Jerome

Introduction

My introduction to Ellen was through The Loophole. I imagine that I discovered the book in much the same way most of its readers do, by scrolling through Reddit. I enjoyed the book. I liked the author's personality. I didn't do a single drill that took longer than five minutes.

See, when my LSAT journey started, I had two things going for me: I knew myself well and I was starting with a high diagnostic. There was a downside: I have ADHD.

Knowing myself well meant two things. Firstly, I knew I could only keep myself in high gear, a mindset of real concerted effort, for a relatively short period. On paper, I had the time to spend months studying for the LSAT, but in my head, I knew that I had a fuse that would burn down in a matter of weeks.

Secondly, I knew I would get absolutely nowhere without structure. I knew I needed tutoring, but I didn't need the kind of tutor that I would casually check in with every so often to talk about my last few practice tests, nor the kind who would give me a few standard tips and tricks and send me on my way. I didn't need someone to tell me that I was all set and if I just took some PTs, everything would work itself out. I needed hard, rigorous, intense drilling. I needed valuable insight into how I could improve. And yes, I needed someone I could get along with.

Enter: Elemental Prep.

Feb. 3 - Feb. 21 -- Daily Virtual Tutoring: CLIR Drills

I hadn't even started with Ellen yet, but CLIR drills gave me the sense that studying for the LSAT could be really fun.

It was unnatural at first. I felt like I had to do a lot in a very short amount of time. I had to read a thing, understand it, say interesting things about it, and classify it all in a matter of moments. There were times, especially initially, where I really struggled with the why. Why did I find it so hard to remember a few measly sentences? Why was this the approach? Why did I have to do this? Why did I have to keep listening to the sound of my own voice played back to me? Agh.

In DVT, I was able to improve. The daily feedback in conjunction with me putting in the constant work smoothed my early hiccups. No, I definitely hadn't perfected it by the time I started my sessions with Ellen, but I had started to enjoy the drills. After all, LSAT stimuli can be pretty ridiculous, if you're not too busy stressing about them.

Feb. 21 - Mar. 7 -- A Buffet: CLIR, DECAF, AC Translation, The Acronym, and Mini Cycles

Ellen answered the why. It's not meant to be easy, but CLIR drills and much of the Elemental methodology are meant to improve a person's working memory. It's helpful to be able to remember what you've just read on a test like the LSAT, and over time, I could feel myself ever so slightly improving my recall.

I liked the drills I was assigned. Mostly.

My CLIR was getting ever smoother. Over time, I found myself modeling my approach after Ellen's distinctive voice and method. It was a subtle but significant shift. By the end, our approaches to the drill were remarkably similar, and I was able to "feel" the text, hearing its ebbs and flows, which let me "get it" much more quickly than before. I loved DECAF because I found RC passages to be really interesting quick reads, and AC Translation took the skills being developed in those drills and applied it to yet another aspect of the LSAT. I was often slow and I wasn't flawless, but the way these three drills worked with each other was almost musical harmony.

The Acronym was the process in practice. Finally, I was "doing the LSAT," but really, I was just making every step I had practiced follow a different step I had practiced. There was nothing monumentally different about doing some drills in order versus "doing the LSAT."

On the other hand, I felt like Mini Cycles were an exercise in suffering. Though they weren't that different from anything I had already done, my brain couldn't stand them. Not even conjuring the mental image of a Shaolin monk punching a tree over and over to strengthen their bones could make me think positively of Mini Cycles.

The results were clear, though. The scores on these LR sections were higher than those in my diagnostic. They weren't perfect and I knew they could be. Ellen knew they could be. The hard work resumed without complaint from me. After all, I figured Shaolin monks didn't particularly enjoy punching trees either.

Mar. 7 - Apr. 4 -- The Pressure Cooker: CLIR, Cappuccino, The Acronym, and MemAC

For the most part, each drill hummed along like a happy little machine. The section scores were improving, and I was relaxing. I was enjoying them. Even MemAC, which was an angry machine that made all sorts of sounds it shouldn't make, was sometimes enjoyable because I was enacting a process that I had completely bought into.

Then, I started taking official PTs. Another step towards "doing the LSAT."

My relationship with PTs deteriorated quickly. I went from feeling the nervous butterflies of wanting to prove that I had accomplished something through all of my hard work, to feeling tingles in my hands and feet, to not being able to breathe and having my ears blocked up. I tried all sorts of remedies. I bought compression socks. I put wraps on my arms. I started wearing foam earplugs. I tried everything and I couldn't calm myself down.

The good scores on my PTs only made my nerves increase. And my nerves spilled into my drills. In a matter of weeks, I was barely able to breathe doing a simple CLIR drill. Even now, months later, I feel myself getting jittery as I write this.

I told Ellen about all of it. We had conversation after conversation about what to try, what not to try, what to think, how to frame the test, what other students did, how other students struggled, and I tried my hardest to internalize all of it.

The night before my LSAT, after reviewing some drills and seeing my performance dip, I got frustrated. Really frustrated. I went onto LawHub, picked a random LR passage, and just... crashed out. It was an "anti-PT." I tried my hardest to ignore all the advice: I didn't read aloud, just vaguely read mentally, relied on pure vibes and frustration, picked answers that "looked right," and went as fast as possible. And I got a perfect score. When a process has been drilled until it's subconscious, it's going to happen whether you want it to or not, and it became clear to me how absurd so many of my anxieties and frustrations were.

I walked into my LSAT calmer than I had been at any point in the entire process. I was calmer, more focused, and miles more ready than when I took my diagnostic a couple of months prior.

Concluding Thoughts

I've written ad nauseam about the mechanical parts of what makes Elemental great, but Ellen's empathy, counsel, and unwavering belief are what makes this experience truly special in my eyes. It is a gift to be able to speak with someone who:

• has a competitive spirit akin to Michael Jordan
• knows so much about her students and the LSAT
• knows what her students need to succeed

There is a reason, I think, that so many of Ellen's students enjoy working with her.

Studying for the LSAT is hard and stressful, but it can be fun, with the right teacher and the right team behind you.