The complex LG is hard to overcome. I can only understand 3 of 4 questions,generally, and only get 12-14 correct. Is someone can give me some suggestions? Thank you

Hey everyone! I was curious to know if any of you guys used goal setting techniques or methods that help you stay accountable and track your LSAT progress. I was thinking of writing my own goals to see if that helped me stay on top of my studying since I've fallen behind a little bit. Also, I feel it would also help with setting smaller target scores that you can work your way up to which also indicates progress. @"Alex Divine" I know you've mentioned setting goals here before. Any suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hey guys quick question, is /J (-) L the same thing as J (-) /L?

Could you explain why they are/are not the same please!

Thanks

As it is disclosed to the Sept. test takers, would anyone be interested in BRing the September 2016 LSAT with me this week?

Hey yall,

I've been consistently drilling,practice examining and blind reviewing. My latest scores have been 160,161, 158, and 159. On the actual exam that I will be taking I would like to score 165, but realistically not sure if I can reach that score by December fourth. I would at least like to score "160" and not in the 150's range. Any tips from now to December to achieve that goal? I also plan on taking the exam on February.

What are some ways you can prepare yourself for the "shock and awe" of the actual test? A lot of people do great on practice tests, routinely scoring about where they want to be... and then get into the testing center and forget everything they ever learned. What are some ways we can get ready for the pressure, hormones, and emotions of test day?

For example:

Would it help to time each questions with a stop watch?

Would it help to set some artificial consequences for failure (like, "Get 8 out 10 questions right in 10 minutes or else you have to clean the refrigerator")?

Would it help to have somebody else hover over you and time you?

Hey Gang,

Less than a month to go!

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Friday, November 11 at 12PM ET: PT77

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I’ll be there every Friday to discuss the 70s tests. Can’t wait to hear you there!

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Hi all,

Can I include my position with the Public Defender's Office on my resume even though it was around my senior year of high school? I like putting this position down because it shows interest in the law at a relatively early time (and affirms my narrative that I've been interested in pursuing this field for a long time) but I understand that high school-related experience is really not something we should be putting down.

Also, are resume's for law schools really only supposed to be one page in length?

Thank you all in advance!

I am having a weird problem where I get the details in the passage correct but then I miss the MP questions. I am usually good with the harder RC passages but if I mess up, it is usually with the MP questions. Solutions?

Due to taking some random classes after college, and enrolling in a data analytics program recently at a local community college, I've got a lot of schools to list under the education section of my resume. This sort of sucks, because I would rather use precious resume room on cool extracurriculars.

Right now, I have 3 schools listed - my undergrad institution, the community college I'm in currently enrolled in the data analytics program in, and a third school I took a poli sci class from last year. I was not planning to include this third school, but @david.busis suggested I included it so that it didn't appear like I was hiding anything.

I also studied abroad in undergrad, and a lot of sites suggest including that school to add some personality to your resume. However, that would result in me listing 4 schools, which both seems ridiculous and will take up way too much real estate. I'm leaning towards just omitting the study abroad school, since that won't boost my resume much, and leaving the third school (at which I took the online poli sci class) to avoid any potential harm not fully disclosing that course might cause. Does this seem like the best plan to you all?

It's that time of year again :)

Does anyone have a used180Watch that they'd be willing to sell at a discounted rate? I am also definitely interested in any other watch that has start/stop and reset buttons. If anyone has used an analog timer and knows they're acceptable in the exam, I would even be happy with that!

Please PM me if you've got one you could sell!

I got a 164 on my first LSAT after scoring between 169-172 on scored PTs. However, the testing conditions were less than optimal and I filed a complaint. Is it possible for me to get in the 170's with a little over a month of additional studying? If yes, how can I accomplish this goal?

Hello 7Sagers,

I am in the process of completing the core curriculum and i had a question about the LR portion of the circular. I am memorizing universal indicators, valid arguments , invalid arguments, and some and more relationships. My question is how does this apply? I know that i need to know this so that i can understand all of the harder questions. However, should i be applying this knowledge to all questions on the LR portion of the LSAT? Am i supposed to read each stimulus looking for these things ? I am just trying to be sure how i should be putting this together.

