Test in 9 days. Advice?

Comments

• 2 Likes

  kilgoretrout Alum Member

  September 2020 795 karma

  I did not so great on my LSAT so I'm not sure how good my advice is, but I would say mentality is the most important thing for you right now. Don't be nervous about it, be excited for it, and remain calm. The morning of my test I did some logic games and some LR that I knew I would get 100% on, just for the little mental boost and to warm up. I know you want to do some PTs, and that's fine, but I would just think about how much a less than satisfactory score on your PT would affect your self esteem going into next week. But other than that, work out, meditate, stay positive and know that you've got this. Your scores are incredibly high and there's no reason why the actual test should be any different. You clearly have put in the work for this and know what you're doing.

  Just as an aside, I don't even think you need the extra two weeks. I read somewhere on 7Sage that scoring a few points higher when you've already got a really high score won't really affect your application that much, since you're already in the what, 99th percentile? You're absolutely killing it. Good luck!!!!
• VerdantZephyr Member ⭐

  September 2020 2054 karma

  @kilgoretrout Thanks for the encouragement. I think your advice is pretty good. I think, for me, I am not too worried about bombing an exam because I have been so consistent, and getting more practice under timed conditions with law hub is probably beneficial. I have used it once and did not like it. Even if I bomb it, that makes my decision easier since it just means I have to push back to December or apply next year. My undergrad GPA is unfortunately at the opposite end of the spectrum, I would guess easily bottom 5 percentile for any T14. Consequently I have to hope that my grad school grades and LSAT convince them that I am both worth a shot and a big scholarship. At T14 schools where they probably have several dozen 175 or above scores that may not be enough to get the money. Looking at super splitter results at T14 the good news is acceptance is a distinct possibility. The bad news is that big scholarships are exceedingly rare, almost non-existant. I would guess almost no one with a GPA similar to mine has an LSAT above 175 and a grad school GPA of almost 3.9 though, so not only do I not have any data to go on, I do not know if most admissions officers even have experience evaluating someone like me. Generally people with an undergrad GPA like mine struggle a lot just to gain admission into any graduate programs, and are probably not typically the sort of people that pursue multiple graduate degrees. I can not afford another round of grad tuition though, so I have to do whatever I can to get schools to not only take a chance but heavily fund a very unusual candidate. It will come down to how intriguing and risky a unicorn they believe me to be. I fully expect mostly accept and no scholarship or rejection/WL from T14 schools. Realistically I don't think I have a strong chance in the T14, but the quality of programs and outcomes for what I am interested in are hard to find outside T14. Nor are non-T14 graduates usually able to make it into academia, which I may still decide I want to do someday in the future.

  However, as is my habit these days it seems, I just vented about my internal pressure again, which is probably not particularly useful to anyone else.
• kilgoretrout Alum Member

  October 2020 795 karma

  @VerdantZephyr said:
  @kilgoretrout Thanks for the encouragement. I think your advice is pretty good. I think, for me, I am not too worried about bombing an exam because I have been so consistent, and getting more practice under timed conditions with law hub is probably beneficial. I have used it once and did not like it. Even if I bomb it, that makes my decision easier since it just means I have to push back to December or apply next year. My undergrad GPA is unfortunately at the opposite end of the spectrum, I would guess easily bottom 5 percentile for any T14. Consequently I have to hope that my grad school grades and LSAT convince them that I am both worth a shot and a big scholarship. At T14 schools where they probably have several dozen 175 or above scores that may not be enough to get the money. Looking at super splitter results at T14 the good news is acceptance is a distinct possibility. The bad news is that big scholarships are exceedingly rare, almost non-existant. I would guess almost no one with a GPA similar to mine has an LSAT above 175 and a grad school GPA of almost 3.9 though, so not only do I not have any data to go on, I do not know if most admissions officers even have experience evaluating someone like me. Generally people with an undergrad GPA like mine struggle a lot just to gain admission into any graduate programs, and are probably not typically the sort of people that pursue multiple graduate degrees. I can not afford another round of grad tuition though, so I have to do whatever I can to get schools to not only take a chance but heavily fund a very unusual candidate. It will come down to how intriguing and risky a unicorn they believe me to be. I fully expect mostly accept and no scholarship or rejection/WL from T14 schools. Realistically I don't think I have a strong chance in the T14, but the quality of programs and outcomes for what I am interested in are hard to find outside T14. Nor are non-T14 graduates usually able to make it into academia, which I may still decide I want to do someday in the future.

  However, as is my habit these days it seems, I just vented about my internal pressure again, which is probably not particularly useful to anyone else.

  Hey, you didn't let us know about your grad school GPA! That's fantastic. I know you're stressed out right now and preparing for the worst, but I really think that your graduate GPA will show admissions officers that you're capable of performing really well academically and showing improvement. Not everyone had their head in the right place when they were 19, 20 years old (myself included, lol). If there are special circumstances that would explain your undergrad GPA you could also write an addendum. That being said a 3.9 grad school GPA and a 174-177 range LSAT looks like a really great candidate to me
• VerdantZephyr Member ⭐

  October 2020 2054 karma

  Thanks. I am feeling good about getting in, just not getting 75%+ scholarships. I have done a PT the last two days and will do one tomorrow and Saturday and see if I can get another high score going into the exam.