I was just wondering what people have found effective, I want to continue with the 7sage material but was thinking of using the powerscore self study schedules, where I do a bit of lr lg and reading comp every week, as opposed to going through the entire LR then on to LG and then RC section by section. any feedback on what has worked for others would be great.

Hey y'all. So I'm currently scoring an average of -4 on each LR section. I feel like my wrong answers are all over the place (some are incorrect for misreading while others for not understanding stimulus or letting an answer choice trick me). I have been dedicated to studying and I have not seen improvement. Idk what to do. Ive been doing blind review and going over all the incorrect questions. ANY Suggestions are appreciated.

In June 1941 Nazi Germany made an ill-fated attempt at invading Russia. Buoyed by their quick success in France, they launched the greatest invasion force in history throwing 3 million soldiers into the effort. This opened up the eastern front of World War II and some say changed the course of history forever.

Ok Great, what does WWII history have to do with the LSAT?

I'll tell you. The reason the invasion of Russia was so costly for the Germans was because it occupied valuable resources Germany needed to fight the war: Soldiers, Fuel and Tanks. Once Germany launched the invasion, there was no way of getting out of it, they had no exit strategy. They were committed to winning that battle or facing annihilation.

The LSAT is very akin to war. You have several resources at the start: Your knowledge of the material, Shortcuts you learned and most importantly the amount of time you have on the test. What you must avoid, is trying to overly commit those resources to one question because otherwise you do risk your score being Annihilated. The difference between a test taker who scores in the low 160's to mid 160's and test takers who score in the upper 160's and 170's is due in part to the proper management of time during the exam. Those who score higher tend to allocate their time more efficiently towards answering the questions they can answer and less time spent on questions they eventually get wrong. I want to repeat this because I think people need to know this, the difference between a score taker in the 160's and 170's is not so much in the KNOWLEDGE of the test but in the EXECUTION of the test. To be great at the LSAT it's better to get a question wrong quickly, rather than spending time and effort on a question only to come away without a point. How do you avoid that? You need to have what the German's didn't have in Russia. You need to have an Exit Strategy!

Great. What's an Exit Strategy?

An Exit Strategy is a quick list of criteria that will tell you QUICKLY that you should skip the passage, game or specific question.

For those just starting out these are often quite obvious. You may struggle with Grouping Games, and hence when you run into an obvious grouping game in LG, you skip that for the friendlier linear game that follows it. Ditto for RC and Science Passages for example or Necessary Assumption questions in LR.

As your knoweldge of the test improves, you will find that these big glaring weaknesses go away and your exit strategies become more nuanced and focused. This is a big reason why people plateau in the 160's or 150's. Breaking into the 160's and 170's requires that you disabuse yourself of the notion that just because you CAN answer every question on the LSAT does not mean you SHOULD TRY to answer every question on the LSAT the SAME WAY. Those that fail to grasp this can get trapped in a question or a game. This is where the nuance comes in. As your knowledge of the test improves your exit strategies should become more contextual. Meaning, you are no longer just filtering for game type or question type, you are allowing yourself to read the stimulus and letting the stimulus tell you when you should skip the question or game.

How do you develop a basic Exit Strategy?

The key to developing a good basic exit strategy is good self-awareness with respect to your own strengths and weaknesses. Tools like LSAT Analytics, Post-BR Journals where you mark down questions you got wrong and why you got them wrong, as well as the data 7sage provides you on how long it takes you to do a question should allow you to understand which questions you get wrong more often than you get right and which questions take up more of your time than others. Note that this is a different concept than being able to do or understand a question or game type. If your accuracy on Parallel Method of Reasoning is at 100% but it takes you ten minutes on average to get that question correct, your understanding is bang on but your execution needs work. You want that average below 1 minute and 20 seconds ideally otherwise this question type is a good skip candidate. (That timing rule is for LR mainly)

So a Basic exit strategy which you apply when you read the question stem or read the rules to a logic game could be as follows:

for LG/RC

Is this a game/passage type that I traditionally struggle with? If so skip it.

For LR:

Is this a question type I get wrong more than I should based on analytics? If so skip it

Is this a question type that I often spend more than 1 minute 20 seconds on? If so skip it

How do you build an advanced Exit Strategy?

