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a9wells879

Joined: Apr 2025
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General · Post Your Questions about Essays

a9wells879

Monday, Aug 03 2015

@davidbusis895.busis Hi David, I hope you are still answering questions. I didn't see an answer to this in the PS course, but I haven't finished it yet, so please link info if it's relevant.

I want to write about when, as a disaster volunteer, I broke the rules and used funds from my expense account to help a victim of a major disaster. For various policy reasons we couldn't give help her otherwise. She was a single mother of 3 (2/3 autistic children) and I went to the store to buy some formula and diaper for the youngest/ and things like toothpaste, etc.

I like this story, because it's one of the only times I can remember having a major conflict between doing the right thing / following the rules - and use this to talk about law and ethics and how that's I'm interested in studying the overlap/ and non-overlap of the two.

BUT, is it a bad idea to talk about breaking the rules (at all) in a law school personal statement?

Thanks!

General · Combating Burnout

a9wells879

Saturday, Jul 04 2015

@a9wells879 Yeah, I think I will consider my options, turn in my applications in September, see what comes around and then decide whether to retake.

I definitely have some decisions to make - but you're right it could work out. That or I study hard for another 4 months, while also filling out apps. Decisions...

General · Combating Burnout

a9wells879

Thursday, Jul 02 2015

@alejoroarios925 apply to law school but forget about the LSAT for a while. Focus on other things that make your life complete and make you happy.

I think this is good advice. I haven't been able to forget the LSAT at all - even after the test / waiting for my score. I think I've taken a break, and I want to get back to studying - but honestly I haven't taken a break at all. The LSAT has still been on my mind even if I haven't actually been studying. I think going outside / NOT thinking about the LSAT would be good for me. Although that seems to be easier said than done. I'm starting a fellowship in September that I'm excited about - but I should look for something fun to do before that - either a relaxed job or volunteering.

Thanks.

General · Combating Burnout

a9wells879

Thursday, Jul 02 2015

@igbodoe249 Solidarity fellow comrade. I read your post and definitely agree all LSAT all the time might not be the best plan - I'm sorry to hear that the real LSAT didn't go as planned for you either. Mental health is definitely essential to LSAT prep - it's as much about being in a calm and rational mental state as it is about studying the test itself. Like I said, my mental state was as good as it could be during the test. There were just a few kinks that I hit - and I think the only way through that is practice via group BR and review of the fundamentals - until it's second nature and I don't feel as pressed for time.

I guess doing a bit of LSAT each week, not a lot - may help re-condition my brain that studying LSAT does not equal unbearable amounts of stress and pain. Which is about where I'm at right now.

General

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Thursday, Jul 02 2015

a9wells879

Combating Burnout

Ah, the fallout of the June 2015. Brutal fights won and lost by 7Sage soldiers, but still - so many slain egos lay on the battlefield.

Mine included. (Which may turn out to be a very beneficial learning experience - but that is not today's topic.)

I scored a 169 - the low of my range (168-173), but not the score I wanted. I am grateful that I work well under testing conditions, but I still felt miserable after the test, and even worse after receiving my score. Despite praise from friends and family from the outside world - as I scored in the 97th percentile. They can't understand that for me, a 169 instead of a 175, or even a 172 means I can't go to the law school I want to attend, and even if I scrape by admissions, I won't be able to attend without scholarship. I am a splitter with a very low GPA.

So - to retake or not to retake? The obvious answer for most would be yes, retake. But I am so burntout from studying that it is hard to pick up the Trainer or open lessons on 7Sage without immediately putting it down/ closing browser windows again.

So if I don't retake, I resign myself to a regional school that I don't really want to attend. Again, the obvious answer would be to retake. Even if I do go to a regional school - a higher LSAT score can only help with scholarships.

So the issue - how do I get over burnout? And how do I prevent it from happening again?

General · PT 50--beginning of the major changes?

a9wells879

Thursday, Jun 18 2015

woohoo! good job. Different is a good way to put it - the LSAT is still very consistent, despite it's changes. I feel that 65+ have more content changes, some unfamiliar question stems, etc. It's similar to what happens in the 50s, but maybe a bit more dramatic (by LSAT standards, which isn't much) You still use the same skills, but it takes awhile to become familiar with the newest tests.

That being said, I also enjoy the latest tests the most. The writing is much more clear and you feel much more satisfied with the correct answer choices and during blind review. Unlike some of the low 30s tests where some LR questions make me quite angry, even after learning the correct answer. lol.

