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I am in need of some advice from fellow LSAT takers and law school applicants. Just a little background about myself. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA with a BA in paralegal studies and have been working as a paralegal for over 5 years now. I love the work and I am very passionate about what I do. For this reason, I have decided to finally make the leap and go to law school. However, I am really having trouble with this LSAT! I have taken about 4 or 5 timed PTs and they all range around 145 to 148. I have a hard time finding the time to study as I work long hours right now and I guess I am just not very good at timed standardized tests.

Why am I having such a difficult time with this test and how can I get better at it? I am currently scheduled to take the test in October but am now wondering if I should put it off again. I would really like to go to law school next fall but I am really becoming worried about this test.

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I currently own pdf copies of prep tests 37-67. With test day nearing, I want to purchase prep tests 68-75.

For those of you who have taken the lsat or know how the real test looks like, would I be better served buying the pdf copies and printing them out or buying the booklet paperback form on Amazon?

I am mostly concerned with similarity to the actual test.

Thanks!

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I was wondering about the reasoning why they did this. Do they really make more money by not licensing out PDF versions of the exam? Were websites offering them without LSAC approval? I was thinking about this today, and I find the former more probable than the latter. Long term trends for people taking the LSAT and applying to law school are down. Why raise the costs (at the margin) for those that want to study? Wouldn't this put even more downward pressure on people taking the LSAT, and thus, hurt LSAC's revenue growth? Raising the fee on the exam at least made a little more sense since they have a monopoly on the test administration, but there is competition for study materials. I don't understand what the purpose is, or in what scenario that this made any business sense.

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Saturday, Aug 29, 2015

Older Students?

I am really enjoying this site and the class I signed up for. I am curious if there are other non traditional students enrolled or on 7Sage such as myself. I’m an older student, 52 years old, considering going to law school…probably sounds crazy to many of you :-) I’d love to connect with fellow non traditional students—I think it would be very supportive and helpful. Thank you in advance!

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I am taking my first timed test tomorrow woo! Anyways J.Y. says in the videos that you need to be 100% sure that you're answer is correct but also be sure 100% now why the wrong answer are wrong. I am confused because if I am doing a Logic game question for example once I find my answer I was planning on moving on? Should I sacrifice time for the method?

Also When doing a BR Review should I get a copy of that test and re-do it with now time limits? Just somewhat confused thanks in advance for the help.

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There's probably no hard and fast rule for determining whether it's more beneficial to devote time upfront to splitting a game board into different scenarios, but I am wondering what people consider and what factors really convince top test-takers to split it as such. I haven't gotten into the habit of it and so far, I don't think it has been detrimental. When it comes to really complicated games, such as the notorious dinosaur game (PT 57), JY took the time to flesh the master board into 6 different scenarios. How do I know when to do this? I'm not very good at making this call and one of my biggest fears is ultimately wasting the time I spend on inferences upfront (in the form of extra boards, not just inferences in general).

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PT66 BR Tonight at 7pm ET

You know who you are.

You know what to do.

Note on all groups

  • For the newbies: Add me on Skype, using handle nikkers625 .
  • For the regulars: Please let me know if you plan to join tonight's session and have not yet been added to the conversation.
  • For everyone: take the PT under timed conditions; BR as you are able; join us for all or part of the call—everyone is welcome.
  • Note: For the purposes of the call, we like to check our group blind review score together at the very end of the call :) So please do not check your answers beforehand :-) Or if you do, just try not to say things like "No, guys, I checked, it's D."
  • These groups work best when folks from ALL stages of prep and with all different goals join in! Not just for "super-preppers" and definitely not just for the casual LSATer (does such a person exist?).
  • PLEASE ... Ask questions !!!! In so doing you are giving others the opportunity to uncover weaknesses in their own understanding, review fundamentals, and ultimately improve their own score. And you're giving yourself the opportunity to do the same. Wow, such harmonious learning experience.
  • The only expectation anyone has for these calls is for you to have fun and ask questions as you desire. We are just a bunch of LSAT lovers who gather via Skype and intellectually slaughter each test.
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    http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-66-section-2-question-20/

    Not having problem with solving this question but having problem with how to diagram a specific sentence.

    Carrie: "the only thing that can be required for an action to be morally good is that it fulfill a moral obligation."

