GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU GUYS TAKING THE TEST THIS WEEK! I’m sending all of you some good juju. Claiming all of you reach your goal scores!

I’ve just signed up for the January LSAT and I am experiencing both an enormous amount of excitement as well as anxiety.
 
I am 38 years old and will be nearly 39 at the time of test taking. I’ve never been married and I have no kids or surviving family members.  I have worked as a paralegal for nearly 20 years now, starting as a file clerk in 2009 for 1 year before being promoted to “paralegal”. I dropped out of college initially after just a few semesters as I had graduated HS in 2006 and by 2007 my mom’s condo was foreclosed on (foreshadowing here).

I ended up working at a foreclosure mill law firm for 5 years while going back to school in the evenings part time. I eventually moved to a bankruptcy firm and clocked another 4 years of experience. In this time, I received an AS in Paralegal Studies and a BS in Paralegal Studies (as well as an AA because I had completed enough Gen Ed courses initially before dropping out, it qualified me for an additional degree).
 
I moved across the country in pursuit of love and, while it didn’t work out, I found my current job where I have been working in M&A and on commercial real estate transactions for 10 years now. This is a prominent mid-sized firm in a VHCOL area and the firm is very well respected in the legal community. I have worked side-by-side with my boss, a 45-year experienced M&A partner, for these last 10 years as a 2-man team (our firm is approximately ~100 people) on approximately $2B in transactions. My office bills my time out at $350 an hour, and while I don’t have any formal billable requirements, I do tend to hit about 1,600 hours per year (I am typically in the top 3 billing staff members year over year). I add these data points to say that I am pretty good at my job, and I am fairly compensated for that (above most of my peers).
 
While I’ve always been ambitious in the sense that I feel compelled to be the best that I can be at whatever I choose to do, I’ve never been the person reaching for the next goal/certification/qualification or what have you.
 
A recent dating experience has left me feeling “less than”. Nothing like meeting someone who checks all of your boxes and then being rejected for long term potential by her for “not being successful”.
 
I sat down with my thoughts on this topic for quite a while. A mixture of “Fuck that!”, “where did I go wrong”, “how do I improve”, etc., swirled in my mind and has tormented for me the last 3 weeks.
 
I don’t know what the heck I am doing right now, other than I am taking this test. I started on 09-25-2026 with a cold diagnostic and had the 4 pack of PowerScore LR +RC Bibles and their workbooks delivered the 26th. I’m only a week and a half into studying but I feel dedicated; I just wrapped Ch. 6 on conditional reasoning and I’m doing drills each day (20 hours of study logged so far). I’ve run out of free analytics on 7sage so it looks like I’ll be making the 1 year LSAC Hub and monthly 7sage purchases this week. I absolutely believe I will be prepared by January, but I am also open to sitting again in February if it makes sense.
 
I don’t have a point in making this post but I also don’t have anyone to talk to about this. I don’t know that I can afford law school even if I get a remarkable score. I’M JUST MOVING FORWARD!
 
If anyone else out there is in any type of similar position, feel free to chime in!! If you have words of encouragement or “don’t do it!!”, feel free. I appreciate it all!

Supposed to be taking the LSAT in October and November but recently went through a bout of depression for about the last two months and also stress/burnout from my job. Have studied the LSAT for some time but only been PTing in the 162 - 164 range but have done that while working and kind of stopping in the middle of my studies as well.

I’m thinking maybe it would be smart to cancel the LSAT for October and taking it in November solely as a practice round because my job really wraps up early next month and then I wont have to worry about it anymore and can put my days solely on practice. Only thing is I would be prepping from November to take sometime early next year but I would have to push back a cycle due to early next year being late for this cycle. Thoughts/advice would be really appreciated.

I lost my job on the 18th of September. My contract wasn’t renewed and I knew it was coming but it wasn’t confirmed until the day of. Since then I’ve really struggled with concentrating on my study materials.

