Square One

Today was my first time really doing something about law school: I gave myself a practice LSAT.

I set aside a few hours today to retreat to the library and take a diagnostic exam from my LSAT prep book. I used the timer on my cell phone to time each section of the test, and gave myself a break in the middle, just like the real thing will be.

And after it was all done...

First, I feel the need to explain something. I now know that one of the biggest boosts I can have for next time is to just pay attention to the clock. On one of the "Analytical Reasoning" sections (that's the one reminiscent of mathematical story problems), I was stuck on the first question, for like half the 35 minutes that is supposed to be meant for 24 questions. Before I knew it, time was up and I had only answered seven questions. There's no penalty for guessing, so if nothing else I should have spent the last minute filling in circles. But, alas, I didn't, and just like the real thing I had to move on to the next question, leaving 17 questions completely blank.

But, even with leaving so many questions unanswered, I still got approximately a 151. Which is exactly average. And if I throw out the blank questions, then my score calculates to 160 - which is the median LSAT score of first-year law students at Baylor* (#56 on the U.S. News & World Report ranking), Florida State (#50), Seton Hall (#61), Florida (#47), Kentucky (#71), Maryland (#42), Miami (#77), Richmond (#67), Tennessee (#56) and Utah (#42). Not that I'm content with 160, but it's nice to know that I'm in that company. That's not half-bad.

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So, with some more practice and more clock consciousness, I think I'm on the right track.

*I know my wife and her family would sure be happy about that one!