LSAT Diary: LSAT Preparation and the Mormon Faith

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Mike, a practicing Mormon. In this LSAT Diary, he writes about how his faith served as inspiration and motivation for his LSAT prep.

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 thank Mike for sharing his experience below in the comments!

Mike's LSAT Diary:

So, I’ve been studying for the LSAT for the past few months, and I just took the test in June, so I had to really buckle down. Since I didn’t have much time to spend on keeping up with current events, I don’t really know what’s going on in the world these days either, so I thought I’d write about what I have been doing, preparing for the LSAT, and I’ll relate it to faith as well.

Faith is an active principle for Mormons. Let’s say we have two farmers. Both purport to believe in God. Both pray that God will bless them with a bountiful harvest. The first goes out and plants and fertilizes and waters and weeds his crop and the second doesn’t. Even if the second was spending all of his time praying to God to bless him with a harvest, we believe that the first has more faith because he went out and did the work necessary for God to bless him. That doesn’t mean that we earn God’s blessings with our works, but that we put ourselves in a position in which God can bless us. After all, God generally won’t make seeds grow if they have never been planted.

With that same attitude I approached studying for the LSAT. I prayed and fasted for God’s help and lived in a way to keep him on my side (doing my best to obey his commandments). But I didn’t stop there. I knew that I had to do the work in order to get God’s blessings. Note: don’t read the next paragraph if you have no interest in the details of LSAT preparation.

First, I took an actual, official LSAT PrepTest (these are LSATs that have been administered in the past). I was pleased enough with my score that I decided not to take a LSAT prep class. Instead, I hunkered down and started familiarizing myself with the different types of questions and the timing that each section requires. My goal was to complete a test section every day and to complete an entire simulated test (four 35-minute sections) every week. In this process, I wasn’t happy with my performance on the logic games section. I could either do really well, or really poorly. I wanted to have more stability in my performance, so I bought the Logic Games Bible (I am not being compensated by PowerScore to promote their book, I’m just explaining explicitly how I prepared). It helped me get a handle on these games and stabilize my scores.

The Saturday before the test, I left the day open to replicate my test day schedule as best I could. I awoke at the same time, went through the same morning routine, ate the same food, and went to the same place. That’s right. I traveled all the way down to the testing center, just to be sure that I would know how to find it on the test day. I wanted to be sure that I eliminated all of the surprises that could pop up on the test day. After I found the testing center, I went home and took my final preptest and got a score that I was satisfied with.

For those of you who skipped the paragraph above, let me just say that I did a lot to prepare for the test. Did it improve my score? I will find that out in about three weeks. But I can tell you what it did do: it gave me confidence. Not confidence that I would necessarily get a great score, but that I had done all that I could to prepare myself for the test, both intellectually and logistically. Unless an act of God like a meteor impact on the street in front of my house prevented me from getting to the test center, I was going to get there. And I wasn’t going to get there only to find that I had brought the wrong kind of pencils. At that point, I could put my performance in God’s hands and be confident that he would help perform my best. As it says in the Doctrine and Covenants, “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (38:30).

Sometimes people shy away from mixing spiritual stuff and secular stuff. They seem to think that God simply tolerates their going to work and earning a living while what he’d really like them to do is read the scriptures and pray all day. But God knows better than anyone else that we need to make a living. In fact, God’s command is that “if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). If God has commanded us to work, and if we do all that we ourselves can do, he will bless us so that our work is “for the welfare of [our souls]” (2 Nephi 32:9).

I don’t know exactly what God has in store for me, what path he will lead me down, but it appears as though at least part of that path includes a career in law. Or at least a stint in law school.

*If you want to warn me against the evils of going to law school, let me save you some time and effort. I already read Above the Law regularly, I’ve read the New York Times and the Economist articles about the trouble law grads are having finding jobs, and I know that being a lawyer isn’t like how television portrays it. In short, I have exposed myself to everything I can to dissuade me from going to law school and nothing has worked yet, so don’t waste your time.

Photo by bdorfman

Logic and Games

* Day-by-day LSAT study schedules are now available for the February and June 2012 LSAT test dates! [LSAT Blog]

* A list of law schools that create the greatest number of law firm partners. [Above The Law]

* Cooley Law School sues anonymous online commenters for defamation. [ABA Journal; Techdirt]

* Should rape victims be allowed to nuzzle dogs for comfort while giving testimony at trials? [NYTimes]

* Some correlation/causation confusion in this article about smoking in the morning. [Gawker]

* Why the LSAT is fun: a new look at an old test [First Call Magazine]

* A mistake in the court records may have caused this man to serve an extra year in jail. [NYTimes]

* Using your friend's Facebook account to pull pranks could be a felony offense. [Above The Law]

LSAT Cheat Sheets

I hate long-winded books - here's how I made LSAT studying easyish.

