Hey everyone,
I'm in the process of firming up my personal statement with the goal of having it submitted at the beginning of Jan. I've gone through a few drafts, but have settled on something that I like. I've had a number of friends and family review it, but would love to get some feedback from someone who doesn't know me personally.
Is there anyone that would be interested in a statement swap or providing me some feedback on my statement?
Thanks in advance.
Congratulations to everyone who wrote yesterday. Hopefully you’re all enjoying some hard earned time off.
I’m looking for a bit of guidance on how to handle what felt like a BAD write yesterday. December was the last admissible write for my only school option next year (extenuating circumstances preventing me from studying elsewhere). I’m applying with a splitter GPA that would require a 167/168+ for admittance next year. They also average scores, so a low score stays with me. If I don’t start next cycle, I’ll be upgrading classes to boost my gpa for 2019.
PT average has been in the 172-175 range for 40 plus PTs. Lowest write in 2 plus months was a 168.
Yesterday’s Test:
RC - Felt good while writing, but I’ve had a fair bit of RC variability in writing recently ranging from -1 to -5. This felt like a strong section, so I’d hope for something at the bottom end of that.
LR1 - Total blur. I had to guess on a minimum of one question and was rushed on 3-4. As a whole I don’t feel very confident about this section. LR has traditionally been my strongest section with a -1.5 average, but I feel like this could have been anywhere from -3 to -8.
LG - Felt good on three games, but fear I may have misdiagrammed one. Guessed on two due to time. I’m thinking -5+.
LR2 - Felt like a normal LR section, but it’s tough to say.
I have no idea what to make of my potential score. Mt best guesses are ranging between -12/13 if I performed better than expect on the LR1 to -20.
Options:
If I cancel and rewrite, I’m pushing myself into the next admissions cycle and upgrading. I strongly feel that I could perform better on a second write, but the prospect of setting everything back a year is far from ideal.
Chance it on this test/cycle and risk a low score that requires a higher GPA requirement subsequently.
TL;DR
How reliable an indicator is feeling like you bombed the exam the day after the test?
What would you do?
@pcainti665 said:
Hmm. Based on what everyone is saying it feels like the curve might end up being kind of high. Remember last time we grossly underestimated the curve -> most of the 7Sagers said it was going to be like a -9 and it turned out to be a -12.
A lot of people are conceding that the games were hard..and tbh a lot of people I know that are high scorers..
I'm thinking the curve will be a minimum -12. But maybe it wouldn't be crazy to think a -13 or -14 could happen.
As much as I'd love to see that, my guess is a - 11 curve. RC was easier than recent tests, LG was moderate and LR was standard.
RC/LR/LG/LG/LR here.
RC felt pretty straightforward. I'm guessing 1/2 wrong.
No clue on the first LR. I typically range between 0-2 wrong on LR, but I guessed on a minimum of two on that section and didn't feel very confident in my other answers.
Both LG were tight on time and resulted in a couple guesses at the end.
Second LR felt normal and I finished with plenty of time.
All things considered, I definitely underperformed today. The first LR (Caligula) could be anywhere between - 2 and - 8/9. Pretty dissaponted, as LR had always been my strongest section.
Thanks for all the responses. Collectively, you're telling me what I think I needed to hear.
I'm going to take at least 2 days off and let me mind rest up. I'll most likely do a few repeat game sections on Thursday and maybe an RC passage or two. Beyond that, I'll finalize my "warm-up" material for Saturday and focus on getting as much sleep as I can.
Thanks for the response. That's the direction I'm leaning at this point. I haven't taken more than 2 days off PTing since August, but it seems like it might be the best option.
My biggest concern with that approach is that I'm going into the exam with my confidence at a low point as compared to where I've been in past. That said, continuing to struggle is going to exasperate that, so I may be better off cutting my losses.
Well, it's official. I'm burnout in my final week.
Over the last 3.5 months, I've written an average of 4-6 PTs a week, with that number having increased towards the 6 figure over the past month. My PT average over the last 2 months has been ~175, but the last few weeks have been a real kick in the confidence. My last 7 PTs have been a 168/170/175/174/176/173/173. Eliminating the 168 outlier, they're objectively not that far off, but subjectively, they've been the worst exams I'm written in 2+ months. I'm having trouble focusing (both cognitively, but also in terms of vision) and I'm running out of time on sections that I was comfortably completing in 32-33 minutes a month ago. In past, my distribution of incorrect answers by section was relatively even, but recently it seems to manifest in a blowup on one section (-5/-6 + on one section).
