The LSATs
So yeah. I've never really been one to freak out over standardized tests, but I find the LSAT absolutely horrifying. Maybe its because I'm now realizing that where I go to college, especially law school, is a lot more important than I realized in high school. Getting into a top 14 law school, or even better, into YSHCN (Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, or New York University) is pretty much a golden ticket into a big law job that pays 125k a year off the bat. I'm shooting for Columbia or NYU; if I got into both I'd probably take Columbia, but I don't know. If by some fluke I got into Harvard I'd probably jump on that like nobody's business.
At any rate. The LSAT. I am confident I will graduate with a 3.92, which is pretty competetive at Columbia/NYU. My LSAT score though, I'm not quite as confident about. The maximum score is 180 and, smart as I am, I'm not that smart. I went through an exam today, untimed, and my score was 173. If I actually manage to score that on the LSAT, I will be overjoyed. I timed myself on three of the four sections, actually. Timed myself on both logic reasoning sections, got 43 out of 49 correct. I need to bring that up a bit, which I think is doable. The LR section isn't as coachable as the "games" section, but it can be improved. Ideally I'd be getting 1-2 wrong per section as opposed to three. That would give me a bit more leeway with the games section. On the reading comprehension portion, I got 26 out of 27, which is about what I expected and what I think will be a typical performance, give or take a point. The games section though, those things are a bitch and a half. I planned on timing myself at the beginning, and i did for the first game (actually got all of the questions right for that one too) but got to the second game and choked. So, I decided to say fuck it, quit timing, and just work through the games. I'm gonna do that for a couple more games section then sit down and do a real, fully timed exam in a week or two.
This is stressing me out more than I was expecting and I'm not even sure when I'm going to be taking it (at earliest, a year from now, at latest, two years from now). If I can manage a 171 I will be exceedingly happy. That will give me a great shot at NYU, and while Harvard or even Columbia would be awesome, I'd be more than satisfied with NYU.
For now, I'm gonna try to sleep and not let this keep me up all night.
At any rate. The LSAT. I am confident I will graduate with a 3.92, which is pretty competetive at Columbia/NYU. My LSAT score though, I'm not quite as confident about. The maximum score is 180 and, smart as I am, I'm not that smart. I went through an exam today, untimed, and my score was 173. If I actually manage to score that on the LSAT, I will be overjoyed. I timed myself on three of the four sections, actually. Timed myself on both logic reasoning sections, got 43 out of 49 correct. I need to bring that up a bit, which I think is doable. The LR section isn't as coachable as the "games" section, but it can be improved. Ideally I'd be getting 1-2 wrong per section as opposed to three. That would give me a bit more leeway with the games section. On the reading comprehension portion, I got 26 out of 27, which is about what I expected and what I think will be a typical performance, give or take a point. The games section though, those things are a bitch and a half. I planned on timing myself at the beginning, and i did for the first game (actually got all of the questions right for that one too) but got to the second game and choked. So, I decided to say fuck it, quit timing, and just work through the games. I'm gonna do that for a couple more games section then sit down and do a real, fully timed exam in a week or two.
This is stressing me out more than I was expecting and I'm not even sure when I'm going to be taking it (at earliest, a year from now, at latest, two years from now). If I can manage a 171 I will be exceedingly happy. That will give me a great shot at NYU, and while Harvard or even Columbia would be awesome, I'd be more than satisfied with NYU.
For now, I'm gonna try to sleep and not let this keep me up all night.