Does anyone think that the curve will be -12 for January? I don't think anyone got that one question on the logic games correct. Last December had -12. What do you think?

I just have to get this off my chest because it keeps blowing my mind, and I'd love any advice or just someone else to say they feel me on this. I approach the games with so much enthusiasm. I actually find them fun, and I adore the "aha" moments of discovering inferences. I tend to get the answers right and then do a happy dance. However, every time I tackle the section under strict real-time conditions (the real Nov. test, several mock proctored PT situations), I can't perform. I not only run out of time, but I'm so scared of running out of time that I rush and misread and screw up my setups. After it's over, I come home and knock out those very same games, set everything up correctly, and get them all right. AND IT'S SO FRUSTRATING because it feels like these games are IMPOSSIBLE and POSSIBLE at the same time. I'm 75% through the CC, and I'm just starting to foolproof. I realize now that foolproofing for time is just as important as foolproofing for accuracy. I bought a big binder and filled it with plastic sheet protectors and purchased two packs of super thin dry-erase markers and erasers. I hope this method works because if I actually need to print 10 copies of every game, I fear I'll wreck my husband's printer. I'm going to fullproof like my freaking life depends on it so I can jump over this hurdle in time to be awesome for the June test. It hurts my brain to both think and rush at the same time, but that's what it's going to take. Hold me accountable, you guys, please!

Hello Tutors,

I'm looking for a 7sage tutor who can help me reach a score of 170+ on the LSAT. I'm currently scoring in the late 140s.

Should I even bother taking March? Or is it smarter to focus on June/July? I've already got one take under my belt and I know taking the test before you're ready isn't ideal. Should I be aiming for March if I'm totally comfortable studying until June? I know the unlimited takes rule is a thing now but I certainly don't have unlimited funds to shell out for these takes.

Today, many of us, including myself, took the Jan LSAT. Congratulations for having survived the tribulation. I just wanted to share a little anecdote with you, my peers.

For me, today, on the very question of the very last section, as the proctor called out for us to drop the pencil, I noticed I had chosen the wrong answer. I immediately felt a monstrous and bestial or animalistic urge to change the answer choice, but I stopped myself, then came a sense of indignance, but soon after, I only felt relief as I just closed my eyes and closed my booklet. Discipline. Acceptance. Confidence. I believe I have started to grasp all these things now, and that one wrong question didn't matter in the face of true growth.

Some of you know might know I got expelled from the Nov LSAT because I did not drop my pencil fast enough, and I have tried my best to learn from that experience. As many of you pointed it, "duh", and logically I agree. But emotionally, it was truly excruciating, especially when so many around me in that test or even today, did the same thing and were unpunished, and especially since I was practicing at, what I believed, to be my peak capabilities. But logic must triumph over emotions. Just because other people weren't punished, doesn't mean I didn't deserve to be punished, and it was only just that I was punished. We dedicate so much to this test, and to get completely denied, and permanently labeled, like that was soul shaking. I had to take time completely away from the LSAT, and 7sage.

I had to really look into myself about why I felt so bad, and indignant, because I knew I didn't deserve to feel like that. I was in the wrong. I discovered that, at that point, I was deeply emotionally and illogically attached to the LSAT. Many people on the forums have described the LSAT journey as an obsession, and for me, it was an unhealthy one. I needed to change so that this wouldn't happen to me again. This meant not only strategic and competency changes, but also mental changes, so that I won't even be tempted again. I wrote a short post about the "5 Minutes Remaining" method that helped me strategically. In terms of mentality, however, I had to get out of my own head, change my mindset from a subjective one to an objective one. I had to truly embrace that LSAT isn't worth getting upset, anxious, or depressed about, that law school was just one out of infinite options, and that if something was fated to happen, or if something was able to teach me something, then it cannot be a bad thing and that if it wasn't a bad thing, then I shouldn't feel bad. Whatever happened, happened, and whatever will happen, will happen.

Sitting here right now, I don't know if I did better in this test or not, but at this point, I don't think it really matters. It's all in fate's hands now. I'm just proud because I didn't make the same mistake again, but not out of fear of punishment, but because I knew what was right, and what was logical, and what was meaningful to me.

