Hi all! So I'm starting to organize all the paperwork I will need to ask professors for letters of rec from my undergrad. I graduated in December 2016... which was a while ago.

I want to ask three professors. One professor who I took two courses with in Fall of 2015, and two others, one in 2015 and one in 2016. How do I go about starting an e-mail to professors I haven't seen or spoken to in a while? All advice is appreciated! thank you so much!

I have taken the LSAT in June 2018. I scored a 142. I was devastated that I achieved such a low score. I took a sabbatical from studying. I am practicing and studying now. I do not know if I should hire a take another LSAT prep class, use a web site like 7sage for self study, or hire a private tutor. I do not know if I should hire get disability testing for testing accommodations. I do not know if I should just apply to law school with my score. I do want to re-take the test, for a better score. So many questions in my head, so little time.

Hi everyone!

I was browsing through the "How to study for the digital" discussion and saw it was mostly format related questions... I haven't seen discussions on how people are adapting to digital so thought I might get one going. I have written Nov 2018, March 2019 tests (both 161 lol) so definitely required some adjustments!

I have taken I think 5 PTs using the digital tester and feel like I've developed my "toolbox" of techniques. My scores are currently in the upper 160s/lower 170s... I think one of the main reasons I've seen this jump is because the digital tester has allowed me to gain about 5 mins per section. Would love to hear others' tips + tricks as well!

(PS -- Thanks to the 7Sage team for all their work on the digital tester!! I am using an iPad and Apple pencil and it works beautifully!!)

7/15/2019 edit after my experience on July 2019 digital test

Get psyched!

I was anxious when I realized July might be digital. But I forced myself to feel excited about it and I got over my anxiety a lot quicker than I thought I would.

Use highlighter for segmenting LR stims

I used to break up LR stims by segmenting them with pencil / marks. Not being able to segment the stim was what I feared most, but now I use the orange highlighter to segment the passages by marking the period or the space between words. It actually works so much better than my pencil marks because the orange pops.

womp womp, the real digital won't let you highlight only spaces. I used the red highlighter to highlight the conclusion of the argument and focused on that and used the yellow highlighter to highlight key/relevant premises (but only when I really needed to/for complicated stims... for me, highlighting conclusion was usually enough).

Use highlighter for marking potential answer options

The "eliminate" option is super helpful, but I found making highlight marks on the answer options that are potentials help my eyes focus on the contenders a little better than when I only eliminate answer options.

https://i.imgur.com/kSI5f78.png

Marking up RC

I use the memory method for RC. I use a highlighter to highlight any information I think I would need to remember.

If it's a particularly complicated passage with 2 ideas/views/theories/etc. in the passage, I use one highlighter to mark up things related to group 1 and the other highlighter for group 2.

I also use alternating highlighter color to highlight the first word of each paragraph so that I can easily distinguish paragraphs.

In my scratch paper, I jot down the paragraph # along with 1-2 key words about that paragraph. Since you can't see the entire passage in one view, mapping the passage out like this is super helpful in getting me to the right place in the passage quickly, esp for paragraph references (e.g. "What is the purpose of the third paragraph?")

Fold scrap paper in half, hot dog style

My middle school math teacher was very insistent on us folding our papers in half to create 2 columns and completing assignments with our work flowing from left column downward, then right column downward (if that makes sense...) It helped stay organized and efficiently used the space, especially on unlined paper. 20ish years later, I still do this with any kind of scrap paper note taking, and it's been helpful for me on the LSATs as well. Since the space is narrow, it helps me write straighter and groups notes into a smaller surface area so when I'm looking at my paper the notes come into single view. When I make a mistake, I just cross it out and continue underneath. I only put a single line through it JUST in case it turns out I didn't make a mistake so that the notes are still legible. I can rewrite it quickly (or just refer to it) without spending extra time trying to figure out what I had written.

Knowing exactly how my scrap paper will flow has taken the guesswork out of where I'm going to write, and taking out that guesswork I think has been impactful in my race against time.

