I took PT 41 today and scored a 159! i have yet to BR and am feeling conifdent that my scores will steadily rise from here! That's my highest score for the third consecutive time! this one 5 points higher than the last! ( 144 diagnostic to 159 , 6.5 months with 7Sage)

Hi everyone,

I just wanted some input from the group. I have been studying for months now and I am still not improving nor reaching my PT goal. Should I take my June test for the experience even though I'm sure I'll end up with a low score or just delay it to October? I've been delaying my LSAT several times so I feel like rather than pushing it behind yet again, taking it at least once now would be better. But by reading other forums lots of people say if one is not Pt-tng around their goal, then delay it. I'm aiming for a Canadian law school so many law schools just look at the highest LSAT score. Not sure it they will take into consideration of my other LSAT scores, for example I get a 141 on the June LSAT but for the October one I get a 167. Would love some feedback, thank you!

Heading hopefully for the October LSAT.

I spent from January until April working through the core curriculum and the Trainer. I now have four-and-a-half months to get through the LG Bundle and hopefully the core curriculum again before PTing from July-October.

Does this sound realistic? As of this month I can dedicate 5-6 hours a day to LSAT prep.

Just making sure I'm on track...confidence is down a bit!

Thanks,

J.

I've been PT-ing the 60s, and just did PT 70. The style of LR is definitely different than the older ones, and can be a bit rattling. I do lots of drilling during my regular practice (both question types and full sections). Do you suggest focusing on drilling from the newer tests (I do not mean the newest 10 or so, that I am reserving for PTs)? If so, what constitutes as "new"? 50s, 60s? I've burned through PTs up until the mid-60s, but I definitely see the value in re-doing old PTs for drilling. I have been using the 30s and 40s for drills, but thinking maybe I should focus on the newer ones, to get used to the style of the new PTs, even if I took them more recently.

What do you suggest? That was primarily regarding LR, but if you have suggestions for LG and RC, would be great. I just asked about LR because that is my major battle.

I have been trending well in testing. However, I recently scored a 166 on a practice lsat and followed it up with a 151 on my next practice. Has anybody ever gone through this? I felt just as good after the 151 than I did after the 166. I just bombed it. Advice would help alot.

Hi y'all,

Quick note while I'm traveling: unless there are ardent objections, let's do the Saturday blind review group at 8pm EST this week. Many of the regulars will be absent and I know we have some new people—would the 8pm EST time work for everyone for this upcoming Saturday?

PM me with your Skype handle if you want to join. Don't be alarmed if I don't respond right away—it will likely be Saturday afternoon before I'm able to get back to everyone due to a hectic travel schedule (3 states in 4 days then back to Texas Friday night).

PT58. Be there/be square.

LSAT love from Lancaster County, PA.

I have watched this lesson at least five times. I tried to do the questions but I can't weaken the argument. I don't know how to apply the Causation Theory and Strategy to each question. When I try to solve the questions all I think is the answer with the alternative cause is the correct one. Help.

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if any of you set a timer while drilling out of the Cambridge question type packets? I tried to on question types like Sufficient and Necessary but I end up usually going over time anyway...

Does anyone else experience this? Most of my high scores came from tests that I thought I did very poorly but the tests that I thought were easy usually ends with subpar score (curves are pretty much the same for both kind)....

I've started studying since January with a score of 158. After a few practice tests, I had some scores in the low 160s - I had a 162, 165, and 163...and then suddenly one day it went down to a 157...157...153....158....157 (i've taken 12 PTs so far). I just took one today and it's a 157 again, which is lower than my initial diagnostic. I'm so frustrated and June is just around the corner. Is it even possible to go up to a 165 at least in the next 4 weeks? (out of my 12 PTs....3 were in the 160's and the other 9 was in the 150's....)

My worst section is unfortunately RC (I can miss anywhere from 9-14). Games is my best section - if I have a very good LG section I will miss 1 or 2. When I do poorly I'll miss like 4-5. LR (I miss like 5-6 on one section, and then the other LR sections always sucks...miss 8-9). When I do timed sections 35 sections during my study - I tend to get more correct.

Also - when you do BR....which is essentially answering the questions untimed after taking the PT. Do you have to do a BR for the whole test in one sitting? or even the section in one sitting? or is it just untimed anytime I want?

Some encouragement or advice is much needed...please...

I excel at Necessary questions, but fail miserably at Sufficient assumptions. Are there any techniques that'll help me with these? I mostly have a problem on the ones that don't require formal logic.

Now with fancy link to add yourself to the group: click here for fancy Skype add link. Or PM me with your handle if it doesn't work.

Fancy link is fancy.

1) Take PT62 under timed conditions

2) BR it as much as you're able

3) Join us at 7pm EST for fun and games. No, really. Fun = LSAT and games = well, logic games ...

Learn. Focus. Empower. Vent. Camaraderie. Canada jokes. Cat noises. Etc.

Hey guys! So, I find myself going through a list of questions whenever I approach an RC passage that has proven to be helpful and was wondering if you could add to the list. These are the questions I currently ask myself:

1) What is the Main Point?

