LSAT Blog: LSAT Unplugged YouTube / Podcast

How to overcome your fear of LSAT Logic Games

When I was studying for the LSAT, I got so obsessed that I dreamed of doing questions in my sleep. I did every Logic Game ever released, some of them multiple times! For me, this was the key to turning them from confusing puzzles into easy math-like problems.

Then, after I started tutoring, I got even MORE obsessed. I wanted to get inside the testmakers' brains - to understand how they thought.

I became friends with one of them (yeah, he's weird - even weirder than I am), but that still wasn't enough for me....

So I wrote my own Logic Games. I made it my mission to write ones even harder than actual LSAT Logic Games!!! (You can get them here --->).

If you give them a shot, try not to be frustrated or discouraged by these games.

(After all, they are some of the hardest ones.)

The real value in doing them is NOT to measure your ability - it's to learn from them.

The road to success is not a straight line (as my student Jared knows all too well).

Even if you have trouble with them the first time, you can still do fine with LG on Test Day. Think of these games as more stuff to add to your library of LG knowledge.

And, if you've done every Logic Game ever released, remember that repeating games is INCREDIBLY valuable.

The games from before the year 2000 (PrepTest 30 and below) are perfectly good practice, but, overall, remember that more recent = more relevant.

If you're looking for more practice, remember that MOST unofficial games aren't similar to LSAC-written ones. They might also even contain mistakes(!) that make them frustrating, useless and confusing.

The ones I've published (for free) have been tested on thousands of students over the past several years - they do not contain ANY errors and are very similar to LSAC's, so feel free to use those for more practice.

If there's anything you're having trouble with right now, or just want to say "hi," just reach out. I read every message myself.

Very truly yours,

Logic Gamin' Steve

P.S. If you become REALLY skilled at games, here's a fun idea --- purposely do fake games KNOWN to contain errors...and figure out what they are.

P.P.S. Warning: only do this if you become *insanely* skilled at games.

Recommended Resources:

1. LSAT Courses
The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package.

2. Logical Reasoning Explanations
The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer.

3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet
Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

LSAT Prep Distractions and Your Reality

And so, if maybe over the past few weeks you, maybe you go out late one Friday night cause you just needed a break. You had a few too many drinks, then you go take a full length exam Saturday morning cause you feel like you should, even though you're probably not feeling that great and maybe it's not the best use of your time and you're better off sleeping a few more hours, guess what?

The test doesn't go well for you and it's because you're hungover. Your mind is cloudy and honestly you have no one to blame but yourself and I'm sorry to tell you that. But alcohol, drugs, these are not things that you have room for in your life right now if you want to achieve your maximum potential.

And we all know people who somehow are the comeback kid and somehow they're always able to roll off a binge like it was nothing, or they’re a pothead and they smoke every night and they’re still an uber-genius and can still get 175+. Those people, they're super-impressive.

I don't know how they do it. And they might not live to be 80, but most people are not that. I'm certainly not like that. And you might not be either. So what that means is that you need to take control of your mindset. Take control of your schedule. If you're studying for the exam only a few days away, these next 70 to 90 hours, whatever it is, you keep that very rigid.

Block out all the people and things in your life that are not setting you up for success. So if you have some emotionally-draining vampire friend who just wants to tell you all their problems, cut them off for the next few days. Say, “I'm busy. I've got the LSAT coming up, and I will check in with you afterwards.”

And you surround yourself with positive, uplifting people who want the best for you. And that means maybe you block all the narcissists on Facebook who are just trying to show off how concerned they are about the latest political thing. Or they're posting selfies of how great they look with their summer bod.

None of that matters right now. And you don't need to see some artificially-constructed perfect version of someone else's life. You need to sit there with your practice problems and put that positive media in front of yourself and believe me, you're not getting it on Facebook. You're not getting it on the news.

You're getting it from a carefully-curated reality that you've created for yourself (not what Facebook creates for you. You're putting something nice in front of yourself that you want to be there and it's either that, or the LSAT, or a walk in the park and that's all you do the next few days.

You are going into an isolation tank of butterflies and snowflakes. It's not going to be forever, but you need to make this your mission right now. For more, I've got an entire LSAT Unplugged playlist focused on LSAT Test Day prep here -----> and several articles on LSAT Test Day prep here ----->

"You either get it...or you don't."

"You either get it...or you don't."

That's the #1 thing I hear from students who think they don't have "what it takes" to ace the LSAT.

