PT66 BR Tonight at 8pm EST

Just when you were thinking to yourself, "Man I sure could use some group blind review..." Well, we're doin' PT 66 tonight at 8pm EST.

Note on all groups

Hey everyone!

Like many of you I am taking the LSAT this weekend. I bought this course before taking the LSAT last fall, but didn't really use it for prep this time around. I know I have most of the tests bought, but when I click on them to get access like I used to, I have no way of downloading/printing the test. Something probably changed since I was last here and my brain is dead enough that I can't figure it out.

Anyone know how to download the dang PTs?

I am using the most recent version of Chrome (Version 43.0.2357.124) and about a week ago or so I started having issues with the Recent Discussion links on the dashboard page. I can see everything on the dashboard just fine but I can't access any of the discussion board topics from the dashboard. The little white glove still appears to indicate a hyperlink, but nothing happens when I click the topic titles. However, I can access the discussion forum from the top banner and then everything works for me from the main discussion forum page. Is anyone else having similar issues? It's not a huge deal, just thought I'd bring it up because I usually access the forum through comments on the dashboard and now it's not working. Thanks for any help in this matter.

Hey 7Sagers! May is right around the corner and with that, we're looking for new photos for both the front page and specific lessons. Here's an example of the existing pictures we have up, submitted in the past by users like you:

http://bit.ly/1EUWz54

http://bit.ly/1dz5uwX

http://bit.ly/1DFYaV4

We're not looking for the exact same type of pictures shown above, those are just examples of what we've had in the past. Think outside the box! We love that stuff.

Need some examples of what we're looking for?

* Photos of you studying outside in the great outdoors

* Photos of you studying on the bus or metro

* Photos that show your beautiful-and-handsome-self studying (3rd person instead of 1st person perspective)

Pictures can be taken from any video capture device and include yourself, your PC/Mac, Smart Phone, Tablet and/or notes.

Did you take a photo that would be perfect for one of the lessons? Send us your photo and a link to the lesson you think it's best suited for. For example:

A photo of a camera for:

http://classic.7sage.com/lesson/camera-lens-resolution-mp-question/

Or herbs for:

http://classic.7sage.com/lesson/herbs-as-drugs-method-question

Multiple submissions are welcome! The prize is a $100 Amazon gift certificate per accepted entry!

Deadline is June 5th.

Send all submissions to dillon@7sage.com with the title "PHOTO CONTEST".

If I already know all the strategies and techniques? Now that I'm taking the October LSAT, I need to seriously work on my timing, but I can't figure out how to start. Does 7sage offer anything that could help with that?

Thanks.

***I love to write, and I also happen to have a little knowledge about the LSAT and law school admissions generally. With JY’s blessing, I have decided that I will scratch my writing itch on a semi-regular basis by posting long-form blog-style pieces on the forums. If you have a topic that you’d like to see me write about, feel free to PM me. And please, discuss the piece freely in the comments below, especially if you disagree – I love to hear other viewpoints and am happy to engage in respectful and reasoned discourse.

Not a lot of people know this about me, but once upon a time, I was a Dance Dance Revolution fiend.

I picked it up around the year 2000 or so, when DDR was just starting to make a splash in the US market. At first, I was obviously awful at it, but I was enamored so I stuck with it. Eventually, I managed to become a pretty good player, though I never quite made it into the top tier.

When I was still developing my skills, there was a song called “MAX 300” that I made it my mission to beat. At that time, it was one of the two ‘boss’ songs in the game - songs that even the best players could barely beat, never mind score well on. Nowadays it’s a joke, but back then nobody had ever seen anything like it. For reference, a video of the song being played (not me, in case that wasn’t clear):

Pay particular attention about 1:15 into the video as the song approaches its midpoint, starting with the appearance of green ‘freeze’ arrows (which require you to hold down the arrows in question). After 366 steps in about 45 seconds, the song seems to be giving you a reprieve – an 8-count to catch your breath and rest a bit before launching into the second half of the song. How nice of them, right?

