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Last comment thursday, aug 17 2017

September v December

Hi all,

I am having difficulty gaging the rolling admission process. I am taking the September exam because I have been planning to get my app in as soon as possible. But, I don't think I'm ready. I will probably remain scoring in the mid 150s. But I've had less than a month of proper study time. I know I can do a lot better if I wait for December. But, I have a fear it is detrimental to apply that late in the game. Is that true?

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Hey all,

So, I'm taking on 7sage's trial course before making the full plunge with you guys, but something stuck out to me... J.Y. recommends that we study for at least a year before being fully ready for an LSAT attempt.

Nowadays, that "3 attempts every 2 years" policy is gone, so now we can take and re-take without issue. But, he has a good point.

My question is: Do we need to spend a whole other year relearning everything from scratch if we're coming from a competing service like Powerscore? Or is it more realistic to cut it down a bit since I have some of the core basics and experiences down?

0

Hi,

I had a breakthrough in my scores in logic games by employing POE for CBT Qs and looking for MBT/CNBT and moving on once I find MBT/CNBT in MBT/CNBT Qs. In particular, I think the perspective of trying to eliminate CNBT ACs (=wrong ACs) in CBT Qs really made the whole process easier and more efficient. (This is what Mike Kim suggests in the Trainer)

But sometimes when the right answer of a CBT Q is (A) or (B), or when the ACs are designed in a way that makes it harder to see if each AC is CNBT (whether it's because of the AC is really wordy or because CNBT ACs don't immediately jump out like they do in other Qs), eliminating 4 CNBT ACs seems counterintuitive.

So at this point, I am a bit puzzled in terms of my Q type strategy for logic games. While it's incredibly helpful that I actively, consciously look for CNBT ACs to eliminate in CBT Qs, elimination is inefficient in some CBTs. Does anyone have any advice for me?

0
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Last comment wednesday, aug 16 2017

Washington, DC Study Buddy

Hi all,

I'm looking for someone who's interested in blind reviewing LR and RC questions in the Washington, DC area. I've come to realize the importance of reviewing questions with others as it really exposes neglected presumptions and enables you to get out of the echo chamber that is your head and look at questions from a unique and original point of view.

I'm preparing for the September/ December take but don't think it matters where you are in your studies. To get the most out of this though I'd imagine you'd be in PT mode. Where you're currently scoring also makes little difference. Although I'm by Foggy Bottom, I'd be willing to travel a reasonable distance to meet.

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Last comment wednesday, aug 16 2017

Analytics

Hey guys,

I'm new to the analytics on 7sage.

If I input one section and press "save & continue," wishing to input the other sections at a later stage, will this affect my overall analytics? For example, I just entered section 1 for PT 48. As I BR the next sections, I will go back in and enter the rest. However, my current score says 21.8% correct, and a score of 128 (if I remember correctly).

I am assuming this will change once more information has been entered and my real average will then be reflected, right? Just hoping this won't affect my scores once I have entered more PT's.

Is there a better way to do this?

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Hey guys!

So I have been struggling with RC, however I was wondering if you guys read the passage first or make notes while reading? I don't know why but I find a hard time trying to read and write at the same time. I would say I am a pretty fast reader and always have been.. but I find it hard to understand the passages when I stop to make notes. Should I make notes after reading the entire passage first or after every paragraph? What has worked for you guys?

RC I would say is my worst section, but I believe I can improve the most on this section since I can usually understand the material pretty well regardless of what the passage is discussing.

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Last comment wednesday, aug 16 2017

August Résumé Special

Hey 7Sage,

We're offering a special deal on résumés through the end of August: an UNLIMITED edit for $399.

Our in-house résumé specialist Micah Bateman will take the lead on most of these, but the other 7Sage editors—including me—may jump in too.

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  • Write "Résumé Special" in the subject line.
  • 2

    Hi,

    Amongst all sections, LG is probably my weakest. It takes me way too much time.

    Which is a better way to go through the CC ( I started with LG about a week ago)

    Doing the questions and PS's of each question type and fool proofing until you get everything before moving on the next question type. ( I find, my inferences are usually correct but i take up too much time and end up getting questions wrong once i realise how much time has gone by- Watching Jy's explanations help, but my techniques are mostly the same)

    Doing the Questions and PS's of all question types in the CC, watching the explanations simultaneously and fool proofing everything together in the end.

    I'd love as much advise as i can get on how to go about LR since some questions are taking me upto 20 min and it's really stressing me out.

    0

    I am 32 and have a associates in Automation/Robotics. I am currently going back to school for my Electrical Engineering degree, and i am planning on then going through to Law School. I know this is as far from one and other than one can get but it is something that i have been thinking about for a while but have not had the financial means to do so. I am about 24 months out from my degree and i would like to start LSAT prep. I haven't taken a diagnostic test but have looked at a few questions in LG and LR, i might have been able to answer 30% or so, which worried me, because i see everyone else with 145-155 diagnostics scores and i feel i would be far from that. It's crazy to me to read everyone testing in the high 150's/160's.... its a bit intimidating. I haven't taken a class in 10 years or so and the questions really pointed out how many cobwebs are in my head (At least i hope they are cobwebs, and not that i am just not cut out for the LSAT.) I'm sure this forum gets this a lot, but i am simply wondering what you guys think i should do as far as prep?

