* New class of "career associates" at many law firms. [NYTimes]
* The number of female law school students has been decreasing since 2002. Why? [The American Prospect]
* Mom sues Chuck E. Cheese's for illegal gambling. [Westlaw Insider]
* Supreme Court tells California to cut prisoner population, Scalia and Alito vigorously dissent. [NYTimes]
* NYPD accused of ticketing cyclists for actions that aren't even illegal in NYC. [Gothamist]
Logic and Psychology Today Article about Black Women
A recent article in Psychology Today asked, "Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?" (alt link). It lead to a lot of uproar, which I won't rehash.However, as I read through the article, I naturally began to construct counterarguments as if the article were composed of many Logical Reasoning stimuli. This is something I often do when I see flawed arguments.
It's also something you should do when reading any article containing arguments - especially when you see an article making strong claims without sufficient evidence and lots of assumptions, as this one does.
More than a few questions came to mind as I read this article.
I'll raise a couple of big ones to get the ball rolling, but I'd really like to see all of you analyze this more in the comments and have some fun identifying the various flaws in the article.
Questions:
The interviewers:
Who were the interviewers rating the various women? To what extent are they representative of the population in general? How many interviewers rated each woman? How many interviewers were there?
The women:
How many women were part of the study? How was the race of each woman determined? To what extent was the sample of women representative of a particular state, region, country, etc.? Were the attractiveness ratings limited to facial features, or do they include body type?
The "explanation" and other unsupported claims:
In the final few paragraphs, the author makes a number of problematic and insufficiently-supported claims regarding BMI, intelligence, genetic mutation, and hormones. He concludes that the supposed racial difference in attractiveness is due to higher testosterone levels in black women because this is the only explanation he can imagine.
In order to improve his argument, he would need to first conduct a perfect (or close to it) study to establish his claim regarding attractiveness, addressing the questions I raised above.
Suppose he was able to do this (no easy feat, given the slippery and normative concepts of both race and attractiveness).
He would then need to systematically dismiss as many other potential explanations for his conclusion as possible. In his article, he only addresses a few, and even those are not supported or sufficiently explained.
***
Your Turn:
What flaws / information gaps do you see in the cited study?
What flaws / assumptions do you see in the author's consideration of (or failure to consider) potential alternative explanations?
What flaws / assumptions do you see in the author's selection of one potential explanation?
What, if anything, did the author do well in making his argument?
What could the author have done better in making his argument?
What could the author have done better with the information at his disposal and/or his topic in general?
Photos by Wikimedia Commons and MiKeARB
LSAT Prep Diary: Retaking The LSAT
This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Sarah, a 22-year-old college student studying for the June 2011 LSAT.If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
Please leave Sarah some encouragement and advice below in the comments!
Sarah's LSAT Diary:
Hey fellow LSAT-ers! I write to you as I procrastinate a little bit longer on my studying.
I turned 22 years old (suckily enough, right in between taking the LSAT, and getting my score back. Can you say wasted-birthday-wish?). I spent the last 3 years working full-time, and going to school full-time. I have pretty much completely my undergrad but due to so many changes and new developments, I’m still working through the remainder of my undergrad, chalking up a minor in Humanities to partner my major in Criminology. My GPA has been at mediocre to decent all throughout. I have my great references and extra-curricular activities and all that and eventually placed a lot of pressure on my LSAT.
Actually, before I even get to that, I pretty much didn’t study for my LSAT until about a month prior to it. Up until that point, I fooled myself into thinking I was studying. To be fair, up until that point, I also thought I would be heading to England for law school who didn’t need an LSAT score or anything, really. However, because of the difficulties in returning to Canada to pursue a career in law with an international degree, my plans changed, and I realized I had to actually study for the LSAT.
After researching several schools and realizing my slim shot of getting in, I found a couple I would probably be considered competitive for. I’m one of those people that needs to be organized and I need to have a plan for everything. Everything that's happened up until this moment appears to be hindering my main plan. What’s my main plan? Pass my LSAT, get into a law school, practice law, be fabulously rich? Well, close. Even still, I stressed in so many different ways, I think my body went into shock from being stressed as I don’t think I’ve ever really been significantly stressed, ever. I put this enormous pressure on myself to study and do well on my LSATs but also found it difficult to study. Granted, I was doing one class a week, which is nothing compared to some of you but between work and my own personal pressures breaking me down slowly I got very little accomplished.
So, let’s see. I submitted my law school applications (for Canadian schools) by November 1, because that was their deadline and I was under the impression I would be leaving, so I just didn’t care all that much. Usually, my obsessive-compulsive need to be ahead of the rest, need to have everything prepared and ready to go when needed would have had these applications in by September 31 (the day applications are accepted) in an express post FedEx envelope.
Alas, my lack of caring for Canadian schools won over and I procrastinated and somehow managed to get everything in by November 1. Pathetic. I realized I wanted to actually go to a Canadian law school by end of the second week of November and immediately realized studying for the LSAT was an absolute must. I assumed the maybe combined 3 days of studying I’d done since the summer would give me a tiny head start. I was so wrong on that one, it was almost funny.
Anyway, I started studying, of course I hated that it would interrupt my life after work so most of my studying took place at work where I’m a receptionist for a big investment banking firm, and something else that I don’t totally understand. To be fair, I also went home each night, dead tired from the day that I knew if I took out an LSAT book and saw those misleading bright colors I would shoot myself in the foot just to get away. So, I went to work each day, played out Genius Plan Number 1 and worked through about 4 logic games in the span of 8 hours (not because I was insanely slow, just because of all the disruptions).
