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dgonzalez134150476

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General · Scoring 170 + on practice lsats?

dgonzalez134150476

Sunday, May 28 2017

A couple things... so I have taken 15 prep tests and scored 3 in the 170's (171 171 and a 172) all full length, bubble sheet, and with the LSAT 5 section proctor from 7sage (so they were fair). with that being said... my average score is 167 and I am bouncing around with my lowest at 162 on a bad day. GPA won't really translate to LSAT scores what so ever. Not sure what your major is, but the only skills that will translate from undergrad in my opinion are your abilities to read quickly, your work ethic, and your vocabulary. Other than that... GPA is not at all representative of how you will perform on an LSAT. It is extremely important to recognize this fact, and not underestimate this test. 7sage recommends a minimum of a year studying and 40 prep tests. Not only do they have empirical data points form all of their users, but from their reputation, and my own personal experience, I would second that advice. I graduated back in December with two degrees, one in mol bio, and the other in chemistry. I'd like to consider myself intelligent and capable of very dense course work, but believe me, the LSAT is a whole different animal. Due to my undergrad work I have spent my senior year on and off studying and I am working for 2 years post graduation specifically to save up money for law school and study for the LSAT (lawyers are not in high demand lately and you should be cautious about loans given the new administration). I will tell you that the LSAT is an easy test to do okay on (low to mid 160s), but extremely hard to master (174+). It took me about 5 months of on and off drills (not the right 7sage way) before I hit my first 171. It wasn't a fluke either because a week later I did it again. Then 2 weeks after that a 172. When you take your tests and study, make sure you are in a place with no distractions. ALWAYS correct every question you miss. To master the LSAT you basically need to re-wire how your brain thinks and it's much harder than you might imagine it to be. I recommend casually working old games you've already done during breaks or lunch. re-read arguments and re-read RC sections to constantly keep your skills sharp. BEAT IT INTO YOUR HEAD. LSAT needs to become a second language to you. Listen to people when they speak and see if you can think of the necessary assumptions they are making and the logic flaws of people you hear talking on the radio. The LSAT is by no means impossible. Be patient, but more importantly never settle for anything but the score you really wanted. I am predicting 175's by december of this year, granted work doesn't get to crazy. TAKE YOUR TIME. The LSAT really is that important. Think of it this way.. if you consider the total tuition cost of a top 20 law school, and consider the 60 points between a 120 and a 180, it translates to costing you around $1,500 per exam score you drop (assuming a 180 could get you a guaranteed full ride offer to a top 20 law school). Good luck!

LSAT

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Monday, Jul 24 2017

dgonzalez134150476

Okay, is the issue reading faster, working more efficiently, drilling more LR or all three?

LR is absolutely smacking me. I have done aprox. 30 PT with the most recent one being Being PT46. On the early PT i was scoring 165-172. But as the pretests started to become more recent, I noted the games seemed to get easier, the reading comp stayed the same but LR got significantly harder. I went from -3 or -4 per LR section to -5 to -9 despite my RC being -3 to -4 and games being no more than -3. Like I find myself struggling to read and understand the arguments on LR fast enough. My blind reviews are consistently above 176. The problem for me is that I can not seem to read the LR stem and understand it fast enough (the hard ones that is), and if If i take the extra time i need to get the right answer, I will usually not be able to finish. Is this a matter of me just reading too slowly? I still finish Reading comp just fine, and with about a minute to spare, or is this a matter of needing more practice with LR? By drilling old LR sections will this potentially increase my speed? Anyone else have ideas how to shore up LR? I mean I still have like 34 more prep tests to go through and blind review, but for the past 4 pretest this issues seems to be the most significant. I take two pretests a week and during the rest of the week blind review and drill old games and reading comp. I have never really went back and drilled LR. Does anyone else have advice?

Admissions · Why law? What's your story?

dgonzalez134150476

Monday, Jan 22 2018

basically was premed, worked in the medical field and saw just how much crap happens behind closed doors and how unnecessarily expensive everything is (lost a parent to malpractice as well). Realized doctors have zero power over the system they work in, and decided I wanted to try to work to reduce costs and limit losses through government policy. My idea how to accomplish this aim is through regulation of medical patents and rethinking how the FDA's guidelines are driving up costs. Working in clinical research really gave me a snap shot of the underbelly of medicine many people are unaware of. My double majors in CHEM and Mol. BIO will serve me well for working in pharma patent law, which after I do for some time I can use to leverage myself into politics.

