LSAT: legitimate?

For those who care at all -

the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) is an extremely efficient test. It does what it is suppose to do very well, very quick and very accurately.

What is the LSAT suppose to measure? Well, it's suppose to measure how well you will do during the first year of law school. So is a low LSAT score (120) a definite prophecy of your imminent failure in law school? No.

However, if you did get a low LSAT score (120), there is a good chance you will fail. Although imperfect, the LSAT is as perfect as it can get in measuring an individual's success in law school.

My experience has been that the skills required to do well on the LSAT (reading vast and diverse amounts of information, and critically thinking assessing the validity of these arguments/sets-of-facts; reading through dense and boring literature, and pin-pointing the flaws and main-points; quickly thinking of all the different angles and possibilities to a complex problem/situation) are also the skills required to do well in law school.

The only major flaw on the LSAT is the fact that it measures all of this in one sitting. I do believe that some people are not so good standardized test-takers. For these people the pressure of having to sit through a timed test literally chokes them. This is the only drawback to the LSAT's otherwise perfect (my opinion) testing.

Anyone who moans and groans about the LSAT's logic games and how it's irrelevant are simply in denial...trying to make themselves feel better about their failure.

I'm not an elitest; simply a realist.

Study Method

If money is not an impediment, then the best way to study for the LSAT is to 1) sign-up for an LSAT course; 2) actually do all the homework problems (which ought to be real licensed LSAT questions....if the testprep uses anything else, then you're being gypped); 3) re-do those homework problems (several times); 4) Start doing full sections as well as timing yourself; 5) Do full tests and time yourself (try to hit under the time limit).

Roughly speaking, this is the best LSAT study method (it worked for thousands of test takers).

Now let me tell you a true story (I love telling this story), my friend (he'll remain anonymous....but seriously, this guy exists!) took the LSAT 4 years ago. He didn't have the luxury of spending money on some fancy shmo testprep course. So he did the next best thing, purchase as many 10 Real LSAT books along with $10 separate single test booklets (not yet a part of the 10 Real LSAT series) and started taking as many practice tests as possible. So far this sounds quite typical, right?

Well, what set him apart is that he went through all the tests from June 1991 - June 2001 FIFTEEN times!!! CRAZY GUY~
He ended up memorizing every single question from June 1991-June 2001. If I were to ask him, "What's question #23 on June 1995 section 2?" he will (NO JOKE) recite the entire question + answer choices + the reasoning behind why each wrong answer is wrong and why the correct answer is correct; to the dot of the "i" and cross of the "t." This guy was insane!

You know what he got on his LSAT?

180!!!! (I'm dead serious).

When he started doing these problems over and over again, he didn't merely memorize the questions, he also memorized the reasoning behind each and every question. And the LSAT test makers can only be so creative. A lot of the questions are predictable, once you've seen and done enough practice problems.

Do I recommend his method? Honestly, NO!

Afterall, to be fair, this is a test designed to see if you're equipped to do well as a 1L (how accurately it does this....I'll discuss in my next blog) and though you can artificially increase your "reasoning" ability and even fool yourself/law schools with your high score, once you begin your 1L year, you don't have that same luxury and time to do all the reading FIFTEEN times.

Getting into a great law school is a tempting and awesome opportunity, and some people are willing to do anything (i.e. go through 10 years worth of LSAT questions 15 times) to get there. Moderation, a classical virtue (Aristotle), I think is key, even in this case.

LSAT

People who do well on the LSAT have better options (no duh!)

But I speak not only in terms of applying to law school; they are also given the opportunity to teach the illusive test to hopeful pre-law students. Countless test-prep companies (you know them) search for these 99th percentile test-takers and pay'em high wages.

The LSAT market is huge~ Each year approximately 120,000 people take this exam. Of them only 1% (1200) get 172 or above. The number of people taking the exam is growing each year. In short, the number of people with 172 and above is steadily increasing. Admissions to law school, in general, will become harder and harder.

The growing number of applicants, in part, is because law school is the default option for many. Why is law the default industry for failed pre-meds, post-college vagabonds, and unemployed liberal arts majors? Well, unlike business school, it doesn't require work experience, and unlike med-school, it doesn't require P-chem. Applying to law school is easy~ All you need is an undergrad degree, a respectable GPA and... you need to take the LSAT.

The LSAT, despite what people say, is the great equalizer. Honestly, it is a difficult test, and though I firmly believe that ANYONE can do well on it, it comes only after great sacrifice and due diligence. The LSAT can be studied; people can learn to think more logically (unfortunately, many people's minds do not think very logically...I know, I've taught this thing).

And despite all the moaning and whining out there, I truly believe that the LSAT is a perfect test (as perfect as it can get). It really does a good job of testing people's reading and thinking skills. In teaching this test to hundreds of students, I've seen it crop out the bright from the dense, the quick and keen from the slow and dull.

But even dense, slow and dull, can be made bright, quick and keen, given enough time and patience.

Record of my Journey

This blog will be an attempt (a sore one perhaps) to document my journey ahead to Law School.