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amymaysanderson866
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I don't really have anyone knowledgeable in my life to talk to about this, so I am hoping for some of y'alls advice regarding withdrawing from the Dec LSAT and waiting a year to apply.

To begin, I had my heart set on going to law school during Fall 2018. I made this decision this May, however, which gave me only 4ish months to study for the September LSAT. I took it and got a 161, which was below my PT averages by about 5-6 points. I am set on attending a top 20 school, but I know with my score chances are slim (my GPA is 3.8), especially since I need scholarship considerations. Between September and now I didn't have too much time to study because of busy season with my job, and so I don't feel prepared enough to get a 170+ and conquer this next test. I don't feel that I have reached my full potential at all. A part of me wants to say "YOLO" and take the test on Saturday and hope for the best, but the more rational side says its probably not a good idea. If I wait, I would take the test in June. It feels very far away. Also, I feel like just having two test scores is better than 3 if I took it and did poorly on Saturday. I could also just settle and go to a non-top 20 school, but I don't really want to do that.

After writing this above paragraph it seems pretty obvious that I should wait a year lol.

However, some of my other considerations are that if I wait until next year to apply, I'm going to be 29 when I graduate!! That seems like such an awkward/old age? Not young enough to be a fresh grad but not old enough to have a ton of experience, so it it feels like a bad age for hiring prospects. It also feels like my whole life is being delayed even longer, which is one of my bigger issues. I would have to figure out what I'm going to do until Fall 2019, but at this moment it feels like over a year and a half of waiting until I get to go to school.

Another question I have is regarding my recommendation letters. I already obtained the two I was planning on using for applications, but can I just keep them on hold until October of next year? That's basically letting them sit for 10 months... Do I have to ask my professors to re-write the letters?

I also received a substantial number of fee waivers for applications. I understand that these will "expire," but will schools offer these to me again in the next cycle, with my June score? I am not so affluent and these are very important to me.

Sorry for the long post and tons of questions. I think deep down I just want someone to tell me it's gonna be ok T_T Also I need to make this huge decision by Friday in order to withdraw.

TL;DR: Don't feel prepared to take LSAT on Saturday, is it ok to wait a year even though it feels like delaying my life? + other questions

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amymaysanderson866
Wednesday, May 29 2019

@

Yep, starting this fall as well! :)

edit: Whoops pressed enter too early!

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Monday, Nov 27 2017

amymaysanderson866

Question regarding "My Notes"

Hello! My 7Sage course is going to expire after the December test day, which is hopefully going to be a permanent situation cause we're all gonna rock the LSAT!

Anyway, I was wondering if "My Notes" also get deleted/cleared when the course expires? Cause I did take a bunch of notes and I was hoping to keep them.

Thanks in advance for your knowledge!

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, May 27 2019

Congratulations!! Your post makes me wish I got the consulting package haha, what a great review. See you at UCI :)

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Friday, Aug 25 2017

amymaysanderson866

Watches that don't tick loudly

Hello! I've been practicing timing with a Timex watch but I find that the seconds hand ticks waaaay too loudly for my peace of mind. I can usually zone it out but I'd rather not have to focus on doing that. My current watch also lacks a bezel so I want to rectify that situation as well. I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation on a watch (with a bezel) where the seconds hand doesn't tick loudly? Preferably silently? Trying not to spend too much $ here but also want a solid watch for test day. I also don't care if it's a men's or women's watch, how it looks doesn't really matter to me as long as the face/numbers/hands are clear.

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Jul 23 2018

I'm so glad you asked this, I realized I had the same issue today!! My other issue is that I cut off a foot of my hair since my last pic, but figured I could just say I got a haircut (it's still just below my shoulders!) and I think otherwise it's obviously me :neutral:

I think (HOPE) we'll be just fine :smile:

Good luck tomorrow!

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Oct 22 2018

@

Any school that discounts your creativity out of hand just isn't someplace you will thrive

I think that is such a great point! Thank you for your thoughts.

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Thursday, Jun 21 2018

amymaysanderson866

PT72.S3.Q7 - In one study hospital patients' immune system

I'm not sure if this is the correct place? Are we allowed to ask questions about individual questions? If it's not allowed (sorry!) let me know and I will delete this thread, or someone can take appropriate action.

Assuming this is all kosher, I don't understand why the answer is A for this question. This was one of those questions where I thought all of the answer choices seemed wrong--I was stuck between B and D, and didn't even consider A. I ruled out A because I thought the stimulus was talking about a hypothetical situation where the patients with a greater tendency to laugh weren't laughing a lot, so why would the answer be that it doesn't take into account that they laughed more?