But I stand by what I said, give yourself ample time before your test to mix in the newer tests, at minimum 2 weeks, but it would be better to give yourself a month to spend lots of time doing BR.

General · Is it true that law schools may not accept me if I graduate next August?

a9wells879

Wednesday, Jun 17 2015

As both @974 and @tjyim349 stated, it shouldn't be a problem as long as you complete undergrad before the day law school starts. The only issue I see would be with your GPA, because that won't be available until very soon before school starts. You might gain conditional acceptance based upon grades from your summer classes.

But, why do you have to go to law school immediately after undergrad? Law school is hard, and burnout is very real - especially if you only have a few weeks break between undergrad and law school. You say you can't afford not to go, but can you afford to rush into an amazingly expensive law school program without fully considering it? I'm not saying you haven't, but taking a year off to get everything in order isn't the worst thing that could happen. In fact, it could be the best thing. Just my 2 cents from my own experiences.

General · PT 50--beginning of the major changes?

a9wells879

Wednesday, Jun 17 2015

Yes - as both @dzhai218191 and @2543.hopkins stated, there are differences. From 50+ and then starting from 65+, there is another shift. For the 65+ shift - there are more strengthen questions that you have to approach as basically necessary assumption questions (strengthens but only marginally). More logically complete the blank questions.

It's mainly hard because your brain will go, "what?!" when it sees the new types of questions. The differences are subtle but enough to trip you up because you've been studying other questions for a long time.

Make sure to give yourself PLENTY OF TIME for the 65+ tests - to study them well, because it will take at least two weeks - I would say give it a month before your test - to understand and BR them to get a better understanding of the newer tests.

General · Feel like I bombed..

a9wells879

Tuesday, Jun 09 2015

lol. TOTALLY. I was so comforted to see your and J.Y. posts. It helped me calm down a bit.

But yes, despite the intense feelings life does go on. Which is a good thing. Otherwise I could be mad at myself forever for running out of time on RC and 1 LR. ugh. The LSAT is so brutal.

General · I think I f***ed up and I want to cancel

a9wells879

Tuesday, Jun 09 2015

Thanks for this. How do you get inside our heads J.Y.?

General · Feel like I bombed..

a9wells879

Tuesday, Jun 09 2015

I feel the exact same way. Nice to know I'm not the only one - but I also feel bad that other people feel like that too, because it's a sucky feeling. I totally felt like I bombed. RC and LR hit me hard. I ran out of time on both which doesn't happen on other PTs. :(

And I just found out from TLS the LG section I CRUSHED was experimental. :/

General · How can you tell if you did well?

a9wells879

Tuesday, Jun 09 2015

You probably did about average your past three test scores plus/minus three points. That is especially true if you don't feel like you F'd up majorly.

Now onto the waiting....

* A good method that I found while searching around the web asking this question is to think about how each section went / and how well you normally do on a good vs bad day. SO for me LG went meh. Probably a -4 on a bad day / -2 on a good day. Do this with all sections and you will end up with your score range - then you can compare that to past curves and see generally what you'd get.

Study Groups · BR Groups: **

a9wells879

Sunday, May 24 2015

@a9wells879 Yes. I totally meant Wednesday for 71.

Study Groups · BR Groups: **

a9wells879

Sunday, May 24 2015

@a9wells879 PERFECT! yay. OK see you tues**. I may be joining you for Thurs and Fri review of 68 and 69 as well.

**JK. Wednesday for 71.

Study Groups · BR Groups: **

a9wells879

Sunday, May 24 2015

@a9wells879 oops replied to your post a week late. I see that you are doing PT 72 review this Tuesday.

Study Groups · BR Groups: **

a9wells879

Sunday, May 24 2015

@a9wells879 Hi, I can take 71 on Monday as well. Can you review that Wednesday? Do you want to do 4pm PST?

LSAT · I keep missing a very specific question type

a9wells879

Monday, May 18 2015

The best strategy for me - is when you are reading the passage - mark (underline, circle, whatever) words or phrases that indicate author opinion.

E.G. "This innovative and remarkable hypothesis" "These thick-headed critics" "This surprising but useful" etc.

They might be subtle, but once you start looking for them and marking them, you should have a much better handle once you get to these questions - and you won't have to spend the time during the question to reread the passage looking for those markers.

Study Groups · LSATurday: PT62 BR *TONIGHT* 7pm EST

a9wells879

Saturday, May 16 2015

*meow*

That wasn't my cat.

