Hi 7Sagers!

You know what helps you do well on the LSAT? Meditation.

You know what helps you live a good life? Also, meditation.

Lucky for you, I have two codes for 1 free month of Headspace. I'll send it to the first two people who want it.

How did I get these codes? By meditating, a lot using Headspace. :)

Who do you send these to and how do you send them out now? Email or via direct mail?

Good morning everyone,

I hope everyone has a great day at work/studying! Quick question... In the fool proof method for logic games, are we supposed to be targeting to finish the game in the designated time for that game, or in the standard time to finish a logic game at 8:45?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I've only come across this type of flaw a few times, but I'd like to understand the structure behind it. The explanation and example offered in the curriculum are not very clear. Is this similar to an is vs. ought flaw? Can someone offer an additional example?

https://classic.7sage.com/lesson/19-common-argument-flaws/

I understand why A, B, C and E are wrong, but I am not quite convinced that D is the right answer either.

I would think that if a nation that seeks deterrence and has unsurpassed military power as stated in (D), it would not be the interest of that nation to let the potential aggressors become aware of its actual power of retaliatory attack which is not that great (since they have unsurpassed military power). They would rather want to make the aggressors not know of their actual unsurpassed retaliatory power but make the aggressors believe they have higher capacity than their actual military power, so that the aggressors would believe it could not defend itself against that retaliation.

PT Break this week! (Wednesday and Saturday)

But before you start

too much though, check out the forum posts and

Don't miss out on some of the webinars and reviews happening this week:

https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/10522/webinars-reading-comprehension-one-week-three-webinars

The Study Group Schedule

And if you’d like to see the full schedule for upcoming sessions, here it is:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=aWw1aWEzYTRkbWdoaDZsa3U3YjBsaDBlZDBAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ

Hi all!

I was wondering why answer choice C in question 27 was incorrect. Here, the word irony describes Tollefson's conclusion, which I thought was spot on.

Tollefson suggests major changes in the programs, yet he understands the complicated bureaucratic nature of the programs that may stifle such changes from happening. So to my understanding, there is a sense of irony in Tollefson's conclusion.

J.Y. explains that it is not ironic because the author agrees with Tollefson's conclusion and just wants better solutions. J.Y. further explains that had the author disagreed with Tollefson, it would be pointing out something ironic. However, why can't the author point out an irony while agreeing with Tollefson's conclusion? I can't quite understand why "a stance of agreeing or disagreeing with the author" affects "a method of pinpointing a drawback of an argument."

Can anyone explain why this answer choice is incorrect? Thanks in advance!

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-21-section-4-passage-4-questions/

Percent of grads in 100 largest law firms

.

I came across this gem of a video today from TedX talk. I find it really relevant to a lot of questions that I have had and that people keep bringing up -why is my hard work in studying for LSAT not translating into a better score? I think this video does a good job of answering these questions and giving tips from research. I hope you all find it as useful as I did : ) (3(/p)

Some tips that I learned that I think have been around for a while but now I feel like are backed up by evidence:

1). Be disciplined. High scorers don't necessarily have high IQ's they are just more disciplined and focused. So cut distractions in your life and form good habits. (3

- When you make time tables, don't forget to schedule in something you love everyday. It's a lot more easier to study when you don't feel like you are miserable. So have a balanced life.(/p)

2). Take a lot of practice test and let your practice test score be a determinant on how you are going to do on the real test. This means do the test exactly as it would be real time and don't think that on test day you will score a lot better. It can happen but its not likely. The best preparation is to use these tests as a guide.

3). Don't just work hard -work hard by doing the right things. If you are not scoring well, figure out the technique that you are doing wrong and work hard to improve that instead. Working hard and just taking a lot of PT's or watching videos is not going to pay high dividends in terms of score unless its combined with really figuring out our issues and work on it. The example of Michael Jordan was really illuminating. If you shoot a ball in the hoop with the wrong technique 1000 times, that just means that now you really know how to shoot that ball with the wrong technique.

4). Don't let other people tell you that IQ is going to be a determinate in how you score. That's not something we can control and that's not a trend that's found across high scorer's.

Good Luck! and Happy Studying (3(/p)

By now, I am sure you have all seen the leaked rankings. Obviously Berkley and Georgetown make the headlines but you have schools like Rutgers jumping 30 spots. What do you think caused so much movement this year? Do you really think that certain schools have made either drastic improvements or have drastically fallen back in the span of a year?

Hey everybody!

I wanted to share my 18-point increase story with you all and outline how I did it while working full time. I started studying for the December 2016 LSAT in late July on very short notice. My wife is in graduate school in a very remote part of Missouri and the only job I could find was 1.5 hours away at an agricultural law firm. I’ve worked a full eight-hour day every day since August 1st and only studied for a little over a week before starting my job, so it’s pretty much been a constant balancing act.

