Loophole in LR Book - Worth buying? / General LR advice ?

st_cupertinost_cupertino Member
in Logical Reasoning 177 karma

LR still doesn't seem to be clicking for me. My goal is to be -1/0 in this section and I have heard a lot of positive things about Ellen Cassidy's Loophole book.

For those of you that have read it and tried other resources before you bought the book, what were your results and would you recommend it?

I only have the last few chapters left of Powerscore's LR Bible. I already read the stimulus first and aim to understand it first before I even read the question stem. I think most of my errors come in misunderstanding the answer choices, but sometimes I just have a conceptual misunderstanding when reading the stimulus too. Recently, I've been getting as many as -8/-9 wrong in a section. I've tried doing a few "blind verbal translation drills" because I saw them described and advocated for somewhere on this forum. I'm not under 20 minutes yet (most recent: 28 min with 4- poor, 3-ok, 9-good, 10 great. My system: GREAT = Concl. and all premises correct, GOOD = 1 premise slightly incorrect (on a multi-premise question), OK = 2 premises slightly incorrect, or concl. half correct, POOR = concl. Incorrect, or more than 2 premises incorrect)

Also, the trend I see with questions I get wrong: SA, Flaw, and NA.

I didn't complete all of 7Sage CC. I am a LSAC fee waiver recipient, so money is an issue and thought I would come here and get feedback before I made the investment on the Loophole book or paid the full price for a month of 7Sage CC.

If you have any general LR advice/guidance on what I should do, that would be much appreciated!
Thanks for your time :)

LR guidance
  1. What should I do?33 votes
    1. buy the book, it drastically improved my score after trying other options with little/no avail
      60.61%
    2. perfect your blind translation drills before spending the money
      21.21%
    3. don't buy- it was super basic and Powerscore / 7S CC is way better
        9.09%
    4. option 1 and option 2
        9.09%

Comments

  • ScubafishyScubafishy Member
    edited April 2021 26 karma

    I personally recommend it. I have read The Loophole and The LSAT Trainer by Mike Kim. The LSAT Trainer rarely stuck with me and the diagrams were difficult to follow. However The Loophole alongside 7Sage helped solidify my understanding. The Loophole focuses more on the overall understanding of the stimulus, question type and answer choices. Whereas 7Sage i realized were more into the details.If you're struggling with answer choices, the last chapter of The Loophole is VERY helpful! It helped me eliminate the wrong answer choices in a quick manner!

    Also, I would say if you do decide to try it out, don't wait till you perfected blind translations. The Loophole also helps with that during the first few chapters.

  • mannemckkmannemckk Core Member
    76 karma

    I just purchased the loophole and have liked it - I'm not sure if the information is radically different from 7Sage material, but it instructs you how to actively hunt/prephrase the potential objections to every argument before heading into the ACs - that way, you're not going in blind to the ACs. I find the most difficult part of LR is knowing why each answer choice is correct/not correct and this helps with that.

  • Jordan JohnsonJordan Johnson Member ⭐
    edited April 2021 686 karma

    I really like The Loophole's approach to LR. I had already used PowerScore LR book as a resource (in addition to 7Sage), although I didn't go through it chapter-by-chapter like I did with The Loophole.

    Ellen used to be a top tutor at PowerScore, so the book will reinforce a lot of PowerScore's strategies, which differ from 7Sage's in some ways. There are also some additional strategies she describes in the book that I've not seen discussed anywhere else -- mostly things she came up with for her students that ended up working well for them.

    I have a couple of other study materials, but her book is my go-to reference when I want to review something specific to the LR section.

  • tonyahardzinskitonyahardzinski Core Member
    307 karma

    I am beyond grateful for the Loophole. I took an UNTIMED Pt may of last year and scored 136. The horror! I read thru Loophole and studied some LG from powerscore & got a 150 on my Nov Lsat. Nothing to brag about but it was a huge improvement in my score. Then I went thru some of 7Sage for Lg and was scoring 158-160 on Pt before this April lsat, plus I reread the Loophole esp the powerful/provable answers and flaws. She def has you go on attack mode and I always do better when I remember to prep grade my answer or Loophole before reading the answers- then I’m looking for something that matches it and it just makes it easier.

  • barista17barista17 Member
    112 karma

    I am a huge advocate for the Loophole. But I will caution you: If you do not use the book properly and do not read it slowly and opt to read select chapters, the book will be incredibly useless. I firmly believe the individuals who say Cassidy's book did not help them were the ones who did not use it right. If you use that book right and do her basic translation drills for two straight weeks and understand her process, you will not go wrong. I was at -15 to start with LR. I am only halfway through her book, and I am down to -7. The second half is where, I believe, that -7 will really drop, for the second half of the book goes more into CLIR, powerful/provable, and wrong answer choices. But in order to have the second half be helpful, the first half of the book must be rock solid in your understanding.

    I understand I am n=1, but with the dozens of students I have talked to who have struggled with the book, they struggle because they are not using it right. Cassidy is about process, so reading random chapters from her book is useless. She tells you this upfront in her book: Don't skip. Take it chapter by chapter.

  • TakingOnTheBeast-1TakingOnTheBeast-1 Member
    219 karma

    Very worth it. JY's instruction has been so great for me, but it never hurts to hear material from a different teacher. This lady is a word expert. Literally. She uses words in a way that could provide different clarity for you on concepts we are tested on in the LSAT. Try it.

  • kkole444kkole444 Alum Member ⭐
    1687 karma

    I liked the loophole combined with 7sage, the loophole gave me an overview and then 7Sage gave me the details, if I have to pick one I would pick 7Sage.

  • danchoi123danchoi123 Member
    17 karma

    Very worth, especially for the CLIR. While it doesnt work out on every situation, it definitely gets you open to thinking in different strategies which can help out when I'm frozen/paralyzed while understanding a question stem.

  • Riddled Basins of AttentionRiddled Basins of Attention Member
    114 karma

    Manhattan's LR book is excellent

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