As it is a point of distinction for NWPSL, there really isn't much material out there for us to prepare for this, so I thought I might share with you how I went from being unable to answer any questions in the given amount of time to answer every and any question they threw at me with ease and dexterity (and maybe you can see how much the process parallels the preparation for LSAT, and see how well preparing for LSAT can be a highly transferable skill if done properly). My starting point is probably lower than most of you. I deathly fear public speaking and interviews, and have had traumatic experiences that still make my forehead sweat and my hair stand when I think about them. But just like when I bomb an PT, I took a deep breath and chose to look at these failures as learning opportunities, and fuel to help me go farther.

Luckily for us, everything we need to succeed in the NWPSL interview is already given to us in the form of the Kira App.

I practiced the the whole month of Jan in conjunction with my LSAT prep, every day for 15-30 minutes. I will break down my experiences and results week by week.

First week: I was not able to formulate any answers, and I embraced that. I didn't try to brute force the questions and ramble off answers. Like with the LSAT questions stems, I tried to systemize my approach to these questions. So even though I wasn't able to answer any of the questions, I just kept listening to the sample questions, categorizing them, and breaking them down. By the end of the first week, I was confidently able to put every question they offered into one of four categories in a 2x2 matrix. On the x axis were the two types of questions: one, the X, Y, and C question types, which I define to be "tell me about a thing (X), why (Y) did you choose this thing, and conclude (C) what it meant to you" - an example in their words would be something like: "tell me what you are most disciplined in, and why?"; two, the S,T,A, and R question types, which many of us have heard about before, and is an acronym for situation, task, action, and result - an example in their words would be something specific like: "tell me about a challenging professional situation, how you resolved it, and what did you learn." or something vague like: "tell me a time you had to change someone's perspective." On the y axis were the two styles of responses I believe they expect: one is the professional business style interview response; and the other is the informal, coffee chat style interview response. I believe they want to see both sides of you. You will be able to differentiate these two based on the interviewer and their tone of voice. By the end of the week, with this matrix, I was able to start matching a few experiences to broad concepts that can apply to a bunch of questions. This simplification and streamlining process is key for those of us who are not natural speakers, since we can reduce the number of things we think about, and use a few flexible experiences to respond to almost infinite questions.

Second week: I was able to formulate broken or half responses to some of the questions. To clarify, in case it wasn't clear by this point, I used a notebook to write down my X, Y, C, or S, T, A, R's, and took notes on the questions and analyzed my responses for every question. Reviewing the recording is key, just like how you can learn a lot about your weaknesses by watching recordings of your PT, you can see every single mistake you make in interviews and try to fix them. By this point, I realized that the crux was that finishing early was a much better alternative than not finishing, and that rambling was the worst possible outcome next to complete silence. So I created some concrete rules for myself, such as: one, no tangents or background stories unless I still have 3/4ths of the timer left; two, start concluding before the 2/3rds timer mark. Background information doesn't matter; this is not a short story; you aren't graded on narrative; just get to the point. Pay attention to the timer. One minute is incredibly short, and we cannot treat this interview like any other. Just like the LSAT, it is better to skip certain things and get to the end, than to not finish. By the end of the second week, I was able to answer a some questions by rote that I have seen a handful of times at this point. I also realized, by practicing everyday, at different times of the day, that I answered much better in the afternoon/evening, than in the morning. Another thing that I noticed was that proper framing and recording techniques mattered, so what I mean here is: that your camera should be eye level; the frame should show a bit more than the top of your head on the top, and a bit more than your chest on the bottom (preferably show your hands to gesticulate); you should be either in the center of the frame, or slightly to the side, but if you are off centered, then it looks better to turn your body towards the camera.

Third week: I was very familiar with my matrix and was able to fairly confidently draft and talk about any topic the questions threw at me, but still had some rough edges. I was still tense, and often looked away from the camera when the topic was unfamiliar to me. Luckily, my brother was visiting me at the time, and I asked him for some feedback. He is younger than I, but was the social one of us, and he gave me one advice, to talk as if I was talking to a friend. This really helped, although it was a little unnatural at first. To further compensate for my nerves, I discovered that I was much more relaxed and better at the interview after I worked out, and something else that I did that helped, but I don't recommend, is I drank a ounce of wine 15 minutes beforehand. By the end of the third week, I was just going through the motions, and everything was pretty much just clicking into place, like some 1 or two star LR questions.

