Heading for the June 2012 LSAT

I haven’t had a chance to post lately. I’ve been dealing with the death of my car and the purchasing of another. I’ve had that car for nearly 17 years and I was telling everyone that I had only a little over 1800 miles left to cross the 200,000 mile mark. But alas, it was not to be, she blew a gasket and then cracked her motor block and that was that. Oh I know I could get her repaired, but the expense would not offset the fact that she is still 17 years old…that’s quite old in car years. Anyway, basically to put it in another way, I need a new car…well meaning new to me. I meet with the car dealership tomorrow to hopefully seal the deal and provide myself with 5 years of car payments and a new (yes meaning brand new) car. More on that later…

Now to the LSAT! I’m studying again! I’ve got vigor and venom again and I’m on the prowl to find the answers I need to TKO this test and get into the school I want. I’m so psyched! I’ve started studying practically every night and the weekends. I’ve started timing my sections and working problems at scheduled times at work. I need to improve on my timing and so I figure if I schedule say 15 minutes at work in between projects to do a quick reading comp problem I can force myself to get it done as quickly as possible. I put the beginning and ending times on the problem. I intend to improve on my time considerably on these problems so that when I start timing my total tests I should be right where I need to be. We’ll see if this approach works for me.

I’m Still Here!

I haven’t had time to post due to studying the LSAT, marketing the book and just plain ole WORK! I’ve been busy – I mean really busy! But it’s all good! I’m enjoying myself and isn’t that what it’s all about?

I’m back to reviewing the patterns in the LSAT and working the Logical Reasoning sections of the old tests with a vengeance. I’m practicing them during the week and spending time with the Reading Comp and Games sections as well. I’m still not happy with my scores though. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I’m still not seeing any real improvements. Sometimes I wonder if my brain is just fighting me and preventing me from seeing the patterns. I don’t know, but I intend to keep trying.

I’ve decided that no matter what, my deadline is taking the June, 2012 test. If I get the score I want in order to get into my chosen school, I’m going to celebrate by taking a cruise somewhere tropical. If I don’t get the score, I’m going to write the sequel to my novel and move forward with my writing career. You always need a plan B!

OK, now that that’s settled, I’m moving on to putting together my LSAT study schedule for next week!

I’m Flawed!

Flaw questions! They are so interesting! I’m finally understanding them. I re-read the Flaw question section of the Logic Reasoning Bible and made some flash cards in order to memorize the frequently used LSAT flaws. There are 17 of them! I also decided to memorize a pneumonic to help me memorize them. Here it is – “United States Civil Engineers Look In All Sites On Civil Facts For U To Note”. Do you think it’s too much? OK, you can make up your own. I tried a lot of arrangements of the letters and words but this is the only one that seemed to stick with me.

I wrote the first letter of each word on 3 x 5 cards on one side and I wrote the meaning of the flaw on the other side along with some sample LSAT answers. I take the cards around with me and read them and go over the pneumonic. I hope this is not too much. I just got tired of trying to figure out the flaw – now all I have to do is diagnose the flaw in the stimulus and then use my pneumonic to figure out which one it is and… boom! I move on to the answers and look for that flaw. It’s not easy, but I am improving!

Practice. Practice. Practice!

Making the Right Moves!

I’m back on track! I’ve been studying Reading Comp and Games at least 1 to 2 hours everyday! I’m improving in both. The weekends and several evenings are all dedicated to Logical Reasoning. This area of the LSAT seems to be the hardest for me. I’m re-reading the question types out of the Logical Reasoning Bible and reviewing all the nuances associated with each. I’m really starting to see even more how cause and effect and conditional reasoning really makes a difference on the different question types. I’m now understanding how these two concepts really make a difference on the correct answer choice! They are apart of the undercurrents of the LSAT. It’s amazing how understanding these concepts has made such a difference in my scores.

I plan to continue scheduling to increase my study time. I know I need it.

I also know that some people are saying to just take the damn thing and get it over with. “You’ve been whining and belly aching over it for a while and you’re still not making any headway”, say a few more folks. Well, I’ve taken the LSAT twice and both times my score was mediocre at best. I need to improve and the only way to improve is to study and practice, practice, practice…and more practice. I’ll continue until I feel that I am ready to knock the hell out of the LSAT.

Stay tuned.

An Eye Opener

Today I had lunch with an attorney who is also an electrical engineer. It was an eye opening experience. His main advice – focus and make studying the LSAT a higher priority! He said he had to, so stop wasting time and get it over with. He’s right!

I’ll meet him for lunch again in about two weeks.

OK, just to let you know his advice did not fall on deaf ears. It’s time to cook or get out of the kitchen!

Sidetracked Again!

I’ve been sidetracked again! Some of you may know that I wrote my first novel last year and this year I’ve been working on getting it published. I’ve just finished self-publishing it and now I’ve got to start the marketing process. It’s this process that’s taking up my already few hours that were devoted to LSAT study.

The folks who are involved with this publishing effort are constantly pressuring me to finish the web site, do the facebook page, determine what publications to send press releases and sitting down scoping out what book reviewers that may consider reviewing the book. It can be overwhelming at times. But hopefully the book will sale and make me a few dollars. We’ll see.

Now back to the LSAT! I went to library at one of the college campuses near my home last weekend and it was blocked off because they were having an Italian festival on campus. It was just loaded with people. So, I went to the next campus near my house and tried to sudy in the law library. The place was so full of dust my sinuses constantly drained and I coughed and teared up for about 20 minutes and had to leave.
Talk about frustrating!

This weekend I studied for about 3 good hours. I had made plans to study more on Sunday, but was sidetracked again by a friend who came over to show off his current flame. They had homemade coconut and pineapple cake! Talk about bribery… Anyway, we had a good time but I didn’t study a page.

Oh well, I promise to improve this week.

I’m BAcK and I’m checking out the Patterns

I’m back! I’ve been out of pocket for a few weeks. I’ve had a family reunion in Atlanta, first novel woes, and getting stuck in Washington, D.C. during Irene. Needless to say, I”ve been busy but not studying for the LSAT. I’m back to change that.

In Atlanta I was able to catch up with my nephew in law who happens to be an attorney practicing law there. He gave me some pointers that helped him while studying for the LSAT. He said learn the patterns of the arguments and practice them. He said this is what gave him the extra edge to sail through the exam and still have minutes left to go back and check his answers. He said he made a 162 using this method. OK, not a blazing score, but obviously enough to get him into the law school he wanted! I said I’d try it.

Patterns are sometimes hard to ascertain, but with the help of the Logical Reasoning Bible and friendly fellow bloggers I hope to figure them out and increase my scores on the Prep Tests.

Here goes…