Cambridge University's LSAT Logic, PDFs, and eBooks

Being an LSAT blogger, I read a lot of tech news (the NYTimes Tech news RSS feed is awesome).

I follow the Amazon Kindle, the iTunes music store, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and I don't really know why.

Actually, I do know why.

Aside from just thinking about how it all applies to LSAT Blog, I try to figure out why companies act the way they do. I think about their motivations and the pros and cons of their decisions.

After all, when someone's in the boardroom of a tech company promoting their project, they're making assertions:

"We can beat our competitors on this."

"This item will be successful."

"We're uniquely positioned to promote this."

These assertions (aka conclusions) must be supported by evidence if they're going to have any chance of convincing the big bosses at these companies to put some money behind the particular project. Basically, arguments exist in the real world (duh).

Cambridge University and LSAT Logic
I recently read that a Cambridge University-backed company called Plastic Logic (wiki) created the digital display for an ebook-reader called the QUE proReader:










My first thought: "Good for you, putting the word 'logic' in your company's name. I like you a bit more already!"

However, this doesn't mean their product's a good idea, of course.

Let's assume, for argument's sake, that the Que ProReader is a newcomer to the market of ebook readers and that the others have all been around for at least a year.


Minor problem:
The product's name has the word "Que" in it, which makes me think of the Spanish word for "what." (It's pronounced like the letter "Q", though.)


Major problem:
There's a lot of competition. Aside from the Amazon Kindle pictured at the beginning of this blog post, there are some other players in the market.

There's the Barnes & Noble Nook:












There's the Skiff Reader, which bends:






















And there are a bunch more - too many to go into, really.

Clearly, Plastic Logic won't be able to distinguish the Que ProReader by distributing photos of disembodied hands holding their product.



What sort of information, if true, would strengthen the Plastic Logic employee's argument for creating yet another ebook reader? (All of the following would.)

Their ebook reader has characteristics and capabilities the others don't.

They have better marketing/distribution channels.

Their product is cheaper to produce than the others.

Most people who will eventually buy an ebook reader have not yet purchased one.

Members of the public who already have ebook readers might still buy another.

People want to read books, PDFs, etc. on small handheld computer-like thingies.

The Que ProReader has the unique capability of also allowing the user to print out multiple copies of whatever they're reading.


What sort of information, if true, would weaken the Plastic Logic employee's argument? (All of the following would.)

Their ebook reader doesn't have any unique characteristics or capabilities.

They don't have better marketing/distribution channels.

Their product is not cheaper to produce than the others.

Most people who will eventually buy an ebook reader have already purchased one.

Members of the public who already have ebook readers will not buy another one.

People don't want to read books, PDFs, etc. on small handheld computer-like thingies.

The Que ProReader does not have the unique capability of also allowing the user to print out multiple copies of whatever they're reading.


What sort of information, if true, would help us evaluate the Plastic Logic employee's argument for creating advertisements that feature disembodied hands holding their product? (All of the following would.)

Whether surveys and studies have shown that people are scared of ads featuring disembodied hands

Whether companies improve their sales by mimicking the advertisements of their competitors

Whether ads that feature disembodied hands cause the viewer to picture themselves as the owner of the ebook reader being advertised

LSAT Diaries: Timing LSAT Practice Tests

In Rosemary's first LSAT Diary, she gave some tips on getting started with LSAT studying. In her second LSAT Diary, Rosemary dealt with the distraction of watching TV, found a study space, and visited her first-choice law school. In her third LSAT Diary, she balanced her final semester of college with LSAT studying and gave us some tips on making copies of Logic Games.

In this week's, she starts thinking about how to time her practice tests.

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.)

Rosemary's 4th LSAT Diary:

Anyone else have battle scars after weathering finals? Seriously, I thought I 'd never make it through. It’s so nice to be on the other side and I can start devoting more time to my LSAT prep.

After my extended break, the first thing I did was take a practice test so I could evaluate where I currently stand and what I need to work on. Having previously taken the exam, I’m a big believer in “practice how you’ll play.” Your practice test sessions aren’t just about scoring higher. It’s also about implementing strategies to see what does and does not work.

