256 posts in the last 30 days
it would seem that many schools have a 2 page limit for the personal statement. Do you guys think i schools will care if i were to make the margins abit bigger to accommodate a bit of a longer essay? i dont think they need to follow a specific format APA..etc, it would seem the only requirement is double space
So I'm kinda stressing out. I have until the November test to get my average above 170 and my actual PT score isn't budging. For reference, PT 68 had my highest BR thus far (177) but I still only managed a 165 timed. The LG section for this PT was very unconventional and I went -7. (I was spinning my tires on that last game). I was able to do the section -0 with ease once the clock was out of the equation. Lots of lessons to be learned there but I'm clearly struggling with time management/making mistakes under pressure.
At this point, what's the best use of my time? I really don't want to submit apps with anything less than a 168 so I'm starting to feel the pressure.
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I was able to get this question right but was not sure about the negation of "anyone".
so the negation of anyone is someone???
Admin note: edited title
https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-46-section-2-question-23/
I am completely lost on my personal statement. It feels as if I cannot find the perfect story to share. I want it to be unique and have been advised to stay away from the "immigrant child story and transition into US". I feel like it is very difficult for me because I am only 19 years old. I've been quite fortunate to not face challenges in my life and things have gone per plan. I don't want to write the basic "I am a perfectionist" story either. I have been very confused and would appreciate any help you are able to offer.
Of the top 10 schools, Columbia and Penn have personal statements that suggest putting in elements of a "Why School X" essay in them. How are my fellow applicants handling these personal statements?
For reference, here are Columbia and Penn's prompts:
Columbia:
Candidates to Columbia Law School are required to submit a personal statement supplementing required application materials. We are curious about your interests, goals, and aspirations and how the J.D. program at Columbia can help you achieve these. You are encouraged to think about the contributions you hope to make to both the Columbia community and the legal profession while considering your personal, intellectual, and professional background and any relevant information that you may not have otherwise conveyed through your other application materials. Please note that the personal statement should be double-spaced and approximately two pages in length. This statement should be attached electronically.
Penn:
The Admissions Committee requires that every applicant submit an original example of written expression. The purpose of this personal statement is to provide you with as flexible an opportunity as possible to submit information that you deem important to your candidacy. You may wish to describe aspects of your background and interests--intellectual, personal or professional--and how you will uniquely contribute to the Penn Law community and/or the legal profession. Please limit your statement to two pages, double spaced and label it as "Personal Statement" with your name and LSAC account number on each page.
How's everyone handling these? Are you guys explicitly addressing why you're interested in Columbia and Penn in your personal statements? If so, how much space in your two-page allotment are you dedicating to addressing that?
I am currently applying for Law School and notice some schools have slightly different requirements. Harvard allows for two pages resumes- Yale doesn't. Columbia and Duke want specific things in your Personal Statement, others don't. Chicago wants hours worked on your resume, Penn makes no such requirement. Obviously you should do what they say, but how drastically are you guys noticing your materials change from school to school? Should I alter slightly for each school or change drastically? Just interested in opinions.
I don’t see a feature on the LSAC website to read a submitted LOR before we assign it to a school and send it. Has anyone else accomplished this? Obviously I want to make sure I’m only sending the strongest letters.
So... I think I have my resume cut down to short and sweet and applicable to law school. I have a few odd jobs going back to high school, and I don't think it's helpful to list everything I've ever done. So, I just listed things I have done in recent years that did seem positive. I know some schools will ask for it all, and I would provide if they asked for it.
Anyway... I wanted some input on a few issues, if you good folks will oblige :)
I snuck a little humor in there. At the end, I have a "Talents" section. Some have "hobbies" or "interests" or whatever. I am open to changing this, too. But anyway... I listed some talents that I have that are also interests for me, and "ruining murder mysteries for my family." It's funny, but true. Do these people have any sense of humor? I always hear that we should show our personalities -- glimpses of ourselves-- through our applications in some way. Inappropriate?
I have some stuff that is under some iron clad NDAs. I can't say specifics, or even the companies it was for (the ones who hired me/any that the work was for). I condensed it all into one job listing instead of separate projects, and gave a really broad overview of what it entailed. It's frustrating, because it entails a lot of things over a number of years. Would this raise massive red flags? How would I even prove any of it, due to the heavy handed non-disclosure agreements? I really want to leave it in, because it covers a lot of time I spent at home raising my child, and it shows I was doing something. Thoughts?
Would it be best practice to submit documents (resume, PS, why X, etc) as PDFs instead of word documents? In my overly obsessive little law school applicant mind, I'm imaging all sorts of unintentional formatting / processing errors occurring at some point after I hit submit to the point where the document appears before a decision maker. Is this just a symptom of too-much time thinking about this or would it help to submit documents as PDFs?
