LSAT For Dummies

Book + 5 Practice Tests Online

Scott A. Hatch, Lisa Zimmer Hatch

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781119716280
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: LSAT Study Guides

Get on the right side of your Law School Admission Test

It's an unbreakable rule that to get into the majority of law schools or practice state law anywhere in the U.S., you must pass the dreaded LSAT. Designed to be the most objective measure of student ability available—unlike a much more subjective GPA—it's the ultimate standardized test. This makes it relatively straightforward to prep for, and prep you must! This revised and totally updated new edition of LSAT For Dummies has everything you need to get ready to take – and take down – the LSAT. With it, you'll make an irrefutable case why you should be admitted to the school of your dreams.

In a friendly, logical style, expert authors Scott and Lisa Hatch —who have coached thousands of students for LSAT success—cover the core concepts, smart strategies, and mental approaches you need to succeed. You'll also find plenty of opportunities to apply your enhanced argumentative muscle, analytical reasoning, and essay-writing and reading comprehension skills in full-length practice tests—all recalibrated in this new edition to account for the new computer-based exam format.

• Take 3 full-length practice tests (one online) plus additional practice questions
• Consolidate your knowledge in content review sections
• Compare your answers to sample answers and explanations
• Get 1-year access to an online test-bank for further practice

With up to forty percent of students failing the LSAT each year, you need a solid study plan to conquer it. This book – with companion practice tests online – has you covered.

Part 1

Getting Started with the LSAT

IN THIS PART …

• Gain insight into the minds that create the LSAT.
• Discover tips for managing the LSAT and each of its question types.
• Be prepared for exam day by knowing exactly what and what not to bring to the testing site.
• Discover other important considerations for getting into your top-choice law school.

Chapter 1

The L Team: The LSAT and Its Administrators

IN THIS CHAPTER

Exploring the various sections of the LSAT

Understanding the LSAT scoring system

Knowing how and when to register for the LSAT

Studying for the LSAT

Meeting the LSAC

If you want to go to law school, you’ll likely take the Law School Admission Test, also known as the LSAT. The more than 200 law schools that belong to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) require the LSAT (see the later section “What Have You Done for Me Lately? The LSAC” for info about the LSAC). Some schools may allow you to substitute a GRE score for the LSAT. Law schools that don’t require either the LSAT or GRE for admission may not be approved by the American Bar Association (ABA), which in turn may not qualify you for admission to a state bar, so be careful about choosing a school that doesn’t require the LSAT.

The LSAT, annoying though it can be, provides a significant metric for law schools to evaluate their applicants on the same playing field. Colleges are different, backgrounds are different, and cultures are different, but the LSAT is the same for everyone. The LSAT is carefully designed so that the testing experience of test-takers is virtually identical. Each LSAT test is crafted so that test-takers have a 90 percent chance of scoring the same on a different version. So, law schools feel confident that the LSAT is an objective measure of student ability.

Grade point averages, unlike the LSAT, are highly subjective; they vary depending on the difficulty of a school, the difficulty of particular courses, and other random and unpredictable factors (like the grading policies of individual professors). Law school applications include other information like personal statements that can give schools an idea of a student’s abilities, but the schools still can’t know for sure that they’re getting the real goods — plenty of students get help writing those essays. That leaves the LSAT as one of the most reliable and objective means to compare candidates.

In this chapter, you get an introduction to the LSAT and its various parts and learn all about registering and preparing for the big day. You also get a peek at the organization behind all this madness, the LSAC.

If you’re going to be a lawyer, you have to get used to disclaimers, and here’s ours for this chapter. The technical information we offer about fees and procedures is subject to change, so refer to the official website (www.lsac.org) to verify the facts and figures for yourself.

Getting to Know the Enemy

If you want to get a decent score on the LSAT, you need to know the test. You can’t expect to walk into a test center cold, never having encountered an LSAT in your life, and just ace the questions.

You don’t necessarily have to study for a long time. If you’re good at standardized tests, you may be able to flip through one or two sample tests, work a few of the problems, get the idea, and score in the 95th percentile. Some people can. If, on the other hand, you find standardized tests generally challenging, and the LSAT difficult in particular, you probably need to devote yourself to more practice time to master the proven strategies provided by this book. Whatever your situation, keep motivated and prepare with the certainty that you can and will improve with dedicated practice.