For more advanced strategies you have to use your knowledge of the game or question type at hand to extract yourself from difficult situations. In LR for example this requires you to know implicitly what is required of you to answer a particular question type and to recognize when you are in a situation where that might be more difficult than usual.

Let's take a basic example: Identify the Flaw Questions.

Flaw questions require you to choose an answer choice that states a flaw made in the reasoning in your stimulus.

So if you read the stimulus, and you identify the conclusion and premise of the argument but CANNOT identify the flaw. That is your red flag that should trigger a possible exit. You have a choice here, you can try to re-read the stimulus again in hopes of trying to identify the flaw before you tackle the answer choices or you could skip immediately and come back to this once you have gone through all the questions in your section. From my experience those that tend to score higher tend to choose the latter option. They know that once they have read the stimulus (and they will read it carefully and correctly the first time because that is what good test takers do) and cannot identify the flaw their chances of getting the question right have dramatically decreased.

Think of every question like a game of poker. Before you are dealt your cards you have certain odds of getting the question right, as soon as you read the stimulus you have been dealt your cards. The stimulus, like the cards will tell you whether those odds have gone up or gone down. If those odd decreased, based on your original reading of the stimulus, a significant amount, leave and save it for later. Kenny Rogers would tell you gotta know when to Fold Em' and when to run, Kenny Rogers is a smart man.

I sense the hesitation, some people think it is a waste of resources. You already invested time reading the stimulus, if you skip it now you are throwing that time away. People then worry that they may not have time to come back and answer the question at the end.

What I'll say to that is this. If you make a habit of executing your exit strategy as soon as you identify trouble what you will find is that at the end of your first sweep through the games or questions you will have plenty of time remaining. Why? Because you were hyper diligent in applying your exit strategies and thus have skipped lots of questions! You can now allocate that remaining time to answering the tougher, harder to get questions. This method allows you to tackle the EASY questions first and gather as many points as you can from them as quickly as possible so you can reinvest that time to the more difficult questions. That's the most efficient allocation of resources is it not? If you are still worried about 'wasting' the time spent on initially reading the stimulus, remember my adage that it is better to get a question wrong quickly than to spend lots of time getting a question wrong. This methodology functions like a safety valve to ensure that you do not waste time. Yeah maybe the 30 seconds is wasted ( I would argue that it is not since you are likely to retain that info if you come back) but at least you guarantee yourself that 30 seconds was the maximum damage that question did to you. And if you come back to the question later, that distance from the material may allow you to perceive new things about the stimulus that you missed from your initial reading, JY mentions this all the time and it is so true.

Great you sold me on the Advanced Exit Strategy, can I get a another example?

Let's take Weaken, Strengthen, Sufficient and Pseudo Sufficient assumption questions as a group.

In general these group of questions asks you to analyze an argument in the stimulus and look for a GAP between the premises and the conclusion. That gap is a weakness in the argument. Strengthen, Sufficient Assumption and Pseudo Sufficient Assumption questions typically will ask you to cover that gap or weakness, while weaken will ask you to widen that gap.

So if you read the stimulus for this question type and you find yourself agreeing with the argument and CANNOT find the gap between the premises and conslusion...you are likely in trouble with respect to getting the correct answer. This is your red flag, that signals you to exit this question. Because your other options are A. Re-Read the stimulus or B. Use process of elimination to get to the right answer. Both can be considerably wasteful if this turns out to be a curve breaker question.

In Logic Games:

If the game unfolds and all of a sudden you see weird elements like circular placement of pieces, or extra long sequencing chains (think the mine game in PT86) that may be a signal for you to leave the game as well. Another obvious one is if you encounter a non-traditional game (Think of the Building Trading game as an example). When it comes to Skipping specific questions more often than not this comes down to rule substitution questions. Some of these are outright brutal and are actually designed to be nothing more than pure time traps. There is a particular question in a later PT (87-89) which I am pretty sure the LSAC designed specifically to waste your time. Given the curve of that particular PT I do not think it was their intent for anyone to actually do that question. So yes the LSAC designed a question where the optimal response to the question for 90% of the population is to NOT do the question. Pretty funky eh?

