So I know application numbers are going to be up a lot this year, so I am wondering what my chances are at a top 25/ top 14 with a 165 and 3.6 as a STEM Major from a top 20 university and I have a Masters Degree from the same institution. I have varied work experiences from cancer research for which I have been published and highlighted at conferences and also have legal experience working at the border doing emergency immigration work. Any advice on schools to apply or just in general?

Any advice for what to say to a recommender who is dragging his feet? One of my college profs still hasn't submitted my LOR, even though I reached out in early August and asked for my letter by the end of October. Getting really nervous because I would love to submit my apps Nov 1 -- anyone else in this situation? :(

Just wanted to say goodbye to this wonderful community and thank JY and everyone else for helping us thru this process. I started at a 159 diagnostic and after my third try got a 178, which I cannot believe!!

Edited to add some tips:

Honestly can't believe this score and can't quite fathom what that means for me as a reapplicant but just wanted to say that if you are privileged enough to be able to take a month off work and move in with your parents so that they feed you and nurture you and you can just focus on studying and exercising and meditating and can afford to pay $100+ to a great tutor (shout out apollo prep!) then everything is doable!!!

Much love to those juggling work and families out there, this game is unfair!

A few have asked for tips, so here are some:

-- for LR I had already done 7sage and read the loophole and felt I had a pretty solid background, so I got a tutor (apollo prep, I really recommend them!!) and realized that lol my background wasn't as sturdy. We'd just review questions I got wrong after blind review together and it was very useful.

-- for LG, I did all miscellaneous games and all hard games, I realized my weak point was facing new games I had not seen before so I just did that over and over, also reviewed games but focused mostly on knowing how to tackle them.

-- for RC, I read a lot and I tried to have a conversation with the writer as a read.

Good luck everyone!!

Hi everyone! I recently got back a 174 on the October LSAT and some people reached out with questions about study tips, so I thought I would type up a comprehensive post about how I approached studying, as well as some section tips. Warning - I tried to be comprehensive but it ended up being super long - if any of it is unclear, definitely ask in the comments or PM me!

STUDY JOURNEY -

I began studying in March - I was home from college because of 'rona, and had a lot of time on my hands, which enabled me to study as my primary activity in addition to classes. My diagnostic was a 160 - I was solid at RC/LR (missing 2 and 5 on LR, and 5 on RC), but much weaker at LG (-10), so I had my work cut out for me. I come from a liberal arts/polisci background, so reading was my strong suit, and anything quantitative or puzzle-oriented was not.

March through May, I just worked through the core curriculum. I took careful notes on paper, and whenever I missed an LR/RC question, I added it to my "Wrong Answer Journal". This was absolutely critical for me - I wrote an in-depth analysis of each choice, why I thought I missed it, one portable takeaway, and what strategy I thought the test-writers were using to make a trap. This took forever, and was boring - but making this (and flipping through it when I was bored/before I went to bed) was incredibly important.

In May, I took my first post-CC PT, and got a 171, and then a 173 - I thought I would have this down in no time. But then my scores dipped, and settled primarily in the high 160s. I was consistently struggling with LG, rarely finishing on time or just getting blown out by hard games. This was where foolproofing came in handy - I created an excel sheet, and tracked my accuracy/time for sections. I would do a section, score it/watch the video, do it again, and then redo it the next day. Then, I'd do it one more time a week from then. I did this daily, with 2-3 sections a day. Doing this method with tests 1-35 (16-35 are CC, and 1-16 I broke into sections) helped me. I plateaued in the high 160s until June, but I eventually broke through it, and fixing LG through foolproofing was a large part of it.

A large part of the plateau was also due to isolated areas in LR/RC. I realized quickly that I was struggling on science passages in RC, and on strengthen/weaken in LR. Using the analytics functioning 7Sage was invaluable here to pinpoint areas of weakness. I then built problem sets focusing on those questions/redid portions of the CC (and, as always, used my Wrong Answer Journal religiously). I also read Loophole, which really helped me for strengthen/weaken.

By the end of June, I was in a pretty good grove - I was mostly in the low to mid 170s. But I would have off days sometimes, and occasionally revert back to high 160s, and never knew why. I signed up for the July LSAT, scored a 180 four days before the test, and assumed I was set. Then, on the first section (RC), I just completely blanked - I had tech issues with my Internet connection and then I just completely lost focus for the rest of the section - I couldn't regain it. I couldn't understand why this happened on the real day - getting flummoxed on section 1. My score came back - high 160s.

