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.


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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.)

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Complete LSAT PrepTest Explanations PDF

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

Please disregard the below.

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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?

Photo by deerleap

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?

LSAT Logic Games Explanations PDF

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

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

LSAT Diary: Lessons from a 170+-Scorer

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Samson, who scored a 174 on the December 2010 LSAT.

He's got some great LSAT advice for you about how he did it.

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

Samson's LSAT Diary:

I am an investment-banking analyst in New York City. I graduated from Duke in 2009. I decided to enter law school after two years on Wall Street. In fall 2010, I studied for the December LSAT. Balancing work duties with LSAT studies was very challenging. But with hard work and the right resources, I comfortably cleared 170. I will attend Yale Law School this fall.

In my preparation, I benefited from LSAT Blog. Steve has an intimate understanding of the infrastructure of the test. Reading his posts, I came to understand the content and “the texture” of the LSAT.

In this post, I will do two things: (i) I will outline my experience; and (ii) I will list some lessons from my experience.


My experience with the LSAT:

In July 2010, I decided to take the October 2010 test. Work, however, consumed my time in July and August. By September, I had completed only two uninterrupted weekends of studying. This worried me.

My vacation (week of 9/20/10) was an important inflection point. First, I decided not to take the October LSAT (10/9/10); I reset my studies and decided to take the December LSAT (12/11/10). Second, I endured a self-imposed LSAT boot camp. During my vacation week, I studied 14 hours a day.

After “training week” I had a close working knowledge of the test. I was not completing the Logic Games section on time, but I was systematically attacking each game. Logical Reasoning questions played to my academic strengths; Reading Comprehension questions seemed uncomplicated.

Then I returned to work. I knew that I could not let October and November slip, as I did July and August. I let my manager and my teams know about my law school plans. When others learned of my commitment, they were sensitive to my time. Weeknights and weekends were sacred.

October and November were productive months, but by early November, however, I still was not completing the LG section on time. This concerned me. I was five weeks away from the test; I needed to button this up.

Thus came a second inflection point. One Friday in early November, I went to the library after work. I decided that any issues I had with the LG section would be sorted before Monday morning, at any cost. I stayed in the library Friday until 1AM. I returned Saturday at 9AM and stayed until 1AM. I returned Sunday at 9AM and that afternoon, I had a breakthrough: I completed a new LG section with 100% accuracy, with time to spare. Then I did it again. And again. And once more. At this point, I had confidence in my ability to complete this section.

The week before the December test, I took off work. I returned to my hometown of Charlotte. There I had registered to take the test: I was very serious about home-court advantage. A week before the test, I took two practice tests; this was tiring. On the following days, I took only one practice test per day. On the day before the test, I did no practice tests: I occupied my time with some practice LG and LR questions but did not otherwise exert myself. The next morning, I had a full breakfast and walked in fully prepared.


Lessons from my experience with the LSAT:

Show enthusiasm in your preparation efforts. The LSAT is so important that its only purpose is to determine your future. You should treat the test with respect. Be bold in your preparation efforts. If others mock your zeal, cast them aside: they are not your true supporters.

If you are a professional, do not conceal your LSAT plans at work. Transparency is the key to balancing your commitment to the LSAT and your commitment to your job. You will be surprised by how helpful your co-workers are.


Comparative difficulty of the sections. Steve makes a great point that the most difficult section is different for each person. For me, this was the LG section. If you’re like me, you’re in luck: with commitment, this is the section on which you can improve the most. This requires an intensive commitment to learning the architecture of the games and the diagramming techniques. After you have prepared sufficiently, though, your work on this section will be purely mechanical and possibly fun.


Historical difficulty of the sections. I completed most of the practice tests since the mid-1990s. Compared to their predecessors: the current LG section is slightly easier (less abstract); the current LR section is substantially easier (less dense); and the current RC section is slightly more difficult (longer).


More on Logic Games. No single logic game, looking back, was very difficult. The most “difficult” games were those that I had diagrammed incompletely or inefficiently. As Steve has emphasized, your diagram is key. From your diagram, a cascade of deductions will follow. Take several weeks to master your technique. If certain variables “are not in the forest,” derive which variables are in the forest. Recognize the unrestricted variables. Know when to stop diagramming and move on to the questions. Know when to stop working on a question and move on to the next game (agonizing over the last question of a game can be ruinous). If you’re thinking through three levels of abstractions with clauses that start with “if,” you’re thinking too much. There should be an automatic quality to your movement through the LG section. You want to complete this section like a machine.