Imagine it's the first day of class.

Professor McSuckyworkloadington says:

"For my class, you have to read these 3 books. Each one's 300-400 pages long....but if you'd rather not read 3 books, you can read this other 500-page book instead. 

Whichever option you choose, you still have to read EVERYTHING...AND I assign TONS of exams to get you ready for the big final."

I don't know about you, but I'd be out the door REAL fast.

But what if that class was required?

You'd have to come up with a strategy to QUICKLY condense everything in those books.

SOOOOO.....how do you do this?


You could find classmates and divide up the work with them.

BUT...they might end up being busy, or forgetful, or just plain dumb.

You could just read the first and last paragraph of each chapter to save time.

BUT...there's important stuff in the middle, and you don't know where or what it's going to be.


Unfortunately, my friend, you have to actually get that stuff into your brain.


So, here's what I'd typically do in college:

I'd read what the professor emphasized in class and condense it all onto a SINGLE piece of paper.

It still took a lot of time, and I had to write very small.

But having everything reduced to 1 piece of paper gave me a quick reference - it made things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

Studying for LSATs, however, was like Professor McSuckyworkloadington’s class on steroids.

Most LSAT books are 300-500 pages long! And the ones on the shorter side usually cover only ONE section when the LSAT has THREE.

Now, I REALLY wanted to increase my LSAT score and get in the 170s, so I put a lot more effort into studying for the LSAT than some random class in college.

That's part of the reason I spent A FULL YEAR studying for this damn thing, reading every LSAT book I could find.

While I was going through all those books, I came back to my trusty "cheat sheet" method from college. Without them, it was just too hard to keep track of everything I needed to know.

So, inspired by the ones I made for myself way back when...

I've done the same thing for LSAT prep and admissions to save you the trouble of doing it yourself.

Here's exactly what I've done for you:

I've created Cheat Sheets for each of the LSAT's scored sections: Logic Games, Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension.

Each one's a quick 2-page reference to a particular section. If you (or a trusted friend) are clever with a printer, you can print them double-sided, giving you 1 piece of paper covering each section.

I ALSO created a cheat sheet for the law school admissions process covering both the personal statement and résumé.

You can print as many copies as you want so you'll have them ready anywhere you go.


Things you can do with your LSAT cheat sheets:

-Staple/paper-clip them to the inside cover of your LSAT prep books.
-Tape/pin them to the wall above your desk.
-Post them on your refrigerator.
-Tape/pin them to the wall in front of your toilet for bathroom reading.
-Keep them in the car for when you're stuck in traffic or just have time to kill.
-Load them onto your smartphone, tablet, e-reader, etc.


Things you CANNOT do with your LSAT cheat sheets: 

-Cheat (in case LSAC sees this & gets confused)
-Make paper airplanes (please respect them)

"Sweet, I'm in! How do I get these cheat sheet things?"

Here's what you need to do to get the cheat sheets:

1.) Choose the cheat sheets you'd like below.
2.) This takes you to a payment page.
3.) Enter your credit card and press ‘Pay’.
4.) The system will confirm your purchase.
5.) You'll immediately get an email from me with your link to download your cheat sheets.
6.) You'll start getting better...SSOOOOOOO much better...at the LSAT.


You can get all 4 Cheat Sheets at once for only $49.97:

Or, you can get just the 3 LSAT Cheat Sheets for only $39.97:

If you're already doing great in some sections and just need help with others, you can pick out the individual Cheat Sheets you want for only $14.97 each:

***

UPDATE: After several requests, I've now added a Law School 1L Cheat Sheet to give you an overview of the different classes you'll likely take in your first year of Law School. You can get it for only $9.97 here:

***

"What do they look like?"

Here's a mini-screenshot of the LSAT Logic Games Cheat Sheet, just to give you an idea:

Side 1 (Front)

Side 2 (Back)

More fun facts: 

* The 1st page of each LSAT Cheat Sheet gives you general advice, strategies, and information for that section. The 2nd page helps you identify and approach the specific question-types for that section.

* The 1st page of the Admissions Cheat Sheets gives you general advice, strategies, and information for the law school personal statement and "Why X?" essay. The 2nd page helps you create your law school résumé.

