Every week we bring you a new movie that teaches us about a logical fallacy you’ll find on the LSAT. Who says Netflix can’t help you study? 

Originally scripted by Rod “I don’t have a nickname because you should know who I am” Serling, Planet of the Apes is the tale of when a group of astronauts stop being polite and start getting killed by walking, talking apes.

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Every week we bring you a new movie that contains a logical fallacy you’ll find on the LSAT. Who says Netflix can’t help you study? 

People didn’t know what to expect when J.J. Abrams was picked to helm the reboot of the Star Trek franchise in 2009. Would it be the gritty reboot of Batman? The campy reboot of Footloose? The angsty reboot of The Incredible Hulk? The Norton-y reboot of The Incredible Hulk?

Instead, we got an action-filled, heartfelt, somewhat confusing reboot of a beloved franchise. The movie made nearly $400 million dollars, and a sequel was all but assured. Four years later, we were treated to the second film in the series: Star Trek Into Darkness.

As is traditional in the sci-fi world (thanks, Empire), the sequel sees the crew of the Enterprise split up because of demotion (Kirk), reassignment (Spock), and arguments over weapons of mass destruction (Colin PowellScotty).

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You’ve done this, haven’t you? You’ve sat down at a piano or picked up a guitar and tried to play it. After a couple of notes, you think, “Hey, I sound great!” Then you try to play your favorite song and realize that you sound terrible.

Most of us lose interest pretty quickly at this point. Some people decide to take lessons. But imagine a beginner who just keeps trying to play Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, or a concerto by Bach, over and over, day after day, hoping that some day she will get it right. She might eventually nail it, but any music teacher will tell you that this isn’t the best way to learn an instrument.

Without realizing it, this could be exactly how you’re trying to prepare for the LSAT. It’s common for people to make full PrepTests the main focus of their prep plan. If this describes you, and aren’t seeing much improvement, don’t be surprised.

Preparing for the LSAT is similar to learning a musical instrument. Playing a concerto or a killer guitar riff requires an array of fundamental skills that allow you to combine individual notes and chords into a beautiful and complex piece of music. To do well on the LSAT, you will also use an array of fundamental skills, like identifying the conclusion of an argument or finding the important inferences in a logic game, to get a beautiful score. You will first need to learn these individual skills, then perfect them through practice, before you can combine them effectively to answer the different types of questions you’ll see on the test.

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Logical fallacies are present in our everyday lives. Sometimes, they’re tricking us into switching to Geico. Other times, they’re being used to argue against climate change or for doubling down on red. And they’re definitely used by the writers of the LSAT to create questions.

But they’re not only used for evil! They also appear in our favorite forms of entertainment. Writers of mysteries and suspense use logical fallacies all the time to misdirect the reader/viewer from the ending. Romantic comedies use them to ramp up the tension. Action and sci-fi movies often overuse them, leaving huge holes in their plots.

In our #MovieFailMondays blog series, we’ll take a look at movies that feature a logical fallacy and how we can use this knowledge to score better on the LSAT. You can also use it to smugly say, “Saw it coming!” at the end of the next M. Night Shyamalan movie. If anyone besides you goes to see it.

The Usual Suspects

Bryan Singer released The Usual Suspects in 1995. One of the movies that ushered in the modern era of the #SPOILERALERT, the movie had people discussing the twist ending incessantly. The movie, a story of five criminals (Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, that other Baldwin – no, not that one, the other one – and that guy who was in that thing…uhm…Jackson Pollock?) who carry out a heist after meeting in a lineup, is framed by Kevin Spacey’s Verbal Kint telling the story to Agent Dave Kujan.

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It’s the day before the LSAT, but every piece of advice out there says you should be putting the books down and relaxing. And they’re right–you absolutely should not be doing any work today, as there’s almost no chance it will help you on the exam tomorrow. You’re very unlikely to have a breakthrough that translates to a huge score increase; you’re much more likely to tire yourself out before the big game.

But I know you. You’re type-A. You’re going to do something today.

So here are a few things you can do the day before the LSAT without tiring yourself out.

Go Over Your Game Day Strategies

Are you hitting all four games, or are you going to focus on three and then pick up as many points as you can on the last one? Are you leaving the Match the Reasoning/Flaw questions until the end? Are you leaving the science passage for last, or are you tackling it first while you’re fresh?

Maximizing your score on the LSAT isn’t just about learning the logic; you also have to know how you’re going to approach the test to score at the top of your score range. You don’t need to get everything right to hit your target score (even 180s can come from a few errors). So go over the strategies you’ve already practiced that resulted in the highest scores.

Go Over Your Question Strategies

For the love of everything that is dear to you, don’t do a practice section the day before the LSAT. Don’t do questions. Put the book down–you’re as likely to freak yourself out over every mistake as you are to actually learn anything new.

However, spend some time thinking about your approach to the questions. For a Necessary Assumption question, what are some trends in the answer choices? For an Ordering game, what are the common wrinkles (3D, mismatch, etc…), and how would you tackle each one? Remind yourself of the process so that it’s fresh when you go in to take the test.