I got ready to take it in August - by now, I was PTing a solid 175 average, and figured I just had a bad day. August came and went, and it was similar - I felt jittery and nervous in section one (LG), and it threw me off for the rest of the test. Another high 160s.

I figured at this point that I had a solid grasp of the material - my PTs were high, but something was happening on the real day. What I learned to do here was to study less. I cut back the number of tests I was doing, started taking them as shorter flex tests, and began meditating daily. I also realized that on the real day, I was altering my routine in some ways (extra coffee, studying before the test, etc), and needed to just exactly replicate my practice test routine. I felt more locked in than ever - my PT scores before October were in the 175-180 range with a mode of 177, and relaxing played a key role. On the test day, I pretended it was just a practice test - I woke up, chatted with my family, listened to some Beethoven, and took it. I got a 174, up 5-7 points from my previous two takes, even with a slight test day penalty of 2-3 (sometimes, that penalty just happens on the real day - such is life).

SECTION STRATEGY

For the latter half of my studies, I was mostly in the mid to high 170s (usually around a 175-178 but hit 179/180 5-6 times). This was starkly different than the first half of my studies, which was mostly low 170s (but with some inconsistency and dips into the high 160s) - I think this was due to using a lot of material and, subsequently, creating section strategies that worked for me. What works for you might be different - but experiment! Try new approaches.

I ended up using most of the materials available through 7Sage/LawHub. I did PTs 1-16 as individual sections, 16-35 through the CC, and then 35-89 as full PTs (I skipped around a bit but eventually got to them all). I did 3 tests a week initially (Weds Fri Sun), but cut back to 2 when I started to feel stressed and burned out. Consuming all of this material was essential for me to really gain a level of comfort and familiarity with the test that helped me build section strategies

LG - honestly, nothing fancy here for me. The games repeat over and over again, so the real secret is just doing all of them (or as many as you can). I started out -10 or worse, and got to a consistent -0/-1 just by doing games daily - you can too! In terms of specific strategies, I was always big on splitting into sub gameboards/solving as much upfront as possible. I also would not erase inferences - I would sketch a new board for each question, so I could look back at previous work. I would also begin with questions that fed new rules/conditionals, so I could have more boards available for the open-ended questions without new rules.

For timing, I would try to get game 1 in 5 minutes or less, and then get to game 3 with 22 minutes left on the clock. I always tried to get to game 4 with 13-15 minutes if possible to prevent myself from running out of time (after a few really scary game 4s in some of the 30s/40s, I never wanted to risk not having at least 13-15 minutes for a nightmare game).

LR - this was where developing a timing strategy was essential for me. I never struggled with finishing on time, but I would get stuck on hard questions and fall into a rut, not being able to figure them out. This often happened for hard strengthen/weaken questions. I watched a video on 7sage (I think by @CantGetRight) about timing strategies/post CC exercises, and he recommended a confidence drill where you go through an LR section by mostly just picking your first intuition without checking your work or second-guessing. The objective is to see how accurate you can be, and better test your confidence threshold for a right answer. I tried this, and realized that I was shockingly accurate on questions 1-10 when moving quickly/without second-guessing. I also started to realize that when I skipped a hard question and came back with a fresh perspective, I would be far more likely to get it. This was the basis for my timing strategy - I started speeding up on questions1-10 (30 seconds per question, to finish 10 within 5-6 minutes), and skipping any question once I spent over 45-1:00 on it. The result was that I would finish 14-15 minutes early, but with several (like 5-7) questions flagged that I wanted to spend more time on. I would then have ample time to approach those with a fresh perspective. This helped get me from missing 3-5 to a consistent -0 or -1 on LR by the end of my studies.

RC - This was my worst section by far at the end of my studies - I would go anywhere from -1 to -3, and it just depended on my day (vs a -0 or -1 in LG/LR). While I was a consistent -0 or -1 on LR/LG, RC was always the wild card. But I did improve a bit - I had improvement from the -4/-5 I started and, ultimately, if you want a mid-high 170, it's a game of inches. A few things helped. First, doing more sections. RC is similar to LG in that there is repetition - wrong answer choices are wrong for similar reasons across sections. Wrong answers will often lack textual support and trade on your assumption about a topic, while right answers may pull something from a fragment of a sentence you totally glossed over. Second, pay attention to whether the question is most strongly supported or explicitly stated - if it's the latter, you need to find a line that very, very clearly says the thing - there is not really room for inferences. Third, I spent more time with the passage upfront. I realized that I could breeze through the questions when I really got the passage, so I started reading it twice - first time through I would take notes (summarizing each paragraph and an overall summary of the piece), and the second time through I would just read it without notes to understand tone and the big picture. This would take me around 3 minutes total, but saved time with the questions.