2) How do the paragraphs relate to the MP?

3) How do the examples relate to the MP?

4) What is the author's attitude?

5) Is the passage descriptive or prescriptive?

Hey y'all.

Took PT62 this morning. Here's one thing I did differently in RC—and I think it helped quite a bit.

1) Read passage; make mental note of MP's, box key terms/people; mark pivots with an ">" in the margin. Follow each line with the tip of my pencil.

2) Notate MP1/MP2/Op (or AV) after the first read through.

I found myself MUCH less distracted by notations and able to retain considerably more of the passage doing this.

I know this has been addressed in other topics but how bad is it to have 2 or 3 LSAT scores if your highest is in the mid to upper 160s and you're looking to get into a lower law school and then transfer?

I recently began writing a diversity statement on what I believe to be a unique and transformative job. I've noticed, however, that most if not all are focused on one's upbringing and the diversity within that. The job I want to use is my current one, and I've had it for a year (it will be about 2.5 years by the time I actually start law school). Bad idea or good idea? Or is the unquestionably inapplicable to the diversity statement?

Hello everyone, hope all is well; I am writing this post after taking a PT, (my 8th total), and i am literally heart broken.

After spending the last year pushing like iv'e never pushed before, I was able to graduate at the end of the summer while taking 25 units in the spring and another 12 units over the summer. To say the least, I finally graduated and got my bachelor's in Sociology from a CSU.

In September, I signed up for the Blueprint LSAT Prep course offered at their original location, by the original founder. working 10 hours a day (8AM-6PM), and putting MY ALL into this prep class, I reached a point where i realized that there is absolutely no possible way to take the December LSAT and score good. I simply wasn't ready; I studied every single day, 7 days a week (6 hours on a day on weekdays, 12-14 hours a day on weekends), The class FLEW by, the instructor was expecting WAY too much, and everything was a complete blur. I worked my BUTT off to save the 1,500.00$ required to pay for that class.

So i rescheduled for the February LSAT, and extended my access for another 350.00$; Realizing, AGAIN, that I am nowhere near my target score (165+) that I need in order to go to any T20+ school (my LSAC GPA is in the gutter.. horrible 2.62), I RESCHEDULED AGAIN. Another heart-breaking moment for me and everyone else around me. At this point, my parents (my father, a VERY hard to please person, works for the department in the US Gov.. can't say which) were completely disgusted with this delay, I was (and still am!) impatiently waiting to start law school and make my dream come true; I so upset at myself that I did not know what to do.

So, what did i do? I quit my 65,000$+/year job, put all my savings towards my bills, hired a private tutor that costs an arm and a leg, buckled down, and made this my top priority for the past 4 months. I have been studying ALMOST EVERY single day, taking 1 or 2 days off a week, and meeting with the tutor at least once a week. while studying, my tutor gave me a study schedule:

by the end of April- We will be completely done with all the material, and we will start doing Practice Tests. 2 weeks before doing practice tests, I started drilling entire sections. i was getting -6/-8 on each section when i was drilling by question or by section; suddenly, when i started PT'ing, my scores are in the gutter.

Today, at of my 8th PT, i have not been able to score higher than a 153. i am completely devastated by the lack of progress made. I've been blind reviewing every single test, I have been going over every single question until I could verbally tell you the question with one breath of air.

Everyone, I seriously do not know what to do anymore. i cannot postpone this exam further. June is my date! My games are not great at all, my LR foundation is solid as heck, I can easily identify assumptions/flaws, but for some reason that is beyond me i cannot break past a 151!

someone out there please save me and please tell me what to do

[Edited by mods]

Heavily edited to remove all caps which is in violation of forum rule #9

http://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/15/discussion-forum-rules

Would anyone like to group BR tests starting in the 40s? I would be on track to BR test 40 starting on the evening of 4/29.

I did a group BR with #LSATurday, which was great!, but that BR group is moving on to PTs in the 60s, and because this is my second time around with the test I am really just taking tests in the 40s and early 50s (I have already taken the 60s).

If you're interested and want to do BRs in the 40s let me know, and we ccan set something up over skype.

Thanks!

Ben

For those of us that are taking the June test and are in Orange County, do you want to start meeting regularly to take timed tests in person at the library? I'm in south Orange County but typically study at UC Irvine with @connie1130. It's been really advantageous to have another person taking the test with you and timing it together so I wanted to know if people in the area wanted to do this on a larger scale.

I have been studying for months on end and I am not sure how to get my actual score to match my blind review score. When I take the test first pass even if I don't time myself I get between -8/-12 per section on Logical Reasoning, -0/-1 on logic games, and -9/-14 on reading comprehension. However when I blind review I get almost every single question correct. However I am stuck as to how to get the correct answer the first time. On the LR section it is typically the middle and end that I get incorrect and I am usually down to two answers but always seem to pick the incorrect one the first time. I am scheduled to take the LSAT June 2015 but desperately want a high score. Can anyone help with tips or ideas to close the gap between actual vs. blind review. Has anyone else seen similar results while preparing?

