The LSAT Abroad

When I began my journey teaching English in Asia this past May, I also began my journey as a law school applicant.  If you’re not from the United States, you are confused right now.  You may be thinking Doesn’t she already have a university degree?  Yes, I do! But in the US, if you want to be a lawyer, you need a 4-year bachelor’s degree (does not matter the subject), a 3-year law school degree, and a passing score on something called the bar exam.

The application process to get into law school is grueling and difficult. One of the most important pieces of the application is your score on something called the LSAT.  The LSAT measures your ability to think quickly and logically. It consists of six sections, takes about four hours, and is really, really hard.

I began studying for the LSAT in Korea and bought a ticket to take the test in Seoul.  I think my ticket was like $175.  So, from May to June I got in a pretty good rhythm of studying for 3-5 hours every single day. Then I got fired from my job,  Shortly thereafter, I moved to Vietnam after accepting a job off craigslist.  After that, I became uncertain of my LSAT future. I considered ditching the whole project and waiting a year to apply.  So I stopped studying for a week or two.

Then, I changed my mind. I began to feel isolated, bored, and depressed in Quinhon. So, I took up studying for the LSAT in hopes to add some structure and motivation to my daily life. I paid a $195 (Or wait was it $95? Can’t remember–either way expensiveeeeeee) relocation fee and moved my test center to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia because Vietnam doesn’t offer the test in October. From mid-July to the end of August, I studied just about every day for 2-6 hours depending.

At the beginning of September, I burned out and slowed down my studying considerably.  Just about two weeks before the exam, my long distance boyfriend broke up with me via text.  My LSAT preparations took a sharp nose dive.

Then came October. I moved out of Quinhon a few days ago and came here to Malaysia.  I have found Kuala Lumpur to be a refreshing and invigorating city.  I love it here.

On the big day, I was feeling relaxed and confident.  The testing center itself was a nice facility.  There were only ten other test takers, and before the exam we all bonded together about the unusual experience of combining international travel with rigorous test prep. I met cool people with cool stories, and I will definitely stay in touch with some of them. It was nice to have these pleasant, fun interactions right before a bitch of a test.

 

LSAT Buddies!!!

Turns out the LSAT exam can be a place to meet friends!

 

So, how did I do on the exam itself? Honestly, I think I did okay.  To get where I want to go, I need to score in the low 160s (out of 180), and given my performance on test day, it’s possible that this goal was met.