FYI: plastic bags with distilled water and one gram of table salt for a standard 1% saline IV costs roughly 475 dollars including the 22 dollar needle and plastic tubing. You get one of these almost routinely upon admission as an in-patient and usually require 2-3 for a full stay.

MRI scans usually cost approximately 3-6 thousand dollars with 2700 being the cash negotiated rate. The machine itself costs approximately 1 million dollars but if you do the math the machine usually pays its self off in 4-6 months, while techs (who can have just a certificate not an advanced medical degree) will collect the images themselves. (this does not include what a radiologist or other ordering physician charges to interpret the images)

CT scans: Basically they bombard your body with hundred of X-rays at a time to produce an image with or without injectable contrast. The contrast is incredibly hard on your kidneys and because CT machines are relatively new technology, no one really knows how many people will wind up with cancers form the massive doses of Xray exposure. The medical community kinda just crosses their fingers and hope its less than .001% which would still result in thousands of people developing cancer.

Warfarin vs the New anticoagulants: Warfarin is an anticoagulant which means it keeps your blood from clotting as easily. This is really important for patients at risk for stroke (which is basically determined by a scale that takes into account variables such as age, blood pressure, heart failure act) any way... warfarin is a little bit inconvieninet to take because you need monthly finger pricks to determine if it is working to the correct dose, however it is incredibly effective and warfarin is extremely cheap. The new forms of anticoagulants boast no blood checks, are no more than 1% more effective, but cost roughly 2300% more. (these pills must be taken everyday and a 30 day supply assuming no insurance costs about 400 dollars) AND GUESS WHAT???? Nearly every American above the age 75 usually meets the criteria to be on these suckers. That is if you don't want a stroke....

40 dollars for a hospital administered baby aspirin...

The list goes on and on and.

Admissions · How do you plan on paying for Law School?

dgonzalez134150476

Friday, Aug 18 2017

Honestly, you have 3ish options.

get someone else to pay for it.

Basically this is the best way. Get a rich family member to help you. not so fortunate? then join the struggle bus. Study your ass off and get a 175 on your LSAT. pretty much guaranteed a full ride somewhere. Maybe not a top 15. but if you are will ing to work hard enough, get a 175, and write like 60 essays for private external scholarships... you should be able to go debt free possibly with stipend.

work and pay for it before hand.

I honestly recommend this this strategy combined with strategy one. use your degree and work for 2 years hoarding all your money and studying for the lsat in your evenings. Assuming you can live on 1600 a month and get paid 45k a year, you should have about 30K saved after 2 years and you should be an LSAT GOD after taking every test timed and blind review/ drilling for 2 years. you apply, look awesome with real work experience, have stellar LOR because you planned that shit for 2 years, and you basically get swag points for being a BEAST. Get your 175, collect your scholarship, and wear a smug look on your face every year in law school.

3)work and pay for it afterwards. Avoid this tactic if you have any of the following: Undergrad debt >20K, A terrible LSAT or GPA, Kids, not competitive for a top 50 law school. Basically if you already have debt you'd be foolish to stack 3 more years of living expenses and tuition on top of that gambling that you are going to be in the upper 25% of your class. If you have terrible stats. seriously rethink law school or at least reflect on why you have bad stats. If it's because of laziness or poor decisions, fix those those first, get your LSAT way up and if you have the discipline to get that far, you might stand a chance at getting hired right out and paying back your debt. DO NOT go in to debt unless it is absolutely necessary. Under De-vos they restructured student loans and payment options making them less lenient. The last thing you need is financial trouble while in law school or right afterwards.

In any situation. I recommend being patient. I deliberately chose to work for 2 years prior to law school and aim for scholarships. Debt is the last card I'll play. Be smart about it. No one cares how old you are when you attend or graduate, but that debt and the decisions you make will stay with you all your life.

General · Will It help if I prepare for the LSATs while in Highschool?

dgonzalez134150476

Wednesday, Aug 16 2017

If anything it will hurt you. there are only so many tests and so much practice material, if you exhaust all of those long before your exam you most likely won't do as well as if you just waited till mid sophomore or junior year. BUUUUUUT if you wanted to, practice reading dense material. Make a conscious effort to read quickly and understand it. This will pay dividends on this exam and its a skill you can work on in the years prior. Also, not sure what your major is, but I highly recommend you take some some tough natural science courses or at least try to read on your own for a few reasons. 1) knowing science will help put many of the passages and LR stimuli into context, which in my opinion, is very helpful to understand and quickly parse out structure. Also, a few tough natural sciences may help your transcript look a little more interesting. Good luck!