By disruptions, I’m talking about everything: the creepy delivery men chatting it up to me, the visitors that happened to be downtown that thought they should come say hi, numerous layoffs resulting in me doing actual work, actual work I had to do, and above all else, my colleagues coming up to me and just to give you a really good picture, I’ll transcribe a full transcript of the conversation I went through about once an hour:
Colleague: ooh what are you studying for?
Me: The LSAT
Colleague: Wow! Law school? Nice!
Me: I know, really trying to get some studying in.
Colleague: Oh! Give me a question, let me see if I can do it..
This happened so often, I think the rest of the employees did more questions combined than I did. The best was when they’d do a question so much faster and bitch about how easy it was… that was just fantastic, just absolutely-kick you-in-the-crotch fantastic. So, to sum up, I did basically nothing and got very little done, but I figured I could make it all up with Genius Plan Number 2. Ready? Take the week before the LSAT off and do 2 tests a day (including the Friday before my Saturday test). I should mention here, I was super-sick and coughing and sneezing and flu-y all over. Fast forward to week off, I studied every single day. I woke up around the same time needed for the test, burnt myself out each night by 7, passed out, and did it again. This happened till Thursday.
At this point, everyone told me to stop studying and I finally listened, and I went to my office Christmas party. As usual, I got quite drunk, went home at 3:30am, woke up at 8am to get back to my house on campus, slept till 12, woke up and did a test from about 2-5pm, my boyfriend came to pick me up at 6pm to drive to another city about an hour and a half away for us to write our tests, we get there at 8pm, go to a grocery store, find a nice coffee area and work out some questions, realize nothing is being done, head to the sleazy motel (which was EXACTLY like all horror movie motels, I didn’t know those actually existed), fell asleep around 12am, woke up at 7am, coughing and sniffling (EVEN MORE!) and with a slight fever and went to write the test.
Interesting note: I JUST got rid of that same cold about 2 days ago. By the way, the week I took off was filled with sleepless nights of coughing and sneezing, and when I did sleep I was grinding my teeth, to the point that it got so bad I had to get a night guard for them because they started to shake. Oh, also to add, to all you women out there and more mature males, I stressed myself to the point of being late by 2 weeks! That is very significant!
My first section was the RC, got through 3 passages, thought I did well, ran out of time and guessed the last one. Then came LR, which whatever, I thought I did fine. Then came LG, which was super easy and my delusional fevered self hoped and prayed it would be scored. Guess what, section 4 was also LG, yay! Failed that, pretty much got through 1, guessed 2 and a half because that first question in all LGs can basically be solved by reading the rules and elimination. By the way, during the break in between my boyfriend felt my forehead and I was literally burning up. The fifth section was LR, which not to brag, because I have so little room to do that, I did AWESOME. I <3 the writing sample, I love writing, it was actually fun.
Anyway, they call time and say we can leave. I literally run out of the room with my boyfriend behind me and we’re walking to the car and he tells me about how it went for him. Now, just to divert a bit, my boyfriend started studying about the same I did (second week of November) and did MAYBE 3 sets every 2 days. The week before the LSAT, he didn’t stress AT ALL, and did MAYBE 4 tests in all that time. He slept well everyday, actually, he played videogames all night and pretty much let nothing affect him.
I decide to not cancel mine (even though I wish I had) just because my applications would have been completely invalid. In retrospect, the applications just made the deadline, definitely not as good as I could have made them, it probably wouldn’t have been the biggest loss of 700$. Damn. I’m having one of those super-annoying realizations right this second about how cancelling would have been smart. Ah well, can’t dwell on that.
So, I hope and wait for my score. This is quite a depressing moment of the story and I’ve tried so hard to forget this number, so I’m going to just rip it off bandaid style, I got a 147 (practice tests = 160/163). My boyfriend got a 160 (practice tests ranging from 150-170). I cursed myself for not being more carefree like him and realizing that stress will hinder my ability. Neither me or him have ever thought that it was because he’s smarter academically. Rather, we’ve realized how our styles of benefited him and failed me completely.
This is getting pretty long, so I’ll start wrapping up. I eventually found LSAT Blog and read everything I could about it. I bought the 4 month LSAT study schedule.
I know it seems strange that I would have any good advice to give in this situation, but believe me I do. With comparing my situation and my boyfriends: don’t stress, don’t lose sleep, don’t cram.
Those are three things that can influence so much of your score. Being sick the day of the test will affect you in ways you don’t even see until you’re looking at it from a different perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I did not study even a fraction of how much I should have and that played a LARGE role in my score, obviously. Keep in mind that external factors can have a huge toll on your performance.
This time, I'm studying with the ever-so-helpful accompaniment of Steve’s LSAT study schedule, and focusing on what he says. I’m going to pretend I haven’t studied anything for this test and I’m just going to do a gradual study for the next 4-5 months as opposed to cramming it into a week or so. I don’t want to have to do this three times, not even for the obvious reasons of schools looking down on it or anything to that affect, I cannot bear the thought of studying for this crap again. So, this time, I will not stress, I will eat healthy, I will remind myself that cramming is useless, I will tell myself that I need to take a break, and doing 2 tests per day is the stupidest idea I’ve ever had (at least for myself, it might work for some of you, but I highly discourage that).
