UPDATE: And the winner is…

The Brief

Thanks so much for submitting your fantastic ideas, everyone! I can't wait to share the blog with you.

Congrats to our winner, @"samantha.ashley92"!

7Sagers! We're rolling out a new blog with information about everything from the LSAT and law school admissions to the legal profession in general—but we can't think of a good name. Please help! If we choose your name, we'll give you a free Edit Once!

From our brainstorm:

LSAC says it takes place in the Arizona Ballroom. Is in the same vicinity as all there other ballrooms? I went down there on Thursday and none of the people that work there knew what I was talking about.

Hey all,

When I skip a question with the intention of coming back to it after, I lightly circle the question number on the answer sheet. If I don't do this, find myself wasting a bit of time when going back for bubbling in round 2 as I can't see instantly where the 'missing' bubble is. I know it says 'make no stray marks' on top of the AC sheet, but was just wondering if this would interfere with the scantron, or the proctor would pull me up on it?

Thanks

Hi all.

I'm an international student studying for LSAT. My English is not perfect so please excuse me for my awkward writing.

So I received my June LSAT score this week: 161. Not too bad for my first test ever, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed because I've dedicated the past 3 months to studying full-time for the test. I have another 3 months ahead of me before I take the October LSAT in Asia.

In retrospect, I believe I've overworked myself these past months by cramming 3 PTs into a week's study schedule. I would take a full 4-section PT, BR, check the answers, watch video explanations for the Qs I got wrong, and move on. It was a tough task indeed, and it really took a toll on me that I was feeling too exhausted to go on at the end of each week.

A friend of mine who also studies for LSAT suggested a different approach: doing PTs one section at a time instead of doing 4 sections all at once. According to this method, I would complete one section, BR, check the answers, analyze the Qs I got wrong, and move on to the next section. Kind of like drilling for each section I'd say, only this time it's proctored.

She says it worked wonders for her performance but I'm not so convinced myself. My doubts are twofold. First, I might get too comfortable with taking PTs on the section-by-section basis that I would fare worse on an actual test. Second, I have a feeling that doing so would be waste of the more recent PTs I've kept pristine up to this moment; I think making best use of them is by taking them under the same (timed) conditions equal to a real test.

What do you think? Would you recommend trying this method? Thanks to all in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Hi everyone, I'm scheduled to visit two schools in southern California next month. I'm leaning towards business casual (slacks and either polo or long sleeved button up), but want to make sure I'm not committing a fashion faux pas. I feel like a suit / tie is too much and my normal socal uniform of berks, board shorts, and tee shirt may be a bit casual.

Thoughts? and thanks!

Anyone have an opinion on this Florida law school. I’m considering whether I accept admission. Last was 150. Pro vs cons any welcome. Gpa of 3.65

My diagnostic (not quite cold) was 157. After going through the Powerscore LG and LR bibles my personal high score was 168. Just took my first PT after finishing the CC, and I scored 172 with a BR score of 174! Thank you 7sage!

Hi! Basically my question is: is ultimate plus worth it if I’m gonna only use it for two months (I test in September)?? Or will a cheaper plan get the job done as well? I want to score a 170, and I already bought every preptest up to 83, so I’m not concerned about having less not enough preptests if I go with a lower plan...what do you all think based on your experience? So I’m kinda in a unique situation, I’m wondering if 7Sage would be worth it for me. I want to retake the test in September. So previously i studied for the LSAT for a year and took it this past June and got a 163... i missed 1 on LG, 9 on RC, and 5 on the first LR and 4 on the second LR. in the practice tests leading up to this score (79-82) I received a 165 four times in a row. I had also received a 169 ond my lowest score in the two months leading up to the test was a 162. The way I studied was I worked through all of the powerscore bibles and then took a practice test every weekend starting with the 40s, and I used all the practice tests lower than 40s as practice questions. Honestly this was a dumb choice because I’ve used every single preptest there is and I don’t have any fresh ones left to practice. I’m wondering if it’s worth it to buy lsat ultimate ($749 for 18 months) when I’m only gonna have 2 months to use it? Also Im thinking about just buying the lowest level, but I’m afraid that the questions mgt be too easy? What was your all’s experience. Also I want to score 170+ and I was wondering if you guys think ultimate+ package would be the best choice for me or if 170+ is just unattainable at this point. I noticed ultimate plus is the only package hat offers hard questions, and I’m worries about buying the basic package because I feel like I already have a good grasp on the basics and I need to focus on the hard questions. Also I’ve already bought every preptest available, so I’m a little hesitant to spend more money. But if it’s truly really worth it to buy the ultimate plus at this point, I’m 100% down. Also if you guys have any success stories, I would love to hear them!

