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Your story before you became a 7Sage Member
studyingandrestudying
Core Member
What's your pre-7Sage story?
Comments
I decided to take a couple of years off after undergrad to gain some work experience and save up some money. I knew I was going to apply to law school, but I didn't have a solid timeline.
One day last summer (2016) I was having a terrible day at work after being chewed out by my boss and decided to take a long lunch. I wandered into a Barnes and Noble to get out of the heat and randomly began looking at LSAT books. I decided I was going to start my LSAT journey and purchased a ton of LSAT books. I remember the bill being about $350. I decided I was going to find a silver bullet to beat the LSAT. After all, there had to be one "best" book out there that had all of the answers!
Long story short, for about a month I tried out all of the popular LSAT prep companies out there. From Powerscore to Manhattan, from Barron's to Kaplan, nothing was really clicking for me. It felt like they were all teaching the same things in the same way. Sat in on a Testmasters course and hated it; even looked into private tutors.
LR and RC came somewhat naturally to me, but I quickly plateaued. And as far as my LG skills went, I was completely hopeless. It was like a donkey doing calculus -- I was THAT terrible. I actually ended up deciding that I would plan to go -0 on each LR and RC and only do 2 out of 4 games and hopefully get a decent score that way. At this point, finishing one game per section seemed like a miracle. That sadly was my plan for about a month before reality hit me.
@TheMikey, who I had known from TLS, recommended 7Sage to me. Initially, I was actually really pissed off, having already spent probably close to a grand on other companies' trilogies and workbooks. But I had been hearing a lot of positive things about 7Sage. Still, I was reluctant to spend the last of my discretionary income on yet another LSAT course. I justified it by telling myself it was an investment....
I spent most of the first night I had 7Sage soliciting advice on the forum and checking out random lessons. The community was very welcoming and I felt like I was surrounded by like-minded, positive students, who were kind and supportive. It was immediately clear to me that I had found something that was going to work for me when I watched my first lesson on "lawgic." At first, I was only planning on using 7Sage for games, but I quickly decided to start the CC from the beginning. It wasn't a silver bullet, but it was a full course on a computer vs. multi-hundred page books. Armed with 7Sage Ult+, J.Y.'s lessons, and tons of new friends on the forum, I actually began to improve! MY goal score went from a 165 to a 180.
Rest is history.
tl;dr Searched for silver bullets. Score plateaued immediately. My pal recommended 7Sage. Signed up and fell in love.
How about you @lsatplaylist ?
Alex
I am not sure I even have a pre 7sage story of my own.. I started off with logic games as the very first thing I learned for the LSAT from watching their free LG vids and practicing on my own.
so pre-7sage: nothing
Efficient.
I studied for last February's test using the Powerscore Bibles, found 7 Sage in the last week of my prep when trying to find an explantation to a particularly vexing game, realized there was a better way to learn games, got beat up by the games section which I didn't finish on the test, and took a couple month break before showing up here to learn to defeat the games.
I had been working in HR for several years not at all thinking about law school but definitely feeling like I wanted a change. I worked on getting two HR certifications and my favorite section was always HR Law so it passed my mind that maybe I'd enjoy employment law especially after seeing a lot of the departments I worked for trying to push the legal boundaries and take advantage of employees who didn't know their rights. Even so, I still didn't see myself really going into law.
In 2015, my best friend was fired from a very conservative university after getting pregnant --- she was not married--- and when she called me for advice I finally realized the passion I had in ensuring a person knew their employment rights. I spent a couple days connecting with some HR and legal colleagues and working up advice on what she should do. It was in those days, I realized I had a real passion for the law. But I still wasn't convinced I should be a lawyer. I knew the industry was competitive and had a couple friends who, when starting out, had a hard time getting jobs. I spent another year researching what it was really like going into law and confirming that it was something I really wanted to do. I also resolved that if I was going to do it, I needed to get into a T14 school to strengthen my odds of ensuring a job after graduation.