First step, know your test center. If you haven’t already, you should check out LSAT test center reviews for your area. These have usually been left by previous test-takers to give future test-takers a little inside knowledge.

For instance, I know from the reviews posted that the other test site in my area uses a lecture hall with fixed seating and flip up desktops. Considering that you have a test booklet and an answer sheet this may be difficult or distracting on test day as you try to balance your booklet on your lap and the bubble sheet on the desk. There are very few things we can control on test day, so you can bet that I’m trying for the highest-rated test site. If your site uses flip-up desks, you should try to imitate this environment as close as possible during your practice tests.

Another key point for me that I didn’t realize until test day was the timing aspect. When I took practice tests at the test prep center, I came to rely on their digital clocks and the start and end times on the board to keep track of my time. On test day, the clock in the classroom was hard to read because it was very far away, and it was analog. Also the proctors did not write the start times on the wipe board at the front.

I had brought an analog watch with a large face to use as my own personal timer. I set the watch to 12:00 and planned to start the watch when the proctors started the test. Well with my adrenaline pumping I forgot to start my watch! Somewhere between 5-10 minutes I looked at my wrist and realized it still said 12:00! Panic set in and honestly I had no idea if I had 30 minutes left or 23 minutes left, which is a big difference on a 35 minute section.

Steve had some great posts on self-timing and I plan on trying out several different methods to find which one works for me and that is what I’ll use during my prep tests. So my motto for this entry is prep how you’ll test, the more you can recreate the actual test environment the better off you’ll be on actual test day.

Photo by 22933113@N07 / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Creating the LSAT's Raw Score Conversion Chart (aka, the Curve)

This post is Part 5 of the "The LSAT Curve" series. The series starts with The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

Creating the LSAT's Raw Score Conversion Chart (aka, the Curve)
Let's suppose that, on a given exam, the 170-scorers got 12 questions wrong altogether on the 4 scored sections.

That's an average of 3 questions wrong per scored section. Let's assume they got an average of 3 questions wrong on the games section.

However, let's say that a subset of those 170-scorers all took the same experimental Logic Games section. What if these test-takers got an average of 5 questions wrong on that Logic Games section?

Therefore, we can say that this experimental Logic Games section is harder for 170-scorers than the scored LG section. As a result, this section deserves a slightly more generous "curve" than the scored section of LG does - for 170-scorers.


Let's suppose the average 150-scorer got 40 questions wrong altogether on the 4 scored sections of this very same exam.

That's an average of 10 questions wrong per scored section. Let's assume they got an average of 10 questions wrong on the games section.

What if a subset of those 150-scorers took the very same experimental Logic Games section and scored an average 10 questions wrong on it?

Therefore, we can say that this experimental LG section is no harder for 150-scorers than the scored LG section was. As a result, this section doesn't a more generous "curve" than the scored section of LG does - for 150-scorers.

(Of course, all of this is only about one Logic Games experimental section. Perhaps a different group of 170-scorers took an experimental Logical Reasoning section that was easier for them than their scored Logical Reasoning sections. Perhaps a different group of 150-scorers took this experimental LR section and found it more difficult than their scored LR sections. If the experimental Logical Reasoning section were placed on an exam with the experimental Logic Games section mentioned earlier, the differences might cancel each other out.)

The fact remains that a given exam might be of varying levels of difficulty for test-takers at different levels.

If a particular test is very difficult for 170-scorers, then the "curve" for them will be very generous (meaning someone who "deserves" a 170 won't have to answer as many questions correctly to get a 170 as they would have if the exam weren't as difficult).

If a particular test is of normal difficulty for 150-scorers, then the curve can just be normal for them, meaning it'll require the typical amount of questions correct in order to get a 150. People whose "true scores" are at 150 won't need any messing with the "curve" to get the 150 they deserve.