MISC TIPS

1] Don't burn out. I genuinely enjoyed studying for the LSAT, and treated it like a game - LG was a set of fun puzzles, RC was a chance to learn cool new topics, and LR was brain-twister exercises. If I hadn't had fun, I never could have made it through 89 tests worth of material. Yet, I burned out too sometimes - if you find yourself burning out, cut down the number of tests you're doing weekly. Watch a movie, take a day off, etc.

2] Find a study friend! I was fortunate that my best friend was studying for the test alongside me - we took every PT concurrently, and would review together that night - it made the journey so much more fun.

3] Take care of yourself. I was averaging a 174 before my first take, and a 175 before my second take, yet I scored 5-7 points lower on each test. It's because I was stressed out and worried about failing, which resulted in some serious test day penalties - I really recommend meditation, not studying much the week of your test, and treating your real day just like a practice test (don't change your routine at all!)

4] Shake off your off-days/lower PTs. I once got a 180 one test, and a 166 the next. Progress isn't linear, and everyone makes mistakes or has weaker days - getting high scores (and, subsequently, consistent high scores) is really hard, and it won't happen overnight. Give yourself months and a lot of tests to iron out aberrations and find a consistent pattern.

For those of you who got a disappointing score - I was there too. I thought I would never hit my PT average, and that I wasted my time studying. But don't give up - if you got it in practice, you CAN get it on the real day. Just be ruthlessly analytical in figuring out what went wrong, and work to fix it - if you do, it will work out. You're going to be a great lawyer someday, and this test won't stop you. You're going to kill it.

anyone looking to swap personal statements today or tomorrow? leave me a comment or pm if you are interested. Thanks!

Hey all! I got a 179 on the October LSAT and I'm looking to tutor in my city soon, but before I do, I figure I'd gain some lower-stakes experience. So, if anyone wants a free tutoring session, comment on this post and let me know! I probably won't be doing very many, so preference will go to the first few people who comment!

(I assume this isn't against 7sage rules because I'm not charging any $, but if I'm wrong, please let me know and I'll delete the post.)

Heyo! Taking the November LSAT soon and was thinking of perhaps having a study partner or two leading up to the final days of the exam! Thinking of calling/Zoom around 10 PM PST and going over Flex tests. PT-ing around low 160s, BR high 160s-170 so looking for someone to also work together to improve timed score! Comment email and let's chat!

LSAC just released the May 2020 Preptest on LawHub. Does anyone know when 7Sage will upload their explanations or how quick the turnaround usually is?

Hello. I scored a 163 on the October Flex. My GPA is fairly unimpressive so this score is too low for the schools I want to apply to. My goal score is 165+ and I likely won't send an application until I achieve that score. With that being said, is it in my interest to keep the 163 or delete the score from my LSAC account? Are there any advantages/disadvantages to keeping it? Please advice!

Diagraming this stimulus into conditional logic was hard for me. I started with the second sentence:

Unless= G3= negate, place in sufficient

/heat to cause volcanic action -----> /renewed surface

For the third sentence:

Any= G1= sufficient

Since it used the idea of "/renewed surface" , I was able to chain it up with the second sentence:

/heat to cause volcanic action --->/renewed surface ------->heavily pockmarked

When I got to the last sentence, I got lost. I didn't know how to diagram it. I feel like the last sentence plays a role in the chain from above, but I don't really know what that would look like.

Would really appreciate some clarification on how to diagram this stimulus. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

We are happy to announce that we have just added a new video player with advanced features.

Currently, there are three main new features compared to the classic player:

Where cc is available, it can be toggled, and the site remembers your setting across videos.

Where 4k videos are available, it can be toggled, and the site remembers your setting across videos.

You can use the picture-in-picture feature (near top right) to pop the video up off the page.

You can try our new advanced video player by going to the Settings tab and selecting "Advanced - Newest player with advanced features" under "Video Player." See the screenshot below:

Let us know if you have any questions!