After spending a couple months reading through the LSAT Trainer (a great resource) I stumbled upon 7Sage and immediately fell in love with the videos and the interactive community. 8 months later I'm finishing up the foundations and moving onto the post-CC phases and couldn't feel more confident about my law school dreams. :-)
I started my LSAT prep by ordering the Powerscore Trilogy. I really had no idea how to study or prepare for the test, or even what it was like. When I posted questions on various campus legal groups, no one really explained what the questions were like or how to study. The answers were really random and vague such as "Studying worked for me, I got into Georgetown". Other students were even asking for old Barbri books to study from, as if studying a Torts outline would help you knock out LSAT questions. Someone finally answered another student that was struggling and told her about 7Sage. I didn't know what 7Sage was so I immediately checked it out and really liked the discussions. I could actually ask a question and get a helpful answer, especially since a great deal of my studying is independent. Plus, people here are kind and friendly. So that's it, I have been here for a short time, but a valuable time.
I decided to take the LSAT in 2014, third year of college. I purchased some popular LSAT prep books and read them throughout my summer while doing physics research on campus. Did some PTs and took the September 2014 test. Knew I was not ready for it and scored 161. I sort of gave up the idea of going to law school after the defeat and went on to work after graduation. Half a year into my job, I decided to take the LSAT again. Again, I started with the popular books but I knew that they didn't work last time. So I did some research and found 7Sage. Abandoned everything else immediately and purchased ultimate+. Finished cc in 3 months and PTed for 2 and a half months. I took the September 2016 LSAT, got a 177 and went to HLS.
Last summer I had an internship in DC. Yay! But turns out most internships, even at the highest level, are answering phones/giving tours. So I had a lot of time on my hands and didn't know anyone. I spent a lot of time on r/lsat so knew 7sage had a good reputation. A few months prior I had bought the powerscore 2015 trilogy, because they were like $100 for all three, but didn't bring them with me. I was getting antsy so decided to sign up for 7sage to give me something to do at work haha
Where did you go for undergraduate? Just curious.
A top 30 liberal art college, not very impressive lol
top 30 isn't that bad.
What do you think was the difference between the other LSAT prep books (Powerscore? LSAT trainer?) and 7sage? Anything concrete you felt were clear improvements?
Bahaha! Also had an internship in DC my sophomore year is college... Lo and behold, I, too, ended up mostly answering phones and doing other sorts of menial tasks. At least it will look good on our resumes, right? lol
Thanks for the stories and looking forward to more conversations.
Is anyone recovering from a past program before 7Sage?
Yep, I signed up for the Test Masters course first. Huge mistake. I had no idea what the lsat was, and figured dropping huge money on a prep course was the only way I could improve. I just finished paying off that massive credit card debt...
Classroom setting is not a great way to teach the lsat. Everyone requires such unique advice and help that to sit in a room with 15 people just doesn’t feel right.
For example, when we did LG I felt the class was going wayyyyy to slow because LG are a strength of mine. But when we did LR the class was way to fast because it was more of a weakness.
Then I found 7Sage and was able to study based on my needs. I am now a 170+ scorer
It took me a while to unlearn some of what I learned about how to approach LR and LG from Powerscore/Manhattan. Neither were particularly bad, but I definitely think that PS relies way too heavily on upfront inferences e.g., writing out tons of "not rules" or where things can't go.
I worked through the bibles for a couple months and then burned every PT I could get my hands on, lol. No review, of course.
@LSATcantwin, I agree with so much of what you're saying.
@LSATcantwin, What did you do with your books from the course?
They are sitting in my garage I think. They are useless without access to their online stuff. A ton of questions with no answers lol I'm planning on having a massive LSAT bonfire soon....
I started considering law school during my sophomore year of university but was still unsure. After having the opportunity to meet several lawyers to get a better understanding of the field during my junior year, and taking a couple law-related classes my senior year, I was sure that this was what I wanted to study.
