Sunday, December 9, 2012

Last week before finals...

The week before finals is definitely the most stressful week every semester. But it's hard to blame professors for having end-of-the-semester projects due at the end of the semester.

Not only are we up all night finishing the papers we have procrastinated working on for the entire semester, but sometimes we have up to five different classes to cram for.  I can only imagine how much sales for coffee and energy drinks spike up because of sleep-deprived  college students.

Luckily, Rockhurst extends their library hours until 1 a.m. for us and even provides midnight snacks. THAT I can at least look forward to this week! College students LOVE free food.

In other news, I received the honor of sitting on a student panel for our Rockhurst Board of Trustees during their meeting. I'm always so humbled by the quality of students that accompany me at Rockhurst. We all brought great feedback to the table and it was great to see that the trustees really wanted to hear what we had to say.

Finally, I was able to see the "A Christmas Carol" at the KC Repertory Theater which is conveniently located across the street inside UMKC's campus. I had a blast and it helped me sit back and relax just before a stressful week. Below is a picture of me sitting at the Cratchit table just before the play.

Good luck to everyone on their finals and I'll see you next week after all the madness is over!


Monday, December 3, 2012

Surviving the LSAT

From reading previous posts some of you may know that I'm applying for law school this year. Going to law school has always been my dream because I've felt a moral inclination to help defend people and their causes which is mostly rooted in experiences with legal problems my family has faced in the past.

This inclination was even more so fueled when I started working with pro-immigrant organizations throughout Kansas City and the rest of the United States. Through the experience I was able to meet immigration attorneys both in the private and government sector and I haven't been able to envision myself doing anything else since then.

The application process to get into law school, however, is not the easiest. Mostly because of one aspect in particular--the LSAT. The Law School Admissions Test is comprised of five 35 minutes sections of Logical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension and Logic Games.

To help others that may be thinking about applying to law school, I decided to publish an article I wrote about methods you can use to study for the big test in my Intro. to Journalism class at Rockhurst Univerisaty with Dr. Clune (which I definitely recommened!). The article is entitled, "The LSAT Nightmare." Enjoy!



The LSAT Nightmare

 
Your palms are sweaty around your No. 2 pencil. You have read the answer choice B and C twenty times, but you just can’t figure out which one sounds the most correct. Perhaps this is when you realized you should have opened up that KAPLAN LSAT prep book a few more times.

Taking the LSAT for the first time can be a nightmare. Maybe it’s the room full of law school candidates that makes you nervous or maybe the fact that  your performance will decide if you make it into law school or you drop out of college and move into a cardboard box under the Swope Parkway Bridge. Okay, just kidding, but when you are thinking to yourself during the middle of the test, everything always seems worse than it really is.

So how do you prepare to tackle the big Law School Admissions Test? When I asked Kansas City corporate attorney and Harvard Law graduate, Ramon Murguia, he said that it really is a hard test to prepare for; either you have it or you don’t.

KAPLAN and other test-prepping agencies, however, have their own opinion. They have created an incredibly successful and profitable LSAT preparation market for those who want to put in the time (and money) to learn.  Whether you want to use self-study books, intensive review courses, multiple week courses, or tutoring, they have the resources to help you.

When choosing the best studying strategy, make sure you assess your own personal studying habits and capabilities. Ask yourself the following questions:

1.      Do I have the self-discipline to study at least an hour each night?

2.      Do I think I will be able to go back and decipher why I answered test questions incorrectly?

3.      Am I looking to improve less than 10 points?

4.      Do I have less than four weeks to study?

5.      Is paying $1,200 or more for a prep-course going to be a challenge for me?

If you answered “No” to all of these questions then you might want to consider taking a course through either KAPLAN or PowerScore. These two companies are both known for their high success rate and they both also offer guarantees on their services. If you don’t score as well as you had hoped, you can repeat the class free of charge.

Jacob McMillan, a first-year law school student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. can recall his positive experience with his on-site KAPLAN course. “I absolutely hated the logic games section, but by the time I took the exam I had learned to diagram games and I scored pretty decently,” he said.

Both KAPLAN and PowerScore offer a variety of online and on-site courses that usually last about six weeks. If you are in a crunch and just need to lay a foundation to study on your own, PowerScore offers a 16-hour weekend course that covers all of the basics.

If money is an issue or if you would rather study on your own, self-study books are available for surprisingly affordable prices through Amazon.com. They can be used as a pretty effective studying strategy if you can create a studying plan and stick to it.

Monica Ramirez, a Harvard and Stanford Law graduate remembers studying for the LSAT on her own. “I started studying for the LSAT three months before I took it,” she said. “I would take a practice test almost every night.” Can you imagine yourself being so committed? If you can pull it off, you might find yourself scoring above a 160 just as she did.

Try not to get too anxious about the exam. There will be other parts to your law school admissions application where you will be able to show the committee why you should be admitted.  Regardless of what studying method you choose to pursue, just remember one thing: It is just a test and you are more than just a number.