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.)
LSAT Diaries: LSAT Studying and Motivation
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.)
Logic and Games
* A profile of the lawyers suing law schools for misleading employment statistics. [NYMag]
* A federal judge files a complaint over his own racist email.
* How prisons deal with inmates who have dementia. [NYTimes]
* A Chinese TV show interviewing prisoners before their executions has become a big hit. [Daily Mail]
If The LSAT Were A Computerized Test, Cheating, and Theft
LSAC has thought about computerizing the LSAT for several years. In May 1999, LSAC published a study titled, "Item Theft in a Continuous Testing Environment: What is the Extent of the Danger?"In this study, LSAC and ETS consider "the possibility of organized, large-scale item theft" by "professional thieves" as a result of turning the LSAT into a computerized exam.
(Sadly, they weren't talking about an Ocean's Eleven-style heist or even about hacking.)
If the LSAT were computerized, it'd probably be offered on most weekdays, like the GMAT and GRE.
Since it wouldn't be practical to write hundreds of unique exams each year, questions would be recycled. This group of questions is called an "item pool" by standardized test nerds (psychometricians). "Items" are test questions. (See my series on how the LSAT is constructed for more details.)
Your average "thief" is someone of average ability who remembers a few test questions and passes them along to friends. This has some impact on future test-takers' performance.
However, if "professional thieves" took the exam for the purpose of memorizing test questions and passing them on to future test-takers, this would have a more significant impact. (In the early 1990s, Kaplan employees took the GRE for the sole purpose of memorizing test questions - also see LA Times. It seems they were doing it to embarrass ETS rather than to give their own students an edge.)
In order to counteract these kinds of shenanigans, it's likely that if the LSAT were ever computerized, there would be several different pools of questions. Each one would be large enough so any benefit gained from memorizing previously-administered questions would be minimal-to-none. Besides, the topics of Logical Reasoning questions repeat so often that they tend to blur together in your mind unless you've done the question a few times.
For more details on what LSAC scientists do in their spare time when it comes to simulations about question-stealing, read the LSAC study. If you skip the mathematical parts, it's actually kind of entertaining.
Photo by extraketchup / CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo by grimages / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
LSAT Diary: Balancing LSAT Prep, College, and Dead-End Job
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.)
Logic and Games
* Judge rules that graphic cigarette labels violate 1st-Amendment freedom against government-compelled speech. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Research in Motion wins lawsuit denying others the right to trademark the term "CrackBerry." [Corporate Counsel]
* Scientists say that people aren't smart enough for democracy to flourish. [Yahoo]
* Indian reservations experience higher crime rates, yet they also experience lower prosecution rates. [NYTimes]
* An Above The Law blogger gets jury duty. [Above The Law]
* Research in Motion wins lawsuit denying others the right to trademark the term "CrackBerry." [Corporate Counsel]
* Scientists say that people aren't smart enough for democracy to flourish. [Yahoo]
* Indian reservations experience higher crime rates, yet they also experience lower prosecution rates. [NYTimes]
* An Above The Law blogger gets jury duty. [Above The Law]
Virtual LSAT Proctor / Timer: MP3 Download
Blog reader Ryan recently emailed me:I think that using the LSAT Proctor DVD can be a great asset during studying, but I also can't justify spending $25 dollars on it. This led me to create a similar mp3 with the Proctor prompts and noise distractions built into it. I have thrown the mp3 up on my blog for free download /or play.The mp3 version for free download is "good if you are going to play it on an mp3 player, iPhone/iTouch or want to always have access to it."
The version for streaming play is "good if you are at a computer that you can't download to or are away from your main computer."
Of course, this is sound-only, so it lacks the visual component that the SimuGator LSAT Proctor DVD has.
However, it's still a good alternative to the DVD if you:
-don't have $25 to spend for the DVD
-want to try out something with distractions before getting the DVD
-want to take PrepTests while traveling but won't have a DVD player/laptop with you
The mp3 is only 35 minutes long (the length of one LSAT section). However, if you download the mp3, you can "loop" it to repeat. This will allow you to take LSAT sections back-to-back with distractions. Alternatively, if you're only streaming the mp3 from your computer, you can take a second or two to click and replay the mp3 to do multiple sections.
The mp3 doesn't have various levels of distraction like the DVD does. However, you can adjust the volume level of the mp3 depending upon how much you want to be annoyed while you're taking a practice test.
