Hi,
Reading Comp is my weakest link. I have a lot of room for improvement and I was wondering if you guys could share your strategies (of course successful ones). I try to usually follow the VIEWSTAMP method (views, structure, author's view, and main point), but that seems to get me 65-70%.
[This thread has been edited and closed by Student Services.]
PLEASE READ THIS TO UNDERSTAND WHY:
To be honest, I never believed that UCI would debut in top 20. I was expecting mid 30's and coming in at #30 is very respectable. However, I am highly doubtful they will rank better than 22-25 in the future. We must remember that UCI has a much smaller class than all other law schools, and the way they recruited those students was through heavy scholarships. The job market in California, the main hub for the students for UCI graduates is not the greatest. Pair that with the fact that the greater Los Angeles/Orange County area employs graduates from UCLA and USC and in some cases Loyola and Pepperdine grads have the upper hand thanks to alumni networks. So, once they have a full class, their employment score will most likely suffer, so will LSAT/GPA ratio. But the future will tell.
@....I asked myself the same question this morning and filled out the application hahaha. So, we'll see what happens. Gotta love the Cali competition: UCLA #16 vs USC #20; Irvine #30 vs Davis #31; Pepperdine 52 vs. Hastings #59.
Yep :) Thanks @ you too!!
So, the rankings for 2015-2016 came out today. California schools seem to be doing much better probably given the improving employment prospects, a huge consideration for US News Ranking. Also, kudos to UC Irvine for ranking so high given that this was their first time being ranked. Here's how Cali schools ranked.
Stanford 2(tie (+1))
Berkeley 8(tie (+1)) - Applied
UCLA 16 (-)
USC 20(-) - Applied
Irvine 30 (NR) - Applied
Davis 31(+5)
Pepperdine 52 (+2) - Applied
Hastings 59 (-5) - Applied
Loyola 75 (+12) - Applied.
So, my account will end today and I've taken the LSAT and I'm done, hopefully (that depends on my Feb. LSAT score). I've studied for over a year. Unfortunately, it was difficult to balance working 50-60 hours with studies, but it's all in the past. Here's what I've learned, and I hope this helps everyone else who's starting to study or is in the process of studying:
1. Learn the Logic (conditions, reversals, everything)! - 7sage does a wonderful job with explaining it, so spend a lot of time understanding it. The curve breaker questions require heavy use of conditional logic and logic overall, so, if you know Logic, this will be put you up there. I remember a quote from an LSAT book it said "if you don't learn logic, you're destined to go to law school in Tijuana". Sad, but true - although I don't know if there is a law school in Tijuana :)
2. Logical Reasoning - I used LR Bibles, LSAT Trainer and Manhattan study books in conjunction with 7sage, and while some may say they tend to conflict one another, I found them to actually compliment each other (e.g. in my opinion Manhattan LR book does a better job at explaining NA/SA questions than the Bibles do, whereas The LSAT Trainer is the best at explaining Flaw/Weaken questions).
3. Logic Games - Practice, practice, practice. I improved on Logic Games within 2 weeks of studying and what I did, is I printed like 50 logic games, 4 copies of each and I did and re-did them until I got every single one right. Once you see the patterns, the questions come naturally.
4. Reading Comp. - I am not an expert and this was my worst section, but The LSAT Trainer is the best tool along with Reading Comp Bible. But, in my personal view, it is very difficult to improve on this section.
5. Practice Tests - I used 7sage for the blind review, but there were times where I was having hard time understanding the explanations (especially for LR section - sorry 7sage). Two weeks before my test I found lsathacks.com and I think they do the best job at explaining LR. The idea behind LR argument questions is to reduce the question stem into conclusion and evidence and do what's required (weaken, strengthen, find flaw, you get it). Best part, it's free.
Good luck everyone!
Hi guys,
I'm planning on filing a complaint against the LSAC and wanted to hear some feedback whether it's a good idea or a bad one. So, I had very incompetent proctor - made several mistakes throughout the day (e.g. forgot to tell us to sign the test, didn't read the instructions thoroughly...just bad, period). But, what stood out the most was that 10 minutes into Section 1, the assistants came to us and started asking us if we could flip the page over to the first page so they can write the test Serial Number. Imagine the level of distraction? What made things even worse for me was that my first section was Logic Games. I had literally, read the rules of the second game and was making inferences based on my set up when this happened and I FREAKIN FORGOT MY INFERENCES. So, I had to go back, re-read, try to remember the inferences and easily lost 3-3:30 minutes. On top of that, the level of noise created so much distraction. HERE'S MY QUESTION: ARE THE PROCTORS WITHIN THEIR POWER TO DISTRACT YOU FROM YOUR TEST IF IT'S SOMETHING NOT PERSONALLY RELATED TO YOU? As in, he F**** up by not writing the test serial numbers when distributing, and I have to suffer.