The LSAT is offered digitally and consists of four different question types:

• Analytical reasoning questions
• Logical reasoning questions
• Reading comprehension questions
• Writing sample

The analytical reasoning, logical reasoning, and reading comprehension sections consist of multiple-choice questions. You take these questions at a testing center in a format called the Digital LSAT, which delivers these questions via an electronic tablet rather than a paper booklet. The tablet format is similar to a paper test, but instead of marking answers with a No. 2 pencil, you mark and eliminate answers and highlight portions of the questions with a stylus. The testing center supplies you with scratch paper and a pen to work through problems; you can also bring in your own pencils and eraser.

The Digital LSAT consists of five separate test sections presented in no particular order:

• Two scored sections of logical reasoning
• One scored analytical reasoning section
• One scored reading comprehension section
• One unscored section that can be another section of any of the three multiple-choice question types

You don’t know which section is unscored, and the unscored section looks just like any other LSAT test section. Every section lasts 35 minutes.

The unscored section that you take is a collection of questions that the LSAC is considering using on a future LSAT. The LSAC wants to see how well these new questions work when presented to actual LSAT-takers. This section can be analytical reasoning, logical reasoning, or reading comprehension; you don’t know which section is unscored.

GOING WITH THE FLOW: LSAT FLEX

In the spring of 2020, the LSAT responded to the social distancing limitations imposed by COVID-19 by implementing the LSAT Flex, a digital version of the test that prospective law students can take at home. A remote proctor monitors your every move while you work through the same question types that appear on any other version of the test. To decrease the testing time and keep the proctors from falling asleep, the LSAT decreased the number of sections in the test and, consequently, the amount of time you spend answering the questions. Instead of the traditional five sections (four scored and one unscored), the LSAT Flex has three sections:

• One 35-minute reading comprehension section
• One 35-minute analytical reasoning section
• One 35-minute logical reasoning section (instead of two)

The scoring scale is the same, and scores are available about three weeks after the test. Whatever the circumstances, the LSAT has you covered.

The writing sample isn’t offered at the test center. You prepare an essay on your own computer at home (or some other secluded place free of interruptions) in response to a specific prompt. The scheduled writing session is timed and remotely proctored. You must complete at least one writing sample before the LSAC will report your LSAT scores to law schools, but you don’t need to complete a writing sample every time you take the Digital LSAT.

The quickest way to get your hands on an actual LSAT is to take the free sample tests available at the LSAC website (www.lsac.org). Completing the samples is a good way to familiarize yourself with the test and its digital format.

Taking a Quick Look at the Types of Questions

The LSAT has three different kinds of multiple-choice questions and an unscored written essay. Each questions type has its own virtues and vices, and you’ll come to know and love them all (though we won’t blame you if you pick a favorite).

Analytical reasoning — playing games with your head

The analytical reasoning section consists of four logic problems — the infamous “logic games” — each of which is followed by between five and eight questions. These games involve a group of players (or game pieces) that you need to arrange or assign and the rules that govern how you go about it.

You may get something like: “Five college students — B, C, D, E, and F — must share three rooms in a house. B can’t stay with D. E must stay with F.” This fact pattern is followed by several questions that allow you to explore your understanding of the relationships between the students and the dorm rooms. One question may propose five possible roommate arrangements and ask you to choose which one is the only one that could work.

This kind of puzzle commonly appears on IQ tests or in books of games to amuse travelers on airplanes. What they have to do with law school is a mystery to many people. The LSAC PrepTest booklets say that these types of problems “simulate the kinds of detailed analyses of relationships that a law student must perform in solving legal problems.” And it’s true that the skills the analytical reasoning section tests are important in law school. To answer these questions correctly, you must read carefully and accurately. You have to apply rules to a system, which is similar to applying statutes or case law to a problem. You have to restrict your analysis to what’s directly stated or to what can be logically inferred. So the analytical reasoning section is fairly useful at predicting who might succeed in law school.

The analytical reasoning section is worth about 25 percent of your LSAT score. See Chapters 4 through 6 for more on analytical reasoning.

Logical reasoning — putting your arguing skills to good use

The logical reasoning section consists of about 25 short (for example, three or four sentences) passages about various topics. Each of them is followed by one question. The questions ask you to identify the point of an argument, to make deductions about what the author is assuming, to draw concl...