Big ups to Ryan for creating this mp3!
Photo by liveu4
LSAT Diary: Married MBA Student and HR Manager
This LSAT Diary is from Chrissie, a 30-year-old married HR Manager and part-time MBA student. She scored a 165 on the LSAT using my 3-month LSAT study schedule and recommended books.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.)
Thanks to Chrissie for sharing her experience and advice!
Chrissie's LSAT Diary:
The idea of law school popped into my head one night as I sat in an employment law class while pursuing my MBA. Being an HR (human resources) professional, this particular class naturally piqued my interest as I use many of the basic tenets of labor law in my daily work tasks. However, as this class unfolded, I truly discovered a hidden passion for legal writing and research. After several conversations with my husband about my future career options, I decided to begin the path towards law school. Needless to say, this journey was unexpected especially since just two years prior I had assumed that my final academic stop would be my master’s degree.
After my husband and I decided that our new family path included me being a full-time law student, I now had the responsibility of making this goal a reality. As silly as it may sound one of the first things I did to help myself realize the reality of this goal was to simply begin articulating my new plans to my friends, co-workers and family. By stating this new goal out loud I felt it now truly made me accountable for my actions.
I was fortunate to have prepared for the GMAT just one and half years prior therefore I was somewhat familiar with the dedication and focus that would be needed to prepare for the LSAT. Based on some feedback I received from previous LSAT takers I knew that I could be successful on the LSAT without having to make a big investment in a formal preparation course. I therefore decided that I would prepare on my own. I began scouring the internet for a study guide and that is when I discovered the LSAT Blog.
I decided to follow the 3-month plan after taking a short diagnostic test and realizing that Logic Games appeared to be as difficult as rumored and therefore knowing that I would need a large amount of time to properly prepare. Prior to jumping into the schedule, I went to my local library and reviewed various guides, simply to get a foundation of what the LSAT was about and to ease my way into more difficult material.
It took me about one and half weeks to go through these various books and what I discovered is that none of them had good tips or even formulated a solid structure to build upon. Also, in my personal opinion, I felt that Kaplan’s formulated LSAT questions were particularly horrendous. After this short break-in period, I moved on to the books recommended on LSAT Blog. The investment in the books is still rather large but nothing compared to a formal course.
During the 3-month prep period, I was also working full-time and completing my MBA in the evenings. Needless to say, my available hours for LSAT study were limited. After two weeks of struggling to stay on target I had to take a hard look at what I could realistically do in a week. I realized that what I needed to do was formulate a daily, weekly and monthly schedule which would help me set aside a certain amount of hours per week.
This was not an easy task considering my other commitments and what I discovered is that my only true available hours were between 4am and 6am, which was less than ideal but if I wanted to get in study time during the workweek I had to get used to waking up “with the crickets”. I also had to sit down with my family and friends and explain the intensity of this 90-day journey and communicate that I may not be available for social functions during this period. Fortunately I have a very supportive family and an amazing husband that understood how serious this venture was and all of them respected my temporary boundaries.
I did not necessarily follow the LSAT Blog's schedule chronologically, rather I adjusted it to fit my individual learning weaknesses. I also printed out all the extra review material posted on this blog, such as the list of vocabulary, the “must-review” questions, and the list of “most difficult" questions. I worked through absolutely everything suggested. I also purchased all recent PrepTests, which I found to be a tremendous help. I did not purchase older tests simply because I did not have time to review any additional material.
The more LSAC-published tests I covered, the more I realized that there are distinct patterns to the LSAT. Do not get me wrong - there are no repeated questions, but there are definitely certain topics, wording, and formatting that the LSAC likes to repeat, which is good news for us test-takers! In addition to what was outlined on the blog, I also made my own flashcards with any tips I deemed worthy, which I reviewed while at the gym or while on my lunch break. I also had great success with voice recording material. I would listen to my recorded review notes while running errands and before going to sleep to help maximize my study and review time.
Do not be fooled - I had little to no social life during this 90-day period and I studied every free moment I could put aside. Also going against some published advice, some weekends I would study ten hours straight with just a few meal breaks in-between. It was not an easy schedule, but I knew I needed to be extremely focused and disciplined if I wanted a shot at law school in the fall. Since I was taking the last test of the application season I truly felt the pressure to do it “right” the first time.