Big Idea:

The idea should be that you develop an exit strategy both basic and advanced for all Game/ Passage and LR Question types. These should not be overly complex but it should guide you towards knowing when you should gracefully exit a question.

RC Caveat

One caveat to all of this is in RC. I've seen it enough times where a seemingly difficult passage has easy questions and vice versa. If you manage to get through a passage but your understanding is not at a level where you are comfortable, try to answer some of the questions. You may find the lsat to be forgiving in that area even if the passage is brutal.

Wait, why did you write all this...Are you a Wizard?:

I am a 7sager just like yourself. I started my LSAT Journey in the 150's and taught myself various tricks and strategies to get myself to a point where I scored a 171 in the January 2020 writing of the LSAT. I wrote this because I know the LSAT can be a life changing test, and has huge implications for our futures. I also know that the test is regressive as hell in that it privileges those who have the time and wealth to dedicate vast amounts of real world resources such as time and money to studying, LSAT materials, multiple LSAT writings and yes even tutors to get to that magical LSAT score. The world's problem with inequality can only be fixed if we as individuals decide to try to fix it, I'm writing this to help balance the scales. I hope this helps you get the score you need.

Please be on the lookout for more of my posts in the near future.

I registered for my first lsat, but I got into a minor car accident (I live in a metropolitan city and was walking.. then got hit by a car.) But it was nothing serious just that I had to go to the ER to do some checks.

Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the test center and it was marked as absent. 3 months later, I took my second test, which was really disappointing. I'm registered to take it again on March, but I was trying to consider my options if I didn't get my target score on March.

So with my LSAT history being:

June 2018 - absent

Sep 2018 - disappointing score

Mar 2020 - will take

do you think it would be okay to take my "fourth" lsat if I don't get my target score in March?

So I just finished my first post CC PT (PT 36) and I’m not really sure where to go from here or how to feel about it. A couple of mistakes I made which I won’t be making again: 1) taking the test in a noisy environment (I actually had to stop and move in the middle of my last section, and well I pretty much hated everyone else in the room during the prior sections- lol). 2) moving too fast- specifically, at a speed which I was unable to digest what I was reading. I managed to get through both the LG and RC sections but for both LR sections I ended up having to guess the last 3-4 questions per section (of which I got a total of 2 correct! Not bad). I scored a 158 on my timed take and a 171 on BR. My section breakdown for my timed take LR:15/26 (-11) RC:18/26 (-8) LR: 19/26 (-7) LG 19/23 (-4). Section breakdown for BR: LR (-5) RC (-5) LG (-0).

So, my question is where do I go from here? I’m still fool-proofing games but I do feel as though I’m at the point (or near it) where I can manage 0 to -1 in games (though that section may suggest otherwise). For LR I feel as though it might be best to just stick to timed sections until I can get to the point where I’m able to finish them in time? I think I have a descent understanding in LR, untimed ill usually go anywhere from 0 to -2 with the occasional -3. My RC is not great, I usually miss a good amount of easy questions. I think that pretty much sums it all up.

All feedback is appreciated, thanks!

Been studying as a full time student pretty much for 5-7 months now. Started with 7sage as my friends were telling me how good it is. I couldnt agree more.

Started with a diagnostic (post cc) of 152.

Just got my first timed 170. Really needed it as im taking the test in March and it felt like I would never get a 170. Mostly high 160s. I know a lot of people say that you should expect a couple points lower on test day to make up for nerves and stuff. While I agree to some extent, I more so agree with Thinking LSAT where they argue theres p much no reason why your test day score shouldnt be pretty much what you PT (in some range) as long as you PT in the exact strict conditions.

Lets keep grinding yall. Been feeling super down the last month or so cause I never thought Id get my goal score but things are looking up there

I finished CC a while back, I'm curious, if I have done all questions from the CC, does this mean I have finished PT 17-35? I want to focus on doing new questions, thanks in advance!

Hi. I have about 18 months before I take the LSAT. I've definitely decided on 7Sage, but can't decide whether it's better to get a Starter for 3 - 6 months and then switch over and pay the full price for the ultimate. Or is it better to buy the ultimate now and just extend? Thanks!

