Before really getting into the aspect of preparing for law school I want to give a background as to how I got to this point. Just like most aspiring lawyers my major in Undergrad was related to law. Luckily, I was not limited to political science and was a criminology, law, and society major. It was a blend of criminal justice, law, and sociology. I decided to take a year off before I went to law school so my last years’ grades would be factored into my cumulative GPA, and also to prepare for the dreaded LSAT.
When preparing for the LSAT you must evaluate all your options. Unfortunately for me I made the wrong choice with how I would prepare for this exam, and I ended up spending a ton of money and learning absolutely nothing! So please learn from my mistake. Through my peers I learned of a private tutor who was capable of getting even the most average students into Tier 1 law schools. So I had a consultation with him where he charged me $200 to literally sit there and tell me stories of all the people he had gotten into law school. So for $200 that day I learned NOTHING! I do give him credit for his gift in persuasion, and I honestly do think he’s worth it if you have a TON OF MONEY to blow.
My favorite part of his consultation was his emphasis on writing a diversity statement for your application. I do believe that writing a diversity statement is beneficial to your application, but he was telling me all these stories, one of a guy who grew up in an attic with 12 brothers and sisters and got shot and survived. I mean stories of tremendous triumph, but I mean REALLY?! He told me to dig in my background and try and find a “poor” story. A POOR story. WTF?!? My life at that point seemed so uninteresting and ordinary. At that point I was pissed off at my parents for giving me such a good life. Why in the world couldn’t have I been shot and survived! Then maybe I’d have a shot at UCLA!(This is not to say I don’t appreciate all my blessings, or in any way am I poking fun at the misfortunate). After about a year of off and on tutoring and advice on my applications I was about $4,000 in the hole and still scoring low on the exam. I had no money or time left over for a prep course so basically I was shit out of luck! I finally realized that if I couldn’t get into law school on my own, and needed to start selling drugs or myself to start paying for this tutor then you know what, law school probably wasn’t for me.
As the October LSAT approached I knew that I was completely unprepared, and I went out and bought the Powerscore Logic Games Bible and Logical Reasoning Bible. I HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE BOOKS. I tried to prepare as much as I could but as I took the exam that October morning I panicked and knew I BOMBED IT. So I cancelled my scores, came out of the exam more determined and focus than ever. I knew December was my last chance. My main focus was logic games. Logic games are the easiest section to improve on and the one section where it is POSSIBLE to miss less than 3. I counted on this section. I figured if I can miss around 2 questions on this section and miss 10 on all the others I would still come out with a fairly decent score. After Googling over and over I finally found the answer to all my problems! LSAT Blog: HOW TO ACE THE LSAT. A blog created by a NYC LSAT tutor. The link to his blog is under my LINKS. This blog provides study schedules, answers and explanations to logic games and logical reasoning questions from the past ten years. He really breaks everything down in a way you can understand. All of the supplements provided on his website you must purchase, but they are very inexpensive. So if you are on a budget and don’t have the money for a prep course I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this site. After following his 3 month study schedule I was missing 0-3 questions every single time on the logic games section. 3 months was a little rushed so if you can give yourself at least 6 months you will really have a chance to absorb the content and come test day you should be very prepared.
Finally the December LSAT came. Do NOT wait till the last minute like me to take the exam. I recommend taking it in June. If you don’t do well in June it gives you a cushion to take it in October. The law school application process is on a rolling basis, so if you can get your score and get your apps in by the end of October you will have a better shot at receiving scholarship money. During the month you are waiting for your scores to come in start getting your letters of recommendation together, personal statements done, and applications finished so that you only need to send your score. You can actually send the application without your LSAT score. So try and get your applications in early.
Anyway that is my spiel on the LSAT. Learn from my experience. I recommend taking a prep course and also using the supplements on How to Ace the LSAT. Private tutoring is a hit or miss and I don’t recommend getting into debt before you have to get into debt. Anyway this post is super long so I will have to do a part 2 on getting accepted. Hope this was helpful! Till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment