Shinny,

For basic editing pricing starts at $59. If you want help to build your personal statement from the ground up it costs $199. Those are the lower and upper limits of my charges. I also have a 100% guarantee. If you are unsatisfied, you will be refunded 100% of your money.

Hi all,

Someone just asked me my thoughts on school specific personal statements. My reply is below.

In general I think it is ill-advised. Here is why:

1. You need to put a lot of effort into crafting a personal statement that captures your audience. Splitting your time to try and make something that addresses one specific school is a distraction

2. A personal statement is an exposition of self. Exactly how would that change because you are applying to a different school? It is my belief that sincerity wins out when it comes to personal statements. Pandering to one school or another will obscure that sincerity. Just don't do it.

3. Unless a school specifically asks for it, I don't think its necessary at all and with so much to do for applications, why add to it? If you are in doubt, contact the admissions office and ask after their preference.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

James

Hi All,

Someone messaged me asking for help with personal statement topics. This was my response:

Choosing a topic for a personal statement is never easy or simple. Because each of us are unique, I cannot tell you what your topic should be, because the point of the statement is not the topic at all. The point is to show the admissions committee something of yourself and make them yearn for more. They should read your statement and think, "this is a person I want to take to lunch. This is someone I want to know." This needs to be your goal. Your task is to find a way to do this concisely, and professionally.

A few pieces of good advice:

1. Skip the gimmicks. They don't want a rap, a poem, a short story, a phony obituary of your life as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or any of that nonsense. Be yourself. That's what you need them to want. Sincerity will win out.

2. Exclude uses of the the words "very," "extremely," "super," or any other such modifiers. They are words for people who cannot find the best word to fit.

If anyone is interested in help with their personal statement, shoot me a private message with your email address.

All the best

James

Hi everyone, yes I do charge for my time, but if you are unsatisfied with what you got for your money, don't pay me! I write and tutor for a living, so it's not free, but there is no real risk either. I'm also happy to take a quick look at anyone's statement and let them know if I think they actually need my services, free of charge.

All the best

Schools will read whatever you send but they prefer DS's and other addenda to be no longer than one page if possible.

Hi PJ,

Send me your email address!

Cheers,

James

I have the exact same issue. I am scoring 167-169 on all my test and can't seem to break out of it. Its making me crazy! If anyone has had this issue and managed to conquer it, please let me know what you did.

That moment when I got an entire Logic Game section done with 4 minutes to spare, all the while hearing JY saying in my ear getting pissed at the answers!

This is an MSS question dealing with something called Amusia. They tell us that Amusia sufferers do not do well with with differentiating melodies AND with remembering tunes.

What did the researchers do? Played them tones that had shifts in pitch to see what would happen. The people could not tell the tones apart but had no issue with timing.

Ok so since this is an MSS question, let's try and anticipate the answer. It has to relate the fact the Amusia has little to do with an issue in perceiving or tracking timing/pitch is problematic for them.

Why must it? Because all we know here is that people with amusia had no issue with timing and they do have issues in discering different pitches.

The ONLY things we know is that the relationship between timing and amusia is likely non-existent b/c patients with amusia performed well on the timing drills; and that they have issues with pitch. Anything not meeting this is not our answer.

A) Trap! They never say their perception of timing is better than everyone elses

B)Matches what we are looking for. It says that amusia is an issue with pitch and not with timing

C)New info, no bueno

D)Trap! This is a pretty convincing answer choice. But it has a lot of issues. It says that differentiating between melodies depends on pitch alone. Who says? Maybe pitch is important and maybe that's why Amusia patients have issues but who says thats the only reason. In that same vein, why can't timing be part of it? This is kind of a mistaken reversal where they are trying to get you to think that because people with amusia have no issues with timing AND they cannot tell melodies apart, there must not be anything important about timing to differentiate between melodies. Its kind of like saying people with no arms or legs cannot swim but can hold their breath, therefore it must be that swimming has nothing to do with holding your breath. No man, that's involved too, it's just not enough.

E) Innate vs. learned? New info, from nowhere, worst answer of the choices

This was very hard for me. it was difficult b/c they hid the conclusion and I just disregarded it. The thing that is wrong with this is something that we see all the time. They say that because the objection to X is wrong, X should proceed. This is saying there are no other issues. That's terrible! You can't say that! Maybe these hikers will use crack but be very neat! who knows?

Once you see that there are two conclusions and the secondary does not support the primary you can see this.

Here is how I thought about it. I thought about it as age is a certain quality. The more of that quality, the more likely A will be B.