General · When will the "old" tests not be *AS* worth doing?

dgonzalez134150476

Thursday, Nov 16 2017

more isn't necessarily better. Better is better. In my opinion and from my strategy, I simply started from around exam 20 and just started taking the timed tests, BR and repeat, all the way until I get to the new exams. I took the exams sequentially and I've noticed the changes of the exam, where they add questions, the strategies the test employs. Basically I set a 6 month count down where every week I take a determined number of exams and correct them. I have 6 more exams to go which are the most recent. However a month ago I took exam 81 just to see how I stacked up a month out. Turns out that how I scored on the old exams falls pretty close to how I scored on the new exams. I think taking the tests like this is grueling, but it gives your studying a natural progressive rhythm and you get A TON of data for the analytics which really helps you see where your weaknesses are. Taking 50 exams is not for everyone. If you are poor natural test taker, I highly recommend the repetition because timing becomes automatic, you immediately know when you should skip a question just out of sheer experience, and you have lots of practice actually playing with the questions and noticing the subtleties. I think it's also a good thing to do to prepare yourself for what law school will require from you. Many hours or monotonous work. I think there is definitely an easier way to study for the LSAT, but honestly I no longer have test anxiety simply because I know I will have taken and reviewed every possible question, and for me at least, that brings peace of mind. I also have taken so many exams that I know even on a terrible day, and I have had many, my scores are still well above the median for my top pick school. Having the sheer numbers and data to put me at ease helps me stay calm and gives me confidence. Also, after literally doing everything, I know I won't have any regrets come exam day!

General · Advice

dgonzalez134150476

Tuesday, Nov 14 2017

lsatcantwin is absolutely correct. I've been at this test for about a year and a half now, going to take my first attempt this december. When i started, i was around 148 on my first practice test, now on my worst days I still score in the 160's. It has taken 5 prep books, (MIKE KIM LSAT trainer, POWERSCORE games, Manhattan Prep LR and RC, and 7sage your curriculum) in addition to 50 PT's and hundreds of game and reading comp passage drills, and rescheduling my exam 3 times to get to this point and even now, I am still working until the days before the exam. Hang in there!

General · Feeling discouraged...Recommendations?

dgonzalez134150476

Tuesday, Nov 14 2017

the blind review process at first will make you question everything. But what really does help in the long run is being so familiar with the wrong answer choices you know when you are being played into a trap. When you take the exams you should be moving quickly, trusting your intuition, and not second guessing yourself. The timed exams are really where you practice timing, skipping strategies, and practice keeping collected as you move through the test. Honestly, your prep test scores despite seeming like the whole world at the moment, are only a reflection of how well you have developed the proper habits. Those habits however, are developed through the pain staking blind review process, where you think about why you missed a question and learn what questions are your weakness. You don't have time to diagram every LR question on the exam, but when you take the time to diagram the answers and the answer choices in your reviewing sessions, you really get to see the patterns of how the test works. Like i said earlier, the LSAT is a really frustrating exam, and many (possibly even most) top scorers take about a year of studying and practice to be able to put their best foot forward. Our university's pre law advisor who once served on a T14 admission's council has basically echoed everything JY says about preparing for this exam and she also highly recommends a minimum of 30 pt's after you master the basic concepts. I think JY said you should spend about a year to 6 months preparing for this test. According to Gladwell, Keller and Papasan, all prominent authors on what is required to achieve excellence, they recommend dedicating 3-4 hours per day to a single task consistently. From what you're saying and what your numbers are showing, honestly it seems like you are doing great, but you're only 2/3's to half way through the process. You really can't rush this stuff. Yes, there are some people who are able to grind out 6 hours a day and can still see learning gains. Yes, there are people who start this process scoring in the mid to high 150's. However there are far more people that this exam does not come intuitively for and those individuals must really work hard to master this exam. Be patient with yourself. If it's money you are concerned about, the extra cycle may be well worth it after you score high enough for a substantial scholarship. It's all up to you and what matters to you the most, but do not get discouraged or feel like you're inferior if you need to take more time to prepare.

