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.
posted by Mystery @ 11:26 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
The flip side of the "one sitting" flaw is the student who walks into the test with no preparation and walks out with a 99th percentile score. With even an average GPA this kid will end up at a pretty good law school. While her smarts have gotten her far, the "I don't need to prepare" attitude will finally catch up with her in law school. A precious few folks fall into this category (in my experience, many can be found among the LSAT instructor ranks) but they're further proof of the point you're making here.
I like your blog. It's great to see some level-headed LSAT commentary coming from someone with the experience to back it up.
I know the girl who with 150 LSAT score made it to Vice-President roll on her second semester. Possibly if you are good in LSAT you show that you have an ability to learn but defenetly it is not the indicator of your success in the law school.
O, the LSAT is not a perfect indicator of any measure. I too know people like the girl you mentioned, who moved on to be successful despite her low LSAT score. So my point isn't that the LSAT conclusively indicates success in life or in law school.
My point is simply that the LSAT is legitimate. While imperfect it is very good at forecasting which ball-park scores will do well in law school. Keep in mind I say, "ball-park" because on the other hand many who do well on the LSAT don't do so well in law school.
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