I did this on very quickly and went with my intuition and then went back on blind review to solve.

This was hard to map out and I did it similarly to JY

This is one that when I went back I could not understand why I put the answer that I did. I think the trick to this one is that they put a lot of extraneous language. If you ignore that, you should be fine.

Here is my logical translation

GH->CACP

MVLGL

(MVL=GL)

GH->GL

need CACP->MVL

This NA question is hard b/c there are good traps and b/c the contruct is hard.

The argument can be broken down as human tendencies are unchanged and therefore humans do not choose more wisely now than previously.

HEC=human emotions changed

CMW=choose more wisely

/HEC

need /HEC->/CMW

/CMW

Need: /HEC->/CMW

Answer choice analysis:

A) Makes no mention of this, way beyond scope

B) No where do we talk about control.

C)heed the lessons of history is new information. We need a bridge

D) this is the closes answer choice b/c it prays on that middle piece about technology. it also makes it seem necessary b/c if humans do not choose on the basis of emotions alone than the fact that they are unchanged tells us nothing of the wisdom of our choices. The problem is that we can't know if options affects choice because it isn't part of our argument. bottom line, it does not bridge the conclusion to the premise so no fuego

Any thoughts on what the curve will be for the sabbath test this year?

megan I also think you are taking practice tests too close to each other. How can you expect to take a test one day, review it, look up all the lessons, sharpen your skills and then see solid improvement on the next day. I think you are overdoing it on the testing, that is just my opinion.

I agree with Jazzy. You need to take some time off to chill out your mind. The most important thing with this test is to be able to think nimbly.

Someone asks me for this so I thought I would repost here:

My meditation is for use during the break period. There are other techniques for the other times, but this one is great for that 15 min break. Ok so, the first five minutes, after taking care of bathroom needs, snacks, etc. I use something called the flood technique. We flood our mind with all the issues, concerns with particular questions, anxiety over where we messed up, all of what has happened in the previous three sections. This gets it all out there and in a torrent. The idea is that you flood your mind with all of it to such a degree that it becomes white noise. You do this while doing basic stretches. The physicality will help you break away from what you've done and leave it behind. Do this until you are 5 minutes into the break, max of 7.

For the next 5 minutes we are going to do a technique I call world builder. Now this can have many expressions but the basic idea is to close your eyes, take deep breathes in through your nose, exhale through your mouth, and while you are doing this, imagine that you are willing into existence cities, countries, towns, everything. You can do whatever speaks to you. Castles if you love castles. Pagodas if that is interesting to you. Build furniture if you like that. the idea is to create things in your mind, complete them, then wipe them away and build something else. Hell, it can even be like a mini-story. if you hit a block, just wipe the slate clean and start again. This accesses the creative parts of your mind and activates it in a stress relieving, interesting, and relaxing way. You do this for five minutes.

For the last five minutes of break, you think about what is ahead. You think, ok well i did great before so I need to keep this up. Or maybe, I did poorly but I am capable of getting any question correct and if this is so then I am capable fo getting every question correct. Focus on being positive and remember how awesome you are. Focus on your own ascension and what you have to do in the next hour. This is the time to get your mind right. Basically its a pep talk from your internal monologue. This is also free form and individual to a person. you know what gets you pumped better than anyone and you need to be hungry and focused for the last section. not because you want it over, but because YOU want to end it. YOU want to conquer. because YOU want the win.

The last step is part of something larger I have worked on that I call the Icon Call. The Icon Call is a notion that I love, personally. What I do is, I have an icon, a mental totem, that I associate with being positive, being intelligent, sharp, excellent, relaxed and on point. I have built this in my mind and the relationship I have to my Icon is strong now. Its like having a necklace or doll or something you find comforting and encouraging, only its more potent because it is born of your individuality and crafted of your will. Right before you start, pencil in hand, take one more breath, close your eyes and envision your icon, call upon it, and get to work.

Thats it folks. This works for me, I hope it helps you.

Iggy,

My meditation is for use during the break period. There are other techniques for the other times, but this one is great for that 15 min break. Ok so, the first five minutes, after taking care of bathroom needs, snacks, etc. I use something called the flood technique. We flood our mind with all the issues, concerns with particular questions, anxiety over where we messed up, all of what has happened in the previous three sections. This gets it all out there and in a torrent. The idea is that you flood your mind with all of it to such a degree that it becomes white noise. You do this while doing basic stretches. The physicality will help you break away from what you've done and leave it behind. Do this until you are 5 minutes into the break, max of 7.

