Rachael

Introduction

I have always believed I am terrible at standardized testing. I am one of those people that took the ACT seven times and was still never quite thrilled with my score. I've always known my strong suit is in the classroom, but the thing that deterred me from law school was the monster that the LSAT poses as.

Before Elemental, I tried a different prep course from August - December 2021. I found the discussions extremely disengaging and the class format hard to follow. My diagnostic score was a 146, and at the end of the course I scored a 150. I was so beaten up by the LSAT. I honestly despised it because I felt like it was impossible to conquer. Through family friends, I heard about Ellen and Elemental Prep. Before our first meeting in January 2022, I thought she would just fine tune the LSAT skills I already had. I had no idea she would completely transform the way I think and challenge me in ways I had never imagined.

I came to Ellen with the target score of getting a 165. I could've never dreamed that I would score a 175 on my first attempt at the LSAT. Honestly, even now I still can't believe I was capable of this score. This seemingly insurmountable feat became possible with Ellen Cassidy and the team at Elemental.

January - February 2022 -- Reading The Loophole

I was truly oblivious about the power of The Loophole. This was the first time I had read the book. This served as the basis for a deeper understanding of Logical Reasoning.

February - April 2022 -- LR Translation

The whole goal of this drill is to be able to think critically about LR stimuli in under approximately 20 minutes. The first time I did this drill, I did it in a record time of 27 minutes. I remember Ellen being a little skeptical of that time. When we met, she asked how deeply I engaged with the stimulus and each of its moving parts. Turns out, I was half way doing it. The shortcuts I thought would save me time were inevitably causing a misunderstanding of what the author actually said. After several months, my time fluctuated. By the start of April, I finally got my translation time down to 20 minutes by doing it the correct way.

Translation, translation, translation. This drill feels so tedious at first. I didn't understand how I would be able to put such elevated LR stimuli in layman's terms. People, myself included, want to skip or breeze through this part of Ellen's LSAT training. While that feels tempting, this specific drill will serve as the foundation for the way you think about the LSAT. It is the key or as some would say, the loophole in the test. Trust me, this drill doesn't go away. You'll be doing it on the actual test, so get used to putting your all into it.

April - May 2022 -- RC Translation, Mini-Cycle, Inside Out RC

Oh my goodness, I can't tell you how excited I was to think I had graduated from Basic Translation Drills. Turns out, those never actually disappear. Reading Comp is actually just a bigger Basic Translation Drill. RC Translation is taking each individual sentence and putting it in your own words. Who would've thought actually interacting with the passage would give you the right answers? Not me.

On my first Mini-Cycle I scored a -2. This is coming from someone who typically missed 9 on LR. This was SO exciting. Ellen continued to pour into me. She was excited for every victory I achieved. But she knew there was still progress to be made.

I scored a -2 on my first Inside Out RC drill! Again, this was coming from someone who previously missed 14. This drill drastically changed the way I view RC questions.

I went through waves of extreme excitement of doing RC Translation or dreading it. I felt fatigued by doing it over and over again. But as they say, the thing you dread the most is the thing you need the most. RC Translation is crucial. It is your understanding of the passage. Some LSAT prep companies say to skip quotes or examples, but these are the meat and bones of the passage. Everything the LSAT gives you is valuable. Use it. Take it as them giving you a free answer. Don't overlook anything.

May 2022 -- E Blackout, Blindfold, Logic Games, Extracurricular Reading, and Flashcards

I love Logic Games! They are so fun. I would do these in my spare time everyday if I could. I was stuck at a -1 for a while. Each week, Ellen and I went through those games where I missed 1 question. They were consistently a result of laziness and giving up. You can be completely confident of each question in games. I eventually reached a -0 once I realized that.

I got my first -0 ever on E Blackout! How exciting! Ellen was overjoyed for me, and she helped me keep up this standard.

I got a -1 on my first Blindfold drill. This felt unbelievable. How on earth could I read the passage once, never look at it again, and only miss 1 question? This drill forces you to engage deeply with the passage! You have to understand what's in front of you!

This is a lot. These months were a lot of hard work. I put in an average of 8 hours a day. I am a full time student, so this was my summer to be able focus solely on the LSAT. Ellen doesn't let you walk into the test without a -0 on games. That sounds infeasible, but with her methods it is so practical.

June - Mid July 2022 -- Timed LR, Timed RC, Timed Games

During this time, I was scoring -0 on LG consistently, -2 to -4 on RC, and -1 to -4 on LR. These drills made me work through fatigue. Ellen was so supportive and worked through each missed question weekly. We actually realized that most missed questions were the last question of RC passages or the last LR question. Ellen and I made the goal of never missing the last question of a section. It sounds silly, but actively thinking about it made me engage with the questions even when I was tired.

Mid July - Mid August 2022 -- Full PTs, Marathons

I scored a 172 on my first PT ever. I couldn't believe my eyes. Only six months prior, I had come to Ellen with my LSAT dreams crushed. The funny thing is, after this score, I knew there was more to be accomplished. Ellen was so proud of me, but she pushed me to do a weekly marathon.

Marathons... Running mixed with the LSAT... this is going to be great. When Ellen told me about marathon-ing, I genuinely thought, "Ellen, that's great for someone else, but not me." I was so incredibly wrong. Once a week each week leading up to the test, I did six sections in one day. This sounds absolutely crazy. I won't lie, it was hard. It challenged me. It stretched my mental toughness. It took hours and hours of time and exhaustion. I'll give you an analogy of what it did though. I danced competitively in high school. Our coach would make us wear ankle weights on our wrists to make us dance sharply. When we took the weights off, our arms felt free. We were able to execute the moves far better than before. That's exactly what an LSAT marathon does. On test day you'll do 4 sections. If you're consistently practicing 6 sections in a day, then doing a 4 section test will feel like nothing.

Result

I scored a 175 on the August 2022 LSAT. I am still in shock. Someone pinch me.

Ellen Cassidy is the real deal. Don't take my word for it, take my results. Going from a 146 to a 175 in less than a year sounds impossible. People told me the highest I could increase my score was 5 points. They were so wrong. My Elemental journey lasted approximately 8 months. I wouldn't change a thing about that. Through Elemental, I was put in a community of people going through the exact same thing as me. It is so valuable to be able to study with partners, participate in the mentorship program, and post questions and receive answers in real time. Combining hard work and Elemental's methods, you will be unstoppable on actual test day.