I’m not anything special. I have a very average intelligence level. My diagnostic PT was a 145. I had to work my tail off for the score I got, and the score I got reflects my best effort over six months of, on average, four or five hours of studying a day (minus Fridays). That’s what I have to work with and it reflects my absolute best effort. Sure, I’d love it if I was naturally smart enough to get a 170 with ease, but at the end of the day the most fulfilling part of this entire process is the knowledge that I gave it everything.

I was blessed to have the amazing advice and wisdom of Sage Daniel (@danielznelson) throughout my prep process. If he was able to take every single 7sager in the world as his personal pupil, I would make it mandatory. As it turns out, he went to middle school and high school with my wife and came to our wedding, so we had a connection to begin with. If you are stuck at any point of your prep and need to break through a plateau, get in touch with Daniel and let him help you. It’ll be the best thing you could ever do for your LSAT score.

My daily schedule was the same throughout my entire LSAT experience. I would wake up at 6, study from about 6:30 – 8:00am, get ready for work and go to work from 9 – 5, then either work out and study till 11pm or go home and study until 10:30 or 11pm. Some days I would also go to the library until 10 or 11pm if I wanted a change of scenery. I would also utilize any spare moment I had at work (down time, lunch breaks, etc) to do a few extra logic games, complete an RC passage or two, or peruse the 7sage discussion forums. On slow days at work, I would sometimes get in an extra two hours of studying this way.

The way to beat the LSAT is to become obsessed with it. Steve at lsatblogspot.com has a great document of 101 tips for the LSAT from pupils of his that improved ridiculous amounts (like 140 to 170), and the biggest take-away from that list is that the people who conquer the test are the people who make it their life. I did that, and it paid off, especially near the end of my prep. If you really want it, you have to mold your entire life around the test. For instance, I decreased my frequency of working out, started timing my morning chai tea so that I would be most awake around the time I knew the LSAT would start, started some basic meditation that I would do before each section, made sure that I was always putting in focused study time on weekends from 8am to 1pm, and much more. I made a binder, divided into sections for Games, LR, and RC, and filled it with notes, reminders, tips, and tricks that I learned from the LSAT Trainer, the 7sage curriculum, my conversations with Daniel, and my personal discoveries as I studied. I’ve condensed that binder into a bullet point list that is at the bottom of this post that covers the most important things I learned for each section.

Now for the actual study schedule. I broke my studying down into two phases – an understanding phase and a preparation phase. Since I had just over four months to get ready for the December LSAT, I spent the first two months learning the test and second two months taking practice tests and working on my weaknesses. Do not start taking practice tests until you have a broad, functional, relatively comprehensive knowledge of the test. Knowing how the LSAT works and what it will try to do to you is half the battle. To that end, spend the first half of your prep (or at least two months) just learning the test. Read the LSAT Trainer, go through the entire 7sage curriculum and take religious notes, answer questions on the 7sage forums, read the Powerscore bibles (but only to do the problems and get extra practice – I wouldn’t recommend their games-tackling methods, for instance), subscribe to Steve from lsatblogspot.com’s weekly LSAT emails, do the free logic games at Cambridge LSAT’s website, read papers on formal logic, do at least 4 logic games a day and watch JY’s videos for them, read a book or two to keep your reading skills sharp, get used to reading RC passages quickly, choose a few LR sections a day from the early PT’s to do untimed, etc. I used predominantly the prep tests from 1 – 39 for this part of my prep, which lasted from late July until mid-September. This approach paid off bigtime for me. I was shooting for a 160 on the December LSAT, and when I took my first PT in late September after doing nothing but learning the test for two months, I hit a 160.

Then comes the preparation part of the process. This entailed starting with 1 PT per week on Saturday mornings for two weeks, then doing 2 PT’s a week until two weeks out from the LSAT. I understand this might change for some of you depending on your timeline. I started with PT 67 and worked my way up through PT 77 a week and a half before the LSAT. The weekend before the LSAT I took a retake so that I could build confidence. For me, I took my PT’s on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings (Fridays were my off day – make sure you have an off day every week! It’s important for mental health). In the days between your PT’s, your focus should be identifying your weaknesses and drilling them to find ways to improve.

