Tea with LSAT Steve (Student Feedback)

Feedback on the most recent Tea with LSAT Steve (received via email):

"One thing stuck out with me- the gentleman who mentioned hearing from someone ( a dean maybe?) at a law school who basically implied the LSAT was bogus and didn't predict success in school, etc.

Your response was excellent and addressed the studies out there that show otherwise. With that said, I wanted to add on how that mentality is a dangerous one, that may set folks up for failure. Downplaying the difficulty of this test is not how you conquer the test. People who scale mountains, or run marathons with any level of competitiveness know that they are facing a great challenge, and prepare as much as possible. This test is a full on battle, not a water balloon fight.

To say the test doesn't mean much in how you will do in school or as a lawyer is mentally telling yourself why worry? It's just a little test, and I'm smart and can handle it.

I think I mentioned to you previously that I am in law enforcement- a lot of our training involves having the right mindset in situations. Having the right mentality when the stuff hits the fan can mean the difference between life and death. Furthermore, it has been proven that under stress, you revert back to your training- so on exam day, whether or not you have prepped will show.

Obviously the LSAT isn't quite life or death, but the results can greatly impact the rest of your life so it should be taken seriously! Years ago I remember preparing for the physical fitness test (mile and a half run, x amount of pushups and situps in a minute based on your age and gender). I remember people I knew saying how great of shape they were in, how it was going to be easy, etc. I can't say all of those folks didn't make the cut, but a good majority did not due to their attitude (and lack of preparation).

I could go on about this- please forgive the mini stream of consciousness rant! I'm not sure if you have read it, but there is a great book called "You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself". Basically, it goes over a lot of psychological principles that affect our daily lives. I think a few apply to this discussion (Dunning-Kruger effect for one).

Anyway, as always thanks for all you do. I'm going back to prepare for the LSAT!"

How LSAT language is different from regular language

Wanna know a weird thing that drives LSAT students kray-zee? The fact that, in LSAT Land, the word "most" allows the possibility of "all" That's TOTALLY different from the way we speak in everyday life! Think of it this way: If you have 100 apples in a basket (I don't know why you would, but whatevs)...

and want to see how many are still fresh.... you'd only need to look at 51 of them in order to be able to say MOST of them are fresh. However, by saying that, you haven't written off the possibility that ALL of them are fresh. It's still totally possible! I'll be honest - this kinda stuff used to make my head spin. So, when I cracked the LSAT code, I learned EVERYTHING I could about these kinds of words. Words like: -Most -All -Some -Few -Many And many more words that the LSAT-makers use in ways you wouldn't expect. Then, I put it all together in a big guide to LSAT vocabulary. That's the best place to find out everything you need to know about LSAT language. Big Guide to LSAT Vocabulary (aka the LSAT Vocabulary Builder) ---> It even goes over how the test-makers try to trick you with language in ways you wouldn't expect. But if you're ONLY looking for stuff on number-related words, I wrote an article about just those, too. Lemme know if you have any questions about specific kinds of words, and I'll try to cover them in in the future. Very truly yours, LSAT-Word-Obsessed Steve P.S. The vocabulary builder is worth it, though. It covers all KINDS of different LSAT words, and it comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. You've got nothing to lose by getting a copy.

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Law School Admissions During Coronavirus: On Waiting

There’s uncertainty about whether schools are going to be online this fall. It’s worth considering an LSAT retake and applying in the next cycle to be able to attend in-person. If you can get a better score, you can get more scholarship money.

Of course, it’s easy in the moment to take a current acceptance and just go ahead. But if you can retake in June or July, you can go back to the school that only offered $5,000 with your 5-point score increase. You might (honestly) tell them another school offered $20,000 a year, asking if they can match that (especially if the former is also located somewhere with a higher cost of living).

If your request has a higher LSAT score to back it up, you might get $15,000+ more per year over the course of three years by just retaking the LSAT. And that could be the easiest money you'll ever make, so it's well worth it. If your scholarship offers and acceptances aren't what you wanted, then, it's worth waiting a cycle and reapplying with a higher score.

Apply at the beginning of the next cycle (this fall) if you can. Some schools also have spring admissions, which could be less competitive as most applicants apply during the fall rather than the spring. Part-time law school is a little bit less competitive as well, and you still get the same degree at the end of the day.

In short, if you’ve received law school offers you don't love, it may be worth sitting out a cycle or half a cycle and waiting to reapply, especially if schools go online this fall. Taking law school 1L classes online is probably not the experience you were looking for. And if you wanted that in-person on-campus experience, there are no guarantees of what awaits you in the fall.