But seriously, good luck to all you test-takers, I’ll be right there without you, where we’re all going to sit down, write this test, and move on with our lives. It’s not the end of the world. I know it’s easy to say it, but another to live up to it, but it’s just so true. I realize that now, unfortunately too late, but still, its not the end. Stressing to the point of being unhealthy and sick is just not worth it. Writing this has now made me more positive and ready to conquer this. Now, I'm no longer scared of that 147, but rather it's a reminder of how I went wrong, and what I need to do to improve and what strategies absolutely did not work. It's my motivation now.
Good luck everyone!
Photo by lij
Hey fellow LSAT-ers! I write to you as I procrastinate a little bit longer on my studying.
I turned 22 years old (suckily enough, right in between taking the LSAT, and getting my score back. Can you say wasted-birthday-wish?). I spent the last 3 years working full-time, and going to school full-time. I have pretty much completely my undergrad but due to so many changes and new developments, I’m still working through the remainder of my undergrad, chalking up a minor in Humanities to partner my major in Criminology. My GPA has been at mediocre to decent all throughout. I have my great references and extra-curricular activities and all that and eventually placed a lot of pressure on my LSAT.
Actually, before I even get to that, I pretty much didn’t study for my LSAT until about a month prior to it. Up until that point, I fooled myself into thinking I was studying. To be fair, up until that point, I also thought I would be heading to England for law school who didn’t need an LSAT score or anything, really. However, because of the difficulties in returning to Canada to pursue a career in law with an international degree, my plans changed, and I realized I had to actually study for the LSAT.
After researching several schools and realizing my slim shot of getting in, I found a couple I would probably be considered competitive for. I’m one of those people that needs to be organized and I need to have a plan for everything. Everything that's happened up until this moment appears to be hindering my main plan. What’s my main plan? Pass my LSAT, get into a law school, practice law, be fabulously rich? Well, close. Even still, I stressed in so many different ways, I think my body went into shock from being stressed as I don’t think I’ve ever really been significantly stressed, ever. I put this enormous pressure on myself to study and do well on my LSATs but also found it difficult to study. Granted, I was doing one class a week, which is nothing compared to some of you but between work and my own personal pressures breaking me down slowly I got very little accomplished.
So, let’s see. I submitted my law school applications (for Canadian schools) by November 1, because that was their deadline and I was under the impression I would be leaving, so I just didn’t care all that much. Usually, my obsessive-compulsive need to be ahead of the rest, need to have everything prepared and ready to go when needed would have had these applications in by September 31 (the day applications are accepted) in an express post FedEx envelope.
Alas, my lack of caring for Canadian schools won over and I procrastinated and somehow managed to get everything in by November 1. Pathetic. I realized I wanted to actually go to a Canadian law school by end of the second week of November and immediately realized studying for the LSAT was an absolute must. I assumed the maybe combined 3 days of studying I’d done since the summer would give me a tiny head start. I was so wrong on that one, it was almost funny.
Anyway, I started studying, of course I hated that it would interrupt my life after work so most of my studying took place at work where I’m a receptionist for a big investment banking firm, and something else that I don’t totally understand. To be fair, I also went home each night, dead tired from the day that I knew if I took out an LSAT book and saw those misleading bright colors I would shoot myself in the foot just to get away. So, I went to work each day, played out Genius Plan Number 1 and worked through about 4 logic games in the span of 8 hours (not because I was insanely slow, just because of all the disruptions).
By disruptions, I’m talking about everything: the creepy delivery men chatting it up to me, the visitors that happened to be downtown that thought they should come say hi, numerous layoffs resulting in me doing actual work, actual work I had to do, and above all else, my colleagues coming up to me and just to give you a really good picture, I’ll transcribe a full transcript of the conversation I went through about once an hour:
Colleague: ooh what are you studying for?
Me: The LSAT
Colleague: Wow! Law school? Nice!
Me: I know, really trying to get some studying in.
Colleague: Oh! Give me a question, let me see if I can do it..
This happened so often, I think the rest of the employees did more questions combined than I did. The best was when they’d do a question so much faster and bitch about how easy it was… that was just fantastic, just absolutely-kick you-in-the-crotch fantastic. So, to sum up, I did basically nothing and got very little done, but I figured I could make it all up with Genius Plan Number 2. Ready? Take the week before the LSAT off and do 2 tests a day (including the Friday before my Saturday test). I should mention here, I was super-sick and coughing and sneezing and flu-y all over. Fast forward to week off, I studied every single day. I woke up around the same time needed for the test, burnt myself out each night by 7, passed out, and did it again. This happened till Thursday.
At this point, everyone told me to stop studying and I finally listened, and I went to my office Christmas party. As usual, I got quite drunk, went home at 3:30am, woke up at 8am to get back to my house on campus, slept till 12, woke up and did a test from about 2-5pm, my boyfriend came to pick me up at 6pm to drive to another city about an hour and a half away for us to write our tests, we get there at 8pm, go to a grocery store, find a nice coffee area and work out some questions, realize nothing is being done, head to the sleazy motel (which was EXACTLY like all horror movie motels, I didn’t know those actually existed), fell asleep around 12am, woke up at 7am, coughing and sniffling (EVEN MORE!) and with a slight fever and went to write the test.
