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Are there any other working moms out there who are studying for the LSAT? I truly hope I am not the only one!

I wanted to make a groupme where working moms can support each other through the process of going through the core curriculum and preparing for the LSAT.

Message me if you want to join the groupme. I truly hope I am not alone in this seemingly crazy, impossible pursuit!

Thank you all! Good luck to you with your studies!

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Hi 7sagers!

Given that several people expressed interest in my RC methodology, here is the basic outline of my approach for the Reading Comprehension section based on my own progression. This covers some very broad concepts that were significant for me. If there is interest, let me know and I will work to do a couple more installments like this and drill down on some very specific areas that are much more targeted, such as how to approach specific arguments, subjects, and question types in RC.

For now, I think that I noticed three distinct tiers or levels that I went through in my RC prep. My hope is that since these three levels represent three distinct stages in my own preparation, people at many different stages of their LSAT journeys will be able to benefit from at least something in here.

  • Good Reading Habits

    • When I started out on the LSAT I frequently missed 18 or more questions on an RC section. I had to work hard to develop good reading habits. But, the good news is that these skills are like riding a bike. Once you have got them, it is just a matter of maintenance at that point. I know I am just going to be repeating things that other people have said here, so I will be brief, but it is so important. Reading with an eye to structure is incredibly important on the LSAT. This includes picking up on the low resolution and high resolution of the content as well as the structure. I think that it is very beneficial to do several RC passages/sections untimed (these can be retakes) and work on ingraining these skills. Although I am sure many of you have seen my posts on the RC passage explanation videos, here is the template that I used.

    Paragraph 1 –

    • Low resolution content:

    • High Resolution:

    • Structure:

    • Sneak Peak:

    Paragraph 2 –

    • Low resolution content:

    • High Resolution:

    • Structure:

    Paragraph 3 –

    • Low resolution content:

    • High Resolution:

    • Structure:

    Paragraph 4 –

    • Low resolution content:

    • High Resolution:

    • Structure:

    Main Point:

    Tone:

    Viewpoints:

    Organization:

    Cookie Cutter:

    For those who aren't familiar with some of the terms, "sneak peak" refers to taking a quick moment after reading the first paragraph to see if you can anticipate what will come next and maybe even glance ahead in the passage to see if you are on the right track. The more you can anticipate what comes next, the more "at home" you will feel. Although we never want to become complacent or neglect to read actively, being "at home" with the passage will reduce the anxiety that I know I can feel when reading a new and overwhelming passage. There actually is a lot of uniformity in RC and many structures and patterns are used over and over again. For example, if the first paragraph describes to me a scientific study that was done a while ago, then my anticipation is that the next paragraph is probably going to tell me that the first group of scientists didn't really know what they were talking about. Another example would be a passage where the first paragraph describes some very complex or unexpected phenomenon that was noticed in nature. My anticipation here would be that the next paragraph will give me a hypothesis to explain what comes next. Those are pretty straight forward examples, but the principle applies broadly. Obviously, some passages are weird and your anticipation will be wrong. That is fine, that is not a bad thing. Anticipating what comes next is a tool to keep you active and engaged in the reading. The correct-ness of your anticipation is not nearly as important as the thought that you put into making the anticipation.

    "Cookie cutter" is a related concept and refers to the common forms that are reused over and over in RC. So an example might be "phenomenon/hypothesis" or "OPA (other people's argument) is wrong."

    "Viewpoints" is where I note which viewpoints we got in the passage. For example, we might have gotten the viewpoints of the author, some economists, and some political theorists. "Structure" under each paragraph is where I note what role that paragraph plays in the structure of the passage. Is it the main point? A premise? A sub-conclusion? Just context?

    "Organization" refers to how the passage is put together structurally, so an example might be "two competing alternative explanations for an unexplained occurrence are given, an experiment is done that indicates one is more likely than the other to be correct, and the implications of this research are discussed."

