GROUPED By Type LSAT PDF Download

I've linked to my reviews of each of the GROUPED books below:

GROUPED By Game Type (PrepTests 1-20)

GROUPED By Question Type (PrepTests 1-20)

GROUPED By Passage Type (PrepTests 1-20)

More GROUPED By Game Type (PrepTests 21-40)

More GROUPED By Question Type (PrepTests 21-40)

More GROUPED By Passage Type (PrepTests 21-40)

GROUPED vs. Kaplan Mastery Practice

LSAT Diary: LSAT Studying With A Family

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Jon in Richmond, Virginia. He writes:

I'm a bit of a non-traditional, 32, PhD in chemistry, married, two (little) kids. I work for a Big Pharma company. Oh, and my younger brother is currently in law school. I very much want to beat his LSAT score (161). Well, I really want to crush it.

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 Jon some encouragement and advice below in the comments!

***

(Quick note: Below, LG=Logic Games, LR=Logical Reasoning, and RC=Reading Comprehension.)

Jon's LSAT Diary:

Day 1:
7:09: Rise and Shine

8:10: The wife and kids are out the door. I toast a Pop-Tart, grab a snack for the kids, pick up my computer bag, and head out myself. My bag is lighter without The Next 10 LSATs book. I finally got a chance to photocopy a couple of games sections. The photocopies are in the bag. I'm going to try to take a couple of ten minute breaks during my day to do a puzzle or two.

5:00: I've been very busy in the lab for the last couple of weeks and today was no different. All morning was spent getting four experiments going. The afternoon was filled with documenting the experiments and attending a meeting that was actually fairly productive. No chance to squeeze in a quick game.

5:10: I took a few minutes to search my email for a message that I have from my brother about his LSAT score. I'm trying to find which test he took. My brother's a 2L at a Boston law school (not Harvard). I have every intention of destroying his LSAT score. I know it's immature, but competition is a good motivator for me. So is shame. He got a 161. I'm aiming for 171+. December 2006. I'll have to find out which PrepTest that is. I plan on taking that test right before my official test in June. He was practicing in the low 170's but only scored a 161? I'll have to ask him about that later.

5:25: I leave work to pick up my two kids and head home for dinner and some family time.

8:50: With the kids in bed and my wife in the garage using our treadmill, I have some time to study. I usually study at the kitchen table, but I'm just not feeling it tonight. I decided to sit in a comfortable chair and review Grouping games. The games are my weakest section in the test. It just takes me too long to to work through them. My chemistry background has trained me to be very deliberate and careful in approaching problems. The time limit's killing me. I've been getting better and am working on improving my pace. I managed to get through a few games.

11:30: I decided to do a quick workout myself instead of getting right to studying after the wife went to bed. Given the progress I made during the early evening, I decide to do Section 1 of PrepTest 34. Ah, reading comprehension (RC). Easily my best section on the test. I whip through it with a minus 2. I'm alright with missing one of them, but I should have gotten the question about the anteaters.

12:20: I decide to call it a night. This is an early night for me.


Day 2:
6:50: My daughter is making sure we get an early start this morning.

8:30: I should have pretty much the same routine at work today. All morning will be at the lab bench with the afternoon full of paperwork. I may be able to find 10 minutes or so to tackle a game.

5:00: I've done all that I need to do today. I'm going to do the first game from PrepTest31. Let's figure out everyone's locker assignments!

5:10: Wow, I zipped through that in 5 minutes. I had done it before, but I didn't really remember it all that well. I'm pleased with how that went.

7:15: I manage to read a few pages of a book about the Seven Days campaign during the Civil War around Richmond, Va while my son is watching Scooby-Doo before heading upstairs to bed. I tell myself I'm doing RC prep.

8:30: I was just sitting down to study when my wife came back in from the garage. She's having some problem with her iPod. It's dead. I wanted a new iPod but it looks like she's going to get one instead. I guess the practice with grouping games will have to wait.

11:30: That's twice. Just as I was getting situated my daughter started crying. I'm at the kitchen table and ready to go again. I'll be really quiet so I don't wake anybody up.

1:00 am: I worked through the grouping game setup exercises and moved onto the first practice game. I have done the PrepTest the game is from already, but the material wasn't too fresh. I made it through the game in about 11 minutes with one stupid mistake. There are 7 or 8 questions so an extra minute or two might not be a real show stopper. It's bedtime.


Day 3:
6:50: This is getting old. I like getting up at 7:10 better.

8:36: My brother's replied to my email about the disparity between his practice LSAT scores and his official score. His story is that some guy next to him was flipping test booklet pages pretty quickly while he was stuck in the same section. He started freaking out that he was going too slow so he started to hurry through his first section (games). It took him a few minutes to remember that the order of the sections aren't the same for everybody. I guess he righted the ship after that, but the damage was already done.

