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Thank you 7Sage Squad
I just wanted to take a few moments to thank you all for being the most welcoming and helpful community of aspiring lawyers I could ever imagine (which is so outside the norm it's not even funny - I'm sure we all know many nasty, spiteful, shithead current/aspiring lawyers).
My LSAT journey began last July, when I was thinking about fleeing my current job via postgraduate education (I actually love my organization and coworkers, but it was and continued to be a brutal few months at work). I took a diagnostic test (153), registered for September, and jumped into the old powerscore books I bought in 2013 when I thought I'd go straight to law school from undergrad. They were pretty helpful, but I wasn't anywhere near my target score (173+), so I decided to withdraw the night before the September test.
Since December was going to be my last chance to apply that cycle, I was really aiming to hit that test out of the park, and have my applications ready for when I received my score. I went back to studying amidst 60+ hour work weeks. I discovered 7sage around Halloween and found the LG explanations tremendously helpful, but I was so close to my test date that I felt like it wasn't worth getting even the starter pack.
Unfortunately, I bombed the December test, and knew it walking out of the test center. My maladroitness with logic games had been brutally exposed, as I ran out of time on the last two games, and it was reflected in my score: -8 on that section alone, and a 166 overall (which obviously isn't terrible, but was several points below my average and way below my target score). I made the tough decision to delay my applications and retake in June.
After about a month off of anything LSAT-related, I jumped back into studying with renewed vigor - I knew that I had to and could shore up my LG, so I worked on them disproportionately. I used a modified version of the foolproof method (which I'm happy to share with anyone who's curious - I think 3-4 tries on the same LG is super unnecessary tbh) and worked through pretty much every single logic game the LSAC has ever released at least once. I threw in a full PT about every weekend (I tried to do at least 3 a month) and jumped on a few blind review calls.
Come June, I was feeling way more confident, and the amount of work I put into LG finally paid off. Last night at 9:40PM, after spending an agonizing 4 days constantly refreshing, I finally received some good news - I'd gotten -0 on LG, and hit my target score with a 174 overall. I'll be applying as early as possible when applications open, and then I'm quitting my job in February to globetrot for 5-6 months before starting law school in the fall of 2018.
I do genuinely feel bad about never having invested my own money into 7sage; it just never made sense for me given the stage of studying I was at (the core curriculum wouldn't have helped me very much, and I already had access to every PT thanks to some friends), but it almost feels as if I took advantage of the rest of you who do pay, and all the sages who put in so much time and effort to make this product and community great. For that reason, I'll still poke around the forums sometimes and answer questions if I can, and am happy to jump on the occasional BR call if requested and available. I'm also happy to do personal statement swaps and whatnot once apps open up in the fall!
Special shouts to @twssmith for being one of the kindest and most encouraging people I've ever had the pleasure to (virtually) meet, JY for helping thousands of schmucks like myself on their paths to law school, and all you weirdos who are obsessed with definitively finding the perfect test-taking pencil.
And for anyone who may be feeling frustrated after their June results; I'm so sorry, I've been there and it sucks. But you can and will hit your target score the next time!
TL;DR: Y'all are fucking awesome, stay fresh.
PS: this was me hungover at work today - 
Comments
Congrats, fam. Very inspiring!!
Congrats!!
Congratulations. 7sage is the best.
Congratulations
Congrats! Thanks for sharing your path, we've been happy to have you.
Congratulations, @dantlee14! That's awesome!
Nice! Congrats on the good news, good luck on your apps, and have fun traveling the world!
congrats!
Congrats! Thanks for sharing your story
What's your modified version of the foolproof method? Please share @dantlee14
Nice! A 174 from June?? Apply early and kill it!
Wow! That is amazing, congrats!
Congrats on your amazing story of perseverance and success!
Congratulations!
So excited about your future!! Whenever I saw your name or heard your voice, I knew to pay serious attention to learn from you & my instincts were right on. You worked your tail off and it was exciting to be a part of your journey!
Appreciate our time together and hope you will let me know what happens during the admission cycle...
All the Best:)
Tyler
Congratulations! This post is great inspiration for all of us.
this is very motivating
Hey Surfy, sure thing - below is what I wrote to a few people who asked.
Thanks a ton! I'd be happy to share. It's not that different from the foolproof method tbh, but I drastically reduce the amount of takes and change the timing up.
I printed out 3 copies of every LG from PT 1-50 (once I got into the 50s, I started intentionally choosing LG sections that were rated as "Hard" on 7sage or had miscellaneous games). Then I just started going in order with 1 clean 35-minute take for each PT'S LG section. I marked approximate times at the top of each game, and if I ran out of time at the end, I'd note that, start the stopwatch, and finish the game - then mark down the extra time I needed.
After that, I'd score the entire section (without BR, because I don't think it's super helpful for LG), and if I got worse than -2 or -3 overall, I'd watch JY's explanation videos for the problem games and highlight them in my excel sheet (I used the Cambridge LSAT Logic Games tracker, which you can download for free on their website) for a retake 4 days later (I didn't always stick to 4 days exactly, but I wanted to give it enough time that I wouldn't just be able to reproduce the inferences from memory - I know that's the 7Sage method, but it's always seemed really dumb to me, and an easy way to unintentionally avoid mastery of concepts). If on my second take, I still was getting -3 or worse, I would highlight that entire PT in bright red in my spreadsheet.
I started my foolproofing about 3 months before the test, so I made sure that I was doing and reviewing at least one full set of LG every day (as in, one PT's worth of LG). I tried to save re-takes for weekends so I wouldn't be too exhausted after work every day, but I didn't exactly stick to a perfectly spaced schedule (like if I had a date or wanted to get a drink or whatever, I'd just skip that day and literally double down the following day).
By the time I got to the 50s, I was consistently getting -2 or better on even the hard sections, and well within the time limit, which used to be my main issue on LG. I then started hunting for miscellaneous games and "Hard/Harder/Hardest" rated LG sections, since that was what had thrown me off so badly in the December test. After the June test, I almost wished I hadn't spent so much time on miscellaneous games, because there ended up being none on my exam, but it obviously worked out alright!
In any case, if you stick to a pretty tight schedule, and put in at least 1-2 hours every day on LG, you can definitely get down to a -1 or -0 by September.
Thank you so much Tyler!! I'll definitely be in touch throughout the rest of the process. I know you're going to kill it in September, you're so close to freedom!
P.S. And thank you to everyone who has reached out on this thread or individually! I really appreciate it.
@dantlee14 Congrats! So happy for you! I am r ally impressed by your perseverance. This is Motivation 101! Awesome! Please share your version of the Foolproof Method. I'll be starting LG soon!
Hi, @dantlee14! Congratulations on your amazing story! : ) I am really amazed by how much you put your effort in tryinh to get 170+. Hard work always pays off!
Would you mind if you can share your version of any LR drilling/preparation method?
I'm planning to sit in for Sept. and currently missing most of 4/5 star difficulty problems and feel that I hit a plateau (missing 2~5 per each LR section). I was wondering if you had any particular schedule of studying LR and any tips to move from mid160s to 170s.
Your advice is greatly appreciated : )