Thanks!

[Admin note: Ultimate+ includes 12 months now]

Anyone have any tips on how to improve accuracy– especially with the LR sections? Timing/speed is not an issue for me, but I can't seem to improve on accuracy. Thanks in advance!

I'm just wondering if unreleased PTs should even be considered in your score average. I just did really well on PT C2 but I'm wondering if this is just an easier test or it was just made a while ago so it's not as nuanced as the newer tests.

It's a good read and hopefully it will motivate some of you like it did for me for some reason.

https://psychology.berkeley.edu/news/intense-prep-lsat-alters-brain-structure

Check out this interesting article from The Economist!

https://www.economist.com/business/2018/07/14/law-firms-climb-aboard-the-ai-wagon

What kind of camera/camera setup do you find most useful?

Title says it all. I bombed the June LSAT (159) vs. my average preptest scores of 169. I attribute this decrease to a few factors: nerves, primarily, and the fact that my preptests were all generally older tests, so I had little exposure to the most recent exams. I've since purchased preptests 62 - 81, I use 62 - 71 as drills and 72 - 81 as full exams. Beyond that, I did not do 5 section tests and am doing that for all my full practice exams (2x a week).

My drilled sections are still timed, I'll divide tests 62 - 71 into sections, which I'll time myself through to completion. The only difference between these "drills" and a full timed test would be that a full test conforms exactly to the structure of the real LSAT, so fatigue becomes a factor.

Has anyone else had a similar decline in prep vs. actual scores? Further, do you feel it's reasonable to approach my practice scores by the September sitting? Initially my scores for 62-71 were lower, but have recently climbed up into the 169 range, and my full exam marks are still a bit lower, 163-167 range. (Fatigue is evidently a major factor for me!)

Can someone please provide me advice as to how to tackle these questions. I am getting really discouraged because I cannot map out the logic for the question stems or if I do map out my logic paraphrase doesn't match the answer. When I was doing the quizzes in the lessons it was clicking for me but when I got to the actual lsat problems I am starting to struggle and I am really struggling with mapping out the logic.

I recently attended 7Sage's webinar hosted by (I believe) David Busis, where he talked about international students applying to US law schools. An interesting thing he talked about was that international students face a disadvantage when it comes to law school admissions because of a variety of reasons, including GPA conversion, language, and financial issues. However, I am not sure if the same applies to my case. I am an international student studying at top liberal arts school in the US (which means that I won't have language or GPA conversion issues). In this situation, would I still be at a disadvantage, solely based on the fact that I am not a US citizen?

So in some of the 7-8 question RC passages I'm getting -0 or -1, and in others, I'm getting -4 or -5-- even on the passages I find moderately interesting. The problem is that I really think that my answers are correct while I'm choosing them. Any suggestions?

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight as to the value a master's degree holds in the admissions process? I personally have trouble with the LSAT but my undergrad GPA is fairly high and I have a 4.0 GPA from a master's degree. I'm hoping that I can rely on this at least a little but if anyone knows what kind of value it holds, any insight is greatly appreciated! In case it changes anything, I am applying to Canadian law schools.

Thank you!

Hi!

Does anybody know how long letters of recommendation are good for once uploaded to the LSAC website?