You can only turn the pages a couple of times in the games section, but I guess his mental energies were too focused on the task at hand to realize that. He took the test once before, but he refuses to tell anybody his score. I'm sure that dismal performance was probably on his mind as well.

Noon: I'm going to take the first 15 minutes of my lunch to do game 2 in PrepTest 31, the CD store. I didn't like this game the first time I did it...

12:15: I still don't like it. I just have a hard time managing all of that information. I'm going to stay positive though. I've found something that I'm not good at so that means getting better at it should help my score. I see a good opportunity to to crack a piece of the LSAT code by figuring this one out. That will have to wait for later. I'm hungry.

4:30: I went to a chemistry seminar today. It was pretty boring (surprise), but seeing that I spend pretty much all of my free time on LSAT prep, my mind shifted into that mode during the presentation. I couldn't help but think about how the figures the speaker was using to tell us about his research were similar to games diagrams. Thinking about it during the talk, I realized that I've been so focused on getting the games questions answered in under 35 minutes that I've totally overlooked the key of the section. It's all about understanding how different pieces of information relate to one another.

I was reminded of instances where I've been stuck on a problem at work. I have all of this data in front of me. I know the answer is in the data somewhere, but I just couldn't see it. By changing how I look at the data, the answer I was looking for just jumps out at me. These games are basically the same thing. Once you take those random rules and put them into an order that really makes sense, inferences and question answers are much easier to find. Maybe I can take what I know about how I like to look at problems and add a wrinkle that will improve my score.

5:10: Back at work with a few minutes left until I have to leave to get my kids. There's plenty of time to do game 4 in PrepTest 31, building a partition.

5:25: I worked through this one with an eye to time and did alright, but after I looked at it a second time, I elaborated on one of my diagrams and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. I looked back over the questions and the answers were very easy to find with my improved diagram. I've known that the setup is key, but this example has really shown me that I need to look for ways to make the rules more visual. We'll see if it helps improve my score. Must beat the little bro.

9:30: With the wife in the garage, the kids in bed, and The Office over, I'm back at my study spot, the kitchen table, to work on that CD store game again.

9:50: After flailing around with the arrows in Logic Games and not making much progress, I tried applying my new insight into arranging the game info into a way that helps me see the connections better and get a better sense of how the different rules are connected. I was using the photocopy that I used to do the game earlier in the day so it was all marked up. My previous work was distracting me when I tried to answer the questions. I'll try it again tomorrow night with a new copy. (I need to remember to take "The Next 10" with me to work tomorrow and make some more copies.)

11:30: I'm feeling a little sleepy and my body is tired from the workout that I just finished, but I'll take a crack at a Logical Reasoning (LR) section tonight just to mix things up a little (PrepTest 34 Section 2).

12:30: I should have listened to my gut and gone to bed. I made some very careless mistakes. That's kind of par for the course for me on this section though. I did better back when I first started studying. For whatever reason, I'm not reading the questions and answer options as carefully as I did back then, and I'm really making some stupid mistakes. I went back and looked at one that I missed. I totally skipped the correct answer choice when I was going through them the first time. On another question an assumption in the argument jumped right out at me the second time I read the question, but I totally missed it the first time. I'm going to chalk this -6 performance up to fatigue, but I'm going to take away the lesson that I need to be very deliberate in my reading.

Day 4:
8:05: I'm sure to grab my Next 10 book so I can photocopy some more games for practice. I've decided that's the only thing that will really help me at this point. Practice, practice, practice.

1:15: I had a few things to take care of before I went downstairs to get my experiments up and running again so I'm really behind. I have plenty of other things to do besides run these routine experiments. I need to catch up on some other work, write an abstract for a poster that I plan to present at a national meeting, and get started on a training presentation that will cover some pretty technical information, but getting these experiments going is my top priority everyday. I could work on my abstract or presentation at home in the evening, but I need all the time I can get for studying. Anyway, there is no time to do a game during my lunch.

5:15: I was able to make new copies of a few games. The photocopier is in a lab where only a few people work, all of whom are already out the door. Using the photocopier for non-work purposes isn't why I'm trying to keep people out of my business. I don't want people to start talking about my plans to take the LSAT. Info like that tends to get more distorted the higher up the management ladder it goes. I don't need to deal with rumors right now. I have enough on my plate. These new copies won't be used tonight though. I have other plans for my study time.

10:00: The wife ran out to buy a new iPod, so I decide to take this rare chunk of time in the early evening to do the second LR section of PrepTest 34. I was ruminating about my crappy performance all day so this is my chance to take another crack at an LR section to see if I can improve on my sub-par performance from the night before. It's still pretty early in the evening so I figured I would be a little sharper. I was in the final few difficult questions when my wife got back home. She didn't say anything to me, but I found it harder to concentrate once she was back.