Is A correct because when people, whose tendencies to laugh are greater, "laugh a little" they laugh MORE than other patients who laugh a greater amount than usual, but still less than the laughy people laughing less? (I thought this greater amount meant that they were laughing more than the people who have the tendency to laugh more. Is it that they are laughing a greater amount than they usually laugh? If so then I guess I understand A...)

Sorry this isn't super succinct but I am hella confused, any help would be appreciated!

Admin note: edited title

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-72-section-3-question-07/

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amymaysanderson866
Thursday, Jul 19 2018

Like @ I'm also planning on taking PT84 tomorrow! I'll be reviewing that on Friday, and then the weekend just chill out and go to the beach, maybe watch some shows or a movie in the evening, and going to bed early. I suppose I'll lightly go over some LR and a couple of those strange games they throw out, the one on PT79 got me good so I'll foolproof that as well.

Weekend plans also include drinking lots of water so I'm hydrated on Monday and won't be so thirsty during the test.

Monday morning I'll eat a light breakfast, and maybe go sit at the beach for a little to stay calm, but then head to the test center!

What are you all planning on eating for breakfast?

Also, congrats @ on getting married later next week! At least you won't have to worry about the test while you're getting married lol!

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amymaysanderson866
Thursday, Jul 19 2018

I agree with @ , go with whichever you identify the most with.

That being said, while technically the Philippines are in the Pacific, lots of my friends are Filipino/part Filipino, and they consider themselves to be Asian generally (Southeast Asian). I'm no expert, but being from Hawaii, I think Pacific Islanders generally categorizes/means Polynesians, people who originated from within the Polynesian triangle (e.g., Samoa, Tonga, native Hawaiian, New Zealand, Easter Island, etc.). I'm half Japanese, and Japan is technically Pacific islands, but I definitely wouldn't consider myself a Pacific Islander. Of course, Japan's situation is very different from the Philippines but I digress...

It's a complicated issue and it's tough that we (especially halfies/mixed race folks) have to sometimes "choose" one ethnicity/race over the other when there isn't an option to indicate "two or more." I remember when I was applying for my undergrad, the SAT or CommonApp or something only let us choose one race and I had a mini crisis about my identity, since I identify strongly as mixed race/both! The LSAT at least lets us choose multiple, which is nice.

Anyway sorry for rambling, good luck choosing!

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amymaysanderson866
Thursday, Oct 18 2018

@

Thank you for your input! I don't think it's too flashy, so hopefully I won't have to change much. I'm so relieved!

@

Hiii :) What was your UG or field of work?

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Wednesday, Oct 17 2018

amymaysanderson866

Is it ok to have a beautiful résumé?

Hello! Sorry, I feel like I've had a zillion questions these past few days but you all are seriously the best at answering them.

Anyway to preface my question, my undergraduate degree is in design so it's kind of a requirement in the field that my résumé is relatively beautiful. I have a two column resume with light bronze headers (at minimum I might change these to black) and the typefaces used are all sans serif. With that being said, looking at the example here: https://classic.7sage.com/admissions/lesson/sample-resume/ this is a very standard, non-designed résumé and looks not at all like mine. Law is (obviously) a totally different field from my background, so I was wondering if I should revert my résumé to this format.

On one hand, I like my résumé. It's well spaced, easy to read, nice looking, and a reflection of my design background. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it's too unconventional for the admissions officers (mine is pretty conservative in my opinion, some people have sweet logos or their name in gigantic font or weird but cool alignment with their columns).

Also a side question, does anyone know if they print out our applications or look at them on the computer?

Anyway I welcome your opinions! As always, thank you for your time!

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amymaysanderson866
Wednesday, Oct 17 2018

@

Right? I had to stop looking at his desk because it made me nervous lol. Definitely a baller move like @ said. I almost wanted to give him a couple of my pencils since I clearly brought too many!

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amymaysanderson866
Wednesday, Oct 17 2018

@ @ @

Thank you all for your responses! I'll get to revising those, and will definitely ask someone not from the region read it over for some feedback. :)

Leah I saw your PS swap thread so maybe I'll join that once it's ready!

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Monday, Oct 15 2018

amymaysanderson866

Using non-English words in PS

Hello! I'm revising my PS currently and am wondering about using non-English words in the essay, as well as more technical words vs "common" words. For example, using "Pipipi snail" instead of "black nerite." Even then, should I just say "sea snail?" Or another example, using "a'a" or "basalt" vs "lava rock." I assume everyone knows what basalt is, but then again, maybe not! I know they're smart people, but I'm not sure how much knowledge I should assume the readers should have. It's part of my upbringing and general knowledge to use these words, and I feel it's more authentically myself to use the words I've used, but I'm paranoid they won't know what I'm talking about so should I use simpler words for the admission's officers clarity? Thanks for any help!

