Hello fellow masochists,

After a year of studying off and on, I took the plunge and signed up for September. Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me get my time down on LR (bad) and LG (worse).

The fundamentals seem to be there, as I'm averaging 170+ untimed (-1 on LR, -2/3 on RC and -3-4 on LG). I have tried everything (skipping answer choices once I find the answer, minimizing rereading, etc.) but still am 3-4 minutes over on LR and 8-10 minutes over on LG. Recognizing the inferences too late in the games is probably the main factor, in addition to my ADHD.

I have burned through PTs up to 58 so far, so about 25 left. It is crunch time now, and I really don't know where else to turn besides maybe redoing the course (completed about 6 months ago)??

Any suggestions are appreciated, and good luck to fellow Septemberererers......yes, I am losing my mind. jk. but actually.

RC is about the last section I really need to make some improvement on. I'm happy with my accuracy on all of the passages that I do (they are between -0 and -2) but I also only make it through 3 passages within the time restraints. Does anyone have any experience with doing RC faster? Any help would be appreciated.

Hello,

I am currently 19 years old. I worked my butt off and took 60 credits of college classes from a community college while I was in high school, which all transferred to a large public university. I'll finish undergrad in May 2019, two years after I graduated from high school. Ideally I would like to go straight from undergrad to law school, which means I'm applying to law schools this coming fall. It also means that I have had only one year out of high school to actually work on extracurriculars and such, and because of that, the Experience and Activities sections on my resume after high school are pretty much nonexistent. I shined Activity-wise in high school (Student Body President, Honor Society President, Valedictorian, leader of a Youth Nonprofit for multiple years, part-time job, etc.), but David has said repeatedly not to include high school accomplishments. My undergrad GPA is a 3.93, and I am currently PTing right at or right below the median for my target law schools. I am practicing full time before my LSAT in September.

I just want to know, do law schools care about how young I am? Does applying at age 19 hurt, help, or even have any effect at all on my chances for getting accepted? Does a lack of Experience and Activities on my resume hurt me, or will law schools be understanding given that I've had only one year out of high school? Should I use my Personal Statement to explain my circumstances, or would it be smarter to write an addendum? I feel like my age would be a good narrative for my Personal Statement, but what do you guys think? Any answers or advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Hey everyone- just looking to see where people put their purses / bags / phones during the actual test . I heard some proctors or most just let you put them at the front of the class (I know it’s a luck thing ) as I’ve heard it both ways. What did you do on test day ?

Hi Friends,

I'm calling upon the collective wisdom of the 7Sage community.

Long story short, I don't feel prepared for Monday's test. I haven't taken enough PTs and I'm not at a place where I feel comfortable with timing, etc. I work a full-time job, as a lot of 7Sage folks do, and I haven't put in the study hours that I'd like to.

I'd like to start law school in fall 2019. What do you all think - should I withdraw from the July test and take September's test or just go for it knowing that I'll likely need to retake it in September? I feel a bit stuck because even if I withdraw and take September's test, that still doesn't leave me a lot of time considering I will still have a full-time job.

Thanks Everyone.

I just completed the Causation and Phenomenon-Hypothesis Question section in the CC and have a few questions regards the content in there before I move on to Strengthening Questions. I'm first of all curious as to if those who have completed the problem sets did so in a timed manner (1:24) or if you took time on each question within each of the 15 sets to try and find the answer? Any additional info/different perspectives would be greatly appreciated!

hey all,

so I've heard from @"Cant Get Right" and others the importance of doing confidence drills for LR.

I was wondering if you guys did confidence drills for RC?

My guess is that confidence drills helps people with pacing, speed, and confidence. I think those skills are also very important in RC, as well as in LR. So i was wondering if ppl had experience doing confidence drills for RC, or if they have any advice or suggestions?

thanks.

Hello! First, I hope all of your studying is going or went well.

I am applying to Canadian schools this fall and I am writing the LSAT on November 17. I am worried that this date will put me on the later side of the applicant pool and hurt my chances. My GPA is not great, although I have a solid explanation for my poor performance during my first year and a good trend line during my last three. I have good professor recommendations and I am planning on scoring in the 165+ range.

I know that most schools in Canada have a November 1 application deadline. Please let me know if you have any information!

Thanks!

I love you 7Sage

Hi all! I'm thinking about writing an addendum because my academic history is a little unorthodox. Considering the addendum is disliked, I wanted to get all of your opinions.

In high school I had a 3.92 weighted GPA. When I was studying for the SAT in 2012, I studied as hard as I could, but it was no use. I took a practice test and received a 1440/2400. Considering the predictive value of the SAT and future success, I was discouraged from even applying to colleges. I didn't take the SAT because I didn't want to waste money to confirm a low score and directly enrolled in a community college. When I was accepted as a transfer student to UC Berkeley I was terrified because high school was more rigorous than community college. However, I worked two jobs and graduated a semester early with a 3.92 GPA. My high school GPA was coincidently a direct prediction of my UC Berkeley GPA and future success.

