timogkatagalugan

UP LAE 2017
timogkatagalugan 2 years ago

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Anyone here is taking UPLAE? Asking for tips hahahaha

I would like to share those tips that I got from PinoyExchange and some blogs.

For English Grammar:

The English grammar part of the UP LAE is made up of questions evaluating basic
college English grammar. Most of the questions are fill-in-the-blanks wherein you
will be asked to provide the best word or preposition from the choices given. There are
also questions asking which among the choices has the best sentence structure or
finding errors in sentences. If you are not that confident with your grammar, I suggest
that you start answering your high school English grammar books for practice (since
they are really the books that provide you the basic rules of English grammar). If you
are unsure of a sentence, try saying it out loud(in your head) and observe if it sounds
right. Always keep in mind that most likely if a sentence sounds right, then it is most
probably right.
For Verbal Reasoning:

The Verbal Analogy part may look simple at first, but it’s actually tricky especially
when it comes to finding relationships with the words. Brush up on your vocabulary if
you would like to gain confidence of knowing more words but this part of LAE only
contains basic college-level words. You just have to keep an eye out for tricky
questions and make sure to follow directions(or the pattern). Make sure that you
would be able to distinguish if the relationships of the words are either antonyms,
synonyms, A is part of B, A is a kind of B, proper nouns to common nouns, etc. Also, be
keen on the parts of speech being used. Sometimes, even words that you are familiar
with might be very difficult to explain when put in this kind of test.

For Non-Verbal Reasoning:

This is the most fun part because you only need to find patterns among the given sets
of pictures, words, or numbers. A tip here would be to avoid overanalyzing and just
take the sets of pictures, words, or numbers as it is for you to be able to find the
pattern easily. The best way to prepare for this kind of exam is to practice since this
can’t really be studied beforehand but the familiarity to such type of questions will
help in improving your speed in answering such questions. You can buy some mind
teasers in bookstores or you can also find some online.

For Math(Quantitative Reasoning):

Honestly, the Math part was the most difficult part for me and even for some of my
friends. I guess the Math part measures one’s logical thinking, which is a required skill
for lawyers. Most of the questions during my time were from geometry and
algebra(basic and advanced). There were a few word problems such as work problems,
distance problems, mixture problems, etc. The most difficult part for me here is the
geometry part wherein some questions assume that you still remember the postulates
and theorems you learn in geometry class during high school(if you are not from a
Math-oriented undergraduate course). Familiarize yourself with geometric
formulas(especially solving geometric problems that include shaded regions) and
ways of computing angles. The real challenge in the Math part is the time. You really
have to learn how to solve fast to finish all items.
For Reading Comprehension:

Just like any other reading comprehension test, this part is composed of passages
which you are asked to read, followed by questions regarding the passage you just
have read. Many of the questions would be regarding the main idea of the paragraph or
the best title that could be given to the passage. There are also questions asking for a
meaning of a word in the context it is used in the passage. I suggest that while reading
the passages, you try to relax so that you will understand more what you are reading.
Then try to answer the questions with the obvious answers first. Try to scan through
the passage again to look for answers to some questions whose answers are not that
obvious. Personally, I don’t suggest the tip of review centers that you do away with
reading the whole passage and go directly to answering the questions by just
searching the passage for the item being asked for. For me, it is easier that you at least
have a general idea of the passage and even familiarize yourself with its main
arguments. But you can do what is most convenient for you. Just be mindful of the
time(but this is the test that many of the test-takers did not exhaust the whole
allotted time.)

For Logical Reasoning:

This part is mainly composed of logic games and puzzles so if you are quite familiar
with them, this part will not be a problem for you. Similar to the non-verbal reasoning
part, this part can’t be studied beforehand and the best way to prepare for such exam
is to practice. You should familiarize yourself with how logic questions and puzzles are
framed and also try to orient yourself with a way of thinking somehow linear to the
framework such questions follow. Some types of questions are the “If all zips are zaps,
and all zaps are zims, then all zips are zims” question, or that which asks you to
determine which should be the next number or letter in a given set, or that which asks
you who is the tallest among the four people described. Also familiarize yourself
with Einstein’s logic puzzles which can be searched
online(http://brainden.com/einsteins-riddles.htm) since there are about ten
questions(during my time) that are of this type. Familiarizing yourself with the
concept of syllogisms might also help you in this part. If you are having trouble
solving the questions in this part, I suggest that you use the scratch paper(provided by
the proctor) to draw charts so that you can easily visualize the situation described in
the question— This also helps you save time.

