Hey guys,

If your inbox looks anything like mine, it's probably drowning with emails from law schools encouraging you to apply and blah blah blah. Once in a while, I get an email from a school I'm actually interested in. This is where my question comes in:

If I'm applying NEXT cycle, how can I go about building a relationship with the admissions people now? Have you guys tried to? Any tips are appreciated.

So I'm am struggling to make improvements in reading comprehension section big time. I was hoping to find a strategy for highlighting/pinpointing certain texts in the passage that are generally (in all likelihood) ascertained in the questions that follow, but I'm not having any luck finding it. The videos tend to highlight the passages as an exhaustive study, which is great, but what I'm looking for is an efficient method to practice with on the PTs. Is there a strategy anyone can recommend?

Also, does anyone know of a list of question types/categories for RC stems, e.g, main point, author's intention, passage structure, etc? The categories used for the LR questions are great, but so far I haven't come across anything that breaks down RC questions.

Thanks guys!

I'm still confused as to how and why Jon's explanation in the video is used to express answer choice A is correct and answer choice C is wrong. I'm not following his logic in the video. Can somebody please explain this? Also there was a comment below the video that there are plenty of old LSAT questions with similar type of errors. I'm not sure, but can somebody point out those questions and the type of error? Thanks.

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-64-section-1-question-16/

Some topics appear more frequently than others on the LSAT. It may be helpful to prioritize your reading in addition to the LSAT passages.

Here's a list of subjects ordered by its frequency (PT1-PT76) from 7sage.

Law 84

History 43

Science 40

Biology 34

Literature 30

Anthropology 29

Philosophy 24

Economics 20

Technology 20

African American 18

Art 16

Native American 14

Painting 14

Women 11

Latino 10

Linguistics 10

Government 9

Music 9

Sociology 9

Zoology 9

Asian American 8

Poetry 8

Psychology 8

African 7

Performing Arts 7

Environment 6

Medicine 6

Physics 6

Agricultural Science 5

Climatology 5

Geology 5

Archeology 3

Education 3

Miscellaneous 3

Energy 2

Good luck!

Well I knew I messed up on the Oct. LSAT but not as badly as I actually did.... I scored about 10 points lower than what I was consistently scoring on PTs and now I am a little shell shocked on how to proceed for the Dec. test. I just joined 7sage however I have already done every PT in preparation for the Oct. test. I haven't gone over the actual test yet to see where I messed up, but considering I went from scoring in the upper 160s on practice tests to an upper 150 on the actual test, I'm guessing I just messed up everywhere and would like to chalk it up to just nerves. Does anyone know if its common to just perform poorly on the first LSAT you take? If anyone is/has been in a similar situation or just has any advice at all on how I should proceed I would greatly appreciate it. I've learned that I'm what's known as a "splitter", so I am heavily depending on obtaining the score that I know I can get. Appreciate it

When do people tend to schedule their breaks during 4 section PTs?

2 Sections, break, 2 Sections? Or 3 Sections, Break, then 1 Section?

I'm asking because I feel like it's important to be able to get through 3 sections before the break, but at the same time I feel like 1 section after the break is too little to lock in. Thoughts?

And I don't mean just for the LSAT - for anything.

Do you unwind with some TV? What shows do you watch?

Do you snack or grab some coffee? Run around the block?

Maybe you read a book or chat/text a friend?

:)

Even though I have finished a certain part of LSAT, it does not indicate on my syllabus that I have.What can I do?

Someone please help...

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-74-section-1-question-24/

Is this happening for us February test takers? I know the pep rally's are always that awesome confidence boost from what I've heard

I constantly see people asking, "I got X score on my first diagnostic, how many points can I really improve?" but the truth is that there is no answer to this question and I am sick of people replying with "10 points or so". There is NO reason that anyone who dedicates the time and focus to studying for this test can't improve to the maximum level of scoring. By telling yourself that you're only looking to improve "10 points or so" is one of the worst things that you can do in your prep, at least in my mind. I had a diagnostic of 150 the first time I took one, then took a Testmasters course before the June 2013 exam and ended up scoring a 160 on the real one (I had told myself I would be ok with a 160, which limited my mental goals after I was averaging 164-165). I have now been studying for the past two months using 7sage and the LSAT Trainer to take the December 2014 test, and I have scored as high as 169 and have 32 PT's to go.