General · Feeling discouraged...Recommendations?

dgonzalez134150476

Monday, Nov 13 2017

You definitely can get that score you want! You should do and blind review and take at least 30 tests in my opinion before you can have a gauge of where you really stand as far as LSAT aptitude. Finishing the core curriculum is great, but really the LSAT is all about practicing and applying what you learned and it is designed to be a hard test. Remember on any given test half of those who take it score a 150 or below. when you blind review do you sit there and think about each question until you get to the right answer or do you just pick one and look at the answer? Also for games, and reading comp, every time I blind review a test I completely redo these sections just for practice, and I have seen good results. It usually takes me a good 5 hours to completely blind review a test and usually I won't miss more than 4, but back to you. If you have only blind reviewed 3 exams, that is not enough to see the gains, and quality over quantity is the key. I started over a year ago at a 148 as well. I went through mike kim's LSAT trainer, Manhattan Prep for RC and LR, and Powerscore for games, before I even started taking exams or heard of 7sage. 7sage was hands down the best tool but I came in with a basic foundation from all of the other hours of time with the questions. I have taken 50 exams at this point and being a slow reader, generally bad test taker, and inclined to silly mistakes, my lowest scores on a bad day are low 160's. The point is, you definitely can get to where you want to be, but if you are looking for a 167, remember that is approximately the top 5-7 percent of test takers. You don't need to be a genius to beat this test, but you need to be willing to work at it. Now ask yourself if you have out worked at least 93% of test takers and that will be a good gauge as to why your score is where it is, and the amount of time it will take to get it to where you want it to be.

Admissions · Minority Question...does this matter?

dgonzalez134150476

Thursday, Aug 10 2017

Numbers do not lie, however they may not always represent the truth. The fact of the matter is that most of our academic institutions assign merit on a very narrow set of criteria, namely grade point averages or standardized testing. Now granted, by the nature of standardization, these measures are entirely objective, but one critical aspect they fail to recognize is the discrepancy between how people prepare for such exams, a factor that is largely taught by parents or culturally influenced. If for example, the LSAT had no practice tests, did not release previous exams, and provided absolutely no warning or preparation as to what it would cover, and dramatically changed the format year to year as to be unpredictable, chances are an LSAT score would be far more representative of one's innate ability rather than a reflection of ones preparation. With out doubt, we would see far more average scores and far fewer 170+ scores. Image for example two identical students, both from middle income families, both moving through the public school systems, but one with parents that force them to go to SAT prep versus one set of parents who does not. Chances are, the student who went to SAT or even Pre-SAT prep will far outscore the student who did not prepare. Now is it reasonable to say the student who did not insist on their parents enrolling them into SAT prep was irresponsible or some how morally deficit? Can we call them lazy, or un motivated? Two students with identical GPAs can have vastly different opportunities due to a single score that to obtain is largely a result of parental guidance and external resources. Historically, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans have not been capable financially, or due to lack of awareness, fail to take the same steps that other demographics such as White and other Asian groups take to prepare their children for standardized exams. With this in mind, many schools compare URM scores to the scores of their respective cohorts and socioeconomic status to get a sense of how well one did with what they had. Ultimately though, this quality is indeed one of the most important factors to being accepted into top schools, being able to maximize and most effectively use your resources. If you come from a wealthy background with a solid family and decide not to sign up for an LSAT or MCAT prep class, and wind up not doing well, did you really use your resources well? Versus an individual who needed to work 2 jobs to buy prep material, stays up late at night studying after work, and manages to score a slightly above average score? Ultimately the interesting part of affirmative action is despite who is "let in" and the scores that are considered acceptable or not, seemingly do not signifiactly put one student at an advantage to another. At any university or graduate school, ones performance at that school usually will determine their GPA's, and class ranks, regardless of what scores initially got them there. Many A+ students fall below average in medical school, and high LSAT games will not make you a better litigator in the court room 3 years later. Strong students and those that utilize their resources well generally flourish where ever they are, while weak students that are ineffective at utilizing resources normally, will not rise to the top of their class. Admissions offices then are tasked with finding students who will be high performers, not necessarily high scorers, and this is a partially a subjective process.