* In order to fit everything to 2 pages for each Cheat Sheet, font sizes used range from 9pt-12pt. If you have REALLY bad eyesight, I suggest using a magnifying glass or a copy machine to enlarge them. Or some special screen-reading software.

* Each cheat sheet is meant to be printed on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.

* Obviously, these are only 2 pages and don't cover EVERYTHING about a specific topic. Please don't buy this and then write to me saying, "But you didn't mention [obscure topic that barely ever comes up]." If you want something that covers EEEEEVVVVERRRYTHING, buy one of the 500+ page books instead. I exercised my dictator-like judgment about what was worth including, and what wasn't.

* These are PDFs available for instant download after submitting payment. You can use Adobe Reader to open the files.

* The instant download link will be sent to whichever email address you submit.


P.S. If you’re having second thoughts about buying this...I offer a full 30-day money-back guarantee. If FOR ANY REASON you don’t like the cheat sheets, just let me know, and I'll give you back all your money the very next day.

Sincerely,
Steve J. Schwartz


P.P.S. If you consider how much money you'll make from increasing your LSAT score and getting into a better law school...or getting more scholarship money...$ is such a tiny drop in the bucket.

Law School Personal Statement Advice

My in-person and distance LSAT students often ask me to read over their personal statements.

When giving feedback, I try to place myself in the position of the admissions committee. I look to see whether the personal statement answers the following questions:

1. Do you have the discipline, focus, stamina, and commitment to successfully complete the law degree?

2. Do you take initiative and have a proven aptitude for self-motivation?

3. Have you demonstrated the ability to work under difficult conditions or through obstacles, hardship, or other distractions that might arise and potentially hinder progress in law school? (It’s not required, but share your story if you have.)

4. Do you have long-term plans (even though such plans can and probably will change more than once during your time in law school) that require a law degree? Do you aspire to become a leader in society and/or in the chosen specialty (again, even though the current chosen specialty might change)?

5. Have you become involved in extracurricular activities because these opportunities have supplemented the college/post-college experience and/or strengthened leadership abilities, rather than just making you look busy and providing padding for a law school application?

6. Why are you interested in this particular law school, rather than the many other excellent schools out there?

7. What will you offer this particular school that they wouldn’t get if they selected someone else instead?


For further personal statement advice, see these:

Books:

Personal Statement Triumph: A Comprehensive Guide to the Law School Personal Statement

Law School: Getting In, Getting Good, Getting the Gold

The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert
The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions
Other Law School Admissions Book Recommendations


Links:

Nim Batchelor's Law School Personal Statement Approach

Ann Levine's Law School Personal Statement Tips

Anna Ivey's Law School Addendum Tips

Writing an Effective Personal Statement for Law School (PDF)

Personal Statement (PDF)

Tips on Writing Your Law School Personal Statement

Law School Personal Statement

Tips and Tricks: The Personal Statement

Becoming a Lawyer: Personal Statements from BU Law's Entering Class

Law School Applications 101: Writing a Resume for Law School (PDF)

Photo by zaniac

LSAT Diary: The 20-Something Fashionista

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Diya, a 22-year-old college student who's studying for the LSAT while attending college and maintaining a fashion blog. She's a busy gal.

In this LSAT Diary, she talks about balancing it all as she starts off her prep.

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 Diya some encouragement below in the comments!

Diya's LSAT Diary:

Hi everyone! I have a confession to make: I've never studied properly for a single exam in my entire life. This LSAT diary will not only be about me prepping for the LSAT on a daily basis, but also documenting the progress of paced exam studying for the first time in my life.

I guess I should tell everyone a little more about me. I'm 22, finishing up my last semester at UT for Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry after 4 years. Other than my course load, I conduct antibody engineering research, tutor for biochemical engineering courses, and...I run a fashion website [Ed. Not linked at Diya's request for privacy reasons]. In other words, I have no social life and very little sleep.

I want to go into patent law and am looking at the more selective schools, so (like everyone else) a score above a 170 on the LSAT is ideal. I have a pretty packed (although strange) resume, where I'm deciding if I should even mention "featured on various fashion websites such as Glamour, MTV Style, etc." and "attended New York Fashion Week" next to "developing antibodies for cancer treatment." I did intern at a law office so there's some law-related activities on the resume. My GPA is not bad (above 3.6), but not stellar either, thanks to the engineering curve and my unwillingness to stay up all night screaming at non-functioning Polymath code.

I took a diagnostic test (before finding this blog and reading Steve's post about why not to take one). I got a 160 with Logic Games as my strong point and Logical Reasoning as my worst. It's not great but not extremely bad either. I bought the 4-month day-by-day LSAT study schedule to keep me on track for the October exam.