More on Logical Reasoning. For all LR questions: one and only one choice is suitable; the others are garbage. For me, this was an important guiding principle. I dismissed non-correct choices as nonsense. I barely recognized non-correct choices as coherent English. Mentally pre-phrasing answers can help. But don’t consciously spend time doing this. Pre-phrasing should happen in that split-second when your eyes move from the stimulus to the question. In fact, “pre-phrasing” can occur mentally without words; that is, the idea of the right answer can fill your mind without effort. Thus: reading the stimulus, pre-phrasing, and identifying the credited response can and should occur in a wave. As you practice, identify which types of questions you are answering incorrectly. This is where the taxonomy of the LR Bible helps. I recall initially slipping up on identify-the-assumption questions (I kept selecting what followed from the argument, not what must necessarily precede the argument). Going back to the “theory” of the questions can be quite useful.


More on Reading Comprehension. My approach to the section was to treat the passages like “evidence.” If you can use the text of the passage to anchor your response, your response is probably correct. In addition, several of the questions are answered directly in the text. Isn’t that great?


Miscellaneous notes. Exercise regularly: physical fitness is important for your mental acuity. Do not drink alcohol: even small amounts inhibit peak mental performance. Do not drink coffee or soda: water is superior. Do not take a practice test within an hour of waking up: you will not fully concentrate. Practice with the watch you will use on test day: reset your watch to 12:00 for each section (stay away from bezel watches, which are difficult to read). Practice using wooden pencils: no mechanical pencils are allowed. Do diligence on your test center and visit in advance. Stay calm during the test: you are extremely well prepared. Stay calm after the test: do not visit on-line discussion boards – nobody can approximate what the scale will be.

The above are some key lessons that might be useful to others. Good luck. Do not dream about stained-glass windows [Ed. The topic of a game on the December 2010 LSAT]. But do dream.

Photo by deerleap

Logic and Games

* Law schools are businesses and function as a cash cow for universities. [NYTimes; Above The Law]

* Growth in lawyer population, state-by-state. [ABA Journal]

* Webcomic about correlation and causation related to cell phones and cancer. [xkcd]

* The U.S. government may soon require insurance companies to fund birth control as preventive care. [Jezebel]

* Rupert Murdoch's wife protects him from a pie-throwing protester. [The Guardian]

* Seems like Apple has a bit of a legal issue on its hands here. [NYTimes]

* Someone with a last name similar to mine downloaded too many articles from JSTOR and is in trouble now. [Ars Technica]

LSAT Logical Reasoning Explanations PDF

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

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

New LSAC Law School Application: FlexApp

Beginning with the Fall 2011-2012 law school admission cycle, LSAC will use a new online format for law school applications, called FlexApp.

Here are some details directly from LSAC:

The format for LSAC online law school applications is changing. The new FlexApp is being introduced for use by law school applicants starting in August 2011.

FlexApp is not a common application. Each law school may include school-specific information requirements in addition to the many standard FlexApp questions.

Completing a FlexApp will be easier thanks to user-friendly features, including

· standard information flowing from the first electronic application to all other applications;

· a listing of all components of each application so that requirements are clear;

· a completion bar that tracks progress as an applicant fills out an application;

· a review process that requires applicants to examine the completed application before submission; and

· the ability to retain a printed copy of each application.

This streamlined process allows easier monitoring of electronic applications, a standardized user interface, visual indicators of the progress of completing an application, and the advantage of standard information flowing among applications. Each application will identify the law school and list school-specific information about deadlines, application fees, and the school’s requirements for letters of recommendation and evaluations.

When an applicant begins the electronic application process and selects the first school, tabs appear on the school’s form with instructions, application questions, necessary attachments, and required forms. Each application section is listed so that applicants may complete the form in whatever order they prefer, and the progress indicator will clearly show which sections remain to be completed.

Applicants should read each school’s instructions carefully because they will vary. Standardized sections include biographical information, contact information, demographics, education, employment, family, financial aid, law school interest, military, and standardized tests. Schools will include other questions about character and fitness, terms, programs, degrees, attendance plans, and any other school-specific information required. Attachments will vary, but could include personal statements, essays, and other documents. Schools may also require additional forms which will be printed, submitted for completion to a third party, then sent to the law school, such as financial aid forms or dean’s certification forms.

