New and Afraid

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• 4 Likes

  Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  November 2016 edited November 2016 27901 karma

  Welcome! You've come to the right place! I know @danielznelson will probably want to jump all over this one, lol, but yes; lots of people on 7Sage have increased 20+ points from their very first diagnostic score. That does not reflect on your ultimate potential. All it says is that you took the LSAT having no idea what you were doing, lol. And that's okay. You're not supposed to have any idea what you're doing. Yet.
  
  Work hard and work smart, and yeah, you can absolutely manage that.
• 1 Like

  TheDesertGrandfather Free Trial Member

  November 2016 edited November 2016 116 karma

  Thank you for the kind words @"Cant Get Right" !! Feeling slightly less frightful than the guy in your picture now
• 3 Likes

  Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  November 2016 27901 karma

  Yeah, poor Marv never stood a chance! But all Marv had was Harry. Now you're on 7Sage, your bench is a lot deeper and a lot more competent!
• 6 Likes

  Jessica_Kuba Core Member

  November 2016 461 karma

  I scored exactly the same as you when I took my diagnostic. I also felt down and defeated,I had to tell myself that I didn't know this exam and the goal for me was to learn it. Then I joined this beautiful community and everyone is so encouraging and their goal is to see you succeed. So welcome to 7sage, I might be a bit bias- but this is one of the best LSAT prep courses out there, and don't forget the community too....Pretty amazing set of people
• 1 Like

  helentang02 Alum Member

  November 2016 246 karma

  Don't feel discouraged AT ALL. The exam is learnable and your goal is for sure achievable! I started off with an extremely low score and felt very disappointed in myself. But when you know what you want to do and don't have a plan B you just make it work. Your GPA is awesome too! You got this! I am also working towards my goal too so you're not in this alone!
• 8 Likes

  danielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  November 2016 4181 karma

  !!! @"Cant Get Right" made my day!!
  
  There are plenty of dangerous assumptions regarding the LSAT, but the concept of some magical ceiling that applies to all is amongst the worst of them. I think many supposed LSAT experts would tell you to not even bother with a something "crazy" like a 30-point increase, much less something still very high like a 15-20-point increase. Of course, there's no guarantee you can get that, but there's likely no substantive reason to assume you can't. Among a myriad of equally compelling reasons, your potential for a high increase is especially doable because of your low diagnostic. A 10-point increase from 140-150 is commendable, for sure. But a 10-point increase from 160-170 is exponentially more difficult, as you're forced to answer correctly the toughest questions, minimize mistakes, exhibit near-perfect strategies, et cetera.
  
  You clearly don't know anything about the LSAT or the logic inherent to it, and that's okay. I imagine you didn't need it at any point during your studies, so why would you know anything about the LSAT? I doubt you have any idea what a contrapositive is, a biconditional, negation, sufficient/necessity conditions, grouping games, sequencing games, in/out games, necessary assumptions, sufficient assumptions, valid/invalid inferences, universal quantifiers, existential quantifiers, logical indicators, et cetera (and that's just off the top of my head). These concepts take work to understand but just about anyone can thoroughly understand them. I doubt you have any idea of what at least most of these terms mean, and all of them are pretty important for doing well on the test.
  
  The LSAT simply isn't like any other test. Learning it is roughly comparable to learning a language. I imagine you can envision what it would be like to take a test on a foreign language. You'd suck it up. And while studying for it would be hard, it would likely not be impossible. There are always exceptions, of course, though I personally have never met a single LSAT studier who simply isn't capable of learning the test.
  
  You have a lot of work ahead, but be excited. The test will change your mind for the better, and your potential for great gains is huge.
• 1 Like

  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  November 2016 edited November 2016 23929 karma

  @TheDesertGrandfather
  
  Well said @danielznelson you nailed it as always!
  
  First of all, you have all the time in the world you need to get any score you want with this test. You are only on your second year or college! That gives you plenty of time.
  
  Like Daniel said, right now you don't know anything about the LSAT. Diagnostic tests are just where you are without any prep.
  