Prep for Test Day

Go through the LSAC list of what you need to bring and what you’re allowed to bring. Figure out how you’re getting to the testing center and how you’re getting home. You can make plans for after the test (since your friends and family probably want to see you again), but give yourself a few hours after the exam so you don’t feel panicked if the test goes long.

Additionally, find 5-10 LR questions and a game or passage to bring with you to the test center to warm up. Make sure they’re easy questions you’ve done before and you completely understand–this is just to get your brain shifted into LSAT gear. Be sure to show up a little early so you can walk through them quickly, and then toss them in the trash. It’s highly cathartic.

Relax

At this point, there are two things that will determine how well you do tomorrow: the specific questions on the test, and how relaxed you are. You already know all the logic you’re going to know, and the questions are out of your hands.

So focus on the one thing you can control—your mental state. Go for a jog, if that’s your thing. Enjoy massages? Schedule one. Watch a movie or some television. Get yourself mentally relaxed so that you don’t go into the exam more nervous than necessary.

Because you will be nervous. There’s no way around that, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But you’ve got this. Seriously, you’re ready. So use those nerves to focus yourself on the test, and good luck! ?

Don’t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person LSAT courses absolutely free. We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Matt Shinners is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in New York City. After receiving a degree in Biochemistry from Boston College, Matt scored a 180 on his LSAT and enrolled in Harvard Law School. There’s nothing that makes him happier than seeing his students receive the scores they want to get into the schools of their choice. Check out Matt’s upcoming LSAT courses here!

Are You Prepared for Law School Admissions?

Join Manhattan LSAT and Admit Advantage for a free online workshop to help you put together a successful law school application.

This workshop will discuss how right personal statement can make all the difference in your law school applications. Even applicants with great LSAT scores and a high GPA need top-notch personal statements to set them apart from the pack. Admit Advantage’s Director of  Law Admissions will teach you how to make the best impression with your personal statement.

Are you also getting ready to sit for the December 2014 LSAT? Veteran Manhattan LSAT instructor, Brian Birdwell, will focus on what kind of prep to do in the last weeks leading up to the test.  One of the key points here is to be prepared to adapt to little twists that you didn’t expect. Brian will teach you a hard  LSAT game where that’s important.  Detailed Q&A to follow.

Breaking Down Law School: Writing a Standout Personal Statement & Strategy for the December LSAT
Thursday, November 13 (8:00 – 10:00 PM EDT)
Sign Up Here

Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person LSAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

You study, read books, take a practice LSAT exam, and walk away with a 170. Not bad, but not your goal either.  You review, understand why you got every single question wrong, and take another practice test. 172. Ok, progress. Repeat your system again and get a 171. Hm. Something’s wrong with this picture.

It’s time to change things up with a more complete strategy. 175+ test takers get into habits that help them throughout the test and change their study habits so they get the most out of every problem. Some of these things you may already be doing (hey, at the high 160/170 range, you’re no slouch), but take a look at what top testers know so you can add to your strategies and join the 175+ ranks.

Know what you don’t know.

One of the best signs that you’re ripe for improvement is the ability to tell when a question isn’t going well. As you’re going through the test, you should have questions you’re confident with and questions that you may not be certain on. Once you know you’re on a challenging question, you can kick your reasoning into high gear.

Know the questions you missed.

After you take a practice exam, do you find yourself scanning it quickly? You read the right answer choice, read the answer choice you picked, and saying “Oh yeah, I can see why the other one is the right answer.” Then you just move on? Well, stop it! Stop it right now! It does you absolutely no good to understand why an answer choice is right. Instead, you need to understand why you were misled by another choice and what you need to change about your approach so you’re not misled in the future. And keep in mind that an appropriate strategy change is never “Think harder” or “Don’t miss connections.” Those may be the goals, but you need a concrete way to reach those goals. Thinking harder is not a process. Underlining key words or diagramming the core of an argument is a process.

Know what’s wrong with all four answer choices.

This can sound simple, but it’s actually difficult to come with concrete reasons why each answer choice is wrong. Often, people eliminate an answer choice because it doesn’t sound right or because it’s not what they predicted. Those are both bad reasons to eliminate an answer. A 175+LSAT test taker will be able to identify specifically what word, idea, or phrase makes an answer choice incorrect. For most questions, there will be multiple problems with each answer choice. While you only need to find one when you’re taking the test, in review, try to find them all. A great way to practice this is change each wrong answer choice to a right one, making as few changes as possible.

Know how much time a question takes.

On average, an LSAT question takes about one minute twenty seconds. In theory, you can spend exactly 1:20 on every question and finish the test on time. 175+ test takers don’t do that. Instead, they go through the easier questions quickly without sacrificing accuracy, then spend extra time making sure they can carefully analyze those difficult questions. In order to do this, you’ve got to have a sense of when a minute has passed. You’ll have a watch on test day (if you don’t have one yet, go get one now) but it’s unrealistic and unproductive to look at your watch every minute. Figure out what one minute working on an LSAT problem feels like so you know whether you’ve spent too much time or have extra time left.

