So, you’ve taken the big, bad LSAT. Squealed all the way home. Had a few too many beers to celebrate, but now the long, great waiting thaw sets in.  Each morning you wake up hoping to receive an email from Law School Admissions Council (the folks who produce and manage the LSAT) about your scores. The following question appears both in your awake hours and nightmares: When will I find out my LSAT Score??

LSAC generally release LSAT score reports about 3 weeks after the LSAT test date. However, in actuality, LSAT scores historically have been released before the scheduled release date. In the last 5 years, LSAT scores have been released anywhere from 2 to 13 days before the scheduled LSAT Release Date. Much speculation exists about why LSAT score reports are released when they are, but the only thing for certain is that they will be released early!

Here are some interesting observations we noticed while putting together this data:

• LSAT Scores are actually released on average 4.6 days before the Scheduled Release Date!
• The largest gap between Scheduled and Actual Release dates is on the December LSAT administration.
• If you exclude the December LSAT administration, LSAT Scores are actually released on average of 3.1 days before the Scheduled Release Date.
• For the past 5 years, the December LSAT score has been actually released before the New Year. (Happy Holidays everyone??)

So just how early have LSAT scores been released before their Official LSAT Score Release Date? We’ve done the leg work for you. Visit: //www.atlaslsat.com/actual-score-release.cfm.

Many schools enter, but only one makes it to the top

It’s that time of year again, when all the hard work that law schools do gets acknowledged, along with the work their students put in before they were ever accepted.  The US News and World Report 2010 Law School Rankings are up for your review!

What is all of that hard work that schools and their students do?  If you’re an LSAT student (aspirant?), you might think it’s all about you, your LSAT score and your GPA.  It turns out that we in the LSAT game are not the center of the universe! LSAT scores and GPAs, while perhaps representing 90% of how a law school measures its applicants, are only 25% of how US News measures a law school.

Here’s what US News look at and how important each factor is to a school’s overall ranking: Read more

Only the flexible will survive

We’re getting a lot of questions like this: “I’ve already read the Powerscore Bibles and I’m worried that it’ll be confusing if I now read the Atlas books,” so I figured I’d address this here so that we can send folks to read this if they have that same question.

First the bad news: if you’re about 2 weeks from the LSAT, don’t try to add on our books to what you’ve learned. We love to have people use our books and self-study courses, but at that point in the studying process, you should be solidifying what you’ve already learned, not adding on more.

Now, the good news: If you have more time than that, those students who have previously read the Powerscore Bibles – we call them “refugees” – reported that 1) they found our books to be helpful and generally more useful, and 2) they were able to resolve the differences in the two approaches. Read more

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU5ZhL6CsHg

I wish I had a brother like this (and now I see that anyone can sing with the use of computers!)

Definitely not. Now that all of the follies of April Fool’s has quieted down, it’s time to get focused on the June LSAT.

If you’ve only bought an LSAT book thus far and sorta-kinda-maybe took one official practice LSAT exam (with a teeeeeny, quick Facebook session thrown in — Admit it. You know you did.), it really isn’t too late.

You’ve got almost 2 months left. It won’t be easy to learn all there is to know about the LSAT, but if you are mentally committed, you can still do well. The June administration is one of the most popular dates because most students figure that if they don’t do well, they can re-take the LSAT in September.

We’ve got an intense NYC 3-Weekend LSAT Bootcamp beginning May 8th and a Live Online LSAT Course beginning on April 24th. These courses are comprehensive and will structure your studies from now until the June exam. Both courses are taught by our awesome 99th percentile teachers and feature our flexible, 170+ focused curriculum and strategy guides with 28 Practice LSATs. If courses aren’t your style, our Self-Study options fit most students needs.

For upcoming course schedules in your area, select your location on the map: Find me an LSAT Course!

Good luck!

Looking for a challenge?