Set on East Coast school, I took my first diagnostic in Feb 2017 and scored a 147 (LG: 9/23 LR: 11/25, 15/25 RC: 19/27) while running out of time on every section. Apparently that doesn't cut it for where I want to go. Disappointed, I searched desperately around the internet for some confirmation that it is, in fact, possible to score 170+ even with a low diagnostic. Reading posts on TLS where everyone said that at best a 10-point increase was possible, I searched for more confirmation. 7Sage was popular on r/lsat and I'm a fan of self-studying, so I did the trial, loved it, and started the full course in May/June. I'm really glad I didn't have to go to some class every week, and 7Sage has been amazing. I never studied formal logic so that really changed things for me with this test. All the guidance with logic games (oh, so you diagram, not just numbly re-read the rules for each question while wondering why you're torturing yourself...!) and understanding individual question-types is great. The concept of BR is also kind of revolutionary for me. I wish I'd known to BR when I was in high school -- all those multiple choice/time-crunch tests I studied for...
As for progress, my last five PT's have averaged at 165 and I finally hit my first 170 a couple PTs ago. I'm hoping I can get consistently above 170 by the June exam. But honestly, other than self-discipline/commitment, I can't imagine what else you need other than 7Sage to conquer this exam. Maybe it's not for everyone's learning style, and other resources might help make certain concepts more clear, but this site has been absolutely incredible for me, personally.
I'm 11 years out of undergrad and just in the last several years had thought about law school off and on. It interested me, and I think my brain just works in a way that makes sense for it. I'm known to obsessively research things (want to know the best hair dryer or laser printer for the value? I got you covered haha) and started out by going to LSAC's site and found the free PT and randomly took it just to see what my score would be (155 - not bad for going in cold). That reaffirmed to me that this might be a good path. I kind of enjoyed the types of questions on it, and did decently.
So I set off on researching law school and the LSAT, which brought me to TLS. That board is definitely not the vibe for me, but there's a lot of good information. I kept seeing 7sage, Blueprint, and Powerscore all highly recommended. I thought PS would be the cheapest so started with 2 of the bibles (LG and LR). I read through LG and it did help, but I was still getting really confused with a lot of the conditional logic inferences. I'd end up with half a page of simple inferences and not really know how to connect them and would lose track of what I was looking at. I also found it just sort of difficult to keep on track with self-studying from a book.
I had started studying in March of 2017 and thought that I could be ready by June (hahahahahahah). Of course canceled June. Started looking into courses and again, my thrifty, research-heavy self landed on doing an online course and debated between 7sage and Blueprint. I went with 7sage mostly due to price. I liked the sample Blueprint videos a lot and they were known to be really funny which I thought would help me keep focused. But my practicality won out, so I signed up for 7sage. Can I just say, no one told me how funny JY is! hahaha. Everyone really undersold that. I was so pleasantly surprised to find how enjoyable the lesson videos are. And then started hanging out on the forum, which only helped with encouragement and wisdom, and fellow folks to commiserate with when times get hard.
Delayed test from June to September, then ultimately didn't end up taking it until December and scored a 168. When I started, I was crossing my fingers for 165 but thought I could only really hope for low 160s. Now, I know I could do even better. I was still improving all the way to my December score. I'm applying now because it's do or die for this cycle, but may delay another year since I really believe that I could get into the 170s with a little bit more time.
OK, this was really lengthy but wanted to put it all out there. I did have to un-learn some bad habits from the PS LG bible, but there were a couple notation things from it that I kept and work for me. But 7sage's methods were sooo much more efficient, it's unreal. And on this test, efficiency can make or break you. I'm endlessly grateful for finding 7sage!
@LSATcantwin, When you realized you needed a different approach, how did you deal with negative feelings about having spent so much on another course that pretty much wasn't helpful? How did you move forward?
@"Habeas Porpoise", This is an awesome story! Great job on your accomplishments and getting to your goal range and staying dedicated to this process.