In hindsight, the one thing I wish I had started sooner was stringently timing myself. I did not start this until the last five weeks of preparation, simply because I just didn’t want to face this particular constraint but what I realized is that as I worked through the nerves of forcing myself to pre-test under actual test day constraints the more at ease I became with the timing. Therefore, the sooner you begin timing yourself, the sooner you will realize how to work more efficiently which will only help you on test day!
Another suggestion I have, is to not lose sight of the overall application process. It takes time to gather letters of recommendation, attend information sessions, scout scholarships, and to write standout personal statements so be sure to schedule time for all of these tasks so you can apply once the LSAT scores are published without further delay!
Lastly, other books I reviewed and found extremely helpful, were Perfect Personal Statements and How to Get into the Top Law Schools, both of which have great information on writing essays, application "watch-outs" and interview tips. Achieving a solid LSAT score is possible as long as you train for the test like an athlete would train for a competition, consider it a marathon for the mind so put those running shoes on ASAP! In the end I was able to achieve an LSAT score that met the requirements to get into the schools I desired in my area (Tier 2 and Tier 3 schools) and I confident you can do the same.
General Information:
Undergraduate GPA: 3.31
Graduate GPA: 4.00
LSAT Score: 165
P.S. I have been accepted into all the schools I applied to, totaling five. I have also received scholarship offers from four out of the five schools ranging from 50% to 80% of the annual tuition. Be confident and be prepared and you can do the same!
Photo by paperbackwriter
The idea of law school popped into my head one night as I sat in an employment law class while pursuing my MBA. Being an HR (human resources) professional, this particular class naturally piqued my interest as I use many of the basic tenets of labor law in my daily work tasks. However, as this class unfolded, I truly discovered a hidden passion for legal writing and research. After several conversations with my husband about my future career options, I decided to begin the path towards law school. Needless to say, this journey was unexpected especially since just two years prior I had assumed that my final academic stop would be my master’s degree.
After my husband and I decided that our new family path included me being a full-time law student, I now had the responsibility of making this goal a reality. As silly as it may sound one of the first things I did to help myself realize the reality of this goal was to simply begin articulating my new plans to my friends, co-workers and family. By stating this new goal out loud I felt it now truly made me accountable for my actions.
I was fortunate to have prepared for the GMAT just one and half years prior therefore I was somewhat familiar with the dedication and focus that would be needed to prepare for the LSAT. Based on some feedback I received from previous LSAT takers I knew that I could be successful on the LSAT without having to make a big investment in a formal preparation course. I therefore decided that I would prepare on my own. I began scouring the internet for a study guide and that is when I discovered the LSAT Blog.
I decided to follow the 3-month plan after taking a short diagnostic test and realizing that Logic Games appeared to be as difficult as rumored and therefore knowing that I would need a large amount of time to properly prepare. Prior to jumping into the schedule, I went to my local library and reviewed various guides, simply to get a foundation of what the LSAT was about and to ease my way into more difficult material.
It took me about one and half weeks to go through these various books and what I discovered is that none of them had good tips or even formulated a solid structure to build upon. Also, in my personal opinion, I felt that Kaplan’s formulated LSAT questions were particularly horrendous. After this short break-in period, I moved on to the books recommended on LSAT Blog. The investment in the books is still rather large but nothing compared to a formal course.
During the 3-month prep period, I was also working full-time and completing my MBA in the evenings. Needless to say, my available hours for LSAT study were limited. After two weeks of struggling to stay on target I had to take a hard look at what I could realistically do in a week. I realized that what I needed to do was formulate a daily, weekly and monthly schedule which would help me set aside a certain amount of hours per week.
This was not an easy task considering my other commitments and what I discovered is that my only true available hours were between 4am and 6am, which was less than ideal but if I wanted to get in study time during the workweek I had to get used to waking up “with the crickets”. I also had to sit down with my family and friends and explain the intensity of this 90-day journey and communicate that I may not be available for social functions during this period. Fortunately I have a very supportive family and an amazing husband that understood how serious this venture was and all of them respected my temporary boundaries.