    0

    So about a month out from the September test and I'm feeling....okay. There is one kind of questions that really bothers me though. Flaw. People always tell me that "in repetition you'll eventually get them" and that they repeat. Well I'm like 20 PT's in at least and they still look pretty foreign to me. It's specifically the flaw questions with abstract answer choices.

    "Presents only evidence whose relevancy to the issue raised by the opponents has not been established."

    Presents stuff that is not relevant?

    Okay but the amount of time it takes me to translate each AC out, and then to figure out what is going on, is far to great. Even then I still choose wrong a great deal of the time.

    One method that has not worked for me is the Trainer. That book is very vague. 1+2 =/=3 doesn't help me, my mind doesn't see it as such.

    How do you handle flaw questions?

    1
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    Last comment wednesday, aug 16 2017

    LG - Splitting Boards

    Hey, guys! I would like any advice you guys can give on splitting boards. I seem to always spend too much time trying to split and it's not really needed or I don't spend enough time trying to split and I could've saved time. I tend to always end up brute forcing too much or using previous game boards from previous questions to answer questions but I know that's not always going to work for me. LG is my best section so I've kinda dismissed it but I'm not always -0 so I'm looking for pointers. Can you guys provide any hints on when to split and what to split on (meaning a specific rule like a not both rule or something)?

    0

    I'm aiming to take the test between December and June 2018 so won't be applying until end of next year most likely. I have a few work trips coming up next month to cities where schools I am interested in are located. Is it too early to do a school visit since I'll be in town? I was once told not to visit a school until you've completed your LSAT and you're ready to apply. Is this a rule or am I just overthinking? I'd love to visit any school I'm interested in in order to make an informed decision and many are in cities that are far from where I live. If I have an opportunity for a free trip from my company, I'd like to take advantage of it.

    0
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    Last comment wednesday, aug 16 2017

    An exercise in summarizing

    From a fun video!

    See if you can summarize the content from the video, low/high res, RC style. Try to use the words "phenomenon" and "hypothesis".

    2

    Titus is LSAT confidence level goals

    After next week this study group is going private.

    PT 77 RC on Tuesday August 15th at 6pm EST

    Click here to join this conversation: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/992713853

    Please click the link and comment if you plan on participating.

    You can also dial in to the BR call by using your phone.

    United States: +1 (571) 317-3122

    Access Code: 992-713-853

    If the link doesn't work, google Go To Meeting and enter the meeting access code

    Requirements:

  • For everyone: Must be finished with the core curriculum, have a solid understanding of question types, be able to identify the premises and conclusions, understand conditional logic, etc; Come to each PT review sessions with at least 2 priority questions to discuss (because it is highly unlikely we are scoring 180 under timed conditions)Must attend the first or second meetingMust not miss consecutive meetings. Things come up and so an absence is understandable, but if you routinely miss meetings consecutively, I'll offer your position to the next person who expressed interest.
  • The That's So Ravenclaw study group is for 12 people who are committed to studying and improving their test performance for the September 2017 LSAT. Workshops and intensives to eliminate weaknesses will also be made available to the study group. Tuesday at 7pm is our additional study time to meet to go over other questions we didn't get to on Sunday. Comment below if you would like me to tag you for our meetings. This group will be going private after next week.

    Tentative Schedule: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=00ppvvc0gp9hdvin7b0p3igdhg%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

    0

    Hi All,

    I've seen many explanations regarding this infamous Han purple question--none of which have addressed my specific confusion:

    https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-74-section-1-question-17/

    I chose the correct answer A during my timed take, but hesitantly changed it to E during BR. I'm still confused and I'd love for someone to read my reasoning and give me some guidance as to where I am going wrong.

    CTX: How the ancient Chinese of the Qin and Han dynasties synthesized Han purple has confused scientists.

    P1: A common type of white glass and Han purple were produced with the same chemical ingredients.

    P2: Both were produced by similar processes involving high heat and lead.

    C: Han purple was probably discovered by accident during glass production.

    One thing I noticed was the how the premises give us similarities regarding how white glass and Han purple were produced, but then the conclusion randomly brings up how Han purple was discovered. My thoughts were that the correct answer will probably have something to do with this. Either that, or the wrong answers would exploit this subtle distinction.

    Another thing I noticed was that, except for the contextual information about Han purple confusing scientists, every piece of information that was given in the stimulus equally applies to both the white glass and Han purple. All we know is that they both have the same properties--we don't know if one was better than the other or that one was more prevalent. So the conclusion could also very well be that "White glass was probably discovered by accident during Han purple production." We have the same exact support for that conclusion as we do the conclusion we are given. So I figured the correct answer choice could assist with this by creating some sort of supporting distinction.

