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How I didn't waste time and got a 165. Thanks, 7sage!
I graduated college over 20 years ago and never considered law school as a serious option until this past January, and when I researched the nature of the LSAT, well...I almost gave up right then.
But a friend had turned me onto 7sage and after poking around only a tiny bit on Youtube and other sites, I very quickly determined that no one else was offering anything close to what 7sage was. So I never even tried another course because, why bother? J.Y.'s teaching manner and curriculum is inspired--and also encouraging and entertaining along the way, and it made the process of getting back into study habits actually bearable.
At the start, I was pretty sure that a diagnostic score would do more harm than good so I skipped it. My fragile ego didn't need to see such a low number, I knew, but besides that I didn't have the stamina for an hours-long, intense test. Even for studying, I had to start slow, working my way into studying for lengths longer than 30 minutes a day. Like I said, my college days are in a distant prehistoric past.
When I finally took my first PT I got a 157 and I hovered around that score over the few PTs, running out of time to do more than about 4 before the June test.
I went into the June test hoping that I wouldn't bomb it, panic and have a mental shutdown of some kind, or experience proctor interruptions (as others have complained about). Although I have 5 kids, I have been successful at shutting out interruptions my at-home practice drills and tests, and I did NOT want to deal with that during my first attempt at a real test.
I came out feeling pretty good but I was still surprised to see that 165 and I am still on a high about it.
My takeaways: I am not sure that I have very solid tips to pass along. A lot of what helped me came from situational or life experience. It was pretty easy for me to focus during my limited study times, and I studied HARD. Sometimes waking up very early (like before 5am), and putting in long hours during my husband's days off while he had time to attend to the kids. I didn't waste that time since it was limited, and hard-earned for us both.
I would say that in some ways, my years of not-studying were actually a perk. There was the novelty of being a student again, I had a goal to aim for that was tangible and measurable, and with the help of this online community I found here it was attainable. I appreciated what the community had to offer, and then I also didn't let myself get distracted by too much poking around on threads (here or elsewhere).
So that's the main thing: I didn't waste time. I didn't shop around, the 7sage CC is focused so I didn't get lost in the weeds, it was easy to speed through and then go back and re-visit areas of weakness, and the way the site is structured I could build drills that helped me hone in on what still seemed fuzzy to me. I took advantage of a couple of webinars and that was super useful, too. No regrets for any of it!
7sage really worked for me and I am certain I would not have gotten to the end of my LSAT journey so efficiently or so fast without it. Thanks to J.Y. and the whole team!
-CD
Comments
Thats awesome. Congratulations. Do you mind sharing your routine/study schedule?
@"C_S_D 01" congratulations on your score! We are happy that we are a part of your LSAT journey!
How can you build drills?
That's great, congratulations!! Thanks for sharing. I think my situation is similar, and this was encouraging to read going into my test next week!
Good luck to you, rwolf_wolf9!!!
Juan23vr: Instead of going through Practice Tests, I selected from the test questions according to category and difficulty. For example: LG games of a certain variety (CondSeq, or whatever) and star rating.
I would make a drill set of no more than four at a time so i could do a thorough review and try to figure out where I tripped up. Same for LR.
For RC, I mainly drilled Science passages since I found myself freezing up with fear on those.
Congrats, that's a phenomenal score. How did you decide to go to law school as a non-traditional applicant?
Shaheersinn: For my study routine, I am not sure if you mean daily or the long-term vision schedule. I will try to answer both.
What I did at the start was aim for 10 weeks of study and mapped out a plan for 20 to 25 hrs/week. (My max ended up being 25 and on those weeks I felt like that was a real stretch in my schedule.)
I started off with only Curriculum lessons and tried to speed through the 200hrs. At about the 80% completion point I did a P/t and then from there honed in on drills and reviewed portions of the Curriculum I didn't "get"the first time around.
I also realized it would take longer than 10 weeks and ended up studying for 3+months.
As for daily schedule: it depended on the day. Sometimes 1 or 1.5 hours before the rest of the family woke up. Coffee, a little stretch and allowing myself to wake up for 15 min but no more.
I havepreschoolers in half day school so the most i could get was 3 or 4 hrs during that time. Maybe an hour or two during naps if i was lucky.
On my husband's days off I could stretch it into the evening to dinnertime sometimes. Those would be my longest days. Otherwise some days I got 1 to 3 hours of studying in a day.
For exercise and to take a good study break, I would go on a walk early afternoon. I stuck to this and felt it really helped. I also built in a couple of days for outings or something completely different so that my mind could do something else for longer than 24 hrs. I believe that really helped me to stay balanced and also to avoid burnout.
Because of unavoidable interruptions by the kids, I tried to log a little of what I had done and jot down some notes on where I needed to pick up, and also where I saw I needed to go next, so that I wouldn't get too frazzled by the interruptions. It helped me manage that feeling of frustration that can come with having to drop something midway through, knowing I might not get back to it until the next day or even after the weekend. It kept me on track for my next session and also with the feeling that I was actually moving forward and making progress. (This last part will probably make most sense to other parents, maybe)
Glutton: I guess it's silly of me to say I didn't waste time when it took me 20 years to get here. 🙃
I worked as a paralegal after college but instead of law I opted for grad school and was pursuing a PhD though I ended up dropping it (family reasons, mostly).
Now I am back to thinking about law and hoping it will be a shorter degree to earn (10 years or more for that PhD) and more immediately useful than a career in academics.
Sick and tired of watching friends and strangers in my community get swindled by lazy and/or corrupt notaries and lawyers when all they need is a little help navigating the system.
Congrats! Your story gives me hope and helps me realize I’m crazy for a career change 20 years after “being done” with school myself. Do you remember how many months you studying the 20-25 hours per week? I am doing my best to follow the course schedule and I’m struggling to get in a solid 5-10 hours per week. Thank you for encouragement.
Congrats!!! definitely gave me some hope as I am in a similar situation!!! Thanks so much for sharing and congrats on your score!
sharalyn and SLODHILL: I am so glad this is giving you a little boost. It's no joke to decide to tackle something new. Little by little and you'll get there!
sharalyn: I did 15 to 20 hours per week for almost 3 months. A few times I hit over 20 hours. Maybe three times total, ish? It took ALL my spare time and then some. I just put a bunch of other life stuff on hold and had piles of work to catch up on over the summer. I'm STILL not caught up, ha. Worth it!!
But: I'd say that if you've been staying sharp with other pursuits, you probably don't ever need to reach the 15 or 20hr mark. I needed this, but I can definitely imagine that for some others, less overall hours could work just as well. Good luck to you!!
Amazing story, a very big inspiration! It's very uncommon for people to score better on the actual test than their PTs, did you get anywhere in the 160s before?
Thank you so much for all the information and sharing your story. It feels really good to know that we are not alone out here swimming in a pool of fresh college graduates. I too am 15 years out of college and grad school, 3 kids, looking for a career shift. You are a true inspiration! Good Luck to you with all your endeavors!
Lovevayner: Woohoo, way to be super gutsy.
Best of luck to you!!!
Right!? I once scored a 161 on a practice, but that's it.
As I have tried to pinpoint what "went right" on Test Day, I have a theory. The content and positioning of the experimental section in my test was so sneaky and so difficult that the test writers compensated with an easier LG section. I base this on what I gather about what others experienced in LG---sounds much harder than my test version.
And since LG mastery (speed, esp) was my only missing piece, this worked out for me very well.
That's my guess, anyway.