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?

Disclaimer: Making sub-game boards might not be the method that works best for everyone, and 7Sage states that it is possible to do every question WITHOUT a sub-game board. This is simply my testimony on how it has made me the most confident I've ever been on LG.

While logic games has always been my best section, it took a while for my brain to naturally do them in an organized manner. I was good at seeing the rules and creating my master game board, but I didn't make second level deductions, which meant no sub-game boards, which meant 10 different copies of my master game board that were extremely unorganized.

As I have practiced doing logic games more and more, I have come to realize that sub-game boards, even if they are not 100% filled out or solved, are life saviors. Most people think that sub-game boards are only worth doing when you can fill them out completely, but this is untrue. Sub-game boards, no matter how filled out, are simply additional visuals for you to write down facts about the rules that you already know. When I first starting considering sub-game boards, I found myself finishing with about 2 minutes left but getting -3/4 from silly mistakes. After I really started making deductions a natural step in my LG routine, I started to finish with 6-8 minutes left, only getting -1/0. Logic games has always been my best section but today I hit my personal best by finishing PrepTest 81 Logic Games with 9:40 left on the clock and getting -0, and it was all thanks to the sub-game boards (I did one for every question so maybe I just got lucky lol).

To those struggling to complete Logic Games or those who finish but just find themselves making little mistakes, try focusing more on your ability to create sub-game boards. Granted, not every game will be ideal for sub-game boards, however, they are beyond helpful when you can find them. Also, it will get you into the habit of naturally connecting rules and deducing inferences. DONT BE AFRAID TO SPEND TIME ON MAKING THE SUB-GAME BOARDS. I might spend six minutes on writing the sub-game boards but when it allows me to do each question in less than 30 seconds, you'll find that you spend a lot less time on the game despite the perceived 'slow start'. They also help you from making small mistakes because they provide more detailed anchor points to compare the questions to so you don't get lost or panic in making 8 or 10 copies of your master game board.

Well it’s taken about 3 weeks for me to finally sit down and type this post. Now that the time has come I’d like to share my experience with the test and what I’ve learned along the way with the hope that it will help others.

My first thought: It’s weird being done the LSAT. I’m sure an abrupt stop to just about anything would garner this sort of feeling, but yeah, it’s a strange feeling.

I started studying for the LSAT around August/September of 2019 and I really did not anticipate it taking me this long to achieve a score I’d be content with. I remember seeing the lesson in the CC where J.Y says you should give yourself at least one year to maximize your LSAT score. This really blew my mind as at the time all I was acquainted with was the typical “3 month fallacy”. In any case, when I made the decision to fully immerse myself in this test, I made it knowing full well that I could invest all this time and still not end up with the score I sought. In other words, sunk costs would be sunk. I bring this up solely because it’s easy to get caught up with all the success stories we see of people studying for long periods of time and getting their dream score. What you don’t see is those who invest their time and then fall short. This is in no way meant to be discouraging but rather to shine a light on a perhaps overlooked reality. Personally, I was okay with that possibility as I knew I’d regret it even more if I didn’t try.

Side note: even if you don’t ultimately land on the exact score you want, odds are you’ll still make solid improvements if you’re putting in the effort and studying correctly.

As many people have said before me, this test is definitely learnable and you can make significant improvements. So try to find solace in that whenever you’re feeling discouraged, frustrated, or straight up fed up with the test. Something I kept telling myself along the way is that if I can’t endure the process of studying for the LSAT, riding the highs and lows, well then maybe i’m picking the wrong profession. I’m sure there will be mixed opinions about that, and yes, it’s not literal but i’m assuming it holds true to some extent (or so i tell myself). Regardless, I treated the LSAT as something that I had to systematically chip away at, much like learning a new language or instrument. Treating the test like a job and trying to approach my process as an objective observer was a skill I had to acquire.

Approach to studying

I think one of the most beneficial things i did for myself early on was go through the CC slowly and thoroughly. It took me 4-5 months, but I came out with very strong fundamentals, and fundamentals are everything; you can’t build a sturdy house without a good foundation. Once I finished the CC I started working on untimed sections. If you can’t score what you want untimed, I would wager its close to impossible to score it timed. Once I was scoring where I wanted untimed, I began to introduce time and incrementally reduce it.

LG: I foolproofed games non-stop and still could not get to -0 to -1 consistently until I changed my strategy- you don’t know what you don’t know (this is where a fresh set of eyes can be very valuable). LG is in my opinion the most learnable section of the test and is a section that everyone should try to capitalize on.

LR: I think for most people, this section requires rethinking the framework of an argument. most of us are so used to our bad, everyday colloquial arguments that we don’t know how to truly criticize or pick apart an argument. Don’t worry, this test will teach you. Put on your skeptic lens and begin questioning the arguments being thrown at you, 90% if not more of the arguments on the LSAT are BAD ARGUMENTS, they’re just dressed up. Meaning the premises do not support the conclusion, often times its not even close but it just appears that way because the questions are playing on your preconceived notions and/or biases.