For General Knowledge:

This part is somehow the giveaway of the LAE since this part contains questions
relating to literature, pop culture, music, movies, games, products, logos, etc. And
some of the questions are of everyday knowledge(especially when you keep track with
what is happening with the world). One suggestion I can give for you to prepare for
this test(or to at least have more numbers answered correctly) is to answer the Brain
Blitz quiz booklets found in National Bookstore. Brain Blitz has evolved through years
and has numerous volumes dealing with literature, geography, science, pop culture,
etc. It is a very thin book and handy to bring anywhere.

In this part there are also somehow subjective types of questions which I still haven’t
figure out how it affects the LAE score. Some people have told me that such questions
measure the way of thinking of a person and your answer to one is interpreted
together with your answer to the other “subjective questions.” But this is not
confirmed to be true so I suggest that you answer this type of questions honestly yet
carefully.

END OF EXAM

After the exam, treat yourself by eating or watching a movie or meeting a friend. After
all, that’s five hours of mental workout and you deserve a break.

The results will be out either late January or early February. Don’t stress over this and
just hope for the best. Good luck!

IIRC, okay na ‘yung basics. Pwede na ‘yung nasa table dito. Basta I used
Acuña’s Philosophical Analysis, the book used in Philo 1, specifically ‘yung parts na may
rules of inference saka rules of replacement. Ang format ng questions ay may given na
two or three arguments, tapos from that, pipiliin sa choices ‘yung “therefore” na
valid. So you will need to know how to inverse, convert, etc.

Okay. Dahil malaki din ang naitulong nitong forum na ‘to sa preparation ko for the
LAE, magbibigay ako ng tips kung paano ako nag-aral para makapasa.
-Study at least 3 months before the LAE

Assuming na November ulit ang date ng LAE, dapat maghanda na kayo by August or
September. Personally, nag-umpisa akong mag-review nung August. Pasaglit-saglit
akong nag me-memorize ng commonly tested words sa exams. For this, hiniram ko
yung GRE book ng kaibigan ko kasi sa likod nung book, madaming salitang commonly
na lumalabas sa exams.

Tapos, bumili ako ng SAT book for sentence completion and reading comprehension.
Actually, para sa language part, GRE, GMAT, at SAT ang ginamit ko na pang review.
Siguro na familiarize ko sarili ko sa 2000 words nung nag-aral ako for the LAE.
Siyempre napraning lang ako kasi may nagsabi sa akin na mag-aral ng vocab dahil pag
hindi mo alam yung isang salita sa exam, hindi mo na talaga masasagot.Truth be told,
totoo nga ang sinabi niya dahil nung nag LAE ako, nadalian na lang ako sa verbal
reasoning part kasi pamiliar na ako sa words na lumabas.

-READ

Isa pa na tip is to read as much as you can. Read newspapers and novels. Yung mas
malalim, mas maganda. Huwag yung mga Harry Potter. Yung mga medyo mapapaisip
ka na libro. Sa reading comp section kasi, may analysis talaga. One step higher sa
reading comp ng UPCAT. REMEMBER: Take note of the details! Baka pag medyo hindi
kayo alerto, hindi niyo napansin na bumaliktad pala yung argumento nung selection
pagdating sa gitna.Yung mga salitang ‘but’ ang abangan niyo.

-Try to answer math problems

Ito ang hindi ko masyadong ginawa. Hindi kasi ako mahilig sa math, e. Pero I’d say na
dapat medyo mag-hasa kayo ng math skills niyo. Basically dapat mabilis kayo mag-
isip ng possible answers kahit na hindi na nag-co-compute. To tell you the truth, 10
items mahigit ang hinulaan ko sa portion na ito. Kaya nagulat ako at nakapasa ako
without needing the interview. Haha! So siguro galingan niyo sa language and reading
portion kung mahina kayo sa math. Hahaha!