PS -- for LG, I fold the paper so that the right column is slightly larger than the left. I'll write the game board on the right column and do questions on the left.

LG scrap paper use example

https://i.imgur.com/yj5biTc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3ucjcQm.jpg

Clearly mark everything on scrap paper

I clearly number all the notes I take. When I'm done with a question I draw a horizontal line that separates it from the next question. If feel confident of my answer, I draw a single, large diagonal line through that section of notes. If I'm NOT confident of my answer and feel like I'll come back to it, I circle or star the question number prominently.

Practice solving problems with 1:30 timer countdown

I LOVE that there's a built in timer, but at first it was terrifying, especially towards the end. I freaked out when the clock turned red at the 5 min mark and panic heightened especially after the 2 min mark. Knowing that I generally average a little over 1 min/question, I knew that it would be critical for me to keep my cool at the end, especially if I'm actually solving a new question and not reviewing. I set a timer at 1:30 and just trained myself to "be normal" as I watch the timer countdown. I developed an awareness of what it feels like watching the countdown at the 1 min mark, at the 30 second mark, 15 second mark etc... basically, I realized that 30 seconds is a lot "longer" than I thought (also, planking for 30 seconds feels like 30 mins haha). Anyways, a calm 30 seconds vs. panicked 30 seconds can be the difference between -0 vs. -4

Simplify your mark ups (added 5/24)

This technique may be more suitable for those scoring 160+ who have a fairly strong grasp of the LSATs.

When I was preparing for paper LSATs, as my skills grew, my passage mark ups became simpler: I underlined things or segmented sentences using / marks. Since on paper, I really only used 1 type of mark-up (lines), I have been able to translate that into digital using only 1 highlighter tool. I gave myself about 6 LR sections to adjust any time I made a change before making a judgement call on its effectiveness.

When I learned the digital tester would include multiple highlighting options, I was excited at first. Then I realized that switching among the different functions is somewhat time consuming. I tried my best to find a mark-up technique that uses only 1 highlighter tool.

If your paper test mark ups have been fairly complex (on average, you use 3+ types of symbols like brackets, underlining and circling), try simplifying it by evaluating which kinds of mark ups are absolutely vital to the way you process information. You may find that there are some marks you make more out of habit than necessity.

Anyways, these are some tools I've developed for myself to prepare for digital. I'll post a pic of examples of LR passage mark ups soon.

Would love to hear tips and tricks from others as well!

Hi Everyone-

I have struggled with NA questions a lot and found an approach that for me has been a bit more intuitive and grounded in an understanding of how LR questions are made and would like to share it. I am hoping this helps people like me who have struggle (and apologize if anyone else has already posted this)!

-We know that for Necessary Assumption questions, the premises given do not, by themselves, justify the conclusion reached.

-However we know that the author believes that their premises DO justify the point being made.

-The author, in going from premise to their conclusion, has made assumption that they believe warrants the conclusion, but we know whenever an assumption is made it is dangerous, because it represents a flaw in the argument.

-However, for NA questions, you want to study the relationship between the premises and conclusion carefully and see what the author is assuming to get from his/her premise to the conclusion of their argument.

-Then, with the assumption you have, you go into the answer choices looking for an answer choice that allows the assumption to hold (this also works for bridging NA because the author is assuming for example, that from A-->C we can conclude A--->D, so we would have to say that it is the case that C is somehow indicative of D).

For example, from the June 2007 PT section 3 question 11

Premise: Feathers from 1880s have half as much mercury as living birds from same species

-Mercury is derived from fish eaten by bird

C: Mercury levels in saltwater fish are higher than they were 100 years ago

This is a cookie cutter NA question in the sense that they give us a phenomenon and something to do with that phenomena, and then conclude that that thing is the only way the phenomena could have occurred. In another sense, that nothing other than fish could have influenced the Mercury levels. This is the authors assumption, and we go in to the AC's looking for something that would affirm (protect) the author's argument

E is correct because it allows our assumption to hold- that other things did not influence mercury levels by telling us that the process used to preserve the birds did not influence drop in mercury level the premise tells us about. (Making it more likely that seabirds are the reason there was less mercury in the older birds)

When you look at every other ac, you can see if has nothing to do with the assumption and so you can get rid of it. This has helped me go faster and understand that the LSAT is all about understanding the gap between the premise and conclusion, and how this helps you go a lot faster!

