Anyone preparing for the LSAT is well aware of the unique difficulty presented by the Logic Games section. What is occasionally overlooked is that certain concepts are far more critical to success than others. That is, specific game types and ideas routinely appear and regularly serve as the basis for the entire section. Other outlier notions are tested so infrequently that they deserve far less attention.Basic Game Types & Frequency of … [Read more...]
Ignoring a Possibility vs. Making an Assumption: What’s the Difference?
If you're taking the LSAT, you'll encounter Flaw questions in the Logical Reasoning section. Students commonly struggle with determining how the author talks about a stimulus. Specifically, when reading and analyzing a stimulus, how do you determine whether the author has ignored a possibility or has made an assumption? What clues within the stimulus and/or what reading strategies help differentiate these two author approaches in … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 84: Causal Reasoning Part I – The Nature of Basic LSAT Causality
After several months of LSAT-Flex reviews and admissions cycle analysis, Jon and Dave are getting back to basics with a conceptual overview of causal reasoning. In this episode they examine precisely how LSAT causality operates, the central assumption that makes it so vulnerable, common points of confusion including correlations and conditionality, and the key distinctions between causation in premises and conclusions. If you’re looking for a … [Read more...]
Logical Negation: Identifying What to Negate in a Sentence
When negating a sentence, how do you know what specific word you need to negate if it's a long and complicated sentence?Students often ask this question, and it’s one that entails a more in-depth response than you may be expecting. We cover this topic in the Logical Reasoning Bible, Chapter 11, in the discussion of the Assumption Negation Technique™. However, even in such a comprehensive discussion, it's impossible to formulate categorical … [Read more...]
What Kind of Vocabulary Should I Expect on the LSAT?
Note: this was originally written for the PowerScore LSAT Reading Comprehension Bible. Students often ask about the vocabulary required to do well on the LSAT. They worry that they might need an especially large vocabulary, or perhaps a working knowledge of legal or logical terms. Let’s take a closer look and find out what you need to know before you take the LSAT. The Good News Most of the words you will see on the LSAT will be of the simple, … [Read more...]
LSAT Podcast Episode 83: The April 2021 LSAT-Flex Review
The April 2021 LSAT-Flex has come and gone, which can only mean one thing: Dave and Jon are here with a detailed look! Tune in as they discuss all of the content used this week—including the international exams—and offer their take on everything from the tests’ first appearances, overall difficulty, unusual moments, and exact scale predictions for every possible configuration. … [Read more...]
Updates to LSAT Test Scheduling Policy and Digital Testing Interface
LSAC recently announced two updates set to take effect with the April 2021 LSAT-Flex, the first regarding the test day/date selection timeframe, and the second concerning their digital testing interface.The more critical of these two announcements is that test takers must now schedule their testing day and time by 11:59 pm EST of the Thursday prior to their exam. So for those planning to sit for this upcoming April LSAT beginning on April … [Read more...]
How Practice LSATs Can Help You Decide to Keep or Cancel Your Score
Taking practice LSATs can do a lot for your test preparation. We talk about how to take PTs to replicate the testing experience as closely as possible here. While taking and analyzing PTs should be an integral part of everyone’s test preparation, we beg the question. Are you using each practice test to their full potential? Meaning, are learning everything you can from each PT? Certainly identifying your strengths and weaknesses and adapting your … [Read more...]
How to Report a Test Day Malfunction to LSAC
While LSAC tries to makes the testing experience as smooth and uniform as possible for everyone, a small percentage of students inevitably experience technical or human errors during any given LSAT that impedes their performance. These issues could involve a substandard test proctor, a malfunction in the testing software, problems with the testing facility, or any other number of unfortunate scenarios. We often see students panic afterwards when … [Read more...]
What GPA Do You Need for Law School?
Although your LSAT score weighs more in the eyes of law school admissions committees, your GPA plays a large role as well as it is generally considered to be a good indicator of your ability to succeed in law school.The following chart uses data provided by the 2020 ABA 509 report. For the most updated information, and for more statistics that you might find relevant, visit the ABA Required Disclosures site. You can also read this article to … [Read more...]
Should I Self-Study Before Starting an LSAT Course?
This is a question we frequently encounter on our forum, and with good reason. One of the most important things you can do in law school admissions is to plan ahead. If you signed up for an LSAT prep course that doesn’t begin for a while, you’re probably wondering if you can do anything in the meantime. Of Course! But, before we tell you to spend another couple hundred bucks on study aids, let’s make things clear. Our LSAT courses are designed … [Read more...]
What LSAT Score Do You Need for Law School?
Are you trying to figure out your target LSAT score? You should always research your goal law schools early on and find out the score range of the most recent first year class. Although you can find this information on each school’s website, we thought it would be helpful to show you all of them in one place.The LSAT scores represented are for students who were admitted in 2020. LSAT Percentiles What do the percentiles mean? These numbers … [Read more...]
When to Read the Stem in LSAT Logical Reasoning Questions
Among LSAT experts, few issues are more hotly debated than this one: should you read the question stem before or after reading the stimulus in LSAT Logical Reasoning questions? PowerScore's position on this issue has always been clear: read the stem after reading the stimulus. On this issue, we are, shall we say, originalists. We follow the original design of the Logical Reasoning multiple choice question. Deviating from this design is largely a … [Read more...]
LSAT Podcast Episode 80: The February 2021 LSAT-Flex Review
With the February 2021 LSAT-Flex finally behind us, Dave and Jon are checking in with all the details! In this episode they break down the February LSAT, reviewing its source tests and their appearances over the weekend, highlighting the most notable elements that featured each day, and finally offering a section-by-section scale matrix to help you determine the exact curve for your particular exam. … [Read more...]