Interesting note: I JUST got rid of that same cold about 2 days ago. By the way, the week I took off was filled with sleepless nights of coughing and sneezing, and when I did sleep I was grinding my teeth, to the point that it got so bad I had to get a night guard for them because they started to shake. Oh, also to add, to all you women out there and more mature males, I stressed myself to the point of being late by 2 weeks! That is very significant!
My first section was the RC, got through 3 passages, thought I did well, ran out of time and guessed the last one. Then came LR, which whatever, I thought I did fine. Then came LG, which was super easy and my delusional fevered self hoped and prayed it would be scored. Guess what, section 4 was also LG, yay! Failed that, pretty much got through 1, guessed 2 and a half because that first question in all LGs can basically be solved by reading the rules and elimination. By the way, during the break in between my boyfriend felt my forehead and I was literally burning up. The fifth section was LR, which not to brag, because I have so little room to do that, I did AWESOME. I <3 the writing sample, I love writing, it was actually fun.
Anyway, they call time and say we can leave. I literally run out of the room with my boyfriend behind me and we’re walking to the car and he tells me about how it went for him. Now, just to divert a bit, my boyfriend started studying about the same I did (second week of November) and did MAYBE 3 sets every 2 days. The week before the LSAT, he didn’t stress AT ALL, and did MAYBE 4 tests in all that time. He slept well everyday, actually, he played videogames all night and pretty much let nothing affect him.
I decide to not cancel mine (even though I wish I had) just because my applications would have been completely invalid. In retrospect, the applications just made the deadline, definitely not as good as I could have made them, it probably wouldn’t have been the biggest loss of 700$. Damn. I’m having one of those super-annoying realizations right this second about how cancelling would have been smart. Ah well, can’t dwell on that.
So, I hope and wait for my score. This is quite a depressing moment of the story and I’ve tried so hard to forget this number, so I’m going to just rip it off bandaid style, I got a 147 (practice tests = 160/163). My boyfriend got a 160 (practice tests ranging from 150-170). I cursed myself for not being more carefree like him and realizing that stress will hinder my ability. Neither me or him have ever thought that it was because he’s smarter academically. Rather, we’ve realized how our styles of benefited him and failed me completely.
This is getting pretty long, so I’ll start wrapping up. I eventually found LSAT Blog and read everything I could about it. I bought the 4 month LSAT study schedule.
I know it seems strange that I would have any good advice to give in this situation, but believe me I do. With comparing my situation and my boyfriends: don’t stress, don’t lose sleep, don’t cram.
Those are three things that can influence so much of your score. Being sick the day of the test will affect you in ways you don’t even see until you’re looking at it from a different perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I did not study even a fraction of how much I should have and that played a LARGE role in my score, obviously. Keep in mind that external factors can have a huge toll on your performance.
This time, I'm studying with the ever-so-helpful accompaniment of Steve’s LSAT study schedule, and focusing on what he says. I’m going to pretend I haven’t studied anything for this test and I’m just going to do a gradual study for the next 4-5 months as opposed to cramming it into a week or so. I don’t want to have to do this three times, not even for the obvious reasons of schools looking down on it or anything to that affect, I cannot bear the thought of studying for this crap again. So, this time, I will not stress, I will eat healthy, I will remind myself that cramming is useless, I will tell myself that I need to take a break, and doing 2 tests per day is the stupidest idea I’ve ever had (at least for myself, it might work for some of you, but I highly discourage that).
But seriously, good luck to all you test-takers, I’ll be right there without you, where we’re all going to sit down, write this test, and move on with our lives. It’s not the end of the world. I know it’s easy to say it, but another to live up to it, but it’s just so true. I realize that now, unfortunately too late, but still, its not the end. Stressing to the point of being unhealthy and sick is just not worth it. Writing this has now made me more positive and ready to conquer this. Now, I'm no longer scared of that 147, but rather it's a reminder of how I went wrong, and what I need to do to improve and what strategies absolutely did not work. It's my motivation now.
Good luck everyone!
Photo by lij
Logic and Games
* UChicago Law Dean's response to NYTimes article on conditional law school scholarships. [UChicago Law]
* High school kid challenges Rep. Michele Bachmann to debate about Constitution. [HuffPo]
* Law student plagiarizes his graduation speech - says he just "forgot" to give credit to author. [News Observer via Gawker]
* Unabomber's personal possessions to be auctioned off. More than a little creepy, but proceeds will benefit the victims. [Thought Catalog]
* Texas debates harsh catfish ‘noodling’ law. [Gawker]
* Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly debate Common's visit to the White House. [YouTube]
* High school kid challenges Rep. Michele Bachmann to debate about Constitution. [HuffPo]
* Law student plagiarizes his graduation speech - says he just "forgot" to give credit to author. [News Observer via Gawker]
* Unabomber's personal possessions to be auctioned off. More than a little creepy, but proceeds will benefit the victims. [Thought Catalog]
* Texas debates harsh catfish ‘noodling’ law. [Gawker]
* Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly debate Common's visit to the White House. [YouTube]
New Option to Withdraw Your LSAT Registration From LSAC
Since June 2009, LSAT test-takers have been in a tricky position with regard to deciding whether they're ready to take the LSAT.
LSAC would make you let them know ~3 weeks before Test Day if you weren't taking it. If something came up between that date and Test Day, or if you weren't sure whether you'd be ready but , you'd have to either just not show up, getting a notation of absent, or show up and cancel your score.
