Want to give up...

Comments

• 4 Likes

  Nicole Hopkins Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 4344 karma

  @LSATConspiracy said:
  I don't want to try another LSAT prep course because I feel like they'll just do the same thing BluePrint did and give me some short-cut tricks that don't help at all.
  

  1) Take a break. A long one. A month off at a minimum. Forget the LSAT and everything about it for a good long time.
  2) Get 7sage. I'm sorry Blueprint has contaminated your experience of LSAT courses. Ours is different. Thankfully we offer a 14-day money back guarantee so that you can see that for yourself. Grab the course (after your vacation) and give it a try. I believe you'll find that it is constructed with different motivations (meaning your learning and not profit) and a lot more diligence and care. And if you disagree, then you're absolutely no worse off.
• 1 Like

  Aidoe Free Trial Member

  February 2016 edited February 2016 236 karma

  This sounds a like lot me. I emphasized understanding the whole "theory" of the test over practical experience. Going only off of what you said, I think you should be taking a lot more PTs on a consistent basis. I spent probably 6 months just reading over the LR and LG Bibles taking copious notes, as though I was getting ready to take a university exam, wanting to really get everything down then moved onto PTs where I just wasn't improving or doing well at all. But since I started over with 7sage and went through the course, I started doing 3 PTs a week and I'm noticing gains. You really have to utilize as many tests as possible and thoroughly review those while using your prep material as secondary sources to shore up practical weaknesses.
• jdawg113 Alum Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 2654 karma

  About how much are you studying? 2 hrs a day every day? 6 hrs a day ?
• LSATConspiracy Core Member

  February 2016 127 karma

  @jdawg113
  
  At first I studied for 8-10hrs a day. I was super motivated to do well. Since then I've tapered off. Went down from 8 to 6, 6 to 4, and now I'm probably doing an LG section/day if I'm in the mood. I've lost the motivation to continue TBH.
  
  @"Nicole Hopkins"
  
  What does 7sage do regarding LR that Blueprint and Testmasters don't? I really don't want to have pump myself up just to fail again.
• 2 Likes

  Seriousbird Alum Member

  February 2016 1278 karma

  Honestly I really think 7Sage and Trainer together are great, to each his own though.
  
  I think the best thing for you to be would take a break and then come back when you have forgotten the fundamentals of what you have learned to retrain your brain to think a different way. I think a valuable prep resource (which some on this site may or may not agree with me on) is obtaining the Cambridge LR/RC/LG pdf bundle of preptests 1-38. That way when you are doing a specific question type you can drill those questions without timing yourself. I do them in sets of 25 and then review them. I think once you master parts of the test your accuracy and timing automatically goes up.
  
  I was rushing for the December test and taking PTs while doing prep and when my score fell down a month before the test, I realized I wasn't ready for the test. So, I started over again with the fundamentals. I have changed my schedule many times to ensure I learn at my own pace and master every aspect of the test. My plan is to start PTing once I have gotten through and mastered the curriculum.
  
  I really know where you are coming from, about a month or two months ago, I was struggling with the Most Strongly Supported questions. My emotions went from hatred to frustration to tolerance of the question type. That said I reviewed them over and over again, learned the intricacies of the question type, and after I master the question type I am currently reviewing I plan on reviewing the lesson again and doing some of the questions I got wrong. Also I spent a month on this question type because I wanted to really master it. A month is a really long time for one question type, but if you have serious defects with that type it is better to master it and then move on. Just don't give up if you really want this, but be willing to put in the time and effort and make significant changes to your study schedule.
• lenelson2 Member

  February 2016 edited February 2016 523 karma

  @LSATConspiracy
  Hey! Primarily, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. As a matter of fact, you sound pretty normal. The stories that aren't posted are the numerous stories of yours and mines with stagnant PT scores...
  From my experience (and many others) the LSAT takes a long time to fully understand. Unless you come from a background that caters to the logic or rhetoric, it might take a bit longer to understand the fundamentals. That timeline looks different for everyone (maybe you got some kiddos, full time job)...
  It's up to you whether you get 7sage or not, but what 7sage offers is a break down of the fundamentals and a dope community to bounce ideas off of/learn from.
  It sounds like you may be hitting a wall and I would focus on your BR of exams because a true BR really provides a lens into your inner workings and how you understand the exam.
  Take some time off, reevaluate your goals, but most importantly be real with yourself with HOW you are studying.
  You got this!
  
• stephgmeister Alum Member

  February 2016 100 karma

  Hi there!
  
  I think a lot of this test is psychological, with that said I can totally can empathize with you because I have been there. And even though I am not scoring where I want to be (165 to higher), I know everything about the test so learning new strategies isn't gonna help me, I've tried everything, something I hadn't been doing though until recently is seeing which questions I spend more time on and knowing when to let go, sometimes it can be scary because i'll be stuck on a most strongly supported question very early on but instead of sitting there re-reading for 2 min I should circle it and come back or take 30 sec and give it my best guess. There isn't a magic formula here but I do know that the more time you spend on the questions you got wrong is the most time wasted cause you get no points which you deserve! If you can see which questions give you most difficulty and practice them during studying I think this might help. Again, I can't say it'll guarantee improvement an esp not right away. For RC for ex, I miss an average of 10 which really brings my score down but I can't seem to read a passage in less than 4 minutes without sacrificing understanding and Im usually always at the 10 min mark after passage 1. For LR, the suggestion I mentioned has worked better for me.
  
  Also, not knowing why you want to go to law school may be playing a role in underperformance, I know it did for me! I constantly went back and forth between deciding about grad school, law school or a job.... and even if you don't know.... being ok with not knowing is a step in the right direction and will hopefully help ease your mind and not get in the way with your commitment to the LSAT.
  
