On my lsat ticket I have a photo where I don’t have a beard. I have a beard now. Should I shave? (I think I should) Do you think I’m gonna have problems being let in the testing room? I’ve been studying like crazy so I would be traumatized if my beard got in the way (it’s not even that long!) (this post was comic relief. Kind of but not really) Happy Studying!

I am not really trying to start much of a discussion here. But, I have a general thought I wanted to share. Words have power. If you say something enough, you end up believing it. If you continue to say you’re stuck, you eventually really do become stuck. I’ve noticed a lot of people use the word “grinding”, which I know a lot of us are essentially doing. I want to bring up the potential that words such as “grinding” could be negatively affecting our mindset. Grinding is something that is tedious and seemingly without end. Is this truly the mindset in which we want to approach the LSAT?

I think the LSAT is a fantastic opportunity for me to prepare myself to think like a future lawyer. I am a musician, and I see many parallels. Practicing etudes, although boring at times, helps my techniques, which ultimately helps me perform my concertos much better. I think the LSAT is a very fair test, and I believe this test will help develop some of the logical thinking skills I will need as a lawyer.

~ just a friendly thought. Study on!

Redacted

Hi everyone,

I am wondering whether there are any general/broad question strategies for LR (i.e., any tricks that can help you in eliminating answers).

Thank you!

Did you know that you are capable of achieving success? I hope so, because it's true. Each day is a grind but you need to keep the end goal in mind. Stumped by a hard problem? Disappointed with a PT score? Find yourself wishing it were all over? Take a minute and step back. Picture your dream, your goals, and your future. Suddenly the obstacle that is standing in your way will start to look more like a learning opportunity than a barrier. You can motivate yourself by seeing the bigger picture, which will allow you to continue working hard. Motivation may be a fleeting feeling, but when you use it to spark determination and grit, the effects will be longer lasting.

Picture motivation as a match. You strike it, and it stays light for a short while. But what is the true purpose of a match? It is used to ignite a much larger fire. One that lasts longer and does not burn out as easily. In this sense motivation is useful because it can ignite your passion, the real source of success.

https://i.imgur.com/8imJNrB.gif

When you take that moment to step back from a challenge, it allows you to gain perspective. A small break allows the feelings of anger, frustration and agitation to subside. Once those strong emotions have passed, you can come back at your issue with a level head. Then you can ask yourself, what went wrong. You can see each hurtle as a learning opportunity.

So when you miss a problem on the LSAT - step back and think about your goals. Then realize that the problem you missed is now an opportunity to grow. It's a chance to address an issue in your understanding of the test. It's in our weaknesses and short comings that improvement can be made. So we should celebrate our failures, because they will give us the ultimate gift, a chance to improve. Use the things that trip you up as a tool to motivate your passions. If you start to approach the LSAT in this way, you'll start to enjoy the test. You will constantly be moving forward and patching up holes in your understanding.

Don't let negative emotions dominate you! Remember, you are doing this for a reason. You have dreams and goals. Will you let one bad PT or one hard problem stop you?

You got this.

On the first LR section or first section in general, I always seem to score lower than the rest of the sections.

I have tried doing some questions before starting a PT to warm up... nothing is helping.

Tips?

As most Canadian applicants have probably heard of before, Canadian GPA conversions from percentages to letter grades are quite different from LSAC's conversion standards. I was wondering if any Canadian applicants here know whether their GPA was calculated based on letter grades or percentages? Thanks! :)

I'm at PT 26 now and I am struggling when I see a new game for the first time. It usually only takes me 3 attempts to "fool proof" it but when I see a new game, I struggle to increase my speed or even be close to the target sometimes (typically range between 1-4 mins over but every once in a while am WAY over).

I get the logic behind the games. My mistakes I feel are timing issues. Examples being when a questions reads like I will have to brute force and I hesitate, not being able to see how an AC works in my head quickly/having to write it out to see it. This becomes extremely frustrating when JY does a quick strategy that makes it look like a cake walk.

I feel so close to breaking through but my speed and seeing a couple steps ahead with the rules quickly in my head is killing my speed. Thoughts?

So, I am an Army Officer and I am having trouble trying to "de-militarize" my resume so that the admissions officers will be able to understand it. Would anyone be willing to look it over and give me some feedback?

Any perspectives military/civilian are welcome!

Hi,

I'm aware that the correct answer is A, but while PTing I thought that the wording was too extreme. I do agree that the main point is to focus more on narrative than the characteristics of the novel, but what let me to confidently cross this out was due to the word "purely."

Where in the passage does it imply that the "best" approach is to focus "purely" on narrative? Why not 90% on narrative and 10% on the characteristics of the novel? Who is to say that a clear dichotomy can be drawn between the two? Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-57-section-4-passage-3-passage/

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-57-section-4-passage-3-questions/

Guys! I just want to celebrate a bit. I'm still not where I ultimately want to be yet, but I can really tell that I'm on the road to getting there. Last night I got my first 180 BR and tied my PT score record (167). But I'm happier about the fact that I can really see the progress in my last several PTs. (Also, the 7sage analytics are almost worth the price of the course itself!) After the CC, I had improved for the most part but was wildly inconsistent. Post-CC I was scoring any where between 156 and 167 and was all over the map. Now my last 6 PTs are: 164, 165, 164, 166, 166, 167. Both the consistency and that slow but sure upward trajectory are so encouraging.

