In total panic! LSAT in June and I'm not ready! please help! Forum

[usna02]

DO NOT TAKE THE JUNE LSAT! Please do yourself a favor and wait until you feel that you are 100% prepared. I am not judging you, I just don't want to see you make a costly mistake and regret it later on.

P.S. I hope things that get better for you--keep your chin up!

ok. I have very little time to study. I have two kids and I am 6 months pregnant. I work part time and go to school full time. Not to mention I am in the middle of a divorce. I am stretched pretty thin. I have studied the LSAT test as much as I can possibly get to it but it obviously isn't enough. I took my first actual practice test last week and got a 161 but I did not time myself. I took another one today and did time the sections and got a very pathetic 142. Keep in mind I have a two year old here with me so it's hard to focus. I am scheduled to take the LSAT June 7. I am taking the week before the test off of work to have time to study but I still have homework and kids! I cannot afford any classes. I have noticed I am good at the logical games just WAY slower at them. My worst by far is the reading comprehension. I am not a dumb person but this test is rediculous!! I excede at school and everything I put my mind to, why do I feel so stupid and worthless when it comes to this test? Can I improve to a 170 in 13 days? I need some serious advice. I am applying to law schools this Fall. Should I wait for the October test? Keep in mind my baby is due Sept 7. I really need some advice PLEASE!! I know I can do good, I don't want to ruin my chances. Please no comments on my personal life, I only wanted to show how busy I am. I'm pretty fragile right now.

[kristinadyl1]

I don't know. I am going to the liabrary all week to study and practice. After reading all these posts I know MI is out of my reach. People seem to differ when it comes to where schools are ranked but I think maybe part time is the best after all. There is a few part time schools in Ohio and they are fairly easy to get into. I have a 3.75 GPA as of right now and I know I can still get into many LOWER RANKED schools even if I don't do so well on the test. I think I was aiming too high anyway. In October I will have more on my plate because I am taking 15 credit hours after this term so I can graduate by May. Capital University is where I'm looking as of now. It's not Yale but it is law school and I'm still very proud! I appreciate the honesty. If I run out of time and know I'm doing badly on the lsat I will cancel it.

[Mike19]

RC would be a wasted effort to study. No way that'll improve in the next week.

LR is learnable. I would focus most of your effort on this section. If you do 6 or 7 sections of this per day for the next week you'll begin to pick up patterns (NOTE: always go back through your section to look at the questions you got wrong and analyze why you put the answer you put as well as why the right answer is indeed right). You'll probably see your most improvement in this section which will give you a decent score boost (no promise on 170+ though...)

LG- If you understand how to do it then that's the biggest step. The next would be to simply bring your time down. The only way this will occur would be to drill repeatedly until your mind starts to pick out shortcuts. Also, read various threads on this forum about how to get quicker (I would say read LG bible...but with a week and a half left I wouldn't give up valuable study time to read the book)

All in all you're looking at long days ahead of you if you're still planning on taking the June test/want to do as well as you said you did.

Is it possible? Yes.
Probable? Depends on how much you put forth.

IMHO it would be best to take it in October - but if you're dead set on taking it on June 7th then I would just buckle down and get to work.

[shoop]

I know you asked for "no comments on your personal life," but, since your post centers on a dilemma caused, in part, by the fact that your family circumstances make it difficult to study thoroughly and effectively, I think my point is worth raising:

Your motivation to go to law school is your children, who make you want to do something with your life. This is awesome, and America would be better off if more parents had their kids' well-being higher on their priority list. However, it may be imprudent to apply to law school for 2011 admission without thoroughly considering the impact JD studies will have on your children, and the impact your children will have on your JD studies.

14 months from now, when you hope to be starting law school, you will be a single mother with 3 children, 2 of whom are under 3 years of age. Is something going to change in the next 14 months that will mean that law school (which is exponentially more work than studying for the LSAT) is going to be more do-able for you than the LSAT, in spite of increased family obligations? The first year of law school is critical and difficult. At least two of your children will be at an age where parental attention and involvement is known to be critical to intellectual and social development. Are you going to be able to fully devote yourself to both your children and your studies?

If you're spread too thin and err on the side of caring for your children at the expense of your law studies, graduating ASAP but with a mediocre rank and lackluster transcript from a T3/T4 school is honestly not likely to put you in a better position 10 years from now than if you were to delay law school, work for a couple years, and pursue the JD 3 or 4 years from now when a couple of your kids are in school and your entire family is in a better position to deal with Mom being a law student. There is nothing about being a single mother that means you can't be a lawyer--hundreds of thousands of us have done it--but you really won't be doing your kids or yourself any favors by rushing into it when it seems you're overwhelmed by far lesser challenges at the moment.

If you're dead-set on applying this fall for a 2011 start, definitely take the October LSAT.

[kristinadyl1]

Shoop. Thank you for your comments. I actually have help with me as far as with my kids. I didn't choose to include this info because I didn't want to get too personal. I am thinking it is best to go part time and the part time schools here are much easier to get into. I maight need to mention that I am 30. I would like to get this over with before I am 80! lol! I really didn't do much with my life when I should have and now I feel like I am in a hurry. I don't have anyone to help me with this whole process so I probably seem like a moron on here but I'm not. I don't come from a family of lawyers, actually, I am the only person I know that has succeeded in getting a bachelor degree. I don't want to be like everyone else I see who goes nowhere and is ok with that. I hope everyone understands where I am comming from and that I have good intentions. I am going to the library all week to do my practice tests from there (without distractions of a potty training two year old) to see if I do better. I am taking another test Thurs and I will post how I do if anyone cares. Maybe I just need some quiet. I'm going to study my butt off until the test and if I am not improving, I will take the October test. I have decided that part time is best for me though.

[kristinadyl1]

Nope. No better even with less distractions. Taking the test in Oct.

[usna02]

+1

Nope. No better even with less distractions. Taking the test in Oct.