Hi! Does anyone have the PDFs of the LSAT India PTs #5 & #6? Thanks!!

I've never posted here before but I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to 7Sage for the teaching methods employed in the PrepTest review videos. I am in the final stages of my LSAT prep, and have mostly concentrated on doing and reviewing the PTs. First of all, I had never tried the Blind Review method before I started with 7Sage, and I've found that I've actually mastered most concepts and can get to the high 170s if I'm untimed. This helped me get over my insecurities that I don't know this test well enough and gave me the confidence boost to believe that I can reach my goals, even under time pressure - I doubt myself less in the moment, and therefore have more time to pick answers I feel good about.

Also, before I started with 7Sage, I was reviewing PTs with only the answer keys given by LSAC. This was, looking back, probably hugely inefficient and in many instances just akin to spinning my wheels. I had no idea why I was getting things wrong, so I was basically just wasting 4 hours of my life each time to not learn anything. The explanation videos given by J.Y. are so detailed and explanatory, and I feel like I've adopted some of his thought processes and now I use them during the test. The way he teaches is interesting and engaging, so reviewing PTs doesn't feel like such a drag - I'm actually invested in what I got wrong, why, and how I can fix it next time. I watch the videos on 1.4x or 1.7x and the speed of the thought process has definitely helped me think about things faster. Also, I love that J.Y. incorporates his authentic voice in the videos - now when I'm taking PTs, I think to myself "would J.Y. think this answer is a good answer? I think it's maybe kind of a sh*tty answer and I think he would too." (For the most part, that's a really good test for me to weed out terrible answer choices that are masquerading as attractive ones!)

All of this is to say that from when I started 7Sage to now I've seen score increases from my initial score of as much as 9 points, and I have - on every PT since I started - reached my target score (in just a month and a half of the course!) I'm taking the test for the third time in February and I finally feel like I've cracked the code. My only regret is not getting 7Sage sooner.

Have y'all had a similar experience?

So I have a 157 on file from July and I’ve been studying since then for the February test but haven’t been able to score over a 164. I just took a pt and blinded reviewed and scored a 158 on both the pt and br. I’ve been drilling sections and question types with both 7sage and power score. I thought I did so well on the reading comp and LR sections too. I cancelled the September test and I think I’m going to have a cancel February too.

There's a GPA on my transcript which I had put on my application (I haven't submitted yet), but I just opened my education report on the LSAC website and my cumulative GPA on the report is different (0.1 higher). Which one is correct? Obviously I want to put the higher one even though they'll see all of this information, but don't want to do anything that is incorrect or seems dishonest. Thanks!

I am scheduled to write my LSAT again for the fourth time on March 30, I really want a score in the 155+ range. I just wrote the LSAT in Jan last month, which I cancelled because I experienced a panic attack for the first tkme and completely blanked out. The three scores prior to this one have been in the 150 range and I am studying now while working full-time. My goal score is to get something 155+ range. In your opinion, would it be best to write the LSAT towards the end of March-which gives me 1.5 months to increase my score by 5+ points, or reschedule it for some time in June or July.

Hey Everyone,

I'm nearly finished with the core curriculum. I started my initial PT in 2017 and I think it was 141(ish). My PT's now are low 150's. I've taken 4. Granted, I have a toddler, so after testing a section I will spend about 10 min to make sure he is set up and doing well with his activities (so it may not be a completely true score).

My question is, how do you know you are ready to move past the CC and into the PT's? Do you have any indicators that I can go by? I have been on 7sage 3 years. The first year I went through it, then had a year off due to having a baby, and then have spent the past 8 months on the CC. Anyway from 30 minutes to 2-3 hours per day.

I am wondering if I need to go back through it, or keep pushing through PT's and just working with the blind review.

Thanks!! And thank you for taking the time to read this!

Lindsey

When we are admitted/rejected at a school, does the online status check usually reflect the decision, or just that a decision has been made?

Does anyone have experience with studying for the digital LSAT? What are some tips and tricks? I understand that the 7sage iPad app offers the digital tester, but I'm a little confused on whether I should use it and how.

