Hi all, I posted this question on some other forums and there was a lot of division in the discussion so I've decided to post here as well for some further input.

I plan on applying to law school next cycle and I'm considering writing a diversity statement, but I'm not sure if I qualify/it would hurt my chances of admission.

Basically, growing up I was raised by a lesbian couple in a overwhelmingly Mormon neighborhood in the heart of Utah (I'm an IVF baby). I believe that because of my family background, I faced heavy discrimination/adversity growing up and that this adversity has heavily shaped the person that I am today. For example, in grade school most kids were disallowed/discouraged from talking or interacting with me due to my family background. I wasn't invited/allowed to participate in birthday parties, sleepovers, etc. Relentless bullying in school, teachers discriminated against my parents and I as well, and much much more.

Personally, I feel like this qualifies for a diversity statement, but I have two reservations...

I'm an otherwise normal straight white male, and I'm worried that this might disqualify me from being able to write a diversity statement. From reading around, it seems many believe that my position of privilege from my race/gender excludes experiencing the adversity that other LGBT/minority applicants have faced. It might sound silly, but I am worried that an admissions officer might disagree that my background qualifies as true diversity, and that this might negatively impact my application.

Clearly, the anti-LGBT stance of the Mormon church was one of the chief causes/influences of the adversity that I faced while young. I'm worried that if I write a diversity statement, it may come off as anti-religion, or otherwise offend the admissions council of these law schools.

What do you all think about this situation? Do you think I can write a diversity statement, or do you think it would be best to avoid the topic?

Hi 7Sage,

Heads up! On May 31, we’re increasing the price of Admissions Unlimited to $699. We’ll sell twenty-five more packages at the old price of $599. If and when those sell out, you’ll be able to purchase Admissions Unlimited at the new price.

What’s Admissions Unlimited?

Admissions Unlimited entitles you to as many rounds of editing as you need in order to brainstorm, draft, polish, and proofread one essay.

If you hire us for help on a personal statement that you haven’t started, we’ll begin by sending you a list of prompts. When we see your answers, we’ll schedule a phone call to continue brainstorming and outline your essay. Afterwards, we’ll play ping pong: you’ll send us a draft, we’ll send it back to you with notes, and so on. Our feedback tends to focus first on big-picture issues of structure and story before funneling down to more specific issues of language and tone, ending finally with a triple proofread: first by you, then by us, then by a third-party professional.

You can use Admissions Unlimited for any sort of essay or résumé, not just a personal statement, and we’re happy to work on essays that you’ve already drafted.

I think of Admissions Unlimited as our foundational service. We believe that editorial guidance lies at the heart of any consulting service—you are, after all, presenting yourself to an admissions office via essays—and we tend to hire consultants with a deep background in creative writing and editing. This product is about as far into our wheelhouse as you can get, and it’s what many of us are doing in our free time: brainstorming ideas for stories, then refining, revising, and re-envisioning them until they shine. We won’t spoon-feed you sentences or help you realize our vision for your personal statement: we’ll try to make your essay more itself.

If you’re looking for advice and guidance on every aspect of your application—including all essays—you should consider Comprehensive Consulting, but Admissions Unlimited is a great choice for price-conscious 7Sagers who want to take advantage of our core expertise.

Why are you increasing the price?

The short answer is that we want to pay our editors more and give you a better experience. For example, we set the price before we included a third-party proofread.

The longer answer is that our pricing is unbalanced. We originally believed Admissions Unlimited would take about three rounds of editing on average, so we priced it at three times an Edit Once. In reality, most of our Admissions Unlimited customers require more than three rounds—occasionally, many more. (It really is unlimited). We think the new price is a better reflection of our time and costs.

Can I buy Admissions Unlimited now and use it later?

Yes! Admissions Unlimited doesn’t go stale. You can buy it at the old price and sit on it until you’re ready to use it, or you can get a head start on your applications for this fall.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Any suggestions on how to "foolproof" LR, especially LR questions you got wrong?

Also, any advice on how to get better at identifying and understanding LR cookie cutters? Thanks!

