Is anyone else balancing applying for law school during this cycle, with studying for the December LSAT? I'm pretty lucky that I got my personal statement and resume done in the weeks after the September LSAT, but now I have to do all the "Why X Law School Essays" and actually submit the damn things. Is anyone applying now and telling the admissions officers to hold off until the December score comes in? Or are you just planning on submitting everything after December 6?

When I started practicing for the LSAT, I sat at a low 140 ish range. Since 7sage, I have maintained 158 across 3 prep tests now. I have since started reviewing things that I am "bad at" like Logic Game types, specifically the In/Out, and Grouping Sequence types. I have purchased a History magazine and The Economist and I read them on the train to/from work daily, writing comments in the margins about what the main point of each paragraph is. RC and LG are getting a lot better for me, but I am lagging a lot in LR - 17 on my last prep.

I am writing a prep-test tomorrow, and tonight I will be going over weaker LR questions like MBT, MSS, and sufficient assumptions. I have a few more weaker types, but I'm going to start there.

I would idealy not like to put a "cap" on my score, but the law school I'm applying for 160-165 is a good range for me, and I think that's doable.

I study an hour in the morning, work, study an hour over lunch, and study from 5-8 PM when I get home. I write a prep test Monday or Wednesday and one on Saturday.

Does anyone think this is achievable for me? I really thought so, but I keep reading comments..... indicating to some people that they should wait till February if they can't study full time :/

It seems like it would be very helpful to see the questions that have been removed from scoring so that we can see if we can catch the flaw in the question. Is there any compilation of these questions for us to look at?

http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-52-section-1-question-19/

I came to realize that my trouble with this question is that I mistakenly assumed a PREMISE (more likely to determine policy by electing officer than through direction vote) was a CONCLUSION.

The conclusion was subtle and obscured - that direct vote was not right way decide matters (electing officers was).

and so answer was E - maximize power of indivudualy to influence decision made because it bolstered premise and in turn conclusion.

Did anyone else make this mistake?

Should I focus even more on IDing Premises vs. Conclusions? I already avg -2 on LR but will focusing on a seemingly basic thing like PvsC help more?

Hi All -

I have been wondering about this for a while.

Instead of going back and redoing every questions we're unsure of on a PT.... What about just redoing every question we got wrong....

Here's my thinking - when I check scores, I rarely, if ever, remember the letter of the correct answer choice listed. So I can just mark whichever questions I got wrong and go back and redo them the way I would under blind review...

And since a primary objective for BR is to ensure we don't just accept the correct answer and actually learn more by forcing ourselves to find it on our own, wouldn't I be doing the same thing?

I graduated from college in 2010 and am currently in the application process for law school. I had a 3.7 GPA and am scoring around 165+ on practice LSATs. Anyway, I am not in contact with any of my professors from undergrad. What would you recommend as far as rec letters go - is it good enough to have people who can speak to my intelligence level and go-getter-ness, or is there a more creative solution? The letter writers I'm planning on are the editor of the newspaper where I was a business reporter for 3 years (I now work for my dad's brokerage firm, so I can't get him to write one as my boss), and the executive director of the high school mentoring nonprofit I volunteer with. I feel very confident about those letter being detailed and positive, but am worried about the lack of academic content per se.

Thank you so much for any input/help.

Hey Im looking for a study buddy for the December Test

I am retaking the LSAT in December because I had the craziest physical issues occur the night right before the September LSAT and I nearly felt like I was a zombie in the LSAT. If you are in the Philly area and are willing to meet up in person, or if you would like to study via skype, oovoo, google chat, etc. please let me know. I can't afford much tutoring, and I am considering buying the 7Sage Starter kit, but I am going to review again my LSAT Trainer and go over all 40 PT's I have and do this one last time. There's no turning back and I need a motivational group that can all help each other out! The LSAT is an emotional, psychological, and mental game and we need everyone to be there for one another. If you're interested, please let me know. I would be grateful to have people to study and succeed with. We have a little over a month left so let me know ASAP.

=D

[edit by Student Services: this thread is a duplicate, so it's been closed! reply here: http://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/1612/study-groups-in-person-or-skype]

Been working on June 2007 test at a snail's pace. Primarily because on week nights, I may devote hour and a half or so and Saturday's I haven't been consistent about devoting more than 2-3 hours. So I've been on this test for about 2 weeks now just working one section to the next. I'm in no way even prepared to take a diagnostic yet. Feeling like a slug right now. I did Passage three of section 4 (June 2007 test); it took me 25 minutes to read the passage, take some notes and answer the 8 questions. After 25 minutes, I only got 4 out of 8 correct. RC is kicking my ass. What am I doing wrong, what should I be doing to get my RC scores up and what should I be doing to get faster? Please help.

Should I retake the LSAT this December? I scored a 167 in September, which is 4 points below my average. I had to get up during one section and that is the section where 60% of my errors were. I have a 3.91, strong LORs, and work at a big law firm. I am shooting for t14. Any advice is welcomed

RC is currently my weakest section and I'm looking to change that.

If you are serious about improving your RC score, please message me with:

1. Your availability

2. Your current score breakdown (can be just RC or every section)

3. What strategies you are familiar with (e.g. 7sage, Manhattan, LSAT Trainer)

We would be meeting over Skype/Google Hangout.

Also, as an aside, I'm willing to swap knowledge with someone who is having trouble with LG or LR (in exchange for help with RC) as I am confident in those sections :)

Wish everyone the best of luck!

