Core Curriculum Question

S.J.H.O.

I noticed that the way the core curriculum is structured has you taking one diagnostic PT very early on, and then has you complete the entire course before taking another PT (and then at that point, it's just PT after PT until you run out).

Is this the actual recommended way to study? Would it not be beneficial to sprinkle in a few PTs throughout the core curriculum to see how you're progressing?

Curious how you all have tailored your 7Sage and LSAT studies to fit your needs, and would love to hear what worked best for you (or if the 7Sage prescribed path is in fact the most fruitful method). Thanks!

Platinum

In my opinion, I would say focus on really understanding the core curriculum. And, yeah it is daunting to look at all of that material, but take it one section at at time and follow your schedule. Let’s say that for example if you don’t completely understand how to identify an argument or how to identify premises, conclusions or what an argument is, you may have some problems when taking prep tests and really might cause some unnecessary stress because there will be some confusion, especially with all of the crazy writing within the LSAT. Also, if you don’t understand how to separate context from argument, really understand how the grammar in the LSAT works, including how to separate context, what a predicate is, referential phrasing and so on, life will be complicated when trying to get faster and more accurate. Yeah you may get some answers correct, but you really won’t be dialing in the skill you need to get that type of specific question correct when it comes up later on. The way 7sage has the course mapped out is good to go. Try to really understand the core concepts and not just fly by the material and jump into a lot of PT test taking. In my opinion, it is not the amount of prep tests you do, but the quality of review and understanding of the skill that you need to have to get really good. I believe doing this method allows you to improve more efficiently. It is always ok if you need to go back and review the concepts, I know I have and it has always helped to go back and revamp those skills. 7sage gives plenty of problems within the core curriculum and you could always make your own problem sets, but I would say really get the core curriculum down. From my experience, I tried taking as many tests here and there within the core curriculum because I got some bad advice from a professor, but in reality, if you don’t have the core concepts and a strong foundation, it is extremely unlikely that a miracle will happen and then you will start getting questions right without understanding how to attack each question and the test itself. However, whatever works best for you though because some people are naturally able to fly though the test and get a high score. I hope this post helps. You can do it!

McBeck418

I think the idea is that you don't want to use up all of your PTs while you're unsure of what you're doing (especially if you've never tried to study for the LSAT before). If you burn through all of your PTs before you're familiar with the curriculum and best practices, you might end up just wasting valuable tests you could have taken later with a better idea of what you're doing. I think they suggest drilling from the really early PTs so you have practice problems to learn from and get familiar with, but that it's important to save the most recent PTs to simulate testing conditions. You'd be able to gauge how well you know each question type by doing the drills throughout the curriculum.