A nice summary on "true scores" and test-equating from LSAC:

Testing organizations typically disclose test forms after they have been administered to large test-taker populations. Therefore, several test forms must be developed annually to be as similar as possible to one another in terms of statistical and content attributes. Although a great deal of effort is placed on assembling comparable tests, forms will tend to vary somewhat in terms of their statistical characteristics. Hence, scores must be transformed in order to enable direct comparisons across forms. The process by which scores are adjusted so as to make them comparable to each other is referred to as equating. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) employs item response theory (IRT) true-score equating to equate the LSAT.

Source: Assessing the Effect of Multidimensionality on LSAT Equating for Subgroups of Test Takers (Executive Summary)


***


If any of this "LSAT curve stuff" seems confusing or unfair, don't waste time worrying about it.

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter which month you take the exam, and it doesn't matter how easy or difficult your particular exam is. The raw score conversion chart, based on LSAC's statistical data, addresses all of those issues and makes sure that everything's equal in the end.

Just focus on answering as many questions correctly as possible, and let LSAC take care of the rest.

***
Want to start at the beginning? Begin with The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

Also, in case you missed them:

-I published the Raw Score Conversion Charts for every LSAT PrepTest ever released in one big spreadsheet.

-I created graphs and charts demonstrating changes over time in how many questions you can miss on the LSAT and still get a 170 or 160, respectively.

Photo by revolute / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

LSAT Diaries: Making Extra Copies of Logic Games

Rosemary's first LSAT Diary gave some tips on getting started with LSAT studying. In her second LSAT Diary, Rosemary dealt with the distraction of watching TV, found a study space, and visited her first-choice law school.

In this week's, she balances her final semester of college with LSAT studying and gives some tips on making copies of Logic Games.

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.)

Rosemary's 3rd LSAT Diary

I am officially down to my last two weeks of classes before I’m finished with my bachelors! While I’m excited to finally be in the home stretch, the end of classes also means an increased workload. Within the next 14 days I have three papers and a take home exam. This workload in itself can be stressful but add to that prepping for the LSAT and a 40-hour workweek and suddenly there are simply not enough hours in the day to get done what I need to. For the next 2 weeks I need to cut back on my LSAT prep to focus on the last of my coursework. Notice how I said “cut back” instead of “cut out,” that’s because I have a refined study strategy and will be focusing on Reading Comprehension and Logic Games for the next 2 weeks.

One of the requirements for my history class is to write up chapter summaries for 16 chapters. Personally I hate busy work and this is classic busy work, in fact if they weren’t worth so many points I would have skipped the assignment entirely. Once I started prepping for the LSAT I realized that writing up all those summaries was really helping me practice my reading comprehension skills. I’ve never been one to write notes in my texts of even highlight, but since I am prepping for the LSAT I’ve been spending more time on the summaries and treating them like reading comprehension passages. The readings themselves aren’t as dense as those on the LSAT but I’ve noticed that I can pick out evidence, thesis, and conclusions much quicker than in the past. Best part, I’m getting the LSAT practice that I need and my homework done at the same time.

When I gathered all my study materials the first thing I did was make copies of all of my practice logic games. I’m using Steve’s 4-month study plan, which means that the last 20 prep tests I will use for full-length practice exams and all the others are free game for practicing. I made 2 additional copies of all the logic games and separated them by type and difficulty, one copy stays in my desk at work and the other I keep in the notebook I take to class. I can usually get at least 4 games done at work and 1-2 between breaks in class. I give myself at least a week before redoing a game and even though I’ve done it once, after a week I don’t remember enough of the specifics from doing the game the first time around to impact the second attempt.

To everyone who is trying to balance their LSAT prep with the rest of their lives the one piece of advice I can give is try to do something every day. Even if it’s as small as one logic game, the intention is what is important. I can tell you from experience it is much easier to pick back up a study routine when you’ve remained committed than if you pack away the books for several weeks.

Photo by osuvalleylibrary / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Funny LSAT and Law School YouTube Videos

Here are 3 funny LSAT/law school videos on YouTube.

At least, I think they're funny.

