Self-study
My LSAT Journey and offer to tutor anyone who wants/needs it! Motivated by u/lsat_is_samsara hope th
Hi! I took the LSAT in November and got a 166, so this isn't one of those "I got 170+" stories.
Some background about me; a year and a half ago (July 2019) I had the brilliant idea that with my incredibly low gpa I couldn't get into any grad program I wanted but law school was much more "splitter-friendly" so I'll just take the LSAT and become a lawyer! I argue...sometimes. That's what lawyers do right? I was super lazy, unhealthy, played video games all day, and watch tv shows when I was too lazy to press buttons.
So I bought an LSAT test booklet (62-71) and was like ok Diagnostic time! I tried the first question (I think it was LR?) then the next. Couldn't even finish the section or the rest of the LSAT for that matter since I was so mentally exhausted and tired. And I missed half of the few that I got right when I later checked. Idk what diagnostic score that counted for, but somewhere in the 130s maybe. That was my starting point.
After revamping a lot of my life I ended up consistently getting a 162, then retaking and getting a 166 while scoring mostly in the 170s. After having gone through that, I look back and realize how fortunate (financially and time-wise) I was to have been able to make the steps to get that far. Which leads me to the point of the post.
Skipped background, here's the point; I've received a lot of free information on this and other websites, and having finished the past year and received essentially free tutoring from u/lsat_is_samsara (thanks a lot to that guy for his patience), I decided I'd like to offer tutoring like he did as well. Granted he's a genius, but whatever I can offer through zoom or discord I'd be happy to offer it to anyone who might need/want it.
I also have an ulterior motive; I actually enjoyed the process of trying to master the LSAT. And then finally accepting my test score rather than vehemently obsessing over a 170. Which I'm still somewhat sore over. I think the LSAT made me a better person and a better thinker. I swear the LSAC doesn't pay me to say these things; forcing myself to assess how I think and reason was very helpful in other aspects of my life (emotional health, decision making, investing etc.) So if I can help instill some of that in some of the prospective students who are maybe railing against the frustrations they feel about the test, I'd like to do that.
Some information/ideas off the bat from me; (this will be for people who maybe just started the LSAT, though feel free to read if you wish)
Logical reasoning; relationship between the premise/conclusion is paramount. Attack it with everything you've got, try to destroy the opposition for ever considering making such a fallacious argument.
Ex: If we hire more employees, we'll make more profits! You: What about the costs of scaling up? What if the market is already saturated with our product and our increasing production will drive prices down? What if tomorrow an earthquake happens, the employees die and they all had earthquake insurance?
Reading comprehension; my most difficult to improve, yet imo the most valuable to work on from the beginning. Read everything critically? Reading a novel? Why is the author saying this? How does relate to previous chapters? Reading a news article? What is the point of the piece? How does the author express their main point and whose view points are being used here? Question everything. And practice whenever you can. You will be reading a lot! Best fall in love with it.
A lot of people who strive to become lawyers come from non-stem backgrounds with low doses of math. I think this hurts people, especially for this test. Every answer is 100% correct. There is no "well let's agree to disagree". This is, basically, a math test. Instead of variables like x, y, z you have words that have values. And instead of asking you to solve for x, it asks you to find the flaw (or how to correct it). Some questions recently have definitely become much less clear cut, but the education of math has also become a lot more complicated as time goes on. This may appear like bad news, but the good aspect of this is, you can figure it out. It's understandable and reliable. Once you start getting a question type, you can rely on that experience to master other like questions.
LG; this is one which a lot of test takers complain that it's unrelated to law. To me, it's the most apt testing of one's "lawyering" skills. Granted my lack of experience in law may bias me, but LG is testing your ability to understand the rules of a system, and how to play the game. Imagine a client asking you about tax law. You have to know the laws/statutes (rules of the system) and what options your client has to optimizing their situation (playing the game). It becomes more complicated than that, but this is a pretty simple start to that mentality. Plus, this is the section you can practice and get 100% nearly every time!
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Otherwise if this was uninteresting to you, or if it didn't help, then I wish you well this new year and hope you get the score you deserve (if you're still taking it)!
And if you disagree with anything I say, please let others know in the comments; I might not think I'm wrong by saying the above, but someone else may read what I wrote and take it at face value. Unless they're practiced in reading LSAT stimuli lol.
EDIT: So a lot of people have been contacting me or writing here on how to contact me. You can message me personally here and if you're comfortable with a call, leave either an email or a number for me to zoom/call you along with a comfortable time/date so that we can schedule something this week! I am PST, and free generally after 3 pm! I do have other obligations so that is not set in stone, but I will do my best to circumvent it and respond to all questions/requests for tutoring.
Please hedge your expectations as I am not a professional tutor and will most likely deviate in some areas regarding their assistance! Good luck to all!