Ive been wondering, do you see proctors face while you take the exam? because that would be really distracting ._.

What’s everyone think my chances are at Schools like Georgetown, Cornell, Boston college, Notre dame, USC? I still have time to bring my gpa even higher as I’m in my 5th semester right now.

I did poorly on this October LSAT. If I decide to apply for this fall (2021) anyway, but then take the Jan/Feb LSAT and do better. Can I decide not go to school in 2021 and then reapply in 2022?

Will law schools hold it against me if I don't come and then reapply the following year?

I just wanted say thank you to all you wonderful people. On my third attempt, I've still scored lower than my PT average (thanks test anxiety), but I've decided to move on and apply with what I have----169 (shredder be damned), which I am beyond thrilled with. I was set on retaking in November, but I realized that I've reached the point of diminishing returns, and now it's time to leave the obsessiveness, which has served me well to this point, behind.

I've loved using 7Sage all this time---nearly a year. J.Y.'s videos have been awesome, and the supporting team and community have been likewise. Feel free to AMA if you care to.

Hey Everyone,

I've heard a lot about this book and was wondering if anyone has an E copy/ PDF of it by any chance? I cant find it anywhere. Let me know. Thanks!

So I’m currently a Junior in undergrad, just took October and got a 167 which I’m happy with. I would like to get into Georgetown, so I believe I’m at there median (some sites say 167, some say 168) and my gpa is solid through almost 2 and a half years (3.87). Whats everyone think about Georgetown if I can keep my Gpa up? Also, since I’m only a junior, I won’t apply for another year and a half right? I didn’t know if I could send them stuff early or not, honestly don’t know much about the application process so any help would be great!! Thanks guys!

Got a 167 on October!! If anyone needs help on LG let me know! I’ve been helping students in LG for about 2 months now!!

Hey guys!

This might be a dumb question, but the transcript request stuff on the LSAC website really confuses me. Do I need to actually call my university and ask them to send my transcripts to LSAC? I currently have my school listed and it says that I have a transcript that has not been processed, but it has been close to three weeks... If anyone knows anything please let me know! #help

Hello all!

I am trying to decide whether to apply this year or next year. I'm hoping for some feedback.

Considerations for Applying Next Year:

The main reason that I'm thinking about applying next year is that I would have to RUSH to get everything done to submit this year. Although I'm currently PTing around 165, I won't be taking my first LSAT until November. Realistically, I won't be able to get my applications submitted until mid-December. With that in mind, part of me wants to just wait and apply early next year with an application that I spent more time on.

HOWEVER...

I'm really worried that next year will be even more competitive than this year.

According to this Data from LSAC https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummary.aspx applications are up 50.7% this year compared to last year. On top of that, it seems that the number of applicants scoring in the 165+ range is WAY up. I'm worried that if I wait another year, the competition will be much greater.

Anyway, I apologize if this is somewhat of a rant. Ultimately, I am really interested in what you guys think and would greatly appreciate any feedback.

P.S. Congrats to everyone who hit their target scores in October!

This service is fully responsible for me getting a score so high. I could not have done it without you, JY. Thank you very very much. Will recommend 7sage until I die.

Score Breakdown:

LG - minus 0 to minus 4

LR - minus 4 to minus 5

RC - minus 3 to minus 7

LG mostly I think I mess up because I go too fast or because of rule substitution questions towards the end. I am working on foolproofing, but yet to consistently hit -0. LR I am working on my weaknesses and mistakes and same with RC. RC is a hit or miss depending on passage difficulty. Is there any advice to break into 170s at least before my November test date?

Hey guys, I just took my October test and did well, if I cancel my 7sage subscription, do I still have access to the discussion board and be able to message people?

Do people think it’s worth it to spend a lot of money on applications? I really want to go to BC and would prefer to stay in MA but there are other schools out of state I am thinking of applying to as a just in case. Right now the schools Im thinking of fees add up to almost $800. Should I cut down the list since I want to stay in MA and have a good chance of getting into law schools here? Or should I apply elsewhere just in case?

Hi everyone,

I would really really appreciate any advice I can get. So my CAS GPA is a 3.85 and my LSAT (Oct-flex) is a 173. I know that both my GPA and my LSAT are slightly higher than the school's median, which means that I won't benefit A LOT from applying ED.

Should I still go for it? I'm freaking out because I'm reading everywhere that applications are up by 50% for many law schools and a lot more people have scored 170+ this cycle.