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Mentors!
Hey there 7sage community! 
I figure we actually put the new titles to good use and hear some feedback from those with "mentor" and "sage" status. It would be great if you can share the following:
1. A basic rundown of some of the pitfalls you went through studying for the LSAT;
2. Any significant highlights you may want to share while studying for the LSAT; and
3. Any significant resources (<3 7sage) that helped you on your path to LSAT ownage! ^-^d
FYI: As future lawyers, I think it's prudent we be concise with our feedback! Also, please share new and unique experiences to you! You're all amazing with your very own encounters that I'm sure can be helpful to the community at-large! Yay you!
I'll start! I've tried Powerscore, Testmasters, LsatFreedom (heard of it?), 7sage, The LSAT Trainer, and Manhattan Prep. I found the latter three the most beneficial through my own heuristic experience. (You can ask me why via PM for the sake of keeping it brief!) Highlights...most people I've met through studying for the LSAT are really good and decent people with a strong sense of community and ambition. I'm constantly meeting very impressive people that are on this wild ride with me! The future of governance and the legal field is in good hands from what I've seen thus far! Stay happy and healthy!
I figure we actually put the new titles to good use and hear some feedback from those with "mentor" and "sage" status. It would be great if you can share the following:
1. A basic rundown of some of the pitfalls you went through studying for the LSAT;
2. Any significant highlights you may want to share while studying for the LSAT; and
3. Any significant resources (<3 7sage) that helped you on your path to LSAT ownage! ^-^d
FYI: As future lawyers, I think it's prudent we be concise with our feedback! Also, please share new and unique experiences to you! You're all amazing with your very own encounters that I'm sure can be helpful to the community at-large! Yay you!
I'll start! I've tried Powerscore, Testmasters, LsatFreedom (heard of it?), 7sage, The LSAT Trainer, and Manhattan Prep. I found the latter three the most beneficial through my own heuristic experience. (You can ask me why via PM for the sake of keeping it brief!) Highlights...most people I've met through studying for the LSAT are really good and decent people with a strong sense of community and ambition. I'm constantly meeting very impressive people that are on this wild ride with me! The future of governance and the legal field is in good hands from what I've seen thus far! Stay happy and healthy!
Comments
1. There are many important aspect for LSAT study, but I'll mention some that helped me:
(a) Routine. Developing a routine for LSAT study is important because there are always things competing with LSAT study. Besides for the work, studying and other issues competing for one's attention, there is also often the temptations of procrastination and sluggishness. Having a routine, whether it's daily, weekly or whatever, helps overcome these challenges as following the routine becomes natural.
(b) Enthusiasm. Once the decision to go to law school is made and the LSAT study becomes obligatory, enthusiasm for LSAT studying is critical. Anything which is obligatory is made so much easier and fun by being enthusiastic about it. Sometimes enthusiasm can be developed. Sure, there are times that the LSAT can be annoying, especially if the scores are unsatisfactory. But remember that you're sharpening your mind. I learned to love RC, if not just for the fact that I learned much about such random stuff. Each time I opened RC, I was ready to learn about four random topics.
Law school involves lots of reading and lots of learning. As the LSAT prepares one for law school, it is fitting to begin loving to learn and develop our minds with the LSAT. Of course, focus must be maintained on one's score. But try to also keep in mind the learning and developing that is achieved through the LSAT. This is not limited to information and skills, but to discipline and stamina as well. (When I was finished with the LSAT, I felt like I had mastered a unique skill of reading dense material quickly and comprehending it. I wanted to continue to read only such dense materials, but I eventually included non-dense books in my reading list. Some readings in law school are dense and so it's kind of returned for me.)
I'm sorry I haven't kept it too brief. That's just my answer for #1, so I'll stop here.
If anyone wants more info about anything, feel free to PM me. I'm currently finishing up 1L now (I should be studying for final exams right now...) so I'd be happy to answer questions about law school too.
Good luck!
Biggest pitfalls have been emotional. High achievers often seek validation through performance. We work very hard because we want very good results to prove to ourselves that it's worth pushing as hard as we do, and that results prove our inherent value or worthiness. The LSAT defeats this mindset, and I think that's one of the reasons it's such a valuable vehicle for life lessons and preparation for law school.
When I've put 40+ hours in of study, drilling, and review, and my Saturday PT does not deviate from the ±5 point plateau in which I've found myself—or when it dips below that plateau range—the test is not giving me the validation I was accustomed to seeking before studying for the LSAT. In the past, when I got a B- in a class or on a paper, it was because of identifiable lack of effort or lack of understanding. With the LSAT, fluctuations in score or performance often demonstrate the latter, but often not in a way for which I could have possibly prepared: I'm just being faced, continually, with additional patterns and traps that occur and recur in the test. The challenge is in learning from ALL weaknesses uncovered, and to—over time—transform those weaknesses into strengths. This requires courage and equanimity beyond anything any of us have experienced in our lives (except perhaps combat veterans or first responders).