Office Hours with @"Accounts Playable" (Admissions-related)

Hey 7Sagers,

Sage David, a.k.a. @"Accounts Playable", will be offering office hours! This time, David will be answering your admissions-related questions.

David scored a 174 on the June 2016 LSAT and has been admitted to Harvard Law School in his second cycle of applying to law schools.

So bring your questions! Don't miss this chance!

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/945314133

You can also dial in using your phone.

United States: +1 (669) 224-3412

Access Code: 945-314-133

Joining from a video-conferencing room or system?

Dial: 67.217.95.2##945314133

Cisco devices: 945314133@67.217.95.2

First GoToMeeting? Let's do a quick system check: https://link.gotomeeting.com/system-check

Hey everyone,

I'm taking a step back and redoing the CC. When I first did it, I went through it too fast to internalize what I learned.

After abandoning the LSAT for a while, I've decided to come back strong for one last shot.

I want to hit 170+ and am around the 150 range right now.

My plan in order:

1.) Go through The LSAT Trainer (BOOK), while building up my RC skill.

2.) Mastering LR by revisiting the CC, mainly focusing what I most need improvement on.

3.) Pacifico’s Logic Games Attack Strategy

4.) PTs and BR.

Ill supplement my learning watching webinars, visiting discussion pages, and engaging with the 7Sage community.

I hope to make it in time for the Sept test, but we'll see.

Any other recommendations, advice or feedback? I definitely need it. (I imagine I'll be tweaking my study schedule a bit).

What's your plan?

Edit*

Here is Pacifico’s Logic Games Attack Strategy:

https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2737/logic-games-attack-strategy/p1

Hey everyone,

I'm applying to schools next fall, and I've been getting a bit stressed out by the forums recently. It seems like applicants with great LSAT scores are getting WL'ed or rejected at schools they would typically be accepted at. I was just wondering if anyone knows if this is a trend that will continue into next year.

I got approved for 50% extra time accommodations recently and I was wondering if I should be taking PTs and timed sections with the 52 minutes instead of the 35 minutes? Somewhere in-between?

Just wondering what some others with extra time are doing?

TY!

Hey all,

I know Blind reviewing is usually done before one looks at the answers, where one thinks to himself why one answer choice is 100% right and the other four are 100% wrong.

I wanted to hear your thoughts on "Blind reviewing" after you watch JY's LR video explanation. What I mean by this is that after you watch the video, maybe have some time distance away from that specific LR problem (like 1 or 2 days), and then go back to that question you got wrong and then really think and explain to yourself why 1 answer is 100% right and the other 4 are 100% wrong.

Granted, this is after you already watched the video explanation, but with this you're testing yourself to see if you REALLY understood the question and why you got it wrong...rather than tricking yourself that you fully understood the question simply because you watched JY's video explanation when in actuality you perhaps didn't really understand it. With this method, by dissecting wrong questions after having watched JY's video explanation, you're also trying to understand any "cookie cutter" lesson to be learned from that question, or find any general LR pattern.

I've heard top scorers do something similar to this where they cut out all their wrong LR questions and then review them scrupulously (re-resolve them, break down the grammar, fully analyze wrong answer choices and the right one, etc.) from time to time.

I've been realizing that sometimes when I redo LR questions, I get a same question wrong AGAIN, so this is just a way to really force myself to fully learn from my past mistakes. My LR score has for sometime hit a wall (-3/-4 per section) and i'm hoping to use this method of reviewing wrong LR questions to improve (granted I also blind review in the normal sense where I BR before looking at the right AC).

What are your thoughts 7sage?

Thanks.

I graduated from undergrad over 10 years ago. However my UGPA is low due to me being young and partying for 4 years straight. I would be attending law school with the sole focus of exploring opportunities within entertainment law as the industry is where I have been working within for the past 8 years.

Will my GPA be given as much weight as it would have right out of college?

Will it prevent me from getting into law school?

I will shoot for a high LSAt as well as have LOR from very prominent people in the music industry.

Hi all,

I've taken the LSAT before and scored a 164. I am currently PTing around 168-171. I'm retaking in June and would like to solidify my understanding of LR by helping someone who is scoring average to below average. If you are interested, please comment below or send me a direct message.