  Imagine taking your hardest course's final before you even take a class.... You'd likely fail. But once you spend time throughout the semester studying and learning, you are able to improve and get the grade you deserve. The LSAT is a lot like that. (Although you'll likely need more than a semester's worth of time to study)
  
• 2 Likes

  loosekanen Alum Member

  November 2016 138 karma

  The LSAT really just tests a certain methodology of thinking. Depending on your schooling goals and innate ability to read and process information you will likely be just fine. I'll give you a piece of advice I wish I had gotten when I first started: You don't succeed on the LSAT by getting questions wrong. This seems obvious, but when you're pressed against time it can be easy to lose track of. If you can learn how to get the first ten questions right on the LR sections and then drill games and RC over and over you're going to be just fine. Just slow down and learn how to get questions right instead of trying to squeeze 25 answers into the time allotted.
• TheDesertGrandfather Free Trial Member

  November 2016 116 karma

  Thanks very much everyone I really appreciate the kind words:) From what I've lately read about 7sage I have no doubt I will be using it when I get serious about my studying!!! However, while it is really early considering I'm 19, is there anything I should be doing now to help prepare myself or is that unnecessary?
• 1 Like

  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  November 2016 edited November 2016 23929 karma

  @TheDesertGrandfather said:
  However, while it is really early considering I'm 19, is there anything I should be doing now to help prepare myself or is that unnecessary?
  

  I think a lot of people will disagree with me, but I don't think it is ever too early to start prepping in some way. The sooner you start, the more time you'll have to improve.I know there are a few things I would do if I could go back and begin prepping sooner.
  
  - I'd learn about conditional logic and begin working on logic games.
  - I'd also see which section I missed the most points on during my diagnostic and just try to begin making progress there.
  
  The only danger in starting too early, at least in my opinion, is the danger of burning through material. There is a finite amount of released LSAT material. And although 80+ tests worth of material is a lot, it is easier to burn through than it seems. So when beginning prep early I would limit myself to the first 35 PTs worth of material.
  
  Lastly, don't beginning prepping early at the expense of your GPA. I made the conscious choice to not begin my prep until after I had finished undergrad. In retrospect, I think it was one of the best choices I made regarding LSAT prep.
  
  
  
  
• Sarah889 Alum Member

  November 2016 877 karma

  @"Alex Divine" said:
  I think a lot of people will disagree with me, but I don't think it is ever too early to start prepping in some way. The sooner you start, the more time you'll have to improve.I know there are a few things I would do if I could go back and begin prepping sooner.
  

  I completely agree with this. I bought my first LSAT prep book when I was a senior in HS because I wanted to go to law school so badly. So I opened it up and read the first section and got so intimidated that I closed the book and didn't look at it again until I graduated college. So, I commend you for jumping in head first at such an early stage because it scared me to death too.
  
  What I did instead was I focused my college career around things that would help me learn this idea of logic and argumentation. I took logic classes, read a ton of philosophy, argued in debate tournaments, philosophy conventions, etc. While I was not directly studying for the LSATs, I was preparing my method of reasoning for what my LSAT prep was going to teach me. So while you're working your way through college, keep that idea in mind. You are learning a new language, so set yourself up for that. Understand the mental commitment that goes into it. Best of luck
• 1 Like

  Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  November 2016 27901 karma

  Yeah, as far as what to be doing now, I think @"Alex Divine" covered it. Those are absolutely the most important things. The only thing I might think of doing more proactively is you could consider taking a basic, intro level logic class if you've got a few free hours. Having taken that class definitely gave me a comfort and familiarity with the material that somewhat reduced what can seem like a very overwhelming amount of information to a seemingly more manageable amount.
• 1 Like

  Alejandro Member Inactive ⭐

  November 2016 2424 karma

  welcome @TheDesertGrandfather . Glad to have you in the community. Just forget about that 137 score and study for the LSAT for as long as you need to in order to get to your target score. You are definitely in the right place to accomplish that.
• 2 Likes

  Sprinkles Alum Member ⭐

  November 2016 11542 karma

  I actually love when people make a thread like this because you will always find the comment section to be so uplifting! Try finding this sense of community elsewhere :P the good news is the 137 you scored was just a practice diagnostic test and not a wasted take! it literally holds no value to your future law school application so you should take it with a grain of salt and know that you have a fresh clean start to learn the material - like the rest of us. You're still very early in the process which is awesome. You can choose to learn some LSAT material along the way but your main focus should be to maintain that really amazing GPA and of course work on getting letters of recommendation from professors so you'll be set to go come graduation. I think the only time a diagnostic holds value is when you take it after learning the fundamentals of the LSAT. Anyway, welcome to 7sage, we come in peace
• Sprinkles Alum Member ⭐

  November 2016 11542 karma

  
  This 1 billion times.

