning to take the September test. I have studied for the LSAT with a full time job that usually takes around 45-60 hours depending on the week.

    I have been studying for the LSAT for around 1.5 years now, with a 3 month break in between moving overseas. I started at a 146 diagnostic, and finished the 7sage Curriculum around last July/August. Long story short, after moving overseas, I made the decision to take a Princeton Review course class on site hoping to review the fundamentals again and taking some PTs on site (not sure if this was a good decision...) During the several PTs I took at the Princeton Course, I realized my weakness was in Logic Games (-10) and LR (-8-10) and scored in a range of mid 50s.

    After taking the two month course, I started drilling Logic Games for several weeks with a Games Packet from PT1-35 organized by game type and difficulty (did around 3 copies each or more, watching 7sage videos for each). After finishing Games, I did a question type drilling for LR on my own using a similar LR packet I received during the course (1-35). I felt comfortable to move onto PTing after these drills.

    I took 16 PTs so far since late January starting with PT 44 and finished PT 61 today (I didn't start in late 30s because I had exposure to some late 30s during the Princeton course). With my work schedule, I did one timed PT on a weekend day and BRed throughout the week. By early March until late April, I pulled my score to a 160-163 range. Then this month, after scoring a 159, I had the fluctuation between 159-167. Ever since starting BE, my BR score has been in the 168-174 range. The reasons for my most recent drops to 159/157 have usually resulted from a drop in Games (-7 to -10, from my earlier ranges of -4 to -6 with sometimes -1,-2). My LR also fluctuates between -3 to -8. My 167s have been good luck with RC (-1), Games (-1/-2) and performing better than usual for LR (got -5/-2 compared to usual -5/-4 range). I might generally be scoring in the late 50s-early 60s range and just had good luck for the two 167s, but my BR scores have always been in the higher range. I BR all circled questions and am very diligent with the review.

    At this point, I'm scared of using up more 60 PTs before moving onto the 70s if I'm having fluctuations like this. It's difficult to explain how I feel about Games - I felt much more confident back when I first started PTing after doing the month drilling, and I feel like my confidence got worst each month maybe psychologically zoning out from scoring bad a couple of times on the Games. Besides Games, my LR is usually pretty consistent within the -4/-5 range although I sometimes bomb it with a -8 on a section. I sometimes end up spending 8-9 minutes double checking the first game in the section, although when I do during Br, I finish a game usually within the suggested time frame. RC score mostly is -4~-6, but I sometimes got a -8 with a bad PT. I also get very nervous under time pressure in general which sometimes contributes to these low scores, and on top of that, I think burn out from my job might be an issue too (especially this month)

    I'm not sure if I need to re-do the basic Game bundles again. I'm honestly not sure what I should be doing without doing any more PTs. I've tried doing 4-5 games for each game type from the Question Bank for the drilling, but not sure what would be best for game drilling and whether I should keep moving forward with the PTs after BRing or do some more basic Game/LR drills. Any advice on drilling and how to move forward with PTing (esp on whether I should re-do the basic PT 1-35 drills or focus on re-doing the PT 44-61 etc) would be helpful. Anything in all on how to close gap in actual/BR and work-studying balancing etc would be appreciated too.

    Thank you!

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    Any thoughts or input on the best way to bubble? After every question, after every page, or after every two-page spread, or any others? I've tested out those three methods so far but so far none of them seem to be substantially better than the rest, because there seem to be different pros and cons for each.

    I've also skimmed through the past discussions, but still can't make up my mind about it.

    Also, my two cents: -after every question- feels ever so slightly less stressful, but -after every two-page spread- doesn't break rhythm/pace as much.

    Thoughts? Thanks!

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    In the PT 50s I was solid -4/-5 on RC. On LR I was missing more than 6 per section.

    I am wrapping up the 60s and I am now solid -2 to -4 on LR.

    BUT NOW I AM -7/-8 on RC!!!

    LG is stable ranging from -3 to -5.

    If I can get my RC back to -4/-5, I will be able to score in the 166-168 range which is my goal.

    Right now I've dropped to 163-165 :( Very Very Very down and disappointed...

    Any suggestions on how to improve RC in the final stretch before the June LSAT?

    Also, 7sage and LSAT Trainer strategies actually made me a worse RC test taker. I do much better when I stop over-thinking/analyzing and just read slowly and carefully while visualizing the passages. This can take 3-4 minutes for the passage but I do much better. Annotating via 7sage and LSAT Trainer suggestions just slows me down and ruins my flow. I am going to try the rest of the tests with my original strategy and ditch what I have learned. Anyone else have experience with this?

    Thank you in advance!

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    I've taken a lot of the older PT's (around 25 of them) and have taken PT 70 and 71. I am only 4 points away from my target score (160) and need some advice. I have PT 72-80 remaining and want to make use of them before the June test. I have 23 days left. How should I split up the PT's so I can properly BR?

    I got a 155 on PT 71 and am studying around 8-10 hours a day. I know burnout is possible but i'm seeing improvement and need to get to my target score before June. I know I'll do it, but I also wanted to ask what my chances are of actually hitting a 160 on PT.

    Thanks

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    Fellow 7sagers,

    I took LSAT in 2015 and scored 166. I decided not to apply that year because of some personal reasons. I am taking the test in September and will apply this cycle.

    I am slowly going through CC right now (my school is on the quarter system) and getting most of the difficult LR problems right (I sometimes miss 1 out 5 on those level 5 questions).

    I wonder how people blend in other LR materials (Manhattan LR and Trainer [I read older versions while preparing for the first time]). Do you read MLR and Trainer while going through CC?

    Ideas and tips are highly appreciated!

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