Are you taking the LSAT in Thailand? Students take the LSAT if they plan to attend law schools in the US and Canada. However, the test administers across the globe. Check out this post about taking the LSAT abroad.In Thailand, only one location offers the LSAT: Nonthaburi, International School Bangkok. While there is just one location option, it occurs four times per year: February, June, September/October, and December. You can find a … [Read more...]
Conditional Diagramming Part V: Advantages of the Unless Equation
Students often ask if there is an easier way to handle conditional statements containing necessary condition indicators such as “unless,” “except,” “until,” and “without.” The Unless EquationTM This is relatively simple, but it does involve a two-step process:Whatever term is modified by “unless” becomes the necessary condition. The remaining term is negated and becomes the sufficient condition.For example, consider the … [Read more...]
Digging into Supreme Court Oral Arguments Part I
A question we get frequently is what to do when you want to continue studying for the LSAT but you need a break from drills and questions. One fantastic resource is the Oyez Project, an online archive of Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) oral arguments, currently maintained by the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. In this post, we'll give you a short introduction to the Oyez Project and links to a few of the most interesting oral … [Read more...]
Conditional Diagramming Part IV: Working with “Only”
We are continuing our Conditional Diagramming discussion today with the word “only” which is used frequently in LSAT questions. “Only” is a necessary condition indicator, and its usage is often easy to parse. Here’s an example: Only doctors carry malpractice insurance. “Only” modifies “doctors,” and thus the proper diagram is: Carry malpractice insurance → doctor However, in a number of instances, “only” is used in a way that is more … [Read more...]
Speaker Identifiers in Logical Reasoning
In a number of LSAT Logical Reasoning questions, the first thing you see is an identifier of the type of speaker making the argument that follows. For example, you might see “Archaeologist,” or “Researcher,” or "Expert,” to name three examples from a recent LSAT. Most students fly right by these speaker identifiers without further thought, but should they? Probably not, so let’s talk about why that is the case. Speaker Identifiers Do Not … [Read more...]
Accommodations for the LSAT Part V: The Controversy Continued, DOJ Joins the Party
Part 1 of this discussion dealt with a case that LSAC filed in response to recent California legislation regarding the issue of "flagging" LSAT scores (distinguishing the score reports of those with special accommodations from those who take the LSAT under standard conditions). In that case, LSAC was successful in its challenge to the brand new legislation, but then later agreed to stop the practice. Part Two deals with a major cases filed … [Read more...]
Conditional Sequencing Rules in Logic Games
We're now ten weeks away from the LSAT, which still gives you plenty of time to prepare and reach your goals, but the clock is certainly ticking--if you're waiting for your course to begin that's fine!; if you haven't thought about how you intend to prep, however, it's time to get going.And even though it's still fairly early I regularly hear from anxious test takers, and unsurprisingly Logic Games often weigh most heavily on their minds. I … [Read more...]
“Most Strongly Supports” vs. “Most Strongly Supported” in Logical Reasoning Questions
Let’s look at two LSAT logical reasoning question stems that sound awfully alike, but are anything but: "Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument above?"vs. "Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?" In the first instance, your job is to assume that each answer choice represents a true statement, and then determine which one is most helpful to validating the conclusion … [Read more...]
Sterling Archer’s Many Flaws: Do You Want Ants?
Archer, an animated series on FX, is about a spy agency and its group of clever, often bitingly sarcastic secret agents, who provide some great examples of the same kinds of logical flaws that we see on the LSAT:Ad Hominem Argument This type of flawed logic, often called a “source argument” describes an attack directly on the speaker, or the source of the argument, rather than on the merits of the argument itself.A great example appears … [Read more...]
Taking the LSAT in Ireland
Are you taking the LSAT in Ireland? Students take the LSAT if they plan to attend law schools in the US and Canada. However, the test administers across the globe. Check out this post about taking the LSAT abroad.In Ireland, only one location offers the LSAT: Dublin, at the University College Dublin. They administer the test once a year in December. You can find a complete list of test dates and deadlines here. Students should know that … [Read more...]
Cheating on the LSAT Part II: Enforcement
Part 1 of this blog can be found here.LSAC Cheating Prevention Protocols To prevent cheating, over the years LSAC has gradually tightened restrictions on test takers in test centers (picture ID, no cell phones, etc.) These protocols are in place to help assure LSAC that you are who you say you are, and that you can't easily communicate with other test takers during the exam. But the security measures don't stop there. LSAC has also … [Read more...]
Cheating on the LSAT Part I: A Short History
For as long as there have been standardized tests, there have been attempts to cheat on those tests. The LSAT is no exception, and cheating schemes have ranged from clever to absurd. These are the two cases that received the most press coverage. The Theft of the February 1997 LSAT in Southern California In this scheme, cooked up over a five-month period, the offender stole a copy of the February 1997 LSAT from a University of Southern … [Read more...]
When Do I Diagram Conditional Reasoning Statements?
A question that frequently comes up from readers of the LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible is, when should I diagram conditional statements in the LSAT Logical Reasoning section? In the book, I talk about diagramming in a number of different chapters, but most prominently in the chapter on Conditional Reasoning.Conditional Reasoning is a Major Concept While, not surprisingly, I think that every chapter in the LR Bible has high value, the … [Read more...]
The 2015 vs. 2016 PowerScore LSAT Logic Games Bibles
Every year, we release an updated version of the LSAT Logic Games Bible, including the 2016 version. We do this to account for changes in the test, to expand and clarify certain explanations, and to add new and refreshed content in order to keep the books as useful as possible. Because of the extent of these yearly changes, one of the most common questions we get each year is: can I use an LGB from a prior year to study for this year's LSAT? … [Read more...]