I'm sitting for a US test and an international test if I don't feel good about my first try, so I'm not really sure if I should spend more time on paper or iPad.

https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/6816

This is from Nichole Hopkins one of the great sages, this is pure gold for RC.

So I get that lsac is making 7sage take off all the game tutorials. Can we come up with videos without the test shown and just have videos with making of the game board. Is that possible?

Thnaks

Hi-

I’ve been studying LSAT for over 4 months. I started from 149 and my score hasnt necessarily improved much. I am hitting 159-ish on Preptests.

I was originally going to apply in the Fall 2020 to TOP 14, w/ hopefully higher score closer to 170 since my undergrad GPA is low.

Then, I have recently heard of people transferring after 1L to TOP 14. I know it requires acing 1L.

Some schools take apps until June for classes starting this Fall 2020. If I start this fall, I will save one year and aim to transfer to TOP 14 next fall (Fall 2021).

I am currently debating between 2 options:

Any suggestions? advice? Can anyone share his/her experience of transferring?

I will have 70 days to the April 25th LSAT following the end of the curriculum. I would like to know which practice tests to focus on and how to structure my tests and blind reviews.

I started studying more than a year ago but it was more sporadic because I had to deploy but now I'm in my transition and have really kicked up my hours and consistency with more than 6-7 hours everyday. I previously did a few of the older tests and was hitting low 150's while using Kahn. My knowledge base has definitely expanded and Im happy I choose to use this platform instead, with it's emphasis on nailing the basics.

It's nothing for me to do a test in the AM and then blind review and everything else in the afternoon. I would like to know if this is a recommended method. Is there any that has particularly worked for someone?

I'm thinking that the minimum amount of practice tests that I want to do is 20-30

I would also like to know which practice tests are more relevant since some of the older questions have been phased out on here and I've always heard from JY while going through the curriculum that "questions like this don't appear on the LSAT anymore".

Finally...if there are any tips that anyone is willing to give me, I'd be happy to accept!

I also posted this under "General" because the April 25th LSAT date was not a choice :/

Thank you all!

Hi!

So a bit of background, I’m heading towards my third take most likely in August. I PT in the mid to high 150s with a few 160-162’s sprinkled in. Official takes however have been a 154 and now a 152 so I’m definitely experiencing a disconnect somewhere so I’m really trying to buckle down and study for an extended amount of time. I’m looking to make a small BR group where we take the same pt and BR it together on skype or FaceTime, with between 3-6 people definitely no more than 6 though (however if a ton of people respond we could split into mini groups) with different score ranges. So holla at ya girl if you also are over this test and are in the ‘all gas no brakes’ mindset

#help

Does anybody know if the problem sets function gives us the option to create a problem set consists of all the questions I got wrong in the past？

For example, I want to create a problem set that having all Argument Part LR questions I got wrong in the past. I know how to filter the ones from pt 1-35, Argument Part, LR. But can't find the way to choose those I got wrong.

Many thanks if anyone can help.

My lsat score has just got released; 168

I know it is not a poor one but isn't superb either, esp for an international student aiming for t14 like me.

Would u recommend me to take one more or just try with this one?

Need some decent advice

#help

I’ve taken the LSAT three times so far. Before the January test, I had consistent PT scores in the 170s with a 167 as my lowest. Just got my score back- 162, which is the same as my last official score. I had a situation during the test where I had to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of logic games, which ruined the entire section, so this test feels like a flop.

Is it worth taking a fourth time? I’ve heard that looks pretty bad to a lot of schools, so should I just stick with my 162? Planning on applying this Fall for 2021.

Hi there. I'm truly confused about this question even if I have scanned the possible right explanations from other platform.

Link1: https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/forums/q5-large-quantities-of-lead-dust-t5368.html

Link2: http://jtaken.csoft.net/LSAT/Test%20Explanations/preptest11.pdf

Link3: https://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/viewtopic.php?t=8854

Each of them emphsized on the different points. So, I want to hear some advice from 7sage on why C is the correct answer.

BTW, as a non-native ENGLISH speaker, I'm also confused by the question stem. Is it asking us to weaken the content of the recommendation or asking us to weaken the act of giving the recommendation?

Admin note: added description; please use the format of "PT#.S#.Q# - [brief description]"