It was another -6 performance. I don't feel like I made any careless mistakes like I did the night before. I actually resisted the temptation to take the trap answer on a couple of questions and worked to the right answer. Nevertheless, it's less than comforting to be stuck in this range. I just keep telling myself that I have plenty of time. Getting over this hump is probably going to be tough so I just have to keep on plugging.

1:00: I pushed the LR frustration back for an hour and a half or so and did a few practice Logic Games. Improving in this section will be the biggest benefit to my score so I need to keep doing what I can to improve. Like I said in this morning's post, practice, practice, practice.


Day 5:
9:00: Today is Saturday and Saturday always starts with a trip out with the family for breakfast followed by our weekly grocery shopping. These trips are usually pretty crazy, remember my kids are 3 and 1 and a half. This morning is no exception. I was up with my daughter for about an hour while we were waiting for some Motrin to kick in to help her with some teething pain. I was up until 1 studying, up with my daughter from 2:30 to 3:30, and up and getting ready for the day at 7:45. I'm should be alright for a little while, but I'm thinking that I'll take a nap while the kids are napping today. I really need the rest. My daughter needs the rest too. She's stubborn on a good day, but she's impossible on a night after she's hasn't slept well. I'm already looking forward to nap time.

12:30: I was falling asleep while I was watching Scooby-Doo with my son before his nap (I used to watch Scooby-Doo when I was his age, it's a strange experience to watch it again with my own kid.). I'm thinking I need to sleep more than I need to do logic games practice.

4:00: Yes, I did need to sleep. Bless my wife for letting me sleep for 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon!

12:00 am: Most of the night has been spent on Daddy duty. My son is getting a bike from the Easter bunny tomorrow and I need to finish putting it together. I'm waiting for the cheap pump that we bought to inflate the tires to cool down from taking care of the front tire before I do the reat tire. I'm tackling the next grouping practice game. It's about researchers learning new languages.


Day 6:
10:45: All day was spent doing family stuff. I'm hoping to do 4 or 5 practice games tonight. I'm planning on doing a timed games section as part of my diary grand finale tomorrow night. Must practice, practice, practice, practice.

12:45: I worked through the last couple grouping games and two grouping/linear combination games. I've discovered that I'm really bad at grouping games where the position of the variables are not defined. I'm not a systematic enough thinker to work through all of the inferences that are the key to that kind of game. Identifying that weakness gives me something very targeted and specific to work on. I have also realized that I take too much time making sure I have the correct answer. I identify an answer that I am confident in, but then I take another minute or two to convince myself that it's correct before moving on to the next one. I'm losing a big chunk of time in that one activity alone. I'll have to pay better attention to that tendency the next time I do a timed section.

Day 7:

8:30: I had a horrible time getting to sleep last night. Right after I feel asleep, my wife woke me up to help her get my daughter settled. I feel asleep holding her in a glider that we keep in her room. I got back in bed around 5. I got 4 fragmented hours of sleep last night. There will be plenty of caffeine in my day. At least I'll be plenty busy at work.

12 pm: I have game 3 from PrepTest 31 in my bag. I know how to do it pretty quickly, but I'm curious to see just how long it will take.

12:10: It took me 5 minutes, and that's after spending way too much time confirming that I had the correct choice identified on one of the questions.

Midnight: I tackled section 4 of PrepTest 31. I am encouraged by my performance. I only missed 2 that I answered and didn't get to 8 of them. This doesn't sound great, but it's an improvement over where I was a month or so ago. The practice is helping. I skipped most of the first game after not being able to make much headway with the questions. When I went back to review the questions I quickly identified that I missed the key rule. I figured everything out pretty quickly after that insight.

I have a good feeling that seeing my mistake will allow me to identify a similar rule in a game that much faster the next time I encounter a similar game. The practice is already helping (I need to make that my mantra for the next couple of weeks). This process of seeing how the rules relate to one another and how to best attack the questions is definitely coming much faster. I could spend 45 minutes trying to figure out one game a few weeks ago. Now I can usually find the key to the game in a minute or two.

You would think my advanced degree (I have a PhD in chemistry) would help me out in this situation, but the way I think about chemistry is much different than the way I have to think about these questions. I am basically training myself to think in an entirely different way. It's definitely a challenge, but I know that I'm up to it. I just have to keep practicing because...The practice is already helping.

As for my pseudo-score on PrepTest 31, a 163. A solid RC section, two alright but could have been better LR sections, and a not so great but better than I've been doing games section. The score is right where I've been for the last couple of PrepTests, but I feel like my grasp of the test is improving. I try not to worry too much about the score at this point. I only calculate it to gauge my progress and to acclimate myself for how the raw score relates to the scaled score. I'll put more value in my score when I start taking four or five sections in a row. I'll probably have to start the test at 10 pm or so some night. I'll wrap up around 12:30. I'm going to take a couple of Saturday afternoons to take a full PrepTest with a fake experimental section, but as this diary shows, I just don't have the luxury of big chunks of time. That's just the reality of my life.