Wrong.

For most people, it’s much easier to stay in “the zone” once you’re already there, as opposed to having to find it from scratch. When you’re in a state of full concentration, it’s easier to maintain your thought process as you make your way through the task at hand. In DDR, once you get in the rhythm of parsing the arrows and stomping the appropriate arrows, you can essentially go on autopilot and play almost unconsciously, just reading and reacting. MAX 300, as hard as it was, was essentially just a stamina test – no weird rhythms, no tricky step patterns, just a straight up challenge to see if you could keep up. And indeed, many fairly average players were able to do so, at least for a while.

But, when they gave you those precious seconds to rest, all of a sudden you had time to realize that your lungs and thighs are burning and you can’t quite stand up straight or see clearly anymore. And when the steps started up again, you simply didn’t have the energy to keep up anymore. So, while it superficially looked like a gift from above, that break was actually one of the harder parts of the song – not just for the actual physical difficulty of going from full speed to a full stop and immediately back to full speed again, but also for the sheer psychological toll it took on the player in doing so.

That’s what the break in the LSAT does to you. If you’re not careful, you will spend the entire 15 minutes dwelling on things that you did wrong in the first half of the test. You’ll suddenly remember that you didn’t get much sleep the night before, or remember that you’re actually incredibly nervous because this is your third attempt and you REALLY don’t want to wait another year for another bite at the apple. You’ll spot that despondent test-taker (there’s always at least one) who’s already contemplating canceling his score due to bombing the first half of the test, and that’ll start you questioning how well you’re doing. You’ll hear some guy talking about how he got two RC sections, and panic because you could have SWORN that your experimental was that unusually difficult LR section. No matter which one of these happens to you, you’re sunk. Your mental game is torpedoed, and there’s only one thing that happens from there.

What DDR players took to doing during this break was doing something – anything – to stay active and maintain the beat and not allow themselves to be psyched out by the structure of the song. Take a look at this video for an example, around 1:04:

He could take a break, and it would likely be well-deserved, but instead he’s making additional work for himself in order to avoid taking that break. This allows him to continue on after the pause without a hitch, because he never actually stops what he’s doing – he’s “in the zone” even when he’s not explicitly required to be.

Treat the LSAT the same way. Test day is one monolithic entity, from the moment you wake up to the moment you exit that testing room, and you must maintain your focus at all times. The break is not a time for you to relax – it is a test of your ability to remain focused. During your practice, make sure to simulate your breaks, because they are not optional and they have the potential to completely derail you if you’re not used to taking them. Eventually, you’ll get used to maintaining your focus through the break, or at the very least quickly picking back up where you left off once the break is over.

My suggestion for the break is to maintain a low-level state of readiness. What I mean by that is that you should focus on some concepts that you know like the back of your hand, and keep yourself LSAT-engaged by using those concepts to occupy your mind. Recite all of the LR questions types, or play with some conditional translations and make sure you can go between all four groups fluently, or go over your strategy for tackling a particular section you haven’t seen yet, or even just run your personal highlight reel (we’ll talk about this some other time) through your head over and over again. The name of the game is to make sure that you’re not headed into section 4 cold – that you “hit the ground walking”, as I like to say.

Oh, and make sure to seek out a local DDR machine and pump some quarters into it during one of your study breaks. 15 years and many mixes later, it’s still a ton of fun.

Quick question. Do you guys watch all video explanations of all the homework and exercises (games, RC, LR) in the core curriculum? It's taking me awfully long to finish it and I want to know if I should change my approach here. Thanks in advance you beautiful people!

Does anybody know when the personal statement program will start?

Just saw the discussion thread for that and I wish I had submitted an essay to him while he was offering to revise them for free :(. But it still sounds like something I want to be a part of! Maybe I missed another discussion about when this program will be ready to start? Does anybody know? Thanks in advance!! :)

Could someone tell me what BR stands for?

