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I enjoyed reading other successful essays from students in prior years to brainstorm a winning format. They typically open with a hook, pov story that seems unrelated or unique and interesting compared to other applicants. Then it would go into your real life experience with law and finally connect to why you’re pursuing law right now based on that story.
I watched some videos on YouTube about what the actual outline should be. I got advice from a 7Sage writing tutor that your essay should be “why you can’t NOT go to law school”. It should seem like the obvious next step to admissions because you cannot achieve what you want to in a career without it. (bleh, I know.)
He also recommended to skip the “when I was a child” and “it’s always been my dream” or “sob story of trauma” tropes. He said the admissions counselors want to know that as an informed adult you still believe you want to be a lawyer 😅 and that you have proven evidence of being dedicated enough to finish.
When I was super lost, I went through my best writing from high school and tried to get a sense of my voice from when I wrote more. Especially when you had to do creative writing or write your personal essay for college admissions.
You could also ask friends or family because they know your story and may remember cool parts about your life that you forgot. Or go through your own resume and think about a story from each time in your life that you find compelling and applicable to why law and pick the strongest one. Ultimately the best one is the one you can write a dynamic and memorable story about.
I got advice from a 7Sage writing tutor that your essay should be “why you can’t NOT go to law school”. It should seem like the obvious next step to admissions because you cannot achieve what you want to in a career without it. For example, if you write that you want to help people, or make a certain policy difference, or you were inspired to follow the career of a mentor you met, these may not be strong enough “why law” reasons because you could technically still achieve those dreams without law school.
(Kind of sycophantic, I know.)
Now that you know what may not be a strong enough topic, think about the best stories that differentiate you from your peers. Connect a real life experience you had with an injustice, the personal effect law had on you, or a pivotal moment that made it difficult to imagine feeling fulfilled in your life without becoming a lawyer.
Really show not tell your discovery in this story. My 7Sage tutor also recommended I skip the “when I was a child” and “it’s always been my dream” or “sob story of trauma” tropes. He said the admissions counselors want to know that as an informed adult you still believe you want to be a lawyer 😅 and that you have proven evidence of being dedicated enough to finish.
I like the advice of asking friends or family because they know your story and may remember cool parts about your life that you forgot. I also found it helpful to read other student’s successful essays to brainstorm. Or go through your own resume and think about a story from each time in your life that you find compelling and applicable to why law and pick the strongest one. ☺️
I was in the same boat studying for over a year and an half but could not get out of the 150s. Unfortunately, you have to do the same thing over and over again. Picking it up and putting it down and having long breaks does not reinforce good habits. I felt like I was still answering questions based off of “intuition” that was not correct and falling for the same trap answers. Once I got consistent doing the same method I started to see results. First, I went back to the content on my weakest answer types, actually learned conditional reasoning, and read The Loophole. Take a break from drilling problems and figure out why you don’t know what the correct answer is. That helped me see immediate progress. Prioritize your predictions, accuracy (doing more questions right, not just more questions) before moving onto tackling timing, and finally, reviewing your mistakes so detailed that you never commit that mistake again. I hope you break this plateau!
@nr that’s such a relief to hear. I test this week and again in October and I am crossing my fingers we both do our best on test day! I want my best to trend like yours! 🤞🏼
I think any glowing letter is better than a letter from a specific individual to simply fulfill a requirement.
I do not know if professional letters carry less weight to schools but if they’re well written it’s better than a subpar rushed letter from a prof.
If you haven’t already, maybe send a draft of what you’re hoping for to all four people you’d like to write one. Give them each a different finished letter that they are welcome to “edit”. Maybe the factor with your professor is a lack of time. Most professors have a completed draft for all students and they just change out keywords that are specific to you… so provide the keywords you’d like them to say.
I looked up the law schools “core values” and included real examples from interactions with each person. For example, if a school loves students who are disciplined, academically inclined and ask good questions, provide those skills in the letter from your professor. Profs will understand when reading your draft those are the skills you would like them to showcase.
When I asked my managers to write one, I wrote about instances I worked well with others, was proactive and reliable etc.
This way you get to be known for multiple skills in the school’s pov and help ease the task from those you asked to write letters.
In short, definitely ask those professional references for help. When you submit to schools, you cannot read the final drafts but you can select which schools hear from which person. I had a sneaky feeling my professor’s letters were less comprehensive than my employers so I selected my stronger letters at the schools who weren’t as specific that they wanted a professor.