Old Blue Eyes

Seven singers—Hiroshi, Jordan, Kirkwood, Lewin, Marin, Olin, and Pan—will audition for the lead singer role in a Frank Sinatra cover band. The auditions will take place one at a time, and no other singers will audition for the role. The order of the auditions must conform to the following rules:

• Exactly two auditions will take place between Jordan’s audition and Olin’s audition.
• Exactly one audition will take place between Marin’s audition and Pan’s audition.
• Hiroshi’s audition will take place immediately before or immediately after Lewin’s audition.
• Jordan’s audition will take place before Hiroshi’s audition.

1. Which one of the following could be the order of auditions, listed from first to last?

(A) Jordan, Lewin, Hiroshi, Olin, Marin, Kirkwood, Pan
(B) Jordan, Hiroshi, Lewin, Olin, Marin, Pan, Kirkwood
(C) Olin, Hiroshi, Lewin, Jordan, Pan, Kirkwood, Marin
(D) Pan, Olin, Marin, Jordan, Kirkwood, Hiroshi, Lewin
(E) Marin, Jordan, Pan, Lewin, Olin, Hiroshi, Kirkwood

2. If Olin auditions first, which one of the following must be true?

(A) Marin auditions third.
(B) Pan auditions third.
(C) Kirkwood auditions second.
(D) Jordan auditions third.
(E) Hiroshi auditions seventh.

3. If Lewin auditions immediately before Olin, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) Kirkwood auditions second.
(B) Marin auditions seventh.
(C) Pan auditions third.
(D) Jordan auditions first.
(E) Hiroshi auditions third.

4. If Kirkwood auditions sometime between Jordan and Olin, which one of the following must be true?

(A) Kirkwood auditions second.
(B) Either Marin or Pan auditions fifth.
(C) Either Marin or Pan auditions first.
(D) Either Hiroshi or Lewin auditions last.
(E) Jordan auditions either first or fourth.

5. There are exactly two possible orders of auditions if which one of the following is true?

(A) Hiroshi auditions immediately after Jordan.
(B) Kirkwood auditions immediately after Olin.
(C) Lewin auditions immediately after Olin.
(D) Marin auditions immediately after Jordan.
(E) Pan auditions immediately before Olin.

6. If Marin auditions first, which one of the following must be true?

(A) Kirkwood auditions before Pan.
(B) Olin auditions after Pan.
(C) Hiroshi auditions after Kirkwood.
(D) Lewin auditions before Olin.
(E) Jordan auditions after Kirkwood.

7. If the condition that Hiroshi’s audition will take place immediately before or immediately after Lewin’s audition is replaced with the condition that exactly one audition takes place between Hiroshi and Lewin, and if all other conditions remain in effect, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) Olin auditions fourth.
(B) Jordan auditions third.
(C) Kirkwood auditions first.
(D) Lewin auditions sixth.
(E) Hiroshi auditions fourth.

Think you can solve this Logic Game Challenge?

Win $200 off any LSAT Course or any Atlas LSAT Strategy Guide (your choice!)

Post your answer and/or explanation on our LSAT Forum. 

Spring has tentatively sprung here in our New York City Headquarters and we couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s time to pack away those down coats and bust out your LSAT books! For those of you who are fortunate to find yourselves on the West Coast, you all enjoy this weather all day, everyday right? I’d insert an audio clip of Tupac here, but I think there are more pressing concerns because there are only 80 days til the June 2010 LSAT! Have you started studying yet?

If you haven’t begun yet, fear not my California friends, because Atlas is going to Cali!

Atlas LSAT is launching our exceptional LSAT course in Los Angeles, San Diego, Irvine, and Berkeley at the end of this month. We’re excited to bring our course to warmer pastures.

Join us for a free Trial Class or Workshop to see how Atlas LSAT will better prepare you for the June LSAT. Our teachers have all scored 172+ (99th percentile) on the LSAT and our classes are small and rigorous.

>> The trial class is session #1 of our 12 Session LSAT Prep Course. Attend this trial class to:

• Introduce yourself to the Atlas LSAT 170+ focused Curriculum
• Receive free access to the LSAT Starter Kit, which features a practice LSAT exam, a proctor video, and detailed preptest explanations
• Experience the discussion-based teaching style
• Learn strategies to solve logic games and logical reasoning questions using real LSAT questions
• Receive prep course discounts

Select a link below to sign up. We hope to see you there!