Now, I spent over a year studying for this damn test...and at least half was a complete waste of time.

And when I first started out, I got a diagnostic score that made me feel like a complete idiot.

But my hard work eventually paid off. Something finally CLICKED, I got the "LSAT Mindset," and ended up scoring a 175!!!

So...don't tell me you can't learn this.

If it doesn't come to you naturally at first because you're not one of those natural-born geniuses who just "gets" it....don't worry.

You're not doomed to failure. I'm living proof (along with hundreds of other students) it's possible to increase your score 20-25 points or more ----

Even if you've never studied before - or you tried other strategies and prep companies before - or you're retaking. (And even if, like a lot of my students, you've fried your brain watching reality TV for the past 10-15 years.)

You have what it takes. We all do.

Scholars have actually hypothesized that logical reasoning abilities are an evolutionary adaptation.

This means we're all born with the ability to reason (some people more than other, obviously).

No matter how much you're struggling...even if you're starting off at 141 or worse like my former student, Dan.

You can still improve significantly - I'm talking 25+ points!!!

And the benefits of getting that LSAT mindset pay off BIG time in the long term -

Because it turns out LSAT studying makes you smarter in general.

The image above is from a study demonstrating the improvements in your reasoning ability extend FAR beyond the LSAT.

They'll help you in law school and in your arguments with family, friends, and significant others :)

So keep at it. And if you're struggling with anything in particular, just reach out and let me know. I'll do my best to answer your questions in the near future :)

Very truly yours,

Steve "smarter-than-he-was-before-the-LSAT" Schwartz

Recommended Resources:

1. LSAT CoursesThe best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package.

2. LSAT Day-By-Day Study Plans
Preparing for the LSAT is confusing. There are dozens of prep books and practice tests out there, and 1,000+ articles on my website alone. When, and how, should you use them all? These super-specific study plans give you a clear plan of attack.

3. LSAT Cheat Sheets
Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

Fun with correlations

Correlation vs causation....

is kinda like a chicken or egg problem. We have two things that are ASSOCIATED, but we don't always know whether:

* one thing causes the other, or

* vice-versa, or

* whether they're caused by. a THIRD thing, or

* whether it's just a big coincidence!

We come across this issue all the time when we try to make inferences about causality, or question those inferences...in other words, trying to figure out why things happen.

We see this in attempts to....

* link teen violence to soda consumption

* figure out why city kids are more likely than rural kids to have food allergies

* even to claim that girls who post more Facebook photos value their appearance more!

Obviously, some claims are stronger than others.

My favorite example is this study claiming that coffee drinkers may live longer, since it avoided many typical Logical Reasoning flaws...

and because I like to drink coffee :)

So, read these studies carefully. The LSAT Logical Reasoning section makes lots of them :)

-Skeptical Steve

P.S. Reach out and send me the best article you've come across lately featuring correlation/causation issues. I'm always looking for more examples :)

LSAT Test Day I Waking Up + Getting There

Waking Up

The day before you totally relax, and the day of, you wake up early. You're setting multiple alarms. Maybe you have an old smartphone you can use as a backup alarm clock. Maybe you can have a couple of friends agree they're going to call you and go to your house and drag you out of bed in the morning if that's what it comes to, because maybe you won't sleep well the night before.
(And if you think you won't sleep well the night before, think about why that might be and what you can do about that now. Maybe you're going to take melatonin or something else.)

Don't take anything too strong because you do want to wake up on time. If you're planning to try something new, try it out now so you have a few nights to put this into practice.

On the morning of, you're going to wake up early. You're going to know where your test center is and you're going to have multiple ways of getting there. (Research all of this the week before - not the day before.)

Getting to the Test Center
If your car doesn't start, what do you do? Is there gas in the car? If you're taking the public transport like a bus, or a train or a subway, what are you going to do if it's not running well that morning? If you're taking it on a Saturday, public transit may not be as smooth or as frequent. If you're taking it on a weekday, maybe there's rush-hour traffic. Leave early.
And where exactly is the test center? If it's on a college campus, it might be tough to find. Try to figure out where it is before the morning up. Call the office of that college or university and see if you can track down the source who would know that information. Maybe if it's somewhere in the city, you have to hunt it down and know exactly what the cross streets are and write that down for yourself.

Y want to have that all mapped out because you can't bring your cell phone and can't use that to navigate. Believe me, they are very serious about that. I even heard a story once of proctors who asked everyone who has their cell phone with them, bring it up here and we'll hold it for you.