Parody of the movie Downfall (best for people waiting to hear back from law schools, but some great Logic Games jokes, too):





Mr. Show Parody of Law School / The Paper Chase:





I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas (LSAT Remix):



Photo by sheriffof0 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

LSAT Blog Bingo Game Board

Like Sarah Palin and Barack Obama, the LSAT repeats certain words and phrases enough to make you sick.

Studying for the LSAT can be boring, so I figured I'd do something to spice it up.

I pulled some words from my Logic Games Vocab, Logical Reasoning Vocab, and 15 Common Logical Reasoning Topics blog posts and mixed them all into a Bingo game.

I've included 1 game board below. I'm linking to boards 2, 3, 4, and 5, so you can play with a few friends.

If you're the drinking type, you can turn your study group into a party and do a shot each time you cross off a square. You might do a lot less studying, but you'll have a lot more fun.

(You might also discover that members of your study group are more attractive than you previously thought.)

What are your suggestions for future versions of LSAT Blog Bingo?

Enjoy!
























Photo by darrienw / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Photo by sgtfun / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

LSAT Question Difficulty Ratings

This post is Part 4 of the "The LSAT Curve" series. The series starts with The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

Deciding which questions are "difficult"
Difficulty is all relative, right?

One way to make a question difficult is to include less-obvious conditional indicator words (using "if" and "then" kinda give the game away).

Another way is to make the question about a boring topic that few test-takers know about, like morality, aestheticism, or brown dwarf stars.

The issue, however, is that it's not always clear how difficult a question actually is in practice. The experimental section allows LSAC to determine how tens of thousands of test-takers perform on its latest questions.

Let's assume that LSAC gave a particular Logical Reasoning section to a bunch of test-takers on a given administration of the LSAT.

If only a small percentage of test-takers get question #17 right, and these are primarily the same test-takers who scored 170+ on the 4 sections of the exam that counted, then LSAC can safely assume that this is a question with a "Difficulty Rating" of 5.

If a large percentage of test-takers get question #3 right, and it's mainly the sub-140-scorers who get it wrong, then LSAC can safely assume this is a question with a "Difficulty Rating" of 1.

However, if a small percentage of test-takers get question #5 right, and these test-takers are mainly the sub-140-scorers, then LSAC can safely assume that something's very wrong with this question. This question is unlikely to make it into any part of the scored exam, at least, not in its current form. This question just isn't doing its job.

Similarly, if a large percentage of test-takers get question #20 right, but the 170+-scorers aren't getting it right, then something's probably wrong with this question. This question isn't doing its job either.

Cases where questions aren't doing their job are probably rare. LSAC's people generally know what they're doing, but it's worth thinking about the fact that LSAC trusts the opinions of its top scorers. Since they get the greatest number of questions right, most of them probably know what they're doing when it comes to the LSAT (or they're just really lucky).

***

Next week, we move on to Part 5: Creating the LSAT's Raw Score Conversion Chart (aka, the Curve)

Want to start at the beginning? Begin with The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

Photo by sea-turtle / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

LSAT Diaries: The 29-Year-Old Law School Long Shot

This LSAT Diary is from Nicholas in Wyoming. He has some great insight into what it'll take for him to rock the exam, and his background's pretty interesting, 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.)

Leave Nicholas some encouragement below in the comments!

Nicholas' LSAT Diary:

Greetings all from sunny Wyoming, which prides itself on being a such a frontier western state that there's a bumper sticker, "Wyoming, not for everybody." Seriously, I saw it the other day!

I'm 29 years-old, just out of college, working full time at a blue-collar warehouse job here in Laramie WY, married with three children, an army vet having served 4 years active duty, and now dedicated to getting a law degree. I'm a law school hopeful looking to attend the University of Wyoming law school in the fall of 2011. The reason I call myself a law school long shot is because my GPA isn't the greatest, and in order to have a 50 to 75 percent chance at getting into the school I'm looking at (University of Wyoming) my LSAT score must be at least 165. Not the greatest odds, but I'm sure i can do better than my old high school buddy who took the test last year and got a 138. So I'm looking at a June or October test date.