Thanks!

I go to a small liberal arts honors college (New College of Florida) which doesn't offer traditional grades. All of my classes are pass/fail and have a narrative evaluation system. Some of the places I've talked to don't want to see my evals at all, and will just bank my application on my LSAT. How much higher should I try to score to convince these schools to admit me?

Does anyone else have experience applying to schools with no GPA?

My diagnostic was 143.

Out of 4 tests in the past 4 weeks, my actual scores range from 149 to 159. I finished the CC several months ago. Ever since, I have been drilling and along some fool proofing. I have been trying to raise my competence in all sections, which is why I haven't done the1-36 fool proof yet. There has at least been some success in my efforts, as my BRs range from 172 to 177 - I don't know what my BR would have been on my diagnostic - I didn't know BR existed at the time.

I do take breaks every once and awhile. I've actually been taking a break for 4 days now, and I might stay away from any material for another day or two. I have been studying for this test since June of 2017 (I took August off because I was starting two new jobs and moved to new apartment). Given the fact that I have spent 9.5 months on the LSAT, as you can probably imagine, I'm conflicted with my progress. On one hand I am happy to see my BR be in the mid 170s; it took many hours and nights to get there. However, most importantly, I am frustrated that I'm averaging a 153 (roughly -7 to -10 on all section types). Some of this is attributed to lack of confidence/fear/anxiety, I'm sure. But, I've been around on these forums for quite some time now, and I don't recall seeing too many posts about people who have as great a difference between one's actual score vs BR score, which is unsettling.

I've read countless articles about this test, and my many hours of reading and research are telling me that speed is simply a measure of your level of understanding. So, how do I achieve that type of understanding? It seems that doing 35 minute timed sections isn't doing much for me at the moment, other than freak me out. Should I time myself doing a section and not stress the 35 minutes instead? It's weird because if I do timed sections in 35 minutes right now, I could form bad habits because I will be rushing. Too, I could form bad habits by doing sections with more time than what is normally allowed. Any suggestions as to what I should do in this respect? Should it be a combination of both?

My plan at the moment is to fool proof LG 1-36 and to get that down to -0. I also think focusing on LR and RC on the weekends so as to maintain what I have would be a good idea, but I plan on spending the bulk of weekdays doing full sections of LG and really trying to dissect how the games work. Beyond the fool proofing though, I really am at a loss as to what to do.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. - My goal is 170. My goal for quite some time now has been to take this thing in September - but the likelihood of that is decreasing as the days go by.

#help

I have a quick question that I was hoping some of the more experienced LSAT takers might be able to answer (or maybe JY himself).

In one of the first couple of Reading Comp videos, JY says that if you don't understand something, you'll just let it slide. But often, it will just snowball into a bigger and bigger misunderstanding.

Later, in several of the other videos, JY says that it's important to be able to compartmentalize things that you don't understand, and to not let them impact your efficiency in dissecting the rest of the passage, since it might not be worth spending all that time trying to understand something that turns out to be relatively insignificant.

Can someone please help me reconcile this apparent discrepancy (had to make the LR joke :p )? Does anyone have ways of determining when it's necessary to fully understand something versus when it's not? If you could share some of your own experiences and results that would be awesome.

Thanks so much.

The questions is regarding the computer simulations vs. actual test crashes. Why B cannot be the answer? Is that because "highly likely" is not good enough to be a premise? Could anyone share your ideas? Thank you.

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-81-section-3-question-12/

Admin note: edited title

Registered late and the only option for me was Hilton..

Am I going to take a test inside the hotel? Did anyone took a test there? How was your experience.

Has anyone ever tested at the Marriott Washington Wardman Park? I was automatically reassigned to the Marriott from Trinity Washington which I belatedly heard is an awful test center, so I guess I got lucky. Curious if it's a new testing site or if anyone's been there and has insight into what to expect. Thanks!