I did not necessarily follow the LSAT Blog's schedule chronologically, rather I adjusted it to fit my individual learning weaknesses. I also printed out all the extra review material posted on this blog, such as the list of vocabulary, the “must-review” questions, and the list of “most difficult" questions. I worked through absolutely everything suggested. I also purchased all recent PrepTests, which I found to be a tremendous help. I did not purchase older tests simply because I did not have time to review any additional material.
The more LSAC-published tests I covered, the more I realized that there are distinct patterns to the LSAT. Do not get me wrong - there are no repeated questions, but there are definitely certain topics, wording, and formatting that the LSAC likes to repeat, which is good news for us test-takers! In addition to what was outlined on the blog, I also made my own flashcards with any tips I deemed worthy, which I reviewed while at the gym or while on my lunch break. I also had great success with voice recording material. I would listen to my recorded review notes while running errands and before going to sleep to help maximize my study and review time.
Do not be fooled - I had little to no social life during this 90-day period and I studied every free moment I could put aside. Also going against some published advice, some weekends I would study ten hours straight with just a few meal breaks in-between. It was not an easy schedule, but I knew I needed to be extremely focused and disciplined if I wanted a shot at law school in the fall. Since I was taking the last test of the application season I truly felt the pressure to do it “right” the first time.
In hindsight, the one thing I wish I had started sooner was stringently timing myself. I did not start this until the last five weeks of preparation, simply because I just didn’t want to face this particular constraint but what I realized is that as I worked through the nerves of forcing myself to pre-test under actual test day constraints the more at ease I became with the timing. Therefore, the sooner you begin timing yourself, the sooner you will realize how to work more efficiently which will only help you on test day!
Another suggestion I have, is to not lose sight of the overall application process. It takes time to gather letters of recommendation, attend information sessions, scout scholarships, and to write standout personal statements so be sure to schedule time for all of these tasks so you can apply once the LSAT scores are published without further delay!
Lastly, other books I reviewed and found extremely helpful, were Perfect Personal Statements and How to Get into the Top Law Schools, both of which have great information on writing essays, application "watch-outs" and interview tips. Achieving a solid LSAT score is possible as long as you train for the test like an athlete would train for a competition, consider it a marathon for the mind so put those running shoes on ASAP! In the end I was able to achieve an LSAT score that met the requirements to get into the schools I desired in my area (Tier 2 and Tier 3 schools) and I confident you can do the same.
General Information:
Undergraduate GPA: 3.31
Graduate GPA: 4.00
LSAT Score: 165
P.S. I have been accepted into all the schools I applied to, totaling five. I have also received scholarship offers from four out of the five schools ranging from 50% to 80% of the annual tuition. Be confident and be prepared and you can do the same!
Photo by paperbackwriter
Logic and Games
* What if Clarence Thomas ran for president? [The Daily Beast]
* In California, it's apparently pretty common for lawyers to hop from job to job. [ABA Journal]
* Sexism in 30 vintage ads. [Buzzfeed]
* Google will start selling Terminator-style glasses by the end of 2012. The future is here, folks. [NYTimes]
June 2012 LSAT vs. October 2012 LSAT
(This post is based upon the assumption that you're taking the LSAT less than a year before you intend to apply to law school. If you're planning way ahead, this won't apply to you.)Benefits of taking the June LSAT
- It's better for your law school admissions chances because it allows you to apply at the beginning of the admissions cycle. Law schools typically begin accepting applications September 1, September 15, October 1, or October 15. Applying at the beginning of the cycle is especially important for top law schools.
- You can be done with the LSAT sooner. If the June LSAT goes well, you can be done with it for good and relax this summer.
- You have more chances to retake. If the June LSAT doesn't go well (or if you're sick, have a family issue, someone vomits on you during the test, etc.) and you have to retake, you can retake in October and still apply relatively early in the cycle.
- The June LSAT is the only LSAT offered in the afternoon. No need to get on an early sleep schedule. If you take it outside a city, you may not have to go to the trouble of sleeping away from home the night before.
- The June LSAT is the only LSAT offered on a Monday. Normally, Sabbath observers have to take the LSAT on a different date than everyone else, and LSAC does not release Sabbath tests (scroll to bottom). This means Sabbath test-takers never get to see their exam booklet and answer sheet. However, because the regular June LSAT is on a Monday, all test-takers (except those outside North America) get to see their exam booklet and answer sheet. This is useful for planning a retake.
Benefits of taking the October LSAT
- Maybe you like getting up super-early, and the afternoon is too late for you to think.
