We’ve been working to set up free and discounted prep courses for soldiers who are trying to get ready for the LSAT.  Here’s an e-mail update we received from Carina Ballard, a US soldier (a lieutenant, I believe). This really puts some LSAT struggles in perspective.

I am stationed in Tallil, Iraq which is southern Iraq, on Contingency Operating Base (COB) Adder.  It is the hottest and dustiest part of the country.

I had some issues with LSAC registering and paying for the test.  They actually emailed me the wrong registration deadline and when I tried to register it obviously didn’t work.  I had to make several phone calls (which is not easy here) to work it out.  Luckily I had saved the emails from LSAC and could verify that they had in fact misinformed me.  Eventually it worked out, but it was difficult.

I started out studying in my room, but that was problematic because my roommate works the day shift and I work the night shift so I was studying in the dark balancing books on my knees with a tiny light and trying not to make any noise.  So that really didn’t work.  Instead, I started coming into the trailers where my Tactical Operations Center (TOC) is and working there all night, but a lot of people come in and out so I eventually moved out of there as well.  I ended up having the most success working in a spare office in my Battalion Commander’s office trailer.  It was the only quiet place and very few people were in it in the middle of the night. Read more

Do you struggle with assumption and flaw questions? Do you often choose answers that seem right, or relevant, but end up being wrong? This may help.

Consider the following argument:

Many respected entrepreneurs assert that insufficient capital, capital required to cover operating expenses in addition to initial start-up costs, is inevitably a factor in the failure of start-up businesses. However, all of the failed start-ups with which I’ve been involved have failed as a result of executives’ lack of expertise in the product or service that the company provides. Thus, insufficient capital is not a factor in causing start-up businesses to fail.

If this were followed by a question that asked you to choose an assumption, this would be a pretty tough question. The average test-taker attempts to memorize, or “learn” the entire argument, and then gets distracted by answer choices that seem relevant to some particular part of the argument that ends up not mattering so much. This leads to wrong answers. Read more

We just did an interview with Ann Levine, and admissions consultant,

//www.lawschoolexpert.com/podcasts.html

A very fun conversation.  Some of the big themes: what sort of score increases to expect, how to choose a prep option that’s right for you, and some of the myths about LSAT prep.

This is our first chance to work with Ann, but it sounds like she has a lot of sound advice for navigating the law school application process smoothly.  Check out her blog: //www.lawschoolexpert.com/blog

And I’ve just ordered her book: //www.lawschoolexpertbook.com Looks useful . . .

You’ve taken the LSAT!  Hoorah . . . but how did you do?  If you’re one of the many folks considering whether to re-take or not, take a look at this:

//www.atlaslsat.com/lsat/blog/index.php/2009/07/01/lsat-re-take-considerations-how-to-improve-your-lsat-score/

But do not operate under the influence . . .

If you’d like to review the LSAT with us, we’re holding a live online workshop on October 25th at 8pm EST //www.atlaslsat.com/EventShow.cfm?EID=3&eventID=113

One interesting development in the latest LSATs is the introduction of a new strain of question in logic games.  The LSAT has begun to ask which rule change would have no effect on the scenarios possible under the rest of the game’s constraints.  One of the impressive aspects of the LSAT is how it continues to evolve so that it remains an accurate assessment of one’s ability to make inferences.  Strict executors were thrown for a loop by those questions since they’re new and not directly covered in most courses or books.  Flexible test-takers were able to adapt.  One of the major considerations with such a question — and a line of thinking that can help you avoid the time-consuming testing out of each answer choice —  is “How does the removed rule affect the game?”  All rules limit the possibilities, so the challenge is to figure out how that happens in relation to the other rules.