-Memorize the valid forms of syllogistic arguments

Ito ang isa sa pinaka importante. I-memorize niyo yung modus ponens, modus
tollens, disjunctive syllogism, conjunction, etc. Tama si Kirkegaard nung sinabi niya
sa ‘kin na pag memorized mo daw ang mga ‘yan ay madali mo nang masasagot ang
critical thinking. Totoo nga!

-Shade all circles

Huwag na huwag kayong mag-iiwan ng blank. Sagutin niyo LAHAT.

-GWA Myth

Bata pa lang ako, sinabi na sa ‘kin na para makapasa sa UP Law, dapat ay mataas ang
grades sa college. Almost 2 decades later, masasabi ko na BAKA isang mito lang ito.
Ako ay may 2.00++ na GWA, PERO nakapasa ako. Hahahaha! Siguro taasan niyo lang
ang LAE niyo para maka pasok kayo sa top 200. Ang kutob ko kasi, pag naka pasok ka
ng top 200, shoot ka na agad. Grades won’t matter that much anymore. And actually, it
makes sense din. The LAE is an aptitude test, and basing it on grades would defeat its
purpose. Ang hinahanap naman nila ay kung sino ang “apt” (root word ng aptitude)
para sa law school. Paano kung may isang tao na nakakuha ng matataas na grades
dahil sa profs na mababait o ‘di kaya ay dahil sa madaling subjects, ang tanong ay
“apt” nga ba siyang mag-aral ng law sa grand manner? So people, huwag kayo mag-
alala sa grades. Ang alam ko, may nakapasa for interview na 2.80++ ang GWA. Pero for
sure “apt” siyang mag-aral ng law. Wala naman akong sinabi na okay lang na mababa
ang GWA, pero kung sa ngayon ay relatively na mababa na ang GWA niyo kumpara sa
mga kasabay niyo, bawiin niyo sa exam. At make sure mataas makuha niyo! Tandaan
niyo na may mga cum laude, magna cum laude, at summa na hindi nakakapasa ng
LAE!

I can’t really advice people, since each one has his/her own style that suits perfectly,
so I’m just gonna share my own. Here are what I did to prepare for the LAE:

1. I enrolled in review classes.

2. I have been working for 7 years and my mind was no longer in that test-taking
mindset of a student, so to fix this, I thought I should be in an environment similar
to my college days, that’s why I enrolled in review classes. My original plan was to
study by myself, but I recognize that there were things that I might miss from the
 blind side, and I also needed additional exam tips, probably some insider
information also, plus the conducive atmosphere of people pursuing the same
things as I was (work atmosphere is a far cry from this) and the potential
soundboard they would provide.
3. I did a lot of self-study.
4. I designed a review curriculum for myself focusing on my weaknesses (math and
abstract reasoning). I based it on LSATs (logic games, tricky algebra questions), the
exam coverage outlined in the UP Law website (critical thinking, verbal reasoning),
and on topics that people on threads like this were saying would be included (logic,
vocabulary, writing position paper, etc.).
5. I reduced social activities, social networking, etc.
6. I suspended all social activities during my 2-month review period. I had to sacrific
this ’cause I barely had time to review (I am working full-time). The most difficult
thing was reducing surfing online lol, but it was just a matter of getting used to, for
eventually, I only visited Facebook to rest my mind. I also did household chores
during review breaks, and it was very effective in relaxation.
7. I disciplined myself by waking up early, following a personal review schedule, etc.
8. I tried to imagine how a law student should be, and adopted that imagined lifestyle. I
woke up at 6 am everyday and read. I stayed up late reading position papers and
solving tedious algebra problems. I am that type of person who needs at least 8
hours of sleep to function well, but I changed my sleep hours to 7, sometimes 6, to
free more time for review and also to see if I could do it. I found out I could, although
I felt groggy most of the time. lol
9. I designated a couple of notebooks for my review: one for taking down vocabulary
and math notes, another for daily review outlines and reminders. Heck, I even
organized my scratch papers neatly to serve as reference for my algebra woes. I
made sure that all things were planned and done according to schedule, so my mind
was free of unnecessary clutter.
10. I did self-analysis and evaluation periodically.
11. I think this was the most important thing: I checked my small achievements and
failures daily (or weekly), and readjusted my review accordingly. I also did self-
reflection and analyzed my intrapersonal skills: was I mature enough for law school?
Was this something I really wanted? I knew I wasn’t 100% ready on so many levels,
 that’s why all the more did I push myself. There were so many frustrating moments,
but I took steps back and looked at the bigger picture and went back to work when
things became clearer again.

