Tutored by Ellen Cassidy
2 min read
I'm a non-native English speaker who believed that the LSAT was undefeatable for someone like me. I have vocabularies that I don't know the meaning of when reading a passage. I would need extra time to parse out the sentence when it's long enough for me to lose track. Worst of all, I had way more processing time required just to avoid getting lost mid-sentence.
Before I almost gave up on the LSAT, I found Ellen Cassidy, who is surprisingly so friendly and nice to me and to everyone. She is so talented in teaching students that I'm always empowered by her. She is also the one I will turn to when I feel disappointed and frustrated because she can empathize with my feelings and gently tells me that it's all normal and I will improve. Somehow, she just has faith in every student.
My determination that I would not disappoint her and not let her down forced me to continue drilling and practicing. Ellen's method is unique and game-changing, to say the least. She has encountered so many different problems during her entire career of tutoring, so she has every strategy in her hand that I need to counter my problem and weakness.
Given my unfamiliarity with the English language, Ellen didn't just teach me how to deal with LSAT questions -- we also discussed the English language itself. She would uncover how a specific word or phrase can be used in daily life and on the LSAT, which was incredibly helpful. She addressed my vocabulary gaps with context-clue strategies, assigned extracurricular reading, and recommended resources for building knowledge across the science and humanities topics that appear in Reading Comprehension.
Within my first month, I scored a 175 on a practice test -- a 28-point improvement from my 147 diagnostic. My subsequent PTs came in at 173 and 172, proving it wasn't a fluke. I ultimately achieved a 174 on the official exam while simultaneously preparing for the Chinese bar exam and completing law school applications.
I can't thank Ellen enough. She is not only a genius on the LSAT but also a genius in the English language. My favorite thing about Elemental? Without a doubt, it has to be the meetings with Ellen.
-- Celeste, 174 (enrolled at Northwestern)