Attempting to study in between summer engineering courses, research, fashion shows, and spending time with my neglected boyfriend will be an interesting endeavor. Hence why I'm writing this at 4AM in the morning when I'm supposed to get up at 7AM for research. We'll see how I manage.

Week 1:

Not too shabby! Despite a few nights of having to do LSAT prepping (there I made a verb) at 3 AM in the morning while everyone is snoring in the other rooms, I'm moving down the list of linear sequencing games pretty smoothly. Out of all of the games' problems (so around 150 total), I missed around 4-6 problems. I did take way more than 8 minutes on at least two of the problem sets, although sleep deprivation could have something to do with my slower speed. My diagrams mostly make sense, which I’m assuming is a good thing. I need to work on not reading the rest of the answers when I already have an answer choice, but the indecisive part of me keeps feeling uneasy about not reading all of the choices.

Time management was the biggest problem this week since I'm taking a summer senior lab and two 10-hour lab reports per week plus research does not leave much room for free time. Random fact: around day 3 I heard myself saying sarcastically, "yeah, that makes for a convincing defense of your position” in the midst of a fight. Great LSAT, you're turning me into more of a social outcast than I already am. Note to self: must keep formal logic-related terms to a minimum when at fashion events.


Week 2:

I’m constantly battling with formal logic on the in-out games. I hate reading carefully after so many years of scanning and being used to the author trying not to confuse the reader. I thought I was doing well until I attempted the game written by Steve, where my poor diagramming skills (unfortunately artistic abilities do not affect diagramming abilities) translated into me missing almost half the questions. Nooooo. I’m pretty sure the drawn arrows are NOT supposed be curved. I felt more confident in combating the next few games after half an hour of pondering at Steve’s diagrams. I only ended up missing three out of the three sets of book games. Not great, but better than before. I actually thought the game classified as “very difficult” from the book was the easiest game out of the in/out games, maybe because I had two basic templates set up and templates in general make more sense to me than arrows.

Anyway, I've basically experienced another week of mostly studying at 3 AM in morning. If that’s not dedication I don’t know what is. Me trying to fit in exercising, dealing with fashion PR peoples’ emails, eating dinner, and prepping for the LSAT after research every day is rapidly becoming a juggling game.

Photo by karinbar

Logic and Games

* LSAT Diarist Samson has been leaving detailed comments with advice in response to readers. Thanks, Samson! [LSAT Blog]

* Going to law school in Japan and preparing for the Japanese bar exam sounds difficult. [NYTimes]

* Kim Kardashian sues Old Navy for using look-alike actress in ad. [Sports and Entertainment Law Blog]

* Sexist Craigslist Time Traveler doesn't want you to use time-travel to tear up his legal waiver. [Buzzfeed]

* It's now possible to conduct drug tests using fingerprints. [Geekosystem]

* Stay healthy as you prep for the LSAT by minimizing your consumption of bad sugar. [Lifehacker]

* Apple's supplier is creating an army of up to 1 million robots, supposedly for iPhone manufacturing, but I sense something more sinister. [CNN]

October 2011 LSAT vs. December 2011 LSAT

The October LSAT test date is approaching, and you've been planning on taking it then, but maybe you're not sure whether you'll be ready.

Should you push off to December and subject yourself to a few more months of studying?

Or do you go forward and assume you'll be ready by October?

Like most difficult decisions, each route has its pros and cons. It's a bit of a toss-up with no obvious answer.

However, some thoughts:

October Pros

1. You can be done with the LSAT sooner. If the October LSAT goes well, you can be done for good.

2. You have more chances to retake. If the October LSAT doesn't go well (or if you're sick, have a family issue, someone vomits on you during the test, etc.) and you have to retake, you can retake in December and still apply this cycle.

3. It's better for your law school admissions chances because it allows you to apply early in the admissions cycle. Applying early in the cycle is especially important for top law schools.

4. The weather likely won't be as cold as it will be in December (depending on where you live, of course). Less chance of noise/discomfort from heating pipes (or lack of heating). Relatedly, less chance of snow-related test day issues.


December Pros

1 - ? More time to study. If you really need that time, and postponing will give it to you, this is priceless.



Re: October Pro #1
If you've been studying for a while, being done with it for good probably seems very appealing. However, don't take it JUST to get it over with. If you get a crappy score, you'll probably either end up retaking, going to a crappy law school, or not going to any law school at all.


