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• 3 Likes

  noonawoon Alum Member ⭐

  November 2020 3481 karma

  I think 7Sage is most effective for Logic Games specifically! I would recommend that over PowerScore LG Bible (I used the Bible first and still struggled with games). For LR and RC I would recommend supplementing 7Sage with the public forums from ManhattanPrep and PowerScore to see how other people explain the question
• 2 Likes

  LOWERCASE EVERYTHING Member ⭐

  November 2020 1952 karma

  what are your br scores? do you feel like you have the conceptual understanding down?

  in my opinion, 7sage does a really good job explaining the concepts behind logic.
  obviously, practical application (i.e. how you apply your understanding) is important, but i think the theoretical understanding of the concepts really helped me with lr.

  as for the game sections, well, i think many people here can agree that 7sage killed the games sections.

  but everyone is different and learns differently. i think the key to improvement is: 1. accurate diagnosis (what are you struggling with? why?); 2. game plan (what's your plan? how are you going to plan/schedule your prep?); 3. execution (execute your plan).
  then you circle back to 1. accurate diagnosis; and the cycle repeats.
• 2 Likes

  Chris Nguyen Alum Member Administrator Sage ⭐ 7Sage Tutor

  November 2020 edited November 2020 4598 karma

  Ellen Cassidy's The Loophole in LSAT Logical Reasoning is also very good, especially her translation method. It helped me tremendously for hard to understand sentences. She's also very funny and adds humor like JY which is a nice plus. It's on sale at amazon right now as I'm writing this if anyone was thinking of making the purchase.
• 1 Like

  hopefulling Member

  November 2020 edited November 2020 905 karma

  Another vote for the Loophole book!!

  I read the Powerscore LR book (love it!), but really struggled with my 'receptive mindset' v. a critical mindset. I read the Loophole book after that book and it helped. (I think it helps to read it after PS, because PS is more descriptive, overall - you won't have this problem if you do pick up a copy, since you have the Trainer's foundation. Not only (as mentioned above) did her translation section help me, almost instantly, but she helped me 'see' assumptions and start to be much more critical. [... Sometimes one book/source 'speaks' to us better than another. Sadly, I'm only familiar with the Trainer's LR section - I borrowed a copy, but only had it for the shortest of time to take notes. ... ]

  Additionally, her answer choice strategies are very helpful. I wish she had a similar book available for RC!!

  I do like 7sage (although it has been my most recent source, after the others), but I found more helpful info to tackle the LR section specifically from Powerscore (LR bible) and the Loophole. I've made a big effort, though, to really tie all of the sources of information that I read together, to almost compare-and-contrast them all (to get the most out of them all as a group). That helped me 'see' things in some of the books that I missed in the first read. I'm hoping it has strengthened my foundation ... my BR score 'tells' me it has, but we shall see .

  I don't think 7Sage explains LR as much as some (me!) might need - where other sources are a handy supplement. I do like the 7sage RC approach also. Powerscore's approach, while easy to memorize the acronym, takes me much longer than 7sage's simpler method. I think in many ways, one could make an analogy between the way that the LG and RC sections are handled in Powerscore (in a more complicated, time-consuming approach), to 7sage (which strips them down and simplifies). I read and used the PS LG bible, and while working through their Training Type LG book, it took me so long (much over the allotted time) to finish a game - even after working the same type in each of those chapters. I think their approach made me more 'OCD' in my setup. It may also help that I can watch video on 7sage and watch him diagram a game - that's not an option while reading the PS book.

  The PS LG book (as does the PS RC book to a MUCH lesser extend), do both have benefits in describing the question types and the LG book explains the rare game types more than 7sage does (7sage almost ignores them, outside of video explanations)..

  Good luck in your studies and I wish you that light-bulb moment for your best score!!
• JessicaLeigh Core Member

  November 2020 78 karma

  @Christopherr said:
  Ellen Cassidy's The Loophole in LSAT Logical Reasoning is also very good, especially her translation method. It helped me tremendously for hard to understand sentences. She's also very funny and adds humor like JY which is a nice plus. It's on sale at amazon right now as I'm writing this if anyone was thinking of making the purchase.