- You don't have to (seriously) begin your studying now.
- Additionally, if you're a college student, consider:
* The June LSAT is offered soon after most schools' final exams typically end. You might not want to divide your attention between finals and LSAT studying in April and May.
* The October LSAT allows you the entire summer to study without being distracted by schoolwork (if you don't take summer classes). You still have to get through the first 1.5 months of the semester or so, but things probably won't be too intense that early in the semester. If you use the summer wisely, you can get through the vast majority of your LSAT studying then.
***
What do you all think? What's impacting your decision re: June vs. October?
Photo by asmythie
LSAT Diary: Breaking Up While Studying For The LSAT
This LSAT Diary is from J.P., a paralegal in her early 20s. She broke up with her live-in boyfriend of 2 years right around the time she started prepping for the June LSAT.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.)
J.P.'s LSAT Diary:
Day 1 (Monday)
A quick background on me and my interest in the legal field:
I knew when I was ten that I wanted to be a lawyer. I've been working as a paralegal since May 2009, when I graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A. in English. I work full time, 8:30 - 5 Monday through Friday and I'm enrolled in a prep class which meets twice a week for 4 hours at a time, although I always show up half an hour early for the review session. I go straight from work to class on these two days and go to the gym immediately after work on alternate days.
In today's class, we discussed Strengthen Logical Reasoning questions. We also did a logic game which literally gave me a migraine that was only curable by the Valium that I took when I got to my car. I absolutely hate logic games. I kick ass on LR and Reading Comp, but games are like completely ridiculous to me. Nonetheless, I press on. Every night since I have started studying for this test I have had to take Valium (prescribed by my doctor in a small dose) in order to sleep through the night. I try to keep up with my workout schedule and just exhaust myself, which helps too.
However, I am grateful for class and work today, as it keeps my mind off of the fact that I just broke up with my live-in boyfriend of two years... and our lease isn't up until August. Financial obligations and not wanting an eviction on my record are creating increased levels of stress for me today and for the first time I can say that I am glad to have the LSAT as an all-consuming panacea for my relationship and finance-related anxiety. I plan to attend an upper-tier law school and didn't want what I now consider to be a parasite along for the ride, hence no more boyfriend.
On my lunch break today, I did some logical reasoning questions. After class, I did some reading comp, for about an hour of outside of class time studying, bringing the total for the day to 5.5 hours.
Day 2 (Tuesday)
No LSAT class today. I came to work early because I was having some pretty severe anxiety this morning about being at my house and the "ex" situation. Studied for about 15 - 30 minutes before my bosses got to work. I worked on mostly menial tasks that I've been putting off since I've been busy with trying to get settlement demands out and working on a few litigation cases. Thus, other less important tasks were on the backburner for a while.
As this firm, you don't have set schedules or deadlines for anything, but if you don't do what you need to be doing everyone will know. You will hear it from your clients, the attorneys, claims adjusters, Doctor's offices and billing offices. Unfortunately in the personal injury field, listening to bitching from frustrated (injured and/or sick) clients about their own insurance company (which they chose and presumably evaluated before they purchased it) and "why everything is taking so long" is not uncommon. It is not unusual for me to hear from clients on a daily basis although I'm managing about 80 cases at present time. Work is a great distraction from the rest of the world! I love my co-workers who keep me strong and push me to do well on the exam.
After work, I went home to have a "house meeting" about the issues going on. After a long discussion, my ex and I will continue to live where we are until our lease is up. Our other condo-mates are also recently broken up and they have both decided to move out of town and continue to pay their share of the rent. Fortunately, my ex and I have gone through a lot already and are getting along better after talking about the reasons why we both know that this never would have ended in anything other than a break-up/divorce. The coming months will be interesting.
After the "house meeting" I went to a friend's house to do drills and homework while she studied some kind of wacky chemistry. She cooked us some delicious dinner while I was there and we took a study break. I was not surprised to get a phone call from the ex asking "if I had had dinner yet" followed by "ok well I'll just eat some ramen then." Ok, indeed. After studying for probably 2-3 hours, I came home, popped my Valium and passed out at 11 or 11:30.