Re: October Pro #2
Even if you're ready as you'll ever be, sometimes things outside your control can go terribly wrong. If you think you're capable of achieving a score you'd be happy with, it likely makes sense to take as soon as possible so you'll have another chance, just in case.


Re: October Pro #3
Again, if you feel you can get a score you'd be happy with, earlier is better. However, better to take in December and get a better score than to apply earlier with a worse score.


Re: October Pro #4
Not a huge issue (and Feb weather is even worse), but it's still a minor consideration.


Re: December Pros #1 - ?
Of course, if you think you might not be ready for October, having more time to study is key.

However, having 3 more months doesn't guarantee you'll actually study a lot during that period.

If you're still in school, the December LSAT will likely come close to finals time, so you may want to give yourself a lighter courseload ASAP if you go this route.

If you're not in school and have been busy with work, life, or procrastination, and these factors did not allow you to adequately study, you may determine whether things will significantly change over those 2 extra months.


***

Now, to the specifics on whether you'll be ready:

If something came along like a busy period at work, a life crisis, a thesis/dissertation, this probably knocked you off schedule.

Depending on how much it impacted you, you might be able to get back on the horse for October, you might not. It all depends on your other obligations and how quickly you pick things up (in other words, your natural aptitude for this stuff).

About one month before each LSAT, people will start asking me, "I have one month left. Can I improve ___ (5/10/15/20) points with a lot of hard studying?"

All I can say is, "maybe, maybe not." Without knowing you, I can't begin to guess what you're capable of. However, the more you study (without overdoing it), the more likely it is that you'll make some kind of significant score improvement. With a month remaining, the game's far from over.

Keep in mind, though, that cramming isn't the most effective way to learn. For best results, postponing is generally the safest bet to allow yourself more time. Obviously, this consideration needs to be balanced with the fact that you'll want to take the LSAT at some point.

However, if you haven't given yourself adequate time to study, you won't achieve your fullest potential. It's just that simple. I'm of the opinion that praying is less effective than putting in hard time with the books. When it comes to logic, miracles are unlikely.

Ideally, you'll spread out your studying in the remaining time. 5 practice exams per week is too much. You don't want to burn out.

If the impending test date is giving you the willies, don't freak out just yet. Again, you still have time to decide whether to postpone your test date.

The best indication of your ability at that time would be something like the average of the 5 practice tests you've taken most recently. Make sure they're recently-administered ones (preferably from the past few years), so they adequately reflect the modern exam.

If you've put in at least a few months of prep, built a strong foundation in effective techniques, taken several practice exams, and improved significantly from your starting point, you have a good chance of being ready. However, if your practice test scores aren't at least at the median of the schools you want to attend, you may want to put in a few more months of prep or reconsider the schools to which you have a realistic shot at gaining acceptance.

Good luck!

(This post is based upon the assumption that you're taking the LSAT less than a year before you intend to apply to law school. If you're planning way ahead, this doesn't really apply to you.)

Photo by asmythie

Complete LSAT PrepTest Explanations PDF

UPDATE: LSAT explanations for these exams are now available in various bundles as PDFs.

Please disregard the below.

***

Complete Explanations for LSAT PrepTests 47-59 (October 2005 LSAT - December 2009 LSAT) are now available for instant PDF download.

One of the most common requests I get from my students and blog readers is for explanations of particular LSAT questions.

Although I'll explain any question in my LSAT tutoring, there's a limit to the amount I have time to write down.

Fortunately, I just learned that fellow LSAT tutor Matt has written complete explanations for every single question in each section of LSAT PrepTests 47-59 (October 2005 LSAT - December 2009 LSAT). The explanations for each PrepTest are over 50 pages in length. Not only do these explain why the right answer is right, but they also discuss why each wrong answer is wrong.

At the moment, each exam's complete explanations are only

Enjoy!

***
You can download complete explanations for the free June 2007 LSAT PrepTest (PDF) to see what they're like. Download the June 2007 LSAT PrepTest (PDF) to follow along.

Rather than having to add over a dozen different sets of PrepTest explanations to your cart one-by-one, you can save time by clicking the range of sets of explanations you'd like:


Explanations for LSAT PrepTests 47-59

Explanations for LSAT PrepTests 47-51

Explanations for LSAT PrepTests 52-59


Also click the relevant link below to add each individual set of complete LSAT PrepTest explanations to your cart.