Then when those people brought their cell phones up to the proctors, the proctors kicked them all out. I can't believe they did that to those test takers. You could probably call that entrapment. But anyway, that's what they did. It's possible in the future they'll have a place you can store your phone.

But right now that's not the case and they are very serious about this. So don't bring your phone, leave it at home. Obviously the question becomes, well, "how do I survive? How do I breathe? How do I get picked up?"

People took the LSAT before cell phones. There is a way. Maybe there is a pay phone that's not too dusty or gross, so if you bring some quarters, you could use that. Or maybe you could ask some nice stranger on the street to help you out. Or maybe you could ask one of the other test-takers who shouldn't have brought their phone but did anyway, and ask if they'll do a favor after the exam or ask the proctors to borrow theirs.

For more, I've got an entire playlist focused on LSAT Test Day prep here -----> and several articles on LSAT Test Day prep here ----->

Weird thing about LSAT reading comp (and how to fix it)

When I reviewed notes taken by high scorers vs low scorers, I noticed something kinda weird.

The people who took FEWER notes....did BETTER!

This is important, so let me rephrase:

The people who do best on Reading Comprehension mark very little, or even not at all!

Maybe you don't believe me, but I've tested this out. It works.

I know you might not be comfortable marking NOTHING at all, so I've developed the following system (borrowed from my LSAT courses):

This is a minimal marking strategy that points out the ONLY things worth marking on the passage.

The nice thing is, it lets you write down *something*, while still keeping you focused on what's most important.

Here's the system:

Mark all letters and numbers in the margins next to the relevant line. (For the Digital LSAT, mark on your scratch paper in a rough order parallel to the passage on the screen.)

Viewpoints - opinions / theories / hypotheses--Mark different viewpoints as V1, V2

Viewpoint 1 = V1
Viewpoint 2 = V2

Evidence - details, supporting examples
--Mark evidence for each viewpoint as E1, E2

Evidence for V1 = E1
Evidence for V2 = E2

Advocates (if any) - people promoting opinions
--Mark advocates for each viewpoint as A1, A2

Advocates of V1 = A1
Advocates of V2 = A2

Author's opinion (if any) - may fit with V1/V2
--place relevant V and # next to lines and circle it.

Now, keep in mind that not every passage will necessarily contain all of these. Some passages won't describe the advocates of each viewpoint, but passages generally contain the other parts of the structure.

(Note: Some passages have more than 2 viewpoints.)

If nothing else, at least make sure you get the viewpoints down.

Identifying viewpoints was key for my student Michela. She even included this strategy in her LSAT Game Plan - the one that helped her increase her score from 149 to 163...not like that's a big deal or anything :)

Til next time,

Steve

P.S. Sometimes it can get boring to just talk about things so abstractly, so in my next article, I'll actually SHOW you how to do this with examples.

Recommended Resources:

1. LSAT Courses
The best of my LSAT materials, with my full curriculum for each section, including video courses, guides, and study plans to keep you on track. You can save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package.

2. Reading Comprehension Explanations
The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer.

3. LSAT Vocabulary Builder
A handbook that guides you through confusing LSAT language, but not by forcing you to memorize hundreds of words. Instead, this comprehensive guide focuses on the LSAT's most commonly-used words and phrases and gives you their meanings on the LSAT.

LSAT Retakes + Law School Admissions

Let's imagine your upcoming LSAT doesn't go well. You can retake! There's always a future LSAT date. You can always take it later in the fall or in the winter.

Rolling admissions matters a lot less than it used to.

Back in the days when there were twice as many law school applicants as there are now, it mattered more because law schools would just accept students immediately. They were afraid students would choose a different school and they would lose the benefit of getting your 165+ score or 170+ score.

Nowadays, it's flipped around a bit - there are so few applicants that law schools are choosing to wait to see who else will come along.

So they're deferring people. They're waitlisting people. Applying early matters much less than it used to. Students are retaking far more than before, so law schools are waiting to see who else is going to come along. This means you don't have to wait for them either.

You can just say, “Okay, well this test is just like any other. It's just a practice run where I happened to get LSAC’s proctoring. And this exam will one day be released as test 95, 103, whatever.

And some future test-taker, a few months from now, a year from now, six years from now, they’ll be taking my very same exam and it'll be their practice. So I can treat this exam the same because the importance of the LSAT does not rest on this particular LSAT administration."