Although LSAC had its reasons, this was annoying, problematic, and stressful for many test-takers.
However, starting with the June 2011 LSAT, LSAC has decided to modify this policy - almost completely reversing its position - this is a good thing.
The test date *change* deadline (aka "postponement deadline") is still approximately 3 weeks before, just as it was before the policy change.
However, LSAC now offers a withdrawal option, meaning you can now decide up until the day before the LSAT whether you'll be taking it. If you withdraw, law schools will never even know you were registered for that exam date in the first place. In other words, law schools cannot tell that you've withdrawn - this is not noted on your record.
Unfortunately, withdrawing after the postponement deadline (which is also the partial refund deadline) means you won't get any refund at all for your LSAT registration fee.
However, this is a small price to pay for no longer suffering the indignity of an "absent" on your record when you knew you weren't taking the LSAT that day anyway.
You can now rest easy, knowing you still have those 3 weeks before Test Day to keep taking practice tests, brushing up on weak areas, and boosting your practice scores.
You can take the LSAT when your scores are close to your goal score, not feeling the pressure of having a absence or cancellation note on your record.
And if you're not feeling ready the day before the LSAT, just withdraw your registration and set your sights on the next LSAT administration.
LSAC would make you let them know ~3 weeks before Test Day if you weren't taking it. If something came up between that date and Test Day, or if you weren't sure whether you'd be ready but , you'd have to either just not show up, getting a notation of absent, or show up and cancel your score.
Although LSAC had its reasons, this was annoying, problematic, and stressful for many test-takers.
However, starting with the June 2011 LSAT, LSAC has decided to modify this policy - almost completely reversing its position - this is a good thing.
The test date *change* deadline (aka "postponement deadline") is still approximately 3 weeks before, just as it was before the policy change.
However, LSAC now offers a withdrawal option, meaning you can now decide up until the day before the LSAT whether you'll be taking it. If you withdraw, law schools will never even know you were registered for that exam date in the first place. In other words, law schools cannot tell that you've withdrawn - this is not noted on your record.
Unfortunately, withdrawing after the postponement deadline (which is also the partial refund deadline) means you won't get any refund at all for your LSAT registration fee.
However, this is a small price to pay for no longer suffering the indignity of an "absent" on your record when you knew you weren't taking the LSAT that day anyway.
You can now rest easy, knowing you still have those 3 weeks before Test Day to keep taking practice tests, brushing up on weak areas, and boosting your practice scores.
You can take the LSAT when your scores are close to your goal score, not feeling the pressure of having a absence or cancellation note on your record.
And if you're not feeling ready the day before the LSAT, just withdraw your registration and set your sights on the next LSAT administration.
Logic and Games
* Florida Senate fails basic biology, accidentally outlaws sex. [Gawker]
* Prosecution screws up witness intimidation claim with MySpace evidence. [Above The Law]
* Google lobbies Nevada to allow self-driving cars. [NYTimes]
* Star Wars-themed article parodying the Bin Laden killing. [Galactic Empire Times]
* Kids react to Osama bin Laden's death. [YouTube]
* This may actually be the worst allergies season ever. Anyone reading this use a neti pot? I'm considering it. [WSJ; The Hairpin]
* Prosecution screws up witness intimidation claim with MySpace evidence. [Above The Law]
* Google lobbies Nevada to allow self-driving cars. [NYTimes]
* Star Wars-themed article parodying the Bin Laden killing. [Galactic Empire Times]
* Kids react to Osama bin Laden's death. [YouTube]
* This may actually be the worst allergies season ever. Anyone reading this use a neti pot? I'm considering it. [WSJ; The Hairpin]
Law School Chances: LSAT vs. GPA
How exactly do admissions officers weigh your LSAT score and GPA? Well, it's complicated.Law School Admissions Index: LSAT vs. GPA
LSAC's website will help you calculate your chances at various law schools. It uses each law school's "admissions index" (a formula unique to each school weighing LSAT scores and GPAs).
Enter your undergraduate GPA and (presumed) LSAT score. Sort the results by likelihood in descending order to see at which schools you have the highest likelihood of success.
This tool is based on info that each law school submits about its admission index, so it's accurate as far as LSAT and GPA are concerned.
Factors that it doesn't consider are diversity, legacy, personal statement, recommendation letters, disciplinary record, etc. Obviously, LSAT and GPA are the big two, but the others have some impact as well.
Enjoy!
Photo by johnwardell
Logic and Games
* Keeping up your law school GPA for that merit scholarship may be harder than you think. Must-read. [NYTimes; AboveTheLaw; U.S. News]
* Was Bin Laden's killing legal? [Der Spiegel; The Guardian; Reuters]
* China develops a new government agency to focus on Internet censorship. [WSJ]
* 5 news stories that Bin Laden's death ruined. [Gawker]
* Best Manhattan movie map ever. [Gothamist]
* Was Bin Laden's killing legal? [Der Spiegel; The Guardian; Reuters]
* China develops a new government agency to focus on Internet censorship. [WSJ]
* 5 news stories that Bin Laden's death ruined. [Gawker]
* Best Manhattan movie map ever. [Gothamist]
LSAT Logical Reasoning Flaw Questions with the Same Argument
Logical Reasoning arguments often contain the same flaw as each other, but such arguments are often about very different topics.