Hey guys,
I'm taking my first prep test today, and I wanted to clarify what a blind review was.
From my understanding you circle the ones you're entirely unsure of and you review thoses before checking your answers.
However, I plan on blind reviewing the entire test -one section a day, is this a good idea? Moreover, I don't really see myself taking the test until march the earliest or June the latest. I work full time and occasionally i do between 45-and 50 hours a week. my ultimate goal is one prep test a week with one blind review section per day, averaging about 12 hours a week.
I've been through the CC.
is my understanding of BR correct?
is one prep test until june reasonable?
I am confused because the correct answer to this question seems like it's a necessary assumption and not a sufficient assumption, as the question stem would describe it to be. I generally regard necessary assumptions to be the "bare minimum" standard. It seems that "societies being geographically isolated enough not to have been influenced by any other society" only allows for, and does not guarantee, the conclusion to be drawn. When I really analyze the question I guess I could see how it's sufficient, but am I crazy to think that this reads so similarly to a necessary assumption? Is there a helpful technique for distinguishing the two in a situation like this?
Admin note: edited title
https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-60-section-1-question-22/
Hey folks, I wanted to post a few questions here that contain “most” relationships in them that are not that common. They collectively might only take 45 minutes to memorize, and who knows: one might show up on your exam and you can get the point! This is part 1 in what I hope is a 3 part series examining weird most relationships.
The first most relationship I want to discuss takes this following form:
Most As are Bs
Most Bs are not As
The following are 2 questions that make use of this relationship, we are asked for a must be true and the answer to both is the same iteration of the must be true.
Pt 77-4-13
Pt 80-1-22
I have left one other question out. As an exercise, I want you, the reader to try to memorize this form and see if you come across it yourself, that way you can see if you have actually retained the memory and understanding of the form and if you would net the point come test day.
Lets take a look at what these two statements mean. Mr. Ping points this process out in the lessons, but it is worth repeating.
Here is an example:
Most people who live in the United States know who The Beatles are
But, most people who know who The Beatles are do not live in the United States
In combination, what must be true here?
Let’s pretend there are 320 people in the United States and lets assign a number constituting “most” of that set to be those who know who The Beatles are: 200. It might be helpful here to view “most” as simply something equal to or more than 51%. So that assignment of 200 is our “most.” This is a very basic way to look at this concept, there might be more thorough ways to look at it, but I think this will work.
Now let’s rephrase that first statement with something more concrete:
200 out of a total of 320 people in the USA know who the Beatles are
Now let’s look at the other statement and its relationship with the first statement:
But, most people who know who The Beatles are do not live in the United States
Here we are looking at the total set of people who know who The Beatles are and we are making a statement about that set: that that 200 we know comes from the United States constitutes less than half, or less than what we are colloquially calling “most” or more specifically, a maximum 49%, this has to be true in order to make room for the number of people that constitute 51% or more not from the USA who know who The Beatles are. So whatever the rest of that set is (not USA): it must be something more than 200, because if it were less, the statement itself would be false. So what raw number constitutes most in one context does not constitute most in another context.
So the second statement tells us that the 200 we have from the USA falls short of most, and the remainder of the total set of people who know who The Beatles are comes from Not USA. So the total set of people who know who The Beatles are might be 1,000 and 200 come from the USA and 800 from elsewhere/not USA. That is a fact pattern commensurate with our statements. A number that constitutes most (200) in one context is less than half in another context.
Most professional Bull riders are from Texas
Most people from Texas are not professional bull riders
This is an example that might make the idea of sets in this context easier to grasp.
Texas has roughly 30 million people, a set much larger than “professional bull riders.”
In one context “most” means something like 180/300 (bull riders)
And in another context “most” would mean something like 16 million (From Texas)
Intuitively, this makes sense, and I submit so does the must be true inference: that there are more people from Texas than there are professional bull riders.
I have designed a small exercise to help demonstrate this point. Below are 3 total sets that reference our Beatles/USA example above, which one is not commensurate with our fact pattern in the stimulus? Here is a reminder of what the fact pattern in the stimulus is:
Most people who live in the United States know who The Beatles are
But, most people who know who The Beatles are do not live in the United States
Total set:700 know who the Beatles are
USA:200/320 know who The Beatles are
Not USA:500 out of a total set of 700 know who the Beatles are
Total set:300 know who the Beatles are
USA:200/320 know who the Beatles are
Not USA:100 out of a total set of 300 know who the Beatles are
Total set:200,000 know who the Beatles are
USA:200/320 know who The Beatles are
Not USA:199,800 out of a total set of 200,000 know who The Beatles are
That’s correct, set (2) does not fit our fact pattern.
