LSAT Diaries: Reducing Test Anxiety

This LSAT Diary is from Anthony, who improved his original LSAT score from the 140s to a 161 on the February 2012 LSAT. (Read the first half of his LSAT Diary, too.)

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

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Baylor Law Emails LSAT Scores / GPAs of Admitted Students

Update: See this interview: True Life: I'm in the Baylor Law Email

Baylor Law's Director of Admissions accidentally emailed over 400 admitted students with a spreadsheet containing the students' LSAT scores and GPAs, among other personal information, on Tuesday afternoon.

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Logic and Games

* Baylor Law's Director of Admissions accidentally emailed individual LSAT scores and GPAs to 400+ admitted students. Whoops. [Above The Law, Baylor Lariat]

* An undocumented immigrant (who discloses his status) is allowed to take the bar exam and passes. Now he might be denied admission to the bar. [Miami Herald]

* Unpaid interns are suing their employers over lack of educational benefits (a violation of labor laws). It's about time. [Atlantic Wire]

* Teacher fired for refusing to hand over Facebook password to administrators. [The Consumerist]

* High school student sues for right to wear T-shirt saying, "Jesus Is Not a Homophobe." [ABA Journal]

* Aaron Sorkin's upcoming show on HBO, The Newsroom, looks promising. [YouTube]

What To Expect In Law School Video

The below 10-minute video gives a great overview of what you'll face in law school. It covers various aspects of law school life, including:

Methodology
-The Case Method
-Clinical Programs
-The Socratic Method

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LSAT Diaries: Improving from 140s to 161

This LSAT Diary is from Anthony, who improved his original LSAT score from the 140s to a 161 on the February 2012 LSAT.

If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)

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

Read more »

Logic and Games

* Write about why you want to go to law school for a chance to win 16 hours of free tutoring for the June LSAT. [180 Degrees LSAT]

* A proposal that the LSAT actually test knowledge of the law (shudder). [Constitutional Daily]

* Yale Law School's assistant dean of admissions says to let her know if another law school acts shady towards you. [Above the Law, 203 Admissions Blog]

* Supreme Court approves strip-searches for people arrested for any offense. Solution: wear classy underwear 24/7. [NYTimes]

* Who wants to become a sketchy lawyer like Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad? Anyone? [YouTube]

* One high school's Black Student Union has a white president. Some people are confused. [Washington Post]

Logic and Games

* A satirical take on the incoming UVA Law Class of 2015. [Virginia Law Weekly]

* Did you know that alien abduction insurance is a thing? [Wikipedia]

* St. Thomas School of Law loses its U.S. News ranking over "error." (It reported its graduates' employment rate to be 80.6% when it's actually 32.9%.) [Star Tribune]

* The Supreme Court issues a 5-4 decision on where to order lunch. [McSweeney's]

* A high school kid was expelled for tweeting the F-word. [Above The Law]

* This webcomic features someone drawing an unexpected conclusion based upon evidence about Cadbury eggs. [xkcd]

Harvard Law School Drops LSAT For GMAT

After years of debate over the LSAT's relevance to the practice of law, Harvard Law School has finally dropped the LSAT as an admissions requirement and replaced it with the requirement that applicants take the GMAT. The decision came after a new study revealed that students scoring in the 75th percentile on the exam were no less likely to rise to prominent positions in the legal field than those scoring in the 99th percentile.

Harvard Law's Assistant Dean of Admissions, Pilar Folso, stated:

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Is It Wrong To Analyze The Trayvon Martin Shooting?

Is it wrong to analyze the logic of arguments related to the Trayvon Martin shooting?

One commenter thinks so. My response:

In December 2010, I wrote about the logical fallacies surrounding the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. A commenter responded, "There is a point where LSAT logic holds no relevance in this argument..."

Being an LSAT tutor, I believe logic is always relevant, whether it's finding a flaw in an argument, a weakness in it, or a principle underlying it. And, fine, I'll admit that I live and breathe this logic stuff.

So a little part of me died inside when I got a somewhat-similar comment on this week's blog post analyzing the logic surrounding the Trayvon Martin case:

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Law School Diaries: Introducing Elle Woods

I'm pleased to introduce LSAT Blog's new law student columnist, "Elle Woods." She's a 1L at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (ranked 7th in this year's U.S. News rankings).

Each week, she'll be writing about her life in law school.

Please give her a warm welcome in the comments, and be sure to leave comments with your ideas and questions for her future columns.

(Read more Law School Diaries.)

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Logic and Games

* In fake news, Scalia is unable to name all 9 Supreme Court justices. [The Onion]

* In real news, he compared reading the entire Affordable Care Act to cruel and unusual punishment. [Huffington Post]

* Heart-warming story: a 56-year-old mom goes to law school while fighting breast cancer and attends same university as her son. [Daily Tar Heel]

* Northwestern Law is limiting its tuition to the rate of inflation for next year. The bad news: it's going to be $53,168.

* Law schools with the biggest enrollment increases (despite the decrease in LSATs administered). [US News]

* After recent cheating scandals, new rules will make it harder to cheat on the SAT and ACT. (The LSAT already requires you to submit a photo.) [NYTimes]

* You know the case of the woman who sued McDonald's for giving her hot coffee, but have you heard  about the woman who sued McDonald's for turning her into a hooker? [Above The Law]

* A great critique of the Daily Show's reporting as compared to that of the mainstream media. [The Atlantic]

Deciding Where to Apply to Law School Video

The below 8-minute video gives some great general advice on deciding where to apply to law school. It covers various considerations, including:

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