I still need to order PrepTest 51 (that's the test my brother took to get his 161). I know there are plenty of good reasons to study hard, but I am highly motivated by competition. I'll keep practicing whenever I can find the time. Thanks for reading.


Photo by sterlic

Logic and Games

* The ABA is offering 20 scholarships to increase diversity in the legal profession. [ABA]

* A story of one woman in Washington State who became an attorney without going to law school. [Seattle PI]

* This paralegal appears to have taken nearly $300,000 of her law firm's money to go on vacation and buy a house. [ABA Journal]

* What do spammers and HIV have in common? This doctor may have the answer. [LATimes]

* Stephen Colbert (out-of-character) interviews scientist Neil Degrasse Tyson. [YouTube]

Choosing a Law School Using US News Rankings

How should you use law school rankings when making a decision?

Because the rankings are such a widely-used indicator of a law school's prestige, it's important to be aware of them, at the very least.

To ignore them would be paying over $100,000 for something when you don't know its value.

Of course, the rankings are far from perfect, but you can still use them as a starting point when thinking about where to apply.

After all, it's overwhelming to wade through the dozens of pamphlets, folders, and emails you'll soon be receiving from law schools (if you haven't started receiving them already). Having an outside evaluator like U.S. News to cut through the clutter with some hard numbers is incredibly useful.

They can:

-serve as a general guideline to help you get a sense of a law school's prestige.

-give you a sense of how others would view your having attended a given school.

-help you determine the schools to which you have a realistic chance of acceptance given your LSAT score and undergraduate GPA.

If you haven't yet taken the LSAT, but have a sense of what your undergraduate GPA is or will be, you can figure out what kind of LSAT numbers you'll likely need to have a strong chance at a particular law school.

As such, the rankings can help you to formulate a list of law schools to which you should apply, helping you to select safety schools, match schools, and reach schools.




How much should you actually let the rankings influence your decisions?

The importance of the rankings will vary from person to person. In large part, it depends on the type of law you wants to practice after law school.

If you're looking to go to a corporate law firm, the rankings are very important. Many law firms disproportionately recruit from certain law schools and are significantly more likely to consider a resume from a "T14" school than others ("T14" is a term used to refer to the 14 law schools consistently listed in the top 14 of the U.S. News law school rankings).

However, if you're looking to practice in other areas (such as human rights law), become a sole practitioner (opening your own law firm), use your law degree simply to add to your skill set for your already-existing business, or in conjunction with another graduate degree, the law school's ranking and national reputation may not mean as much.



Enough about the rankings - what else matters?

Financial Aid:

Well, if you're the kind of person who's not planning to write one big check for law school tuition without batting an eye, you may want to seriously consider financial aid offers.

Many law schools will give merit aid to woo applicants with LSAT scores higher than the school's typical student. If your LSAT score's significantly higher than their average, schools will likely want to grab you to help you boost their position in the rankings. They might be willing to pay you for the privilege with reduced tuition costs.


Location:

It's also important to recognize that rankings don't take into account the fact that a law school is always better-known in its region of the country than elsewhere.

For example, if you want to practice law in NYC, you might want to consider Fordham over UCLA, even though UCLA has a higher US News ranking. NYC law firms and residents are more familiar with Fordham Law and its graduates than those of UCLA Law. After all, a significantly greater number of Fordham law graduates settle and practice in NYC than do UCLA law graduates.

There's also the fact that public universities offer lower tuition to in-state residents. If you've established in-state residence, you can take advantage of lower tuition if accepted. Public (state) law schools also set aside a certain number of seats for in-state residents, so it can be easier to gain acceptance if you've established residence.


***

For further reading, see this U.S. News law school rankings article in which I'm featured.

***

Which other factors are affecting which law schools you're considering?

LSAT Diary: Studying in Washington D.C.

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Danielle, a 25-year-old graduate student in Washington D.C. In her diary, she talks about what she's learned in her LSAT studying thus far.

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 Danielle some encouragement and advice below in the comments!

***

Danielle's LSAT Diary:

1) The way the LSAT Makers pose their questions, the way they present the stimuli, and the way they set up the answer choices is all highly contingent upon some structure that the test taker is supposed to adhere to. How does one adhere to something they know nothing about? My point, exactly.