LSAT PrepTest 63 Explanations (June 2010 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 62 Explanations (December 2010 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 59 Explanations (December 2009 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 58 Explanations (September 2009 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 57 Explanations (June 2009 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 56 Explanations (December 2008 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 55 Explanations (October 2008 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 54 Explanations (June 2008 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 53 Explanations (December 2007 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 52 Explanations (September 2007 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 51 Explanations (December 2006 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 50 Explanations (September 2006 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 49 Explanations (June 2006 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 48 Explanations (December 2005 LSAT) PDF

LSAT PrepTest 47 Explanations (October 2005 LSAT) PDF

***

Please note:

-In order to benefit from these, you must separately get the related LSAT PrepTests. This download does not include the actual LSAT questions from these exams.

-These are PDFs available for instant download after submitting payment via PayPal. You can use Adobe Reader to open the files.

-If you're already registered with PayPal, the instant download link will be sent to your PayPal email address. Otherwise, it'll be sent to whichever email address you submit.
-Due to the nature of digital downloads, LSAT Blog cannot offer any refunds. All sales are final.

LSAT Diary: Using the LSAT Blog Study Schedule

Derek, a blog reader who serves in the military, already shared some of his LSAT reflections in his first LSAT diary. In his second, he shares some thoughts about my day-by-day study plans.

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.)

Thanks to Derek for sharing his experience and advice, and please leave your questions for him below in the comments!

Derek's 2nd LSAT Diary:

For the second installment of my LSAT Diary, I was unsure as to what I wanted to emphasize. As far as chronology is concerned, we recently completed our deployment and are now back in the glorious United States of America. Being abroad and working within the boundaries of another country’s laws most certainly made tangible the notion that a society and its legal system have a mutually constructive relationship. It was fascinating, and frustrating, to experience that what may be rational and fair to one society would be decisively rejected as irrational and unfair by our own.

I’ll quit on the musings and move on…

For the last three months of the deployment the operational tempo was so high that I ran out of both energy and time to accomplish any worthwhile LSAT studying. Reading Scott Turow’s One L was my attempt to maintain some semblance of optimism while abroad. Yes, I know that reading it has become almost cliché amongst pre-law students, but I thought it was a really entertaining read and provided some welcome distraction.

Since returning, I purchased Steve’s 3-Month Day-By-Day LSAT Study Schedule. I have to say, I was conflicted about the purchase. Despite being a military officer, I hate being told how to do something, including studying. However, because LSAT Blog has always outdone the best commercial study guides in terms of efficiency and practicality, I decided to fork over the dough.

THE REVIEW: Definitely worth the purchase; thorough and well-structured, particularly for the majority of us who have the most difficulty with Logic Games. For each day, Steve includes links to his pertinent blog posts according to what is to be studied; this helps mitigate the time you would otherwise spend hunting down each individual post that pertains to that day’s subject.

The only thing that would make the study plan more efficient (for me at least) is if the actual text and diagrams from each of the cited blog posts were placed in an appendix and attached to the study schedule for easy reference. Although if Steve were to include that “appendix”, his “schedule” would quickly begin to suspiciously resemble a commercial study guide, subsequently causing a spontaneous and dramatic increase in price.

[Ed. If I were to include every blog post referenced, it would be far too long a document! I do link to everything for easy reference, though.]

I’ve taken the schedule, printed off the pertinent blog posts and placed everything in a three-ring binder. The three-ring binder is divided by week/LSAT subject and within each partition I have Steve’s schedule and associated blog posts and Logic Games. At the front of the binder, I have an overview of the schedule, LSAT FAQ, Logic Games Cheat Sheet and the Logic Game Categorization by Type. Once I get to the Logical Reasoning portion of the schedule, I’ll put similar documents in the “all-applicable” front section. For now, it has become my primary supplement to the PrepTests, containing all relevant blog posts and tips.

As far as actual studying goes, the logic games are getting a little easier for me. The devil is most certainly in the details. It has taken me a month or so of hard studying to finally be able to quickly filter and absorb all the rules/variables that apply to each game. It’s so rewarding to go from clueless to effectively organizing the information and nailing the questions. I am far from perfect, just hinging on proficient, but improvement is the most powerful encouragement in my book. Categorizing the games into four or five different types has helped to to alleviate the stress that I experienced when I attempted to classify the question using a system that had nearly sixteen types.

On another note, since returning, I have also read Andrew McClurg’s One L of a Ride. In it he mentions the importance of personality type in studying effectively. Within that context, he briefly describes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and learning to curtail your studying to your mental function preferences. Just to prompt some dialogue, Has anybody studied the MBTI or believe in its credence? What are the trends as far as MBTI type entering law school these days? If you know your personality type, what effect do you think this has had on your LSAT studying? Do you think that certain personality types are more intuitive or better than others at certain sections of the LSAT?