It's somewhat infrequent for different arguments to contain both the same flaw and the very same topic.
In this blog post, I discuss the similarities between two such Logical Reasoning questions from The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests.
Both arguments are associated with Flaw question stems, meaning the question is asking us to identify the flaw, and both are on the topic of altruism and self-interest.
You'll need a copy of the book to follow along as I discuss the following two actual LSAT PrepTest questions:
1. PrepTest 29 (October 1999 LSAT), Section 4, Question 18 (page 41 in Next 10).
Question stem: "Which one of the following most accurately describes an error in the argument's reasoning?"
2. PrepTest 32 (October 2000 LSAT), Section 1, Question 19 (page 124 in Next 10).
Question stem: "A flaw in the argument is that it"
Both arguments reach the same conclusion:
Even behavior that might seem altruistic is actually self-interested.
We see this in the first sentence of the both questions, which contains the conclusion of each argument. The following sentences in each stimulus contain evidence for this.
The PrepTest 29 question suggests people engage in seemingly-altruistic behavior in the hopes of receiving some kind of reward or reciprocal benefit.
The PrepTest 32 question says people engage in seemingly-altruistic behavior in order to boost their self-esteem by feeling useful. Both arguments, on the face of it, seem rather reasonable.
However, the conclusions of both arguments are *too* certain given the way in which the evidence is presented.
The PrepTest 29 question says "can be described" in the 3rd-4th lines.
The PrepTest 32 question says "can be understood" in the 4th-5th lines.
Just because something "can be described" or "can be understood" in a particular way doesn't mean that it must be described or understood in that way. People can interpret actions and behaviors in multiple ways, not only in the ways suggested in these two arguments. The arguments are guilty of the same flaw - they both assume one possible interpretation to be the only possible interpretation, and they fail to consider that there could be other interpretations.
It's somewhat infrequent for different arguments to contain both the same flaw and the very same topic.
In this blog post, I discuss the similarities between two such Logical Reasoning questions from The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests.
Both arguments are associated with Flaw question stems, meaning the question is asking us to identify the flaw, and both are on the topic of altruism and self-interest.
You'll need a copy of the book to follow along as I discuss the following two actual LSAT PrepTest questions:
1. PrepTest 29 (October 1999 LSAT), Section 4, Question 18 (page 41 in Next 10).
Question stem: "Which one of the following most accurately describes an error in the argument's reasoning?"
2. PrepTest 32 (October 2000 LSAT), Section 1, Question 19 (page 124 in Next 10).
Question stem: "A flaw in the argument is that it"
Both arguments reach the same conclusion:
Even behavior that might seem altruistic is actually self-interested.
We see this in the first sentence of the both questions, which contains the conclusion of each argument. The following sentences in each stimulus contain evidence for this.
The PrepTest 29 question suggests people engage in seemingly-altruistic behavior in the hopes of receiving some kind of reward or reciprocal benefit.
The PrepTest 32 question says people engage in seemingly-altruistic behavior in order to boost their self-esteem by feeling useful. Both arguments, on the face of it, seem rather reasonable.
However, the conclusions of both arguments are *too* certain given the way in which the evidence is presented.
The PrepTest 29 question says "can be described" in the 3rd-4th lines.
The PrepTest 32 question says "can be understood" in the 4th-5th lines.
Just because something "can be described" or "can be understood" in a particular way doesn't mean that it must be described or understood in that way. People can interpret actions and behaviors in multiple ways, not only in the ways suggested in these two arguments. The arguments are guilty of the same flaw - they both assume one possible interpretation to be the only possible interpretation, and they fail to consider that there could be other interpretations.
LSAT Diary: Prep and Test Day Experience
This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Tamara, a 45-year-old computer programmer who scored a 166 on the December 2010 LSAT.She's got some great LSAT advice for you about how she did it, and a great description of what taking the test was like.
If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
Tamara's LSAT Diary:
Patents and intellectual property rights interest me, and friends who are lawyers suggested my prospects for practicing intellectual property law are good. I've worked in computer software for 15 years while I attended college for degrees in communication and computer science. I had high school ambitions for law school, but high school graduation was 25 years ago. Almost on a whim, I registered for the December 2010 LSAT. I had ten weeks to prepare.
I didn't pin any specific outcome on the results. Everyone who completes a law school application takes the LSAT. So instead of pondering "Should apply to law school" and "How will I ever afford it" I decided to take the test and see what happens.
My first stop was the public library. I opened the phonebook-sized guide and took the practice test at the front. Reading comprehension, no sweat. Short-answer logical questions, hm, some of those I'm getting backwards or not right ... ohmigoodness, these puzzles? Most fun I've ever had with a #2 pencil, but each one takes a full half-hour? Many hours later, without timing anything and with ample breaks, I had a practice score of 159. (But test prep book warmups are not equivalent to the actual tests.)
So my journey began. Next step, Internet, where I quickly found LSAT Blog. Based on the advice of using official LSAT practice tests, I ordered five. One for each of the last five weeks of preparation. I didn't share this goal with anyone other than my housemates; people who could see for the huge tome labeled LSAT preparation on the coffee table.
The first five weeks, I focused on accuracy on the two weak spots: short answer (logical reasoning) and logic games (analytical reasoning). I spent weekday evenings casually answering 10 or 20 logical reasoning questions, then working on the types I got wrong. I learned about the question types, and how to identify the argument and conclusions. I followed a strategy of discarding the obviously wrong answers right off and then selecting the one best answer from the remaining answers.