Thus my schedule:

-7am: get up to drink a glass of water (I drink at least 9 glasses a day)
-7:30am-8am: Ab workout or some quick 30min workout.
-8am-9am: Look for some breakfast. Something light but filling. I need it to get focused on my work day. I eat 4 to 5 times a day to keep energy up, but no carbs after 9!
-9am-12pm: As a technical research analyst, I get to look at 1000s of lines a SAS code and output per day and write about the quality of the data my firm receives. Sounds boring but I love it. It requires extreme attention to detail and organization. (I one snack within this 3 hour period)
-12pm-1pm: 1hour cardio workout and strength training. Helps me relax and relieve the stresses of writing and analyzing code all day.
-1:pm-1:15pm: fix lunch and get back to work
-1:15pm-5pm: work
-5pm-6pm: break to watch the Golden Girls, update twitter, make contacts, check on loved ones. etc.
-6pm-10:00pm: LSAT Prep--I want to sit in front of this material for at least as long as I will have to on the official test day!
-10pm-12am: Jot down meals, adhoc tasks, and watch syndicated TV shows until I fall asleep.

The weekend mirrors closely what I do during the week, except I study longer for the LSAT, rest more, and most importantly, I regain my social status :0). With family and friends all living somewhat far away, and a mom who's undergoing chemo, the stresses of regular life can easily manifest themselves into utter disruption of my structural environment, so I try my best to get my have-to's out of the way in order to have ample time to tend to my need/want-to's.

When I've failed at the LSAT, I never successfully established this environment, and I'm afraid if I don't do it now, I'll never get over this obstacle, and what's worse, despite my success thus far in most every other aspect of my life, whatever it is I'm standing on may start to crumble under me. I can't have that. Just that simple. I have to meet the expectation!

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2) Tonight, I focused in on the LR section: implication questions (MBT, MBF, Inferences). Though I am pretty familiar with the every aspect of the test, I approached my preparation very differently this time around. Ever since I realized my biggest weakness: lack of consistent ability to properly identify WHY wrong answers are wrong, I wanted to take time, while I have time on my side, to slow down and get through the easier LSAT questions to see where I was getting tripped up in my deductions.

It actually helped quite a bit. I noticed that the questions that I got wrong were precisely the ones where I failed to explain what was wrong with the answer choice. Either that or I didn't read the answer choice carefully enough. I don't know any other way to resolve this latter problem but to entrench myself in this material. Of course, I'm planning to do just that.

It's amazing to me how simple my mistakes are and how easily these little mistakes can manifest themselves into 3 years of under performance. I'm a 25 year old graduate student attending a top tier institution, and I still get tripped up by reading short paragraphs. lol. Wow, how unfortunate. I pride myself on paying attention to detail, yet I miss many of the most telling clues in the English language of an important inference.

I'm not discouraged. I make very good arguments, otherwise. I just don't have enough practice breaking a part the arguments of those who are paid to make "holey" arguments. lol. But this is a true lesson in being a sharper individual.

I sit in some of my graduate classes and get frustrated as I try to keep up with some of the seemingly irrelevant topics of dispute many of my classmates develop, but I'm starting to realize that I do that because I tune out when an argument doesn't make sense instead of focusing on just what doesn't make sense. Who knew that it would come in handy one day!

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3) Something I learned today: Logical Opposites
a) must be true (MBT) = cannot be false <- logical opposites -> not necessarily true = could be false

b) must be false (MBF) = cannot be true <- logical opposites -> not necessarily false = could be true

Now, while I typically thought that "could be false" and "could be true" are analogous concepts since something that could be true can ALSO be false, in terms of the LSAT, this isn't really the case. Here's why:

When a question asks us, which of the following "could be false", this means that only 1 answer choice "could be false," while the other 4 choices will be the logical opposite of "could be false." This means that the 4 WRONG answer choices "cannot be false = MBT."

This suggests that "could be false" and "could be true" are not really the same concepts on the LSAT because if the question had INSTEAD asked, which of the following "could be true," then this means that only 1 answer choice "could be true" while the 4 WRONG answer choices "cannot be true = MBF."

It's pretty interesting how they are trying to trip us up like that. After all these years of carefully choosing my words to express myself, apparently according to the LSAT, I still haven't gotten it right!

This is a clear example of why we can't use our "outside" logic on the LSAT. Damn...that's too bad, too. Just when I was getting used to feeling like a goddess of written expression, I've got to learn how to express myself all over again.

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4) One thing I read a lot about in these LSAT prep books is attitude. Though the author's attitude is particularly important in reading LSAT stimuli, what's equally important, if not more, is how we, the test takers approach the material. That's the one thing I've never been able to understand. I remember the first official test I sat for: I was SOOO confident. The next time, for that reason, I was not so confident. But this last time, confident!! Despite those yearly 2 point increases, my enthusiasm toward the material, and the confidence I felt, my score just isn't creeping up like I think it should. I don't quite understand it. And maybe that's it: I don't understand it.