    In my own prep, I filled out the above template for every single RC passage from PT 7-89. While I think for most people that is overkill (and i'm probably just a slow learner) the repetition helped. I did it over and over for untimed retakes and I did it for every passage that I blind reviewed. Overtime, I developed enough muscle memory that I got to the point where I didn't have to think consciously about these things so much during a timed run. Having all (or at least most) of this information floating around in your head means you will have the information you need to answer probably all but the hardest and most detail oriented questions on the RC section. If you are a beginner in reading comp or are missing 4 or more questions in blind review, then I would say that this is probably the place to start.

  • Timing

    • As important as it is to master good reading habits, unless these habits are paired with a proper timing strategy then you will have a difficult time translating your new skills into a significantly higher score when the clock is running. For some people this information will be repetitive, but it is worth repeating for those who haven't heard it. The single biggest jump in RC that I had came from treating the RC section similarly to the LG section. Initially, if I ran into a hard RC passage my instinct would be to give myself as much time as possible to deal with the questions, which inevitably comes at the expense of having time to deal with the passage.

    But that isn't how I would approach a very challenging logic game. If I ran into a difficult game with a lot of rules that interacted in complex ways, the first thing I would do would be to see if I could split the game board, force out inferences, and see how much I could figure out before ever getting to the questions. Of course, splitting game boards takes time. But this is always worth it in the end because the questions go by so much faster, I am much more confident, and I am more accurate.

    I used to try to think that I needed to finish reading an RC passage in about 3 minutes in order to have time for the questions. I had to actually let this go and give myself permission to take the time that I needed to understand everything in the passage. For many passages I easily took 3 and a half minutes, 4 minutes, or even more. For some of the difficult passages, I took more than 5 minutes to read it. We all know that 5 minutes is practically an eternity in LSAT time. However, this actually made me faster in the long run. My understanding of the passage was so improved by taking this time that I was able to dramatically cut down on the time spent on questions. In fact, I was able to cut my average time spent on a question by half. After spending so much time on the passage, I frequently could cruise through most questions in 20-30 seconds. This meant that even though I was spending way more time on the passage, my total average time for the passage plus questions dropped noticeably.

    This was a game changer for me for another reason as well. For the first time ever, I started to semi-consistently have time for a second round on RC to go back to a question or two that I had skipped. Furthermore, because I had taken so much time with the passage up front, I had really retained the information and did not need to waste precious time on my second round trying to reread part or all of the passage. I was able to much more efficiently target my time and my effort. This is in contrast to before I had ingrained good timing habits. Back then, even if by some miracle I had a minute or two left over for a second round, I couldn't do anything productive with that time because I basically had to go back and reread the passage to give a question a second chance since I hadn't meaningfully retained the things that I needed to the first time I read the passage.

    In my experience, a combination of good reading habits and decent time was enough to get my average PT score into the low 170s. I think this was because these skills together will be enough to allow you to answer all the questions that deal with the low res (I find that in a typical RC section about 19ish questions will be low res focused). After that, there will be another 3-5 questions that deal with the high-res that are aren't too challenging and can be picked up with a decent understanding that good reading habits will give you. Combined with a good timing strategy then, this much is usually enough to get you to a consistent -3/-4 in RC.

    Now, at least in my case, the last points on the table are typically the result of the extremely difficult questions that are detail-oriented. These are generally the MSS/inference curvebrearker questions. For me, I generally knew that I would take so much time getting them correct that they would cost me points elsewhere, so I just had to accept that I didn't know the answer and move on to save time.

    I knew that to push my score past the early 170s I needed to increase my retention of the very fine-grain information in the passage, which brings me to highlighting.