Logic games? Definitely hard. Fortunately, it's the same type of reasoning required to solve the trickiest real-life computer programming problems. I photocopied logic games on individual pieces of paper and carried them with me, so that a wait at the mechanic or the vet became logic game time. I worked on them in the break room at work, where I sat and tried to figure out the contrapositives and grouping and scheduling and charts and placing square people at round tables.
Spending the weekend drinking Lone Star while trying to figure out which seagull shat on which man was a highlight of my study time. After that game, my speed picked up. I started doing two games every time I sat down, finishing one and immediately starting another, and finally got to where I could solve two in a half hour. Three. I needed three. And eventually four? Would I ever compress two hours of work into 35 minutes?
The last five weeks I focused on completing the test in the allotted time. Oh, and without a cigarette break. And getting my 45-year-old eyes trained in on bubbling selections accurately on those tiny cramped answer sheets. Each Saturday I woke up at the time I'd have to wake up for the real LSAT, drove to the library, and took a practice test. I still needed more speed on logic games. Sometimes getting three completed during a practice test. Sometimes. Almost, but not quite. I had accuracy; if I got to a game, I got all or all-but-one of the questions right. If I worked too fast, jumped to a false conclusion, didn't re-read and carefully map out the initial information? I got the whole thing wrong. Accuracy took time, precious time, but I'd rather get two completely right than four completely wrong.
But at the same time, I remained casual about the results -- if I got a good score, I'd continue down this path and apply to schools, if not, that was OK too.
Game day rolled around. Got there early and joined hundreds of others sitting around waiting to be assigned to a room. Then we had interminable delays while the proctors figured out that even if you'd grown a beard since your license picture you still were allowed to take the test (a rather common thing, you'd think, considering that LSAT studying didn't seem to allow time for shaving...?)
The wait to get our LSAT test booklets was long and frustrating. The proctor mis-read and mis-pronounced instructions. Settled into a zen-like calmness for the rigamarole and tiny uncomfortable chairs; I never thought to practice sitting in a horrible chair with a tiny tiny platform and no place to rest my pencil? Logical reasoning, reading comprehension, logical reasoning, a break to walk around, more logical reasoning, will this never end? It's well after noon, and the quiet and tedium are taking a toll. Finally the analytical reasoning, the logic games. Read them through, ranked them order of attack, worked the first, third, fourth ... time was called, and bubbled in C on the blanks. Oh, and I never did work down my list of things to do and practice that writing sample. Arguing on the best choice for a summer camp? Whatever.
They collected our packages, and the whole thing was over. And I'd gotten to three of the four logic games. And I was jubilant, driving home, calling friends who practice law, my sister, anyone who might care: I'd finished the LSAT. Finished. It is done, and now I'm sharing. Keeping my plans quiet helped keep it low-key. Then we could wait for the scores to be published together.
The results of ten weeks of casual preparation? A 166 that I can send off with my other data to the nearby top-14 law school. Due to LSAC data-sharing settings, my email inbox is filling up with other schools inviting me to open houses, waiving admission fees and talking scholarships. All without ever breaking a sweat. Take it easy -- know the question types, know your strengths and play to them. You can improve your LSAT score with three to five hours a week of consistent but moderate effort over a ten-week period and maintain your job. Friends and family will barely miss you. Next up? Applying to schools. Again, I'll do my best to achieve good results without being too attached to any particular outcome.
Photo by offshore
Patents and intellectual property rights interest me, and friends who are lawyers suggested my prospects for practicing intellectual property law are good. I've worked in computer software for 15 years while I attended college for degrees in communication and computer science. I had high school ambitions for law school, but high school graduation was 25 years ago. Almost on a whim, I registered for the December 2010 LSAT. I had ten weeks to prepare.
I didn't pin any specific outcome on the results. Everyone who completes a law school application takes the LSAT. So instead of pondering "Should apply to law school" and "How will I ever afford it" I decided to take the test and see what happens.
My first stop was the public library. I opened the phonebook-sized guide and took the practice test at the front. Reading comprehension, no sweat. Short-answer logical questions, hm, some of those I'm getting backwards or not right ... ohmigoodness, these puzzles? Most fun I've ever had with a #2 pencil, but each one takes a full half-hour? Many hours later, without timing anything and with ample breaks, I had a practice score of 159. (But test prep book warmups are not equivalent to the actual tests.)
So my journey began. Next step, Internet, where I quickly found LSAT Blog. Based on the advice of using official LSAT practice tests, I ordered five. One for each of the last five weeks of preparation. I didn't share this goal with anyone other than my housemates; people who could see for the huge tome labeled LSAT preparation on the coffee table.
The first five weeks, I focused on accuracy on the two weak spots: short answer (logical reasoning) and logic games (analytical reasoning). I spent weekday evenings casually answering 10 or 20 logical reasoning questions, then working on the types I got wrong. I learned about the question types, and how to identify the argument and conclusions. I followed a strategy of discarding the obviously wrong answers right off and then selecting the one best answer from the remaining answers.
Logic games? Definitely hard. Fortunately, it's the same type of reasoning required to solve the trickiest real-life computer programming problems. I photocopied logic games on individual pieces of paper and carried them with me, so that a wait at the mechanic or the vet became logic game time. I worked on them in the break room at work, where I sat and tried to figure out the contrapositives and grouping and scheduling and charts and placing square people at round tables.
