Most students would almost rather see a rejection letter than a waitlist letter. While the rejection letter may hurt more, at least you have closure. With a waitlist letter you have, well. Not closure and a whole lot of waiting. So, what do you do if you get a waitlist letter from a law school? First, let's begin by understanding what being waitlisted means. The Meaning of Being Waitlisted The vast majority of waitlisted applicants have good enough credentials to get you in. However, since that spot has a reservation by someone else with marginally better credentials, you are their plan B. … [Read more...]
Sunk Costs and the LSAT
I was an Economics major in college, and one of the concepts we discussed was “sunk costs.” In Econ terms, a sunk cost is one that has already been expended and which cannot be recovered. The thinking goes that since you’ve spent it and you aren’t getting it back, you shouldn’t figure those costs into any decisions you make going forward. Examples of sunk costs include things like advertising, the use of consultants, product research, and staff training. If, for example, you had spent $100,000 on product research for a new widget but the widget wasn’t selling, then you should ignore that … [Read more...]
The Limitations of Venn Diagramming on the Logical Reasoning Section
This post is from the LSAT Free Help Area on our website. Want to get even more free LSAT help? Check it out! While preparing for the LSAT, students will undoubtedly encounter a wide variety of suggested test taking strategies. Unfortunately, one of the more commonly advocated approaches, particularly with regards to the Logical Reasoning sections, is the use of Venn diagrams1. Despite their popularity with certain test-preparation programs, Venn diagrams are inappropriate for the Logical Reasoning problems test takers encounter on the LSAT because they force the test taker to make certain … [Read more...]
Accommodations for the LSAT Part II: Applying for Accommodated Testing
In Part 1 of this series on LSAC test taking accommodations and the LSAT, we discussed various test takers who might require special accommodations for their LSAT administrations, as well as some of the kinds of test-taking accommodations granted by the LSAC. In this installment we look at the application process for special accommodations.LSAC strongly encourages you to submit all of your documentation as early as possible to ensure the maximum amount of time for consideration. In other words, while they do encourage test-takers with documented disabilities to apply for such … [Read more...]
Unusual Rules in LSAT Logic Games: It’s the New Norm
If you’ve taken any test from the last couple of years, you may have stumbled upon strangely-worded or confusing rules. For example: Train A can arrive earlier than train B if and only if train B arrives earlier than train C. Either car A arrives immediately before car B, or it arrives immediately after car C, but not both. The Q meal is served at some time after either the M meal or the N meal, but not after both. It’s worth noting that none of these rules is ambiguous, i.e. none of it is open to multiple interpretations. That would compromise the logical validity and reliability of the … [Read more...]
How to Treat a Low Score
When attempting early practice LSATs under timed conditions, many students come away extremely discouraged with their results. This is understandable, of course, as your LSAT score is the key to attending a great school, and a poor performance can hold you back more than any other factor. So how should you view low scores early in your prep, and what can you do to get past them?In this LSAT Forum Post of the Day, PowerScore Course Developers Jon Denning and Nikki Siclunov help a student who's struggling with low scores determine what to do next in terms of test confidence, preparation … [Read more...]
Accommodations for the LSAT Part I: An Overview of the Accommodations Granted
LSAT accommodations have, in the past, been shrouded in mystery and even controversy. In brief, taking the LSAT with accommodations means that individuals with certain disabilities can take the LSAT under altered circumstances. These changed circumstances level the playing field for the applicant.So, what are these altered circumstances? It depends on the nature of the disability, but the accommodations include the following: Taking the test in regular print form; taking it in large, 18-point-type print; or taking it in braille. A non-scannable answer sheet is also available. Depending on … [Read more...]
March Madness and the LSAT
This past week featured two of my favorite events: the start of the NCAA basketball tournament and St. Patrick's Day. If you are a sports fan and Irish (I'm both), it's about as good as it gets! And the tournament this past weekend proved to be one of the most interesting in recent years: in the first round, there were 13 upsets (defined as a lower-seeded team winning versus a higher-seeded team), tied for the most ever in tournament history. The number of double-digit seeds (teams seeded 10th through 16th) that won also set a record (10 double-digit seeds won, eclipsing the previous record of … [Read more...]
When Should You NOT Contact the Admissions Office?
I recently received a question from one of the students in our law school admissions counseling program: I was checking the status of one of my applications through the status checker that's provided by the school, and I saw that they had put me in the "reviewed, no decision made" category. What can I do to make them speed up the process? Should I send them an email? I don't really have much to update, but I can tell them that I saw the status and want to know what I can do to speed up the process. This got me thinking. There are definitely times when contacting the Admissions Office of the … [Read more...]
Which LSAT Should I Take?
It's a new year for test takers, with people gearing up for the coming summer and fall exams, and as part of that process I hear this question constantly: "Which LSAT should I take?" Fortunately, if you're asking this question now you're in great shape—it means you've begun preparing (or at least begun planning to prepare) really early, and should have plenty of time to reach your goals by the September test date, if not by June. So congrats there!And while it doesn't really matter which of the remaining three LSATs you attempt this year so long as your score is where you need it to be, it … [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—Full-Length, Live Online, or On Demand—are designed for students who have no prior experience with the test. Many of our students do, of course, but your … [Read more...]
When Does “Either/Or” Mean “Both” on the LSAT?
Understanding the proper conditional relationship represented by the “either/or” conjunction in LSAT questions is crucial in both Logic Games and Logical Reasoning questions. While there are some solid rules you must follow, ultimately you should take into account the context in which the phrase is used.Typically, a rule such as “either A or B must be selected” is inclusive: it allows for the possibility of selecting both A and B (unless the rule specifically precludes that by stating “either A or B must be selected, but not both”). Thus, at least one of A or B must be … [Read more...]
Should You Avoid Older LSATs?
The other day a student asked me if he should restrict his studying to just the LSATs from June 2007 and after. His thinking was that since the Reading Comprehension section added a new passage type (Comparative Reading) in June 2007, older LSATs were obsolete now.His question is a good one, because if the test format has changed, doesn't that make those older tests different and perhaps unusable? Are Older LSATs Obsolete? How different are the newer tests from the older tests? And, are they different enough that they should be avoided? The answers here are: they are not really that … [Read more...]
How to Attack Flaw in the Reasoning Questions on the LSAT
Flaw in the Reasoning questions require you to identify the underlying logical flaw in the argument. Over time, Flaw questions have become among the most common question types on the Logical Reasoning section of the LSAT. In fact, they account for approximately 15% of all questions and 30% of all First Family questions. Your next test will likely contain as many Flaw questions as all Main Point, Method, Parallel, Parallel Flaw, and Cannot Be True questions combined.In many ways, Flaw in the Reasoning questions are just like Method of Reasoning questions. They both represent an attempt to … [Read more...]