And it's true. It all rests on your highest LSAT score. And the next exam that you're scheduled to take is not the only actual LSAT exam you can take. It's not the end-all-be-all. You have many future LSAT test dates when you can take it. It's offered nearly every month now.

There are so many opportunities for you to take the LSAT, and you're not limited to any one. And if you want more proctoring, you can also go to one of the free proctored tests offered by the major prep companies for marketing purposes. And you can bring your own exam, if you want more practice opportunities. So this LSAT test date coming up, it's not the only one. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

PSA: Reschedule your March LSAT Registration

PSA: Reschedule your March LSAT Registration

LSAC is being characteristically slow to take action, adopting a "wait-and-see approach."

However, the coronavirus situation is obviously worsening and more test centers are closing.

It's not possible to administer the LSAT on a college campus if the campus is closed. And they're unlikely to book new test centers at this point to move students to them.

I suspect the March LSAT will be widely canceled worldwide.

This may be overkill, but my current read of the situation leads me to think the most prudent course of action for most students will be to reschedule to the test center of your choice for June or July in addition.

Alternatively, you could keep your March registration and book June or July in addition.

(I suspect April may be canceled as well.)

Bonus: LSAC has waived March test date change fees, so this won't cost you anything extra.

Caveat: I don't have any special information on this from any source - this is just my personal analysis of the situation.

(I'll send an email with more about my take on the overall situation tomorrow.)

why Gawker shut down

Am I the only one who spots correlation/causation issues EVERYWHERE? Or do they just stick out because I do LSAT stuff all day?

I don't know...but I couldn't help noticing a BUNCH of articles in Gawker committing correlation-causation flaws.

(Yeah, I know Gawker.com REALLY shut down because of the lawsuit with Hulk Hogan, but it's fun to pretend.)

For example, take a look at this one, "Poor Reading Skills Are Hazardous to Your Health."

They assume that because poor reading skills and poor health are correlated, that poor reading skills CAUSE poor health. Maybe a 3rd variable (low income?) is responsible for both!

Then, they did it again with this one: "Starbucks' War on Laptop Hobos Is Paying Off," assuming that kicking out "laptop hobos" is the *reason* for Starbucks' increased profits. (That's a post hoc fallacy, for those of you who care about such things.)

Then, they did it AGAIN in this article about smoking in the morning.

Crazy, right?

So, that's just some food for thought from the logical reasoning going on inside my brain as I read the news (and weirdly collect clips of what I find).

Be careful out there when you read the news these days :)

-LSkeptical Steve

P.S. Next time, I'll share one of the most surprising insights I've discovered about Reading Comp.

Recommended Resources:
1. LSAT CoursesThe best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package.

2. LSAT Day-By-Day Study Plans
Preparing for the LSAT is confusing. There are dozens of prep books and practice tests out there, and 1,000+ articles on my website alone. When, and how, should you use them all? These super-specific study plans give you a clear plan of attack.

3. LSAT Checklists
All the little items and details students don't usually think of. They hold you accountable and help you make sure you're not missing anything.

March LSAT Coronavirus Update from LSAC + Admitted Student Weekends

March LSAT Coronavirus Update from LSAC

LSAC has canceled March LSATs across Asia in China, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. The June LSAT may be canceled there as well.

Some March LSAT test centers here in the US have been closed, meaning students in those locations will not be able to take the March LSAT. More test centers may be closed as well.

We'll see what happens as the situation unfolds.

(LSAC is closely monitoring the situation along with everyone else, of course.)

For anyone who's registered for the March or April LSATs pretty much anywhere, I certainly wouldn't count on being able to take it. You might want to think about June or July, in addition, or instead.

Admitted Students Weekends

For those of you who have already been admitted to law school, but might be retaking. You may have noticed that many admitted students weekends at law schools have been canceled or put online.

If this is affecting you, I wouldn't let it impact your ability to connect with admissions. officers and make a positive impression on them, and so if you want to set up a phone call with them or a video call simply to ask questions, that would be to your benefit -- both to create a good impression and for you to learn more about the school as well. Definitely don't miss out on that opportunity.

Law school admission officers are very accessible. They're very friendly. They want to help you and they understand obviously if you can't visit the campus, especially these days. They'll do whatever they can to share that information with you through another means.

Want to increase your LSAT score? Get my free Easy LSAT Cheat Sheet today.