  • Highlighting

    • Although many people have said that this can be counter-productive, highlighting made a noticeable difference for me. I began to consistently use the highlighting function liberally, including all three colors. I found this had two purposes. First, it just helped me to read actively, remain engaged, and cement details in my head. Second, I also began to use highlighting as a tool to keep track of and remember the little, tiny, out of the way details that the LSAT loves to use as support for very difficult MSS questions in RC. For example, I would highlight any word that was in quotes but was not a direct quote, since that means the author is using the word outside of its ordinary meaning. Whenever I would see something like that, as I highlighted it I would be thinking about the distinction between the way that the word might be ordinarily used in contradistinction to how the word is being used by the author at this time.

    I would also highlight any conditional statement. I actually ended up being surprised how many conditionals are in RC. The LSAT hides these RC conditionals by almost never using group 1 or group 2 indicators, but they are there in almost every section and the majority of passages. For some reason, I was also surprised by how much conditionals matter in RC. I was well aware of their importance in LG and LR because those sections make much heavier use of them. But conditionals are no less powerful in RC. Sometimes they can be major premises and sometimes are they are conclusions. Sometimes they are just "throw away statements" and don't really contribute meaningfully to the argument. But regardless of what they do, they are very powerful. That makes them prime targets for very difficult MSS questions. The LSAT can take a statement that barely even relates to the argument in the passage, but use it to conclusively prove out one answer choice.

    I also highlighted the little details that are irrelevant to the actual argument. This includes the little things where the author isn't even editorializing (since I would pick up on the editorializations as indications of the author's tone as part of having good reading habits). I'm talking about where the author is just adding extra words. This happens most often in the context of a passage that sets the stage for an argument. Sometimes a whole sentence falls into this category, sometimes it is just a word or two. But a lot of times the hard inference or MSS questions pull their correct answers from these details. All of this is in addition to highlighting things like viewpoint shifts, structural elements, and other things to keep me engaged and reading actively.

    If you are thinking at this point that RC is generally the section where people are most pressed for time and this highlighting strategy sounds like it takes an additional chunk of time, then you are absolutely correct. However, I found that it was a worthwhile price considering how much my retention improved. I am a big proponent of taking a lot of time to understand the passage and then being able to power through the questions very quickly. One disclaimer that I should state up front is that this method takes a lot of self-confidence and trust that if you invest the time you will have a proper understanding. It can be jarring when you glance at the clock and see how much time you spent reading the passage, but I think that this is the path to a high score for many people. It certainly was important for me. If we take the time to really understand the passage in all of its intricacies and nuances (just like we take the time to split gameboards in LG) then we are going to be rewarded by not really having too much work to do in the questions, since we already did our hard work in the passage.

    Full disclosure, with the exception of my proclivity for highlighting, pretty much all of this is material that I originally learned from @Sami who was my fantastic tutor during my LSAT prep. I hope that this helps some people with RC, it really is an extremely challenging section. If you have questions feel free to drop them in the comments. Im happy to try to answer anything!

    237

    Does anyone know how long it takes for an ID and password to be emailed to me by a school after completing my applications. I just completed them so I am not expecting them ASAP, but I was curious as to how long this takes so I can check the status of my application. Thanks!

    0

    Hey everyone, I just wanted to share my experience with my first time taking the LSAT to give people some hope given my situation. I have been studying for the exam consistently since June, but it has been a bit of a challenge trying to balance everything considering that I work full time. I have been thru tutoring, the LSAT Trainer, 15 PT’s, and now I’m reading thru the Powerscore LG Bible and Ellen’s Loophole to LR along with the 7Sage Curriculum. I have felt so discouraged because I have barely ever broken 150 on a PT, Consistently scoring in the high 140’s. I was expecting to see around the same score on the November LSAT-Flex, and I checked my score to see a 154 for my first time ever taking the LSAT. For context, the highest I have ever scored was a 151 on a PT. I never thought this would be possible! It may not seem like that much of an accomplishment to some but for me it is giving me the hope to keep going to increase my score to the mid-160’s. I was losing hope for a little while, but to see that score really gave me the confidence boost to keep going!

    10

    Hi 7sagers!