Longer-term, this will have a massive impact on higher education. Why should a student pay the same price for an online experience as an on-campus one?

If you think you could do better and get more scholarship money by retaking, and you're not in a hurry, then wait and retake. 

LSAT-Flex Score Release

The LSAT-Flex score release will be two weeks after you take it -- slightly faster than regular administrations, but not by much.

That's because they still have to do all their detailed statistical analysis to make sure that people performed on Test Day as LSAC expected (previous calculations, internal difficulty ratings, etc.)

A lot of law schools will be extending deadlines if they haven't already to wait for the May LSAT results to be released. They may also extend beyond that for those taking the June LSAT. And if the June LSAT doesn't happen in person -- if it's administered online as another LSAT-Flex later than June 8, they will probably push dates back even farther to account for that.

Online LSAT-Flex Prep I Simulating Test Day

There are four sections in the Online LSAT Prep Plus (and books of published PrepTests) because that's how PrepTests have always been published -- the four scored sections. LSAT-Flex is three sections. One Logic Games, one Logical Reasoning, one Reading Comp.

If you're taking the online LSAT-Flex in May, I would practice like Game Day - only do three sections. A simple solution would be to remove or skip one of the logical reasoning sections from any given published LSAT PrepTest. Then you've got three sections - one of each type. Do them back to back (no break).

If you want to get a scaled score, you could just double your logical reasoning performance. And then use that to convert your raw score into a converted score out of 180. it obviously wouldn't be perfect in part because some logical reasoning sections have 25 questions. Some have 26 You might occasionally have 24, so it won't be a perfect approximation, but it'll be close enough to give you a sense. 

(We don't yet know whether Logical Reasoning will be double-weighted or each section will be weighted equally. LSAC should reveal this by Friday, April 17).

It won't be a perfect approximation, but it's probably close enough. Give yourself a margin of error of a couple of points on each end to be safe. If you take the average of your most recent five exams you've done in a relatively short period, that will give you the best indication of where you stand.

When you see LSAT-style language *everywhere*

There's a great (and free!) guide containing info on pretty much every law school out there. http://www.bcgsearch.com/bcgguide/ Check it out. You can even download it as a PDF. BUTTTT..... thing is, if you spend enough time on the LSAT, you start looking at things weirdly.

You start analyzing things and seeing flaws EVERYWHERE! I "suffer" from this, and so do my students. After I recommended that above-linked law school guide to one student, he started analyzing a totally random statement in the guide's introduction! What he wrote: Here's what I read in the first paragraph of the introduction: "Information is not knowledge. Only organized and contextualized data can provide meaningful information." At first glance, I wondered if it wouldn't have been better to start with "Knowledge is not information," and then go on to explain that the only way to get meaningful information is by finding organized and contextualized data. But now it occurs to me, maybe saying "Knowledge is not information" is structurally the same as saying "Information is not knowledge." My response: Their sentence and yours are structurally the same! If it's information, then it's not knowledge. ( I ---> NOT K ) Contrapositive: If it's knowledge, then it's not information. ( K ---> NOT I ) Therefore, the two are not equivalent. However, these first two sentences suggest something slightly more complicated. What the authors really mean (in context) is that information ALONE isn't sufficient to be "knowledge." The authors suggest that data equals information - although they don't explicitly say this. Thus, it's an unstated, but required, assumption. They say that data/information must be organized and contextualized in order to be meaningful. The authors suggest meaningful information is equivalent to knowledge. This is another large missing assumption that must be true in order for the argument to work. *** So, if this is the kinda thing you've started doing with completely random sentences... That's what I like to see! If you can dissect something even as dry as this, you're on your way to rocking the LSAT :) For more on conditionals, contrapositives, etc., check out this article I wrote containing everything you need to know: Conditional Reasoning: Contrapositive, Mistaken Reversal, Mistaken Negation -Steve 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. 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.