For example :

1. step one - memorize everything JY is talking about ( indicators, sufficient & necessary structures)

2. Step two??

I feel this is a tedious way of reading a stimulus , but is this how you would do a close reading?? Just wondering how i should apply these things and how they come together.

Wednesday, November 9 at 7PM ET: PT 60

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Please join us for a very special BYOC BR Group! Taking the LSAT never tasted so sweet!

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Because you all are the best, I have more questions:

I'm trying to save space on my resume (like we all are), and want to know if this education section is redundant:

College XY

• BA in English; Minors in Creative Writing and History.

• Dean’s List (Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012).

• Graduated with Honors

• Honors Thesis: Psychological Traps and the Legacy of the Old South in Faulkner’s Fiction.

Can I just cut "Graduated with Honors" and simply list the title of my thesis? Would that convey I graduated with Honors?

Also, do I need to list the semesters for Dean's List? It seems like I should. Thanks 7sagers!

So, really I just want to pat myself on the back. It's really not that much to brag about, but after a month or so of my PT scores being stuck around 160, today my score jumped to a 166! And, that's with only finishing 3 logic games (better than I've ever done, LG is my worst section) and doing worse on the LR sections than I normally do!

All of that to say - don't give up. I had almost given up on reaching a 170, but now it doesn't seem all that unattainable. I know I have a lot of work to do, but just focus on the things that are tripping you up and be diligent with taking PTs and BR!

Anyway, I'm having a good day :)

And, thanks, 7Sage <3

I'm really having trouble with this question. Am I supposed to approach it as a sufficient assumption question though it's a flaw question? Thanks in advance!

which practice tests in the 70s should I take between now and the December test? any ideas? will taking about 6 of them be enough before the test? I have to take the december test.

Hey guys/or anyone from the admin staff,

Not seeing the 'not saving results' button by accident, I scored two full tests on analytics when I only did a section from each test. So everytime I login, I see scores of 121, and 122, which is really annoying haha. Does anyone know how to erase this? I can't figure it out myself! Thank you :)

Sometimes it's just hard to understand or imagine what some sentences say.

Does this mean we don't have to understand all sentences but just pick the important ideas?

It seems studying grammar does not help a lot...does it?

i was wondering how far out from your scheduled testing date did you guys start taking full timed tests?

i anticipate a few more months of drilling and other exercises which i believe will leave me with 2.5 months to take prep tests 50-79. i fear 2.5 months is too little time to take the tests, review, and act accordingly.

what do you guys/girls think?

So Penn doesn't have a specific "Why do you want to go to Penn" essay prompt, but one of the optional essays is:

These are the core strengths that make Penn Law the best place to receive a rigorous and engaging legal education: genuine integration with associated disciplines; transformative, forward-looking faculty scholarship; highly-regarded experiential learning through urban clinics and our pro bono pledge; innovative, hands-on global engagement; and a manifest commitment to professional development and collegiality. These qualities define Penn Law. What defines you? How do your goals and values match Penn Law’s core strengths?

Is this just a long-winded way of asking Why Penn? Or should I really spend a good deal of the essay talking about some of my own traits?

Should I list the year I was a Fulbright Scholar (English teaching assistant program) under employment in the LSAC applications? I wasn't employed per se, but it seems odd to leave it out, especially if I'm putting in my unpaid internships from college. (Obviously, it's on my resume--just asking about the app itself). Thanks in advance for your input!

Hey! So, I was wondering is there a length requirement or suggested length for personal statement letters? mine is almost two pages long, is that too long?

Hey All,

Over the past few months, since I began my LSAT journey, I've accumulated a few tips on how to quickly eliminate answer choices for Parallel Reasoning, Strengthen and basically any Assumption question. I was recently BRing with another 7Sager the other night and I was trying to explain these strategies, but I was hesitant to do so because I am not 100% confident that they work every single time. Meaning, they haven't been affirmed to me by someone who knows what they're doing, so there's definitely a chance I could be wrong in my approach. I was hoping to get a few more experienced LSATers/7Sagers to take a look at the two strategies below and let me know if these are reliable or if they can see a blind spot that I am not seeing. I can't recall exactly where these strategies derived from, but I have been using them for a while.

