Question for strategy / starting 7Sage CC

LSAT_Wrecker

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. Back ground first, actual question further down, skip if you want:

Background: I'm going in on the Ultimate package this Friday and looking to start my build up for my next run at the LSAT. I just sat for the Feb 18 LSAT (1st "real" LSAT score) and as expected, the LG sections (thanks experimental) threw me for a loop. LG is by far my weakest section. Bullet points on my history: Self study for ~6 months (LSAT Trainer, Manhattan LR, PS LG Bible). 20 full PTs in during previous build, diagnostic 147 (I got 3 right on LG on my diagnostic), with a slow but steady increase over the next 19 (10 out of the last 11 PTs score range from 160-164 with a rolling average of ~162 for the last 5). LR typical performance is ~20-22 questions complete with -0/-3 range, RC typical performance is all passages read, all questions answered with ~-3/-4, LG on a good day sees me completing 3 games and 1st question on last one with -4/-5. I'm retired military / stay at home dad with a decent amount of time to dedicate to LSAT study. I tend to max out "good study" at 4-5 hours a day and I like to reserve at least one full weekend day to not study / family time. I've religiously watched the 7Sage LG videos during review and they have really helped my understanding increase, but I'm not where I want to be at this point.

I want to take the full CC to tighten up my knowledge / understanding of the test across all three sections and hopefully increase speed as a natural result of a deeper understanding (vs trying to "go faster"). I also know that LG is my weakest by far and the area in which I can hopefully close the gap the most. I want to target one of the next three LSAT dates (June / July / Sept) and apply to school during the fall of this year. I'll sign up for a testing date after I start scoring at / above my desired target (169).

ACTUAL QUESTION: Is it reasonable to take the CC and start fool proofing LG at the same time? I envision 2-3 hours of CC and 1-2 hours of LG specific work (fool proofing) a day. Is it reasonable for me to do both concurrently and obtain the learning objectives I have given where I am in my current understanding of each section?

Thanks in advance. This is a great community / supportive space. As a guy soon turning 46, I tend to chuckle when I read the people half my age worrying about starting law school "too late" in life. I'm not worried about my age in law school, I'm worried about finding a first time law job at 50...

studyingandrestudying

I'd say yes. If you want you can send me a message and join our daily CC conversation group; we help each other stay committed to exam study.

westcoastbestcoast

Congratulations in having motivation to make the move to a legal career. What made you decide to go to law school and what have you been doing prior?

LSAT_Wrecker

Thanks @westcoastbestcoast. Without sounding all sappy, law school is a path I've been interested in for a long time but the timing never worked out. I spent 25 years as an active duty Marine infantryman and was too old to apply for their funded law program by the time I had the career freedom to do so. I'm interested in working in public interest / public defense helping lower income populations get decent legal representation. I have a particular interest in legal service for the mentally ill / homeless as this tends to be a population in which military veterans are over-represented. My wife works in community mental health care, so I have a good bit of insight into some of the perspectives of that population and the struggles they face. I'd love to have a career focused on "making a difference one person at a time".

As an aside, if your name represents your preference for Cali / Washington state, I couldn't agree more. Although I have spent the majority of my life on the east coast and currently live in St Louis, the best two years of my life were spent going to school in Monterey, California. My wife and I are still trying to figure out how to move back there without robbing a bank.

NotMyName

I really like your plan of attack and I think a 169 is attainable based on what you've shared. There are shared fundamentals between the sections which means improvement in one section sometimes leads to indirect improvement in another.

Fool proofing tip: keep track of repetitive inferences; especially onces you miss. And don't feel like you need to do a fresh PT every day. Focus on mastering a game/section at a time.

Seeking Perfection

I think that rather than foolproofing and going through the CC, I would just go straight through the CC either foolproofing nothing or only foolproofing the games in the CC as you got to them.

I foolproofed all on its own except the odd PT for about 6 weeks and felt like that narrowly focused way was really productive at improving for my retake. The CC also only takes a couple weeks to a month or two if you are familiar with the test so I don't think you have a huge time crunch.

I'd plan to do the CC in about a month, spend about 2 months just foolproofing 1-35 and then spend your remaining time PTing with blind review to assess where you are and drilling weaknesses revealed by the PTs. I would also foolproof new games after you did the PTs associated with them.