Quick Tip
Flaw, Method of Reasoning, and Argument Part Questions
When attempting these types of questions, remember to ask yourself if the answer choice is describing something that happened in the argument. There are many times where an answer choice can seem extremely attractive until you realize it doesn’t even happen! If the answer choice doesn’t describe something that’s happening in the argument, it can never be the correct answer.
Discussion
How to Utilize 7Sage’s Core Curriculum
When I first started 7Sage’s Core Curriculum, I made every mistake possible while learning. I didn’t take notes, I was multitasking, and I was just flat out not paying attention. Unsurprisingly, I had to redo the Core Curriculum all over again, which was a factor that led me to delay my law school journey. When I redid the Core Curriculum, I knew something had to change, so I implemented a few study strategies that I’d like to share with you, so you don’t have to waste your time like I did.
Schedule in time to review previous concepts.
The skills you need to perform well on the LSAT can take a long time to learn. There will be times you’ll need to go back and review previous concepts that you’ve learned already. An efficient way to employ this is using spaced repetition. When you’re on the fourth unit, make time to review the first unit before you move to the fifth. When you’re on the fifth, review the second before starting the sixth. It may seem like you’re moving at a slow pace, but in reality, you’ll be saving much more time than someone speeding through the curriculum and not reviewing. Think tortoise and hare.
Attempt the problem sets untimed at first.
It’s best to start slow and take baby steps towards your goal. When you’re starting out, go through the problem sets untimed to get used to the way the question works and to develop good habits. After you get the hang of it, then start employing timing conditions. Don’t worry, you can practice timing all you want when you’re out of the Core Curriculum.
Leave some problem sets for review later on.
The 7Sage Core Curriculum curates problem sets for you to complete in each of their lessons. Some lessons in the Core Curriculum contain over 20 problem sets (looking at you, Flaw questions). It’s 100% fine to not do all of them, especially if you think you have a handle on the specific concepts before then. You could just attempt every odd or even one, or every third problem set. Save the other problem sets for when you come back to review, so you have some fresh material to work on.
Practice self-honesty.
One skill I’ve seen all high-scoring students share in common is their ability to be honest with themselves. It takes a lot of guts to admit that we’re wrong, but that’s the first step to make the learning happen. When I first attempted Problem Set 15 in the Weakening lesson, I got all seven questions wrong, and it felt pretty bad. But writing an extensive analysis of what exactly went wrong on all seven of those questions allowed me to get all seven questions correct when I revisited the problem set a few weeks later.
When you’ve completed the Core Curriculum and moved on to your practice test phase, it’s important to recognize that sometimes you might need to go back to review some concepts you don’t remember, and that’s okay. Personally, I was never really “done” with the Core Curriculum because of how important the fundamentals are to obtaining a high score. I was always going back to reference things to make sure I was answering questions correctly. As Michael Jordan said, “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”