    In this session we will be covering basically anything LSAT related you want! Just bring your questions and I'll (hopefully) have answers! Feel free to bring a specific LR, RC, or LG question and we'll go over them together. Or we can just talk about section strategy. Whatever you want to do!

    I have gone through the 7sage CC twice, taken over 90% of the PTs out there, and scored a 173 on the November LSAT. My diagnostic was a 138. I've struggled immensely with this test, and I can show you how I overcame these obstacles.

    In this session, we'll cover topics on:

    -Whatever you want!

    A few additional things I want to mention so we can all get the most out of the session:

    Please refrain from looking at the correct answer choices when we are going through problems. It is to your benefit to be unaware so you can learn!

    Please make sure your microphone is on mute during the session, unless you are the person volunteering to help answer a question.

    I will be asking for volunteers throughout the session. If you would like to volunteer, please type it in the chat box.

    The session will last around two hours, questions unrelated to the topic at hand should be saved until the end.

    If you learned something helpful, all I ask for payment is that you share the knowledge with others that could be struggling. After all, we rise by lifting others up. :smile:

    Let me know if ya'll have any questions. Hope to see you there!

    Chris Nguyen is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

    Topic: Office Hours

    Time: 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

    Join Zoom Meeting

    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/71166855619?pwd=ZU9FVVgzb3B1Q1dXb0FaU0dRZHMvdz09

    Meeting ID: 711 6685 5619

    Passcode: 0Tys8e

    43

    I earned a 168 on my November Flex (my first real LSAT) I started out in the mid-140s as a diagnostic. It's been 3 weeks since I looked at any LSAT material. I registered yesterday to write again in January. I have taken every single PT (some of them twice). I was wondering how to choose which full PTs to take from now until January in order to maximize value.

    Do I stick to PTs from the 40s and 50s so the material is not as fresh in my head or do I take some from the 70s and 80s anyway? If anyone has any other experience or advice pertaining to studying for a retake I would greatly appreciate it.

    Not entirely sure how to approach this. I was taking a full length PT every other day towards the end of my studies. Is continuing on that course going to be effective? Or do I primarily focus on drilling and take 1-2 PTs a week? I truly appreciate you all for taking the time to read this.

    3

    hey everyone,

    I remember JY used to do group-based BR for every new PT that comes out.

    I'm just wondering if there is any news that he might do the same for the may 2020 test? Or did I miss it?

    Thanks y'all

    0

    Hi Non-native English speakers out there, many people don't realize my English is not my first language in everyday life but when it comes to LSAT, I definitely feel the "non-native" language comprehension problem. Especially under pressure, I can't read and understand the RC passage correctly and accurately... so it will be a slow journey for me to get a good score on LSAT.

    Non-native English speakers, how long did it take you to achieve the score you want ?

    1

    Has anyone ever skipped specific question types and seen success?

    I just took PT 79 and struggled with the LR mostly because there were a lot of NA, MSS and MBT questions - these ones generally take me longer because they are so easy to mess up.

    I was thinking of completely skipping all these questions for my next timed section and coming back to them as I feel like it would save me a ton of stress and time. Was wondering what other peoples thoughts/experiences are with planning question types that you generally skip and do last for the sake of time?

    0

    Hi! I submitted my applications but I'm planning on retaking the LSAT in January. I would like to be considered with my current score to take advantage of having an earlier application. Do schools look at it negatively when you ask them to review your current score? I'm worried that my target/safety schools will see it as a sign that I'm prioritizing other schools and I'm not sure what to say in the email.

    0

    Hey everyone, I just wanted to echo what others have said about 7Sage. It has been an immense help during my struggle with this test! There were times I thought I could not get over this hurdle. I was crushed, I had anxiety, I thought my dreams of attending law school would never be realized. It too every ounce of resolve to defeat this test once and for all.

    You know it's tough, for others on the outside to comprehend what we all put ourselves through. The stress is real and you all understand that! I cannot thank you guys in the community enough for helping me through this. I am usually a lurker, and do not post often like so many of you, but it has nevertheless been amazing to be surrounded by so many dedicated individuals.