  @danielznelson said:
  There are plenty of dangerous assumptions regarding the LSAT, but the concept of some magical ceiling that applies to all is amongst the worst of them. I think many supposed LSAT experts would tell you to not even bother with a something "crazy" like a 30-point increase, much less something still very high like a 15-20-point increase. Of course, there's no guarantee you can get that, but there's likely no substantive reason to assume you can't. Among a myriad of equally compelling reasons, your potential for a high increase is especially doable because of your low diagnostic. A 10-point increase from 140-150 is commendable, for sure. But a 10-point increase from 160-170 is exponentially more difficult, as you're forced to answer correctly the toughest questions, minimize mistakes, exhibit near-perfect strategies, et cetera.
  
  You clearly don't know anything about the LSAT or the logic inherent to it, and that's okay. I imagine you didn't need it at any point during your studies, so why would you know anything about the LSAT? I doubt you have any idea what a contrapositive is, a biconditional, negation, sufficient/necessity conditions, grouping games, sequencing games, in/out games, necessary assumptions, sufficient assumptions, valid/invalid inferences, universal quantifiers, existential quantifiers, logical indicators, et cetera (and that's just off the top of my head). These concepts take work to understand but just about anyone can thoroughly understand them. I doubt you have any idea of what at least most of these terms mean, and all of them are pretty important for doing well on the test.
  
  The LSAT simply isn't like any other test. Learning it is roughly comparable to learning a language. I imagine you can envision what it would be like to take a test on a foreign language. You'd suck it up. And while studying for it would be hard, it would likely not be impossible. There are always exceptions, of course, though I personally have never met a single LSAT studier who simply isn't capable of learning the test.
  
  You have a lot of work ahead, but be excited. The test will change your mind for the better, and your potential for great gains is huge.
  
• 1 Like

  SherryS1 Member

  November 2016 edited November 2016 477 karma

  @TheDesertGrandfather I agree with the advice above. This test is completely learnable. You should aim for whatever score you'd like
  
  In addition to the advice of others, I'd add the following: Read. Read. Read. The LSAT favors strong readers. You're ahead enough in the process where you have a few years to actually build the underlying skills that set people up for LSAT success.
  
  Make sure you're reading dense and complex material in your classes or outside of them. Reading magazines like the Economist, Scientific American, or The New Yorker can build further familiarity with the type of writing that will appear on the LSAT. I'd also recommend reading as much as you can for fun. Most big readers are fast readers and fast readers have a major LSAT advantage.
  
  Separately, you may also want to take a philosophy class or two that focuses on logic or falls into the Analytic tradition. The tools you learn there will help you understand and evaluate LSAT argumentation.
  
  Given your passion and academic accomplishments to date I'm sure you'll achieve your LSAT goals! Good luck and have fun
• Q.E.D Alum Member

  November 2016 556 karma

  @SherryS1 How did you come across analytic philosophy? You can tell from my photo how I feel about it. I couldn't agree more with your comments.
• Nanchito-1-1 Alum Member

  November 2016 1762 karma

  Don't worry about your score right now, you've just started. There's lots to learn and learn you shall!!
• SherryS1 Member

  November 2016 477 karma

  ◊ Q.E.D. ◊ I was a philosophy major I think it's helped me a ton.
• apublicdisplay Alum Member

  November 2016 edited November 2016 696 karma

  @Q.E.D Agreed. Get into analytic philosophy, people. It may be leaps and bounds ahead of the LSAT (and in many cases not necessary), but it sure is worthwhile.
• 1 Like

  Q.E.D Alum Member

  November 2016 556 karma

  @apublicdisplay I wonder how Quine would have done on a diagnostic
• 3 Likes

  J_Clarkson Alum Member

  November 2016 edited October 2019 585 karma

  The LSAT is like a marathon. You've gotta train for it!
• 1 Like

  TheCubicleEscapee Member

  November 2016 342 karma

  Hey I wanted to jump in on this one, just like you practice the law you will have to practice the LSAT. It is learnable and you will have moments where you go aha! and it will be a point jump. You are starting at a great point because you have plenty of time to practice and learn before you sit for the LSAT. You are 100% in the right place and you can totally do this, there are countless stories were people have improved 20 points and more with hard work! Welcome!
• TheDesertGrandfather Free Trial Member

  November 2016 116 karma

  @TheCubicleEscapee thanks a lot!! I also have ADHD so if you'd like some advice shoot me a message:)