Overheard at the LSAT Forum

[mattviphky]

I remember when I took the lsat for the first time, there was this girl who mentioned before the test began that it would be her third time taking it. I just remember thinking "Jesus Christ, glad that isn't me. I wouldn't be able to handle that shit." Two years and three LSATs later I'm finally in law school.

[Nova]

Proctor: If you need to go to the restroom during a section, just raise your hand.

Girl Next to Me: I would rather pee myself than leave in the middle of a section... [turns to me] I WILL pee myself before that happens. Just warning you.

Hilarious that she admitted this to a total stranger, but I think if we were all honest with ourselves we all would agree with her... or maybe that's just me.

I had to pee SOOOO bad right after the break. I should have just pissed myself, but I held it in.

[ajmax8]

I'll go. This was a few years ago. This isn't what actually happened at the test center, but rather the night before (really the morning of because it was something like 4 am), and it still makes me laugh today. I went to college out west, and somehow all the test centers were filled up near me. Can't remember why I waited so long to register. Anyways, I had to take an hours-long bus trip to western washington university. Sorry if anyone is from there, but that place is a total dump. Anyways, I check into my shitty motel (HoJo's?) the night before. It's not too far from the school, but I call a cab for 7 am, or something very early, to make sure I get there on time. I'm in bed around 10:30-11, hoping for some solid sleep. It's Friday night, so it's party time in buttfuck Washington. Party time means a couple of dudes, maybe three or four, in the room next to mine, talking about who saved up money to buy the new air jordans, and who would wear them best. Paper-thin walls means I can hear everything. I call downstairs, hoping for a room change, but no one is at the front desk at this fine establishment. I put my head between the pillows to drown them out, hoping there's not too many lice on the pillow cases. At some point, maybe an hour later, I fall asleep. At some point, I wake up, disoriented. My bed is ever so slightly moving. I can't hear the voices, partly because I'm still half-asleep. I check my phone and it's about 4:30 am. Suddenly, without warning, and in the most ghetto female voice I've heard: "AWWW HELL NO!! YOU AIN'T PUTTIN' THAT IN MY ASS!!!" Now I am awake. I'm half pissed off because it's a couple of hours before I take the test, and I was just woken up because someone doesn't like it in the pooper. But the other half of me can't stop laughing because it's a couple of hours before I take the test, and I was just woken up because someone doesn't like it in the pooper.

Lesson learned: register early

[Swimp]

Proctor before the first section begins (can't rip/separate something that I couldn't see):

"Does anybody have scissors?" (pauses for 2 seconds) "Wait, you're not allowed scissors. You BETTER not have scissors!"

Proctor decides before writing section that we should put our erasers under our desks because LSAC hates eraser marks on the writing sample ("They keep bitching to me about it." Her EXACT words). Some dude asks, "What if we need our eraser for the scratch paper?". Proctor looks at him for a good 10 seconds, poker face and replies: "It's scratch paper, why would you need to erase anything? Smartass!". Then she grins and says, "You guys are going to report me, aren't you?"

Honestly, best invigilator I've had for an exam, ever.

Really psyched that you used the word "invigilator." You don't get many opportunities to use it in life. Way to seize the day.

[Swimp]

I remembered hearing (had to be the same person) someone drawing huge lines on their paper. Like they just started on one end and dragged their pencil to the other. I wondered what they were doing. This occurred in at least 2, maybe 3 sections. At first I thought they were just on LG before me, but idk. Maybe there is a test prep company that teaches that for games?

Velocity. The guy sitting next to me did this and as I glanced over to see what the hell he was doing, I recognized the general shape of his diagram. He had an experimental LG section too, so I had lots of fun listening to him draw all those lines. .

[soulpower]

"What? I thought LSAT was a computerized test?!!"
(asks for pencils to another guy)
"Thanks, you saved my life, dude."

[warandpeace]

"What? I thought LSAT was a computerized test?!!"
(asks for pencils to another guy)
"Thanks, you saved my life, dude."

winner

[Honey_Badger]

I remembered hearing (had to be the same person) someone drawing huge lines on their paper. Like they just started on one end and dragged their pencil to the other. I wondered what they were doing. This occurred in at least 2, maybe 3 sections. At first I thought they were just on LG before me, but idk. Maybe there is a test prep company that teaches that for games?

Velocity. The guy sitting next to me did this and as I glanced over to see what the hell he was doing, I recognized the general shape of his diagram. He had an experimental LG section too, so I had lots of fun listening to him draw all those lines. .

This was me. My diagrams were 180
(But my score? Eh, probably not so much....)