General · Huge Drop in Score

a9wells879

Saturday, May 16 2015

@danielznelson160 Please use this as a learning experience!! It's a great one. It hasn't happened to me so extremely but I think those tests - we are just unlucky enough that they expose all of our weaknesses. SO save this test, go through questions, find the mistakes you made, and retake it at least twice after redoing BR - writing out reasoning for questions - so you can find out what happened.

It MAY just have been a fluke, but why waste a potentially amazing test that let's you know what so many of your weaknesses are? Because those questions definitely do not show on every test.

LSAT · Causation

a9wells879

Saturday, May 16 2015

Hrmm...what do you mean when you say you think the correct answer is the alt cause one?

A more general (and hopefully more helpful) approach is 2-step.

1. Recognize that the argument is using causation. a and b (a correlation), therefore a causes b, for example.

2. look for an answer choice that challenges that logic. it's true that there is the alt cause theory.

C caused a and b. But it could also be b caused a OR no relationship.

so definitely memorize those, but also use what you know about breaking bonds between the premise and conclusion to help you. But once you identify the argument as causation - you have a leg up in getting the right answer. Sometimes - to make it easy for me - I will actually write out F then G | F causes G next to the stimulus and compare that to AC's to help me find something that weakens the link.

General · What list of questions do you ask when going through RC?

a9wells879

Friday, May 15 2015

@2543.hopkins LOL. Yes we were talking about indicators. But more so how you want to use the same scrutiny you have with LG indicators as you do for LR.

As for RC - I don't know how much is applicable. In general, it's useful to search for indicators for AO - which you do already. Otherwise, as @igbodoe249 might remember, looking for indicators as a significant shift in opinion and marking that. Also using it to look for cause - effect relationships / background etc.

I think your questions are good though.

General · T's Progress Journal

a9wells879

Monday, May 04 2015

@a9wells879 Sound good! Except when you say:

>It seems that you both think it would be beneficial to just take 1-35 as PT's rather than buy >the grouped question packets from these tests.

It's beneficial to do both. You can take the test in it's entirety to work on stamina and timing - 4 different sections with different types of questions - but do problem sets from these get better at types of reasoning for different types of questions.

You should approach them differently - 1-35 are practice only - do drills from these, look at passages, do time them, but don't worry so much about being exact - Just work to understand everything about them.

36-74 you should take more seriously - treat each of them like the real thing - use an analog watch and proctor. Don't bubble in answers if time runs out - and the use the BR method.

I think you will see the difference in methods change as you get closer to that. But for now focus on lessons and such - and you will adapt/ adjust studying as you go forward.

General · Forum Awards - Chattels for Chatterboxes

a9wells879

Monday, May 04 2015

@nlkhamis275.hopkins You've got new competition now! lol.

But congrats! Glad to have your advice and such on the forums.

General · T's Progress Journal

a9wells879

Saturday, May 02 2015

@a9wells879 Hey - I have been doing this for almost a year now - but that's not what I expected. Good on you to take your time with the test.

DO NOT take a PT every two weeks at first. Despite how much you might want to/ are impatient to see how you're doing. You can take one of PT 1-35 if you really want the experience, but nothing beyond that.

Start out with 7Sage - do the whole curriculum. AND get the Trainer. Use the Trainer to supplement ideas you're having trouble with.

Then after about three months if you're done with that. You can take one PT.

After that BR like crazy, then go back to both curriculums and redo what you find challenging/ don't fully understand. Once you have the basics down, then you can move on to PT 36+ (probably after about 5 months.)

If you really want to take PTs - they should be 1-35 ONLY.

This is how I would have done it if I knew how much time it would take. After all of that I would start on PTs and group BR. I would include retakes as well of tests that you had a lot of trouble with.

This is the same advice you will find on 7Sage (telling you to finish the curriculum before PTs) - so it's nothing new, but I hope it helps to remind you to actually follow that advice. (because I didn't).

Take your time and let the ideas sink in. Honestly, I think time is part of the equation for a high score.

The only benefit to doing some of the 55+ tests are to see what the questions are like, because they do change a lot. But if you save 6 months or so before the actual test to do all the PTs - you will have at least 2 months dedicated to that new material so that should be enough.

Study Groups · Group Blind Review via Skype- Saturday 4/25 7 PM (EST) - PT 56

a9wells879

Thursday, Apr 30 2015

@igbodoe249 alright that makes sense. Yes, C is definitely too strong - not something that is actually talked about in the argument either. For me - the main issue I saw was the difference between context and manner. But I see now how the context would strengthen - seal the argument, whereas the manner is necessary. So my logic still holds - glad to know why C is wrong though.