I think I'm not going to be quite where I want by December 2, but I'm feeling positive that I can even probably improve a bit before then. I'm also registered for February and think I might be closer to my goal score by then.

Dance party time? I think yes.

https://media.giphy.com/media/dIZoOighpAS7C/giphy.gif

UPDATE:

Since this post, I added a couple more 167 PTs and a 169. Official score in December: 168.

The upward trend continued as did consistency, and it really came through. Started at a 155 diagnostic, so +13 overall. I’m ecstatic with the score. I’m registered for February and will probably still sit for that to see if I can inch up at all and use it for scholarship negotiations.

But a huuuuuge thank you is owed to @"J.Y. Ping", @"Dillon A. Wright", and everyone on the boards for encouragement! I’m now more excited than ever to get apps in.

Happy holidays to all!

Should I supplement with the LR Powerscore Bible, Manhattan Prep, etc. if I'm not thoroughly understanding something? Would a tutor be a better idea? There are a few sections where I can't even get all of the 4/5 difficulty questions correct. I understand them when I listen to JY's explanations, but I can't seem to get them right on my own. Would another approach from a different angle that I might understand be a good idea?

Hi,

I am getting ready to apply to law schools. I'm working right now on my resume and I have two jobs right now I'm a Receptionist/Administrative Assistant as well as a dog walker. I'm not sure if it looks good or adds to my resume If I add that am a dog walker. I was wondering if I should include it or not?

Hey guys,

So I plan on taking the September '18 LSAT. If I see improvement earlier then I'll take a stab at the June '18 test. But as you can see I'm one of those think far into the future/meticulous planner types. By the time Sept hits I feel as though LORs from my undergrad (2016 grad) will look inadequate because of how long ago it'll be. I definitely have professors I could contact (Calculus/Africana Studies/English) but I'm not sure an admissions committee will feel confident in letters written by people who can't attest to my best qualities at present time. I do have one person (fellow Board member from a local grassroots NGO/mentor) that will definitely write one for me but that's not enough by far.

Now here's my real question: After undergrad I simply worked, but I don't see my employer as beneficial additions to my overall application. I mean don't get me wrong my employers love me to pieces but I work in a field that is completely unrelated to law or anything I'm passionate about. Funny thing is I work at a medical school, Haha the irony. What are your thoughts on getting LORs from employers? Do you think getting LORs from professors is too late at this point? Would that look bad?

I've hit a plateau in the high 160s where it seems I keep falling for dumb answer choices and when I review I don't have a hard time noticing what I did wrong. Should I make notes of things I fall for and try to correct that now? In LR the closest thing to a pattern is which of the following most weakens or which of the following is a flaw except. I'm going to review that, but honestly it's not like I miss many of those in the section or very often. I tend to get the questions wrong more for misreading the question or stimulus rather than not understanding the flaw, especially later in the test where I feel the time encroach on me. If I could correct this in the next two weeks I would be in a pretty decent position to take the December test.

In RC I notice a lot of pacing issues where I will finish but clearly make mistakes or make less mistakes but feel very pressured because I spent too much time verifying my answer choices. I don't know if slowing down helps. It doesn't seem to make much of a change and I'm not sure what to do to correct that either. I'm not even sure what BR is really like for this section. I started off doing the best here. I just take my sweet time during BR to find the answer in the text, and it isn't exactly helping me get less wrong in the next test as I usually have only circled about 2 or 3 out of the potential six I get wrong in RC. My accuracy isn't bad to overthrown my whole system either. I've changed what I do a lot on this section back and forth and I'm not sure any change is improving the consistency. I'm kind of at a loss of how you progress here into the 170s when understanding isn't your main issue. When I took the test officially once I actually did better in RC than before implementing a system although I don't attribute the extra miss or so to the system but rather to the lucky passages I got on the test and don't want to have to rely on luck on my next one. I think it is more accurate than it was before and I feel more confident going about it this way but I've improved about zero in RC. The only pattern is that humanities passages have the worst scores for me. Usually -3 in a Art history passage and -0 to -1 in Law or Science. Should I drill just a bunch of humanity passages I find and train myself to maintain focus(I find them very dull)? I'm not sure that's the way and that's exactly what is so nerve wracking about being stuck here and hoping I can take the Dec. test, not knowing how to improve.

TLDR; I don't know how to improve after this point where I'm sure my foundation and basics are solid. I tend to fall for a lot of answers or to fail to maintain focus on certain passages. Not knowing how to proceed on fixing these issues is anxiety inducing.

Do law schools receive your school's official transcripts, or just the LSAC transcript, or both?

