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Help Needed
Best.Yet.2.Come
Core Member
Hello all:
I just want to thank all of you in advance for your support. I have read a lot of the postings and am very impressed with how supportive everyone is/has been to one another.
Here is my predicament, I am 46 years old and don't really feel as though I have time on my side. I did not research enough about how hard the LSAT is and went in blindly (with the influece of a highly marketed test prep coming K---an) and began my studies at the three month mark. I am scheduled for the July test and would postpone but with the option of retaking for free, I feel as though it would be a waste of money to pay a rescheduling fee. I am a single mom and on a limited income, not working and focusing on my undergrad. I am blessed to have an ex-husband who supports me via alimony and child support and also supports my efforts towards realizing my dream of going to law school.
My diagnositc was a 141 and since then I have gotten to -5 on the RC (thankfully it hasn't been something I struggle with), but haven't focused enough to see gains in other areas. To be honest, I probably overthink the answers, which causes me to get them wrong. To add to matters, I have the LSAT Trainer, The Loophole by Ellen Casidy and the Powerscore Bible on Logic Games. I've started a little of the core curriculum and have completed about 15 hours. On any given day I randomly pick up one of the books and try to understand rather than focusing on one source. If all of that seems disjointed, it is because I am ADHD and am all over the place with what I read and do because I cannot focus. I plan to apply for accommodations and am waiting on the psychologist report to add to the other supporting documents from my university.
My undergrad GPA currently is a 3.85; however, that is not what has been calculated by LSAC. I am fortunate that my school gives A+ as a grade so that may help me keep a strong GPA. I guess my point and reason for reaching out is what advice would you give to someone like me with the test quickly approaching? The process is stressing me so that I constanty feel on the verge of tears but will not give up.
Thanks for any and all viewpoints you can share to make my path a little easier.
Comments
Thank you for your post. I think the core question here is what to do if the test is quickly approaching (~6 weeks or so) and you are not where you want to be score wise. My initial thoughts are you've got a 3.85, which is really good, sit with the LSAT and try to get the highest score you can get. The trade off here is that this might take some time, this might push law school back a year. Ultimately that will have to be a decision you make, but my recommendation is: with a 165+ you would be looking at drastically different schools and drastically different amounts of scholarship $ than with a lower score, these two considerations in my estimation outweigh the time invested into the exam.
Now, the subtext of your question could be "how do I improve" for that question the boards here are replete with answers both specific and general.
I hope this helps
David
I'm also a working mom of 2 and have ADHD
It's hard but doable!
I just want to encourage you that with a 141 and 6 weeks, you have plenty of time to improve! To best help you, just want to ask you a couple of questions...
My target score would be a 160, but 152 would gain me admission. As I mentioned, I am 46 and not trying to go to a T-14 school. Because I go to a regional campus of the school I wanted to be admitted to there is also a referral program that would reduce tuition in half by being accepted to their research program.
Thank you for responding.
I am good so far with MP questions but struggle with MSS and Weaken. I haven't devoted much attention to Logic Games yet. My challenge is slowing my brain down and taking time to reach the stimulus. When I take PT's I put a star by my second choice, which a fair amount of times is the correct answer. I guess I need to go more with my gut instinct.
Thanks for the post, and sorry for your predicament. I don't know what LSAC's policies are about how to get extended time, but if you can procure a doctor's note pertaining to your ADHD and call LSAC to talk about the logistics, I wonder if you can get extended time for the test? Just an idea, but I do see "extended time" as a timing option on 7Sage's digital tests, so I assume that's a thing? Maybe someone else on the forum can speak to it? Anyway, just an idea! Good luck!
I have proof of accommodations at my current university and a note from the psychiatric nurse that evaluated me and gave the recommendation for university accomodations. I also have a letter from the disability coordinator of my university. Not to give too much information, but I am part of the #metoo movement when a client assualted me in the law office I worked. So there is a PTSD component whenever my back is where I cannot see the door.
It sodunds like you have a great case for accommodations. As long as you can get everything in early enough, I think you’ll likely get extended time, which is great!
On to your other questions. Generally, I don’t advise anyone to skip around in the cc. But for you, since you’re under such a time crunch, I’ll tell you this: LG is by far the easiest section to improve in. Honestly if you’re getting -5 on RC, you have such a good chance of wuickly improving your overall score! I have a 168, and my highest ever RC was -3... it is the bane of my existence haha. So I think for now, don’t worry about working on RC. I’d take a look at the cc and start working through the LG part. If you can start doing some foolproofong if LG (this is explained in the cc), I bet you’ll see some really quick improvement.
It’s great that you have lots of material and books, however using more than 1 method at a time can be detrimental. Sometimes the explanations conflict or don’t work well with each other. I’d highly recommend only using 1 at a time - either read through a whole book, or work all the way through the cc. Then, move on to another one. That way you get the full benefit of each, learn a method really well, and then can decide what elements from each are helpful to you. I personally started with Powerscore LG, but honestly it confused me more than helped. After going through the 7sage cc though, I did end up using some of Powerscore’s notations when I do games.
Personally, I found the 7sage material to be the most engaging, helpful, and thorough material out there. I’d highly recommend just using the cc for a while. I think it’s also good for someone with ADHD since the videos are short, and it’s broken up with activities and practice. Up to you - but I’d highly recommend you focus on LG for a while, because I think that’s the area you can improve in the fastest.
Good luck!
Just wanted to say that I agree with @"Leah M B" about focusing on LG. First, I would go through the conditional logic lessons in the Core Curriculum and make sure you are good on sufficiency/necessity, contrapositives, negating the sufficient and satisfying the necessary conditions. After that, the LG lessons are great for getting you acquainted with representing rules and creating useful game boards. If you are able to get that done in the CC, you can start doing a few games every day until the July test and beyond if you decide for a second take.
I think that is a good place to start because of the likelihood of dramatic improvement, but also because you can practice every day as you add more lessons from the CC. You can fool proof games as a warm up for practice tests. Practicing games really reinforces what you learn in the curriculum too, so the more you do the better you'll get.
Definitely do the LR CC, and try not to put too much pressure on yourself! You'll absorb more information and learn better if you aren't stressed. I know you have the extra stress of figuring out accommodations with LSAC, but that will all work itself out. Also, like you said the July test has the option of a free retake if you cancel your score, so that should also help reduce the pressure a little bit. Best of luck!
Stay in the game. It sounds like you started studying somewhat recently. There are many more test dates this time around than in the past. Would they give you a fee waiver?
I was asking these questions:
because it would narrow down where you should focus.
I agree that LG is generally the "easiest" to improve. If you are someone who enjoys games, finding patterns, solving puzzles, then putting more emphasis on LG would also be more enjoyable for you to work on (stress/mental state is so critical to LSATs!!)
However, the fact that at your 140s score you are getting -5 on RC (which is incredible!) makes me wonder if the skills involved in LR are stronger for you than skills involved in LG. If that's the case, then I'd recommend focusing on LR because LR is double the sections. RC relies a lot of LR skills... if you're someone who is generally good at debating others/finding flaws/poking holes in arguments etc, it might be a better investment to focus on LR.
6 weeks is not an unreasonable amount of time to see a score increase to high 150s/160! Good luck!