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Jeysa's LSAT Diary:
Now, I have heard that this is relatively common, but I was set on medical school, not law school. I did quite a lot of thinking about this and decided a few things (albeit important ones).
1) I do not wish to be in school until I’m 30 (haha).
2) While the salary and prestige of a doctor may be appealing, it is not where my heart truly lies. To embark on such a profession, I believe, you need to be pseudo in love with it. I did a bit more ‘soul-searching’ you could say and am one of those semi rare individuals who has always loved law and was thus ‘meant to be a lawyer’ for essentially my entire life. Every single individual I talked to agrees wholeheartedly with me, so that was a great feeling as well. I have, and always will be a lover of semantics, pointing out (at times obnoxiously) argumentative flaws, hard work, and lastly analytical and logical reasoning.
Now I would like to add that in September of last year I was involved in a rather serious ‘no-fault’ car accident near Cornell University, and endured a subsequent TBI or ‘traumatic brain injury’. Now countless individuals might be daunted by this absolutely huge step back, but in many, many ways I feel very lucky. I am still dealing with rehabilitation, primarily in the physical sense. The situation is exceedingly difficult, but forced me to reprioritize my life and become far more certain of my choice in the legal system. I performed extensive research.
In many ways I strongly encourage this for all. I do not believe that law school should be selected in a haphazard manner. We are adults, and it is more than time to start taking the weight and responsibility for our choices, and show determination to commence a strict study schedule. For all intents and purposes, it is time to grow up. Now it might be easy to say this from my perspective perhaps (being a ‘little adult’ from age two according to my parents) and I know full well that collegiate life or life in general has so many distractions. But this is a choice that should never be taken lightly, and will arguably change your life.
Main Advice and Study Strategies
My major piece of advice for the LSAT is this – when I started studying for the LSAT, I perceived it as my worst enemy. That is to say, my goal was to outsmart the exam, and therefore manipulate my way into obtaining the correct answers. This is the complete WRONG way to think about it. Think of the beloved, ever-important LSAT as a knowledgeable and dear friend. (You know, the type who will disclose all of his or her secrets over a warm cup of coffee). Be interested in it. Desire to learn from it, and grow as a person. It is a distinctive way of thinking through and through and should be worshiped and admired. This may be extreme, as it is a test, but it is imperative and should be treated with the utmost respect.
I am relatively young in my undergraduate studies (a sophomore in college) but having a plethora of time to study is comforting and makes one confident. For the time being I devote week days to focusing on studies, and weekends to studying immensely. I take a full, timed, practice test on Saturday, and spend Sunday grading myself and practicing areas I scored lower on.
Like many, many others my weakest section involves Logic Games. They can be so catastrophic and extremely frustrating, I know. But with the help of Steve’s study schedules, my scores and ability in Logic Games is improving dramatically. For example, I started with an overall score in the low 160’s and am now already scoring 170+. Now this might be a classic studying strategy, but it is so important to incorporate confidence (maybe bordering on arrogance) before taking practice exams. Give yourself incentives. For example, something like ‘after I finish this exam I will journey to a restaurant with friends, or watch a movie'). Have fun with it, and try your absolute hardest! Do not be afraid to ask for help. Good luck to everyone, and leave a comment!
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Hey Jeysa, I've been thinking some of the same things you have. Mostly that it's really time for us to grow up, follow a strict schedule and be mature about it. I'm actually finding some really old bad habits dying hard as I force myself to keep studying.
ReplyDeleteOne question, both for you and Steve is that I notice on many of the LSAT diaries that people seem to be taking entire practice tests before they have completely studied for all three parts of the exam. Is this something you would recommend or should I go through LG, LR and RC before attempting any complete practice tests? Thanks in advance!
Hi David, I would (personally) actually recommend taking a practice test in full before completely studying. This way, as your scores and ability to answer more difficult questions improves, it will be a definite confidence booster! I feel, as a whole, it is important to just see where 'you're at' pre studying heavily. I guess we shall also wait to see what Steve says on this as well!
ReplyDeleteSome people take practice tests before starting their prep at all, others take one as part of a course or simply to see where they stand.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't recommend them for reasons discussed in my post on LSAT diagnostics. I recommend following what's laid-out in my study schedules.
Love the title!
ReplyDeleteI'm retaking, but I didn't do shabby last December and I feel that a lot of that came from my attitude walking into the center on test day. I just came in confident saying "I'm going to have a little fun with this today." Now, I could have prepped better (not nec. harder), and that's why I didn't do as well as I hoped, but it wasn't for lack of a good attitude. Cannot emphasize the importance of embracing the test and test prep!
GL!
-Dizzle
*cannot emphasize ENOUGH
ReplyDeleteToo much PS writing has made me weary for the day!
-Dizzle
Jesya,
ReplyDeleteI was in a similiar situation as you--I have been struggling with Pharmacy School v.s. Law School. I ended up picking law school. I still love both though and I have a HUGE amount of respect for Pharmacists and that entire profession. In the end, it really was a tough one for me. In my next life, want to come back as a Pharmacist though :)
P.S. My lesson learned is that you can love two things and be torn.
The decision to go to law school is a tough one. It took me many years to finally decide to make the career change after 22 years as a Senior Paralegal. Not because of the choice between "two careers" but because of the reality of what it means and takes to become a lawyer in today's economic climate. The competition between practicing lawyers is extremely fierce, the big firms are not recruiting as much due to budget cuts, the extreme long boring work hours, the constant worry each month about paying "the whole nut" (bills and wages) No matter if you are in a big firm or not, you are expected to make money each and every month. This is not a career for the weak. I've seen many a good attorney walk away from the law due to the daily pressures and constant struggles to survive. (Have you ever noticed how many times John Grisham's fake attorneys walk away from thier law careers? And JG wasn't even an attorney for that long.)However, if you have the soul of a true warrior, like I do, then definitely go for it!!It can be fun as hell!!
ReplyDeleteDebbie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It is a huge risk to enter into law school under this current economic environment. But I only believe that it's worth the risk if you are smart enought to graduate in the top 5% of your class and from a T-25 school. Almost all others with have a tough time finding work--especially work that pays well = $100K or more annually.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI wasn't referring to being at the top of the class as there is only so much room at the top. I was discussing the importance of the right career choice and pointing out a few, real hardships of being a lawyer. Not the romantic ideals of being a lawyer. At least when you are a pharmacist you have the ability to have a life outside of work. The law is exhausting and grueling....to say the least. So determine what you really want in a career.
Debbie,
ReplyDeleteI do think that a lot people get caught up in what they think a lawyer is and usually go with some glamourous TV version of it...and you and I both know thats not how it really is. My father is a lawyer so I have an very realistic idea of what the field is going to be like. Being a lawyer is a lot of hard work and its also a continued lifetime of hard work and dedication. Pharmacy is also extremely stressful--you have peoples lives on the line (literally) everyday. Both careers are tough--period. Like I said, I picked law in the end (for reason I won't go into on here--too long to explain why), but I still love pharmacy as well. It was a very close call between the too for me.
P.S. My mother's a registered pharmacist.
Hi steve, thank you so much for your wonderful blog. I took the lsat twice with disappointing low scores. i have all the prep tests from 1-60 and i want to take the test in december. do you think I should start with the older tests or more recent ones? are the older tests easier?
ReplyDelete