With less than 48 hours remaining before the February LSAT, we have some helpful advice on what can (and cannot) be done at this late stage in the game, as well as some mantras for test day.

Get your mind right. It can be rather tempting to start down some  last minute LSAT rabbit holes. This close to test day, it is helpful to adopt somewhat of a  “what’s done is done” attitude. For example, there are likely some game types that you simply are not going to get any better at between now and Saturday – and that is OK!  So long as you’ve been consistently hitting or exceeding your target score on your latest timed practice tests without a mastery of those game types, you should see similar results on the real thing. Accept that you’re not going to get that 180, and start to focus on all of the success that you ARE going to have on test day as opposed to worrying yourself in to a frenzy over those sections of the test that have continually thrown you off after months of hard work.

Get off the sauce. This may seem painfully obvious, but steer clear of the alcohol or any other mood/behavior altering substances for the next few days. Start (or continue) exercising (exercise is linked to neural growth ya know).

Admit it: the LSAT is damn hard! Unless you’re scoring well-below the national average of 151, chances are that if you think a question on the exam is difficult, just about everyone else in the nation does too! Yes, there will be some super geniuses  out there who won’t, but if we stick to thinking about rest of the mere mortal population, admitting that this thing is difficult can go a long way in easing your tensions. If it’s a tough question, lots of people will get it wrong; the question is whether you’ll get it wrong and waste a lot of time on it. Don’t get stuck on the mud on a question you were never going to get right, and cost yourself precious time that you could have been using to nail the questions that come easier to you.

Warm yourself up on test day. Since your brain is a muscle (and since it is unlikely to be accustomed to working hard on a Saturday morning), be sure to give it a proper warm up before you sit down to tackle the first section of the LSAT. I would advise arriving at your testing location at least 40 minutes early. Before you enter your testing center, do an easy-ish game that you’ve successfully completed several times before. This method of warming up is exponentially better than using section 1 on the real thing!

Good luck on Saturday – and be sure to remember what you can and cannot bring in with you to your testing center.

Fresh from the M LSAT Lab of Geekyness, an infographic with loads of info on the February LSAT, including what you can and cannot bring with you. Enjoy, and good luck on Saturday!!

Are You Ready for the February LSAT?

We incorporate the latest discoveries in learning science into our LSAT course to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your prep. Want to see? Try the first session of any of our upcoming courses for free.

I know what you’re thinking: aren’t all LSATs a pain in the neck? Touchè—you got me there—but the February LSAT can be a particularly baffling proposition for law school hopefuls. There are several reasons for this… Read more

Here is a round up of LSAT and Law School related news items from the past month. Enjoy!

• 5 Unique Career Paths for Law School Grads (US News and World Report)

Practicing law isn’t your only career option post-law school. Check out these five nontraditional fields where you can leverage a law degree.

• How to Pay For Law School (Hello Law School)

There is no denying that law school is an expensive investment. Here are some suggestions on how to lower the amount of money you have to borrow.

• Is Law School At Middle Age Worth Doing? (The Careerist)

Looking to change careers? Find out the pros and cons of going to law school in your 30’s and beyond.

• Top iPad Apps For Lawyers (Legal Skills Prof Blog)

Have an iPad? Here are 10 helpful apps for a lawyer or lawyer-to-be.

TGIF! To celebrate the end of another work week, we’re  announcing several free  LSAT workshops, both Live Online and in New York City.

These 2 hours workshops will include a Logic Games and Logical Reasoning lesson, and will be led by some of our geekiest instructors. Did we mention that these are free?? Dates and links for signup are below.

Free LSAT workshops in New York:

• Wednesday, February 29th
• Thursday, April 5th

Free Live Online LSAT Workshops:

• Monday, February 27th
• Wednesday, March 28th

Happy Studying!

It all started with a 180 on his LSAT

A serious motivational factor for many aspiring lawyers is the potential income that top attorneys earn. A recent New York Times article strives to deconstruct “the one percent”, and the folks at the Above The Law blog have pulled out the data from the article relevant to lawyers.

They point out, among other cool factoids, that only physicians, CEOs, and public administrators rank ahead of attorneys on the list of livelihoods represented among the 1%.

There are some truly compelling statistics in this article, and a very interesting interactive breakdown of earnings by career.

How many of you are going to law school with the hopes of joining the 1%?

The Legal Skills Prof Blog is reporting that law school applications are in sharp decline from last year – this according to a report published on a password protected page of LSAC’s website.

The data in the report shows a 16.7% downturn in applications to law school, and a 15.3% downturn in applications to the American Bar Association. Simply put, there are fewer players in the “law school game”, a trend you should expect to see continue, at least in the short term.

The Law School Express, circa 2008

If I place myself in your shoes, oh law school hopeful, I think there are two important things to glean from this information. The first is quite obvious and good news for the law school applicant. Less competition for those coveted spots in the nation’s top law schools will certainly not hurt your chances.

I arrived at the second big takeaway by considering  why law school applications are declining.  The market of law school hopefuls is certainly reacting to the well publicized lack of job prospects that newly minted attorneys are facing today.

The staggering 16.7% downturn is compounded by the fact that there is a natural tendency for undergrads to flock to grad school during an economic downturn instead of testing the struggling job market. Read more

Happy Friday!

Unfortunately there is no overtime on the LSAT

To help you gear up for this Holiday weekend, we gathered some interesting law school and pre law links from around the web, as well as a few ‘just for fun’ selections.  Enjoy!

The National Law Journal analyzes the results of the 2011 Law School Survey of Student Engagement. The findings? Law School students are generally quite happy with their experience.

Law School Podcaster examines which majors are most advantageous for pre law students.

This is slightly throwback, but still supremely interesting! Long before the landmark 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama became the first African American elected to another prestigious post.

The New York Times has a very interesting piece on undergraduate education, titled “What is College For?“.

And last but not least, just because I can’t get enough of Tim Tebow mania, “Tebowie“.

She's probably hanging out with your December LSAT score

@*&%$#^!!!

That pretty much sums up the collective sentiment of December 2011 LSAT takers everywhere. Forget Waldo and Carmen Sandiego, where the #$&% are the December LSAT scores?! Well, the wait is over:  LSAT scores started rolling out at approximately 5:20pm EST. The curve for the December exam was -14 for a 170, -28 for a 160.

Remember, it is inadvisable to open up that email from LSAC while driving a car, operating heavy machinery, or standing in the same room as minors or others who might object to vulgarity.

Lastly, remember to check out our free review of the December LSAT happening next Tuesday night. Two of our geekiest instructors will be on hand to review some of the more difficult games from the exam, as well as give their sage-like advise on whether or not you should consider a retake.

Best of luck!

12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, and 4 LSATs later, 2011 is behind us.

2011 was a banner year for Manhattan LSAT: in addition to teaching a record number of students, 2011 saw the release of the 2nd edition of our LSAT Strategy Guides.

Happy New Year from Manhattan LSAT

2012 promises to be an even bigger year, as we get ready to bring our 99th percentile approach to even more students in more places (check us out in Boston and Boulder this year!).  Needless to say, we can’t wait to help every one of our students achieve their personal goals on the LSAT.

Today I’m taking a look at the road ahead in 2012 and making some bold (and some not so bold) predictions for the year: Read more