There must be something I'm missing, and I haven't a clue how to fix it. I'm breaking into this test inside-out nowadays. I'm not taking any shortcuts! Not that I did before, but I know I didn't push myself to the limit. How do I exhaust the possibilities in such a short period of time?

Practice. Practice brings insights. And from insights come better instincts. Logical instincts. lol. Oxymoron. Despite what these tests say, I still believe in my abilities. I believe that I'm among the intellectual giants. No one has realized it yet, not even me, because I haven't put it into practice! See!! I can reason! Flawless argument right there! The key there is that just because I believe something doesn't make it true...at least not LSAT world.

In my otherwise, sensible world, if I can think of such a thing; it is. Thanks Descartes!

I believe it! I believe in me, and I'll do what it takes to bring those beliefs to fruition.

Goodnight!

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5) I'm weighed down today. I did make some progress, but not as much as I anticipated. I got tripped up on Quasars today. I hate that problem, but I will learn to love it. My hope is that it's one of the more difficult problems, but somehow I doubt it. Answer (C) is the choice I wanted.

[Ed. Danielle is referring to PrepTest 29, Section 4, Question 23 - p. 42 of The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests.

My explanation of the question: Quasars' light takes 500 million years to reach Earth, but anything that burns at that rate can't last more than 100 million years. As such, any quasar light you see is from quasars that no longer exist - they've already burned themselves into nonexistence. -Steve]

I was skeptical from the beginning because it closely mirrored what was said in the stimulus.

What was the difference? Sadly, it took me more than 35 minutes to figure it out. As I mentioned, I was suspect because MBT question is in the implication family; it is a deduction that must be made precisely because it isn't stated in the stimulus. So something that sounds exactly the same is most likely to be wrong. Nevertheless, there is a key distinction: location.

"anything that far away to appear [...] the way quasars..." vs. "anything that appears as bright as quasars..."

Anything that appears as bright as quasars may, in fact, be closer or further away than where quasars are actually located. There is nothing in the answer choice that suggests the location of this "anything," but it's explicitly stated in the stimuli as "that far away..." which is a reference to 500million years. It would take at least this long to appear as bright from Earth ONLY IF it was truly THAT far away, but the WRONG answer choice wants to trick us into believing that the location of this "anything" is irrelevant as long as its appearance from Earth is the same. What if it's a tiny little star that's relatively closer? What if? What if?

I made up my own what if, but the fact that I could consider another alternative, solidified the right answer choice for me, despite how long it took.

Real tough work is a thankless job, I'm learning, at least in the beginning stages. One thing I need to prepare myself for is that there will be no parade at the finish line. I'm after a personal triumph here. This is one of them.

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6) Today, I focused on basic linear, and general, I don't have problems with it, as long as the rules lead to a healthy dose of deductions. Towards the end, I was spending more and more time and getting a few more wrong because I was spending too much time trying to figure out why I couldn't find a deduction. It gets particularly gruesome in unbalanced linear games, where you have to figure out which variables can be paired up and which ones can't, if it even matters. I feel like it's gotta be better just to start attacking the problems, if there are no obvious deductions, because it's too time consuming to look for universal deductions when things don't "line up" like the one-tier games. I'm looking to average 6 minutes per game, and I don't want too waste more than 2 to 3 minutes on diagramming the rules.

I've also noticed that these games tend to have many scenario/MBT questions. If we're supposed to focus on the individual scenario, then those MBTs will become a little more detailed than in the general diagram, so it makes sense to not focus too much on coming up with our own scenarios to make more deductions before we even approach the questions.

I've also been focusing on could be true/could be false questions in the LGs because I've been trying to deduce what category the 4 other answer choices will fall under. These are particularly useful when there isn't a scenario attached to it, because, for example, if the question asks, which of the following could be true (w/ no scenario attached), then that means that the 4 WRONG answer choices must be false; so, if we're really quick about it, we can build on our original diagram from these MBF statements as we proceed through the rest of the questions. I've noticed that a few questions build off others, so it can't hurt. I'll look for more opportunities to do this tomorrow.

Goodnight!

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7) "I Think; Therefore, I am...Dangerous"

That's a powerful statement that I'm beginning to understand, especially with regard to the LSAT. I'm learning that it's not just about figuring out what's being said in the stimulus; thinking particularly hard (and fast) on what their asking is the key!

It's my belief that the odds of me sitting and pondering (for roughly 1 min on 100 questions each) what exactly each argument maker is saying is next to none. I don't have that kind of time, and I'm generally uninterested in what people who try purposefully to sound confusing have to say (Yes, that means you, LSAT makers). That's one of my major mistakes on this test: thinking too much on the stimulus to grab something useful, instead of approaching the question with equally as much if not more focus than that which was given to the stimulus.

The question uncovers what's critically important about the stimulus, particularly from the perspective of the LSAT Makers. It gives us insight into a potentially confusing set of words, and it, thus, allows us to look at the stimulus in a more revealing way.

