This, correctly filling in little circles with a No.2 pencil, is what my life hinges on. Sound overly dramatic? Well, my score on the LSAT, which I am taking June 16th, will determine which law schools will even consider my application. The school I attend will then determine my career prospects. And in a certain sense, my career will map out the rest of my life.
A perfect score is 180. If I want to go into international law, I need to go to a top ten school which means, with my GPA, I need to get in the lower 170s to even have a chance. I haven't gotten there yet, but if Reese Witherspoon can do it, I can too gosh dangit.
To give you a little taste of what I am dealing with, here's a sample question that comes from the analytical reasoning section of the test, most affectionately called "the games" section because it's so much fun!

Three folk groups--Glenside, Hilltopper, Levon--and three rock groups--Peasant, Query, Tinhead--each perform on one of two stages, north or south. Each stage has three two-hour performances: north at 6, 8, and 10; south at 8, 10, and 12. Each group performs individually and exactly once, consistent with the following conditions:
Peasant performs at 6 or 12.
Glenside performs at some time before Hilltopper.
If any rock group performs at 10, no folk group does.
Levon and Tinhead perform o different stages.
Query performs immediately after a folk group, though not necessarily on the same stage.
(that's all prologue to the questions)

If Query performs at 12, then which one of the following could be an accurate ordering of the performances on the north stage, from first to last?
a. Glenside, Levon, Query
b. Peasant, Hilltopper, Tinhead
c. Peasant, Tinhead, Glenside
d. Peasant, Tinhead, Hilltopper
e. Peasant, Tinhead, Levon

If a rock a group performs at 10, then which one of the following must be true?
a. a folk group performs at 6
b. a folk group performs at 8
c. a folk group performs at 12
d. a rock group performs at 8
e. a rock group performs at 12.

family, isn't it about freaking time?

Before devoting my life to the LSAT, I went to visit my brother Tony and his beautiful family. Just a few pictures for your enjoyment. Well, more to remind of what life was like before the LSAT took over, and what it just might be like after.

my ace

This is an advertisement found on the website of my LSAT prep class, ACE. I find several things to be funny. First, doesn't he look dapper? So committed to "acing" the LSAT! Well son, being the white, middle-class young man you are, you will have to ace the LSAT if you want to get into law school. Second, I met Nick Thompson a few years back. I was studying abroad in Paris and he was in the process of choosing which law school he wanted to go to. He never came out with his score, but I knew it had to be good, considering he had his pick of Yale, Harvard and Stanford. Well, now I know. Third, that isn't a picture of Nick Thompson, despite its close proximity to his quote and name. Why not a picture of Nick? Well, you see Nick is a red-head and marketing surveys show that advertisements employing photos of red-heads evoke feelings of inferiority, linked, no doubt, to the red-headed step-child phenomena.