Hope this helps you all!

Nicole

Hi all,

I'm trying to keep my motivation about deciding to go for law school and I have a strange question:

Are there fields of law where you don't spend >50% of your time reading? One's that keep you away from a desk more or end up being more interpersonal rather than solitary in nature?

I am not a huge fan of reading in general, I have a reading disability and it's very taxing to do for long periods of time.I know that will mean Law School will be horrible but I'm prepared to do that if the pay off is a job I like. Everything outside of the reading makes me feel like I'm a good fit for the degree. I am aware reading is a necessary part being a lawyer, but if my job was almost all reading I don't think I could do it.

I am currently most interested in Public Defense or possibly some kind of Policy Council. Are there other fields of law you think I should look into?

I'm not trying to make money, mostly just trying to do public interest kind of stuff/stick up for the little guy.

Just as the title says... when I go to resources I can only see an option to take the test digitally. I would rather have them saved as a PDF on my computer so I can go back to them and print them at a need be basis.

In case this helps anyone: As we approach the June exam, I wanted to share the 2 most helpful things I've realized lately ~ and will be drilling into my head every day because I'm close, but I'm still not there.

(1) In LG, if panic ensues, do NOT read a question over and over again waiting for it to magically become less mysterious or easier. The questions should never need to be read again. If it looks like none of the answers are right, guess what? That's your safety net being triggered! It ALWAYS means it's time to go back to the setup. Read the RULES over and check them against your setup. If you haven't split, do it. If you split but you didn't ask, "Who's left?" and account for every game piece, do that. Yes, even the floaters, especially the floaters. Account for them. Draw it all out so that every piece is staring at you in the face within all possible worlds. Bam. Then, try the questions again.

(2) Applies to the whole test: You know that moment where no answer choice is clearly speaking to you, and you lower the bar and think, "Oh, this sounds like a good answer. It's not exactly right, but it's probably good enough and I'm probably just missing the reason why it's the right answer." ??? DON'T do it. It's almost NEVER the right answer. You're missing something about the relationship between the premises and the conclusion or you've misread or misunderstood exactly what the question stem is tasking you with. Skip the question and give it another go in Round 2.

Sorry for all of the shouting, but I'm shouting at myself so that my future self (starting now) will freaking listen.

how the f*ck am i supposed to get these hard LR questions right??? they take me like 10 mins to figure out and i STILL get them wrong lmao

Hi guys,

So this has been an ongoing conversation I've been having with family, mentors, professors, experts, etc. I just graduated from college and am starting work in a couple of months. After many discussions about whether to go straight to law school or take a gap year, I decided to take a gap year and work for a year before going to law school.

However, now I'm also thinking about whether 2 years is better than one. I've gone to many top law school visits at my college and spoken to the admissions deans and it seems that all of them encourage students to wait as long as they can before starting law school in order to gain work and life experience. I know this is a very subjective and personal decision, but I want to be as prepared for law school as possible and I'm not sure if taking one more year is worth it - will the benefits from the work and life experience I gain outweigh the costs of losing a whole year? I just don't know.

Would love to hear any thoughts on this! Happy to provide more specific information about my background or anything else, if needed. Thanks!

