This LSAT Diary is from Ian, a 31-year-old assembly-line worker.If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
Leave Ian some encouragement below in the comments!
Ian's LSAT Diary:
Monday
-6:00 am ALARM goes off
-6:09 snooze
-6:18 snooze
-6:27 see above
-6:36 too cold to get out of bed to study for LSAT so I start working on 25 logical reasoning problems.
-7:10 I got only 16 of 25 correct. I review my answers and see where I made my mistakes.
Although, I understand where I went wrong, I still can’t help but feel extremely frustrated. When I first started prepping for the LSAT, the logic games by far gave me the most trouble so I took them head on and was able to significantly improve how well I scored on them. These logical reasoning problems seem different to me. It’s as if I’m on a plateau. No matter how many I do, or how many I review that I missed I’m not improving. With the logic games I could definitely sense a breakthrough in my progress but with these its almost as if I’m going backwards.
-7:45 I get out of bed after reading over the problems and get ready for school.
-9:00 Finance class starts and I learn I made a 114 on the last test. Again, frustration wells up in me. How can I excel in college and do so poorly on prepping for the LSAT?
-10:30 I’m back home from school and it is study time for me. I have a mid-term exam tomorrow night, plus a major paper due Wednesday night.
I checked the mail and got a letter from my employer. They laid me off last August and wanted to let me know they intended to recall me back to work this month. Great! I’m signed up for 18 hours of college, I’m studying for the LSAT and my place of employment for the past 11 years decides they want to rehire me just for the summer months (due to the poor economy I’ve only worked 4 months).
If I go back, it means I may have to drop classes and reduce my study time for the LSAT. If I quit my job it means I loose my unemployment benefits AND any benefits I could receive from my employer, such as tuition reimbursement.
All of this causes me to question my goals and desires. Do I want to go to law school bad enough? Will the benefits outweigh everything I’m giving up? Will I be able to score well enough on the LSAT to be accepted to a respected law school, even though the logical reasoning is killing me.
I think about all of this and then I think about working on the assembly line for 8-16 hours a day. I HATE IT. I hate being a slave to that line. I hate doing the same thing over and over. I hate that it is a dead-end job. I hate that I have only worked 4 of 19 months because no one is buying air conditioners.
Most of all I hate that that kind of work is the highest-paying type of work I’m qualified to do until I graduate college. It’s a dead end job, and I’m 31. I made poor decisions in my youth and now I’m paying for them. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but these are the choices I made and I have to adapt and work to over come them. It’s supposed to make me a better person right? I know it has made me a better college student.
Stuff like this runs through my mind all day, sometimes in the background, sometimes in the forefront. It doesn’t matter if I’m studying, in class, or hanging with friends. I even think about it when I’m riding my motorcycle 120 mph trying to relax. I look forward to a time in the future when I can remember this period of time and laugh about it, and when I see someone in my current position I can encourage them.
Tuesday
-8:00 wake up and start working through 25 logical reasoning problems. I only got 13 of 25 right. SOOOOOO frustrating! I read through all the solutions and understood all the right answers. I still haven’t found a common thread in any of these problems that causes me to miss them.
-9:30 wrapped up my LSAT study and started studying for an organization of management test I have tonight.
-12:30 I got ready for school and went to my business law class. Ugh…I have a test Thursday. Got tickets to the symphony and a hot date Saturday night!
-2:00 I came home and continued to study for my test tonight.
-5:30 Headed back up to the university for Organization of Management class
-6:00-8:40 Tested and listened to a lecture. That should be illegal! Why would any teacher lecture after giving a test? My brain is fried.
-9:00 I go to a friends house to chill and hang out
-6:30 (Wednesday morning) I come home after staying up all night
Wednesday
-6:30-8:00 Sleep! ZZZZZzzzzzz…….
-9:00 Finance class
-10:00 come home and started writing a paper for marketing class that I should have done last week.
-2:00 Finished paper and I take a nap
-4:30 Go get some dinner and get ready to go to marketing class
-5:30 OMG My LSAT books arrived! The postal worker left my books on the back porch.
-6-8:40 Marketing class
-9:00- Got second dinner at Subway. For some reason going to night classes makes me hungry and I want to eat dinner again. Went home and played some video games just to chill. It's been a looooonng day.
Thursday
-7:30 Start learning about premises and conclusions and the key words that tip them off. This is good stuff.
-9:00 Still trying to figure out how to brew the perfect pot of coffee with this new damned coffee maker.
-9:15 Started studying for the bus law exam this afternoon.
-12:00 Went to class. Test sucked. I want to go to law school and my worst subject is business law. Irony…
-1:30 Went a friends apartment to visit for a while. Ended up taking my motorcycle out for a spin. Nothing like 125 mph to get your mind off all your troubles
-7:36 Walked in the door and about to learn more about premises and conclusions I reckon.