Now here is another intuitive example:
Most people who currently attend Harvard Law School are really smart
Yet, most people in the world who are really smart, don’t currently attend Harvard Law school
Intuitively, we know that the second set “really smart” is a much large set than the total group currently attending Harvard Law school.
Now, try applying a fact pattern to the two questions above and see what emerges as a must be true! Keep this form in mind, it might be rare, but getting it correct could be the difference between a 159 and a 160, or getting it correct quickly and efficiently could free up time that could lead to getting 3 questions correct you otherwise might have been pressed for time when you got to.
You know the drill: I'm open to correcting any mistakes I might have made here.
Thank you for reading!
David
I just finished CC across the span of about three to four months (very on and off) and did my first timed PT (Prep Test 62) yesterday. I scored a 154 and BRed a 159 (admittedly, I gave up on some of the Logic Games).
My score by section was:
-13 RC. (-6 BR)
-8 LR. (-5 BR)
-10 LG. (I just completely freeze on Logic Games).
-11 LR. (-9 BR)
I got most questions right on the first two RC passages, but I completely ran out of time by the third and fourth which were far harder.
For Logic Games, I plan on using Pacifico's Logic Games Attack Strategy beginning today so hopefully I'll become a lot more familiar with them soon.
I honestly think I'm just straight up bad at LR. It's a huge hit or miss for me mostly and it's all over the place.
I'm just really worried at this point because I really want to attend Law School next cycle which means the November test is pretty much my only shot. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on how to make the most use of my time from now until then? Currently, I'm not working either due to family issues so I have pretty much the entire day to focus on prepping. Thank you so much!
....the dumbest thing I will read all day:
I mean.. we all joke about doing that.. Some, I'm sure, have been angry enough to say it out loud. But no one has been dumb enough to try it. Until now.
Quick question for all you full-time working and part-time studying 7sagers. Do you think it's smart to take PTs after a full day's work? The LSAT is administered in the morning so I imagine it's best to get into the habit of taking timed practice tests in the AM. but for those of us who work full time, that limits us to 1 test a week rather than 2.
Hey future lawyers,
I am in the midst of applying for accommodations for my disease. This condition causes me to have various complications when it comes to concentrating. My condition becomes worse under stress, which is inevitable when taking the LSAT. I was wondering if anyone has requested for accommodations before, and if so how did you go about it? Also I am applying for 100% extra time. However, if I get denied, will they deny me without considering me for 50% extra time? Anyone who has been approved for accommodations, please help!
I was just in the admissions webinar hosted by David but didn't get a chance to ask some questions. I hope David can see this :)
But also, it would be tremendously helpful if you 7Sagers can comment if you have any thoughts!
So, I've got essentially three questions.
I am a foreign student (UK educated) and UK institutions do not have GPA system per se. I've already submitted the transcript to CAS for their individual evaluation but their academic summary report does not say anything about GPA (it only says "Foreign" under the institution section and 'Above Average' for quality academic record) although the transcript has been already processed. How would this work? Should I just care about LSAT score since undergrad GPA is kind of unknown for now?
I know Law school admissions are mainly about the numbers (LSAT and undergrad GPA). But where does having a graduate degree (Master's) kick in as a factor? Does it only count as an academic/research experience?
I am in Asia so I'm obviously taking the LSAT this October. But depending on the score, I'm willing to travel to US/Canada territory to take the November LSAT. Would this say something unsettling to the admissions process? I mean I was fine and still am fine with the idea. But I have consulted one of my professors and he suggested that taking 2 LSATs in a row within two months may send a wrong signal to schools although I'm not really sure what he meant by that signal. He said that 1 more month wouldn't make a difference but I personally experienced that even 2 weeks of intense PT-ing makes a difference. Since even 1 point increase in LSAT score boosts your admissions chance by many points, I'm more than willing to take both OCT/NOV LSATs.
So.. questions got a little lengthy haha but I would appreciate it if you could share your thoughts on these matters!
Good luck everyone!!
So I've noticed that in recent commentaries, JY says that when you do a LG, as you write down the rules, for each rule you write, go down to the 1st question and eliminate AC's if that's an acceptable situation question.
That way, by the time you finish writing down your rules, you would've already finished the 1st question (if it's an acceptable situation question).
Is this protocol? Should we do this for every Logic Game? Why is this a good strategy?
Any advice or comments would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Hey 7sagers,
First of - hope this personal learning story of mine helps.