Hello Everyone,

I started using 7 sage in the beginning of March, and although I printed out my study guide, I quickly decided that there was no way on earth I could advance at the suggested pace. I work full time and travel for my job, but I have been devoting as much time as possible to studying. I am still on the LR section (just finished Principal questions) and I am wondering two things: 1) am I moving too slow for a person who wants to take the LSAT in November 2019?, and 2) would it be better to do some LG's in between some of the LR's? I am not getting burned out per se, but every time I think, OK, I'm getting this stuff and the test might not be so bad, I then think, crap, I haven't even started the LG and RC sections. I studied for the LSAT a while ago, so I am familiar with all sections, but I really want to make sure I get EVERYTHING before moving on. Just worried that I might be spending too much time on LR's....so, should I push through LR's and then trust that by taking PT's I will get sufficient practice and start becoming the expert I yearn to be? Or am I doing the right thing by taking my time at an OK pace?

Looking forward to your responses, and thank you very much!!

Hello,

I am struggling with compound contrapositives. I know that when negating, you also have to switch the and/or. However, what about the use or absence of "but not both"?

Example from February 1999, link provided at bottom:

Two conditions within the problem are listed below:

If yews are not in the park, then either laurels or oaks, but not both, are in the park.

Original: ~Y-----> L or O

Contrapositive: ~L and ~O -----> Y.

If it is not the case that the park contains both laurels and oaks, then it contains firs and spruces.

Original: ~L and ~O ----> F and S

Contrapositive: ~F and ~S. -----> L or O

This second rule doesn't include the "but not both" but it seems to diagram the contrapositive regardless of the "but not both" piece's inclusion.

[Deleted: Do not post LSAT questions, any copyrighted content, or links to content that infringe on copyright.]

Thank you,

Lindsay

Hey guys,

When using the negation method for necessary assumption, are both negatives negated if the sentence contains a double negative? For example, in the sentence "it is not the case that Amy never goes to the movies", would the negation be:

or

Thank you!

Hi folks we are getting closer to the June LSAT date.

To help you prepare I am Inviting you to BR all of PT 84 with me on Sunday morning.

I will go over the entire PT and host a BR/Review session for all sections.

Along with discussing why the answers are right and how to tackle the questions I will have an added focus on how to do the questions quickly, under time.

We start at 10:00 AM in the morning.

Meeting online on Zoom:

Join here https://zoom.us/j/513392294

Who am I:

I am a fellow Sager who recently scored a 170 on the March LSAT thanks to 7sage. To pay it forward I am hosting weekly BR's every Sunday until the June exam to help my fellow sagers achieve a similar score or higher.

Hey all just a quick question are we supposed to Blind Review the whole practice test or are we supposed to just do the logic games part. I just took my first practice test and I am not clear on that. also does it matter if you blind review a day later or should you shoot for doing it all in one day?

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here (second day studying for the LSAT) and I'm just wondering how important the CC/theory is in order to progress? I'm a computer engineering major so I'm not really used to a lot of theory. Don't get me wrong, we of course discuss concepts and theories, however, the way I've been learning the past almost 4 years now is to jump in and start solving problems right away. If I'm struggling with something, the answer is almost always to just keep solving as many problems as you can until it clicks. This, by the way, has worked well.

All that to say, the LSAT is completely different than anything I've been doing for my degree, I honestly don't even remember the last time I was asked to read a passage and answer questions on it or solve a problem that didn't involve the heavy use of math.

But after doing a couple of untimed LR sections, I'm kind of getting the sense that just jumping in and attempting problems probably isn't going to work for the LSAT. This is kind of scary to me, it's something that's worked so well up until this point.

I've taken somewhat of a logic class before (discrete math) but the logic on the LSAT seems to be a much different type of logic than what I learned in that class, so unfortunately I don't know how much help that will be.

Anyways, just kind of wanted to reach out and see if I could get some opinions on how important it is to go through the theory lessons JY provides. I don't want to keep attempting LSAT sections and get discouraged by lack of improvement if there is indeed a better way.

Sorry for kind of rambling.