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Logic and Games

* Several pundits debate the concepts of law school and legal education. [NYTimes]

* Thomas Jefferson Law School defends its employment statistics reporting.

* We're susceptible to flawed and stupid arguments in advertisements and everyday life. Shocker. [Lifehacker; Lifehacker]

* Women sues airline after being forced to prove she was wearing short-shorts under her t-shirt. [ABA Journal]

* Lawsuit claims black student prevented from being valedictorian due to race. [Gawker]

LSAT Logic and the New Cigarette Warning Labels

LSAT Blog "Reader-of-the-Decade" Caleb already wrote an LSAT diary and a Logic Game for all of us.

He's back, and this time he's got an LSAT-style analysis of the reasoning behind the upcoming cigarette warning labels required by the FDA (PDF).

Thanks for Caleb for sharing his thoughts, and be sure to leave some comments letting him know what you think of his arguments.

Caleb's analysis:

If the LSAT gods smiled kindly upon you (they won’t) and said that an entire logical reasoning section was going to be based on the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, where would you start your studying?

Since you are a LSAT study-monster with aspirations of lawyerin’, this trip to fantasy land (my second home) could be beneficial in your preparation. After all, a key to crushing the LSAT is the ability to objectively analyze arguments without your personal opinions on the subject interfering with your ability to reason. And lots of people have strong views on smoking, right? “Eww! Smoke stinks and stays in my hair for days!” and “I do what I want” are two key opinions that come to mind.

First, let’s get a hold of the basic argument. You can read the text of the bill here (which I recommend), but since you’re lazy busy practicing for the games section I’ll try and give an objective summary. Then, we’ll take a look at pieces of the argument and try to bend and twist them to our will. And, since you will encounter varying levels of difficulty on LSAT questions, we’ll try and get as fiendish and dastardly clever as possible. Because you know the sadistic hobgoblins at the LSAT factory surely will. So let’s start with a summary:

Smoking is bad, mmkay. Tobacco causes damage both in terms of human health and economic impact. Tobacco use costs the US billions of dollars in healthcare and lost productivity. Tobacco companies target young smokers with their advertising. Nicotine is addictive and people who want to quit using it find it very difficult to do so. Lawmakers have an obligation and mandate to protect citizens- especially children- and should oversee and regulate the tobacco industry. An effective strategy to lower the number of smokers and stop underage children from starting is to place graphic images and warnings on tobacco products and advertising, and to ban any flavored cigarettes. Except menthols [true story].

I trained like a Jedi master for the LSAT- with Steve’s LSAT Blog as my lightsaber, of course- so I can’t even type that summary without my brain pumping out fifty different questions and counter-arguments that all bottleneck somewhere in my Broca’s Area (look it up, lazy). I’ll just step out for a second, have a smoke, and come back so we can start in!

Ahh, that’s the stuff.

Now, let’s start with the immortal words of me:

“All reasoning starts with questioning.” –Caleb Shreves

You’re welcome. Here are a few obvious questions that popped into my head while typing that summary:

1. Why is there an economic impact from healthcare and lost productivity?
2. Is tobacco advertising responsible for people smoking? If so, to what degree?
3. How are tobacco companies targeting minors?
4. Why is regulation and, specifically, using graphic warnings an effective deterrent to smoking?
5. Why should legal adult practices be regulated by Government?
6. Why does banning flavored tobacco lower smoking rates?
7. How is “lost productivity” defined and measured?

Add a few of your own. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Now let’s take some of the questions I posed and think of how an LSAT test-maker might think to incorporate them. Here are some easy ideas:

Strengthen: Other countries have implemented similar policies and found them to be effective in deterring tobacco use.

Necessary Assumption: Flavored cigarettes are attractive to minors

Conclusion (inference): The fewer minors who start smoking, the more money the country will save.

Try a few on your own! You should be able to come up with quite a few of these easy ones pretty quickly, and you’ll likely face a few test questions built off these types of low-hanging fruit. But let’s take it up a notch and expand some of these arguments to make them a little more complex. Here’s something based off my dad’s cynical argument, which I call “dying is cheaper.”

End of life care is, by far, the most expensive piece of the healthcare pie. Tobacco users die, on average, ten years sooner than non-users. Thus, tobacco users are doing everyone else a favor.