I want to add a little bit of my personal experience here to explain what I really mean by drilling your weaknesses. This is where your obsession has to change focus but increase in its intensity. After every PT, I would go through the 7sage analytics. This gives you a good idea of where your weaknesses are. However, I would also do my own set of analytics, and this is where you can really break down your weaknesses. For me, Flaw, NA, and MSS were my original weaknesses. Up through the December test, I would count how many of each I got wrong and drill them over and over. This worked to some extent, as I was able to achieve a 163 on the December test, tying my previous best PT score. However, it was in prepping for the February LSAT that I discovered what it really takes to conquer your weaknesses. You have to get much more in-depth with your analysis. Ask yourself, “Why did I get this wrong? Was the issue in the stimulus or the answer choices?” For me, it was the answer choices. “Did I not reading the answer choices carefully enough? Did I not understanding how the answer choice impacts the argument? Or was the issue in my lack of scrutiny? Did I not think carefully enough through whether or not the stimulus actually says what the answer choices says it does?” In short, you have to get down to this level of nitty gritty in order to truly understand your weaknesses. I realized after several PT’s that I wasn’t fully understanding what certain AC’s were doing to the argument. This was especially troublesome on Strengthen and Weaken questions. Only by getting to this level of understanding will you know your weaknesses.

That’s how you understand them. Now, the way to conquer them is to write out explanations for why each and every answer choice on a troublesome question is right or wrong. I did this for LR and RC and can honestly say it was the single most beneficial technique I ever used for increasing my LSAT capabilities. I wish I had started doing it earlier, so if you are in the later stages of your prep, start doing it today! Write your explanations out by hand, and then, if the question is really hard, type a full explanation. In my opinion, this is the key to breaking through that huge mid-160’s plateau that so many of us struggle to get out of. A week after implementing this habit, I rocketed to a 167. I’m telling you, it works. You just have to put in the time.

The list of tips for each section is below. Before I go, I want to share with you one more thing about the mindset for the LSAT that I believe is very important for anyone setting their sights on the test. I grew up on a small-scale, draft-powered, self-sustaining organic farm in New Hampshire. I fully intend to buy some land and have a farm again myself once I am out of law school. Part of our farm’s unique appeal was that we used teams of oxen for all of the farm work, rather than tractors. Over the years, I spent hours each day with our teams of oxen, hauling firewood, plowing gardens, bringing in the harvest, and much more. Years of this kind of closeness have shown me the intricacies of these massive animals’ gentle personalities (some of them weighed over 3,000 lbs). They are smart, goofy, athletic, loyal, devoted, caring, and courageous in ways I will never be. Not to mention tremendously, unbelievably, mind-blowingly strong. But one thing that all of them have, no matter what their personality differences may be, is an unquenchable sense of commitment to the task at hand. I’ve stood next to them as they’ve strained to move a giant downed tree, falling on their knees and back up again, foaming at the mouth, clashing their horns together, just for the sheer joy of trying. Even when I managed to get them to rest for a few moments, they would restlessly paw the ground and shake their heads, eager to throw themselves against the yoke again and conquer their nemesis. As you approach the LSAT, think carefully about what you are willing to put into it and what you hope to get out of it. If you’re willing to be even half as consistent and committed as these oxen were, you’ll go far.

LR:

Games:

RC:

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new to 7sage and I want to say that I look forward to all these discussion forums they encourage me alot. To everyone that is here, just taking the decision to take the LSAT already makes you a winner. It does not matter the score that you are getting, just be encouraged. I really do appreciate all the ideas and advice in this forum. I wish everyone the best.

Does anyone else do this? I may have been way above my target score on this test if I didn't fall into this trap. The worst part is, I do it all the time. I think I remember an answer but it is actually the answer that I chose the last time I took the test and it was incorrect.

Any help in combating this would be greatly appreciated!

Is it better to take practice tests after you finish the course or during?

Taking full timed PT's have been great for tracking progress, getting used to the feel of the test, and, with blind review, it helps to pin point knowledge gaps and problem areas. However, I still get tripped up on occasional mental fatigue and loss of focus for LR and RC. After how many full PT's does that problem go away? Or does it stay with 176+ scorers too?

It's amazing how easy a question will seem on BR and then I go back and see the answer I picked and think I must have outright lost my mind on that question.

I've taken 38 full timed PT's under test conditions, 22 of those with blind review. I'm trusting the process and keep on going thinking that my score will continue to inch up point by point as it has, but I'm surprised by how easy I still can lose focus.

I'm consistently scoring in the 171-175 range and 174-179 after I blind review. Like I said, some of the ones I blind review I realize I still have things to learn, but on others I can't help but think they are due to loss of focus/lack of stamina/mental fatigue given how easy they were on BR.

I'm on track to do at least another 30 full timed PT's before the June test, but I'm concerned that since after all of my practice I'm still losing focus on 3-5 questions/test there might be some behavior pattern I'm not recognizing that I'm unknowingly reinforcing by continuing to take PT's without addressing it.