[Br3v]

I remembered hearing (had to be the same person) someone drawing huge lines on their paper. Like they just started on one end and dragged their pencil to the other. I wondered what they were doing. This occurred in at least 2, maybe 3 sections. At first I thought they were just on LG before me, but idk. Maybe there is a test prep company that teaches that for games?

Velocity. The guy sitting next to me did this and as I glanced over to see what the hell he was doing, I recognized the general shape of his diagram. He had an experimental LG section too, so I had lots of fun listening to him draw all those lines. .

This was me. My diagrams were 180
(But my score? Eh, probably not so much....)

So what do they do? Just draw a huge line first?

[bluecouch]

I'll defend Kaplan. I took a Kaplan Advanced class to prep for the October exam. I had a great teacher, and my score went up from 167 at the diagnostic to an average of 177 during my last two weeks of prep. On my last prep test before the October exam, I scored a 179. In the Advanced class, the expectation is that you will get through all of the passages and games, and the focus really is on doing them with accuracy. Everyone in that type of class has scored at least a 160 on a previous test. There are definitely things that Kaplan could do differently with content, but overall, I was pretty happy with the course. I'd recommend my teacher and the class I took to anyone.

[suzige]

I'll defend Kaplan. I took a Kaplan Advanced class to prep for the October exam. I had a great teacher, and my score went up from 167 at the diagnostic to an average of 177 during my last two weeks of prep. On my last prep test before the October exam, I scored a 179. In the Advanced class, the expectation is that you will get through all of the passages and games, and the focus really is on doing them with accuracy. Everyone in that type of class has scored at least a 160 on a previous test. There are definitely things that Kaplan could do differently with content, but overall, I was pretty happy with the course. I'd recommend my teacher and the class I took to anyone.

wrong thread?

[oaken]

I'll defend Kaplan. I took a Kaplan Advanced class to prep for the October exam. I had a great teacher, and my score went up from 167 at the diagnostic to an average of 177 during my last two weeks of prep. On my last prep test before the October exam, I scored a 179. In the Advanced class, the expectation is that you will get through all of the passages and games, and the focus really is on doing them with accuracy. Everyone in that type of class has scored at least a 160 on a previous test. There are definitely things that Kaplan could do differently with content, but overall, I was pretty happy with the course. I'd recommend my teacher and the class I took to anyone.

wrong thread?

no, just late

[paratactical]

I'll defend Kaplan. I took a Kaplan Advanced class to prep for the October exam. I had a great teacher, and my score went up from 167 at the diagnostic to an average of 177 during my last two weeks of prep. On my last prep test before the October exam, I scored a 179. In the Advanced class, the expectation is that you will get through all of the passages and games, and the focus really is on doing them with accuracy. Everyone in that type of class has scored at least a 160 on a previous test. There are definitely things that Kaplan could do differently with content, but overall, I was pretty happy with the course. I'd recommend my teacher and the class I took to anyone.

wrong thread?

no, just a Kaplan shill who set up the account when they found the negative posts earlier in this thread about Kaplan

FTFY

[bluecouch]

I'll defend Kaplan. I took a Kaplan Advanced class to prep for the October exam. I had a great teacher, and my score went up from 167 at the diagnostic to an average of 177 during my last two weeks of prep. On my last prep test before the October exam, I scored a 179. In the Advanced class, the expectation is that you will get through all of the passages and games, and the focus really is on doing them with accuracy. Everyone in that type of class has scored at least a 160 on a previous test. There are definitely things that Kaplan could do differently with content, but overall, I was pretty happy with the course. I'd recommend my teacher and the class I took to anyone.

wrong thread?

no, just a Kaplan shill who set up the account when they found the negative posts earlier in this thread about Kaplan

FTFY

Hey, not a Kaplan shill -- just late to the party. Earlier in the day there seemed to be a lot of discussion about test prep, and I wanted to throw in my two cents. That's all.

[Honey_Badger]

I remembered hearing (had to be the same person) someone drawing huge lines on their paper. Like they just started on one end and dragged their pencil to the other. I wondered what they were doing. This occurred in at least 2, maybe 3 sections. At first I thought they were just on LG before me, but idk. Maybe there is a test prep company that teaches that for games?

Velocity. The guy sitting next to me did this and as I glanced over to see what the hell he was doing, I recognized the general shape of his diagram. He had an experimental LG section too, so I had lots of fun listening to him draw all those lines. .

This was me. My diagrams were 180
(But my score? Eh, probably not so much....)

So what do they do? Just draw a huge line first?

A grid with many lines...sorry I was so noisy...subconsciously I probably felt that dramatic diagramming would help me "attack the LSAT!"

