so the august test is going back to 4 sections (one being unsecured correct?) so it would be just 3 scored sections (1LR 1RC 1LG) correct? so it would be beneficial to score practice test w just three sections instead of 4 right?

I understand why AC (A) is the correct answer because it is the best suited. However, is it really an assumption the argument depends on because if you utilise JY's negation method, you can get this:

Say, there is a political debt she owes to somebody longer than Lee & it can be as suitably repaid by appointing them to the Head of the Arts Commission, couldn't it be the case at the exact same time another job became vacant that was better suited to this unnamed individual (the individual Mayor Drabble had a longer standing political debt to). Therefore, allowing Lee to be appointed to the Head of the Arts Commission and fulfilling her longer standing political debt as soon as possible.

I am not sure if the slight flaw in the logic is due to it being an older LSAT so not as logically rigorous or I am missing something?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

#Help.

Took a one weak break from testing and my score dropped 6 points. What happened ? How do i maintain my score until test day ?

Hello,

If anyone is interested in forming a small group to talk through reasoning for LR please comment below! I feel like this could be helpful going forward

Hello everyone!

I'm student born with an American passport, grew up outside of the United States, and attended an accredited University outside of North America which offered courses in English(had a faculty that taught courses in English which I was enrolled in). Will I count as an international student in my application for law school? Also, is it true that my GPA will have little bearing on my evaluation for admission? I hear GPA is weighted much less heavily for international students, and that a third party institution 'translates' scores before sending them to lsac. I'm not sure about this so I would appreciate if someone could confirm!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Situation: 4 LSAT's: 137, 143, 141, 165.

Reason: Didn't study correctly, did undergrad with multiple internships and jobs. For the 137 I was part time in family law legal assistant, other part time internship at the PD's office, plus course load. GPA was 3.20 but CAS 3.0 (I repeated Bio and Chem, school doesn't count initial fail, CAS does.)

165: Graduated, own my business so I gave myself time by hiring an additional assistant to deal with day to day ops and concentrated on 7Sage and most importantly PTs.

My worry is that the schools would think this is just luck and that a similar situation could happen in law school, especially with the workload. On my personal statement, I plan to cover about challenges in starting my business and the lessons learned, I will also talk about learning from experience and delegating which would ideally tie to lessons learned in undergrad with the insane load I had. And also make it clear to them that I will hire someone to take care of operations to relieve me from the responsibilities of my business during law school.

But I'm not sure if an Addendum is warranted if I should just incorporate that into the personal statement.

Edit: Removed Diversity statement question that was clearly answered in the admissions course that I hadn't seen.

I don't understand why D is incorrect. So we are trying to explain why these canaries go through this yearly process of losing their neurons and then replacing them with new ones and the author claims that it's so that these canary brains don't get so huge that they can't fly so doesn't D provide a scenario where these canaries don't need to go through this process and can still fly due to "better developed muscles?"

And does this whole neuron regenerating process apply to all canaries or only some of them?

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-13-section-3-passage-1-questions/

Hi everyone

I am trying to study for the upcoming August test and have been doing problem sets throughout the week. Last week I would complete a LR problem set and average 2-3 wrong out of 25-26 questions. This past week, it's dropped to 5-7 wrong seemingly out of nowhere. Habits and eating schedule have stayed the same, and I just took a practice test and got the most amount of questions wrong since 4-5 months ago. Upon review I understand my mistake and will answer the question right, but in the moment I don't know where that line of thinking goes. Feeling super defeated. Any advice?

I made myself a reminder sheet for each section with recommendations/strategies to avoid errors I've previously made. Every section I do, I assess why I made each error and what I should do to avoid it, and then I add this recommendation to my reminder sheet.

I thought you guys might benefit from seeing what a sample reminder sheet looks like, the tips here are specific to me and many methods might work for your own LG practice.

I thought the argument was a causal conclusion because of “increases.” Since the argument goes from correlation to causation, isn’t one of the assumptions that there is a causal relationship between watching TV and obesity among North-American school children? What effect does answer choice B have on the argument?

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-39-section-4-question-04/

I am studying for the LSAT full-time. I saw on one of the YouTube videos posted by a Korean-American HLS student that reading the Economist was helpful for him to hone his RC skills. I tried reading the Economist but it doesn’t relate to my current standing in the world, specifically in South Korea as a tutor. I am looking to read books and papers such as Federalist, Declaration of Independence, Democracy in America, Leviathan, Politics, Prince, Republic, Two Treaties of Government, Utilitarianism, Writings of Thomas Paine. These works are written by famous thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, Tocqueville, Hobbes, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Plato, Locke, Mill, and Paine. I was just wondering to what extent reading these works would be helpful on my end to hone the RC part.