Several of the law schools I'm looking at offer some intriguing dual-degree options (I'm most inclined toward an MA/JD) so I was wondering whether anyone is planning on taking this route as well or know of someone who has. The biggest advantage, at least on paper, is that it would take less time and given that the degree track is split up it seems like it would still be manageable.

I've been taking some courses from there but encountered some problems... (I purchased the mentor course but the site keeps saying I purchased the prime course).

I've tried to contact Larry many times but it seems like he is not checking his email... Is there anyone who knows how to contact him? I'm starting to get really worried...

Thanks!

Hello,

I was going over the concepts of necessary and sufficient conditions. Here are some terms I'm not sure how to interpret. Help would be appreciated:

"Assuming that A, B" or "B, assuming that A"

"As long as A, B" or "B as long as A" (also, "So long as")

"A provided that B"

"A on the condition that B"

Thanks!

Hi Everyone,

Tl;dr: help me score above a 165 plz.

I've been lurking in the 7Sage cyberspace for a while, and am incredibly grateful for the community and the resources that I have encountered. I began studying for the LSAT in late January with a diagnostic of 151 (didn't BR...), finished the CC around mid-March, and began taking PT's late March. After five PTs, I am averaging a 155 with a 161 BR average. My section breakdown is -9 LR, -13 LG, and -4 RC.

I think I am studying as much as I can (I work full-time so I usually do Logic Game drilling during the work week before and after work, and PTs/BRs on the weekends), but I am not studying smartly/efficiently. I paid to sit for the June exam but am increasingly becoming concerned with my lack of progress, and am pretty much decided on postponing until July.

A little about my softs: first-generation student, political asylum/refugee background, competitive fellowship, LGBT/Latin@. I graduated with a 3.92 with departmental honors (from an admittedly undemanding major) and completed an M.A. program straight out of undergrad.

My questions for y'all wonderful people are:

1. What are some of the strategies you took to beat the LSAT? (I began the Pacifico LG method and it has helped me tremendously, I just need to improve my timing).

2a. The fellowship program I'm in ends in late-July and it is situated in San Francisco. I love the Bay but it is incredibly expensive, and even though I could possibly continue working at my placement, I recognize the benefit of being able to study more or less full-time at home (in Pennsylvania) without worrying about rent/adulting. If I decide to return home/study full-time would it even be worth it for me to sit for June/July?

2b. Is the fact that the July exam undisclosed an issue (it would be the first time I sit for the LSAT)?

2c. For those who studied full-time, how did you avoid burn-out?

3. Are there other prep material non-7Sage related that could help out with diagramming/parsing out LR?

Sorry for the longwinded post, and please feel free to dm me or respond if I can clarify anything. Thanks so much in advance for any comments or insights you can provide, good luck to everyone applying, and congrats to those who are finishing up this cycle.

Gracias,

Juan

"A is good if it satisfies B." How would you guys translate this? B --> A? or A--> B?

I feel like without translating it as A-->B, it's impossible to get the right answer.

Admin note: edited title

Is a diagnostic a LSAT test that is taken without any prior knowledge of the exam? Or is it a test that is taken after a person has finished the CC?

Thanks.

Hi Guys,

I am stuck in parsing a sentence. I can't understand its meaning.

Here is the passage..

The ways by which you may get money almost without exception lead downward. To have

done anything by which you earned money merely is to have been truly idle or worse. If the

laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats

himself. If you would get money as a writer or lecturer, you must be popular, which is to go down

perpendicularly.

This line is taken Life without principles by Henry David.

Please help.TIA.

Hi 7sagers,

I need some advice on what to do when you've used all practice tests. I will be taking the LSAT for the third time in June. I have finished CC, fool proofed games 1-35, and taken tests 35 to the latest one that is available to us. I have been retaking the 70's PTs as a benchmark, but I am not sure if I can trust the accuracy of the scores I am getting from tests that I have already taken before. Any thoughts?

hi guys,

can you guys help explaining to me as to what the difference is between answer choice (d) and (e)?

(d) says "some" and (e) says "many" but if I remember correctly, those two words are used interchangeably.

So I am confused as to why answer is (d) and not (e).

Thanks a bunch!

Admin note: edited title