Thank you

Hi 7Sagers!

I have noticed a number of times on PT's that every now and then, I run into a time sink on a game. When I check the 7Sage explanation, I discover that it was actually a rather simple game, that I've conquered much more challenging ones with way less feeling of oh-god-what-the-hell-is-this. So that's good news, but after reviewing the Logic Games Boards Cheat Sheet while watching explanation vids (a helpful tool to connect general theory to particular cases in games, as patterns start to emerge), I realized what was tripping me up every now and then on what should have been easy points for me: there was a RED HERRING in the game that was deliberately put there, ostensibly, to make me think there's an additional layer in my game board that I was missing. The test writers seem to like spending a fair amount of unnecessary words on a simple, not-that-restrictive distinction between players or something, but then they don't give you enough information to actually incorporate that distinction into your gameboard (at least for me to do so, and if I could, it would take more time than I have to comfortably finish the test).

Check out this example:

PT#55 Oct 2008 Game 3 - Sequencing Pure

The game starts off by announcing the first distinction: night vs. day shift. So now I'm already anticipating an IN/OUT set up. Next, it gives us the six players and a ranking task, suggesting sequencing. Okay. Got it. But I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on the IN/OUT issue. The very next sentence feeds into that, by again highlighting the night/day distinction. I get what feels like valuable information for a game of IN/OUT with a sequencing task. SO, G T or S H are going to be the night, and the other 4 will be the day. So I'm thinking... okay, so it's IN/OUT, slots determined and sequencing task in subcategories. I've already bought into the time sink the test writers set up for me.

In an 8 line blurb before the list of sequencing rules, FIVE of those 8 lines were spent describing things in terms of this night/day distinction. Heck, the very purpose of the whole scenario the game describes is to COMPARE TWO GROUPS. No matter.

On a good morning, when I'm feeling like an LSAT baller, I would have wondered at first if I'm about to get an IN/OUT set up, and then gotten to the rules and seen that what I can draw is a sequencing board, with the typical sequencing rules, jot down a note of the two pairs that I'm told are night shift (in case I'm told what to do with that in a question), and call it a day. I'd have been on a mission, to get where I'm going, which is to the questions, where I can pick up points with the information I do have, and a mental footnote to remember the cliffhanger that may or may not require me to reconsider my set up (I hate when that happens, but accepting the possibility and moving on to find out would have been a lot quicker than getting stuck in a time sick of anxiety because I can't tolerate the uncertainty of that nasty little what-do-I-do-with-this-night/day-issue cliffhanger, staring at the page as I waffle over my setup, looking for something that, lo-and-behold, is not there).

On a bad morning, when I wake up feeling groggy and resenting the fact of this overinflated poriton of my law school app process, I am more like a new driver waiting to make a turn onto a busy road, sitting at a full stop with my blinker on, watching the cars go by, along with 2, maybe 3 solid opportunities to make the turn comfortably.

When I check my answers after a more or less demoralizing testing experience (which only reinfored the antipathy I had for this being something I need to do, because at some point I realize I'm distracted by my own hesitation as I move through the test, losing me points that could be the difference between a high 160's and low 170's - ugh), I am just kicking myself because the thing that stalwarted me the most was a freaking 5 minute standard sequencing game - one of the skills I can do almost reflexively. I'm normally happy to see those!

Moral of the story: another benefit of practice, beyond the level of certainty that comes with familiarity, is getting comfortable with red herrings. Zero in on them, and compare them to the kind of game that ACTUALLY has the issue you took the bait for in another game. Don't just say after watching the video, oh god, I can't believe I missed that, what an easy game, and then move on. Revisit your own thought process, because when something THAT easy sunk you THAT much time, you probably were tripping on the LSAT, who loves to be a tease. Find out what lured you in, and compare it to a similar game where the issue you anticipated actually activates.

I'm on the look out for a game that I can compare to the one I discussed in this post, and I'm sure it won't be hard to find a few given the issue tags marked on the list of games explanation videos. I'll post back when I find some. If anybody sees a game that could compare well (i.e. one where in/out and sequencing issues are both actually activating in the set up stage), I would love to hear from anyone so I can check it out.

Best!

Clarissa H.

So I have heard and read excellent things about the LSAT Trainer and was wondering how you have been combining your studies. I would probably attempt to do them simultaneously. For example, first I would complete a segment of 7sage (since I anticipate it will be quicker than reading) and then read chapter 1 of the trainer to reinforce concepts and drills. I am just curious as to other ways that some of you have meshed the two in your studies and how effective you feel it has been for you.

Can somebody please explain the correct answer choice? I thought all of these answer choice were terrible/unsupported.

http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-53-section-4-passage-4-passage/

http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-53-section-4-passage-4-questions/

Has anyone successfully used highlighters during an actual test. I have begun using highlighters and they certainly increase my understanding of the passage but also takes more time to get through the passage. I am using 3 colors right now , maybe I should switch to 2.

I have created notes from 7sage's curriculum and if you would like them please PM me with your email :)