• Free LSAT Workshop at UC Berkeley – 3/21/2010
• Trial Class at UC Irvine  – 3/31/2010
• Trial Class at UC San Diego – 4/5/2010
• Trial Class at UCLA – 4/8/10
• Trial Class at UC Berkeley – 4/11/10

Good luck to everyone already studying for the June LSAT! If you need explanations when you review your practice tests, visit our LSAT Forum!

P.S. Ok, a little Tupac didn’t hurt anyone: California Love!

When I first started preparing for the LSAT, I found myself a little frustrated by the logic games section in particular but also by the logical reasoning component of the test. What, I asked, could this possibly have to do with who is ready or able to go to law school? In particular, I ruefully compared the LSAT to other exams for professional school admissions, such as the MCAT and GMAT, which test more substantive knowledge about chemistry or specific mathematical formulas, directly relevant to coursework in medical and business schools. I thought the LSAT had little to do with law school and was something of a throwaway, but the more time I spend in law school (I’m a 3L) the more I think this is not really the case.

Logic Games?!

The skills learned for logic games have been quite helpful in two ways, one tactical and one practical. The tactical skill the logic games taught me was the habit of developing a system for organizing information and spelling out relationships. Lots of times on law school exams professors give you a problem that has several ambiguities, and these ambiguities can link up. The best answers are the ones that figure out the ramifications of every likely (that is legally colorable) argument. For example, did the parties form a contract for a lease of the house or didn’t they? And in either case, when one party moved in and then damaged the door, did that party do so negligently? What ramifications are there for each party under the four potential combinations of resolutions to these two questions? Is your head spinning yet? Read more

I wrote a while back about our selection process //www.atlaslsat.com/lsat/blog/index.php/2009/11/16/what-makes-for-a-good-lsat-teacher/ but an article in the Sunday NY Times Magazine made me think some more about what makes for great LSAT teaching: //www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?ref=magazine

Doug Lemov, the main subject of the article, went around and videotaped teachers to create a catalog of effective teaching moves.  He actually filmed me when I used to teach 5th and 6th grade math at North Star Academy in Newark (if I recall, it’s a clip of me telling a kid to sit down — over and over again).  I truly admire Doug’s work — it provides a way to look at and work on some of the tangible ingredients that make a teacher great, and thus, students learn.  At times, I find the focus on moves a bit too narrow, but as the article suggests, the moves are just part of the package — a teacher needs to know the content backwards and forwards, and have a great curriculum.

It turns out that a lot of the moves that are effective in a middle school math classroom are the same ones that make an LSAT classroom work.  Not that we need to tell students to sit down (or at least not over and over again), but keeping every student engaged is part of an Atlas LSAT teacher’s job.  Sure, people who sign up for an LSAT class are self-motivated, but if they’re bored they’re bored!  So, cold-calling (read the article) is needed for adults too!  Be ready, the next question may be yours….

LSAT Weather Fail

Perhaps you read about the challenging experiences of Luke, our young LSAT warrior.  But Luke has now been out-done by the hapless folks who had their rescheduled February exam re-scheduled.  LSAC just announced that one of the re-take sites has been closed down because of snow!  Looking out the window here in Chelsea, I can see what they were thinking, but we’re New Yorkers.  If we can make it through Times Square, we can make it through this not-so-faux-snowpocalypse.

But truly, that’s some seriously bad luck.  In fact, that’s such bad luck that it might just be a divine message to those folks to go to med school.  No doubt some people are simply pulling out their hair.  Don’t sweat it — you might actually want to delay that LSAT score one more application cycle.  For one, a February score generally puts you in a bad (i.e., late) position in the application cycle (sort of like being in early position in Texas-Hold-Em).  Secondly, as can be expected, there are a ton of people applying to law school this year.  Let them battle it out, and walk in, stepping gingerly around their corpses.

Good luck to those who will manage to take that re-test!  For the rest of us suffering through this heavenly explanation of why we’re supposed to say “climate change” and not “global warming”, stay inside and start working through your Netflix queue.