The stress has been getting to me and I'm consistently waking up after ~2 hours of sleep and rarely able to get back to sleep after. All things considered, I'd say I've been averaging ~3 hours of sleep a night, and not for a lack of trying. I'm always waking up with dreams of logic games or a tough RC passage. The lack of sleep is definitely impacting my ability to "cope" with tough sections/questions and my nerves are shot.
I'm trying to determine the best way to get back on track. Priority # 1 is to get some sleep. Lots of sleep. And then some more sleep. There's a large part of me that's inclined to sit back and take the next four days off. Alternatively, I've considered 2 days off, a final PT on Thursday and then1 day off.
For those that have been burned out in past, how significantly did it impact your ability to focus? What kind of drop did you see in PTs? How did you manage it?
I would second the increase in principle questions. Did you notice a different in RC?
For the sake of illustration, I grabbed a 2 randomized RC samples from PT C and PT A and did them this evening. Both were completed in 32 minutes with -0. I'm having a tough time reconciling a -8 on RC this morning (worst ever by a SIGNIFICANT margin) with those scores.
To play the devils advocate, my experimental this morning was the RC from 72 and I went -2 on it. Maybe the RC in 74 just didn't line up for some reason....
Thanks for your response. The insight is greatly appreciated.
I certainly agree that burnout is playing a significant factor. At this juncture, my study schedule involves a 2 day break over the weekend preceding the exam along with a 2 day break before the exam itself. That said, it also involves another 9 PTs during before the exam itself.
LSAT studying has been my "full-time" job since the beginning of August, so I've averaged 5-6 PTs a week during that period. For the first couple months, I was reusing a randomized games section for my experimental, but starting in November I began to cannibalize every 5th exam to ensure I was using new material. As a result, I did the equivalent of 7.5 full PTs last week (6 4-section PTs with another 1.5 in experimental sections), with a 1-day break before starting again today. Clearly too much....
Do you feel the "differences" in RC and LG above 70 merit doing all 9 exams?
Hey everyone,
Short term lurker, first time poster.
I've been self studying for the December LSAT for around 4 months and have progressively worked my way through almost all of the available PTs.
At this point, I've written tests 1-71 and 74. 72 and 73 are being divided up to serve as experimental sections for the remainder of my PTs before the 2nd.
Starting in the 40s, my PTs have consistently ranged between 173-177, with the majority falling in the 174-176 range. A typical distribution would be -3 combined on LR, -0 to -2 on games and -2 on RC.
Unfortunately my last few PTs have taken a bit of a nosedive, with a 171 on PT 71 (-2LR/-5LG/-6RC) and a 168 on PT 74 (-3LR/-3LG/-8RC). The two scores have been my lowest two PTs in ~2 months. I suspect that the combination of stress and fatigue is creeping in. I haven't been sleeping much over the last week, as I'm consistently dreaming about LGs that I've fabricated, but can't solve. It doesn't seem like my mind has been considerate enough to also create a corresponding answer to the questions, so I'm stuck in CBT limbo on an imaginary sequencing or grouping game at 3 AM.
My LR scores have stayed relatively consistent, but my RC scores have taken a major drop on my last two PTs. I've also struggled to complete game sections within 35, whereas in past I was consistently finishing them in 32-33 minutes. The RC sections in the 70s "feel" tougher to me, but I'm also making mistakes that wouldn't have happened previously IMHO.
Long story short, I'd appreciate everyones insight on what I should make of the last couple of PTs. I feel that burnout is contributing, but the major drop is RC was a shock that corresponds with when many people claim that RC sections became tougher.
Thanks for your help.
I suppose we’ll see. I’m fairly confident that I made a diagramming error in game 4 that could cost me the whole section. Can’t remember how many questions there were, but that could inflate my LG misses.
As a whole, I’m just disappointed in my performance. I don’t remember a thing from one of my LR sections, but I know I wasn’t engaged with the questions at all. Really feeling like I dropped the ball there and have no idea how it went.