@jknauf572

said:

Anyone else do this?

Heck yes, I do!

@bebek10792 Arguably, valuable work experience is more important than a great LSAT score in a perfect application package.

I just don't see how you could make that argument work.

@jeetibhupal396 Needless to say, I am sweating profusely and everything including my cute little Chinese crested powderpuff is irritating. So, for the rest of the day I've decided to stay in the dark and play sims 4. Yes, I play sims 4.

Lol. Sounds like something my sister would do, she's 28.

@nicolebenis0843 hoping maybe if a lot of people did not perform well on LG, a question or two may be removed??

I don't think LSAC would remove a question for this reason. But if a question is logically flawed or really does have more than 1 accurate answer, that might be grounds for removal.

@siheaso487 I just knew it would be today.

and

@siheaso487 Predictions are for tomorrow.

@cam860 That is what makes the most sense to me, but I also spent the money on the LSAT Mastermind Watch.

This watch is the bomb and I've been using it for months. Totally worth the investment imo because all you have to do is click a button and the watch resets itself. It gives me that extra 10 seconds between sections to literally put the pencil down and just take breath.

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 They graduate law school and the most substantial place they've worked is a retail store in the mall.

Or, even better, they had a summer internship for a politician in DC this one time during college.

I don't know. But I don't think the practices of one state's bar is really a trend.

@vahemanoukian487 Have the scores ever came out on a weekend? 1-2-17, A great way to start the New Year.

On Saturdays, yes. Spivey thinks it could happen this Saturday (https://twitter.com/SpiveyConsult/status/813383659818512384). This is based on their observation that LSAC's chief psychometrician is big into dancing and, therefore, probably wants to get the release out of the way prior to the New Year's Eve celebrations, lol.

@knochin965 Not necessarily. It depends on the schools you apply to. Some schools accept applications and February LSAT scores until the end of March, some have cutoff dates that preclude this.

@jacobabellotharp17 According to Ann Levine, its "unprofessional" to ask to see the letter of rec but I believe it really depends on the relationship between the applicant and the recommender. The most important part is that its allowed even if you click "yes" on the waiving to see LOR box and she even says its, "increasing common practice" for recommenders to send the applicant the LOR before submitting it.

Interestingly enough, Ann Levine provides about a page worth of advice in her book on how to write a rec if you're asked by the recommender to do so! She literally breaks down what to say paragraph by paragraph. For example, "Conclusion: State the qualities you bring to law school and why the person highly recommends you for law school admission, and that he or she is available to answer questions about your experience and candidacy." - pg. 70, The Law School Admissions Game, Levine

@476.rizeq when submitting on LSAC, you should ALWAYS waive your right to see the letter(s). Being able to view the letter will allow adcomms to think the writer isn't being completely authentic with their recommendation

My habits of trolling LSAT forums led me to this same belief! However, I asked my admissions consultant about this and was told it doesn't really work this way (note: she was a director of admissions HLS for 10+ years and had been on various other adcomms before that). She said adcomms usually don't even look at whether or not you waived your right. In her case, it never once factored into any decisions. It looks scary visually on LSAC's website if you don't waive because a flag is placed next to your recommender's name, but it doesn't actually appear that way on a submitted application. As some people mentioned above, not waiving your right to see the recs just means that you are guaranteed the right to see them once you are actually in law school. It doesn't have anything to do with your right to see the recs before or during the application process.

@combsni116 I want them to experience the story that I am telling the way that I felt and lived it. I want their perspective on the essay to change as my perspective on life changed.

That's understandable. Without being overly dramatic, you could open up with a short descriptive sentence that captures a small detail of this feeling.

@combsni116 I think he is perfect for this circumstance. I think his quotes are haunting and dark which is important for my personal statement.

I'm not so sure of this. Think about the impression you're trying to make on the audience - do you want the reader to feel good or bad after going through your PS?

@aidoe339 i personally don't like the idea of quoting from Stephen King

I was initially thinking the same thing. However, suppose this particular quote was from a book that was the only thing that allowed him to imagine a different reality from the one he was experiencing. Sometimes, all you can do is escape in your head when you live in an abusive household. That's kind of why I was curious to know if this book has any significance to him.

@victoriaroman480240

said:

I also would not want to have schools look down upon my grade because they knew I was accommodated.

Thankfully, LSAC cannot report that a test was taken with accommodations anymore.

@victoriaroman480240

said:

I am someone who suffers from anxiety and depression on a daily basis.