For the next 5 minutes we are going to do a technique I call world builder. Now this can have many expressions but the basic idea is to close your eyes, take deep breathes in through your nose, exhale through your mouth, and while you are doing this, imagine that you are willing into existence cities, countries, towns, everything. You can do whatever speaks to you. Castles if you love castles. Pagodas if that is interesting to you. Build furniture if you like that. the idea is to create things in your mind, complete them, then wipe them away and build something else. Hell, it can even be like a mini-story. if you hit a block, just wipe the slate clean and start again. This accesses the creative parts of your mind and activates it in a stress relieving, interesting, and relaxing way. You do this for five minutes.

For the last five minutes of break, you think about what is ahead. You think, ok well i did great before so I need to keep this up. Or maybe, I did poorly but I am capable of getting any question correct and if this is so then I am capable fo getting every question correct. Focus on being positive and remember how awesome you are. Focus on your own ascension and what you have to do in the next hour. This is the time to get your mind right. Basically its a pep talk from your internal monologue. This is also free form and individual to a person. you know what gets you pumped better than anyone and you need to be hungry and focused for the last section. not because you want it over, but because YOU want to end it. YOU want to conquer. because YOU want the win.

The last step is part of something larger I have worked on that I call the Icon Call. The Icon Call is a notion that I love, personally. What I do is, I have an icon, a mental totem, that I associate with being positive, being intelligent, sharp, excellent, relaxed and on point. I have built this in my mind and the relationship I have to my Icon is strong now. Its like having a necklace or doll or something you find comforting and encouraging, only its more potent because it is born of your individuality and crafted of your will. Right before you start, pencil in hand, take one more breath, close your eyes and envision your icon, call upon it, and get to work.

Thats it folks. This works for me, I hope it helps you.

WHY 'A' IS WRONG

I chose E when doing this and again in blind review. When doing it, I had a feeling of why A was wrong but was not sure until the blind review that it was. I think another way to think of A is to see that is says Economic incentives to treat patients rudely. There are nonesuch. There are economic incentives which encourage doctors to treat patients rudely. Whats the difference? The former is saying, here is money if you go be a jerk! The other is saying, in order to not be a jerk, you need to spend a minimum of 5 minutes with each patient, but we will pay you to spend max 4 minutes. This encourages doctors to be jerks but they are not being paid to be a jerk, they are being paid to move more quickly which results in them being a jerk.

Answer Choice Analysis:

A) Wrong because this factor is named a constant. It happened before. It happens now. No difference.

B) This says nothing about the contradictory information, it just discusses part of the premise.

C) How curable infections are says nothing about why the infections are more abundant than before. If fact, it just emphasizes the issue

D) It says rate of infection has increased. D says that it is proportional. That means the % of infections in the population should be the same but we know it isn't because the prompt says so. I chose this one initially. This is a good lesson in understanding the difference between absolute and relative values in analysis. A rate is an absolute value. proportionality is a relative value. Understanding the essence of this will help in the future to see what exactly is the issue at hand and how to resolve it

E) Here we go. This is saying that previously, people would have died from certain illnesses. Lets say, rickets or something. But these people survive, only they are now immuno-compromised. This means that people who are now part of the population that in the past would not have been, get sick more often.

SE=succesful econ

FSC= flourishing community

YPE= excited young people

GC= good communication

SE→FSC→YPE→GC

Answer Choices:

A) Starts with GC which is the end of a logical chain so we can get nothing from here, we already know this

B) speaks of extent of flourishing and the number of young people who resolve to be scientists. So many problems here. 1. how do we know how many of those who resolve to be scientists become scientists. It could be 2. Next, nothing ever speaks of extents. All we know is that YPE is necessary for FSC. To say the extent depends principally on this is a way overstretch, both on the extent front and on the fact it says principally. I would say it depends principally on funding and how good those scientists actually are at their jobs.

C) Translate this. SC, GC, negate sufficient, GC→SC. Well that MBT so it is definitely strongly supported. DING! DING! DING!

D) This introduces new terms so don't waste your time. Most young people, never mentions; BECOME scientists, never mentioned

E)This speaks of scientific endeavors so again, waste no time.

Any others who took the Sabbath test?

Anything that will keep you relaxed.

The december 2014 LSAT murders puppies and called your mother fat. It then mooned you from the front seat of a Ferrari. Lets go punch it in the face!

I have seen multiple questions on zoos and plankton also.