Sophia is our Blueprint The Movie student blogger. She hails from the wind city of Chicago and will be studying for the LSAT in her summer apartment overlooking Lake Michigan in between interning downtown. She’s Greek (ethnically-speaking), and no, she doesn’t know how to make baklava or set saganaki cheese on fire…yet.

The glorious package has arrived! For months now I’ve been reading up on the LSAT and different prepping strategies, and finally, the chosen one has been delivered to my humble abode.

Online account, check. Books, check. Pencils, check. Sucker, check.

Unfortunately, no Blueprint live LSAT classes are offered near me in Chicagoland yet, so I’ve signed myself up for The Movie. I think as study buddies, we make a good match. Who doesn’t want to study in their pjs, anyways?

I think it’s pretty awesome that I’m so excited to start prepping. After so many hours spent reading about other people’s experiences through online forums and blogs, I finally get to take a stab at it myself. Will it be a grind? I’m sure. Will it be a boring grind? Not with Blueprint. The book cover photos are so inviting.

I took a logic course during my last semester to gain some familiarity with the concepts from which the lovely LSAT derives. At first I was a bit frustrated, namely because thinking analytically like that wasn’t really my thing. Neatly ordering ideas into premises and conclusions was like a foreign language to me, until something finally just clicked in my brain. It took a few silly and rather stupid mistakes, but I eventually figured out the nature of the beast. Logic suddenly became fun, and I realized that tautologies really do come from heaven (thanks Professor Van der Nat!). Even with a semester’s worth of logic under my belt, I’ve still got a ways to go to be LSAT-ready.

As awesome as it feels to be getting started, it’s also a bit nerve-racking. I’ve tried to solve a logic game or two before without any lessons in the art of cracking them, and the only result has been a bout of nervous laughter. For the next 3 months or so I’ll be devoting several hours a week to prepping for a test that can impact my future almost as much as my four years of undergrad will. Am I scared? You bet.

I’m torn between loving and hating the idea of an LSAT score right now. I’m sure that sentiment will change through the next few months of studying, on test day and after my final score is delivered. I like that the LSAT gives me another chance to really change my future. I don’t like that it gives me another chance to screw it up.

But then again, I am reassuring myself that I am in control of my destiny. As long as I stick to my schedule and put in the effort that’s needed, I should (hopefully) do well. I’m the kind of person who believes that if you put your mind to something, you can make it happen. In this case, I want to get an awesome score. So, I’ve got to make it happen.

I’ve already sharpened one of my pencils. I’ve read the welcome letter from the Blueprint team at the beginning of book one and flipped through it to get the gist. The sucker… well, I’m saving that for last.