I know... I know. This is a dangerous claim; I'm not about to make the argument that reading the question stem first is the ideal way to go for all test takers. But it is more help than hurt for me. Without that question stem, I'm lost more often than not because my focus isn't on breaking down argument after argument without prompt. It's already bad enough that for at least half the test, we have less than a minute to get through and move from 1 generally uninteresting topic to another 48 to 52 times in under 70 minutes. I've sat this way for 3 times already, and I'm not going to do it again. Not without at least trying something different for once.

In general, I know that people don't ask us questions and THEN tell us to analyze what they're about to say based on those questions. Lawyers don't do this. And if we find that the only way to deconstruct someone's argument is to be prompted with a question first, then we're probably in bad shape. I respect this as true, but it is my belief that each new situation we encounter begs of us some type readjustment; we cannot go through life attacking things the same way all the time. If this were true, where would be today? Here's a better question: would we even BE?

All this to say, that for the purposes of this test, I'm placing more than average attention on the questions going forward, and while some may think it's risky, for the purposes of my prep this summer, it's making my thinking thing MUCH sharper, MUCH more ACCURATE, and MUCH less confused and bogged down. So I'm going with it, unless it begins to pose problems.

Hey there's a conditional statement! If it does not begin to pose a problem, THEN I'm going with it :-)

Peace Out, LSAT Fam!

Photo by 22933113@N07

Logic and Games

* Working on your law school applications? Don't forget to check out all the admissions advice on the blog. [LSAT Blog]

* There's a reason lawyers aren't known for their ability to lay down beats. [AboveTheLaw, YouTube]

* U.S. law firms will soon be able to practice in South Korea. [JD Journal]

* What it looks like inside Amazon.com [Buzzfeed]

* A new startup has a creative solution to help Silicon Valley companies get around restrictive immigration policies. [Ars Technica]

Why the February LSAT is Undisclosed

If you take the June, October, or December LSAT, you'll be able to see (and download) the exam you took by logging into your LSAC account once you receive your score via email.

You'll also be able to see exactly which questions you answered incorrectly and what you chose for each.

(This assumes, among other things, you're not taking the LSAT outside North America, or taking a special Sabbath observers' administration.)

However, none of you who take the February LSAT will ever get to see the exam once you've taken it, nor will you get to see how many questions you answered incorrectly.

All you'll get is your score out of 180, and your percentile.

Why?

LSAC's Director of Communications, Wendy Margolis, explained via email:

The reason the February LSAT is nondisclosed is because it is important for LSAC to have some nondisclosed test forms and questions available in reserve for emergencies and special uses. The nondisclosed February test forms play this role. This has been LSAC practice since 1996. In case you need to point your students to information about test disclosure, the following language and link appears on the LSAC.org page for the February LSAT:

NOTE: Not every LSAT is disclosed.

Basically, LSAC needs to have unreleased exams on file in case of inclement weather, and perhaps for use in overseas administrations (those outside the Americas) and Sabbath observers' administrations.

A lot of work goes into creating a single LSAT, and LSAC doesn't want to have to create a new exam for a relatively-small number of test-takers.

That's just the way it is, folks. Sorry.

(Some details on LSAC's website.)

Photo by tinfoilraccoon

LSAT Logical Reasoning Solutions PDF

I've written explanations for over 1,000 LSAT questions.

You can get the full LSAT PrepTest explanations for TONS of exams HERE.

Logic and Games

* Done with the LSAT for good? Here's how one guy got rid of his prep books. [YouTube]

* The State Bar of Wisconsin co-sponsors a resolution to promote fair accommodations for disabled LSAT-takers. [Wisconsin Bar]

* A kidnapper sues his former hostages for breach of contract. [Above The Law]

* Chick-Fil-A sues kid for selling t-shirts with the message "Eat More Kale." [Gawker]

* Amazon may finally start charging sales tax next year nationwide. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Ever wonder how landlords figure out what to charge in rent? Computers. [NYTimes]

December 2011 LSAT Score Release Dates

UPDATE:

LSAC began releasing December 2011 LSAT scores on Wednesday, January 4th, beginning around 5:30PM Eastern. Scores are released in batches, and it may take several hours for everyone to receive their scores.

Good luck!

***

The December 2011 LSAT scores / results are scheduled to be released via email by Friday, January 6, 2012.

However, the scores consistently come out more than a few days before the scheduled score release date.

Let's look at the trend over the past several years (click to enlarge):

As you can see, there's a general trend - LSAC is taking longer and longer to come back with the results. Also, the difference between the scheduled score release dates and actual score release dates is decreasing over time.

Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to predict a specific date, or even a few dates, that would be the most likely actual score release date for the December 2011 LSAT.