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Oct 15 2018

I used about two pencils per section! I brought 12 pencils I think to the July LSAT, and sharpened the ones I used during the break. I love a sharp tip, and my pencils were actually 2B not HB so they are a bit softer. There's definitely something refreshing about switching pencils.

I was SO scared for and a little impressed by the boldness of a fellow test taker---as we were sitting and waiting for the test, all he had was ONE pencil on his desk and no sharpener! Talk about utter faith in a pencil, I should've asked what brand it was.

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Oct 15 2018

@

Thanks for your definitive response!! I appreciate it :)

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amymaysanderson866
Sunday, Jul 15 2018

When I first started studying for the LSAT I was in your position, I had already bought ALL of the PTs and also the Powerscore Bibles, so I just went with the Starter. I think it was the best choice for me. Of course, it would have been awesome to have the explanations to PT questions, but the price just didn't make sense for only two months of use. However, if price isn't an issue for you, I would go with Ultimate.

If like me you are a little more price conscious, go with Starter, finish the CC, do some PTs, and most importantly, BR. I think with your own dedication and mindfulness of the materials, you don't necessarily need Ultimate/Ultimate+, especially for only two months. If you later decide to take the LSAT again (hopefully not!!!), maybe then switch or upgrade to Ultimate. That's what I wish I had done in hindsight since I took in September and am retaking in about a week for July, eek.

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amymaysanderson866
Sunday, Jul 15 2018

Memorandum

Law School, Demystified

180 Blog

Helpy

Law School Squad

7Sage Squad

All In Favor

99th Percentile

I'm not the best namer, my angel fish's name was Angel and my guinea pig was named Piggy... good luck!!

I think "Sage Advice" is brilliant, as suggested by @

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amymaysanderson866
Friday, Jul 13 2018

I have been having RC fluctuation problem as well ): I’ll go from -6 to -1 then back down and up again, I don’t understand!! Its usually arts passages that get me though. I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread for advice as well!

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amymaysanderson866
Friday, Oct 12 2018

Hello! Sorry to tack on to this thread, but I also had a UG Merit Scholarship but it was just a half tuition (basically). Should I just put

(My UG, not to be confused with US Presidential Scholar, I wish I was that cool...)

UG Presidential Scholar - Merit scholarship for academic excellence

?

Additionally, would I also put this in the "Awards" section that many of the applications have?

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Jul 09 2018

@

Hahaha I can't even go on facebook anymore, it makes me so mad! So many awful arguments everywhere. Maybe that's more of a reflection of who my facebook friends are, though! I do suppose seeing the LSAT everywhere good while we prep, it's like we're always pumping our lawgic brain muscles.

@

Great analysis! I definitely agree with that, it's too early to like you said clear out all the young players before they even hit their full potential. I think even a non-peak Lebron is still going to be an amazing player and great mentor for players in years to come, not that I think he's going to be on the decline anytime soon.

With that being said, I'm conflicted because I don't want the Lakers to win but I don't want people to forever doubt the greatness of Lebron if they lose!

@

Amen!

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Jul 09 2018

When I first started studying for the LSAT, I wasn't as good at breaking it down so I definitely started with my intuition, and I was often wrong. However, as I went through BR I started breaking down the arguments, which in turn helped my own understanding of argument structures. So these days as we approach the July LSAT, it just seems clear what is what, intuitively.

I think the more people study and do questions, the better they get at figuring out their style of tackling arguments. Like JY says, though, I definitely think it's of utmost importance to be able to identify conclusions/premises, so it should figure in somewhere there!

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Jan 07 2019

@

Seriously the worst! Especially cause I'm huge into tabs so all my tabs go away also... I think with each app (which I had 17...) I had to restart the browser at least once per session which ended up being too many times.

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Jan 07 2019

@

I hope it's been easier the second time around, although there's not much you can do about the LSAC website being a hassle (AND a hustle amirite). Congrats on getting those first few in, and good luck getting the rest done :)

@

Thank you!

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amymaysanderson866
Monday, Jan 07 2019

Hi all! I know I don't comment a lot but I've always been lurking and appreciating you all (3 I really appreciate this admissions thread since for the most part we're no longer LSATers (huzzah!) and I've been mostly going to reddit for admissions info, but I don't feel like I know em like I kinda know y'all.(/p)

Anyway I have a silly story, I generally don't look at the status checkers because I figure they'll email me anyway once the decision is made, but after not hearing from anywhere for a couple of weeks (during the holidays) I HAD to check to see what was going on, and saw that I had gotten into Irvine without even knowing. This was 12/28 or so. Yay!