Thanks,

Ken

Quick question––will the 4th unscored section for the LSAT be one of the two LR sections? Or can it be any one of the three section types?

These types of posts were really helpful for me while studying, so I felt like I owed this post to the forum. I’ve tried to boil it down to 8 things that I wish I could tell an earlier version of myself that was studying for the LSAT.

Timelines are Man-Made

At one point, I was so convinced that I needed to be a KJD. After an unsuccessful first LSAT take, a few awesome people challenged my thinking and I’m glad they did. It afforded me more time to study for this test and get some great work experience before school. This has been said 1,000x, but don’t take the LSAT before you’re really ready. Like PTing-above-your-target-range ready - based on my experience, the test day penalty is real. Please learn from my mistakes :)

If you want to hit your full potential, take JY’s post about how studying can take over a year seriously. Unless you’re an LSAT unicorn, that’s just how it is. This isn’t another college exam where you’re being tested on knowledge, instead the LSAT tests skills. Skills take time to develop and finetune. Accept that the timeline will likely be long, exhausting, and even slightly annoying. It’ll make your life easier.

And btw, when people say things like “you’ve been studying for HOW long?” or other snide bs, just don’t listen to them. If you want to perform at your best, it may take a while. I started studying in the spring of ‘19 and received my 170 in June ‘21. I didn’t study that entire time, but collectively it took over a year.

“The difference between a 165 and 170 is strategy”

I received a 166 on the January exam. Based on my last 5 PTs, this was a fat underperformance. I knew why my score dipped: I panicked during LR and RC. The harder question to answer -- why did I panic?

Then I heard this quote about strategy. I think @Sami or @canihazJD said it (thanks!) on the podcast. Unlike LG, I didn’t have any real strategy for LR and RC. Once I started implementing skipping rules in LR and started standardizing my approach to RC, I became far less likely to panic and saw less volatility in my scores.

Strategy builds confidence and you’ll need confidence when shit hits the fan on test day.

Logic games can be slain

I was NOT good at LGs ( -10 or so a section) and it took me a long time to get to -0/-1. I would get frustrated when I’d read about how “learnable” they are -- really, just a bruised ego on my end. Here’s a quick overview of what worked for me.

I did games over and over and over again. I foolproofed games 1-35 and would foolproof games after each full PT I took. Eventually, I’d dedicate full study days just to foolproofing a gametype. Sequencing. Grouping. In/Out. Etc. By the end of these days, my brain was mush. That being said, I started to see inferences far more quickly. It also helped me anticipate splits/SGBs and the right ACs.

Also I adopted a section strategy - here’s a high level overview: during timed sections I would read the first two games before deciding which game I’d tackle first. I’d do the same for the third and fourth games. This approach helped me build confidence under timed conditions. Having a strategy can really help you feel under control and forget about nerves.

I’d also put my finger on the screen to make sure I didn’t misread a rule - weird, I know. But I found that at a certain point, if I was struggling with a game it was because I misread a rule. Back when the LSAT was made of paper, JY recommended touching every word with your pencil. This is kinda my adaptation to the times. Everyone functions differently, but I had a tendency to jump the gun while reading rules. Touching each word forced me to slow down and understand the game.

If possible, use your most productive hours on study

Try to study for the LSAT before other activities burn you out. Work and classes, for example, can eat up a lot of mental energy. Personally, this meant studying before work. I didn’t enjoy waking up at 5 but it was well worth it. ALSO - don’t compensate for a lack of sleep by drinking a ton of caffeine. Coffee is great...but in moderation.

Meditate

Do it. I would usually do a mix of guided and unguided. I used the Waking Up app for guided meditation. In general, mindfulness is the best - not only for your studies but in your personal life as well. If the LSAT is a real source of anxiety for you, I’d recommend trying out worry scripting. A Google search will point you in the right direction!

Your PT Scores Don’t Matter! Focus on Improvement

Sorry if that comes off as blunt, but it’s true. I used to care a LOT about my PT scores, but they’re just practice. If you hit 100 free throws in practice, it doesn’t really matter, does it? But if you actually work on your mechanics, that can really pay off come game 6. (sorry for the metaphor, I love Giannis)

PTs are a tool for learning, so don’t focus on scores. Leave that for the Reddit users. All that matters: you learn from your mistakes, you maintain your strengths, and you execute on the real thing.