2. Any significant highlights you may want to share while studying for the LSAT; and
Discovering 7sage's unique points: BR, emphasis on logic, and laser-focusing of the skills I learned through 2 cycles of the LSAT Trainer 16 week schedule. I've gained a few morsels from Powerscore as well but on the whole find their materials to be condescending and overly complicated.
A note on BR: I did not do BR for drills or PT's for the first 7-8 months of study. I'd never heard of it (I'd never used 7sage for anything beyond the exam proctor). It's as if I had been working with the lights off before; I don't know how I learned anything at all (and am finding that I learned much less than I thought I had). I am hoping to see major improvements as I gear my efforts more and more to using BR in any/every/ALL circumstances that warrant it or would benefit thereby.
AND ... Our BR group! It's all the rage! This Saturday we're doing PT43; PM for more info.
3. Any significant resources (<3 7sage) that helped you on your path to LSAT ownage! ^-^d
Top Law School's 180 guides/narratives (http://www.top-law-schools.com/lsat.html) @"Graeme Blake"'s LSAT explanations ( lsathacks.com ), and of course my first love, The LSAT Trainer ( @mike ). Dabbled in Powerscore a bit—"meh". And I have the Manhattan Prep LR book on Kindle which makes for good supplemental reading.
AND THE BR GROUP.
(1) Emotional blockage
Like most people gunning for top LSAT scores, I was a top student and had a fairly easy time through college. I was passionate about what I was studying and I happened to be good at it. I always thought my success in school and in my area of study was a natural talent that I was born with. It wasn't until I did some serious self-evaluation, multiple conversations with friends and loved ones, and read a lot about the power of the growth mindset (what up Carol Dweck & Malcolm Gladwell) that I realized almost every type of success is the result of hours of practice.
The LSAT was an entirely new beast for me. It wasn't something I started off as being naturally good at, which meant that to achieve excellence, I knew that I needed to put in the hours of practice. To be honest, it took me so many months to not see the LSAT as some kind of "aptitude for life" test. If I had, I wouldn't have wasted so much time feeling demoralized with every hour of studying. Luckily, I'm out of the funk now and I'm really gunning for that 175+ score!
(2) Bad habits
I was totally inconsistent in my studying. Since I had always been a binge studier/procrastinator, it's difficult to force myself to study a few hours, every single day, for an extended period of time. I'm starting to get better about it but it is a huge weakness of mine (and is probably the biggest reason why I'm still studying instead of having gotten to where I wanted to be months ago).
2. Any significant highlights you may want to share while studying for the LSAT
The LSAT has been by far the most humbling and intellectually rewarding experience I've encountered in the past 3-4 years of my life. I know that if/when I get the score I want, it's going to feel SO great because this test is 100% a product of blood, sweat, and tears.
3. Any significant resources (<3 7sage) that helped you on your path to LSAT ownage! ^-^d
(1) Blueprint
Despite most people's gripes with prep courses, I thought Blueprint did an excellent job in teaching the barebones of what I needed to know for logical reasoning and greatly improved my logic games score.
(2) Manhattan
While @nicole.hopkins 's first love is the LSAT trainer, my pride and joy has been Manhattan LR. The structural approach Manhattan LR takes to the logical reasoning section is what single-handedly improved moved my score in the LR section.
(3) Miscellaneous
(not surprisingly) A lot of my friends are prospective law students, law students, and lawyers so I'm blessed to have an incredible support network of people who understand what I'm going through. I'd definitely have to give a special shot-out to my boyfriend who has served as my emotional support as well as LSAT tutor for the past year or so.
2) Highlights would pretty much be covered above as well... LSAT prep led me to discover a lot about myself... indeed this journey does test you and not always in the ways you think
3) Any significant resources - well the 7sage community is the best resource that I could have found... was planning to give the test in September but had to cancel because my Grandfather had just passed away and I was in no state to give the test. This community especially you @Al [^_^d] and @mjjohns6 were extremely helpful at that point of time... I might not be able to ever meet you guys in real life... but I'll always remain indebted to you...
Sage title on the other hand is different
They have offered time by replying to every single post or more than others, not necessarily because it's "helpful information."
They are people who have and will sit down and right out as understanding of an explanation they can to help someone understand something. Or has a solid understanding of methods that can work and show good results.
I also personally see a difference between being good with the LSAT and having a good score. Have you ever heard of "some people teach because they can't do"? While I am not saying this is the case, but there are people who know a variety of methods and have seen many instances of certain ones working and others not and has a decent base of knowledge and experience to give helpful advice while having trouble incorporating those methods into prep themselves.
In order to offer good LSAT advice (for the most part/past the very basics) I think you do need to be/should be good with the LSAT
my $.02
Edit: To clarify: Sage = members who scored in the 99th percentile. Mentor = relatively active users who are helpful. We don't promote people to Mentor just for being active.
MG, 2004
("She doesn't even go here!")