I just ate the cost really, accepted I had made a $2,000 mistake and moved on. I only recently got to paying the debt off. (over a year later, yikes)
I also just looked at the positives. While I still feel that it was an over all waste of money I did improve from a 151 to a 157 using that course. I learned to deal with logic games, which I had never understood prior to it.
Then it was a matter of really doing my research and finding a tool that could actually help me master the test. That's when I found 7Sage!
Thank you! I'm still working on it -- I'm a splitter so the higher I can get my LSAT the better -- but it feels amazing having come this far!
Very cool story! I'm 9 years out of undergrad shoutout to NTS!
@LSATcantwin, Yes, the costs are steep, unfortunately. I went to all the classes online for my course and participated and they were helpful to a point, but as you said, each person in the class has an individual situation. They were cramming a ton of material into each session and later I realized that a different approach would be more beneficial and here I am here, happy to be here.
@tringo335, @"Leah M B", NTS as well here. Here's to making positive career and educational changes.
Woo! It's a huge challenge to make a change later in life, but I really think it'll be worth it.
I did trainer and bibles for a few months but while my score improved by 10 ish points there was still so much I didn't know and I didn't even know what I didn't know. Was debating between 7sage (watched their LG videos) and some other method but the other method said something along the lines of how most people didn't improve more than 10 points past their diagnostic....meanwhile 7sage has webinars and countless posts of people who improved by 20 or 30 points. So it was a no brainer from there and I don't have any regrets!
Where to begin...a lot of this started by watching my ex slave and slave with Test Masters site. For whatever reason I was too impressed with their offered for how much she paid. I did some research on TLS.com and someone mentioned how much they loved 7sage. I private messaged this user to go in more depth about why he choose this site and from there on out I have been here. I recently graduated and I have been working in a smaller law firm as a legal clerk for the past year and change. I really want to get started on studying to get to the next phase of my life. Hopefully I can join one of the study groups to stay motivated with others who are also working to the same end goal.
Law school wasn't my dream. It wasn't even a passing thought. I had a vision for my career when I was in undergrad that didn't pan out and, in retrospect, I am glad I didn't go that route. I spent a few years after my undergrad working in a position that allowed me to stay relatively close to the subject I majored in. Over time, I got bored. While working, I dabbled with writing, volunteering and learning skills like making animated gifs. I decided to go back to school in hopes of pursuing more meaningful work. I still didn't have law in mind, in fact what I had considered was more in the realm of policing. I was required to take a Canadian Law course in order to complete my program and hoped to rip that bandaid off as quickly as possible. As it turned out, my professor made it a surprisingly enjoyable class. He suggested I try for law school, an idea which I dismissed right away. He kept dangling the idea in front of me and over time, I began to take it more and more seriously. I guess this is the magic of an experienced trial lawyer.
I was anxious about where I would find my LSAT study materials and what materials to use. I began with some textbooks I found at the library (Barron's, I think) and realized they were terrible when I kept coming across typos. Looked up reviews and they were, indeed, terrible. I was incredibly lucky to come across 7Sage early on and scoured the internet looking for bad reviews. I didn't find any. Despite not wanting to spend too much money on study materials, 7Sage proved to be more cost-effective than a lot of what's out there. I ultimately got far more out of 7Sage than I expected and I'm very grateful for it.
@chicaryss, Maybe those typos were a blessing in disguise.
I was good at LG, but JY improved my technique. For RC, JY has a clear way to train and improve. I found his video explanation on RC paragraphs (not questions) very helpful. By following his explanation, I was able to learn how to effectively read the articles. For LR, I found JY's lawgic easier to understand. JY was able to to simplify things better than other test prep books I read.
I started with powerscore. Could not get how bored I was. Wasn't learning anything. I took a tutor class at the local community college, and the lawyer saod she used 7sage while she had studied for her LSAT. I started using it for LG hacks when I had bumps, and I liked the price of the initial package. I also use LSAT Trainer and Puzzle Baron.
@catgonzalez1974, Yes, some programs aren't very engaging and that's one of the reasons I'm really happy to finally be on here.