Fourth week: I only had a few days left before I needed to do the real interview, and was getting a bit nervous due to the impending deadline. But I told myself to believe in the system and the process. For the last two days, I was just practicing as if it were the real interview. One thing I discovered this week that helped was that if I had the chance to meet with peers or friends to chat earlier that day, my responses came out more friendly and more naturally, so I organized a lunch on the day of the interview to chat and catch up with friends.

Actual Interview: Almost everything I prepared for came in exactly as I needed. I was relaxed and natural. The categorization helped put me into a flow that just helped ideas slide out. It was like antifreeze for my frozen brain, especially for topics I was unfamiliar with. The only thing that I did, but turned out to be unnecessary was that I differentiated responses that were 1 minute long and 1.5 minutes long. On the actual interview, all my questions only gave me 1 minute. Most of them were formal, 2 of them were informal. About half of them required the XYC format, and half required the STAR format. I just wore my comfortable clothes, which included sweatpants, and alumni jacket for my undergrad college.

In conclusion, everything's coming up Milhouse? This process was so helpful, I wish I could pay to have access to it again. It was such a wonder way to practice for interviews in general.

I apologize for the long post, but I thought maybe someone would appreciate the detailed process.

.

Hey 7Sagers,

Here's the official January 2019 LSAT Discussion Thread.

**Please keep all discussions of the January 2019 LSAT here!**(/red)

Rules:

✅ You can identify experimental sections. 🙆‍♀️

You can say things such as the following:

❌ You can't discuss specific questions. 🙅‍♂️

You CANNOT say things such as the following:

Have fun discussing!

Something I have been reflecting on, and I think can help some of you who just started on the LSAT journey are some of the hacks I gained over time. I call them the LG sixth sense. When doing questions, sometimes, you can just feel whether you did something wrong. For example, when you do your acceptable situation question, you can learn from that whether you properly diagrammed the board; when you see a lot of CBT/MBT/CBF questions, you can probably assume that this game can be split into very explicit sub-boards; when you run into a local question stem, but no clear big inference pops up, you probably missed a rule or misunderstood something. These just hacks that came to me after review lot of games critically.

Do you guys have some hacks that you have developed over time for LGs? If so, why not share it? Thanks, and cheers =)

Hi I don't see any posts about the international test, so I thought relevant discussions/questions here.

My specific question is which LG is experimental. The one with the weird product origins game at the end or the one with the pet owner thingy at the end?

Best of luck to all of you!

Hi everyone,

I just took the January LSAT.

After the break, we had a RC section, an LR section, and the writing sample.

I had been feeling ok about things before the break and since I like RC (I know...I'm a freak) I was kind of thrilled to see the second RC section when I opened to it after the break.

About six or seven minutes in, the person sitting next to me raised his hand and was waving it in such a way that I was aware he was trying to get the proctors' attention. I tried to ignore this and carry on with my test. Not super successfully. The proctors were not noticing him, I guess, so eventually he had to ACTUALLY SAY, "Excuse me, sir..." At which point a proctor came over. Me: still trying to focus, though dismally unsuccessful at it by this point. I did not look up to see what was going on, but he did get up, walk behind my chair, and left. Then a few minutes later, he came back. Such a disturbance.

CAN YOU IMAGINE the wrench this threw in my game? I totally lost focus. I could not (not that this is to my credit, but is true) get my game back on after he came back and sat down because freakout. I ended up vaguely doing 3 sections in the 4 section LR. Just not able to take in what I was looking at. When I went on to the next section, which was an LR section, I was still freaking out about having screwed up the RC. And so it went. Not good. Tres sad, actually.

After the test was finished, I went and spoke to the proctors and asked them to write the incident up because I am going to write to LSAC and formally state that I feel certain my score suffered as a result of the disturbance.

Since my application deadlines are 1/31(they do accept the January test scores), do you think I should write an Addendum about this incident and state that I've sent a formal complaint to LSAC and include it with the rest of my application material?

This is my first time taking the LSAT.

BTW, I learned that the person next to me had a nose bleed, is what it was all about. Poor guy. Poor me. Argh. Life sometimes...

I'd really appreciate any and all input.

Thanks and I hope everyone else did ok.

Hi 7Sage Community,

Was hoping to get advice on my study plan between now and the March LSAT.

I work full-time (830-5) and have been recently taking 2 tests a week (one on Saturday and then usually one on Monday). I BR the Saturday test on Sunday and the Monday test throughout the week day nights. Candidly, I am a bit selective in BR process (because I feel time constrained) which I know will likely get some criticism from the community- ie. if I get less than 2 wrong on a passage I will quickly see where I went wrong without BR'ing the whole passage (I also do this for games).