I still think I am in my early stages of studying. I feel like I see a huge improvement in LR and LG. However, RC is still my worst section thus far. It takes me sometimes 14 + mins to do one passage, which sucks. Reason being my reading speed was to slow. I was focussed on annotating and really trying to remember the nitty gritty details. However, I analyzed my approach, why I got questions wrong and made a few changes. Here they are:
Note taking: From reading a bunch of online stuff, watching webinars, etc. - note taking in my opinion is off two types: 1) to help you UNDERSTAND the passage 2) to help you find things in the passage quickly. For the second one (finding things in the passage quickly) - it requires you to have your note symbols down solid + forces you to note take A LOT. I tried this second method in great detail - but I felt it really did not help me much + wasted more time. Reason being that it forces you to go back to the passage back way to often when most RC questions in my opinion are not designed for that. From what I have read and heard dozen times from JY - RC is about big picture. Unless a question refers to specific line - then go back to it. If not, going back to the passage to analyze your notes is a MAJOR TIME SINK. Again this is based upon my learning styles, might be different for others. Now, I focus more on understanding when reading a passage. Meaning - I won't circle/underline/etc. a lot - rather after a reading few sentences, pause and make some connections in my head and move forward. I felt this cut down my overall passage time by 4 mins + gave me a strong understanding of the passage. This does not mean I do not annotate - it just forces me to be more selective with the process.
Reading by going at the flow of your pencil: It helps me having my pencil underneath the word and leading my reading pace, whereas just reading without doing that. I am not sure if it helps others but I feel it sort of helps me go at my "own" speed when reading.
Choosing Questions to Tackle: As JY has mentioned before in LG - to go about the game by choosing question types that are more restrictive and allow you to attack the game in a more efficient manner. For example, do a must be true question in LG before a could be true question. Similarly, I felt in RC, certain questions are set up in the same manner. For example, before I read the passage I take 15 seconds to number my questions in the way I will attack them. Usually I go about in this manner: 1) Main Point of the Passage 2) Primary Purpose of the author/ Primary purpose of a certain paragraph 3) Questions that refer to specific lines in the passage 4) Inference & Most Strongly supported. Usually I go about in this manner b/c the Inference/MSS questions are usually time sinks and challenge your understanding of the passage. This will allow you to continuously get the "low hanging fruit" in each passage + enable you to use more time on questions that actually need it.
Wrong Answers always have the same Clues - Just got to quickly find them: This can be said again for most of LR answer choices, however I feel this pattern is a lot more obvious in RC. Common tricks I see in RC is strengthening words (for example: something is the "best" - usually that's a detail in a passage I would circle and not BIG Picture understanding), comparison between two things (for example: Person A will know more than Person B), wrong viewpoint (for example: the question specifically asks about the author's viewpoint, whereas the answer choice states a critics viewpoint).
Right now my goal in RC before going to timed actual sections is to get from 10-11 minutes (which I am currently at) down to 9 mins and under. Hopefully by the time I finish all the problem sets in RC I get to that. Wish me luck and I hope this helps you all!
Cheers!
I couldn't find any discussion about what to do in my situation, so here's a post:
I've taken 3 actual tests, done the CC twice, and have taken every available PT at least once. I've also completed all the powerscore books, and the LSAT trainer. I've BRed 180 before and PT at about 170, but can't see to get higher. I think it has a lot to do with my reading speed, which is really slow (max = ~250words/minute), which forces me to be overly aggressive. I think I did average on the Sept test, but still want to be prepared to take the Nov test. I have about 6 weeks left. What do you guys think I should do now? Anyone currently or previously in a similar situation have advice on how to improve, and what to do?
I plan to redo a PT a week, watch some live PTs, record myself doing a few sections, do some confidence drills, and focus on the hardest question types. What do you guys think?
is anyone able to explain why E is the correct AC?
Admin note: edited title
Hi Everybody,
I have a pretty dumb question for all you 7Sagers out there....
So I know what a median is (I think) - half of the applicants accepted had stats above that number and and half had stats below that number. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
If you have the median LSAT and GPA for a particular school, should you feel pretty good about getting accepted to that school or should you feel more like you have a 50/50 shot? Now I know acceptance depends on other soft factors - work experience, personal statement, LORs, etc., but I am pretty average when it comes to those things. I have 3 years work experience as a paralegal, I am not a URM, my essays and LORs will be well written but won't have anything absolutely incredibly special to say.
I feel like I make most my mistakes on LR because I'm rushing too much and don't catch the little details/nuances in the question stem. When I do BR, I usually get these rushed questions right. Anyone have any advice on how to tackle this?
