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.