My aspirations may be a bit lofty, but I'm only trying for one school, here at the University of Wyoming, and if I don't succeed it's no skin off my teeth because I have other back up plans. I'm saving the good personal stuff for my personal statement, so for right now I'll talk about my interest in the LSAT, my situation as far as scheduling is concerned, my study goals, my study plan, and my thoughts on the test in general.

For the next year, I have dedicated myself to learning all I can about the LSAT, which I must admit is both driving me crazy and intriguing me all at the same time. Crazy in the fact I feel like an idiot after completing a practice logic game without fully reading the rules or creating a ridiculously complicated diagram. We'll visit that later when we get to my study strategy. Intriguing because logic is so crucial to understanding the test, given time and effort, it can be tamed and used to my advantage. A phrase I often tell myself is, "what one man can do, another can do", and so I have decided to take the plunge and attempt to conquer the LSAT.

First off, tip of my hat to Steve for providing a wonderful study resource, which I admit I have been reading obsessively lately. Armed with Steve's advice, I am following his four month LSAT study regimen. Combining that with my schedule requires a bit more time management than I'm used to, so we can begin there. I'm 29 years old, an army vet having served 4 years of active duty in the US Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Div. and a year stint in S. Korea from 1999 to 2003. I came back to Wyoming and enrolled at the only four year university in the state, aptly named the University of Wyoming, in 2004 and graduated in 2009. If you do the math, I spent more time in college than I did in the military, but that's another story entirely.

I received my bachelor's degree in journalism and with the state of the media right now, I'm currently employed at a grocery warehouse 40 miles away where I make double and sometimes triple the hourly wage of your average entry level reporter. I don't mind that people value food more than journalism, but given the fact that my job could be done by monkeys driving forklifts, it's a bit disconcerting knowing my degree is collecting dust while I freeze my ass off in the refrigerated receiving dock unloading crates of processed cheese and bologna. I am married with three children, all under the age of 7, and am the primary breadwinner because my wife is enrolled in nursing school. So in the meantime I spend my week, Tuesday through Friday, taking care of the kids, doing chores, and cooking dinners while my wife is away at school. On the weekends (Saturday through Monday) I drive the long commute to the warehouse, where I work an 11 hour swing shift that starts early in the afternoon and ends very early in the morning.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about my LSAT strengths and weaknesses. I'm a funny case, I'm a nerd for logical thinking, but have a hard time doing it myself. So in terms of the test, my only strength is the reading comprehension and the writing portion of the test...at least in terms of clarity and conciseness, which I have practice with due to my journalism background. My big weakness is logical thinking, but I'm a skeptical reporter, so hopefully that's my way into cracking this test. My degree in journalism has made me a more empowered skeptic, but I need to sharpen my logic if I plan on accomplishing what I set out to do: score a 165 or better.

I started my study regimen two weeks ago, completing Steve's list of basic linear games from preptests 19 - 38. My study habits are improving, I've just started the LSAT study regimen and have kept to it...somewhat. Like I said, I have three kids and my wife is in school so it leaves me with just enough time to cover what I need.

According to the study plan, I was supposed to add advanced linear games to the plan, but my performance in basic linear was pretty bad, so I extended it another week. I squeezed in the testpreps whenever I could: While the kids were taking their naps, during down times when I'm waiting to pick up my son from school, early in the morning while everyone is asleep, late at night while everyone is asleep, and during the small breaks at work.

Doing the preptests exercises at work is more tough, because of the limited time and because every Tom, Dick, and Harry come by my table in the breakroom and ask about what I'm doing. They either ask me what I'm studying for, and go blank when I tell them it's the LSAT. Others ask me about the particular question I'm working on, and when I respond they give me another blank response. So basically I'm pestered every five minutes by guys who are intrigued and bewildered by the nerdy kid burying his nose in a book. I get less grief from my kids for pete's sake!

So it took me a good week to work out all the logic game problems and about a couple of days to redo the ones I did terribly on. From my assessment, I have concluded I can think logically, but struggle in a few key areas: Attention to detail, making key deductions for more complex games, and focusing on one scenario so much I lose track of other possibilities.