Hey guys! I was granted accommodations last week and I was curious if I would be administered the same version of the test. As in, would all the sections be the same as nonaccomadated test takers?

I have been doing confidence drills lately and I've been doing worse than I normally do. I usually miss between 5-6 per section, but on the last two I did I missed 9. Not quite sure what to make of it. I have been trying to get my timing to be 20 in 20 and 20-25 in 8, so I have 7 minutes to review whatever I skipped. I feel like this is considerably more difficult for me to do than my usual timing strategy, which quite honestly involves barely making it in time. On my last section I was able to get 17 in 20 and then I did 18-25 in 10, so I had 5 minutes to spare. Unfortunately, I felt like 5 minutes is not quite enough time to have leftover. I'm in a position where I'm not sure what to do to improve. I feel like I can sense the correct answer once I have a clear understanding of the stimulus, but I can't make the information click any faster. Any feedback would be super helpful

I graduated earlier this year from a large university and while I did well in my classes I never really connected with any of my professors (my fault). At this point I need a letter or two so I can fire off my applications as soon as I receive my December score. I have one professor who I think might remember me but after that I am kind of lost. I don't want to come off as rude asking a professor who I am certain will not remember me to write me a letter. Any advice on navigating this situation?

Hi everyone,

I have been at the stage where I have consistently been going -1 to -3 on untimed LR and RC for a while. Now, I have decided to start transitioning myself into timing; however, I am not sure what the best approach is from here.

I am wondering about what the general consensus is regarding PTs vs. timed individual sections. Should you be doing more of the latter and less of the former? I am considering making a schedule of doing mostly timed individual sections (i.e., 1 LR and 1 RC one day and 1 LR and 1 LG another day) throughout the week with BR? And then, at the end of the week doing a PT? I have read on this forum and several others that constantly taking PTs is not the best way to improve your score; PTs are much better for building stamina. Taking many individual timed sections and thoroughly reviewing them, on the other hand, is much better. Lastly, I think it is worth mentioning that I am fortunate enough to have a lot of time to dedicate to studying.

What are your thoughts? Thank you so much!

Not sure where to look to find it. Not in my downloads folder

Most of us are now focusing on timing and endurance at this point, while some of us (like me) are still working on fool proofing logic games. Regardless, we all want to gather those extra points on test day. At this point, many of us have a good understanding of fundamentals but it really comes down to how many questions we can get correct on test day.

What are some strategies that worked for you in regards to timing different sections? LR/RC/LG?

For RC, would it make sense to really focus on three passages and guess on the last one? Especially for those aiming around between 160-165.

For LR, I know some people do the first 15 questions and then the last 5 on the section. Or aim to finish 25 questions in 25 minutes?

For LG, I say fool-proof the most recent games. They will be more representative of the newer games, which include double layering/substitution questions.

What has been working for you guys?

I made this thread so people can find what works for them through trial and error in these next couple of days leading up to test day!

Good luck everyone!!

Hey everyone,

I just finished my final round of edits for my personal statement. I got edits from one particular professor who I trust very much, and he only listed one change.

I used the word "Cognizant" in my paper. As in, "Cognizant of this fact, I decided to do X."

My professor told me to simplify the word "Cognizant," but I honestly don't think it is a complicated word. Additionally, only 1 other person told me it was too complicated of a word (out of ~16 people who read my PS).

What do y'all think? I could easily just replace "Cognizant of this fact" with "Conscious of this fact."

Firstly, I was wondering how many LG's y'all fool-proof until you were -0 consistently on the games?? And how many were you doing a day? How long did it take? I've done about 180 LG and not all of them more then once and I am at -7.6 average. Just trying to gage how much more I have left to do, even though I know everyone's different when it comes to the LSAT.

Secondly, I just want to know if I'm fool-proofing the proper way. Basically my system is to do a game write down all the data and then watch the video if I feel like I don't understand why I got the question wrong. Then I do the next game in the book ( I am using the LG 1-20 book from powerscore) and then I cycle through the games I haven't gotten down to the 7sage recommended time and a perfect score after I finish the book. I heard someone say that you should try to get all the games down to 5 minutes when fool-proofing. I feel like this impossible unless you remember the answer. Should I spend less time in between re-doing games? Like should I do the game a few hours after or the next day? It usually takes me 4 or 5 days to get through all the LG in the book which basically means I am slowly fool-proofing them all at once. Should I master a set of 10 or so, fool-proof them and then move onto the next chunk? Or is the way I'm doing it OK? As always trying to be the most efficient with my limited study time.

Hey guys,

I write the December LSAT so i am doing as many PTs as i can now until then. I had the beginner course bought, and i did the PTs until 44, and today i did PT 60. I want to do more recent tests before the LSAT, but would you recommend me upgrading for 170 and do just the rest of the PTs up to 58 (I think that comes with the upgrade), or doing more recent ones and buying them separately? (since i obviously wont have time to do all the PTs if i upgrade by paying 370).

I just want an opinion on whether its fine for me to continue doing older PTs, or if i should just do the new ones instead.