    J.Y diagrammed this as bi-conditional. I am having a hard time to see it. Although it does have both sufficient and necessary indicators ("the only" and "required"), I just don't see how Fulfill Moral Obligation(FMO) can be sufficient for Morally Good. Intuitively, saying FMO is the only requirement does not seem to indicate that it is sufficient. Technically, I couldn't break this sentence into two sentence (one using the sufficient indicator and another using the necessary indicator) like J.Y has done for the other bi-conditionals.

    Any thoughts?

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    Hi Guys

    I have a question I hope someone can answer, I am currently on track to take the LSAT in this coming october. The question that I have is that due to some unforseen circumstances in the past i have to retake 2 courses in this coming fall as well. These courses will affect my gpa (in a good way). Will Law Schools take into consideration my final grades, will these grades be updated as the year goes on (if i dont get accepted in the first wave and would it make more sense for me to apply later for those law schools that will accept my application at a later date so everything is updated all at one point (vs applying early with a lower gpa). Thanks in advance

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    Friday, Aug 28, 2015

    RC Timing Problem

    So Ive been using the BR method strictly on reading comp for the last couple of days and my accuracy has improved tremendously but EVERY time Im incorporating time into the process, my accuracy goes down significantly. Im currently aiming at 3.5 min for reading and the last 4.5-5 doing the questions. Any suggestions? Also, any passage that has 7-8 questions immediately has meant I wont get through all the questions. It freaks me out haha

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    After reviewing, i understand the conflict is that Kendrick says cig ads should be prevented but also remain legal. I dont understand how that's a conflict.There are lots of things we all think should be prevented, but to make illegal would be over the top.

    I am obviously one of those who fell for the sucker conflict and thought the conflict was that "how could it be legal to have fatty food commercials and not cigarette commercials?", but after reviewing, i still think my sucker conflict makes more sense.

    can someone help me understand more intuitively why the previous was the conflict and not the latter?

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    Okay so I'm pretty much at my wit's end here with the last 2 or 3 tests I've taken.

    As background, I used to be incredibly consistent on the Logical Reasoning section. I would typically miss 1 or 2 per section and would never miss more than 3 overall in both sections combined. This was the case for most of the PTs I took. Then PT50 happened. I thought I was just having a bad day, and ended up missing 5 LRs that test. Then on PT51 I missed 3 (not more than usual) but then today on PT52 I missed 5 again.

    Ironically, I'm at the point where I'm getting 180s on nearly every single Blind Review I do. I'm overall pretty accurate at never missing questions that I don't circle, but now I feel like just as I've gotten really good at understanding how to answer nearly any LR question and answering them all accurately and not falling for any of the tricks (untimed) I've also gotten way worse on the actual timed PT. This is hugely frustrating for me since, before this started happening, I was consistently scoring around 174-175 and was weakest in the RC section (with LG nearly always at -0). I spent a week or two and really drilled RC hard and was able to get myself down from nearly -4 or -5 to -2 or -3 each time. But now LR has gone off the rails! I feel like I can't win!

    At first I thought it was my strategy for balancing time on LR. Previously, I would skip almost any question I didn't immediately feel comfortable with or thought would take a while (even if they were easy MBTs that I just didn't want to diagram out). Now, I've tried to spend more time just going through the test a bit more linearly so that I don't feel strapped on time having to go back to a bunch of skipped questions at the end of the test. I thought this would be a good strategy but it seems now like I'm missing more questions anyway.

    So I'm not sure what to do. On today's test it was hugely disappointing that 2 of the LR questions I missed were incredibly trivial and had more to do with the fact that it seems like I rushed through the question because of time than that I didn't understand it, and, again, I'm able to correct every mistake in Blind Review.

    Not exactly sure what to help me improve at this point. I feel too confident to review basic lessons on LR questions (again, I get nearly a perfect score in blind review, so I obviously understand the concepts, its just that something mysterious happens on the timed tests) and I don't really know what else to do other than to look back at questions that I got wrong, but seeing as they're spread pretty evenly across different question types randomly, not sure how good that would do me either. Anyone experience anything like this before?

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    How did you do compared to your first diagnostic? I'm very curious since I finish the curriculum next week and start PT'ing the following week.

    Was it something drastic?

    In addition, timing still seems to be a bit of a problem when drilling. Hopefully when I start PT'ing the rhythm just comes naturally after seeing so many questions!

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    http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-49-section-1-game-1/

    Can someone explain question 7 of this game to me?