Hi guys! I was wondering if any of you had this set up in the September 2014 LSAT: RC RC LR LG LR. Thanks.

I scored a 173 on the September test, and 7Sage had a significant contribution to that happening. I just want to say thanks to the admins at 7Sage, as well as everyone in the community here. I started studying the LSAT last year, and my diagnostic was a 158. While I never actually purchased 7Sage due to my inability to afford it, I've benefited immensely from the free logic games explanations and the community writ large. It's simply amazing that these resources are free, and I truly believe 7Sage's mantra of making law school possible for low income students. You provide a space for individuals like me who otherwise cannot afford the costs of law school admission to even imagine that they could succeed if they work hard. That imagination is so unbelievably important because it mitigates the ideology deterministic poverty that so many individuals face. Thank you for your mere existence. I hope you know how important it is.

I am retaking the LSAT in December because I had the craziest physical issues occur the night right before the September LSAT and I nearly felt like I was a zombie in the LSAT. If you are in the Philly area and are willing to meet up in person, or if you would like to study via skype, oovoo, google chat, etc. please let me know. I can't afford much tutoring, and I am considering buying the 7Sage Starter kit, but I am going to review again my LSAT Trainer and go over all 40 PT's I have and do this one last time. There's no turning back and I need a motivational group that can all help each other out! The LSAT is an emotional, psychological, and mental game and we need everyone to be there for one another. If you're interested, please let me know. I would be grateful to have people to study and succeed with. We have a little over a month left so let me know ASAP.

=D

Hello fellow 7Sagers. I need help/advice on what's been happening to me. I have stopped practicing for the LSAT for about 3/4 weeks, and when I came back to it, I went from scoring in the mid 150s into the mid 160s. My score then kept fluctuating, and eventually reached 167. However, I haven't been able to reach the mid 160s for the past 5/6 practice tests. I have no idea why this is happening, and on the test I just took, I scored 152!! I don't understand how my score could be decreasing and/or fluctuating as much as it does (between 152 and 167 on 9 practice tests in total). I am taking the December LSAT and I only have about 4 and a half weeks of prep. Do I start focusing on individuals sections or weaknesses in each section? Do I take untimed sections? Do I keep taking practice tests? What do I do?! Please help, and honestly all the advice will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

A premise and a general principle?

I just think of a general principle as a state set of beliefs? But I am not sure, and sometimes mix the premise and principle up in a question, although I treat them both as a premise.

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.

Hi All,

I run across this video and thought I should share it, despite it only explaining part of what an argument is, it also shows what an argument is not.

Hello, I've been looking into joining 7sage and just finished the free trial and debating on going ahead and purchasing premium. The main reason I'm looking into this is to see approaches for the different question types and the break-downs of the questions which I enjoyed from the free videos. My issue is I know a huge chunk of the price is for the actual PT's and such which I already have. I have pretty much all of the previous PT's except a few (none of which comes with any of the packages) so what I was wondering if there's any sort of discount for this type of situation since I already have pdf's of all these PT's and spent a bunch of money for them. (I know the lower level memberships exclude later PT's but I assume that means it excludes the explanations for them as well which, again, is part of why I'm interested(plus want the longer membership)) Any sort of like provide receipt = discount? :)

-Jay

I was stuck between B and E because I thought both could be right answers. So I finally chose E because of the word "net effect". But the answer is B.

The more I looked into, the more I had no idea why E was wrong.

Can anyone explain me why B is correct and E is wrong? :(

So, I scored a 159 on the September LSAT, after 2 months of study in which I was consistently scoring 168-172. I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy the LSAT Ultimate package, which I hope will help me get through the nerves of taking the exam. I'm hoping to do well enough to be competitive with a 170+ score. Here we go! Any other retakers in the house?

So I got a 161 on the September LSAT. Does anyone have advice for improving for the next test? I only took two prep tests before I wrote the actual test. Should I just write a bunch of prep tests and blind review? And should I go for the December test or the February test? Thank you so much!

Having done mostly self-study from a few online resources and a book, I studied for about two and a half months and took the LSAT in June. I had barely slept at all the night before and got a 157 in the 71st percentile.

I regrouped in August and studied for another two months and took the test in October (I'm in South Korea). Again, I hardly slept at all the night before the test. Thanks to 7sage (and my own mental elbow grease), my score went up 10 points (94th percentile).

I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW.

I don't know if anyone has this problem but whenever i take the test which ever LR i do first i get -5/6 on but when i do the second set i get -14wrong. It keeps happening during my prep and when i looked back at my lsat sept score i had the same problem. Does anyone have this problem and/or know why/how to fix it?

3.85, 161 Sept LSAT.

On my PT, in the weeks leading up to the Sept exam, I was consistently scoring a 167-169. I am confident I can do better. (Bombed the first two and aced the last two sections. I believe it might have been nerves)

Although I plan to take the December 2014 exam, I am wondering if it is in my favor to wait until the next application cycle (class of fall 2016) or apply this cycle (class of fall 2015)?

I am looking for scholarship money, which would be feasible if I score a ~168. However, I heard the earlier you apply, the more likely you will get in (rolling admissions) and the more likely you will receive scholarship money (non need-based).

I am really dependent on scholarship money, so I want to have the best chances of earning as much as possible. Which application cycle will be the most beneficial for my situation?