General · Crisis of confidence

dgonzalez134150476

Monday, Jul 10 2017

Seems like anxiety is getting you. You are still scoring in the top 8-9% so with that in mind, not sure how close you are to your test day, but you should take a few breaths and relax. If you can finish arguments with consistent -1 -2 there is really no reason you should be that rushed and missing so many on RC. Usually timing is an issue for many people on LR so it's not that you don't read fast enough. (well could be.. but not likely) It seems as though you may have issues paying attention to the passages. LR are very fast and you do not need to focus on any particular argument for more than a minute. With RC if you have issues focusing, or imagining the passage you will pay the price in the questions. This could be because you are too anxious and possibly try to move through the passages too quickly and end up blowing time on the questions by having to think about them too much, or having to look back at the text too often (which also may be a confidence thing). I got my reading comp down to about -2 by basically doing all the reading comp passages, organized by subject, (LAW, Natural Sci., Humanities etc) from prep tests 1-38. I did the easy ones untimed and really paid attention to what i was reading then i used a count up timer on the hard ones. I also went through the whole manhattan prep book for RC. The process took about 2 months but I definitely improved and reading comp is my easiest section now.

Admissions · Splitter Stories??

dgonzalez134150476

Wednesday, Sep 06 2017

Your major matters as well. Low GPA with a humanities, polysci, or business majors are usually expected to be higher than a STEM major. There are also differences between similar majors such as chemistry vs biology with chemistry yielding an even lower average GPA than most engineering fields. Single major vs double major? It's all relative. My current pre law advisor (used to work on the admissions council to a T14 school for years, is a JD herself, and is a very reliable source for advice) basically she said most schools are looking for students that can provide evidence that they will be successful in their law schools class. Now if you are applying to T14's or any school for that matter, ask yourself, do you have what it takes to at least be competitive for the top 25% of the class? Granted not everyone will make this cutoff, but can you at least put up a solid fight without getting left behind by the class. If you think you can, ask yourself what evidence do you have to support your statement? Did you do exceptionally well in your class work thus far (high gpa,) but also consider how hard you worked for that GPA. Or rather, can you simply be disciplined enough to out work everyone through pure grit (as represented by crushing everyone on an LSAT). If you are weak on one area, can you at least give a good reason from personal challenges, to life experiences that demonstrates you will be able to stay in the game from your ability to overcome and adapt? Bottom line, there are many ways to show you are a strong candidate. It is very hard to mend GPA's and despite being a number, they are incredibly subjective. However if you study hard enough and plan out your time correctly, possibly even postponing applications for a year, anyone can score top 10% on an LSAT. With this in mind, low LSAT scores look very very very bad because it reflects that you just didn't try hard enough or didn't take it seriously. If you are a splitter with a low LSAT vs high GPA you should definitely reconsider applying until you achieve an acceptable score. If you have a low GPA it is much more understandable, and the LSAT is designed to hep you shine.

General · T14 or Bust?

dgonzalez134150476

Friday, Nov 03 2017

Texas A&M is very low in rankings but has a top 10 patent law program nationally. So really as has been said multiple times already, the right school is where you will be your best. It doesn't really help to go to a T14 and be at the bottom of your class, nor does it help to be in enormous amounts of debt. Some smaller schools might offer very attractive scholarship programs that can springboard you into better networking than being a general admit to a larger school. The city where you plan to network is very important as well. You should consider all these factors in the face of a school's rankings.

General · Fell Behind in LSAT Prep - Dec 2

dgonzalez134150476

Thursday, Nov 02 2017

Push back your test to February ? In my honest opinion 3 exams is not a very safe bet to gauge your performance nor is it anywhere near your true scoring potential. I have been advised from my pre-law advisor, many other sources and learned from my own experience that you need about 30 pretests under your belt to put your best foot forward on exam day. If you absolutely must take the exam in December and Feb. is not an option, I'd take this time to master games and drill Flaw, Necessary assumption, and Sufficient Assumption as these questions types are very numerous, and if you understand these 3 well, you should be able to figure out parallel flaw questions,simmilar reasoning structure questions. In this month leading up to the exam, I'd seriously consider taking 3 exams a week. Correct the exam with blind review method the same day and the next day, then take another exam and repeat. On the LSAT it is really important to practice taking the test itself so you can handle finishing the sections, recovering after exceptionally difficult questions or sections, and practicing pacing. Do all of your tests with the official proctor, bubble sheets, and use an experimental section pulled from some old test to simulate the test to the best of your ability. Not sure where you are now, but I think if you really bust ass you can see some significant gains. Don't get discouraged. Just stick to the process and aim for perfect practice.