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PowerScore one-on-one + 7Sage: Their powers combined?
Gino_the_Slow_One
Free Trial Member
Okay, so, my particular situation is that I've been attempting to do prep with PowerScore for a long time (3 years as of this month). I've taken the test 3 times already and am about to do a 4th.
"Why on earth would you take a test so many times when you've already taken a good prep course?!"
Great question, Jimmy! The reason why is that my consistency and willingness to practice and drill sections of the LSAT has been lackluster and nearly non-existent since I started in 2014. Why I didn't practice? Because I thought the LSAT was a breeze, through all 3 attempts. My last attempt in October 2015 was my painful wake-up call that I couldn't just simply read the material without any practice and expect to get a 160+ on this test.
My score has been 142, 147, and 146. Quite terrible.
I saw results when I started looking through 7Sage's LG explanations. Started to really understand them. Now, I'd like to do prep with both PowerScore and 7Sage with 7Sage being the supplement in case PowerScore's jargon-y explanations didn't crack it.
What do you guys think?
Comments
Congrats on not giving up!
I think it's pretty clear Powerscore isn't working for you. Powerscore overall isn't bad per se, but I think it's reminiscent of a bygone era. I'm obviously a bit biased because I use 7Sage and it is what has worked for me (and countless other friends), but I did begin with Powerscore. The LG Bible and LR Bibles aren't bad; but they are full of confusing categorization methods. The LSAT is actually a lot more simple then they make it.
I suggest beginning a 7Sage course. Going through it start to finish. Then consider reaching out for other supplemental materials if you need another approach. Having video lessons are great! It is amazing how much easier it is to understand when watching in real time. But the best part about 7Sage IMO is the founder/instructor JY and his teaching methods. He makes things very simple and enjoyable.
7Sage is not only the highest rated LSAT course, but it is also the most affordable.
Best of luck!
wait what? I thought the max we could write this exam was 3 times...
are those your PT scores?
In terms of study prep, I tried the first month with powerscore books and hated it. I'm not one to just sit in a corner and read a book. I find it more interactive to watch videos or be in class. So I prefer 7sage. I also found powerscore confusing and really boring.
I think the LSAT trainer tho compliments 7sage really well.
You are allowed 3 takes over a 2 year period. So if OP's last take was in 2015 they will be eligible to take it after 2 years has passed.
Ohh!!! I didn't know that! I thought it was 3 takes in our whole life time LOL! Thanks
3 times in 2 years.
http://www.lsac.org/jd/help/faqs-lsat
Oh man!
Fear not! You can take it 20 times if need be. It just might take a while, haha.
oh god. Pls god no. hahaha
Those are unfortunately my real live LSAT results.
Schools that don't like people taking the test more than twice will definitely not like me at this point.
However, the schools I'm looking at have insisted they will only take the highest test score, so I should be fine. They don't average my scores, unlike a few T14 schools...
I agree with everything what @"Alex Divine" wrote! I too did begin with PowerScore and I tried to memorize everything in the book, but it didn't work. I think PowerScore overcomplicates things. I guess it works for some people.
I recommend that you start a 7Sage course! (Obviously we are biased since we like 7Sage
)
@Gino_the_Slow_One
Hi there! I would really like to commend you on your persistence that is so admirable that given the right resources, I think that you have much to look forward to in terms of score improvement. I have come to find that persistence is an especially necessary tool required when one is studying for the LSAT. I am relatively new to 7Sage (on my second week, but also just barely getting over the flu which put a damper on my studies...clearly, the unfinished curriculum is haunting me, lol). However, I can attest to the fact that upon purchasing 7Sage Premium (but I'd urge you to buy Ultimate if you are interested/able), I was automatically more into my studies. I will be the one to tell you to ditch the Powerscore books, immediately, if they aren't working for you. For some, they are all that are needed to reach the much coveted 180...I, however, was not one of those people. I also found it hard to study 1,500 pages of information and be able to apply it. Nothing seemed to translate. It was as if as soon as I learned something new (memorized, really...that's Powerscore's baseline method), I'd forget it as soon as a kinda-sorta grasped the next concept. I like how 7Sage provides smaller but numerous sections, integrating video with reasonable amounts of text, that really caters to my learning style. The concepts build on one another, and I can tell already that I'm grasping things that slipped me by even after countless hours of pouring over the Powerscore books. I do believe that between 7Sage and The Trainer you can get a better perspective on the test, so that conquering learning it can be a fun challenge instead of a detriment. It boils down to finding resources that are for you, and since you have devoted so much time to even attempting with Powerscore, moving forward, my suggestion is to navigate through 7Sage as it should be navigated through in order to reap the best benefits from your studies. If anything, I'd say use 7Sage first and if a concept arises that is still foggy, read over Powerscore's explanation of it only if you have to. I've come to see that learning the perspective of the LSAT makes the world of difference in terms of comprehension, and when you comprehend to things, you will likely be more motivated to learn more. Best of luck!