When I went to the review class, the first thing that the lecturer asked was: do you
really want to become a lawyer? She went on to tell about the boring and tedious stuff
in law school, the unglamorous courtrooms in Malabon, etc. It got me thinking, ’cause
I had other interests (writing, Spanish) that would be sacrificed. I shouldn’t want law
school for the wrong reasons, like prestige, money, etc. It’s also an unconventional
field for transgenders. I didn’t take the LAE 2012, the one right after my review class,
and decided to wait until it felt right. And finally, I felt I had some answers to “Why
law?” and took it.

I realize this is gonna be long, so I’ll just stop here. Hit me up if you have questions

Vocabulary:

Words are really unfamiliar since I don’t usually use many of them everyday even
though my first language is already English. Words that I remember are impinge,
sacrosanct, etc. So better read a lot and get yourself familiar with new words!

Language Proficiency:

We were asked to pick out the best sentence among the four choices and the sentences
were very long.

Logical Reasoning:

We were asked to find the relationship of words to each other. Better study tautologies.

Math.

This I hate the most. I really resorted to guessing a lot of items. To those planning to
take LAE, better practice solving math problems under time pressure. Most of the
problems are answerable. But the limited time is the challenge. We were asked to
answer simple questions like percentages, charts, money conversions. But the time
pressure made the questions a lot more difficult.
Reading Comprehension:

This is very easy for me since I’ve trained myself to read long passages. You will
encounter long to very long passages on this section. The challenge is the time
pressure. I remember that there was a poem included on this section which we had to
interpret.

General Knowledge:

Lots of history questions and personality questions as well.

I suggest that as early as now, you really have to plan your preparation. I consider
myself as an average person so I really planned my review to compete with the best
students of UP and other well-known universities. I had 6-month preparation. Part of
my preparation are the following:

1. Visit library more often, read books and current events

2. Invest in review materials or books

3. I took additional unit in Math since it is really my weakness

4. Always positive. “I can pass LAE” was my daily mantra.

5. I went to spa a day before the exam. This helped me endure the long hours of exam
the following day since I’d had a time to reenergize myself.

Being a fratman myself I say go join in your first year. I did. It’s a crazy way to jump in
to the Philippine Greek lifestyle but I like things crazy hehe. Plus, people will support
you and pressure you enough to keep you in law school anyway.

Incoming third year now, I’m realizing recitation is 95% useless. Just laugh it off and
don’t worry. Make a minimal amount of effort into this, the professors can go ****
themselves. Focus on the exams, especially your final.

If you do good in your recitations it doesn’t mean you will pass the course. However, if
you do well in your final exam (I’m not even counting midterms here) you WILL PASS,
guaranteed, even if you suck majorly at recitations. In practical terms, this means:
 Do not read cases in the original unless you have loads of free time. Always have a
copy of the original but skim them and just refer later. It’s a waste of time and effort
to read it.
In lieu of reading in the original, get a GOOD digest. You will learn what a good digest
is by experience. You will probably have a digest pool in class. Join it and submit your
own digests (unfortunately this requires you to read cases in the original, an
exception to the above).
While digesting cases for your class, focus on issue spotting. This is the most
important skill in law. Basically, a case has FACTS, then the law has a RULE (which
you need to memorize) and the ISSUEis whether or not the RULE applies to the
FACTS. This is where the rule and exceptions to the rule come in. That’s an
oversimplification but it helps to frame reading and digesting cases.
Understand and memorize the rules and the exceptions. To memorize, google
spaced repetition. It’s far more efficient than standard rote memorization and gives
you a review schedule. It also takes much less effort than normal studying.
Memorizing the rules is of primary importance.
Memorize the jargon. There are 3 types of things I found useful to memorize and
categorize as “jargon”. First is latin maxims (easy), second is case citations (hard)
and third is article/section citations (really hard). Law is jargon, like how medicine is
jargon. In fact, law should have a higher place for jargon than the medical profession
because words are all that the law is really. Jargon means that the word to describe
something often makes zero sense. Remember that going forward. A doctor could
say that his patient has glomerulonephritis. Lawyers may say that US v. Ah
Chong applies in this case. Both make zero sense to the layman. But as a law student
you should try to at least understand the latter. However, this is only of a secondary
importance. You can survive an exam just knowing the rule, but citing which part of
the law that rule is located will make you ace the exam.