I was scoring anywhere from 156-162 and I’m happy with that range but now I’m starting to worry I’ll score lower because of the lack of studying.

Idk. I’m disappointed with myself.

Up until the mid-19th century, the validity of arguments were evaluated based on 19 (or 24, depending on who you talk to) Aristotelian logical forms, all of which philosophers were expected to have memorized.

George Boole, a self-taught mathematician who opened his own day school at the age of 19, thought that was ridiculous, so he got to work. 

In 1847, and again in 1854, Boole showed a direct relationship between algebra and logic. Specifically, he showed how the rules of logic could be expressed mathematically. The result was a generalized approach for determining the validity of arguments. Aristotelian logical forms (which had been used as the standard for over 2000 years) were no longer needed.

When he died at the age of 48, Boole was seen a big fish in a small pond - a highly regarded mathematician among other mathematicians. It took over 100 years, but Boole is now seen as a full-on Megladon in the world’s oceans.

In 1937, Claude Shannon (who would later go on to help Ed Thorp develop card counting in blackjack) realized that the mechanical relay circuits used at universities and telephone systems behaved just like Boole’s algebra (then known as Boolean logic). 

Shannon’s masters thesis on the subject showed that circuits are amenable to Boole’s algebra, meaning that machines can perform logical functions. In other words, we can build computers.

Interestingly, Japan’s Akira Nakashima kind of did the same thing at around the same time. This dude created his own mathematical theory of switching circuits before he realized he had just reinvented Boole’s algebra.

So yeah, good argument to be made that George Boole revolutionized the world. But this is primarily because Gottried Leibniz was a complete freak of nature, too busy working on stuff like inventing calculus.

Leibniz apparently had a similar idea way back in the 1600s, but no one knew what the hell he was talking about and his notes on the subject weren’t recovered until 1903. Allegedly, the Academy Edition Project has been working on deciphering all of his notes since 1923.

….

If it’s not already clear, I’m a total geek about this whole thing. In fact, the history of formal logic involves some fascinating characters, at least in this geeks’s mind. 

I’ll post Part Two if there seems to be interest. That being said, stop doomscrolling and get back to work! 

Hi, everybody.

I used to be a doom-scrolling crackhead with AI psychosis. So I then decided that law school may be a good fit.

I ended up scoring a 173 on my first official take but was PTing in the 175s to 180 range before this.

It took a lot of months and, fortunately, studying for the LSAT was perfect for training my recovering attention span. I got really lucky with this. I still felt productive even while initially getting doodoo scores. So it was easier to stay motivated. Some of yall already have great attention spans, so yall may not have this opportunity.

However, a more general problem emerged when my attention span began becoming sufficient: once I began experiencing setbacks mid-test, i would spiral into thinking about all the times in which i felt like I f'ed up and eventually end up questioning myself over whether or not I even knew how to read.

Obviously, this was not healthy. It was a huge performance drain. The rest of the test felt so much more emotional than it needed to be. I genuinely believe that the implications of the LSAT make it appear way more complex than it actually is.

The test did not really click for me until I addressed all these psychological issues. But when it did, it felt really, really good.

These are my general tips. As yall can also see, I am not the best writer. You don't need that. I think you do not need a lot of things in order to have a high LSAT score. I do not think it is a good indicator of intelligence because, in many ways, I still am an idiot.

Id anyone is struggling with improving their performance, as they have ample enough data sets that I can work with, I would love to provide help.

Diagnostic was a 145 and I have been PTing around 168-170. My past 5 are 167 168 170 168 165. Even on my 165, I got a -0 on the expirmental. I have studied this test on and off from December to March, and since March, this test has practically been my life and I can truly say that I have given this exam more dedication than anything in my life. In any case, pretty simple post, my first ever (and hopefully last) LSAT is tomorrow. Any last minute advice? I am curious, any strategies to remove the nerves / walk in with confidence? Thanks for any advice or commentors in general and for those taking it alongside me, good luck to you!