I think combining PS and 7Sage or cherry picking lessons to supplement your knowledge is not a good idea. I made that mistake by trying to combine what I learned from the PS curriculum and add it to 7Sage lessons. In Dec2015 I learned just how much of a complete disaster that idea was. I say this because PS methods are clunky and not conducive to building the skills you need to do well on the test. The PS approach to solving questions is not at all conducive to building good habits and the skills you need unless you already have a great understanding of arguments and logic. PS isn't as effective because you can read all the books and still not have a great process for answering questions and thus form bad habits. This means you have to create new and better habits for question analysis because the way you've been doing it isn't working. When you combine those bad habits with some 7Sage lessons (and a limited foundation of the fundamentals) you'll see simlarly dissatisfactory results. Under timed conditions you'll revert back to what you've habitually done with PS or worse, try to reconcile what you've learned on 7Sage during timed conditions and get confused then mind-effed during the test. I say that about PS because a lot of the material is primarily focused on teaching you the trademarked terms and then you get to some foundation lessons on logic, grammar, and question approach secondarily. Another issue with PS is it does not stress that you first build the logic and grammar parsing skills that you need now to do well on the test. The PS LG method is not the most time effective and I had to spend time to unlearn bad notation habits. I cannot even imagine how to use the PS to approach to diagram the super weird games with no board. The PS LG rule writing abbreviations and process also do not encourage you to apply the same logic and reasoning you use on LR and RC sections and it doesn't push you to learn to make inferences at the beginning of logic games. I also think with PS it can be problematic that you have to create your own study schedule and drill method when you have no idea what you're doing and some study method guidelines are necessary for improvement.
I do think PS does do some things well like teaching you to quickly recognize global and local LG questions or LR mbt/could be true/could be false except interferences. You really learn their terms™ and definitions so well. It's a shame those terms are neither necessary nor particularly helpful on the lsat. Those rigid methods don't hold up well when lsat does something different (like the random games or shifting difficulty to how specific use of language affects intersections in logic). I'm sure there was a time when PS was one of the best study materials out there, but it's just a widely known yet outdated curricula. So many of the methods and fun trademarked terms can lead you to think too rigidly about the test (which we now know we should not do because LSAC has been changing the test up in more apparent ways).
I wish someone had told me this when I started Powerscore. I wasted time with it because it's a highly visible brand and it has been around for a long time----which is a flawed reason to use it. The 7sage starter pack is low in cost and has the entire core curriculum (you can upgrade too). In the beginning of my starting-over-prep the starter pack helped me so much more than PS ever did. Manhattan and the Trainer were also far more effective at teaching me good study habits, fundamentals in logic, and discipline. I hope you don't try to combine PS with 7sage to improve from then140s because while you'll learn a lot with 7sage, applying it to what's already habitual and under timed conditions accurately is another challenge entirely. To me, using PS as the base of my lsat understanding is like me using the English measurement system on an multi unit conversion in a physics equation when I could cut to the chase (and get to the point) by learning the universal standard metric system (fundamentals in logic).
7sage (parts of) + Powerscore = straight up disaster (unless you find new and specific ways to address your weaknesses and practice). I'm so glad I completely ditched PS and I really hope you don't make the same massive mistake I did.
I also transitioned from PS to 7Sage. I found that trying to use 7Sage to supplement my PS methodology was kind of pointless because the two take entirely different approaches. PS teaches tricks (lots of trademarks throughout the series, lol), and 7Sage teaches understanding. I could get supplementing understanding with tricks for when you don't have a firm grasp, but using understanding to supplement tricks just doesn't follow.
I completely started over with 7Sage and retrained myself. Best decision I ever made.
Thank you everyone for the comments!! I'll see about getting into one of the courses sometime soon.