It's a different way of thinking, and like I said before, both frustrating and fascinating at the same time. It's too bad my study regimen can't be done through some Hollywood montage. How much easier it would be for the Rocky theme to be playing while shots of me working out problems, getting frustrated at first, doing situps with huge rocks, finding that eureka moment, growing a beard, smoking through timed tests, and that moment where I climb the snowy summit and yell out "LSAT!" whiz by the screen and afterwards I arrive at the testing center and ace it.

But life doesn't work out that way and I'm left to work things out the slow and steady way. I'm halfway through week 2, and am finding it very challenging but rewarding because the LSAT isn't some math theorem that hasn't been solved for centuries, it's only a standardized test with only one right answer for each question. With that in mind, and the fact that there are guys out there who have scored in the 99th percentile, it's possible.

A friend of mine in the army told me about his sports heroes, and how they weren't always the most naturally gifted athletes on the field. In fact, he said, they were better in his eyes because they had to work twice as hard to get to where they're at. I suppose he saw a bit of himself in those guys, or maybe a piece of himself that felt it was possible. I feel the same way about the LSAT. I'm not the most gifted test-taker, but with enough practice and determination, anything is possible right?

Thanks for your time and more to come when I get to advanced linear games.

Photo by afagen

Advertise on LSAT Blog | Now Open to Submissions!

This blog post is intended for my non-LSAT-taking readership. For the most part, I mean people in the law school admissions community.

I've decided to devote a bit of space on the LSAT Blog sidebar to paid advertisements in the form of banner ads (175 width x 75 height in pixels).

Don't worry, dear readers. They won't be too big or too in-your-face. Nothing like the above picture. They'll be the same size as the Best LSAT Prep Books image at the top of the left sidebar.

As part of my commitment to your LSAT and law school admissions success, I will only accept ads for products/services/websites that I believe are useful. Nothing sketchy. Additionally, all ads will be clearly labeled as such (more on that below).

I expect interested advertisers might include, but are not limited to, the following:

-admission consultants
-admission-related websites
-personal statement / essay editors
-law schools
-law school prep companies
-authors
-publishers
-bloggers
-anything related to pre-laws, college students, recent grads
-anything related to law school
-Red Bull?

Potential advertisers, please email me:

* A bit about yourself
* Your URL
* Brief description of your site/business
* Desired sidebar ad placement
* Amount you're willing to pay for a month of advertising for each ad slot that interests you
* Specific months, and number of months, you'd like your ad to run

(I expect that the closer an ad slot is to the top of the page, the more demand there will be for it, and the higher the price will be.)

You'll design the banner ad yourself (as a jpg or png). The words "what's this?" will appear directly below your banner with a link back to this blog post.

Looking forward to your submissions!

Photo by e01

The Experimental Section and Difficulty of LSAT Questions

This post is Part 3 of the "The LSAT Curve" series. The series starts with The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

"The LSAT is equated so that a test score obtained in the current year is comparable to scores obtained in previous years." - LSAC (Executive Summary)

Test-equating requires pre-testing.

After LSAC's elves write individual LSAT questions, they compile these questions into various 35-minute sections. If you've taken the LSAT before, you've already completed one of these sections as the hated "experimental section." In LSAC language, this is the "pretest" section where new questions are tested to:

provide test development staff with statistical information about each question, and with information about possibly ambiguous or misleading information in the question or in one or more of the answer choices. If problems are identified, either the question is discarded or it is revised and pretested again. All questions that pass the quality standards of a pretest administration are placed in the LSAT test question item bank. New test sections are assembled by selecting questions from this LSAT item bank. Each fully assembled test section is administered on one or more separate occasions for the purpose of pre-equating the new form.