Thanks,

Ryan

@"Adam Hawks" @drbrown2 @TheDeterminedC

Guys, thanks for your help with my previous question about RC. I need more advice/assurance/tough love. My target score is 165+. Before deciding whether or not to write in June 2019 test, I wrote three PTs as diagnostic in the first week of study. I got 164(PT39), 171(PT45, supposed to be easy one), and 164(PT72). I thought that with ~25hr/week of study for 12 weeks, I should be able to hit my target score of 165+ safely. For some time, my goal seemed attainable. I did seven PT50s with average of 167(with only one below 165).

But now, I am getting more and more frustrated. Here are my recent PT scores with PT65 from today.

PT75, 167

LG(-2), LR1(-2), LR2(-4), RC(-6)

PT73, 165

LG(-2), LR1(-9), LR2(-3), RC(-5)

PT76, 162

LG(-2), LR1(-11), LR2(-4), RC(-7)

PT77, 167

LG(-4), LR1(-2), LR2(-4), RC(-6)

PT65, 163

LG(0), LR1(-6), LR2(-9), RC(-8)

For PT76 and PT65, RC sections were very difficult for me (i was not able to finish the last 2-3 questions). In both cases, an LR section followed. In both cases, I was lost during the LR: I spent a long time to finish the first couple of easy questions, I forgot about the strategies I suppose to implement (such as negation test for NA, etc.). The only thing I remember was trying to finish the questions. Well, I bombed the LR sections as well.

Besides wonderful suggestions about review/BR, any advice on how I should use the rest of two weeks more effectively? How can I prevent the after-shock effect of a particularly bad section?

Thanks.

Help me decide which school to put a second deposit down to.

My background: I’m almost 15 years out of undergrad. Worked a little over half that time as an electrical engineer and international project manager for a global company on oil & gas projects. Travelled / ran a few businesses including a physical location business for the remainder. Now have a wife and almost 2-year-old toddler and live in Houston. Have a house with a mortgage here. Applied to 15 schools, didn’t get into the 3 ivys I applied to, but got in to remainder (including a couple of top 20s) and waitlisted at a couple of top 15s. Have narrowed it down to 4 options, mostly based on practical considerations. Most of my immediate family lives around Texas (Austin, Houston, and Dallas). Am contemplating IP law, but am not 100% sure if that’s what I’ll end up in. Wife is a school teacher.

In alphabetical order:

• Emory with $36k/yr scholly with ’19-20 tuition ~$59.5k/yr full-time. Requires relocation to Atlanta.

• Houston with $11.5k/yr scholly with ’19-20 tuition ~33.2k/yr full-time. I live about 15 minutes drive from the school.

• Seton Hall with full-tuition scholly for their weekend part-time program (requires 8 alternative weekends of classes and 1 weekend for finals per fall & spring semester over 4 years). Will have some travel costs associated with it such as flights and 2 nights of hotels 9 times per semester, but will allow me to make a living while I go to school. (Night part-time programs don’t work as well for me for other reasons, so I didn’t consider them).

• Texas …. Currently wait-listed with ’19-20 tuition ~$36.8k/yr full-time. I believe my chances of getting in are decent. For this exercise, give me an opinion assuming I did AND didn’t get in. I’m assuming that there would also be some minimal scholarship provided even if being accepted off of waitlists based on various online sources. I grew up in Austin and my parents and sister’s family still live there – so Austin is also another ‘home’ for me.

Struggling with this decision and could really use some opinions / insights. Thank you!

My first few practice tests I have gotten two 161s. Although I do well on the LR and am sure I will do well on the LG when it comes time to take the test, I am having great difficult with RC. I cannot get through all of the passages in time. I usually only have 4 minutes left by the time I start the last passage. As a result I miss around 10-11 on the RC. Does anyone have any advice on how to improve speed without sacrificing accuracy?

I just downloaded the 7Sage app and I'm curious what to set the background and distraction levels to in order to simulate a realistic exam setting. I usually study in complete silence, but this isn't how it'll be when I take the LSAT in July. Any suggestions on settings would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I just took PT79 and got around 10points lower than my regular scores.