RC: This sections was the hardest to improve. once again i’m going to echo what many have said before me: focus on the structure. you don’t have time to look for every detail or reference the passage for every question. The key to avoiding this is looking at the big picture. try your best to construct a cohesive narrative or framework from which to view the passage while you read: what does the author think, what is the point he/she is trying to convey, their attitude/tone? how does he/she go about constructing their argument? how many perspectives are there? you’d be surprised how far a general outline/structure of a passage can guide you.

Study groups/partners

Study groups and partners can be a complete game changer. Others will find holes in your reasoning and help you pinpoint your weaknesses. Don’t be scared to verbalize your reasoning. Everyone is learning and working towards their goal, if someone belittles you or makes you feel dumb... well I feel sorry for them. Leave and keep going until you find the right group/study partner. Personally I found big groups to be less productive. I think 1-3 people is the sweet spot for maximum productivity.

Focus on the process not the results

Instead of focusing on your PT scores (which can become irrelevant to a certain extent come test day) focus on your test taking/studying process. Don’t look for instant gratification by skipping your BR, I cannot stress how important BR is. Make notes of the questions you miss, be relentless. Find your strategy and ingrain it in your mind. Your process and strategy are some of the few things you can control on the LSAT, so take advantage of that and make them a priority.

Find a reprieve from studying

For me this was spending time with my girlfriend, playing music or watching a movie/show. Again, I can’t stress how important this part is. This test will chew you up and spit you back out, so do not let it consume you, ITS A TEST FOR CHRIST SAKE (sorry to any religious people reading). Take AT LEAST one day off per week where you don’t even think about the LSAT. Often times overcoming a plateau can be the result of Rest and Rehab. Again, you don’t know what you don’t know - this sometimes includes being burnt out.

Don’t listen to anyones negative bull**, it’s your life.**

Throughout my studies I had various people, friends and family members, hit me with the “YOU’RE STILL STUDYING??” or the “JUST TAKE IT AND APPLY ALREADY” - Tune it out. This is your journey and everyone’s will be different. don’t worry about the road you take, just focus on your destination. it may take some people 1 month, some 3, some 8, some 15, some 30. fight the urge to compare yourself to others- it will only hurt you in the end.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, and to J.Y for hating the lawyer life and creating the amazing resource and community that is 7sage.

Now go get yours. Happy studying everyone and good luck!

P.S. if anyone has any questions or wants more specific information, don’t be afraid to ask.

I am really confused, the more I study for RC the more my score decreases. I used to get 6-7 RC questions wrong but now I am getting 16 wrong, please help!

I am taking the august test and I finished the CC a while ago but I’m scoring 155 and with 50% time. I also am rarely able to sit through an exam for one go.

Please let me know if you know any good tutors or if you are one.

Also if you have any tips please feel free to drop them, I’m starting to freak out so it would be very appreciated

Hi guys,

I wanted to share my experience with finally scoring in the 170s. I have been studying for this exam for almost two years. I started in the 150s and was stuck in the low 160s for awhile. Like many, I thought that represented my average ability and while I was enthusiastic about re-taking the LSAT, I didn't have any crazy expectations for my score to go up. However, within the past month, I began scoring in the 170s. While it's primarily exposure to the exam that has improved my score, here are a few little tips that have helped me out! Hope they're of some benefit to you :)

Create a master list for logic games symbols. We have all encountered logic games rules that have swiftly reduced our confidence to zero. When you review the game with J.Y, TAKE DOWN the way he writes the rule. I cannot tell you how helpful his symbols for tricky rules have been. For example, writing a "cross" to indicate that items cannot repeat in the same column or row was life saving. Besides the primary symbols for logic games, there are many lesser known ones. Make a list of them and subsequently be prepared for almost anything.

Put your head down and learn the valid argument forms. Oh ma god guys. When I started these lessons, my brain kept short circuiting. Anyone else? Well, they will take your LR score to the next level. When I got to parallel reasoning/flaw/SA questions, I'd just skip because I was like lol that's going to take some time. But after learning the valid argument forms, you breeze through those questions because you'll not only know what's valid, you'll know what's invalid and therefore be able to filter out all the useless-junk sentences that wordy SA questions throw at you. I used to get soo bogged down in the 5-7 sentences included in a SA prompt. But so many times 2/5 sentences don't even matter but how will you realize this without learning the valid argument forms?!

Don't go paragraph by paragraph with RC to form the reasoning structure. Guys, this may not work for everybody, but I used to slap "CONTEXT" or "BACKGROUND" or "SUPPORT" onto every paragraph after I finished reading it. I did this because I was so anxious about keeping track of what I was reading in my mind and I was jumping to formulate the reasoning structure as soon as possible. This kickstarts your good reading habits. But ultimately, I think the passages make a lot more sense when you start to put the pieces together as you read. Instead of stopping after each paragraph and going, "Shit, shit what is this in relation to the whole?" Ask yourself, "What is the author doing right now?" Are they explaining the origins of something? Are they going into greater depth about the situation? Are they discounting one theory for another? Are they summarizing what you just read? This approach made reading more fluid and forming the reasoning structure more natural.