-9:30 Time to play some games before bed
-10:30 Night Night! Bite the bed bugs before they bite you
Friday
-7:00 Up and at 'em! (Whatever that means) Books tossed in backpack
-8:00 Made it to class early and read for about 45 minutes.
-10:00 Weekend begins!!!! But a quick detour to McDonalds for breakfast
-2:20ish On the back porch looking over the lake studying
-3:00 Ugh my mind can’t take it anymore in enough with LSAT study
Saturday
-9:30 wake up, don’t mess with books at all
-4:30 start getting dressed for the symphony only to find nothing that matches fits. Jacket for suit fits, but pants don’t. Brown button-up fits but slacks don’t. Khakis fit, but Blue button up won’t button at the neck. I’ll cover it up with a tie!
-5:45 Pick up date - LSAT has now went from priority status to LSAT-huh?.
-2:00 a.m. Lights out
Sunday
-9:30 coffee…..please…..
-5:00 I finally remember, oh yeah! I want to get into law school some day! Study for about 30 minutes.
It's times like this I feel very guilty. I am hard on myself because I feel like every moment I’m awake that I am not doing anything I could be working an LSAT problem or I could be reading. I need to find a balance.
11:00 Bed time….here comes Monday and time to do it all over again!
Photo by captkodak
Hi Ian,
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain, and I'm sort of in a similar situation.
I'm 30 years old. I graduated college with an extremely low gpa (tends to happen when you have no direction or goals). I'm stuck in a dead end job with some pretty awesome benefits (healthcare, retirement, tuition reimbursement). I'm currently taking courses that are part of an mba program, primarily to give my law school app a gpa that is easier to digest. I'm also married, and I'm currently the breadwinner, which nullifies any fantasies of quitting my job and using the entire day to focus on school work and LSAT prep.
Some days I don't get home until 9 or 10 pm, and all I want to do is play a quick match of Starcraft or Battlefield before I hit the sac. I often think about how awesome it will be to have a six pack and a pizza on friday nights and sleeping in on the weekend.
I think the secret is to turn your perceived weaknesses into strengths, and to see yourself where you want to be.
I ask myself where I want to be in 10 years, and 20 years, and 30 years. and picture the best possible scenario. I imagine myself getting a 170+ LSAT, getting As in my classes, getting accepted into a T1 school on scholarship, becoming an associate at well respected law firm, making partner, giving lectures on a field of law that I'm now an expert in, becoming a law professor, owning a house, two cars, vacationing frequently in the South Pacific, becoming quite skillful in racket ball, golf, scuba diving, marathon running, and finally looking back at my life at 65 (or 70) and saying to myself "nah, I'm not going to retire, I love what I do too much, they're just gonna have to fire me when I become senile."
That's the best case scenario. Maybe I'll only get a 160 on the LSAT. Maybe I'll only get B's in my classes. Maybe the best I can do is get into T2 on a half scholarship. Maybe the region I study in is the region I work in. Maybe I'll only have one car. Maybe the South Pacific is too pricey so I'll have to settle for the Caribbean. Maybe I'll just do a marathon because golf is too expensive. Maybe I'll never work in academia. The point is even this end is better than me not trying.
The above is what motivates me. The question becomes "what do I need to do now for the best case scenario to become a reality".
I need good grades and a good LSAT to even have a shot, right? Which means that the most important thing for me to do is study. Considering how constrained my time is, I need every moment I spend studying to count. So I need to be on top of my game mentally, and my study process needs to be efficient.
I can't stress enough how important diet, exercise, and sleep are.
When i eat fast food, I become lethargic and unfocused. Considering my goals I simply can't afford to indulge myself. I surround myself with fresh fruits and veggies, and try to avoid greasy foods when I can.
I don't do anything outrages for exercise, because muscle soreness and exhaustion can be just as detrimental to a study routine as lethargy. I'll go for a walk or a run, do some push ups and sit ups, or anything that gets my blood flowing to my brain.
Sleep is the hardest thing for me to get a handle on. I've restricted caffeine consumption to the morning, and avoid it at night. I find that reading at night before bed helps my body unwind so that I can fall asleep right away.
As for studying, all the tips you find on this blog are extremely useful for efficient approaches to lsat studying.
Hang in there dude. Just picture your best case scenario and allow that to be your motivation. Aiming high is always better than not aiming at all. Screw competing against others. Compete against yourself and be the best you can be, and you won't have any regrets.
Good luck!
Do these online flash cards for p/c.
ReplyDeletehttp://quizlet.com/5552275/lsat-premise-conclusion-indicators-flash-cards/
Helps with logical reasoning.
Keep on!
You inspire me. Thanks for sharing.Keep going. Even if you have to lie to yourself, keep your thoughts positive! It will make all the difference.
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this blog. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well.
ReplyDelete