tips, advice, game plan, trusting the process

juanmapm

Hi Everyone,

Tl;dr: help me score above a 165 plz.

I've been lurking in the 7Sage cyberspace for a while, and am incredibly grateful for the community and the resources that I have encountered. I began studying for the LSAT in late January with a diagnostic of 151 (didn't BR...), finished the CC around mid-March, and began taking PT's late March. After five PTs, I am averaging a 155 with a 161 BR average. My section breakdown is -9 LR, -13 LG, and -4 RC.

I think I am studying as much as I can (I work full-time so I usually do Logic Game drilling during the work week before and after work, and PTs/BRs on the weekends), but I am not studying smartly/efficiently. I paid to sit for the June exam but am increasingly becoming concerned with my lack of progress, and am pretty much decided on postponing until July.

A little about my softs: first-generation student, political asylum/refugee background, competitive fellowship, LGBT/Latin@. I graduated with a 3.92 with departmental honors (from an admittedly undemanding major) and completed an M.A. program straight out of undergrad.

My questions for y'all wonderful people are:

1. What are some of the strategies you took to beat the LSAT? (I began the Pacifico LG method and it has helped me tremendously, I just need to improve my timing).
2a. The fellowship program I'm in ends in late-July and it is situated in San Francisco. I love the Bay but it is incredibly expensive, and even though I could possibly continue working at my placement, I recognize the benefit of being able to study more or less full-time at home (in Pennsylvania) without worrying about rent/adulting. If I decide to return home/study full-time would it even be worth it for me to sit for June/July?
2b. Is the fact that the July exam undisclosed an issue (it would be the first time I sit for the LSAT)?
2c. For those who studied full-time, how did you avoid burn-out?
3. Are there other prep material non-7Sage related that could help out with diagramming/parsing out LR?

Sorry for the longwinded post, and please feel free to dm me or respond if I can clarify anything. Thanks so much in advance for any comments or insights you can provide, good luck to everyone applying, and congrats to those who are finishing up this cycle.

Gracias,

Juan

Seeking Perfection

I'm not sure I would recommend July. It only gives you one additional month after June to study.

A 3.92 is 3.92. Law schools don't really care much about the major.

Keep up the foolproofing. It works. The timing will come eventually. I found that foolproofing 4 game sections at a time helped substantially with timing after a while.

If you like the job and it covers your costs in San Francisco, I might recommend continuing to work there. When studying full time, you still only want to study so many hours a day to avoid burnout so it might not be as much of a gain to your progress speed as you are expecting. You can't know how long it might take to get to your desired score and if you can't do it by the start of next cycle then I think you would rather have the job in San Francisco than be at home in Pennsylvania. Additionally, it sounds like this job will look a lot better on your resume than a gap in employment. I would only drop the job if it feels like you are not able to study enough to make progress because of it.

The only disadvantage to the undisclosed test is that you can't see your mistakes or the questions after taking it. If that will bother you afterwards then it matters. Everything else about it is the same. It annoyed me a little, but not enough to wish I had tested at a different time.

I'm not sure about non-7sage LR resources. I felt like 7sage did a good job, but it was always a strength for me.

Good luck!

studyingandrestudying

Yes, I also think July being undisclosed is an issue to give a lot of thought to, and @"Seeking Perfection" makes a good point that if this bothers you, then probably pick a different date. The webinars on here are really good. Also, planning to spend a longer time studying if necessary is probably a good plan when you have other things going on.

juanmapm

Thanks for all the great tips @"Seeking Perfection" . I totally understand what you mean about the foolproofing method, I’m just hoping it clicks sooner rather than later. As for the undisclosed I think it will probably have to be a game time-decision if I feel ready for it in July (granted there is still seats at the test sites). Thanks again!

juanmapm

@lsatplaylist I think I'm willing to sacrifice knowing what I got wrong for the experience of sitting through the exam/seeing how I do under the pressure, but if I'm not ready by July then I will probably just postpone (and more likely then not take the time to study more intensely). Thanks for the suggestion of looking at the webinar - for some reason I haven't taken the time of watching them.

olepueblo

1. Foolproof lg, try to anticipate answer during BR before looking at answer choices.

2a. I'd return home and not take june/july test
2b. Wouldn't think so...
2c. I avoided burnout by taking a day off a week to do the stuff I'd forgone for the LSAT and I also just love the LSAT
3. I think the LSAT trainer is pretty good. I think making sure your BR is top notch is maybe the most important. Make sure you have all the parts dissected and understand how they relate to one another before checking with any outside source.

studyingandrestudying

So a lot of people say what you say about basically taking it to get the experience out of the way, but you can also do that on your own or at a free prep company event. I'd vote for studying for a score not a test date, but with this it's also important to stay on a schedule because it's easy to think (and I've done this many times) that X date is way far away and get busy with other things, but it's important to remember in general there's a TON of material to get through. Also even though this is the Summer of LSAT for many of us, I also want to enjoy the summer and find a balance between both things after a long winter.