I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of NYC-based LSAT prep services (i.e., Blueprint, Powerscore, etc) offering to let you pay to participate in just the proctored LSAT exams? I think my biggest problem is test anxiety and I would love to sit for a few proctored exams before my retake in October. But I don't want to pay $1,300 for the privilege...

I really need some advice. My fiancee is in medical school, and will begin his residency when I begin law school. The way that residency works is that medical students pick where they apply, then are matched based on a ranking system. This means that he won't know where he will be for residency until the match day on March 18th.

Our original plan was for him to apply to residency programs only in cities where I have a few good law school options. Then after he was matched, I would choose a law school in that city. I studied really hard for the lsat to be sure that I would have options in multiple large cities. I have a good gpa. This seemed like it could work.

I was looking at admission timelines, and it appears that some great schools require you to give them an answer by the end of February. I won't know where my fiancee is matched for residency until March 18th. What should I do? Do you think law admissions offices will be flexible with those deadlines? We will be married at that point, and really don't want to live long distance at the beginning of our marriage.

Coming up with a rough outline of my work for the next 3 months. I have literally every PT including the old rare ones, and TBH I've blown thru most of them. Yeah yeah, you told me so. BUT I don't know if that will be an issue.

If I've seen them already, I should get perfect 180's on them all, right? Right. So since that probably won't actually happen, they will still give me hints and clues as to what I need to work on. Unfortunately I have a job.. so what I'm probably going to do is blow thru as many logic games as possible during the day (I get to sit around a lot) starting with the old ones and working up. The logic games seem to be the most conducive to being able to stop and come back to them. At nights/in free time, I will do 1-2 sections of LR or RC per day and will keep track of the ones I miss in a centralized location. I'm going to treat it like JY's method for games.. doing the section 10 times until I get it perfect. I think this will help me see the patterns of the arguments and passages more clearly through rote memorization. I think I went too fast last time. Taking the tests, but not reviewing my mistakes thoroughly enough

The fact that I drilled literally thousands of LR questions was the only thing that kept me going on Monday. I felt like a machine that had to separate logical answers from BS. Although my machine "did run out of gas" at the end, I can say I knocked over 3 sections b2b no problem. Now I just have to sharpen this axe even further.

Timing is not a concern I have. I was able to get to the end of every section with minutes to spare (besides "that" section) My main concerns are accuracy on the LR, and I have to start making notes on my reading comp. From my experience on test day, my brain will just be too hyped up to concentrate well on the passage enough to answer the Q's from memory. I'm going to have to create a useful system of markings that I will use from passage to passage to describe its contents quickly and be able to go back.

Not waiting for my score.. who cares.. the score will be: NOT GOOD Oct prep starts today.

I've noticed in recent preptests that there have been some difficult logic game curveballs. I'm currently only practicing sequencing games with the earlier tests where a lot of them are curveballs. is there any reason to be concerned about this new trend?

Hopefully someone who is far more organized than I am right now can answer this.

Call me short-sighted but I have studying like a mental patient for the LSAT since last December and have researched prospective law schools. I have a very general idea of when I would like to submit applications but that's about it.

Question- What the heck do I do know? I felt pretty good about the test (hopefully I didn't just jinx it, lol) but am open to retaking in October if I fall short of my PT average or if I just feel like it.

What's the first thing you would start working on post-LSAT? I have not done any work on any statements, etc. It's been all LSAT, all the time. Letters of recommendation first? I know people are generally slow. Nothing until scores? Study some more for possible retake? Old habits die hard after all..

Thanks!

I see some people who are getting creative with their own methods of prep, such as making lists, making excel documents to test inferences, and the like. I want to put out a challenge for anyone who chooses to accept.. it would probably help all of us as well as help the author:

-Come up with a bunch of fake "game setup" situations that have ambiguous or complicated boards that we will have to translate into a board. (I don't think you have to go all the way and write a whole game)

-Come up with a bunch of conditional translations useful in grouping and sequencing games. (A is before B unless C is before D, Z is 3rd if and only if Y is 7th, B is on Tuesday or Wednesday if C is on Thursday)

I know various courses already have things like this, but why not throw some more out and make it interesting?