Cherry pick essential words form the LR stimulus. We all know how wordy the stimulus can get. The kicker is that a lot of those words don't even matter. Once you identify the conclusion and the support, you got to filter the junk out. There are a lot of adjectives and phrases that have no bearing on the argument. Here is the process in action. I have bolded the essential words.

My friends say I will one day have an accident

because I drive **my sports car **recklessly. But I

have done some research, and apparently

minivans and larger sedans have very low

accident rates compared to sports cars. So trading

my sports car in for a minivan would lower my

risk of having an accident.

Lmao, I'm not sure if this passage demonstrates this tactic super well, but you guys get the gist. Just try it and you'll begin to pick up on what's important and what's not. Well, I'm at work right now and my supervisor just came out of her office so I'll have to cut it there for now. But I hope to get some more tips out soon. Stay strong everyone! YOU GOT THIS.

Hello,

I feel like I have a solid grasp of the RC section, but almost always consistently get -2 or 3 wrong on each passage. This is for all difficulty levels, and all topics. At first I had issues with the main point questions, but I feel like I'm good on that now. I'm trying to understand what I can do to gain insight into why I keep getting the same number of problems wrong, and how I can improve from here. I don't know if this is random or because I am missing out on doing something. Any insight is welcome, thank you!

Would it disadvantage me to ask for a LOR from a professor from a different university who taught a course at my university that I took with her? She came to my university, taught a class one spring, and I really enjoyed her class and got a lot out of it but she isn't technically a professor at my university, she is a professor at another university close by. Can anyway take a guess on how that would be viewed during admissions or if it doesn't really matter?

Hi so I took the LSAT for the first time and got to preview and then cancel my score. Is there any way to view my score for that cancelled LSAT? I can't remember what I got the first time and want to know for future study plans Help!

I'm graduating a year early (in 3 years) and am wondering if that is something that I should write an addendum about. My university classifies me as a "third year" but I have the credits to graduate early and I'm worried that the third year classification may be somewhere on the application and may confuse the readers? Idk. Any guidance would be great!

I am tasking the LSAT in November and looking to either form a study group or join a study group. I am even interested in finding a study buddy as well !!! Please someone respond I am ready to ace this LSAT!!! :)

Hey everyone!

I had some thoughts tonight on the exam, and I thought it might be useful to put them out there into the LSAT community at large. Hopefully there's someone who finds this helpful :)

So, something that's been stewing in the back of my mind for the past week or so, is this idea of the bell curve. How can we use that to our advantage when we approach the test? Obviously, we all know that there are easier questions and harder questions... and we all reach a point where we feel like we should be getting the easy questions correct, after all, they're the easiest questions we see, and we want to have some idea that our studying is paying off, right? But, up until recently I had a mental block with these questions. So concerned I was about my pride (haha), not wanting to miss an "easy" question, that I was sinking way too much time into them, trying to make sure I got them right.

But, here's what I realized: The writers want to maintain their curve, and we all know this... but for me personally, I wasn't putting enough time into thinking about what this really meant. The LSAT is so good at manipulating us into choosing the wrong answer, we forget that on certain questions, they're manipulating us into choosing the right answer. At times, the LSAT seems like this force of nature... it's a test with amazing psychometrics. It knows us better than we know ourselves. But, instead of always seeing it as a bad thing, we can reframe it in a positive way, and it could help us to move faster during the questions that we know we probably got right but... we just wanted to "be extra sure" about. I think there are two major (and probably obvious reasons) for adopting this mentality.

First, it saves time. If we can get these questions lightning fast, it will save us so much precious time that we need for the 8 or so really, really tough questions. This is also a really important fail-safe on this test. Something that I have come to realize, (because I've had some very wise people tell me) is that mistakes will be made... I will misread, it's just going to happen. The more time you have to play with, the better chance you have of correcting these errors. Second, it saves brain power... so much brain power for when you're exhausted and you're worried about time and everything else that comes with this exam.

So, let the LSAT steer you where it wants you to go, that way you'll be ready to take over the reigns when it's time to shine!

p.s., check out the LSAT Lab video where they talk about moving through the first 10 questions on instinct. I think it definitely shaped helped my view on this.

looking for people who plan to take the August/ October 2022 Study Group Online together

Hi Sagers! I'm looking to nail LG for my exam in October. I'm at a point where I can usually score between -3 to -5 but want to get that down to -1/-2 consistently. I have been watching the demo's of 7Sagers perform on a game while JY critiques and noticed how clean their diagram is + how they thoughtfully approach each rule.

I feel I am getting a bit overconfident and sloppy with my setups and could learn from a higher scorer. I'd love to start a thread for tips from high scorers on strategies you implemented that changed LG for you. Could be as simple as writing neatly and clearly, or more complex. All tips welcomed!

On a side note - I am experiencing a superficial difficulty when seeing a 'new' logic game from a section I haven't taken before, it tends to freak me out... Any tips on how to get over this? Maybe I just need to practice more new games?

Can someone explain to me why C is wrong and E is correct? I was pretty confident that C is the correct answer.

Can someone explain to me why D is the right answer? I chose B, but I did not feel very strongly about its accuracy.