My best guess is that December 2011 LSAT scores will be released sometime close to Saturday, December 31st - within a few days before or after.

"But at what time specifically? I need to know when to constantly refresh my email / LSAC account!"

In batches over the course of several hours. Likely starting late in the day (Eastern Time).

No one knows how the batches are organized, if at all.

The batches do not seem to be organized in any of these ways:

alphabetical/regional/high-to-low scores/low-to-high scores/test center #, etc.

Wish everyone all the best!

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See other LSAT score release dates posts.

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While you're waiting for your score, get busy with my admissions-related blog posts.

Also see, Should You to Cancel Your LSAT Score?

Feel free to leave comments and vent at the injustice of having to wait so long for what is rightfully yours.

December 2011 LSAT Curve: PrepTest 65

Good luck to everyone taking the December 2011 LSAT!

Did you know that December exams tend to have most lenient curves?

The "curve" on the most recent December exams was very generous. The December 2009 and December 2010 LSATs each allowed you to have 14 incorrect answers but still get a 170. (The average for December exams in recent years prior was only 11.375 incorrect answers).

The below chart contains recent data regarding the number of questions you could get wrong on recent exams and still achieve a particular scaled score (out of 180):








(See what it's taken to get an LSAT score of 160 or 170 on all LSAT PrepTests.)

Come back to this blog post after you take the LSAT and post your curve predictions in the comments!

Photo by blprnt_van

LSAT Test Day Food Recommendations

An LSAT distance tutoring student of mine recently emailed me:

"Any tips on what to eat for breakfast the morning of the LSAT? I know you say to have a big breakfast, but what? And what do you suggest for the break and to drink?"

At least one of the items pictured above is not part of a healthy LSAT breakfast.

If you guessed FourLoko, you're on your way to a top LSAT score. Congrats!

(McDonald's probably isn't part of any healthy breakfast, but there's a reason I didn't go to medical school.)

More about food in a bit, but first, coffee and cigarettes (breakfast of champions?).

I've already gone over whether coffee, cigarettes, and gum are allowed on Test Day. Now, the question remains, should you drink coffee or have cigarettes in the morning before the exam?

Answer: Do whatever you normally do. If you normally have coffee or cigarettes in the morning, don't try to go cold turkey now or you'll almost certainly find yourself with a pounding headache.

I don't know why you'd suddenly take up smoking, but now's not the time to start (if there ever was). Coffee will probably empty your intestines in the middle of the exam if you haven't had it in a while, so it's probably not a good idea for folks new to it.

You want to be fully alert, so a pre-test wake and bake isn't a good idea. What you do after the test is up to you (assuming it's for medicinal purposes, of course). Maybe California will vote to legalize next time, folks.


Oatmeal with bananas, raisins, or cranberries is probably about as healthy as it gets, while mild enough that it shouldn't give you any stomach issues. Eat it well before the exam starts so that you'll have time to go to the bathroom (oatmeal has lots of fiber).



Perhaps I misspoke - yogurt and granola might top oatmeal and fruit for "healthiest breakfast of the year." Again, it's mild and has carbs, but unlike oatmeal, yogurt has lots of protein as well. (Perhaps the nutritionists can chime in with their recommendations.)


Eggs have a lot of protein. However, depending upon how you cook them, you might also end up with lots of fat. Fat can make you sleepy. For this reason, lay off the butter and oil. Consider eating them hard-boiled, perhaps with a little salt for flavor. Alternatively, you can go the Rocky route and drink them raw, but don't blame me if you get salmonella.



Pancakes, waffles, muffins, bagels, cold cereal, etc. are also all good, just make sure you have also some protein.

Cold (or warm) pizza is probably good too (cheese has protein), but this is coming from a guy who sometimes eats leftover burritos for breakfast, so you may not want to listen to me on this one.

The bottom line is that you'll want to eat some carbs to give you energy, and some protein to improve your mental performance.

(This site appears to have some simple, yet comprehensive, nutrition advice. This link on it is also good.)

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LSAT Snacks For During The Break:

Try not to be the guy who brings this:









Here are some more practical alternatives that the proctors will probably allow:

Granola bars: quick to unwrap, easy to eat, sugar

Bananas: quick to peel, easy to eat, sugar

Water: reduces thirst

Juice: reduces thirst, sugar

Coffee will likely be cold by now, but I suppose it's ok if you don't care about that sort of thing.

With all beverages, don't drink too much in order to avoid bathroom breaks. Your test center may have a water fountain, which would eliminate the need to bring a water bottle. Or maybe you're one of those people who's paranoid about tap water or lives in a part of the U.S. / world where the water's unsafe to drink.

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See all LSAT Test Day tips.

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Discuss the best breakfast foods and snacks in the comments. I'm sure that most of you know more about nutrition than I do. If you know something, please comment!