    A- I originally chose this because I did not initially notice the produced/discovered distinction in the stimulus. Upon BR, I noticed it and figured that A was wrong because where Han purple was produced does not seem play into how it was discovered. Something can be discovered intentionally in the middle of a forest (anywhere really), but then the following production of that thing can be in a factory once it had been improved and commercialized. To me, production and discovery are two clearly distinctive events. Also, this just contributes to the similarities between white glass and Han purple. There is no distinguishing effects of this answer choice, so, like I pointed above, the conclusion could still just as reasonable be: "White glass was probably discovered by accident during Han purple production."

    (B, C, and D were easy for me to eliminate. For anyone interested in seeing my reasoning for these answer choices, feel free to ask!).

    E- I never loved E, especially since it ambiguously used the term "more" without telling us how much more (1% more or 80% more?). I also didn't love that E qualifies the artifacts as "surviving artifacts." I initially figured that, the fact that white glass was more prevalent in surviving artifacts could be because 1) it was more easily preserved or 2) it was more commonly used. Then I realized that if it was more commonly used, this answer choice could be introducing the possibility that white glass was used longer than Han purple was. I thought that that was what they were trying to get us to see? That white glass was produced and discovered first and that is why there is more of it than Han purple? If that was the case, then I guess it supports the conclusion. It weakly supports it, but it presents us with a new possibility that would render the conclusion more likely. Also, this does point out the supporting distinction between white glass and Han purple that would lead us to the conclusion we are given rather than the alternative conclusion: "White glass was probably discovered by accident during Han purple production."

    Between A and E, I do not like either of them. I really struggled between both of these answers, but I finally concluded that A requires us to assume that discovery and the following production process are the same event. To me, that's equivalent to saying that the birth of a child and the child's following life events are the same event. They just are not. E also wasn't a great answer. I recognize the steps and assumptions needed to choose E. But given the remaining 4, I figured (and still consider) it to be the best option because it at least slightly introduced a possibility for the conclusion to be true.

    Help! Thanks in advance!

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    Last comment tuesday, aug 15 2017

    POE for high scorers

    Hi,

    Since I started practicing, I always made sure to use POE for each and every question. The reason behind this is, according to The LSAT Trainer, it is a necessary step for all high scorers. But I feel it's costing me valuable time. My question is, do you do POE for every LR question? or once you are confident with an answer you move on? especially for the first 10-15 questions?

    Thanks,

    0

    Hi All,

    I've made an observation regarding Main Point questions on some of the most recent RC passages (70s primarily). I was reading a post on the Manhattan Prep LSAT forum, where another poster verified my suspicion. I want to share my observation with you below in the hope that it will help someone approach Main Point questions in the future.

    Historically, the LSAT writers have favored answer choices that encompass the main point of the passage and whatever subsidiary point was made in the passage. The correct answer choices have been broad, inclusive statements and certain incorrect answer choices were incorrect because they were “too narrow” or did not encompass one of the subsidiary points while another answer choice did. In recent tests, however, the LSAT writers have started to exploit our conditioning to this type of strategy. They will add a broad answer choice with unwarranted strong language (subtle strong language, like “most” or “prominent”) or with incorrect time frames (like “recently” or “historically”) that encompasses both the main point and the subsidiary point. They are trying to utilize the fact that we have been conditioned to look for “more complete” answer choices and hope that we will overlook the subtle characteristics that ultimately make the answer choice incorrect. The correct answer choice ends up being something more direct, narrow, and only concerned with the author’s overall takeaway rather than any “exceptions” or “sub-points” he/she gets into. (See PT73.S1.Q16- answer choice D & PT74.S3.Q9- answer choice E for examples)

    With one month until the September test, I know keeping this in mind will help me be more aware of these types of strategies the LSAT writers have been utilizing. Has anyone else noticed this as well?

    5

    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?

    1
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    Last comment tuesday, aug 15 2017

    Keeping everything sharp

    Hi everyone,

    I just moved on to the CC section for LG and i'm wondering how everyone keeps what they just learned from LR fresh? I feel like i'm going to lose what I just learned if I don't practice. Any advice?

    0

    Hello, everyone!

    I wanted to hear opinions and gather data on weighing the costs and benefits of applying to law school after fall semester (early December at my university) with a higher GPA compared to applying much earlier in the application cycle (Late September/Early October) with one's existing GPA.

    For context, I'm currently in the 75th percentile for LSAT, and between the 25th and 75th percentiles for GPA at most of the schools to which I'm applying. If all goes well, my GPA will rise by .03 after Autumn semester grades are applied to cumulatives. Obviously .03 wouldn't matter much if I was already well above or well below the inner GPA quartiles, but being inside of it, how does the potential GPA boost stack up against the drawbacks from a later application?

    I've seen those statistics that try to equate additional units of GPA with additional chance of admission, but my hunch is that those are more correlative and based on averages whereas incremental GPA increases aren't nearly as distinguishing as other soft factors.

    Does it vary by program? Would T6 schools treat it differently than T14 or T50 or T100?

    I'd love to hear input for all contexts of the question :) Thanks!

    0

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