Great work, dad. Any questions spring to mind when you read that argument? How about a sample LSAT setup to help you out:

Dr. A: “Healthcare costs should be a primary concern when dealing with tobacco regulation. Hence, we should find ways to reduce the number of smokers.”

Dr. B: “I agree that healthcare costs are a primary concern, which is why I encourage more people to start smoking.”

See any conflicting assumptions here? This could be the start of a “the two doctors disagree about…” type question, or a “which statement, if true, would lend support to Dr. A’s conclusion…” type question. Now that we’re this far, let’s scramble the answer up, LSAT style, and get tricksy. Consider which Dr. would be validated by the following evidence:

“Recent studies have shown that treatments for certain common long-term illnesses requiring regular hospital care increase in total healthcare cost at an exponential rate as the person with the illness ages.”

Tricksy indeed! Read the setup again; the doctors are disagreeing about whether the costs of a tobacco-related death outweigh the costs of living an additional 10 years, tobacco-free. If common illnesses cost a crap-ton more every year as you age, then people dying early would, in fact, probably save money! This would be good for Dr. B (surprise- that was dad’s side of the argument!). But you can see how a few questions about an argument, combined with some assumptions, and sprinkled with fuzzy language can give you a pretty nasty LSAT question.

Finally, let’s work together and come up with something really nasty. How about we start with the FDA’s argument about minors:

A primary reason that minors begin using tobacco is the prevalence of advertising they are exposed to. Thus, we should require that tobacco advertisements on billboards and posters contain gruesome and graphic pictures of the consequences of tobacco use.

Allllllrighty then, FDA. What are the assumptions here? Well, first we would assume that minors actually see tobacco advertising, right? Do they? We would need to assume that the advertising that minors see actually affects whether or not they use tobacco wouldn’t we? Why would graphic images stop a minor from smoking? Don’t minors see graphic images on TV and in video games every day? What if studies showed that minors actually become desensitized by graphic imagery and were more likely to use tobacco if this policy were in place? Asking questions like this can immediately help point out the assumptions of any argument- and, accordingly, help you determine how an LSAT question might be framed by them.

Fun (and true) fact: tobacco brands that are heavily-advertised are much more likely to be used by minors than adults. But what if this were reversed? If minors were less likely than adults to smoke heavily-advertised brands, wouldn’t that mean that the advertising doesn’t affect them? (if you’re questioning even this, then you are well on your way to true LSAT dominance). Going with this theme, I would expect a test answer to include a convoluted piece of evidence that showed a link between advertised brands and what minors actually smoked. For starters, we could weaken the FDA’s argument with a statement like:

“A recent study of smokers aged 12-16 found them to have a distinct preference for Brand X cigarettes, a brand that advertises its products far less than its area competitors.”

Okay, we can grasp that. Kids smoke even without the advertising, so advertising ain’t a big deal like the FDA said. But let’s step out farther and imagine some of the fiendish tricks used by the LSAT hobgoblins. How would the LSAT refute this last statement?

“Legislation passed in the last year has forced Brand X to dramatically reduce its advertising budget.”

Now hold on a minute. Maybe these kids had already been exposed to Brand X! Timeline trickery, that is (and one that the LSAT uses sometimes, trust me). Imagine a “which answer, if true, would provide the LEAST support for…” type question on this, using evidence to prove something that is counter to what’s true in the real world, couching it in fuzzy language, and throwing a trick answer in to boot. You can see how the LSAT can take simple things and make them vastly more complicated. Reminds me of my girlfriend.

What’s the point of all this hypothetical nonsense you ask? The more you can quickly and automatically pre-form arguments and assumptions in your mind, the better you’ll do on test day. If every day you take an issue like this and spend 10-15 minutes thinking of how you would create test questions, you will make neural pathways in your brain that will give you X-ray logic-vision when reading new and unfamiliar arguments.

And that sounds good, right? Plus, you might just start seeing the issues you encounter in daily life in a new light, too. Like smoking. Whatever your views on smoking happen to be, I challenge you to look critically at the reasoning behind the decisions made by our Government on this issue. If you can come away saying “nope, looks like they’re air-tight!” then good luck on test day. But I would wager my Xbox and all my Halo games that you’ll at least be a bit more skeptical of these policies and the true rationale behind them if you take the time to examine them. And I don’t wager my Halo-goodness lightly, either.

Caleb

P.S. While I encourage you read the full text of H.R. 1256, I can’t resist showing you item #4 in the “findings” section of the bill:

“Virtually all new users of tobacco products are under the minimum legal age to purchase such products.”

I started smoking at age 26. Should I call my senator?

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