  I just made my purchase as I've seen all around great reviews and success. Thank you!
• JessicaLeigh Core Member

  November 2020 78 karma

  @hopefulling said:
  Another vote for the Loophole book!!

  I read the Powerscore LR book (love it!), but really struggled with my 'receptive mindset' v. a critical mindset. I read the Loophole book after that book and it helped. (I think it helps to read it after PS, because PS is more descriptive, overall - you won't have this problem if you do pick up a copy, since you have the Trainer's foundation. Not only (as mentioned above) did her translation section help me, almost instantly, but she helped me 'see' assumptions and start to be much more critical. [... Sometimes one book/source 'speaks' to us better than another. Sadly, I'm only familiar with the Trainer's LR section - I borrowed a copy, but only had it for the shortest of time to take notes. ... ]

  Additionally, her answer choice strategies are very helpful. I wish she had a similar book available for RC!!

  I do like 7sage (although it has been my most recent source, after the others), but I found more helpful info to tackle the LR section specifically from Powerscore (LR bible) and the Loophole. I've made a big effort, though, to really tie all of the sources of information that I read together, to almost compare-and-contrast them all (to get the most out of them all as a group). That helped me 'see' things in some of the books that I missed in the first read. I'm hoping it has strengthened my foundation ... my BR score 'tells' me it has, but we shall see .
  
  I don't think 7Sage explains LR as much as some (me!) might need - where other sources are a handy supplement. I do like the 7sage RC approach also. Powerscore's approach, while easy to memorize the acronym, takes me much longer than 7sage's simpler method. I think in many ways, one could make an analogy between the way that the LG and RC sections are handled in Powerscore (in a more complicated, time-consuming approach), to 7sage (which strips them down and simplifies). I read and used the PS LG bible, and while working through their Training Type LG book, it took me so long (much over the allotted time) to finish a game - even after working the same type in each of those chapters. I think their approach made me more 'OCD' in my setup. It may also help that I can watch video on 7sage and watch him diagram a game - that's not an option while reading the PS book.

  The PS LG book (as does the PS RC book to a MUCH lesser extend), do both have benefits in describing the question types and the LG book explains the rare game types more than 7sage does (7sage almost ignores them, outside of video explanations)..

  Good luck in your studies and I wish you that light-bulb moment for your best score!!

  Thank you so much, this was so helpful! I am going to go through the LG bible, as I've heard that logic games is typically the easiest to improve on, however I think in order for me to excel in the games, I think it would be really good for a basic understanding of all games and all question types and how to approach them. I plan to get through the entire 7Sage curriculum as well, because I've heard great things about it, and i am a big fan of the explanation videos of the games.
• JessicaLeigh Core Member

  November 2020 78 karma

  @"LOWERCASE EVERYTHING" said:
  what are your br scores? do you feel like you have the conceptual understanding down?

  in my opinion, 7sage does a really good job explaining the concepts behind logic.
  obviously, practical application (i.e. how you apply your understanding) is important, but i think the theoretical understanding of the concepts really helped me with lr.

  as for the game sections, well, i think many people here can agree that 7sage killed the games sections.

  but everyone is different and learns differently. i think the key to improvement is: 1. accurate diagnosis (what are you struggling with? why?); 2. game plan (what's your plan? how are you going to plan/schedule your prep?); 3. execution (execute your plan).
  then you circle back to 1. accurate diagnosis; and the cycle repeats.

  My BR scores are an average of around 160, which at this point, if I could actually be scoring that I would be more than grateful. Sometimes I BR 20 points higher than my initial try at the PT, So I know that I do have a good general understanding. I really do think the timing is huge issue for me and getting anxiety during the timed section opposed to just relaxing and thinking logically. I was always a slower test taker than most I've noticed. Or perhaps I just need to learn more and spread out how often I take the PT's to actually have my score improve some. Thank you though, this was helpful and I like your strategy!