Bottom line, there are a few requirements that if achieved, I believe enable anyone to score in the 170's and even higher in some cases. (not necessarily in this order)

First, you must MASTER Logic Games, to the point where you are excited when it comes time to do them in a full Practice Test. LG is the only section, at least I believe, where you get the opportunity to see answers as "black and white". Yes, I know for every question there are always 4 wrong answers and 1 right one, but for other sections it is much harder to check which are what. For LG, whichever answer you select, you must 100% be certain that the other 4 are wrong, because only ONE can be right. Eliminating 4 answers on LG is the best way to assure yourself that you have gotten them all right.

Second, you must see the macro concepts of each individual LR question stem. The WORST thing that Testmasters taught me was that it was in my best interest to avoid reading the question stem first...Now that I use it as a trigger and truly focus on fully understanding the stimulus, I find it much easier to see incorrect answers (which is the key to scoring high). LR isn't testing your ability to analyze a stimulus, it is testing your ability to analyze for a SPECIFIC GOAL. Obviously many question types overlap and allow you get a feel of the key to this section (recognizing the parts of an argument and further, how they actually relate to one another). However, reading a stimulus with purpose will save you MASSIVE amounts of time when it comes time to do the difficult questions. Overall, you must get comfortable with LR to the point where you are happy that it is 50% of the test, you cannot score high without decent mastery in this section.

Third, you MUST MUST MUST, develop an internal questioning system in which you are constantly questioning your reasoning for choosing an answer. I used to easily eliminate 3 answers for a specific question and would then try to focus on which of the remaining two is more "right", however this is as misguided as can be. The difference between getting a 160 and a 170, in my opinion, is seeing why four answer choices are WRONG rather than why one is RIGHT. The latter is important, but if you can find the 4 that are wrong, you won't need to truly understand why the 5th is right (it helps obviously, but sometimes for the curve breaking questions this method is easier for me).

I know I haven't talked about Reading Comp, but to me that is a section that comes with extreme repetition and will improve the more you improve on LR. I see them related in the sense that LR stimulus is just as difficult to read as a paragraph from a passage, therefore the more comfortable you get with reading and understanding LR stim, the easier time you will have sorting through the information in RC.

This is not a "for sure" guide to getting a 170 but these principles seem, to me at least, essential elements for dominating this test. Do not be intimidated to try intense study practices, because the more intense, the more prepared you will be for test day. People talk about burnout, but burning out only means you have lost focus on the goal at hand, which is to dominate this test. People don't run marathons thinking they're only going to run 20 miles, they set their goal to the highest point they can and they strive for it, the most important way to view your potential score on the LSAT. Just wanted to give those who are retaking a little extra motivation for gearing up to study for the next 6 weeks, and obviously these are my "opinions" and I am not an authority on the LSAT, but I feel that this post may help some people who are struggling with seeing themselves scoring very high.

Who has been on a holiday binge with this show? I'd love to hear some thoughts from some future lawyer. How do you think things will play out from here? If you haven't seen it yet, stop what you're doing and hop on Netflix and you'll be hooked!

Hypothetical.

Say I apply with current score get accepted and accept the acceptance. haha. Then I retake in June get a better score. Can I opt out and wait another cycle and apply to more schools? Try to get more money?

Hello everyone, I have narrowed down my weakness in LR section to Flaw, PFlaw and SA questions. Mostly getting these questions wrong. I was wondering if there is anything I can do besides just drilling a bunch of these question types?

I was reading the Trainer and I came through a simple example "She does not consume too much caffeine because she only drinks one cup of coffee a day and one cup of coffee is not too much caffeine for a person to consume daily"

Coffee is the only substance she consumes that contains caffeine - this is something which fills the gap but is not necessary. I am, however, having trouble in understanding this cause its negation can really hurt the way premise supports the conclusion. Could anyone help in clarifying?