  Good luck and send me a message if you need moral support from someone in a similar situation who is overcoming it.
• Aidoe Free Trial Member

  February 2016 236 karma

  @LSATConspiracy said:
  What does 7sage do regarding LR that Blueprint and Testmasters don't?
  

  Let me just say that I also went through Testmasters before doing 7sage and there is a very noticeable difference. JY breaking everything down and explaining things I've covered through other courses was still helpful, at least to me, and there are many other new techniques that other courses don't do a good job developing. But I had time to invest to try to relearn everything through the Ultimate course (roughly 3 months) before PTing so if you have time I would say it's worth your time and effort.
• twssmith Alum ⭐

  February 2016 5120 karma

  Please listen to the advice from everyone to take a break and then evaluate! My journey has been similar to yours with other prep courses and when my scores plateaued I was extremely frustrated and depressed withdrawing from Dec test. Investing in another prep company may seem futile, but from my experience 7Sage has had a significant impact raising my PT scores. As @"Nicole Hopkins" said there is a 14 day money back guarantee and many will attest that JY's lessons on Intro to Arguments, Grammar and Logic (or as he calls it Lawgic) are worth their weight in gold.
  if you decide to purchase the course, please do not make the mistake as I and others have admitted that we rushed through the curriculum glossing over the lessons that are familiar from other prep courses. I have almost completed a thorough re-do of the entire curriculum and my grasp of the fundamentals is remarkably clearer providing more confidence when PT'ing.
  All the best and look forward to hearing from you after your break:)
• 1 Like

  MrSamIam Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 edited February 2016 2086 karma

  I can't speak on behalf of Blueprint. However, I did "sample" courses from multiple companies. I won't single any out. By far, 7Sage has helped me the most. I won't turn this into an ad for 7Sage (the crew here already knows I love the course), but, here are some differences that I've noticed:
  - 7Sage takes a more hands on approach. In other words, the course engaged me more than any of the other courses that I tried.
  -J.Y. uses humor and real life examples to explain the logic behind why some answers are wrong, and while others are wrong. I know, this sounds trivial, but it isn't. It helps a ton, especially when all you can think about is how far you would be able to fling your book across the room.
  -There's more of an active community here. If you need questions answered, post them. Whereas with other companies, you may have to wait for a single tutor or instructor to reply. That leads me to another point...you get tons of viewpoints for a single question.
  
  Those are just a few things. @nicole.hopkins ' first point helped me a ton. Take a break from the LSAT. Give your mind time to relax, and let the material sink in. Come back after a few weeks to a month - or longer if you need it.
  Try again.
  
  Most importantly. Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you've reached your ceiling - i.e. you won't do any better than mid 150s. You're ceiling is as high as you want it to be. Whether or not you reach the top will depend on how much work you're willing to put in.
• stepharizona Alum Member

  February 2016 3197 karma

  @MrSamIam said:
  Whether or not you reach the top will depend on how much work you're willing to put in.
  

  This is the best advice. You get out what you put in.
  
• Q.E.D Alum Member

  February 2016 556 karma

  I'm just a rando, but I want to agree with the folks who've pointed out the importance of your background. Everyone has to study the test, but people come to it with more and less conditioning in the requisite tasks.
  
  I speculate a lot, but I'm pretty confident the LSAT tests your conditioning, not your intelligence. Whatever's going on, you're not stalled because you're dumb. I just don't accept that answer for 99% of people. If you were in the 1%, you'd be testing lower. You need to find the best plan to condition yourself appropriately. Sounds like 7sage has a lot to offer.
  
  Good luck.
• runiggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 2481 karma

  @LSATConspiracy - would your schedule allow you to participate in the BR groups here on 7Sage? They might provide a different perspective on reviewing than your own, and you might find some productive approaches through the power of crowdsourcing.
• leeban92 Free Trial Member

  February 2016 60 karma

  I was in the same boat, I was stuck in the 150s for what seemed like forever, regularly getting 8-10 wrong on LR, 8-10 wrong on LG and 10 wrong on RC, always running out of time. I finally broke into the 160s with the ability to finish(or almost finish) the sections, though I can have a bad day as well. I still have a long road ahead of me. What helped me was taking a break, and then doing 1 or 2 sections a day, with an individual LR questions or logic games on the side. When I tried to study too much I got burnt out so I scaled it back. For every question I got wrong, I wrote a note next to the question of what I did wrong, like read answer too fast, didn't read all answers, forgot rule, etc. Then a day later, I would look back at all the notes I wrote down the day earlier, so my mistakes could really sink in and I could avoid repeating them in the future. Also make sure you're getting at least 7 hours of sleep, it makes a big difference.
• MrSamIam Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 2086 karma

  @leeban92 This x10!! The LSAT is primarily a skills-based test. In order to improve on your skills, you WILL have to hit the ground, face first. Get back up, dust yourself off, and ask, "what knocked me down?" Work on that, and see where it takes you.
  
• LSATConspiracy Core Member

  February 2016 127 karma

  Thanks for the replies everyone.
  
  @runiggyrun I might be able to leave work early to make BR sessions on Tuesdays/Thursdays. Since I stopped studying in mid-January, I've regained my energy but when it comes to this test, I'm not as optimistic as I was 6-months ago. Just logging into this website gets me down...
  
  I'm in the process of saving money for the starter pack. After what 7sage has done for me with LG, I have a little faith that it'll help me with LR.
• Dillon McConnell Member

  February 2016 edited February 2016 8 karma

  One thing that's worked quite well for me has been mindfulness meditation before taking a practice test. It sounds like you're pretty stressed out... that cumulative stress can cloud your thinking as you go through the test.