Sunday, October 12, 2008

LSAT-Michael

This is Michael. Carissa says that I should contribute something to our blog every once in a while. Well last Saturday I took the LSAT, the real one this time. I've been taking previous tests for practice for about the past 18 months now so it was a relief to get the actual test over with. The test itself took about three and a half hours but I got to the testing center at 8 AM and waited for a little bit. Then I decided to go in and somebody met me at the door and said that they had moved the location of the test (they just moved it from the BYU Law School to the Wilk, right across the street, but it was still stressful to be told that you were in the wrong place for one of the most important academic tests you're ever going to take). So then me and a half dozen other people had to run across the street and get to the right room. The proctors were supposed to start giving out instructions for the test right at 8:30 but since they had to move the location some people were late so they didn't start until about 9. Then about two minutes into the instructions a guy on the front row raised his hand and told the proctor something and she disappeared for about fifteen to twenty minutes to make a phone call while everybody waited. She came back with my teacher from the LSAT prep class and they took the student out in the hall for a little bit then they all came back in and started again like nothing had happened. Some people are very, very serious about the LSAT. There is a professor at the BYU law school who tells his class how he had to train himself to use adult diapers for the LSAT so he wouldn't have to take a bathroom break. Luckily, I didn't have any psychos like that anywhere near me. There are five sections to the real LSAT and a writing section. One of the normal sections is experimental, it doesn't count for your score but it is just so the people who make the test can evaluate test problems for future reference. But you have no idea what section is going to be experimental until you are at least halfway through the test. But the experimental section has always been one of the first three that you take. My first section was games, which I do best at. Games are logical problems that have interconnected rules. Each games section has four separate games of about five to eight problems each. I did pretty good on those I think. Then the next section I took was logical reasoning, which is 22-27 short problems you have to answer logically, pretty self-explanatory. Then I took a reading comprehension section, which has been my hardest section on the LSAT. I used to think I was really good at reading comprehension just based on previous standardized tests like the ACT and stuff but the LSAT was extremely hard. After I took the third section we had a break so I wasn't sure which one of the three was the experimental. I was hoping it would be the games just because I am the best at those. After the break we went back in to take the last two sections and the writing sample. My fourth section was games again! I was so happy. After that I took the last logical reasoning section and then the writing sample. I feel like I did the best I could but I won't know what score I get until a few more weeks. Thanks for all the prayers in my behalf. It is a big relief to have it done. Saturday night we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill to celebrate.
Yesterday we went with Ben and Nicole to the BYU homecoming game against New Mexico. We had front row seats! BYU won 21-3. Go Cougs!

4 comments:

Jessica said...

Wow! I hope you did a great job on the LSAT Michael! I would never have that much patience to do a big test like that. Good luck!

Julie Brown said...

Thanks for all the details, sweetness. I feel like I was right there with you in the LSAT! SMOOCH!

XOXOXOXO said...

Michael, My hands started sweating while I was reading your entry even though I already knew you were pleased with your efforts. Thanks for posting!

Cathy said...

Yes, Michael, your description of that experience was hard core. I was a nervous wreck while reading the whole thing. It sounds like you did great and my philosophy with tests is: if you prepare well, you cannot fail. Actually I just made that up but anyways...I really like ya'll's blog and hope ya'll are doing great! Love ya:)
Cathy