I'm taking the LSAT in two hours and this video put everything I've done and sacrificed into perspective. Good luck to all of you
Same here. I think my strongest points has become logic (embedded conditions, contrapositives) and etc....if any of you have questions on that stuff, feel free to tag me.
Hi,
I just want to know if other people have this same issue and what methods you used to overcome it: I know the LR concepts pretty well, and when I take un-timed tests, I do really well without spending a lot of time on the questions (as much as I would spend under timed conditions). But, when I take the actual test, I get considerably more questions wrong. When I do the blind review, I usually don't look at the answer I picked, I go back to the question (on a second set of the same test without any marks) and read the question again and most of the time (8/10) I get the correct answer and I look at the answer I picked during the exam and it makes no sense to me. Is this me? Am I going nuts? :/
Thanks everyone. The hope is alive for my dream school Berkeley! Best of luck everyone!!
6 point increase from my December score. YES!!!!!
Thanks @ and @ S. Best of luck to all of you guys!!
@ - that can only be a good sign. Congrats!!
THE DATE HAS CHANGED TOO. THEY ARE E-MAILING THE SCORES TONIGHT!!
I'M FREAKIN OUT! WE SHOULD GET THE E-MAIL ANY SECOND NOW!
IT'S GREY EVERYONE! IT HAS GONE GREY!
I'd say if you don't get an e-mail by 6:30 pm, just expect the scores tomorrow...hopefully.
@ - yep, thanks for the detailed e-mail.
@ - My thoughts exactly! If Kaplan had insiders at lsac they wouldn't be Kaplan
So, apparently, Kaplan sent out an e-mail to their students saying that their "insiders" at lsac have notified them that the scores will be out on Friday. So, Friday comes and goes and Kaplan students start freaking out and then they get an e-mail from Kaplan that it's getting delayed. Anyway, not sure how true this whole story is but I read it on Reddit.
Btw...did anyone hear about how Kaplan shot themselves on the foot? ( a little bit of gossip session while we wait)
Grey is also the color of my pants and tie today. Mere coincidence.
I have so much work....I've been refreshing my gmail and lsac account every 2 minutes. This is nightmare. @ Wang - We've been scarred for life hahaha
@ S - Yep, my account has expired, but here I am - I really need to get a life. Maybe after I get my score. We'll see hahahaha
I think there is an alternative solution to this issue. Although, it is fair to give longer time to test takers who have disabilities (ones that provide legitimate evidence that the test taker is at a disadvantage compared to other test takers), the issue then becomes, well how do you precisely determine how much longer time would make up for that individual's disability. For example, test taker A has ADD and has a doctor's note specifying the details of his condition - how on earth could LSAC make a determination how much longer to grant that individual so that the individual doesn't suffer or get an advantage over other test takers? In my opinion, this is a relevant factor since if the individual gets an advantage over other students due to longer than needed time, then the "normal" test takers will suffer (the word normal shall mean test takers in normal testing condition). I think a solution would be to allows those students take the test, but not use their score as part of the curve. Instead just give them their score based on other test takers' statistics. I also think that LSAC should encourage law schools to take into consideration the factor that test takers for whom English is not their first language, are at a disadvantage. LSAC keeps dodging this issue, but it's clear that test takers who are not native English speakers are at a disadvantage. I for one, can testify to that. And to answer the initial question, no LSAC should not disclose to Law Schools that students who took the test had disabilities - in fact they got sued for doing this and had to pay up I think close to 7 million dollars.
Thanks, Nilesh S. Hope the same for you! I checked my LSAC account and the release date for mine is listed as 3/3.
I believe, and I may be wrong, but the first thing LSAC does is send that e-mail that says the scores have been released. From that point on, they start releasing the actual scores by batches. So, the lie was obvious because we all would have received the e-mail. Anyway, thanks LSAC for ruining my weekend - not that this has been the first, but nonetheless.
@ - I've spoken with many law school graduates and they almost all say the same thing: it is always preferable to go to the highest ranking school vs lower ranking with scholarship. This of course applies to upper 1st tier schools. So, let's say you get sticker price offer from Georgetown #14 and you get a 30K yearly offer from Hastings, Georgetown is the better option for you, mainly because of job prospects and the fact that a lot of students lose their scholarship. The other day I was looking at Loyola, and 49% of their entering class had lost their scholarship for 2L.