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The student voice of Saddleback College since 1968
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
volume 48, issue 13
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Pre-Law Debate helps students ace LSAT MATTHEW KIRKLAND LIFE EDITOR
The Saddleback College PreLaw Society held a debate on the Law School Admissions Test on Tuesday, April 19. Representatives from different LSAT preparation companies gave students advice and spoke on behalf of their programs. “The reason we wanted to have the LSAT debate is because Saddleback has a community with a lot of students that wish to be lawyers in the future,” said Pontus Goeransson, president of Pre-Law society. Goeransson, who wants to attend either Columbia University or Cornell University, moderated the debate and prosed questions about the test. Representatives from Test Masters, Score It Up and Blueprint provided insight. A fourth speaker, from Velocity LSAT preparation, was unable to make the debate. The purpose of the event was to provide students with information about the LSAT and the companies that provide preparation courses. Each representative spoke about differences between the companies, the success of their courses and the cost. “There are so many different prep course companies out there that [students] have to choose between,” said Goeransson. “A lot of students don’t know what the differences are between these companies, so by hearing the companies and their representatives speak it gives the [students] a heads up to what is on the test and they also receive discounts just by being here so that’s also a huge advantage and a reason
FEATURES EDITOR
Saddleback College welcomed guest speaker Emily Urban as a part of the ‘PsychTalks! Speaker Series’ last Thursday. Emily Urban, a psychology major graduate student at University California Irvine, discussed the topic of the link between memory, emotion and well-being, based upon her current thesis. The majority of those in attendance included students currently enrolled in psychology courses that were being offered extra credit. The discussion drew upon Urban’s research, with plenty of opportunities for interacting and contributing to a better comprehension of the topic.
Pro-life group stirs talk at Saddleback Anti-abortion poster displayed in the quad compare women to Nazis NICK NENAD
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
MATT KIRKLAND/ LARIAT
GETTING READY: Representatives from Test Matsers, Score It Up and Blueprint
talk to students at the Pre-Law society debate on Saddleback College’s campus Tuesday. we wanted to do this.” Speakers answered questions from the moderator and from students in the audience. Mark Sacks, owner and founder of Score It Up, believes that these informational panels help future lawyers. “My sense is that it is very beneficial,” said Sacks. “I think a lot of the questions we got were really good questions and there was a lot of information conveyed that most students, understandably, just don’t know about until they’ve heard it form people who have been through it many, many times.” Preparation for the LSAT is very important. The score a student receives on the test is usually valued five to seven times higher than their undergraduate grade point average when applying to law school, according to the representative from Test Masters and the Pre-Law soci-
ety president. “It is a very important test that weighs more than your grades do, your GPA.” said Goeransson. The LSAT website says the test is an integral part of law school admission in the United States, Canada and a growing number of other countries. It provides a standard measure of acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills that law schools can use as one of several factors in assessing applicants. “It is a logic based exam,” said Sacks. “It is learning how to handle brain teaser types of puzzles and questions to develop the skills to understand and direct arguments.” Students can take the exam at anytime but can only take the test a maximum of three times in a two year period. The test is offered in February, June and December and costs roughly $175 but a fee waiver may be obtained
by students who qualify. The test is broken up into five sections containing about twenty five multiple choice questions that students have thirty five minutes to complete. After the scored portion, students submit an ungraded written assignment that is also turned into law school along with the LSAT score. Speakers also provided students with anecdotal advice to pair with the statistical information. Pamphlets and handouts were available to take home after the debate. “I think it definitely helped me a lot,” Thomas Columbus, a public policy major, said. “In that it gave me a better idea of how long I need to prepare and what I need to do to make my score better.” Columbus, who hopes to transfer to USC or Georgetown, plans to take the LSAT after he transfers and during his junior year of college.
PsychTalk speaker exposes new connections in the mind SASHA BAHARESTANI
LARIATNEWS.COM
She began with a test where 15 words hit the screen quickly one after the other. After all had appeared, the test was to write down as many words as could be remembered. Some of the words included drowsy, wake, tired, bed and rest. A turning point occurred as Urban asked how many had written the word “sleep.” Nearly half of the audience raised their hand even though the word never appeared on the screen. This led into her first point, one being the primacy and regency effect, in which many people tend to remember the things that are presented at the beginning and the end of a list rather than the middle. Another point was lures, with the example of how the word sleep never appeared but since it had relation
to the other words, the brain filled it in. She went on to describe lures as simply being a false recall and how this can be related to events and how people can sometimes recall a certain moment or detail of an event incorrectly. Next she shared how memories and emotion often work hand in hand. One of the examples she used was flashbulb memories. “Flashbulb memories are these really vivid significant memories that kind of stick out in your mind, usually for unexpected events, they are usually emotionally significant,” Urban said. “An example of this would be a memory for 9/11. If your old enough, you might remember what you were doing during 9/11.” Another point dealt again with
the significance of emotion and memory, however this time regarding those with depression. Through her research she uncovered that people with depression tend to recall a greater portion of negative memories. “A lot of people think that emotion should be ignored. Right? People say ‘oh stop being so emotional’, ‘don’t let your emotions get in the way’,” Urban said. “But from this research I really learned that emotion is very helpful, very adaptive. It’s telling us what we need to remember, what we need to pay attention to. It’s wonderful that we have this system, that kind of highlights what is really important to us in our lives.” This was the final PsychTalk of the semester’s series.
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a self-described prolife organization, was in the quad of Saddleback College displaying pictures of various abortion-related topics and comparing abortion to other forms of genocide. The display, last Tuesday and Wednesday, drew crowds of several dozens of students each day, mainly due to its explicit content. Many students got into arguments with the volunteers and other students. “Someone knocked down one of our signs,” said volunteer Lois Cunningham. “A few people [swore] or called names, but nothing like some campuses. It can get real lively.” CBR has been to Saddleback in past years, but had never set up as big of a display as they did on last week. The display featured many graphic photos depicting dismemberment and death. There were also photos of genocides that have happened in the past, such as the Holocaust. When approaching the display, there were signs that read “Warning: Genocide photos ahead.” Director of Student Outreach for the Group, Anna Johnson, explained why she thought so many students were angry at the display. READ MORE ON PAGE 2 ON THE WEB
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