I've tried to narrow down the possible causes by making sure I don't do a test without a proper meal or a full night's sleep, if they're doing construction right outside my window I won't take one then either. (There's still some noise when I take the PT's, but not anymore than what I think there would be on test day.) Those little things have helped but I'm running out of ideas of what else might be the cause besides that I just need more practice.

What would be helpful to hear is that those kinks work themselves out with more practice and if I took another 30 full timed PT's then focus and stamina won't be an issue to the extent that I'll miss questions over it. I want to be careful not to reinforce some bad behavior for another few months only to realize it too late.

We all hit high points and low points in our LSAT journey. At the moment, I am devastated, drained, and confused on how to proceed. I want this more than anything and I am constantly questioning whether or not it is possible at this point.

To be more specific, I am capable of -0 on LG, -2 in LR, but RC...I consistently score -8 to -10 and I just now scored -14....like I legitimately got more incorrect than correct. I am at the point of questioning if it is even possible for me to improve in RC because I legitimately have tried everything. Absolutely everything. After weeks of not PTing and only drilling RC, my score was WORSE than before I started drilling. I am sharing this personal failure of mine to encourage anyone out there who might be self conscious of their current performance. I know that I definitely am. Transparency is liberating...at least in my opinion. So here I am being transparent about the fact that I absolutely have no idea what I am doing in RC :)

Anyways...I'm not posting because I am seeking advice for RC. I am posting because I know I'm not the only one who has been here. We all want this and we all know how devastating a taste of failure is. For anyone out there struggling at the rock bottom of your LSAT goals...you are most certainly not alone. For anyone who literally has shed more than a couple tears over this test...you are most certainly not alone. For anyone who questions the practicality of your goals on the daily...you are most certainly not alone.

So let's get up, brush ourselves off and destroy this thing because I, for one, am too prideful to let the LSAT defeat me.

Hi, I started the 7Sage Course a couple of months ago. I have been going through each of the course sections, but I am wondering how others pair this course? Do you take practice tests while also progressing through the course? Did you finish the course first(LR,LG,RC) and then start practice testing?

I was aiming to take the June LSAT, and started the 7Sage course, supplementing with PowerScore Bibles... I feel like I am making a lot of progress and understanding questions and concepts much better, but am curious to know how others scheduled their practice exams?

Thank you so much!

I am currently in my 3rd year of undergrad and planning to apply to law schools this fall for Fall 2018. I was wondering how the admission decision process works for Ontario law schools. Since I am applying during my 4th year, will they wait all the way till June 2018 to let me know of a decision? Or will they let me know earlier such as in January or February 2018? And what happens in the case if I get wait-listed? I am assuming September 2017 will be the last LSAT I will be writing.

Thanks!

Hello guys,

Can someone please map out the logic of this argument and show how we can properly infer answer choice B? I am utterly confused :(

Thanks,

Kristen

Does anyone knows where I can get the list of In/Out games from PT41-80?

Thank you!:)

My biggest issue with logic games right now is timing, which I've had a lot of success in getting down for most game types. The one that I continue to struggle with are in/out games. I almost always get all of the questions correct, but in/out games will usually take me between 12-15 minutes to do.

I have an incredibly hard time making inferences in a timely manner with in/out games. Not so with other types, and I'm not sure why in/out is the biggest struggle for me. Identifying "not both" pairs has been a help, but does anyone have any suggestions or strategies or just advice on how to get things to start clicking with in/out? I've been drilling in/out games and will get it after a while but, that first take is always a difficult one.

I'm still trying to get through the CC currently, and I see the importance of mastering the inferences for the LG's. However, I also want to keep making progress as I'm still up in the air if I will be ready for June. Should I wait till I am done with the CC to start mastering the games, or do it as I go? Thanks!

I know how to strengthen and weaken correlation within a stimulus. However, my problem is that while under timed conditions, I somehow miss the correlation within the stimulus. Because of this, I miss most of these types of questions seeing as I do not approach how to strengthen or weaken the stimulus accordingly.

Can someone please be so kind to give me advise on exactly what to look for to instantly pick up on correlation within a stimulus???

Hey guys,

To give some background info for my prep, I had a 140 diagnostic and I studied full-time for about 2.5 years. I went through Tesmasters, Blueprint and 7sage curriculums and my highest score on file was a 160. There were a couple of untouched PTs i took in the 70s that were 163 and 166 but for the most part I would score in the low 160s or the high 150s for fresh preptests. I took all the exams, drilled problem areas and retook exams from the PT 50s to PT 70s multiple times over with inflated 170s scores and near to perfect BR score. I also drilled heavily in LG, doing virtually all the games multiple times.

Since I have used up all three takes, I'm pretty much resigned to just apply with the options I have but I wanted to know if I reached my score potential? I was originally aiming for T14 for BigLaw and other government job prospects but it seems it is out of reach due to my score.