Rant about the Evil LSAT

Boam46

Boam46

New member
I am takign the LSAT for the second time on September 29th... somehow the end of the month totally snuck up on me. I didn't do poorly the first time ... just deep down inside I know i can do better. I really can.

However, my current studying has not been up to snuff. I keep getting frustrated and giving up. I need to stop doing this. I have to be consumed with this test.

This test is soo conflicting. It is just another stupid standardized test. However, I can't get over the impact it is going to have on my future... it controls so much of what my future will be. I am soo afraid of failure. I really am it scares me like crazy.

Today while studying I just started crying hysterically and then it just continued for 45 minutes. I just felt like the test was making me feel worthless, stupid, like I was not capable. I need to control the test instead of letting it control me. I need to not think of the results of the test. I need to spend the next week and a half learning the test... the questions. I need to consume myself with it.

Tomorrow is a new day. I am going to live and breath exercise and the LSAT. I am going to take control of the test ... like I took control of my life and my weight. I need to not be afraid of failure... but look forward to the future.

Has anyone taking the LSAT or similar tests? Any strategies or suggestions? No real answers are necessary. I just needed to rant. I have felt shitty since my study session today. Tomorrow its studying from morning till night. It feels good to rant sometimes =0)
 
plan everything! lol. good luck, i hate how one test can seem to take control of your life..
 
Thanks Mickey. I have planned. I planned to have this whole month to study and I have been...

This test just makes me feel like I have the world on my shoulders. At least for the next 10 days I do...
 
Standardized tests pretty much suck. I had to take the GRE before I got into grad school and it was all BS. It supposedly predicts how you will do in school, but I have to say I sucked on that test and I am doing fine in grad school.

Good Luck...
 
Tiffany23 said:
Standardized tests pretty much suck. I had to take the GRE before I got into grad school and it was all BS. It supposedly predicts how you will do in school, but I have to say I sucked on that test and I am doing fine in grad school.

Good Luck...
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Thanks Tiffany... insane me was at one point planning on taking the GRE also and getting a Ph.D at the same time as my JD... I'm soo glad I choose to not go that route.

They put soo much emphasis on the fact that this test is going to predict how well i'm going to do in law school... its just not true!
 
It's not so much that it's a predictor of hwo you are going to do in law school, some law schools will use it as the sole means of determing who gets in - in some cases that works in the favor of the student who's coming from a less competitive undergraduate program or a less comepetive major.

Then again, when I was graduating from college (not a great school, but not Podunk state college either) I applied to both engineering school and law school (because I loved law, but every advisor I had said since I was a math whiz, I should go into engineering) I got a pretty high score on the LSATs and didn't get into one of my first choice law schools... so getting into law school is really a crap shoot - at least it was in the mid 80s :D

Do the best you can on them - don't stress out over them... and have a kick ass admissions essay...
 
Mal you're so right about the test and the law school situation. There is so much weight put on the test. I did well the first time. Some would consider it really well. However just a couple of more points higher and it would double or triple my chances of even getting into some law schools.

Its more a crap shoot now than ever. Everyone HAS to apply to more than 20 schools. Everyone I speak too. I'm applying to 26, my cousin applied to 24, my boyfriend is applying to 22, his cousin and her boyfriend applied to 20 something. Its soo difficult to get in. I already have amazing recommendations lined up and I'm going to write a kick ass essay. Not sure about what yet... mine for college was written while drunk and possibly on other substances at 3 in the morning about "creativity." That certainly isn't going to work for law school.

The problem is that they look at the score on the LSAT and just don't consider you if you didn't do well on one ridiculous test that doesn't even test your ability as a lawyer! Its soo frustrating... and then they want you to relax for 6 hours while you have to race through logic games and such!!! UGHGH!
 
I can't even imagine the money involved in applying to that many schools.. geeesh... did you want to stay in boston or go elsewhere?

you'll find the one that's right for you...

WHen I graduated from college, the economy was in the toilet and jobs were few and far between - anyone who could possibly spend a few more years in school, go into 10's of thousands more in debt did so to avoid paying off the already staggering college loans... Looks like times haven't changed all that much :D
 


This is the list of schools I am applying too. New York and Boston are our #1 cities. My boyfriend and I are going to stay in the same city. Not necessarily the same school but the same city. Right now I'm just going to apply... get acceptances. Then make decisions. The acceptance rate at most of these schools is less than 10% - 20%... what a crapshoot!
Its going to cost about $2000 just to apply to them. Getting in and doing well is really beneficial. Summer associate jobs are currently paying about $2500 a week plus a $75 dollar a day lunch Stipend. Starting at a top private firm out of law school starting pay is $160,000 plus benefits and bonuses. You just have to get in first LOL

Boston
Northeastern University
Suffolk University
Boston University
Boston College
Harvard University

New York
Columbia University
Fordham University
New York Law School
Brooklyn Law School
Yeshiva University--Cardozo Law School
New York University