Total Study Time: Estimated 3 hours
Day 3 (Wednesday)
Wednesday was the best day of the week so far. Work wasn't too stressful and I crossed a few more things off of my to-do list, which is always nice. After having the talk with my ex yesterday, I am feeling much more comfortable about the status quo and trying not to think too far ahead, just taking life a day at a time. As coworkers find out that I'm single, the reaction is invariably positive which is nice.
I studied LSAT vocab during my lunch break (defining different terms that you see often on the LSAT) for about 15 minutes. After work I headed straight to class and was super exhausted during the review session so I chugged my water and took a caffeine pill which helped a lot. We did all three section types yesterday (LR, Reading Comp and Games) so my attention was better held than it usually is.
I felt really confident about Reading Comp and Logical Reasoning and didn't get a single question of either category wrong through the various drills. I actually get sort of annoyed sometimes during reading comp when people ask questions about things that seem blatantly obvious to me. All you have to do is look at a particular line in the passage to get the answer.
This is the only thing that I don't like about the class, in that there are many different levels of test-takers. There are almost 100 people in the class, so I guess that's to be expected (and makes me feel better about my chances). I'm really impatient which is good for my job and career but maybe not so good for interpersonal stuff.
Anyways, then there was games.
We did a game from the October 1991 LSAT exam (PrepTest 2). I somehow managed to get three of the six questions right even though I completely blew the set up and missed huge deductions. I have been drilling games and reading the explanations but it's just not clicking for me. I'm not sure what else to do except keep doing homework and keep trying. I again started to get a bad headache during the discussion of this game but fought it. When I got home I watched as much of "The Hangover" as I could before passing out. Crude comedy is a great antidote to LSAT prep!
Total Study Time: 5 hours
Day 4 (Thursday)
Today did not go as planned, at all. Work was more or less laid back but some DVDs that we received from Europe of a Defendant's deposition were badly scratched and that caused a chain reaction of problems throughout the day. Whatever.
Got home from work and did about 30 minutes of LSAT vocab drills, which place me in the top 10% of people who paid $1500 bucks to learn how to take a test... haha. Thought about this fact and laughed at myself some more on my way to the gym to get my ass kicked. A friend of mine teaches a really challenging barbell class on Thursdays, so I went today. I love it because its an hour where I hurt too bad to think about anything (LSAT/relationships/real life) other than my quads/triceps or whatever other muscle group is getting punished.
Got into the car and saw two missed calls from the ex. Called back to find out that he had ordered pizza and bought beer "for us." Thanks, thats exactly what I want after I just kicked myself in the ass to burn maybe 600 calories. Anyways, I got home, relaxed and caved to the peer pressure of pizza and beer, thus ruining my plans to do some more LSAT work when I got home. But we did have fun, and thats what I'll remember when I'm at John Jay's school of water-skiing and law.
Total LSAT study time today: 30 minutes :( FAIL!
Day 5 (Friday)
Fridays at work are usually either really busy or really calm. Since one of my bosses was out this week today was decently slow but I definitely was looking forward to the end of the day. I had a feeling that this weekend would bring more surprises my way so I did a bunch of logical reasoning problems on my lunch break (approx 1 hour) and some vocab drills in the morning before work (about 15 minutes). I had planned to go to happy hour and then study afterwards but that plan changed, as they seem to often do nowadays.
A few friends and coworkers had planned to all meet at a place right near both work and my house, where they have amazing food and drinks and an amazing happy hour special after work. So we were blessed with a 4:30 departure instead of a 5:00 on this glorious Friday. This is when normal life became ridiculous life. I went home to change and the ex and our other roommate were by the pool drinking, so I decided to have a drink with them. After chatting for about half an hour I told them that I was leaving. "Where are you going?" - Ex. "Happy hour with some girls." Feeling obligated, I invited them both as I expected them to continue to drink at the pool and be generally awesome dudes.
I left for happy hour and met up with my friends from work, the gym, real life, etc. and we are all having a great time drinking good beer and eating good food. My ex calls me from the front door of the bar with our roommate in tow. The second that he got to the table everything became awkward and tense. He stared at the TVs the entire time that he was there and when anyone tried to engage him in conversation he gave a few words at best in response. So I was annoyed because he was either 1) checking up on me or 2) trying to make me have a shitty time.