When I took my first LSAT diagnostic I received a 138. I spent the next 6 months studying and in September 2016 I received a 147. I was devastated, but I continued studying because I was determined. I was working a full time job, with a 2 hour commute, and spending a minimum of 3 hours a day studying during the weekdays. (Weekends, of course, I spent 4 hours minimum.) I continued this schedule for a year and half until I took the June 2018 test and received a 161. Although this is a great score, I'm still convinced it's not reflective of my abilities*

My issues include:

My goals:

*Before, I hear another retake argument, I think it is safe to say that studying the LSAT for a total of 2 years is as good as it's going to get. I've memorized all the practice tests and taken them multiple times.

Do you guys think they will remove the LSAT as an admissions requirement? I've ran into a couple of articles about the ABA removing it as a requirement for the law school admissions process, leaving it up to the schools to decide if they want to use it.

Is anyone in the Bay Area interested in meeting in person to study before the Sept. Exam? Preferably 3-5 times a week including weekends if you'd like. I live near Emeryville/West Oakland and can easily meet at UC Berkeley. Let me know if you're interested, I'm very flexible with times/days but would love to get started this coming week.

The July LSAT is upon us.... and despite my satisfactory gains in LG and LR (thanks 7sage), my reading comprehension is still dismal.

So I'm asking my fellow 7sagers.. throw it all out on the table! What last ditch attempts could I try to pick up a few extra points in RC? I don't think there's much that could hurt me in terms of RC at this point so hit me with your best shot lol.

I know there are many long term study strategies to build a more sustainable understanding of RC and I'm committed to retaking and mastering RC the RIGHT way. But as for now, if you have any test taking tips that have helped you to gain a few extra points on RC I would love the hear them!

Good luck to all my fellow July test takers. May the wind be at your back and the odds in your favor!

Why not D? if (D) wasn't true and not all scientific investigators received a grant, then wouldn't that mean serendipity can play a role in scientific discovery? Since they would not have to make clear projections and disregard info not directly related to their research.

Admin note: edited title

I took my first PT Ever after completing the CC a couple days ago and got a 149 ( I didn't take a diagnostic prior to starting the course).. my score was bad mainly because I missed an entire game (printing issue) and I was kind of panicking at first because it's the first time I've gone through a full length PT before. I BRd the PT after and my score went up to a 153. I'm registered for the September LSAT and I can devote as much time as I want (I've been doing around 6-8 hrs everyday 6 days a week) but I don't think I would be comfortable pushing to November because I have to go back to school and I want to keep my GPA up. I'm aiming for a 160 at least, but obviously the higher my score the better. I'm strong in Logic Games but I get some roadblocks with the very difficult RC passages and some LR questions. Also I've been studying since April 15 so I don't necessarily feel like I crammed for time but I am getting close to the test date... Some general advice on how I can improve, how to overall manage my time with regards to studying (taking tests, doing drills) , etc would be much appreciated

Thanks guys

Hey guys,

I’m taking the test in a few days and I am disconcerted by extreme test variation. I took C2 and got a 175 then took test 77 today and got a 167. On tests in the 50s I invariably get in the 170s, but in tests in the 70s and 80s I get mid to upper 160s. I can’t find a pattern in what I’m getting wrong on these tests. Does anyone have ideas about what makes these tests different than I can drill and focus on?

Thanks in advance!

Jessica

I do not understand why b is correct. Can someone help me understand why b is supported. Thank you for the help

Admin note: edited title

It takes me about 5.5--6.5 minutes to do a set of four PAI questions (without bubbling in the answers). So while I'm not doing terribly on time, I'd definitely like to cut 10-15 seconds on my PIA questions. Are charts a bad way to approach these questions under timed conditions? Any suggestions?

As for strengthening.. just... help.

Hey guys!

Recently, we've seen many comments with #help go unanswered. We would appreciate it if you could answer some of them (assuming you have access to the course)! :)

https://classic.7sage.com/recent-questions/

"Teaching is the highest form of understanding."

-Aristotle (maybe)

Answering questions can help you revisit fundamental concepts and can help make sure you understand them!

Thank you!

I took my first PT after the curriculum -- my score was one point less than my diagnostic score, and my BR was the same as my BR for my diagnostic. Needless to say, I'm disappointed and beating myself up about it, but really the only choice is to just keep swimming, right?

Anyway, I listened to Josh's webinar on post curriculum study strategies, and in Phase 1 (my BR is below my target), he recommends returning to the curriculum, doing question type drills, and then doing untimed section drills. The webinar was really helpful, but I'm still a bit unclear as to how to use these suggestions to try to improve LR, since the questions I'm having trouble with are kind of all over the place (though of course some are higher priority than others).

Is it better to just re-do the entire curriculum, (since it's clear I don't have all the fundamentals down), or structure my studying to pertain to the specific question types that are of highest priority to the lowest?