If you only have a limited amount of effort to give, stop trying to do well in recitations
and learn that to pass law school and the bar you only need writing skills, not speaking
skills. The latter is just a bonus.

1. Language Proficiency. Medyo okay naman siya, standard grammar, find error stuff
na hindi naman ganun kakumplikado pero be wary with time talaga. I was
like ladidadada nung una but when I saw the remaining time like 8 mins, and I still
have 20 or so more questions to answer, I panicked. Haha. I wound up shotgunning a
couple of q’s.

2. Verbal Reasoning. Test of vocab. Try downloading the Merriam Dictionary app,
meron siyang How strong is your vocab game dun, it’s a start. Read, eto na ang
pinakamagandang advice na masasabi ko. Most of the words (like tenuous, abrogation
etc) in the first part were familiar to me because I read a lot. Tapos medyo familiarize
din yourself with some basic legal terms–due process etc.

3. Nonverbal reasoning. Abstract reasoning. Budget your time. Practice. Try yung
medyo advanced like 5 attributes yung babantayan mo. Yung folds (perspectives),
gears (isama mo na din) saka numbers/letters sequence.

4. Quantitative Reasoning. Dang, I prepped for algebra word problems a day before
pero maraming questions are stat/geom. Haha. So prep for those din.

5. Logical Reasoning. Try doing yung LSAT reviewer. I found one sa net, about Logical
reasoning question types–assumption, weaken/strengthen, method of argument,
parallel structure, etc (which I read the night before the exam lol) na medyo helpful sa
akin. May Einstein’s puzzle type sa dulo, so try doing those as practice, too. Again,
budget your time.

6. Reading comprehension. Natuwa ako dito. Haha, andaming articles and entirely
different from each other. Haha. May literary, merong parang from health journal (?),
merong parang from opinion page sa diyaryo (I thought si Randy David or Nicole
Curato yung author) etc etc. Haha. Haba nilang lahat. So read and digest what you read
to practice for this part. No other way.

7. General Info. I liked this, too, at least the first half. First part: histroy, geography, lit
ganyan. Sino ang sumlat, saan makikita type of questions. Pero yung second half
parang psych eval ba yun. Haha. Like we were asked if we agree/disagree with
statement like this one: you weigh the consequences of your actions, ganyan.

Sa Math, high school algebra. No rocket science.

Logic, just memorize the Rules of Inference , and everything should be mechanical na
lang. Funny anecdote lang, when I took the LAE, modesty aside, I breezed through this
part kasi I memorized the Rules above (I promise that when you do, parang 1+1=2 na
lang ‘yan). I looked to my left and saw my seatmate, somebody from another school
(basing on the jacket he was wearing), writing so many long sentences on scratch
paper, obviously having a hard time. My notes, meanwhile, were like this:

AvB

~A

.’. B

or

A -> B

B -> C

.’. A -> C

The point is, once you memorize the rules, it’s just a matter of putting the long
sentences into symbols, and then applying the formula (i.e., the rule).

English parts are another story. But then, you can cram naman into your vocabulary
common words (usually lumalabas ‘to: pertinent, octogenarian and its variants,
scintilla, iota). Grammar, like math and logic, is, if you think about it, also about
memorizing rules. Reading comprehension mahirap talaga, cannot be crammed but
may be improved in a few months’ time siguro.

Good luck!

Sources: Google: UPLAE tips, PinoyExchange: The Law School Advice, How To Pass UP
LAE?

Credits to the owner: I just compiled it for personal use but I wanted to share it.
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