I will kick LSAT ass
The LSAT (Law Schools Admissions Test) looms. June 6th. It's a test not of law content, but of reading comprehension, logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and writing (well sort of writing - you have to write an essay and they copy and distribute it to all law schools one applies to, but there's no scoring of it).
I took a diagnostic test a month or so ago and scored a 165 out of 180 - which is pretty good, but not fantabulous. It's UCLA range, but not Yale. What startled me most was how I bombed the analytical reasoning - the "puzzles" section. Not really bombed, but froze up and panicked and didn't have time to finish.
Ah, a challenge. I will not let "Susie and Sally and Samantha want to go to the amusement park and ride on at least four rides each, but Sally cannot ride the roller coaster and Samantha will not ride the ferris wheel without Susie" etc. kick my ass. I will kick LSAT ass.
So, I have some sample tests and I've taken that section a few times now. And just now was best ever - I finished at exactly time and missed two (and this on five hours sleep and a stressload the size of Montana). If I miss only two on each section, that puts me at like a 175, which is a fantastic score. So I'll keep on practicing that (just bought a book of 10 practice tests) and work on the other sections too now.
My poli sci prof from last term challenged me to get a perfect score - saying his roommate at Harvard did. I appreciate his vote of confidence, but I don't need perfect. I just want good. Very good.
And then after I take the LSAT on June 6th, I'll take the GRE again before I leave at the end of July. Just for fun? Nah, to see how well I can do. I figure after teaching a course on the verbal and writing, and taking a calculus class, I could kick ass on it, too. My scores didn't exactly suck before, but I was only at like 86th percentile on the quantitative section because I hadn't used any math for so long. If I ain't in the 90's, it's a bad test day for me.
My competitiveness is personal. I don't care about being better than others - that's boring and inconsequential because people have such different strengths and how unimportant is a test. I like to know people's information just to get a sense of the norm, but not to compare myself. But I do care about beating stupid tests and about besting myself. Usually I'm kick-back about them and don't care, but this is becoming a battle between me and the LSAT ... and I'm not sure the LSAT will make it out alive.
One of the coolest things if I do become a lawyer is that I'll get to bring out the persistent and antagonistic part of my personality that is usually socially unacceptable. If I'm in court, I don't have to be nice and mild-mannered (not that I do that well anyway, but I do suppress a lot of critical and analytical and argumentative energy). I can go for blood and that's acceptable. I like the sound of that, at least for awhile.
I took a diagnostic test a month or so ago and scored a 165 out of 180 - which is pretty good, but not fantabulous. It's UCLA range, but not Yale. What startled me most was how I bombed the analytical reasoning - the "puzzles" section. Not really bombed, but froze up and panicked and didn't have time to finish.
Ah, a challenge. I will not let "Susie and Sally and Samantha want to go to the amusement park and ride on at least four rides each, but Sally cannot ride the roller coaster and Samantha will not ride the ferris wheel without Susie" etc. kick my ass. I will kick LSAT ass.
So, I have some sample tests and I've taken that section a few times now. And just now was best ever - I finished at exactly time and missed two (and this on five hours sleep and a stressload the size of Montana). If I miss only two on each section, that puts me at like a 175, which is a fantastic score. So I'll keep on practicing that (just bought a book of 10 practice tests) and work on the other sections too now.
My poli sci prof from last term challenged me to get a perfect score - saying his roommate at Harvard did. I appreciate his vote of confidence, but I don't need perfect. I just want good. Very good.
And then after I take the LSAT on June 6th, I'll take the GRE again before I leave at the end of July. Just for fun? Nah, to see how well I can do. I figure after teaching a course on the verbal and writing, and taking a calculus class, I could kick ass on it, too. My scores didn't exactly suck before, but I was only at like 86th percentile on the quantitative section because I hadn't used any math for so long. If I ain't in the 90's, it's a bad test day for me.
My competitiveness is personal. I don't care about being better than others - that's boring and inconsequential because people have such different strengths and how unimportant is a test. I like to know people's information just to get a sense of the norm, but not to compare myself. But I do care about beating stupid tests and about besting myself. Usually I'm kick-back about them and don't care, but this is becoming a battle between me and the LSAT ... and I'm not sure the LSAT will make it out alive.
One of the coolest things if I do become a lawyer is that I'll get to bring out the persistent and antagonistic part of my personality that is usually socially unacceptable. If I'm in court, I don't have to be nice and mild-mannered (not that I do that well anyway, but I do suppress a lot of critical and analytical and argumentative energy). I can go for blood and that's acceptable. I like the sound of that, at least for awhile.
posted by NOLA at 8:55 AM
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