Hi! Like you I jumped right into sections thinking that’s where I should spend my time because that’s what “practice” is. I wish I spent more time learning content. The only way to quickly answer questions correctly is to know what you’re looking for, and I used to peruse the answer choices waiting for one to jump out at me. I built a ton of bad habits, falling for trap answers and relying on “intuition” that wasn’t tuned. If I can recommend anything, prioritize making predictions about what specific answer choice would be appropriate before you passively let one convince you. The way you know what you’d like to see in the answers is by knowing the question types, the strength of correct answers in that case and by sorting though the hard language by glossing over the nouns in your head. These strategies helped me get out of the 140s immensely. Once you’re in the 150s, slow down, really read, and do questions untimed until your accuracy improves so you prove to yourself you can get the questions right when you have enough time. Eventually you will anticipate the answer and practice timed again to increase your speed. Good luck!!
@nr that helps so much thank you!! I will try it and report back! I appreciate your detailed response and I’m really inspired by your progress!
I would love to hear how you accomplished this!
Do you reserve more time for certain sections with more questions or passages that are typically harder for you?
Do you spend about six minutes or so reading the passage then two or three minutes for questions (or less or more?)
Do you use the search bar to find evidence for every single question? Or use process of elimination with your prediction of the answer?
Do you look for tone, purpose, and map out the structure in your low res summary?
These are all things I’ve been told to do and have been attempting and I’d love to know which have been useful for you. Main point and authors opinion I struggle with the most. Also, just timing in general.
I would say take a break. You fundamentally know what answers are right and your main goal this week is to prime your body and brain to be refreshed enough to recognize them on test day. Burnout is not indicative of your full potential so don’t treat it as a sign that’s how you will perform. Try to re-create the conditions of your 165! You got this!
Practice this week until you end on a good note so your confidence is up, then take a break! On test day zero in on focus rather than being anxious about speed. Try to be so in the zone that you don’t need to read things multiple times or over analyze if you’re doing as well as your practice. Coach yourself out of thoughts that are not related to this sentence you are actively reading. Ie immediately stop trains of thought like “this is the real test” and no “what ifs”!!! “what if I get this wrong? What if I don’t get to the last passage?” That’s wasting time. Finally, pretend your brain is an etch a sketch and if you don’t understand what you just read, forget it and be willing to read it again to understand. Good luck!
Genuinely stop until test day! take a break! Review your wrong answers the day before if you HAVE to do something but go in refreshed because this is your potential!
Wrong answer journal, Mr.fat cat stickers or stickers in general, blue light glasses/foam earplugs/test day essentials. Already I’m impressed with your partnerships, the merch is cool!
I am also more than a year in and it’s nice to see others break their plateaus! I am proud of anyone when they score this high but I’m most inspired when you worked this long and hard for it.
You’re not alone! My highest official score was last June and my highest PT was last September and I’ve been studying consistently since then without breaking the low 160s. I’ve taken breaks so I know it isn’t burnout. But 17+ months on this and constantly questioning if it’s for me takes its toll. I’ve hired tutors and tried multiple test platforms. I don’t know what the solution is, but I’ve now pivoted towards prioritizing my accuracy (so attempting fewer questions and getting more right) and not taking so many full length practice tests but instead more thoroughly reviewing my mistakes and doing shorter drills under 20 questions. I hope we get out of this.
@phi thank you for spending time on this detailed explanation. My struggle is also these types of questions and your answer helped a lot.
Do we think they’re going to fix it for the fall (Sept onward)? Would it be worth rescheduling a test over? Or is this a permanent update they have no desire to fix.
May I encourage you that its quality over quantity of hours? I used to track my hours, but I’m 17 months in and over 400 hours of studying for this test and a lot of people study fewer months and earn a score they’re happy with sooner. Even after multiple companies, test prep resources, and tutors, I only started seeing results when I started tracking my accuracy in each section and frequency of getting my past weak question types right. Although you’re just looking for a benchmark, I don’t think more time guarantees results. Just something to consider! I wish you good luck
I also agree that strength is better than relationship. If the people who know you best are not current professors, it is better than having a less genuine letter from someone from a long time ago. I know schools will have to understand bc this happens to a lot of people. I second the advice that you may need ONE. You can also choose which schools receive which letters, so if in their instructions they do not explicitly ask for a Prof. you can send them your stronger ones and save the academic one for the schools that have the requirement.