Law schools have the option of not including some standardized information in their applications (one example is schools that are not allowed to collect race/ethnicity data). Therefore, applications will vary according to the law school’s needs and requirements. Law schools may also customize the order of their application sections.

FlexApp is intended to serve the needs of all applicants and streamline the process of completing applications. It also provides flexibility to the law schools to require all of the information the school needs in order to make informed admission decisions. LSAC believes that applicants will find the process easy to use, straightforward and clear, with a user-friendly interface. Applicants may send inquiries about using FlexApp directly to LSAC [Ed. Email LSACinfo@lsac.org]. Questions about application content will be addressed to each law school.

LSAT Diaries: "If A Method Doesn't Work For You, Don't Use It"

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Charles in West Virginia, who took the June 2011 LSAT.

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

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

Charles' LSAT Diary:

Loathsome Satanic Armageddon-like Test. I was convinced, when I initially started LSAT prep, that the LSAC should substitute these words for what the test’s acronym really stood for. However, when I reflect back on where I was to where I am now, this isn’t quite as accurate. I’ll explain.

I equate prepping for the LSAT to the first time I ever tried coffee. My first coffee was black, nothing added to it, and I hated it. It was bitter, unappealing, and left a bad taste in my mouth. Soon I accepted the reality that coffee would help me achieve my overall goal of waking up in the morning. I began by adding different things to it (i.e. sugar, creamer, milk, etc.) to make the bitterness go away while improving the overall taste. Trial and error ensued, to the point where I nearly gave up on coffee and began to contemplate other ways to help me. Eventually, I found the perfect combination of additives that could be put in my coffee to make for the perfect wake-up mechanism.

My first diagnostic LSAT exam was much like my first coffee, I left it feeling bitter and with a bad taste in my mouth. A 155 was good for some people, and was supposedly really good for a diagnostic score, but I wasn’t comfortable with settling for good. I started to experiment with the “additives” to my LSAT coffee. Since I’m a penny pincher, I chose to go the cheaper route and invested in a variety of LSAT prep books, which combined to make a tower of terror on my bookshelf.

By dipping into each book, I gradually began to improve. I started to average around a 165 by the time I was three months into my preparation. This would still not suffice. I wanted the coveted 170. The gradual improvement leveled off for a while and I was frustrated. I thought to myself that, if I gave up now, I could still begin studying for the GRE and pick a different career. This was a bit too radical even for me, a West Virginian planning to go out of state for college. The mere thought to most Appalachian Americans is mind-blowing at the very least.

What I credit to be the most helpful aspect of my studying, and what eventually led to the perfect coffee combination (stick with the metaphor), was meeting with an actual tutor who laid down some hard facts to me: that the prep I was using was not really helping me at this point, but there was a solution. He coached me through Logical Reasoning problems, where I learned the most important LSAT test-taking skill: develop a method of solving the problems that works and stick with it. Some books have you conform to their method, which isn’t helpful if it doesn’t work for the test-taker. The same thing applies to the Logic Games (Analytical Reasoning section), if a method doesn’t work for you, don't use it. I was able to finally boost my score in logic games significantly, missing only one each time I took a practice exam.

The last six months of my life culminated in this one exam. I was instructed not to talk to anyone in the testing center before the test, in order to achieve the proper mindset and not get distracted. I was doing very well with this until I came across a person who was extremely vocal, and also extremely uninformed.

“Yeah, hopefully the people around me will do poorly and it’ll help the curve. I wonder if I can inadvertently distract them? Just kidding… sort of, ha-ha.” exclaimed one particularly outspoken test-taker. I couldn’t resist. It was too much. I HAD to say something.

“The curve is pre-determined,” I casually said, then sat back down in silence. It was enough. I felt I did a service for the rest of the group, because the ill-informed LSAT taker was silent the rest of the waiting period.

I walked into the testing room confident. My coffee was good, and I was ready. Taking the actual LSAT was similar to when I taught children how to use e-mail in Africa. One must be patient and work at a steady pace. The solar energy it takes to power Kenyan computers runs out quickly, much like the 35 minutes in each section of the test.

Photo by bdorfman

Logic and Games

* Law enforcement is increasingly obtaining warrants to access all the information in suspects' Facebook accounts. [Thomson Reuters via ATL]

* Another U.S. Senator asks the ABA to address problem areas.

* EBay can be held liable for sales of counterfeits on its site if aware but failed to take action. [NYTimes]

* Pros and cons of having a smartphone, in comic strip form. [The Oatmeal]

* The various types of people who "don't have TVs." [The Awl]