Episode 87 is a slight departure from the typical topics of LSAT concepts, test reviews, and admissions advice, as Dave and Jon turn their attention to the latest addition to the PowerScore lineup: the Logical Reasoning Bible Course! Tune in to learn all about this invaluable new prep tool, from what it is and who it’s for to how you can most effectively utilize it to master Logical Reasoning. Whether you’re just starting out or nearing the end … [Read more...]
Should You Work Backwards in Logical Reasoning?
Students often ask if working backwards in Logical Reasoning might be the way to go. After all, the reasoning goes, the hardest questions are typically towards the end of the section. So, if you tackle them early on, you will have more time to get them right without rushing. As you progress through the section, you will have less and less time left, but the questions will (presumably) get easier, so you have a higher chance of getting them … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 86: The June 2021 LSAT-Flex Review – We Make History, Again
Jon and Dave bid farewell to the last-ever LSAT-Flex with a bittersweet sendoff: the short format will be sorely missed, but celebrations also abound, as they correctly predicted the exact LSAT given to the majority of June test takers! Join them as they discuss all of the test forms used—domestic and international—concluding with an analysis of each section’s difficulty and a scale calculation for every unique combination. … [Read more...]
Official Scoring Scale for the New LSAT
When LSAC added sections from the May 2020 LSAT-Flex administration to their Prep Plus package, it allowed us to see exactly how they score a Flex test. Although the Flex version of the test is no longer with us, this data is still relevant to the new LSAT. Let’s take a look at LSAC’s official scoring scale for the May 2020 Flex test:*** There is no raw score that will produce this scaled score for this form. Note: This scoring scale is … [Read more...]
Law School Predictors: Can You Trust Them?
This blog is brought to you by a special guest, Ana the Analyst. As we gear up for the 2021-2022 law school admissions cycle, there has been a new wave of posts asking, “what are my admission chances?” A number of websites and methods exist to bring aspiring applications tiny margins of hope. However, like all things on the internet, these websites need to be taken with a grain of salt. Two Student-Based Admission Chances SitesThere are two … [Read more...]
Certainty vs. Uncertainty in Logic Games
We focus a tremendous amount of time and attention in our courses and books emphasizing the importance of inference making in Games; determining the truths of the relationships between variable sets. In making inferences, what we’re really focused on is establishing notions of what I’ll refer to here as positive and negative certainty. That is, determining what must occur in an absolute (consistent) sense, and what cannot occur in an absolute … [Read more...]
Controlling Test Day Anxiety, NASA Style
A number of years ago I listened to the National Public Radio (NPR) podcast Fresh Air. They had a fascinating interview with a Canadian astronaut, Col. Chris Hadfield, who was promoting the release of his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth. Col. Hadfield is an interesting guy. From his Facebook description, he was "the first Canadian to walk in space and the first Canadian to command the international space station." Col. Hadfield's … [Read more...]
Law School Job Placement: Top States and Portability
This blog is brought to you by a special guest, Ana the Analyst. The ABA job reports show an important facet of outcomes: job locations. The location information can have a big effect if you have a preferred city where you want to work. In these cases, than recruiting networks of many schools matter more than their arbitrary ranking. For instance, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to go to #25 Alabama if the only place you’ve ever wanted to live … [Read more...]
How Does the Law School Application Process Work?
Unlike applying to college, which is a pretty straightforward process (at least in retrospect), applying to law school can feel a little labyrinthine. Transcripts, Law School Reports, letters of recommendation, the Credential Assembly service, addenda...after a while, it can all start getting jumbled up.Right around this time of year, I start getting so many "I'm confused. Help!" emails that I find myself there was a quick and easy guide to … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 85: Causal Reasoning Part II – Causality and Question Types
Wrapping up their comprehensive coverage of LSAT causality, Dave and Jon move from conceptual discussions of causation to an application-focused look at how causal reasoning is treated in the test’s various LR question types. Specifically, you’ll hear them address what to look for and how to best respond to causality in every context—from Weaken to Strengthen to Flaw and more—before touching on advanced cause and effect constructions, ensuring … [Read more...]
Logic Game Types and Frequency of Appearance
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...]
Should You Cancel a Potentially Lower LSAT Score?
There's a common situation that pops up for test-takers after taking their second or third LSAT. After the exam, feelings of doubt creep in. "Should I cancel my score? It might be lower than a previous attempt! That would look bad on my application! What should I do?" It's a question that pops up a lot on our LSAT Forum and it's definitely worth addressing. Both Dave Killoran and Jon Denning have weighed in the debate countless times, so here's a … [Read more...]
The Diversity Rankings That Almost Were
This blog is brought to you by a special guest, Ana the Analyst. As you may have heard, USNews originally intended to release new “diversity rankings” with the 2022 Law School Rankings. The diversity rankings were to be stand-alone rankings that analyzed a school’s demographic break-out and rated schools on how diverse they were. However, due to several controversies (discussed on The PowerScore LSAT PodCast), these rankings were delayed until a … [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...]