Unplugging is essential

For a while, I tried studying 7 days a week. This was a terrible, terrible idea. It led to constant burn out and, frankly, poor mental health. You can’t replace rest. You can’t replace socialization. You should view these elements of your life as necessary conditions for getting your best score. (they’re also important in their own right, obviously)

A few things that worked for me:

Finally, be kind to yourself

Seriously. If you’re reading this post, you’re likely highly motivated - I know this because you’re reading some dude with a weird username’s LSAT ramblings. I’m willing to bet you put plenty of pressure on yourself. Remember that this is a learning process. Like I’ve said, the LSAT is a skills test. So work your ass off but remember that patience is a virtue. Trust that good things take time.

Best of luck on the test and beyond!

I recall seeing in the CC that "IS" is a conditionality signifier (necessary). However, is that the case all the time? Is "IS" a biconditional when it's just something like "The number 5 is hot ?

Is it possible to get into a school where your LSAT score is under the median but GPA is there , combined with a good personal statement? Anyone have experiences or know anyone that has gotten into a reach school?

Dear 7Sagers,

I had the Ultimate+ membership and I applied to law school during the 2020-2021 cycle. Like many of you, I lived and breathed 7Sage, and I devoted so much of my free time to mastering the LSAT. I read the message boards, took the practice tests, and interacted with the community. I remember reading posts from people who complained that they couldn't get past the 165 or the 171 marks, and I always rolled my eyes but secretly, I was worried. These posts made me feel stupid. I felt as if I was doing something wrong because I was struggling to break the 150 mark. Also, I felt at a disadvantage being first-generation because everything was new to me. No one in my family was familiar with the law school process but thankfully, I knew some attorneys, through work, who gave me phenomenal advice.

Eventually, I realized I had to do what was best for me and not worry about other’s success, which was easier said than done. At the end of the day, as long as I knew I did everything in my power to excel, then I could not be truly upset with myself. From November 2020 until now, I’ve learned so much about the admissions process and I want to share it with others but, I know no one either law school-bound or contemplating it.

Given this, I decided to document my experiences and advice (see the link below) to those who may benefit from it. In all, it’s a decent read but it’s amazing. I’m biased towards myself so take it with a grain of salt.

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Considering I no longer use or check my 7Sage account, I’ll do to the best of my abilities to respond.

Happy reading and I wish you the best of luck on this journey! Also, thanks for taking the time to read this post.

Sincerely,

LSAT Learner-1

Link to My Advice: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YlAzPCkWon7wPKgUK7Dcwcm12nWNZ6bA/view?usp=sharing

TL/DR version: should I keep going with the study material I presently have and start the 7Sage course at a later time or do I switch over completely and just follow the 7Sage course plans. Also, recommendation as to when to take the first PT? Lastly, given the vast quantity of materials of the 7Sage course, suggestions on efficient note taking?

I believe I fall into the category of a "non-traditional" student, as I am middle-aged and possess graduate degrees (in the sciences). I work full-time but have rather flexible hours and have planned 9-12 months (and perhaps more) for when to take the test for the first time. Currently planning on doing 15-20 hours of studying/week, which would be ~750-1,000 hours.

I actually contemplated taking the LSAT about a decade ago. As a nearly-broke grad student who had a good grasp of propositional logic (did very well on the final exam of that class), I thought I could probably rely only on the books from PowerScore and get it done on my own; how wrong I was! A lack of studying time pretty much exposed that foray as the pipe dream it was. A decade plus of lived experience later, I'm a bit more reserved about my abilities but can actually afford to shell out for a class without batting an eye.

Alas, here I am, wondering if I should continue to self-study (without a concrete schedule) from PowerScore and switch over to the full-hog 7Sage program after I've reviewed all the PowerScore books, or if I should just switch to 7Sage tout de suite. In favor of the former approach is that this has been mentioned elsewhere (using PowerScore to gain initial familiarity and 7Sage to hone in on the details). In favor of the latter is that it would free me up from planning my own syllabus. I guess one thing I want to know if what are some strengths of the PowerScore material not found in the 7Sage material?

Lastly, three things. One as mentioned above is on when I should take my first PT. Back in my last foray a decade ago, I could actually get through two LGs (and the entire section would take me ~55-60 minutes to complete). At the present, some LGs might take me 25 minutes to complete, and I thought it was a waste to go through a PT and it would be better to wait until I'm more familiar with the content. But perhaps I really ought to attempt one first in the next few weeks?

Next, with the vast quantity of instruction material, what is the recommendation on how much notes to take? For instance, some of the topics in the free preview section seem pretty self-explanatory, and I'm inclined not to take special amount of notes. Am I short changing myself here?

Finally, speed on the LGs. After how many hours of studying and reviewing could I reasonably expect to do a particular game in ~11 minutes? Am I looking at 100 hours or perhaps something more?