The study schedule post curriculum is essentially full PTs, but at this point, I'm not sure if they'll help me much with regard to where I currently am with my score. Is it ok to lay off taking PTs until after I re-do the curriculum, or should I still be taking full PTs even while I'm still in Phase 1? I recall the recommendation to be a PT every 2 weeks or so, but I'm not sure if this is once someone gets to Phase 2? I don't want to risk burning through all the material and psyching myself out by taking PTs before I'm ready, but I also don't want to end up psyching myself out if the next time I see a PT is after the curriculum.

Is it ok to use some of the 50+ PTs for section drills, or would this be wasting new material? What material do you use to drill?

If anyone can please share and elaborate a bit more on what your approach was post curriculum, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks so much!

So basically I followed the guidelines on LSAC's page where you upload your admission ticket photo. This is the photo on my admission ticket.

I just read the instructions on the extra pages printed when you print your admission ticket and it says that "The photo must have been taken within the last six months." I did not see that requirement on the page where I uploaded the photo. The photo meets all other requirements, looks like me, etc. But now I'm freaking out.

I know what you're thinking--- how will they know that I didn't take it within the last six months? Well because I've used the same photo for other LSATs before. I guess I was just stupid and didn't realize one of the requirements until now. So now I'm like freaking out. Anyways, I was let in the other times like normal. I also wear glasses to the exam and in my photo I don't wear glasses but I am recognizable otherwise. I think I'll be okay lol but I'm still scared. I think worse comes to worst, there will just be a delay in reporting my score if LSAC realizes it's an old photo. But I don't think proctors will have any other materials to distinguish us from besides their roster with our LSAC photos next to our name. Like I'm saying I don't think they will get to see how old the photo was or if it had been used for another administration. But what do I know?

I'm so scared lol.

Hi friends! I'm looking for advice/suggestions from those of you with backgrounds in liberal arts, law, humanities, art, and social sciences.

My background is in science/tech, which makes the science passages in RC a relief, but has left me struggling with the passages focused on specific artists, art history, social science etc.

I see people posting about reading The Economist and other tech/science journals to increase their understanding and stamina with those subjects, but haven't seen a consensus on reading material for the humanities. I've been reading the New Yorker and more prose-heavy books, but am lost otherwise. What are your suggestions? Thanks!

Hey all. I’ve been studying for this test since Feb 2017. It’s been nearly 15 months. I started at 142, and worked my way up to 167-171.

At first, my RC and LR were right where I wanted them to be: -2/-4 for RC and -6/-8 for LR. My LG were bad, so I brought them up to -0 consistently.

But now, for the last month, I’ve seen scores ranging from 160-164 with huge score hits in RC (-7/-10) and LR (-10/-12). I haven’t neglected them whilst improving the LG though! I look back at my weak areas and drill question types. But when I take the test, I go blank. The only thing that stays consistently -0 is games.

I even practice my PTs at my test center since it’s a public campus! I freak out. I panic. I run out of time. It doesn’t seem to click. I’m beginning to feel so nervous for Monday. I’m not sure what happened.

I have my last PT scheduled for tomorrow. I’m going to try to work backwards in LR because I need a new method and I tend to lose all my points in LR in bundles (#20-#25 wrong in a row)

I’m feeling so sad and confused. :( I worked so hard and came so far, to randomly be choking like this would crush me considering how much time I put into this thing.

I have been studying for the LSAT a month now (10 hours + per day) and I am going to take the test Sep 8th.

I already build the fundamentals for all sections (with practice questions for each of course) but I only took one full PT for diagnostic. I still feel I need more practice on assumption type questions and RC. I was thinking to start hitting PT after I am done with building the skills and the fundamentals (which will be July 22). Do you think that's a good idea? and will i have enough time to practice more questions until Sep 8?

I have been studying to take the November 2018 LSAT and I have some concerns regarding my chances of admission to Canadian schools.

First off, I graduated from the University of Oregon with a cumulative GPA of 2.93. Yes, I am painfully aware of how low my grades compare to every median. I do not have a high GPA because I suffered from clinical depression as a freshman and it tanked my average. It reached the point where the UO actually kicked me out of school and I had to petition to get back in after a year of community college.

I went to a psychologist and psychiatrist, received the help I needed and got myself enrolled in classes at Lane. After a year, I managed to get back into the University where I performed great and received A's and B's. I earned a 3.8 in my last year, a 4.13 in my last term and wrote a kickass undergraduate thesis.

Despite all of that, I am feeling discouraged that even with a solid explanation for my low overall GPA and a strong trend line upon my return, I will be unable to attend school. I am going to hit this test as hard as I can, but I am not sure how rigid schools will be regarding GPAs.

I am curious if any of you have a similar predicament to mine or know how strict Canadian schools are with their medians. I know UBC has a discretionary category and most other schools only take certain portions of an applicant's overall GPA.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated! Also, good luck to you all!