LSAT Diaries: Studying During Political Scandal

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Victoria, who took the June 2011 LSAT.

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Thanks to Victoria for sharing her experience and advice, and please leave your questions for her below in the comments!

Victoria's LSAT Diary:

It's definitely hard for me to balance LSAT studying with three jobs, a full time course schedule (because I took the June LSAT, a lot of my LSAT studying took place at the same time as my regular academic obligations, plus my internships).

As for obstacles that stood in my way, a lack of money was definitely a problem. Because two of my jobs are unpaid internships, and the other is a minimum-wage IT job, I could never afford any fancy LSAT prep courses, or even the more expensive self-study tools (that is, buying many prep books, prep tests, etc.). As you can tell, the financial limitations were definitely frustrating...it's hard to hope for a really high score, when you can't afford more than half of the resources to help you do well on the test!

However, I tried not to let that dissuade, frustrate, or otherwise piss me off (much)--especially since I'm the type that prefers to study alone. I never understood the point of having study buddies, especially for something like the LSAT.

So I bought a few (and by a few, I mean three of each) PrepTests and LSAT study guides/books. During my free time at work, I would work on Logical Reasoning questions (always my strongest point) and during my lunch break, I would practice on Reading Comprehension (another strong subject for me, as a literature minor) and Analytical Reasoning / Logic Games questions (ugh, don't even talk to me about these monsters!).

Being the (sometimes) terrible summer student I am, I focused mainly on RC and LR (in my defense, these subjects cover 3/4 of the test, after all), and more or less tried to ignore AR/LGs' existence. (If I don't see it, it doesn't exist, la la la~) Also, in my defense (again), focusing on RC and LR really helped to boost my test day confidence--after all, if you're sure you can do well on at least 75% of the test, you won't freak out or have a breakdown in the middle of the test (in theory).

As I said, I took the June 2011 LSAT test, so I'm still waiting anxiously for my scores...so hopefully I'm not just blabbering on pointlessly. In any case, I have a very decent undergrad GPA (a respectable 3.7, hopefully a 3.75 or higher after my summer internships are graded), I am a research assistant for one of my major professors, I have tons of work experience and experience juggling many things at once (internships included), and I have a long record of volunteer/community services experiences.

All of my PrepTests put me in the very decent score range of 162 to 168--better than the score that would compare to my first choice law school's 75% percentile LSAT scores. I was feeling very good about my numbers, LSAT included.

That was, until June 1st. I won't go into details (as I'm sure that a decent Google search will fill you in on the details), but I somehow found myself being tagged in some very...odd Twitter posts. From reporters, and Twitter accounts for newspapers, tabloids, you know the kind. Apparently, because one politician follows me on Twitter (I'll leave you to guess whom I am referring to), I found myself in a media frenzy. I was getting emails, calls, all sorts of things from media-type people...all trying to get a quote or soundbite from me.

The next day, it escalated. I found my Twitter handle, full name, and even my picture (an old Facebook profile picture) being published online, and printed in newspapers and magazines. Needless to say, it was pretty damned difficult to focus on my last minute LSAT studying, when I was suddenly being implicated in some random, ridiculous political "sex" scandal. Luckily, by Saturday (or thereabouts), I decided I was over it. I was ignoring my Twitter account, locking down my Facebook, and screening all of my phone calls until test time.

Or at least, I tried.

The point is, despite a painful lack of money, somehow being implicated in the most ridiculous, lack-of-sex-involving political "sex" scandal this year, and being absurdly over-scheduled, I somehow managed to get through LSAT studying, the LSAT itself, and even the first part of the painful waiting game.

I suppose, after all of this, I should be grateful; after this, I should be able to take on anything! Law school, here I come!

Photo by tonythemisfit