On a 4 section test, I just hit my target score of 165 fully timed for the first time. I have had issues properly timing myself in the past (adding a few minutes to each next section) which is a bad habit that I have now broken. I want to hit my 165 score a few more times before March 30th and perhaps do a bit better than my target score.

I scored the 165 on PT 58

Section 1 LR (-6), Section 2 RC (-4), Section 3 LG (-4), Section 4 LR (-4).

RC has been a HUGE problem for me in the past (-8 usually), but I have been drilling hard passages which has helped a lot. I drilled 5 star LGs last year, but do not remember them (and any benefit from that has now worn off) or 5 star LR questions (my hardest ones are NA and Flaw).

My question is should I cut down the weekly test amount from 2 to 1 and focus on continuing to drill RC, LR and LG (and maybe BR one test inside and out/week vs. 2 in a more condensed fashion) or should I keep going down my 2 test a week path. I will take off the second week before the exam so worst case scenario I do the drilling at that time (but I would not have the benefit of the practice for the majority of my PTs between now and the March test). My big issue is still timing- for example the questions I get wrong in LR I usually do not have time to do properly- I have only recently broken my bad adding time habit which is why doing more timed tests has been focus (despite not having the time to review them onerously). Additionally, in the month of March I will introduce the 5th section of the exam to my PTs where I will be making the 5th section count each time (to test stamina; again this is another reason why I have been focusing more on the art of test taking and timing at the expense of some BR benefits- really hard to quantify what that trade-off is).

Any feedback is appreciated and welcomed. Thank you #help

I know the LSAT scores are primarily emailed after three weeks from taking the test. And if you don't have an LSAC account, or your email isn't properly registered, then the score is sent physically through mail after four weeks. But if you already have your score emailed to you, is the score then physically mailed to you as well?

Proctors: Between seven and ten

Facilities: Like the rest room? Perfectly adequate.

What kind of room: It was a vast, high ceiling conference room with retractable walls, all retracted, so we were in Navesink I, II, and III. Large windows facing a forested scene.

How many in the room: 60-80

Desks: Long, comfortable, widely spaced. I could stretch my legs in a V and my legs were still under my desk. Much more comfortable than what I was practicing on.

Left-handed accommodation: I don't think a left handed person would experience a problem.

Noise levels: Low. I heard almost nothing.

Parking: Parking isn't a problem anywhere in Monmouth County, NJ.

Time elapsed from arrival to test: Probably a full hour.

Irregularities or mishaps: I noticed several rule violations that there didn't seem to be an enforcement mechanism against. No one checked my watch and on the break I noticed at least six students had left their watches on the desks but they were LSAT Chronometers, and pretty clearly so. Just said 1-35 on the face. Kind of a relief actually, here I was worried a Palomnio Blackwing 602 was not a permitted pencil. Probably a problem intrinsic to large sessions in general.

Other comments: Very convenient coat rack offered before the door! Though I saw one guy get refused the opportunity to use the bathroom prior to the test just because he had presented his ID at the check in desk. Seems to me like they might as well have told him to leave. I don't see how he was "checked in" having not entered the room.

Would you take the test here again? Definitely!

Date[s] of Exam[s]: 1/26/2019

Hi 7sagers.

I've been reviewing my incorrect answers these days. One major problem in my LR is that sometimes I eliminate all the answer choices and cannot see the correct answer that describes the "gap" that I found in the argument, so I end up with a less wrong answer (which is actually wrong). After I review the explanation, I can see the correct answer does describe the gap/ logic error that I have found during the timed session. I know the correct answer choices tend to hide themselves in some ways. But anyone has any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

Practice makes perfect? or are there any useful strategies that we could apply?

Thank you in advance!!

Hi Everyone,

I just finished taking PT 65 and was wondering if anyone else wants to BR this test as well.

Before I took the LSAT, I repeated a little mantra to myself: “I will not get distracted. I don’t care if the person next to me hacks up a lung. I don’t care if someone’s using a jackhammer right outside the building. I don’t care if the power in the test center goes out and I have to bubble in the dark. Nothing can faze me.”