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How to create the ultimate résumé for law school admissions

Yeah, I used the French-style accent marks again. Couldn't help it. Because part of writing a killer résumé for law school is paying atención to all those tiny details. Not sayin' "deets" and bein' all casual-like. In short, I hate résumés. But it doesn't matter whether you like them or not. You still gotta be good at makin' one. You still gotta prove you can be the kind of "nitpicky" future lawyer who will get awesome law school grades and pass the Bar Exam on your first shot. So I put together the best resources I could find --- specifically --- on law school admissions résumés. I want to help you make the best one possible, with proper formatting and everything. So click here to get all the law school admissions résumé goodies: Law School Admissions Résumé Goodies ---> And let me know if you have any questions about résumés, admissions, etc. Happy to help with it all however I can. -Steve P.S. My LSAT and admissions courses include a TON of resources on writing the best personal statement possible for yourself. Recommended Resources: 1. A Comprehensive Guide to the Law School Personal Statement This guide provides tips on conceptualizing, planning, writing, and editing the law school personal statement. 2. Law School Admissions Guide I've written a concise guide to the law school admission process with tips on completing every aspect of your applications from start to finish. It's a small price to pay for a whole lot of guidance, and it's short enough that you'll actually read the whole thing. 3. Law School Admissions Cheat Sheet Quick-reference guide for the law school personal statement, the "Why X?" essay, and the law school résumé. (You can also get it with the LSAT Cheat Sheets.) Free Stuff | YouTube | Podcast | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Books | Courses

Will the New Online LSAT Flex Become the New Normal?

Will the new online LSAT-Flex become the new normal?

The more LSAT-Flex administrations there are, the more that becomes the new "normal." And I suspect there will be several due to COVID-19 this year.

And with each LSAT-Flex test date, they'll get better at administering it.

It will be hard for them to go back (especially if there are more "waves" of COVID-19 as I'm hearing predicted).

LSAC says they hope to return to regular in-person administrations when possible. But COVID-19 or not, I suspect it's hard to go backward on technology.

It will be difficult for the June 8 LSAT to be administered in-person since at least a few states already have stay-at-home orders until June 10.

That would mean we'll have at least two LSAT-Flex administrations. July is a big question mark also if states extend stay-at-home orders even further.

If you're planning on taking the LSAT anytime in the next few months, don't assume it will be the Digital LSAT on tablet. It may be LSAT-Flex on your computer.

***

Additionally, some are assuming the LSAT-Flex will be easier because it is only 3 sections, rather than 5. However, LSAC has always been extremely careful about "test-equating" (ensuring that LSAT scores from different administrations and test forms are comparable). 

They go to great lengths with detailed statistical analyses to adjust the "LSAT curve" (raw score conversion) to account for any differences in difficulty based on students' performance.

(That's the main reason LSAC takes a few weeks to release LSAT scores - they are checking to see if students performed as expected on the questions.)

LSAT-Flex: Online LSAT Test Administration (via LSAC)

Via LSAC (my initial thoughts on LSAT-Flex here):

As promised, we are writing with an update on options for taking the LSAT this spring and summer while we all continue to navigate the ongoing COVID-19 emergency. We hope that you are staying safe and well and encourage you to continue your enrollment journey. We are working closely with our member schools and we are all eager to support you during this challenging time.

The continued devastating impact of the COVID-19 virus on communities throughout North America, and the growing restrictions on travel and public gatherings have led us to reluctantly conclude that we cannot administer the April 2020 LSAT, even in smaller groups with strict candidate separation and other health and safety measures. Given the intense candidate interest in testing this spring for the fall 2020 admission cycle, we had been working to preserve every possible opportunity to deliver the April test in at least some locations with appropriate health and safety measures. While the ongoing restrictions on travel and public gatherings make that impossible, we have been working hard to develop alternatives.

In light of the COVID-19 public health emergency, we will be offering an online, remotely proctored version of the LSAT – called the LSAT-Flex – in the second half of May for test takers who were registered for the April test. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic closely and will make other LSAT-Flex test dates available this spring and summer if the situation warrants. We plan to resume the in-person LSAT once conditions allow, in strict accordance with public health authorities and using all necessary health and safety measures. In the meantime, the remotely proctored LSAT-Flex will provide candidates with the opportunity to earn an LSAT score even if the COVID-19 crisis makes it impossible to deliver the test in-person. 

Candidates currently registered for the April 2020 LSAT will be automatically registered to take the LSAT-Flex in the second half of May unless they choose another option (see below). If you wish to proceed, please take a moment to review the technical requirements, and fill out the online form to let us know whether or not you think you will need assistance. We are committed to broad access and will work with all test takers with disabilities to see that their accommodation needs are met under the circumstances. We will also work with any candidates who may need our assistance with access to computer equipment or other necessary hardware.

April registrants who do not wish to take the LSAT-Flex in May should use this online form to choose any one of the other published LSAT test dates without having to pay a test date change fee.

