Berkeley’s complete lack of late night or 24 hour restaurants, diners, or pretty much anything with a table is really getting to me. It’s a college town, what the hell? Most of us keep weird hours and sometimes you just want to sit and study with some chicken fingers at two in the morning.

Anyhow, after a long day, longer LSAT class, and still having a mountain of homework starting to resemble Everest, I’m studying at a local pub. This might seem counterproductive, but I submit to you the several pages of my German workbook I just finished and these very words you’re reading now. Pretty much the last thing I wanted to do after LSAT class was to go back to my apartment and its tres chic academic-institutional walls. I may have a cold, but my case of cabin fever is even worse, so this is as much for my own sanity as it is for the well-being of my roommates.

Besides, it’s too far to walk to the only open coffee house and it’s definitely in my own self interest to not consume any more caffeine tonight. My food pyramid is currently about two-thirds caffeine in the form of coffee or Lo-Carb Monsters, with the remainder divided between veggies and PB&J’s. I don’t know what USDA would say, but clearly I’ve got the pyramid of champions. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Despite being compromised with the season’s current version of rhinovirus, I still took a practice exam over the weekend and was fairly pleased with the outcome. I’ve got ground to cover before I’ll be really ecstatic over my score, but it was a serious improvement over my last in-class test’s fail-tacular performance. The test definitely highlighted some areas for me to focus on. Also, it’s pretty amazing what certain answer choices resolve into when you’ve no longer got tunnel vision from stress and a clock counting down. Moral of the story, read your answer choices carefully. Curse those pesky little words like “not.”

Luckily, LSAT class time is now entirely devoted to review. Tonight’s class was more like a timed workshop than anything else with each question gone over right after we’d finished it. I mentioned in a previous post that review time is the time for approaching problems intelligently; now the approach has evolved into isolating any difficulties you may be having with them and then targeting those areas. Thankfully, there’s still time to make great strides in improving those areas. Reviewing Blueprint’s methods for approaching certain questions types is like eating a plate of cauliflower (or whatever vegetable you hate as much as I despise that white clump of nasty); you might not like doing it now, but it’s going to be so much better for you later. Maybe the vegetable comparison is wrong. Think of it more in terms of an investment of your time right now for a pay off in those all important LSAT points in October. As there’s a practice test on Saturday, I’m also kind of hoping to see evidence of a return on my investment.

Other important things to start thinking about in addition to LSAT review are the other parts of your applications like resumes, personal statements, and letters of recommendation. After spending months and months on logic and reading comprehension, this is like the “but wait, there’s more!” part of one of those “As Seen on TV” product ads. I’d add my voice to the chorus of “DO NOT WANT,” but since your application is not complete without them and without a complete application you won’t be considered for acceptance to a school (logic chain power up!), we just have to buckle down and finish them. Sharpen those pencils, my friends, and keep on keeping on.