Washington D.C.
Georgetown University
George Washington University
American University

Michigan University

North Carolina
Duke
University of North Carolina

University of Minnesota

University of Wisconsin

Northern California
Stanford University
University of California Berkely
University of California Hastings (San Francisco)
University of San Francisco

Southern California
University of California Los Angeles
Loyola Law School
University of Southern California
 
washington is a great city to go to school in... I'd put it ahead of boston... (then again< i couldn't wait to get the hellout of boston :D

Quite a wide range of schools - have fun with the application process... :D
 
I can't wait to get the hell out of Boston either... they just have some great schools here... so it'd be worth another 3 years of my life before I head back to NY. My grandparents are soo shocked that PJ and I hate it here... because everyone "loves it so much" they never want to leave... NOT ME LOL. Washington is definitly next on the list.
 
Boam46 said:
Mal you're so right about the test and the law school situation. There is so much weight put on the test. I did well the first time. Some would consider it really well. However just a couple of more points higher and it would double or triple my chances of even getting into some law schools.

Its more a crap shoot now than ever. Everyone HAS to apply to more than 20 schools. Everyone I speak too. I'm applying to 26, my cousin applied to 24, my boyfriend is applying to 22, his cousin and her boyfriend applied to 20 something.
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Wow! Times have changed! I've been practicing for ten years now, actually exactly ten years next month. When I was finishing college and applying to law schools I was only interested in going back to a midwestern university (I was at Mt. Holyoke at the time - western Mass). As I recall, I think I applied to 6 schools. The only school I applied to that you're also applying to was Wisconsin, which I got into. See - it can be done! I ended up going to University of Illinois for the in-state tuition and because, at the time (which is way back in 1994), it was a top 20 law school.

I know preparing for and taking the LSAT is intense. It sound to me like you're good at standardized tests because you did well or very well the first time. Keep that in mind - some folks just don't test well so you've already got a leg up. Good luck with the process. It's gruelling, but you'll get there.
 
Oh - I forgot to add my 2 cents about the actual test. My strategy was to purchase old tests from LSDAS, the people who gave the LSAT, and take those over and over again as practice, eventually doing it timed just like the actual test. I did that on my own - no class or anything - and it worked very well for me.
 
the best thing the classes offer, from people I've know who have taken them (I couldn't afford them) is that it gave you techniques and strategies for 'beating' the exam... not giving you the knowledge to pass them but ways to work the test...
 
Hi Slimmom =0)

Thanks for the advice. That's the strategy I've been going through. I took the Kaplan class the first time and it really didn't do anything for me. I have like every single book under the sun that i've been going through. Just answering the questions over and over. It just really wears you down.

Applying to law school has become increasingly competitive and difficult. It seems like everyone is applying and is your competition. What kind of law do you practice? If you don't mind sharing.

Besides being really interested in the theoretical underpinnings of law and society. I'm a social psychological theory geek. I'm currently leaning towards civil litigation, second choice is corporate.
 
Hi! I practice exclusively criminal law - defense side - and I have always worked for the State. So, I'm a poor public defender. But a pretty happy one. I was pretty sure I would be a public-service type lawyer so that's why it was key for me to get in-state tuition. I did trial work at first and I've been doing criminal appeals for about six years now. I tried being a prosecutor briefly, but it just wasn't me. I also worked as an attorney for the Missouri State Senate, which was a great job. Again, no dinero, but fun.
 
Working for the State Senate sounds like a good job. Wow public defender...that takes a lot out of you for not a lot of reward. Tons of Kudos to you... I don't think I could ever be a Prosecutor nor a Criminal Defense Attorney.
 
Boam46 said:

Applying to law school has become increasingly competitive and difficult. It seems like everyone is applying and is your competition. What kind of law do you practice? If you don't mind sharing.
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At the time I was applying the big news - nationwide, mind you -was that there was a glut of lawyers. In '93-'94, people kept saying that there were more people in law school at that moment than there were practicing lawyers in the entire country. This wasn't just the buzz of my law-school bound peers, this was in the news. Over and over again I heard from the media that there would never be enough jobs for all of the people going to law school. I went anyway and I have never had trouble getting a job.

So what I'm driving at is that you should tune out what everyone else has to say. It will only freak you out. You're going for it and you can do it.
 
My dad is an attorney in New Jersey, and NJ only has public defenders for capital cases - so the attornies in the state get to do pro bono work for indigent criminals (works out well for the criminals because in many cases, they end up with a better attorney)... Some of the cases that he gets are ...uhh.. interesting... He's mentioned some of them - and all I could think was why did you get the guy off - throw his ass in jail... and let it rot there...
 
slimmom said:
So what I'm driving at is that you should tune out what everyone else has to say. It will only freak you out. You're going for it and you can do it.
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Thanks soo much. I think I really am just psyching myself out. Studying alone really makes me feel all alone in it. You really have no idea how much better you have made me feel =0)
 
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