    I get how there are three possible worlds: _ _ N G I N ; N _ G I N _ ; N _ _ G I N

    The question asks "...then a film in Norwegian must be shown on". Why is it JUST day 1 and 3. I mean, it could also be shown on day 5 (per the second option above) or day 6 (per the third option above). Why is option "Day 1 and 3" correct as opposed to "Day 1 and 5", which is incorrect?

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    http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-22-section-2-question-20/

    I got this one correct by POE, but I am having a lot of trouble explicitly understanding why E is correct (I was wishy washy with A, but I get why it's wrong). Here is my analysis:

    This is a flaw/weaken question.

    If it's music, then it has a temporal element since parts of the song are presented over time. However, a painting has no temporal element since parts of the painting are not presented over time. Thus, the viewer's eye has no one path to follow in order to "read" the painting [the "" on read are kind of weird, I think]. As a result, a key difference between listening to music and viewing a painting is that music has a time element while looking at a painting doesn't.

    What I am looking for: This argument seemed (at least to me) pretty decent. Temporal order is a necessary condition for music, but it is not for painting. So that seems like an "essential" [necessary] difference between the two. The only flaw that I could see was relating "path" to time. That didn't seem like very good evidence to me.

    Answer A: This was my trap answer. I didn't pick it, but I wasted a lot of time eliminating it. The argument doesn't say that you need to be conscious of the passage of time. The passage of time (in and of itself) is the necessary condition for music and not one for a painting. Also, time is an element of the painting and not of the viewer. It is possible that the viewer is looking at his watch the entire time while looking at a painting; that doesn't change the fact that the medium of art (painting) itself doesn't have a temporal element.

    Answer B: Who cares about the definition of music/differences between styles.

    Answer C: Who cares about their commonalities? Our conclusion is about differences.

    Answer D: Is "reading" a metaphor? Maybe. However, the substance of this answer choice is to say that the flaw is circular reasoning. The argument is not. The "reading" analogy is evidence in support of the conclusion, not a restatement of it.

    Answer E: This is it by POE. However, I still am having trouble seeing how this actually attacks the relationship between the premise and conclusion. This answer to me juts flat out contradicts the "path" premise and not the substance of the argument.

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    Hi there,

    I was wondering if anybody could clarify (please) why the Substitution and Equivalence section was placed at the end of the PTs ( i have the 2nd package). Is this because these types of questions only appear on later LSATs?

    I just started PT-ing so i'm at 37.

    Please let me know what you guys think.

    Thanks :)

    0

    Anyone know how to adjust your bowel movement?

    The last thing I want is to get distracted during the test by the need of going to bathroom. If I have my breakfast around 7:30AM, I will need to take a bathroom break around 10AM. I just realized that I have this issue, as I start to take more PT in the morning.

    Again, I'm not trying to be funny here. Any suggestions?

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    PT65 BR Tonight at 7pm ET

    Can you believe we've made it back up to PT65 again???

    I know @nye8870 will be there. Will you?

    Note on all groups

  • For the newbies: Add me on Skype, using handle nikkers625 .
  • For the regulars: Please let me know if you plan to join tonight's session and have not yet been added to the conversation.
  • For everyone: take the PT under timed conditions; BR as you are able; join us for all or part of the call—everyone is welcome.
  • Note: For the purposes of the call, we like to check our group blind review score together at the very end of the call :) So please do not check your answers beforehand :-) Or if you do, just try not to say things like "No, guys, I checked, it's D."
  • These groups work best when folks from ALL stages of prep and with all different goals join in! Not just for "super-preppers" and definitely not just for the casual LSATer (does such a person exist?).
  • PLEASE ... Ask questions !!!! In so doing you are giving others the opportunity to uncover weaknesses in their own understanding, review fundamentals, and ultimately improve their own score. And you're giving yourself the opportunity to do the same. Wow, such harmonious learning experience.
  • The only expectation anyone has for these calls is for you to have fun and ask questions as you desire. We are just a bunch of LSAT lovers who gather via Skype and intellectually slaughter each test.
  • 1
    User Avatar

    Thursday, Aug 27, 2015

    BR Score

    I know this probably has been answered but i just wanted to understand again what the BR score conveys. Is it just time and press that is killing me? . Just did my second timed test and got a BR 162. I am aiming to get a 170+.

    Thanks for all the feed back.

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