    To JY, I owe you many thanks. Your countless video explanations along with your dry and witty sense of humor made the journey a little more enjoyable. I am sitting at the airport waiting to return home, drinking a blood orange IPA, and it feels good to sit bac kind reflect on my journey.

    Thank you to all and god bless 7Sage! I hope you all have a great night, crush the LSAT, and get into the school of your dreams. It's not about the score, it's about your journey. Wow that's a cliché. But the thing about clichés is... they are usually true!

    34

    I'm really struggling with trying to intuitively figure out if conditionality is relevant to the flaw for the argument at hand. There are certain stimuli that include conditional indicators that seem to be linked together. When this happens, I immediately go and try to diagram it, to try to see if there is in fact conditional reasoning. Sometimes, I am correct and there is conditional reasoning that deals with the flaw. However, there are many more times when I am incorrect and I end up spending so much time trying to force a diagram. I'm struggling to zoom on the gap in my understanding. I thought I had a solid understanding of conditional reasoning, but clearly it's not the case. Has anyone run into this issue before? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks!

    0

    Not sure if this is a thing on these forums, but is anyone interested in swapping personal statements for feedback? I'm looking for general feedback plus a quick check for typos and am happy to do the same for someone else.

    1

    I've been studying for the past 10 months and have improved from a 145 to a 157. Upon finishing the core curriculum, I began taking PTs and blind reviewed as JY suggests. My issue is that I consistently score in the high 150s timed but also consistently score in the high 170 in BR. My biggest challenge by far is time management, which seems to mess up my flow and cause me to make significantly more unenforced errors. While working full-time at a law firm in NYC, I usually study 20 hours a week and take one PT every weekend. I hope to break into the 160 in the next few weeks.

    If you are interested in joining a study group please DM me/comment below. If you are tutor or just want to reinforce the concepts you have learned by teaching them to someone else, please feel free to DM me. If you have experience as a tutor and also have successfully helped someone achieve a 170+, I would be open to paying for tutoring. Recommendations for tutors also welcome!

    1

    Hey everyone,

    Has anyone recently had an interview at UChicago, and if so, do you have any tips for what kinds of questions to prepare for? I have seen previous lists of interview questions, but they all appeared to be from several years ago, so I was wondering if anyone had more recent info. Thanks!

    0

    I’ve been reading posts about now some people have gotten LSAT Flex scores lower than their practice test averages. I got a 155, but was PTing at 163-165 range. I felt the reading section (bipedalism) and logic games were tricky. LR felt standard for me. Do you guys have any advice on how to approach studying? What should I do to get a score around my PT range?

    1

    I got a 164 on the November LSAT Flex and I am debating whether or not to cancel my score. I purchased the Score Preview option and have until tonight to decide. I was aiming for mid 170s but panicked on test day and did not perform as well as I could have based on PTs. I know a 164 is considered a great score for a lot of people, which makes me hesitate to cancel it (also I am really sorry if this is a super annoying post), but it is much lower than what I was aiming for and I will definitely take it again sometime next year. I am almost positive I can do better, especially if I continue studying. What do you guys think I should do?

    0

    Hi all! I wanted to post one last time to the forum to offer my gratitude to 7Sage and well wishes for those who are still studying. This program was instrumental in getting me the score I aimed for (146 --> 167). I just got accepted to UGA and am waiting to hear back on eight others. I just want to encourage everyone to keep up the hard work and offer help to anyone who feels they could use some guidance (e.g. on tough LR questions you can't parse, LG tricks, or just a friend to vent to). I'm honestly a little sad to no longer be studying, so don't hesitate to throw questions/thoughts my way. I know how tough this process can be, and just want to do my part and make it a little easier. My access to 7Sage expires in 5 days, so the best way to reach me will be through: dmarwh0@gmail.com.

    Good luck to everyone! You got this =)

    3

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