I HATE this section with a passion. I was never good at it, I never was able to finish on time, I tried every skill out there for studying and practicing and NOTHING worked. I do not consider myself a slow reader, but I do consider myself someone who tries to pay attention to every detail. My thought process was comprehension > generalization; I thought it was worth going slower if it meant I could understand the passage better, but this didn't help. What it did do was make me focus so much on the details that I would not only be snail slow, but I would second guess answers due to me giving my brain enough time to over-evaluate questions or focus on the wrong things. HOWEVER, I think I have finally hit a holy grail...and it might sound unorthodox...but LSAT be making you do some crazy things sometimes.

My Method: What I found works best for me is an alternating method of focus and skim. As I start the passage, I read the first sentence slow and ask myself what is going on. I make sure I can pick out a focal topic or something to anchor my mind to. Then, I skim through the main body of the paragraph, focusing on simply acknowledging the details and what they are generally saying. Once I get to the last 1 or 2 sentences of the paragraph (nothing more), I slow down and focus on identifying how the author closes out the paragraph. I do this process for each paragraph: first sentence focus, main body skimming, last sentence focus. (If the paragraph is short, such as only consisting of two long sentences, then I read the whole thing in a medium pace manner, mainly paying attention to its topic & what its purpose is for being so short.)

What I have found is that this method not only allows me to recognize the details of the passage, but it helps me naturally focus on the general idea. Focusing on the general idea when each paragraph is saying something different is easier said then done, but pin pointing specific spots in the passage that you know you're going to slow down at and focus on makes it easier to keep track of your thoughts and passage development. By doing this method, I still find myself having to reference the passage, but I can usually find where the evidence is fairly quickly and move on.

I used to NEVER be able to finish the RC section, and even when I gave myself more time, I still would get -8/9 wrong. Now that I do this method, I am finishing the section for the first time, and I even finished one yesterday with a whole 5 minutes to spare; that's probably because with this method, I went from reading the passage in 4 minutes to reading it in under 3 minutes. That is a huge accomplishment if you're like me and also want to make the RC section illegal for mental health reasons. I still got -5 wrong, but that's at least some improvement, and I mostly got them wrong due to my lack of reading the answer choices correctly, not because I didn't understand the passage. I pray and hope this method works for some people because RC can be a major pain and sometimes the average methods just don't work. So here's something new. LMK if it works!

First time LSAT taker and I am wondering when I can choose the time for my test. I have chosen the day on LSAC already, but not the time.

Why would the program care about if they have "serious problems" when they said they needed to focus on building competence just to stay on air. B sounds too vague to me

Hi everyone,

I was wondering for the online LSAT exams where & how do you write out the Logic Games? Like game board, pieces, rules, sub game boards, etc.

Took an online practice test but the Logic Games section didn't seem to have any tools to free write. Only saw tools for highlighting & underlining the existing text.

Please help. Thank you.

Hello Everyone! I am aiming to take the LSAT in June of 2022 and I am struggling to figure out a study schedule. My goal right now is to take it easy but I am anxious about whether I should go straight through the CC as it is presented in the syllabus or mix and match (such as one day do some LR then jump to LG then back to LR). I would love to hear how people approached the CC and if they did decided to jump around how they decided what lessons to pick and do without getting confused. Thanks!

I am consistently worse at easier RC passages than the harder ones. For example, I just took a PT section with two level 2 passages, and two level 4 difficulty passages and I got four wrong just within one level 2 passage.

Any advice would help! Or if anyone can speak from experience - this has been a consistent problem of mine- I am always better at the harder passages and get at least 2x more questions wrong in the easier passages!

I've been drilling LR questions for my weak spots for a while now. And I certainly think I am getting better at them. Yesterday I did a set of Weaken questions, which used to be a huge weak spot, but I got nearly all of them right. I was very happy about that.

The only thing that concerned me was that I took a pretty long time on the set of questions, sometime 5 minutes on each question. There was no actual rush as I was more focused on my mechanics and that I actually did the questions well. But a lot of the time was spent because there was maybe 1-2 answers that I could not rule out and I kept try to reason why they wouldn't be the case.

My question is this - if doing these questions timed, do you ever feel ultra-confident with your answer on harder LR questions before you move on? My gut instinct usually tells me why I feel drawn to a specific answer (and usually its the right one) but I can't rule out other answers as quickly as I like. But under timed conditions, you got to move and it all happens so fast.

What are people's thoughts on this? Is this a bad thing or does timed pressure mean you proceed forward with something less than 100% certainty?

I've never seen a MSS Q that required me to make any assumptions when analyzing the consistency of one premise to the next. Just some assumptions in choosing the conclusion from the answer choices. So do you guys think it's fair to say we'll never see a MSS Q with a flaw in the stimulus?