Spending the weekend drinking Lone Star while trying to figure out which seagull shat on which man was a highlight of my study time. After that game, my speed picked up. I started doing two games every time I sat down, finishing one and immediately starting another, and finally got to where I could solve two in a half hour. Three. I needed three. And eventually four? Would I ever compress two hours of work into 35 minutes?
The last five weeks I focused on completing the test in the allotted time. Oh, and without a cigarette break. And getting my 45-year-old eyes trained in on bubbling selections accurately on those tiny cramped answer sheets. Each Saturday I woke up at the time I'd have to wake up for the real LSAT, drove to the library, and took a practice test. I still needed more speed on logic games. Sometimes getting three completed during a practice test. Sometimes. Almost, but not quite. I had accuracy; if I got to a game, I got all or all-but-one of the questions right. If I worked too fast, jumped to a false conclusion, didn't re-read and carefully map out the initial information? I got the whole thing wrong. Accuracy took time, precious time, but I'd rather get two completely right than four completely wrong.
But at the same time, I remained casual about the results -- if I got a good score, I'd continue down this path and apply to schools, if not, that was OK too.
Game day rolled around. Got there early and joined hundreds of others sitting around waiting to be assigned to a room. Then we had interminable delays while the proctors figured out that even if you'd grown a beard since your license picture you still were allowed to take the test (a rather common thing, you'd think, considering that LSAT studying didn't seem to allow time for shaving...?)
The wait to get our LSAT test booklets was long and frustrating. The proctor mis-read and mis-pronounced instructions. Settled into a zen-like calmness for the rigamarole and tiny uncomfortable chairs; I never thought to practice sitting in a horrible chair with a tiny tiny platform and no place to rest my pencil? Logical reasoning, reading comprehension, logical reasoning, a break to walk around, more logical reasoning, will this never end? It's well after noon, and the quiet and tedium are taking a toll. Finally the analytical reasoning, the logic games. Read them through, ranked them order of attack, worked the first, third, fourth ... time was called, and bubbled in C on the blanks. Oh, and I never did work down my list of things to do and practice that writing sample. Arguing on the best choice for a summer camp? Whatever.
They collected our packages, and the whole thing was over. And I'd gotten to three of the four logic games. And I was jubilant, driving home, calling friends who practice law, my sister, anyone who might care: I'd finished the LSAT. Finished. It is done, and now I'm sharing. Keeping my plans quiet helped keep it low-key. Then we could wait for the scores to be published together.
The results of ten weeks of casual preparation? A 166 that I can send off with my other data to the nearby top-14 law school. Due to LSAC data-sharing settings, my email inbox is filling up with other schools inviting me to open houses, waiving admission fees and talking scholarships. All without ever breaking a sweat. Take it easy -- know the question types, know your strengths and play to them. You can improve your LSAT score with three to five hours a week of consistent but moderate effort over a ten-week period and maintain your job. Friends and family will barely miss you. Next up? Applying to schools. Again, I'll do my best to achieve good results without being too attached to any particular outcome.
Photo by offshore
Logic and Games
* Why it's often easier to be productive at coffee shops than at home. [The Atlantic]
* How law schools completely misrepresent their job numbers. [The New Republic; Above The Law]
* The Onion interviews 5-year-old screenwriter of "Fast Five" movie. [The Onion Video]
* Infographic about the Internet's energy use and effects on the environment. [Mashable]
* Small town in Mississippi shuts down protest attempt by the fringe Westboro Baptist Church. [Gawker]
* Maryland law school is renamed after $30 million donation. [Washington Post]
* The true purpose of the Internet, and less sketchy than ChatRoulette. [CuteRoulette]
* How law schools completely misrepresent their job numbers. [The New Republic; Above The Law]
* The Onion interviews 5-year-old screenwriter of "Fast Five" movie. [The Onion Video]
* Infographic about the Internet's energy use and effects on the environment. [Mashable]
* Small town in Mississippi shuts down protest attempt by the fringe Westboro Baptist Church. [Gawker]
* Maryland law school is renamed after $30 million donation. [Washington Post]
* The true purpose of the Internet, and less sketchy than ChatRoulette. [CuteRoulette]
The June LSAT Test Date is on a Monday?
As I mentioned recently, the June LSAT is the only LSAT that's regularly held on a Monday. In October, December, and February, the LSAT is held on a Saturday. (Sabbath observers can always take it on weekdays.)Test-takers are usually happy that the June LSAT is unique because it's the only exam that starts at 1PM, rather than at 9AM.
However, one blog reader recently wrote to me:
Today, I was looking at my registration, and I swear that I had registered for Saturday, but the test is on a Monday. I am really annoyed, since this is not very accommodating for working professionals like myself. Is it normal that all WORKING people have to take a Monday (vacation day) to take the test? Sorry to vent!I suggested:
You could always email LSAC from several pseudonymous email accounts. I estimate it would take 20,000 emails to get them to change the date of the June exam.What do you think?
Will those of you in the 9-to-5 grind be complaining to LSAC about the injustice of having to use a vacation day?
Will those of you working the retail/service industry grind be thanking LSAC for allowing you to take it on a day off?
Leave comments!
Photo by meddygarnet