1) Strengthen and any Assumption Questions

-Whenever the conclusion mentions anything (whether it is a new attribute, new agent, new criteria, etc.) that is not previously mentioned the premises, the correct answer will always mention that new component. You can automatically eliminate any answer choice that does not mention this new component.

This has made it easy for me to sometimes eliminate 2 to 3 answer choices in seconds without fully reading them. This obviously helps you save time, but it also helps you avoid trap answer choices that try and play on your biases. In the spirit of giving pre- PT35 (or is it 36) examples, see below.

PT32.S1.Q5 (sufficient assumption question): The new element introduced in the conclusion is economic crises; therefore, the answer choice would have to include this element. Know this, we can immediately eliminate D (discusses good economic decisions, but does not touch economic crises) and E (is focused on the small elite. This does nothing to link our conclusion to our premises). You then only have A, B and C to consider.

PT33.S3.Q4 (strengthen question): The new element introduced in the conclusion is cost-effectiveness. Looking for this in the answer choices, we can eliminate B (has nothing to do with the cost of anything), D (which, yes, it talks about funding but we are not concerned with how much funding is currently being contributed. We are concerned with cost-effectiveness), and E (also mentions nothing about costs or their effectiveness). We are then left with only answer choices A and C.

This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens often. And it's wonderful.

2) Parallel Reasoning

I want to preface this by disclosing that I have not yet been through JY's lesson on how to approach Parallel reasoning questions. I am still working my way through, so I apologize if he already does this/advises not to do this. Also, this doesn't work for flaw questions. I approach flaw questions differently than parallel reasoning (again, someone correct me if I'm wrong here) because I am looking for something very specific with flaw questions--namely, a logical fallacy. For parallel reasoning, I am literally only looking at the structure, whether or not it is a valid argument. So this only works for parallel reasoning.

The first thing I do with parallel reasoning is examine the conclusion. I translate that into logic and I scan the answer choices for any answer choice that does not have a conclusion that matches the stimulus. I immediately eliminate those answer choices. My theory is that, if we are looking for a parallel structure, the conclusion absolutely has to be parallel. If the stimulus' conclusion is something like "All X's are Ys" and there are answer choices that say "Some A's are B's" or "All A's are some B's," then I just cross them out before I go any further. This usually eliminates 2 or 3 and it cuts down on a lot of reading. Once I'm left with 2 or 3 options, I then examine the remaining answer choices. See below for some examples.

PT33.S1.Q.23 The conclusion is "Any traveler who flies from B to L cannot avoid flying to X." The first thing I note is that this is a universal statement. I would write: "TBL --> X." I would then quickly scan the answer choices for their conclusions and automatically eliminate A (this conclusion is not universal because it says that the inference is likely, not necessary. Our conclusion is absolute), D (this doesn't even give us a conditional at all), and E (again, this is an existential conclusion. Our conclusion is universal). We are then left with B and C, which each have universal conclusions:

B-- Y --> PW

C-- IMP --> PM

I would then further evaluate the premises of the remaining 2.

PT34.S2.Q6. The conclusion is "The notion that one might be justified in behaving irrationally in the service of a sufficiently worthy end is incoherent." So, I would write that out as "N is I" (I wrote it this way because there was no obvious logic indicators, but you could also write "N --> I") and I would scan the answer choices for conclusions not matching this. I can eliminate A (because it is prescriptive. The conclusion is "RL ought not to CC." Our definition is making a universally descriptive claim) and E (also prescriptive. Our conclusion is saying nothing about what someone ought to do.) So we are left with B, C, and D which all have conclusions that can be translated "A is B."

B-- Spilling a glass of water is not accidental.

C-- Living the good life is happy (not unhappy).

D-- Self diagnoses are not performed by doctors.

I would then further evaluate the premises of each of the remaining 3.

Again, I am looking for thoughts, corrections, affirmations...whatever you more experienced LSATers can give me on these strategies. Thanks in advance.