Know the test.

The LSAT is unlike any exam you will ever take. It requires no content knowledge and tests skills that you’ve probably never had tested on a standardized exam. Yet people still continue to seek out ways to outsmart the test. The LSAT tests your logical reasoning ability. Given a set of facts, what conclusions can you come to, can you debunk another person’s conclusions, and can you derive a set of facts from a larger piece of text? These are all skills you absolutely must have to succeed in law school. Why not take the LSAT as an opportunity to improve these skills and give yourself a head start for law school? The LSAT is considered a predictive test because those 175+ test takers tend to do better in law school. They, and soon you, develop their logical reasoning  skills in ways that will continue to benefit themselves.

Have your tried our LSAT Complete Course? Don’t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person LSAT courses absolutely free. We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Emily Madan is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia. Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential. In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. Check out Emily’s upcoming GMAT courses here. Your first class is always free!

In case you haven’t heard, getting a 170 on the LSAT (or a 180 for that matter) doesn’t always mean missing the same number of questions. Due to a phenomenon commonly referred to as the LSAT curve, there can be a swing as large as five or so points from test to test when it comes to what constitutes a 170 (just choosing that particular score to illustrate). Take the last 10 released LSATs (excluding February, as it’s not released):

ISN’T IT OBVIOUS? TAKE DECEMBER, RIGHT? You can miss 14 and get a 170, while June and October tests are often so harsh that you can only miss 10 to get the same score!

Not so fast. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t actually matter; you can’t game your score by choosing in which season you will take the test to strategize around the curve in this way (maybe Nate Silver could, but if you’re Nate Silver, don’t go to law school).

The reason why, in short, is that this curve reflects a response by LSAC to measured difficulty of a particular exam—an easier curve, in other words, actually means more difficult.

So how is difficulty measured? It’s measured based on how many people are getting how many questions right across three years of data. This measurement gives LSAC a “percentile” for each numerical score on a given LSAT—if you score a 170, and that’s in the 97th percentile, it means you performed better than 97 percent of other people taking the test, but not on the same day as you. Technically, you’re “competing” against everyone who took the test in the three years prior.

All of this is to say, when you first learn about the LSAT curve variation, don’t get excited and decide to choose a test date based on it. Choose a test date based on factors like when you are going to apply and what gives you sufficient time to prepare.

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Today, we’re going to look at the game that had everyone talking after the June 2014 LSAT exam: Summit Company. Summit Company had everyone thrown for a little bit of a loop, and it’s not surprising why. It has been awhile since a Transposition game has shown up on the LSAT. Watch this video to hear Christine Defenbaugh explain the four step process to attack and conquer Transposition games.

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The LSAT Reading Comprehension section is just one of the three multiple-choice sections on the LSAT test. The other two are Analytical Reasoning (logic games) and Logical Reasoning. The Reading Comprehension section contains four 400-600 word passages, each with 5-8 questions, for a total of approximately 27 questions to complete in 35 minutes. Of the 4 passages, one is a “comparative reading” section that is made up of two related shorter passages. Skills tested include drawing inferences, finding the main idea, understanding intricate text and the ability to compare and contrast. Topics covered in the reading passages include the humanities, social sciences, biological and physical sciences, and the law. The purpose of this section is testing your ability to effectively read and analyze complex details as is often required in the practice of law.

Just like the other question types on the LSAT, the key to mastering the Reading Comprehension section is to first understand the question types and then to practice, practice, practice. Strategies that will help you effectively read each passage and answer the questions include active reading and note-taking. In order to master Reading Comprehension, you must learn to remain focused as you read 400-600 words of dense, not so interesting text. By actively involving yourself in the reading process, you will be much better equipped to answer the questions that follow. As you read, look for clues in the text that will lead you to understand key concepts from each passage including:

• Main idea
• Explicit details
• Details inferrable from the text
• Contextual clues to the meaning of complex words or phrases
• Passage structure
• Author’s viewpoint
• Contrasting viewpoints

Knowing the types of details that are likely to be needed to answer the questions will help you be a focused, active reader and avoid merely skimming the passages.

The LSAT Reading Comprehension questions test you on your understanding of explicit and implicit details. Getting in the habit of marking up the passage as you read will help you find and remember key parts of the LSAT Reading Comprehension passages. Part of your preparation process should be figuring out the best level and kind of highlighting and notating that will help you most in answering the questions. As you gain experience through practice, you will learn which details are important for answering questions. Techniques like writing notes next a paragraph can help you keep track of key ideas and structural elements.

Always practice using a timer as test takers often find it difficult to read 4 dense passages and answer 27 questions in just 35 minutes. At the end of your 8-12 week LSAT prep period, your goal should be to be able to read a passage and answer 7 questions in about 8-9 minutes.

Studying for the LSAT? Manhattan Prep offers a free LSAT practice exam, and free Manhattan LSAT trial classes running all the time near you, or online. Be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, LinkedIn, and follow us on Twitter!