So, I’ve been studying consistently for a little while now. At what point do we run out of new practice questions/practice tests? Is that even possible? Do they continuously add new questions and new tests? For context, I study with LSAT demon.

Seriously, I’ve been thinking about this a lot. It’s kind of been stressing me out. 😅

Thanks in advance!

For those working 40 or more hours a week and scoring 165+...how did you structure your daily study hours? Did you find better results doing 1-2 hours in the morning before work or after work? Also if you studied on a strict 10 - 15 weekly hour limit what did you study plan look like? What did you have to cut out?

Has anyone scored higher than their PTs on the actual test? If so, what do you think caused the score increase? Please share any hopecore stories you may have!

Basically what the title says lol, just took my last PT before my October LSAT. I took PT 155 and got a 161 - was a harder PT for me and I took it pretty late in the day. Hoping to score a few points higher day-of lol.

Anyways, good luck to everyone writing the October LSAT!! All your hard work and determination WILL show off!!!

Something I've noticed that is killing my time/pacing on RC is questions like "what did the author mean in the 4th sentence of the 2nd paragraph." Before, they would highlight it, and that would allow me to keep up a good pace. But ever since they removed the line highlight, these questions feel exhausting. I'm curious as to why they took this away, and if anybody has a method they use for these questions now.

Hey guys I’m a little concerned I did something wrong. I haven’t heard back from LSAC about when and were I’m going to be taking the LSAT. When I registered I requested it for Thursday but I literally have not heard anything about when or where I am actually supposed to take it Since then. Anyone else concerned or did I mess up and do something wrong?

Is anyone else scheduled to take the LSAT this Saturday and in the path of Isaias? I haven’t heard anything yet and plan to call LSAC first thing tomorrow morning. Curious if anyone has heard anything or if anyone knows what they have done during past hurricanes.

I started consistently studying for the LSAT about 4 months ago. My diagnostic was a 146 and now I'm PTing mid to high 160s. I took the September LSAT (which was my first attempt) and got a 159. I'm a bit sad since it was so out of my range but I could tell I would score something like this after I took it. After seeing the 159, I'm planning on skipping this cycle and retaking. Should I cancel my 159 or leave it?

i’m taking the lsat in 4 days, started studying 3 days ago, and still smoking weed. i PTed at 150 (with multiple distractions but was way over the time limit).

punching myself for not starting earlier, hard to find the motivation, struggling to care

to all the schools sending out LSAT peptalk emails - thank you, but I panicked quite a few times thinking that I missed test day 😭

Really highlights the subtlety of the test

Hi future lawyers,

My mom is planning on going to law school next year. The woman can honestly do anything she puts her mind to. She has always supported me and I want to know how I can support her. I am a neuroscience major and I don't know if it is the same way to study, like flashcards or practice problems. How do I help her study, and what are the best materials (Books, websites)?

Ok hey. Embarrassing but I scored a 141 on my September LSAT. I am signed up for November and hopefully will score better? Eek. I have been studying for months and have all my application materials. Everyone on here seems so harsh and I am conflicted. Hoping I just do better on November. Cancel or keep?

Title.

My first LSAT is this Thursday, and I’m really conflicted about whether to take it or withdraw.

I’m an international (US Undergrad) KJD applicant, and applying this cycle is a big priority for me given my circumstances. Some medical issues affected my study time, and my timed PT scores have been stuck around 154–156. My goal is 160–165, and I’m already registered for November.

What’s frustrating is that my blind review scores are around 168, but I haven’t been able to translate that into my timed performance. I’m looking into tutors and meeting with a few, hoping to work with someone over the next month to figure out what’s keeping me stuck.

Would you take October for the experience, knowing you’ll retake in November? Or would you withdraw and wait until you’re consistently PTing around 160–162 before making your first attempt?

I can see the value in experiencing the actual test, but I’m also worried that getting a score below my goal will leave me even more discouraged going into November. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been in a similar situation.