However, I hadn't received an admit email despite the decision date being 12/21... I finally started freaking out today and even looked up the definition of "admitted" to make sure it didn't mean "denied" (talk about how the waiting is making me go slightly insane...). For whatever reason I didn't think of this earlier but I went into my trash folder and searched "Irvine," turns out I accidentally deleted the email with 20 other random law school marketing emails because the subject was just "Let Me Be the First to Congratulate You" from the dean and I thought it was yet another congrats email re: taking the LSAT lol :neutral:

Tldr: I'm an idiot and deleted my admit email and psyched myself out, let it be a lesson to be thorough when you're deleting those marketing emails from random schools.

Hope this cycle is going well for you all! I am still waiting to hear from 10-12 schools, but so far am 5/5 which has been a pleasant surprise. It will be sad if those T14 rejections all hit me at once though :neutral: but still hoping for the best!

Congrats @ on Iowa!!

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amymaysanderson866
Friday, Jul 06 2018

@

Hah! Good point, it’s easy to forget that sometimes. It would be nice to space out reading Instagram posts once in a while and leave the lsat out of my mind, though. Can’t get a break!

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amymaysanderson866
Tuesday, Nov 06 2018

I tested in a hotel and it was really nice! It was also a really nice hotel. They had complimentary water and glasses outside of the testing room, and the conference room was nice, spacious, and had great desks. If you're worried about desk size you could even give the hotel a call beforehand, I did and they told me the dimensions of the table haha! Additionally if you want (and depending on the hotel), you could tip the concierge and I'm sure they would keep your phone for you. I'm low on funds so I didn't do that but concierges are seriously the most helpful people.

I also lived about 15 minutes away from my hotel test center, I was a little worried about traffic cause it was in a touristy area, so I got there REALLY early, about an hour or so early just in case! There were some people who almost didn't make it into the test because they cut it too close and couldn't find parking and delayed the test start by 10 minutes... So if there's any concern about weather/parking/whatever just leave super early is my advice!

edit: Also if you're so close, why not save the money and sleep in your own bed that you're used to instead of risking a possibly uncomfortable hotel experience?

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amymaysanderson866
Tuesday, Nov 06 2018

@

Do you drink water while you PT? I don't think being SO thirsty should be an issue, as long as (like others have said) you hydrate the day/week before and maybe a bit in the morning.

I hardly had time to take a few deep breaths and center myself between sections and remember to turn my watch bezel, I couldn't imagine trying to unscrew/open a top from a water bottle, taking a sip, closing it, and putting it back PLUS feeling anxious from risking breaking the rules of not having things on your desk besides pencils/watch.

I would say don't risk trying to drink water, drink just a little during the break but not enough that you'll have to pee.

I really doubt thirst will become that distracting unless you're really dehydrated. In the moment of the test all of your focus is on getting the right answers and staying on track with time. To me, the test flew by because of the intensity of focus!

I was lazily scrolling through NBA instagram while procrastinating my BR and what with all of the free agency rumors and team changes going on, I noticed MANY conditional statements throughout as well as some slightly convoluted arguments/hypotheses.

Here are a few of the best ones I found that I wanted to share with you all, as proof that the LSAT invades every aspect of our lives!! Feel free to work out the logic translations if you want to. Hopefully some NBA fans (and maybe even non-fans) can find some enjoyment from this.

Starting off simple:

https://imgur.com/lV6xKH6

Regarding trading Kawhi Leonard to the Lakers:

https://imgur.com/BWkzld6

same post comments, continued

https://imgur.com/clB4D0I

Argument regarding what the Celtics should do to compete with GSW:

https://imgur.com/2uEUEzx

My favorite:

https://imgur.com/XqbkOqO

People are upset:

https://imgur.com/B1zCwvK

I'm also happy to explain/give more context to anyone who is curious about what in the world is going on.

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amymaysanderson866
Friday, Jul 06 2018

@

OMG I just looked in my drafts and realized I didn't post my comment from when you replied T_T I'm so sorry, you are SO appreciated and thank you so much for taking the time to help me.

Here is what I meant to reply to you weeks ago

Wow, thank you so much! You're brilliant! This took a bit for me to process but is much more clear and makes so much more sense than what I was thinking. I'll definitely have to come back to this question again!

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amymaysanderson866
Friday, Jul 06 2018

I have mostly stopped whispering "what the fuck" to myself in my head during RC passages so that's a big win for me! Hoping after the next couple of weeks it'll all be "I GOT THIS" during the July LSAT

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