When looking at a flaw argument, could there be two or more possible flaws, such as a combination of self-contradiction and unwarranted prediction?

Hi guys, I’ve mostly been a lurker on the forum, but now that my cycle is officially over, I wanted to share a little bit about my LSAT journey and methods. It might not help, and I am no way attempting to plug my study methods. This is just for reference.

My LSAT journey started out in 2016 with the Blueprint Games book. I spent a whole semester on and off familiarizing myself with the games section and going through the book. I took a lot of notes (which in hindsight was not very helpful at all). Then, I learned about 7Sage and purchased the starter pack. At the time, I was still in school full time (STEM major) and working part-time as well, so not a lot of prep time for the LSAT. I was PTing around 160-164, and because I wanted to head straight to law school after graduation, I decided to take the test and wing it. Definitely do not recommend this. I did horribly and did not finish four of the five sections. There was a terrible game section that I believe was an experimental. There was a game about beer companies and different types of beer that I completely blanked on. Got my first score back, it was barely over 160 and it felt like my whole world was ending when I decided to take a year off to study and better prepare. Now looking back, the year was totally worth it, both in terms of the score increase and my mental health. I was able to focus on my classes and enjoy graduation without stressing about the LSAT.

After graduation, I tried a few different approaches to learning the LSAT. Velocity LSAT, LSATHACK, Powerscore, LSAT trainer, etc. In my humble opinion, and everyone is different, I think my score increase mainly came from perfecting the games section, and that I have to attribute that to 7Sage and Blueprint. I preferred using the Blueprint method when drawing diagrams for games and using 7Sage when it came down to reviewing the games. My diagramming technique ended up being a blend of 7Sage and BP, which I found super helpful.

The Blind Review method was very good for the LR sections, but didn’t really do much for me in RC. There were just always a few questions in reading comprehension that I got wrong regardless of how long I looked at them. I honestly don’t think I ever mastered RC, which is my my final score wasn’t as high as it could have been.

In summary, this is what I think worked for me:

NOTE: I would recommend trying to memorize the formal logic component like the back of your hand, but also understand that it is only a small portion of the points, and that grasping the skill of finding the conclusion/supporting claims and being able to figure out the logic gap is the most important part of LR.

It took me about three to four months of full time study after graduation to get to 177-178ish blind review scores. I averaged 170 during the last few PTs (PT80-84) and I barely made it over the mark on the actual test. Although I did hear multiple people say the test I sat was super super hard, I don’t really think it would have affected my score too much, maybe 1 0r 2 point upward fluctuation?

I don’t think my method was actually the best or the most comprehensive, and I honestly don’t know if I can say that I succeeded on the LSAT, but I did end up somehow getting accepted to Harvard (after much struggle and the most awkward interview of my life), so I think that it might be safe to say the LSAT is just one (albeit very important) component of your entire application.

Honestly, this is such a supportive place. Special shoutout to @"Leah M B" for answering so many of our questions. Hope everyone can get into their dream school!

So my average section performance according to 7 sage, is about -5.5 in LR -9.3 in LG and -7.3 RC. I've taken four practice tests this time around. I found 7SAGE and spent significant time on the fundamentals this time. Really boosted my LR score, although the harder questions at the end always get me. I first tried to study for the LSAT a couple of years ago and score a 153, despite scoring around 160 before. Could be nerves. Do you have any advice on what I should do the next two weeks? I know they say logic games is learnable but would I suffer from only focusing on that going forward?

I just started the Ultimate+ course yesterday and I'm wondering if I should be using some other study content along with 7sage or should I do that once I'm done with the 7sage core curriculum. The weekly hours for ultimate+ based on my schedule is already 45-50 hours/ Week so I'm just a little confused if I should be adding some other content with this. Thanks in advance!

The T-14.

It seems like no one talks about anything else. But where did this term come from and what does it actually measure?

https://classic.7sage.com/about-those-rankings/