Long story short I had to postpone applying until this year after I already had asked for and received my LOR on the LSAC website. Do I need to ask them to send them in again, change the date on their letters, or anything else?

Thanks for the help!

For the past several weeks I've found recording my PTs quite helpful.

But I'm curious if people have any strategies they follow when reviewing their footage? Are their specific aspects that you focus on?

At the moment, I have two main aspects of my review.

First, I record my times for each question to try and focus on which questions I struggled with, even if I was confident I had the right answer once I selected it. This has been helpful because, then, I go ahead and review those questions more in-depth even if I got them correct under timed conditions. Second, I try to keep a notebook of various observations about my strategy, trying to tweak my timing to be more parallel to my confidence level (e.g. I can tell from the footage that I was 85(ish)% sure that I had the right choice after A (and did), but I spent too much time closely reading the other answer choices.).

Are there other techniques that people have used that they find helpful? @"Cant Get Right" , I was listening to your AMA the other day, and you seemed to be a strong advocate for video recording/review. Any suggestions?

Thanks, everyone!

and I bombed it. I'm not shocked because I knew when I finished LR and LG that I wasn't solid in my understanding of the methods, rules, etc.

so, now that I know for certain that I can crush the RC section (it's always been a strong suit - I'm an avid reader) but I need serious help in the LR and LG sections, how should I proceed with studying? re-watch the videos? drilling both? flash cards? I'm taking the September test so I have a little less than two months to improve in these areas.

(I should add that I have not done BR yet - I have no idea what questions I got right or wrong, I just looked at the overall score and which sections I need the most help in. I will do BR tomorrow or Monday - my test questions are all circled and ready for it.)

Hi everyone,

I am really struggling with Parallel Method of Reasoning Questions. I just finished the CC lessons on it and I feel like I still don't have them down in terms of timing and/or the method. I feel like I spend way too much time on them and I am considering skipping them when I see them on the real test so that I don't let them turn into a time-suck.

Interestingly enough, on my diagnostic I got all 2 of the Parallel Method questions correct...so idk why these problem sets are such a struggle. It often feels as if I don't even understand what the stimulus is trying to tell me...like I get confused and stressed by these questions.

Thoughts? Advice? Opinion on skipping these questions?

Either way, I think I'll come back to these lessons in a couple of weeks when I feel like I've thoroughly forgotten them...

I’ve been using low res summaries , drilling timed and untimed . And developing an annotation strategy . My rc score keeps going up and down (I know this can depend on the passages ) . I seem to struggling the most with Law / science passages . How were y’all able to implement a consistent score with rc ? I’ve also been keeping track of reasoning errors. I know some people swear by reading material other then rc but I did some research it seems like a waste of time because rc passages are structured a certain way . Feel free to challenge that !

Hi all! I have been studying for the LSAT for a while, and recently switched from doing PT in the 50's to the 70's. Unfortunately, my scores dropped from 170-173 to mid 160's. My reading comp took the biggest hit. I used to miss 0-2 in reading comp, but it definitely got significantly harder. Feeling a little beaten down, does anyone have any advice on how to pick back up? I am missing about 7 per section now. I am thinking of maybe leaving the comparative passage for last? The questions definitely got a lot tougher in the more recent tests...

Any and all advice/personal experiences moving from older to newer tests is greatly appreciated!

Hello fellow LSAT studiers/7sagers, gust wanted to hear peoples thoughts on study habits for full time workers and those who are also married and studying. What are some of the schedules people stick to, study habits, or ave. hours one may put in weekday vs weekend? Also any guidance on ensuring your spouse gets attention while also giving you space and support one may need for studying for this crazy exam? Any guidance or advise on these topics would be much appreciated!

As for me, I intend on sitting for the January LSAT. I started studying at the beginning of this month and have been putting in 2 to 3 hours a week day (Mon - Fri) and 5 to 8 hours btwn Sat. and Sunday (aiming for 10 to 12 hours a week). Is this enough time?

-Thanks!