Pre-equating is a statistical method used to adjust for minor fluctuations in the difficulty of different test forms so that a test taker is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by the particular form that is given. Following each pre-equating administration, the statistical information about each question is reviewed to assure that the data support that the question is of appropriate difficulty, discriminates higher ability test takers from lower ability test takers, is unambiguous, and has a single best answer. When the test is given at a regular LSAT administration, but before final scoring is completed, statistical analysis is conducted one last time. Each question is evaluated using the same criteria that were applied following the pretesting and pre-equating administrations. If a problem is found, the question is eliminated from the test before final scoring and reporting are accomplished.

(Source: Page 2 of Policies and Procedures Governing Challenges to Law School Admission Test Questions. I divided this excerpt into two paragraphs. Just like some Reading Comp passages, it lacked paragraph breaks.)

Most of us know LSAC pretests questions in order to avoid using flawed questions that will later be withdrawn from scoring. This is what they mean by "is unambiguous and has a single best answer." (second para, second sentence)

However, the other parts of that particular sentence are worth noting.

Questions have various levels of difficulty
- LSAC is careful to make sure "the question is of appropriate difficulty" and "discriminates higher ability test takers from lower ability test takers."

LSAC wants to have a certain number of super-easy, easy, medium, difficult, and super-difficult questions on each exam (as part of the test-equating process).

It's not enough to just make a bunch of super-difficult questions and say whoever answers them right deserves to get into Harvard Law School.

How would you distinguish the students who got those questions wrong from each other?

For law schools, it's not enough to separate the 175+-scorers from everyone else. You also have to separate the 170-scorers from the 165-scorers from the 160-scorers, etc.

If you make every single question very difficult, some test-takers will get them all right, but most will just end up guessing. Obviously, LSAC won't know whether a test-taker guessed or not on a given question. However, if most test-takers end up guessing, the LSAT will no longer be a good predictor of law school performance (which is what it's supposed to be, after all), and the LSAT won't be able to adequately distinguish a good test-taker from a decent one from a bad one.

By including questions of various levels of difficulty, the LSAT meaningfully separates test-takers into multiple ability levels - not just 175+ and "everyone else."

For insight into how LSAC views the difficulty of various questions, check out the SuperPrep book's explanations (which are written by LSAC). After each question, you'll see a "Difficulty Rating" of anywhere from 1 to 5.

***

Next week, we move on to Part 4: LSAT Question Difficulty Ratings

Want to start at the beginning? Begin with The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

Photo by practical owl / CC BY-NC 2.0

LSAT PrepTest Raw Score Conversion Charts

In this blog post, I include the LSAT PrepTest raw score conversion charts for every released LSAT PrepTest. The below pictures show the minimum number of credited responses (correctly-answered questions) that will allow you to get a particular score.

At the end of this blog post, I include links to some analysis of the below data.

First, some notes on the LSAT PrepTest raw score conversion charts:

"__*" means no test-taker received that score on that exam.

Here's a big list of released LSAT PrepTests.

"SP" stands for SuperPrep, Official (Feb 97) is the Official LSAT PrepTest with Explanations, and Free (June 07) is a free PDF on LSAC's website.

***

You can view this information as a series of picture files. One click to enlarge each picture, and you're there.

The following pictures cover raw score conversions for LSAT scores from ~140-180.


PrepTests A, B, C, Feb 97, and 1-17:











PrepTests 18-36:










PrepTests 37-54 (and June 07):










PrepTests 55-69:















PrepTest 70-74:















You probably won't score anywhere close to 140 once you start doing full-length PrepTests towards the end of your prep (that's when people tend to start thinking about raw score conversions). If you're scoring below 140, or if you're just plain interested, here are the raw score conversion charts for LSAT scores below 140:


PrepTests A, B, C, Feb 97, and 1-17:






PrepTests 18-36:






PrepTests 37-54 (and June 07):






PrepTests 55-69:









PrepTest 70-74:










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To learn about how raw scores and score conversions work, see the LSAT Curve series starting with: The LSAT Curve | Test-Equating at LSAC.

Also see: LSAT Graph / Spreadsheet: How Many Questions to Score 170 and 160 and Easiest LSAT Curve: December | Hardest LSAT Curve: June

Photo by viewmaker

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