Hello,

I've done 70, 73 , 69, 68, 66 before. Today I did 71, and my score dropped by 6 points! I really don't know why and don't know what to do.

Hi, all. I was on a wonderful webinar the other night led by the friendly and knowledgeable sage, @c.janson35. He mentioned that he often formulates a "pre-phrase" when thinking about potential answer choices. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to have him elaborate on that topic. I DM'd him, but I was hoping one of you might help, too.

(1) Is a "pre-phrase" just another term for prediction? I was unfamiliar with the term prior to the webinar. And if that is the case, then I'm assuming that creating a pre-phrase in one's mind is done to narrow the focus/save time when evaluating potential answer choices, right?

(2) Does anyone have advice on the best way to pre-phrase? It seems rather obvious but perhaps you have a particular technique that you find useful (e.g. asking yourself a key guiding question, based on the test section or question type).

(3) If #1 above is correct, I would also like to know if you find pre-phrasing/predicting helpful, too. It seems as though it obviously would be. However, having just read the fantastic, "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, I'm also trying to be more cognizant of how my fast-thinking intuition has the potential to lead me astray in situations that merit slow-thinking scrutiny. And we know that those nefarious LSAC folks love to trick testers with seductive trap choices that "feel" right, too.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I have two test options equi-distant from my home. Taking a complete day, I visited both test centers and realized that all of the advice on this site is paramount to finding the most optimum site to take the test. My two options are polar opposites: one is in an amphitheater venue accommodating over 100+ and the other has small rooms with no more than 20+ per room. I was fortunate on my visit that I met the director over-seeing the LSAT for both sites and she unequivocally said that the amphitheater environment was a detriment to the test takers due to the time necessary to validate all test takers credentials upon entry and after the break. They took me on a tour of the actual rooms where the test is administered, showed me where the bathrooms were and gave me advice about where to park. I went immediately to check out local hotels and with such a small mountain town, I found a quiet "Express" type hotel that I have booked for the night before the test.

With over a year invested in studying for the LSAT, my test site will hopefully be the least of my concerns.

This is a feature that's sometimes overlooked on your Progress Page: Search

I'm scoring in the low 160s. I'm going to take June 2016 for sure this time since it's probably the only time I can commit 60+ hours a week

I'm trying to get 5+ more points in the coming 18 weeks.

1) It's arbitrary but does anyone have advice for how to stay motivated and not postpone again?

2) What do you do when you're not studying? (e.g. 30 mins treadmills/walking during breaks )

Hi!

Can you circle the question numbers on the scantron for later review during the real exam? Not sure if I would have to erase the circles once moving onto the next section or if I could just leave them. I would hate to be docked points for having an additional circle on the scantron.

Also, how much does a filled in bubble need to be erased? I'm waiting for my ticeronda pencils to arrive (after seeing a former great 7sage post) but in the meanwhile I have been using crappy pencils from Target that leave faded pencil marks still in the bubble, although I've erased so hard that the scantron bubble itself is nearly missing. Is this a problem? How sensitive is the machine that reads the scantron?

I haven't taken a scantron exam in 10 years.

Thanks!

Looking for what other people think. Thanks!

When I go to watch the walk through of the logic games, the youtube version of the walk through is no longer an option for some reason and I can only switch to the 7sage video player. I would like to use the youtube video though, is there a setting that may have turned off somewhere?

Looking at my admission ticket, it only has a line that states

Last 4 digits of Social Security/Social Insurance or LSAC issued #.............

Should it contain my entire SSN and my LSAC account number?

I studied hard for the October 2015 LSAT . I think I studied around 6 months but only managed to pull off a 154. I took November and December off from studying and started 7sage in January 2016. I felt like I had burnt out studying for the October exam because thats all I would do is study everyday for long hours (I am not enrolled in school and do not have a job). This time around I decided to do more of a less stress-intensive approach (I'm focusing on 3 effective hours per day). I just finished the course from 7sage and now I will be doing full LSATs and reviewing them thoroughly. Do you guys think I will be able to break 160 by June from doing LSAT prep-tests 35-75? I am focusing on 2 pre-tests per week. Also has anyone else had a similar experience to my struggle with this exam?