I think it helped. People study for this test for so long that they sometimes act like perfectionists about something they can’t control: the world. I know you want to take the test in ideal conditions, but you won’t. You’ll have a crappy proctor, or a distracting neighbor, or a flickering light, or a really itchy foot. Something will go at least slightly wrong. Accept that in advance and promise yourself to do your best anyway. Go in with the attitude of a Spartan. It doesn’t matter what the world throws at you. You’re going to calmly, methodically, do your job.

Hi,

I just found out registration is now open for the June and July exams. I'm wondering if this means the spots will fill up faster...it's kind of risky if I register this early because I can't get a refund if we get closer to the test and I realize that I'd rather take it in March or September. What are the chances of the June/July spots filling up sooner than usual?

Thanks!

I would love to hear J.Y. do a podcast/webinar on how to study for the digital LSAT. I'm starting to study this month and hoping to take the test this fall. Since I'm at the beginning of my journey I'd love to start out by building good study habits and approaches for the digital test, but there aren't many resources since the announcement of digital is fairly recent. In the meantime, does anyone have any tips?

Due to circumstances in the classroom we were taking (speaker in the classroom was on and for some reason only making noises when the test was in session), our exam was halted after section 1 and then again after section 2. We ended up moving to a new classroom before beginning section 3. I personally wasn't too bothered by the circumstance while solving the problems, but I do think the constant interruptions affected my concentration. The proctors said they noted the issue and would be reporting it to LSAC, specifically that the people taking the exam in the classroom were affected in section 1 and section 2 and that we ended up having to switch rooms. I surely don't wish this to happen upon anyone, but I was wondering if anyone had any idea what would happen next. For example, will LSAC follow-up? Will they leave some indication for admissions officers in the case that applicants choose not to cancel? I'm not cancelling - I can't, really, since this was my last exam and I'm applying in this cycle. So it was disappointing that my last LSAT ended up being in the worst standardized testing environment I have ever experienced but there's not much I can do about it. But I am still curious as to what, if anything will happen. Any thoughts?

Took the LSAT today for a third time, I scored decently well the first time (around 80th percentile) and the exact same the 2nd time. I thought I'd take it a third time because I really thought I could do better, but completely messed up on the logic game today. (I'd say I guessed at least on 8 questions and just ran out of time) I felt strong about the rc, and one LR; however, the second LR was quite tough. I've sent in applications but have only heard back from one school. For most of the "top" schools I've applied to, my lsat score was around their 25th-50th percentile. I've asked these scores to proceed with their review of my application as is just to meet priority deadlines, but haven't heard anything back.

To complicate matters, the school that I've been accepted to offered me a free ride, however they are not necessarily my top choice and for lack of a better word, are one of my "safety schools". They've given me a deadline to take their scholarship offer and that deadline is before this jan LSAT score would even post.

What should I do? First, is it smart to cancel my score? Or should I see what I did? How much would it matter to schools I've applied to if I did worse? Secondly, how should I navigate the scholarship offer? Am I crazy to not accept it? If I ask for an extension, are they likely to grant it?

#help

Hi everyone,

Today I took the January LSAT as my first official test. Overall I feel like I did fairly well (Don't think I bombed any section). Although this may be a bad habit, during my practice PTs I usually put a little mark on the answer sheet next to the number of question I choose to skip. The mark I make is directly to the left of the question number and is usually completely outside the column (medium to dark shade). I like to mark questions this way so I get a bird's eye view of the questions I circled so I don't have to flip through the section to look for them.

I am now aware how this could be risky, since the answer sheet says to make no stray marks. I don't want to lose points due to a machine reading error. If I get my score back and it is unusually low, I may submit a request to LSAC to have my test hand-scored. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I didn't want to erase the marks after the time was called and risk getting kicked out. I kinda feel like a moron for not catching this behavior before hand in my practice PTs. Does anyone have experience with marking on the answer sheet?

This bad habit could cost me $100, but if my score improves based off hand-scoring it will be well worth it.

Hey everyone,

I noticed that a lot of people treat their law school applications like a long-distance race: they lope along, fiddling with their essays, and then sprint at the end.

These applicants have it backwards. You should sprint at the beginning and slow down at the end.

If you're wrapping up your applications, take your time to proofread and make sure you got everything right. Much more info on our blog:

https://classic.7sage.com/last-minute-tips/

LG section tripped me up for some reason. Seemed pretty standard maybe I was just today?

Was the LG session with the first game about computer installation experimental or real?