I asked him to step outside with me to figure out what his problem was but of course he didn't want to, since he is a child. Fortunately, they left 30-45 minutes later and I stayed for another few hours with everyone. I returned home to the ex asleep at 9:30 pm in our bed and joined him, ending another wonderful day of cohabitation with a jerk.
Total LSAT study: 1.15 hours
Day 6 (Saturday)
This weekend was a blur. I woke up on Saturday, took a diagnostic from 10-about 1:30. I've gone up 4 points this month so that made me kind of sort of happy but not ecstatic. I then went to go lay out by the pool since its a rare pleasure that I can only take advantage of on the weekends. I brought my LSAT book with me and did some problems until the sun was in full force and then put it away. Total pool studying was maybe an hour and a half.
When the ex came home from work, he joined me by the pool with some Coronas. I love Corona, even though it is a shitty beer, because it reminds me of the Keys and the beach. So we sat by the pool and talked about how we'd like to be able to live together comfortably. I made lots of suggestions about how this could be done and he agreed. He also told me that he's getting a mattress from a friend but didn't say when he would be using it.
We went out to dinner that night with our roommate, which was sort of a turning point in the weekend. Throughout dinner the ex made snarky little comments here and there, and I'm not the sort of person to let this go. This ended with character assassination and me fantasizing about the giant steak knife that I was using to cut my filet.
When we got home I immediately went to my friend's house and indulged in mind-numbing activities until I went home to pass out.
Total study time: 4.5 hours
Day 7 (Sunday)
After my diagnostic yesterday I wanted a break and I didn't wake up feeling great. I cleaned up around the house a little bit (laundry, vacuum, etc.) and then went to lay out by the pool again. My roommate got home before the ex so he came and laid out by the pool. We talked about our breakups and how we were trying to make the situations amicable. The ex got home pretty late so there wasn't much sun left, but he again brought some tasty beers. We were all getting along fine but not talking much.
The LSAT was the last thing on my mind today but I grabbed my book when we went inside and they were flipping around various sports channels while I did problems. I felt growing tension so I went for a walk and called family members who didn't yet know that I am now single. When I came back home, another friend of the ex's had arrived and drinking was in full force. I continued to do problems out of my workbook while intermittently talking to the guys. This continued until about 10pm when the ex and company decided to "go hot tubbing."
I immediately got pissed, because I told him that for us to live together comfortably I need to be able to sleep uninterrupted and not worry about him gallivanting around town (drunk) with other people (girls). He said everything would be fine, not to worry about it. At 12:30 am, I am awoken by his two friends coming home, without the ex. I immediately flip the eff out and demand that they take me to the hot tub. They take me to the hot tub, no ex there.
At this point, I am hysterically flipping out. I don't even want to recount the various crazy things that I did to try to find him but the story ends with me taking two valiums at 1:30 and passing out until 6 am, when I woke up and drove around looking for him. I officially HATE my ex-boyfriend and hope that he drowned in the hot tub. It turns out that he had passed out at an apartment in the complex where they were "hot-tubbing" but the dynamic of our relationship has gone from pretty great to pretty horrible.
At this point I am debating whether it would be a good idea to just stick it out for the next 55 days or to deal with moving all of my things before the LSAT and paying two leases through July. This drama is very much unwanted at this point in my life, obviously, but my plan is to bury myself in my work. We'll see what happens! I hope that the readers of this crazy week of my life are able to see that even with crazy drama and a crazy schedule you can still study your butt off for the LSAT and do well. I'm at a 158 right now and I started much lower. My goal is to be in Top 25 range (168 +) but of course I'm hoping for a 180 ;).
Thanks for reading and good luck to everyone on the exam.
Total study time: about 4-5 hours with distractions/talking in between
Photo by paperbackwriter
Logic and Games
* A review of a former law school dean's upcoming book, which criticizes the state of legal education. [NYTimes]
* 20 more class action lawsuits against law schools are in the works. [Above The Law]
* A man claims he was fired over reporting for jury duty. [ABA Journal]
* Stephen Colbert and Nancy Pelosi debate super PACs. [Colbert Nation]
* 20 untranslatable words from around the world. [Lackuna]
* 20 more class action lawsuits against law schools are in the works. [Above The Law]
* A man claims he was fired over reporting for jury duty. [ABA Journal]
* Stephen Colbert and Nancy Pelosi debate super PACs. [Colbert Nation]
* 20 untranslatable words from around the world. [Lackuna]