We will announce the exact date and instructions for the May LSAT-Flex no later than Friday, April 17. We are working hard amid this crisis to create new ways for you to take the LSAT and get your score in a timely manner because we know how important it is to you and to fairness and integrity in law school admission, which advances access and equity in legal education. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we all work through this extraordinary situation together.

Here are some key facts about the LSAT-Flex test that will help you prepare should you decide to take it in May:

• LSAT-Flex will provide the high levels of security, validity, reliability, accessibility, and fairness that candidates and schools rely upon from the LSAT.
• LSAT-Flex will be composed of genuine LSAT questions that have been developed and tested in accordance with our rigorous standards and processes. 
• LSAT-Flex will be delivered in the same format as the free Official LSAT Prep practice tests available on LSAC’s LawHub, so you can familiarize yourself with the format now.
• To ensure the highest levels of security and validity, all LSAT-Flex test takers will be monitored by live remote proctors via the camera and microphone in the test takers’ computer. The video and audio feed will be recorded, and further reviewed by human reviewers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.
• LSAT-Flex can be accessed by test takers with a laptop or desktop computer with a Windows or Mac operating system to provide wide access for test takers. You can learn more about the computer and testing environment requirements here. 
• To meet the anticipated demand and the needs of the remote testing solution, LSAT-Flex will be composed of three 35-minute scored sections (compared to the four 35-minute scored sections plus an unscored section in the traditional test). 
• LSAT-Flex will include one section each of Reading Comprehension, Analytical Reasoning, and Logical Reasoning. Test takers will continue to take LSAT Writing separate from the multiple-choice portion of the test. 
• LSAC is committed to working with LSAT-Flex test takers with disabilities to see that their accommodation needs are met under the circumstances. All test takers who have already been approved to receive accommodations for the April 2020 LSAT test date will receive the same or equivalent accommodations for the LSAT-Flex administration. Accommodated test takers who registered for the April LSAT can expect to receive additional details and information directly from LSAC regarding their approved accommodations in the context of LSAT-Flex. 
• Test takers will receive a score on the standard 120-180 LSAT range, as well as a percentile ranking. Because all LSAT-Flex questions are actual LSAT questions that have gone through a multi-year process of development and pre-testing, LSAT-Flex results enable LSAC to accurately predict standard LSAT scores. Scores for the LSAT-Flex will have an annotation that the test was administered in the online, remotely proctored format. 
• We anticipate LSAT-Flex scores will be released approximately two weeks after testing. 

Even as we offer the LSAT-Flex during this unique COVID-19 period, LSAC will continue to explore additional options for candidates, including possible additional testing dates this spring and summer, and alternative locations and formats for in-person testing that would meet health and safety guidelines as this public health emergency evolves. 

In addition, we continue to work with our member law schools and are pleased to see the steps that so many schools are taking to provide flexibility, extend deadlines, and support candidates.

The impact of this COVID-19 crisis on so many segments of our society underscore how important it is to build a strong legal profession devoted to advancing justice, equity and prosperity. We hope that you will continue to pursue your goal of legal education – the legal profession needs you, now more than ever! 

Researching Law Schools Online for Admissions

5 ways to research law schools online for admissions

-Browse law schools’ websites

-Set up video calls with law school admission officers + current students (find them on Facebook +
LinkedIn)

-ABA 509 Reports (employment numbers)
-Law School Transparency

-LSAC’s LSAT / GPA Calculator

Applying to Law School During Coronavirus

(from email interview with reporter)
Some may defer due to the uncertainty, but many will choose to go to law school now because the opportunity cost is lower. Those graduating from undergrad now face a job market where few are hiring - if they have few employment options in the short term, law school becomes relatively more appealing.

This would be similar to what we saw in the 2008-2010 recession where law school applications spiked - because the job market was unappealing, applicants chose to enter law school to "wait it out" and hope the job market would improve in the next 3 years.

I don't think many will suddenly get into the game to start this fall, but many who have already applied will stick it out and possibly take lower offers than they would (or should). I would expect more desperation from current applicants who don't want to kill time to wait another year before reapplying. 

Recent poll results in this group indicate most would still start 1L online -- and even though most also *say* they wouldn't pay as much, I haven't heard law schools offering tuition discounts for temporarily moving their classes online at the "Zoom School of Law."

At the same time, I would expect more desperation from law schools to fill seats (status of international students uncertain, some applicants will want to stay closer to home/family rather than moving for law school), leading them to discount heavily if applicants negotiate.