[Samara]

Serious question: How much of the prep stuff the various companies teach is more for psychological purposes (building confidence, nerves, consistency, etc.) than actual analysis?

[TomThompson]

One guy refused to take his ear plugs out, insisting that, because they weren't on one list of prohibited items (though I am fairly sure they were on the admission ticket list) he should be allowed to wear them. Kept arguing until the proctors found the spot in the test where it lists them specifically.

Another girl got quite upset because the head proctor- who was being a bit ridiculous- said that no one was allowed out to go to the bathroom, and she didn't care what the LSAC rules said about bathroom trips in the case of emergencies, because no bathrooms was "MY RULES!" [sic]. It turned out the girl in question had a very legitimate medical issue and had checked LSAC beforehand regarding bathroom breaks during the test.

[finnandjake2]

One guy refused to take his ear plugs out, insisting that, because they weren't on one list of prohibited items (though I am fairly sure they were on the admission ticket list) he should be allowed to wear them. Kept arguing until the proctors found the spot in the test where it lists them specifically.

Another girl got quite upset because the head proctor- who was being a bit ridiculous- said that no one was allowed out to go to the bathroom, and she didn't care what the LSAC rules said about bathroom trips in the case of emergencies, because no bathrooms was "MY RULES!" [sic]. It turned out the girl in question had a very legitimate medical issue and had checked LSAC beforehand regarding bathroom breaks during the test.

A girl in my section asked if she could go right after sitting down. After the proctor said that she had to wait until section 1 she said that it was probably just nerves and somehow made it until the break. I wasn't quite so lucky but thankfully I left during my experimental and made it back in time for the next section. I just wish it didn't take 30 minutes to go over rules and fill out personal info.

[finnandjake2]

One time I took the LSAT I had a nightmare the night of where I went to the wrong location and ended up being late. Horrifying.

[Swimp]

This isn't that crazy, but there were about 15 or so people taking it in the room I was in. We were missing like 6 or 7 people, though, and apparently the other rooms were missing similar amounts. Not sure why a whole bunch of people just decided not to show up. Is this typical? I took the test a few years ago and I don't remember anything like that.

[cahwc12]

One time I took the LSAT I had a nightmare the night of where I went to the wrong location and ended up being late. Horrifying.

The first time I took the SAT I showed up late, saw no proctors or registration tables anywhere, and all the rooms were closed at the testing center. I walked into a random room and sat down at a desk, and then they called my name (rooms were organized alphabetically and I chose the room with the three letters corresponding to my name).

[TripTrip]

Hey, not a Kaplan shill -- just late to the party. Earlier in the day there seemed to be a lot of discussion about test prep, and I wanted to throw in my two cents. That's all.

Uh huh. In the "Overheard at the LSAT" thread.

[suzige]

This isn't that crazy, but there were about 15 or so people taking it in the room I was in. We were missing like 6 or 7 people, though, and apparently the other rooms were missing similar amounts. Not sure why a whole bunch of people just decided not to show up. Is this typical? I took the test a few years ago and I don't remember anything like that.

My room had about 3-4 missing. Last time that was the same as well...but I had around 30 people in my room. I would guess that there's always at least a few people missing. Maybe there was some bad weather near you?

Anyways...I just remembered something form my center this past test date. Some guy came in about 5 min before the doors were about to close for good and he didn't have his photo attached to his admission ticket. He literally had the photo in one hand and the ticket in the other, and the proctor said he couldn't help him out because the rules specifically state that the photo must be attached. The guy was totally chill like, "Oh, ok, no problem them. I just won't take the test today." And leaves.

[RCinDNA]

Proctor before the first section begins (can't rip/separate something that I couldn't see):

"Does anybody have scissors?" (pauses for 2 seconds) "Wait, you're not allowed scissors. You BETTER not have scissors!"

Proctor decides before writing section that we should put our erasers under our desks because LSAC hates eraser marks on the writing sample ("They keep bitching to me about it." Her EXACT words). Some dude asks, "What if we need our eraser for the scratch paper?". Proctor looks at him for a good 10 seconds, poker face and replies: "It's scratch paper, why would you need to erase anything? Smartass!". Then she grins and says, "You guys are going to report me, aren't you?"

Honestly, best invigilator I've had for an exam, ever.

Really psyched that you used the word "invigilator." You don't get many opportunities to use it in life. Way to seize the day.

Agreed. KKDK wins the Carpe Diem award for sure.

[annet]

Serious question: How much of the prep stuff the various companies teach is more for psychological purposes (building confidence, nerves, consistency, etc.) than actual analysis?

Minimum 50% for me, but I'm a returning student who hadn't taken a test in 6 years, so that's a lot of what I expected out of a test prep company.