I'm confused. Some people are saying they had an LR section as experimental. I had a game section that was experimental. Could someone please clarify?

Dear friends,

Let's kick off our LSAT Summer Jams with full gusto. Three BR groups for your enjoyment and edification this week.

Note on all groups

Wednesday, June 10th at 8pm EST: PT45

We'll start this BR cycle off right, hitting the ground running with PT45.

(s)I won't be on this call, but many others will.(/s) Just kidding, I will be there after all.

Friday, June 12th at 8pm EST: PT66

For those of us who want to be able to retake and/or drill from tests up to PT71, we will have Friday sessions to BR those later tests. This is likely to be a smaller group but open to anyone.

Note on the Friday group: Please PM me and specifically ask to be added to this one; as it's a smaller group, I won't call everyone from the bigger groups unless you specifically let me know you're up for some crazy PT66+ action.

LSATurday, June 13th at 8pm EST: PT46

Rollin' rollin' rollin'...we'll affectionately beat the snot out of PT46 on Saturday night.

If a question is removed from scoring, does that help ALL of the test takers grades go up? Does anyone know for sure?

I understand that the test is of course not actually 7 hours, but my admission ticket says that it can take up to 7 hours... what does this mean? Is there an additional 3 or so hours of rules to be read to all the test-takers? My concern is if there is some long process at the beginning, before the test starts, then I want to know the optimal minute to ingest my caffeine.

Everyone seems pretty negative about the June LSAT so I figure I'll bring some positivity as we wait. To be honest I have no idea how I did but I don't feel like I bombed it, then again I'm not looking at a 170-180 so I have more leeway in terms of "bombing".

I went in feeling a little pressure but not much since even if I can't get in to school I already have a job lined up and a pretty good software engineer career to fall back on. I studied for a few months and my PT's ranged from 152 (initial) to 169 (PT 69, before the damn 70's..). I figure I have a good chance of at least getting a high 150 which is fine to get in where I want to go. Of course you're thinking thats super low and yes it is but I have to say I wasn't stressed during the test. I finished every section except the games section before the 5 minute warning. The games I finished a few minutes early. I don't think I got everything correct but I didn't just guess so I feel like my timing definitely was good, I might have thought the wrong things or made bad inferences but I definitely felt like if I had practiced a bit more I had more than enough time to do it right. So thats a win.

I'd also like to thank the kid who kept muttering "The tension in the air" before the test. That made me bust out laughing and I couldn't stop thinking about it during the test which just put me at ease. The proctors kept looking at me because I was smiling and silently chuckling to myself the whole test, especially when I noticed someone frustrated. No matter how bad I did I feel like I handled the pressure well so thats another win.

Anyway, as I await the score I can't help but to feel good about how well I did yesterday, regardless of score.

Just as the title says. Probably looking at a writing in October for the first time. I work weekdays so weekends probably work better for me.

Hey guys,

So I have bought the 7sage's lsat starter, and I am wondering how do you study as you follow the program? Do you drill specific question types while studying? or do you just continue to watch the videos until the end after learning about everything, and then start drilling?

I had LR-RC-LR-LR-LG. For those with the same set-up, have we been able to guess which LR was experimental? Was the one about mate/paraguay in the first section?

So I have now canceled 2 lsats. I would have kept my last test if I didn't have to guess on a full game plus a couple of questions. I have not had to do that one time during my entire prep. How do you think law schools will look at this?

On my LSAC account it says July 7, 2015 but I consistently keep hearing it take 3 weeks... but I'm wondering, from the people who have already taken it... does it possibly come back even earlier than that? And will it come in an email or do we need to be continually checking our LSAC account?