What is the best strategy using this course between now and 11/14/20?

franklinjake78

Hey all. I took the August LSAT and got a 149, much lower than my practice written tests. It was a complete shit show on exam day (I won't get into all of the details). I have about 5 weeks to get as much out of this course as possible. With my 4.0 GPA, a 149 gets me into law school, but I want to raise it to over 160 which gets me into most law schools. With working 2 law enforcement jobs and 15 semester hours, my time is finite. Should I practice test every other day? At least I know what to expect for the Flex this time, I was taken aback by never taking an LSAT like that, even in practice. And I swear that LSAT-Flex was made by Satan himself. The RC was beyond absurd. And all 4 LG's were level 5's. It ate my soul, and I am still trying to get it back. Any advice on the best way to use 7Sage in the best way possible in 5 weeks would be great!

BigJay20

Your review process is your best friend. You're just wastings tests if you burn through them. Tackle individual section and aim for -2 on timed on sections you've already taken-that way you can evaluate how effective your review process was (half of it will be by memory anyway). There's no point exhausing full-length tests if you can't execute the sections. DO 1 PT each week, then 2 the week before test day.

VerdantZephyr

I concur with @BigJay20 If you are at around a 150 there is plenty of room for improvement and also no need to burn through PTs. Fool proof logic games, I do not know where you are at with LG, but I presume you still have some room for improvement there. Then work on LR. If you get familiar enough with the LG logic you should get nearly all LG questions right.

Martianman

It is worth noting that the test has been moved to November 7th.

hopefulling

I would aim for 2 PTs a week, with two in-between days (one for intense blind review, the second for drills on weak spots (you could even do a 'mini' foolproof of games in these days).

S (PT), M (BR), T (drills/etc), W (PT), R (BR), F (drills/etc), S (rest/extra study day/go over wrong answers (if you don't remember them!!) OR, I would recommend starting your 'every 3 days routine' over again (since your time is limited). Especially if you start this today or tomorrow (an LSAT waltz, 1-2-3). GOOD LUCK!!! ... But, it might also be easier on your workday schedule to have preptests on specific days that are predictable.

I tried taking a PT every-other-day, but I didn't feel that I had enough review and 'focused study' time in-between. I wasn't making progress in points/wrong answers because of it. Every 3rd day is enough where you shouldn't feel stressed about reviewing (especially if you don't finish it in a day) and also not 'lazy' on the 3rd day. I think you need more than one a week if you want to prep for the November test, but I think more than three might be too much with your additional workload (every other day turns into a '3 one week,' '4 the next week' - you might even consider doing 3 as: [(PT) & (BR) x3 (6 days)], review/drill day (7th day)). We're all so different, though, and coffee is a wonderful study companion .

ETA:
I read where a '180 scorer' had taken 3 tests in a row (before it was all digital) and then reviewed them all at once. That made the real test day feel like an 'easy day.' You could in theory take your weekend to do preptests and then review your results and do extra drills through the work week. Plus, it's unlikely that you'll go through all the tests even if you do this!! The important part is to immerse yourself in the question practice while also learning from your mistakes - in the hopeful attempt to not repeat them.

VerdantZephyr

I think there is substantial difference in how a 150 scorer and a 180 scorer should prepare. While everyone wants a 180 it is not a reasonable or even necessary goal for everyone. It's also a hard ask for 1 month. I would say we definitely need more information to advise, but that lots of PTs may not be the best strategy for someone with a more than full time job. I work only 30-35 hours a week and it was not always easy to do. It sounds like his schedule is even busier.

franklinjake78

@VerdantZephyr said:
I think there is substantial difference in how a 150 scorer and a 180 scorer should prepare. While everyone wants a 180 it is not a reasonable or even necessary goal for everyone. It's also a hard ask for 1 month. I would say we definitely need more information to advise, but that lots of PTs may not be the best strategy for someone with a more than full time job. I work only 30-35 hours a week and it was not always easy to do. It sounds like his schedule is even busier.

The bad thing is, that LSAC didn't show the scores in each category. With my GPA only 10 points more gets me into 90% of law schools,

VerdantZephyr

@franklinjake78 Yeah, they are not disclosing any of the flex tests. Take a few PTs on here, see where you are missing things. If you are missing points on the LG aka Analytical Reasoning section I think you could see substantial improvement in a month. Maybe not 10 points, that is a hard ask especially with a full time job, but I also would not rule it out. It is much easier to move from 150 to 160 than 160 to 170, which, again, is why your strategy should depend on your goals. Knowing that a 160+ will probably get you into a decent or even good law school is an outlook I wish more people shared. For most types of law there are regional schools that will have better job prospects in a given city or state than higher ranked national schools. UNC for example has a much better employment and salary numbers than many higher ranked schools because they have such an incredible reputation in North Carolina while Duke grads typically leave the state for DC or NYC.

Hopefully you will take a PT and find that you are missing lots of point in LG. That is by far the easiest to improve. RC is very difficult to improve, especially in a short time. LR in between but takes a lot more work and awareness of your thought patterns. It also probably partially depends on how well your brain is already wired for these kinds of tasks. While anyone can learn the logic inherent to the test (plenty of people have eventually gone from 140's to 170+) some are able to absorb it quickly (a ten+ point jump in a month or two) and others take a longer time. Another relevant thing is how important is it for you to enter law school this year versus maybe receiving a better scholarship or attending a better program if you wait a year.

Bottom line, take a PT under timed conditions and look at the breakdown of your score and report back as well as consider what your goals are. Then we can give you better advice more tailored to your situation.

Colleen1029

Hey there, I also know the struggle with trying to study while working. I typically work 9-6pm, but since I work in sports my schedule can easily change at the last minute for whichever game we are covering. Here are a few things that I have been doing that helped me improve my score within a month:

1) I have made it a habit to get up earlier before I start work so I am not completely wiped out from a day of work. This was a huge help, despite how annoying it felt to not take advantage of sleeping in while WFH.
2) For LG, I highly recommend doing at least one game a day through the problem set creator on here under Resources. I usually pick one of the harder level games or any sort of combo grouping/sequencing game.
3) I also agree with using the review method for each PT you take rather than burning through as many tests as you can. I find that one PT a week with intense review and practicing full LR/RC sections fits best with my schedule, but that obviously may vary depending on the person.
4) This one is more mental..I started studying for this test in May, while I really enjoy using 7Sage I was immediately overwhelmed at how long the syllabus is and that the recommended time to study is a full year. The bottom line is, I had to really tell myself that IT IS OKAY to not follow it exactly. Everyone is different, the duration you spend on trying to study for this exam isn't the definitive answer to getting a good score; how you spend the time reviewing is.

I scores a151in August and knew that I wasn't prepared for it because I felt lost when trying to find the best use of my time from May-August. The difference in my confidence levels going into the October test was like night and day after doing what I mentioned above.

Good luck!! We got this