I am not qualified to give medical recommendations, but, as someone who suffers from the same conditions, I have found a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and medication to be extremely helpful. I also exercise 3-4 times per week. Nothing too crazy, but it's essential for me to do this in order to keep my mood elevated.

@combsni116

said:

I grew up in a somewhat broken home with an abusive father and I how I had to overcome that.

I also grew up under similar circumstances, and hope you made it out just fine.

@combsni116

said:

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” I have two different ideas about how I would proceed from there. 1.) I would go into my experiences of my childhood (abuse, etc). 2.) The next line could read "that was certainly true for my father and , in some cases my mother." Let me know what you think!

I have no idea is this is true, but, I'd be willing to bet that it is not uncommon for people to start off with a quote. If that's the case, it might not be such an attention grabber. Also, and this is just a personal preference, I don't think quotes are aesthetically pleasing as openers. I like to be pithy with my opening sentences. I have a couple ideas for you, but first I'd be curious to know if this particular quote has any meaning to you? Or did you just find it searching the internet?

@combsni116

said:

I wanted to lead off with a statistic but finding these statistics have proven to be difficult.

I don't think a statistic is attention grabbing at all. Besides, you're not a statistic!

@knochin965

said:

So, obviously I'm focusing on LG. Starting in a week, I'm going to use the fool-proof method on every LG from 1-39. My question is, should I still be taking one full PT every week and BR so that I don't regress on the other sections?

I had the same problem a few months ago and it was frustrating as hell. For the first 2-3 months of prepping (I began in June of this year) I was going -10 on LG practice sets and averaging 13 minutes per game. In September, I decided to forgo all LR and RC to focus exclusively on LG. Now I'm averaging -3.5 per set and 9.5 mins. For what it's worth, here's a breakdown of my approach:

- I joined 7Sage and watched the CC videos multiple times and recorded notes on everything. I would often pause, rewind, re-do, and re-think the videos.

- I downloaded Cambridge's LG tracker spreadsheet. Source: https://www.cambridgelsat.com/resources/spreadsheets/lsat-logic-games-tracker/. This allowed me to track and see my progress very clearly.

- I retained the original pieces of paper for every game I've ever done, bought another notebook to copy JY's solutions, and compared what I did versus what I should be doing. I did not move on to another game until EVERYTHING made sense.

- For the first month, I ignored the whole aspect of time. I started fool-proofing games individually (no more sets of 4).

- I started small and focused on the easy "1 star" games. I ignored prior advice to focus on particular game types in sets. I intentionally mixed it up so that a basic sequencing game was followed by a basic grouping game, and so on.

- After about 4-5 weeks, I gained some confidence in my ability to accurately diagram every rule thrown my way (minus the hardest tricky "Misc." games) and how to draw the appropriate game board. After this, my speed increased almost naturally.

- I then stepped up the difficulty of the games incrementally, began focusing again on timing, and resumed doing multiple games.

- After 2 months, I had my first -0 PT.

- I follow the same basic method to this day. Rinse, repeat.

Thank you @jy-ping! You're my hero.

I'll skip the philosophy and bring some motivation (even though you don't need it!) --

Mind over matter. Forget burnout. Keep going. Relish this unique challenge in all its glory and pain. At the end of it all, you'll sit down once more for 3.5 - 4.0 hours, pencil and paper in hand, fill in some bubbles, and alter the trajectory of your life in a way that allows you to accomplish your dreams. Where else can you do that but the LSAT?

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 For some reason, I had a feeling you'd know what I'm talking about. Thanks, man!

'Atta boy.

@gregoryalexanderdevine723 Which brings me to the second issue. Bringing up that you had/have an alcohol problem can raise serious red flags. It can not only preclude one from getting into law school, but can also pose a significant C&F problem for the bar without proof you have undergone treatment.

I second this. My fear would be that you're addendum might unnecessarily create more problems than it aims to solve. Mentioning anything related to alcoholism or addiction without a significant amount of time in-between (like, 5-10 years significant) will definitely raise concerns. Even if these concerns are totally unwarranted, it's only human to wonder. It's been done, though. You'd have to be pretty crafty and artful with your words, but, I really don't think it is worth the risk.

I would suggest approaching it differently. If you're grades truly show a glaring improvement after the first year or two, I'm sure that's not uncommon. You could just say that you underestimated the demands of a university curriculum. It took you time to adjust, but (as @gregoryalexanderdevine723 said) you buckled down. After "x amount of time," you changed what needed to be changed in order to be successful. In the end, you learned from from this challenge and can avoid the pitfalls of making the same mistake in the future.