You will find support for much of the material in our LSAT prep-manual on this site.
First, a few reminders:
A simple truth. The LSAT is given to keep you outof law school. Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist (we are, after all, called The ProTesters!) but this nefarious roadblock is not here to help you get into law school. This is the worst of the graduate school entrance exams. There is little, if any, "law" on it. The MCAT has science for science majors. The GMAT has math for business majors. Even the GRE has general verbal, reasoning and math questions for liberal arts majors now hoping to specialize in something. What exactly is on the LSAT that has anything to do with what you have taken in school, or are about to take in law school?next to nothing. Instead, this test is designed to weed people out, pure and simple.
The LSAT is a very effective scapegoat for admissions departments that are besieged with more applications than they can possibly be expected to carefully consider. Law schools can reject the majority of their applicants quickly, definitively and cheaply with the aid of this test, but only if the distribution of scores cooperates with this agenda (it does). It is scored on a pre-determined curve that guarantees that only a select few will "qualify" for the elite law schools (or, more accurately, only a small, fixed percentage will be allowedto achieve scores above a particular threshold. Law schools need this data to "justify" the decisions they make. In fact, this score, coupled with (but largely overshadowing) your GPA, will enable admissions offices to render a large portion of their decisions with the use of a mathematical formula resulting from the combination of these two numbers. They don't incur the added time/expense/effort of reading applications unless/until they haveto (to meet various "targets," to allow for "legacies," etc.).
That is the cold, hard, economic truth. The LSAT, once again, is not given to get you into law school. It is given to keep you out. The test is not fair, it is not objective and it has little, if anything to do with law school. The good news: it is remarkably consistent and thus, predictable, in its make-up.
The LSAT is scored on scale of 61 points, from 120 to 180, in one point increments. There are 101 scored questions on the exam (plus an experimental section and a writing sample that are both un-scored. In theory, each question is worth ~.6 points (61 points over 101 questions). However, at different points along the curve, you may find that an additional question in either direction will not alter your score. More importantly, the percentile ranking that each score corresponds to (which is actually the more relevant factor in determining which schools will accept you), alters drastically in different score ranges. Thus, a five point increase from 135 to 140 means little (you will have few, if any acceptances), whereas an increase from 152 to 157 (still a five point increase) will significantlyincrease the number of applicants you surpass, and therefore, the number of schools you will likely get into. (Along those lines, an increase from 172 to 177 really means very little as well, unless, perhaps, you have your heart set on one specificschool. A person with a 172 will definitely be accepted into a number of outstanding law schools. If you don't get into a particular school with a 172, there's probably something elsewrong with your application.)
The average score is approximately 151, with fewer than 20% of the applicants scoring 160 or above. (Fewer than 3% will get above 170, or, for that matter, below 130.) Like the SAT, each individual test administration has its own unique curve, but the percentage of scores above a few key intermittent thresholds (170, 160, 150, etc.), remains remarkably consistent.
| Initial LSAT score | Approximate percentile ranking | With 20% score improvement | New percentile ranking |
| 130 | 3 | 140 | 15 |
| 140 | 15 | 148 | 40 |
| 150 | 45 | 156 | 70 |
| 160 | 85 | 164 | 92 |
| 170 | 98 | 172 | 99 |
The first task at hand is to determine your target score. Take a practice LSAT. We recommend that you purchase the series of books put out by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), named "10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests," (herein referred to as "10 Real"), "10 More, Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests," ("10 More"), and "The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests" ("Next 10"). These books are available in most bookstores, online, etc., and they contain previously administered actual LSATs (minus the experimental section). Buy at least one of these books (our homework questions will oftimes include additional assignments from "10 More") and take a timedexam. See what your score is (the answers and scoring key are at the back of each exam). See what the average score was for "first-year's" (new applicants, not transfer students) at the schools you are considering applying to (from their websites, literature, etc.). This will give you a sense of what you're up against.
Next, make a reasonable assessment of your situation. Do you have three weeks to raise your score 18 points (highlyunlikely), or six months to increase by 4 points (very attainable)? Notice the breakdown of your performance by subject. Which area do you seem to need the most help in (for most people, it is the "Games" section). Plan your preparation according to your individual needs, with the understanding that those needs may change as your preparation progresses. You must learn to "build" your score based on the strengths and weaknesses that your exam scores suggest about you. *Leaving out a game or a passage from time to time may be the best way to improve your efficiency, and thus, your overall score. (More on this later.)
(*Note, there is no "guessing penalty," (additional points are notsubtracted for wrong answers, like on the SAT) so you should never leave a question blank -- even if you haven't read it.)
Beware the companies that tout their average score improvements. An eight point average score improvement, while seemingly impressive, is not so hard to achieve if you start out with students scoring in the 130s. A more relevant question would be the averagepercentage of improvement, which will balance out for all starting scores. (Thus, raising a 140 to a 148 is roughly equivalent to raising a 165 to a 168. In each case, the score was increased by 20% of the remainingpoints.) Our average improvement has been approximately 20%.
There are three scored question categories, commonly known as:
There is also an un-scored section 35 minutes in length, and a 30 minute writing sample at the very end of the exam.
There will be a total of 101 scored question, spread over four sections, each of 35 minutes length. The un-scored "experimental" section will be a repeat of one of these four sections in format, which may occur at any time during the exam. Several different experimental sections will be given during any given test administration. Where you happen to sit will determine which subject, and during which section of the exam, your experimental section will be. It will be used (allegedly) to pre-test questions for future exams. More importantly for you, it will be 35 extra minutes of anguish that will serve to wear you down and lower your performance on the relevant sections. Remember, the test-writers aren't rooting for you. They are paid to keep your score down.
The test questions/answers/passages are extremely precise in their wording, and it is this fastidious usage of language that waylays many individuals. Most people are somewhat ambiguous in their daily communications. They commonly misuse, misunderstand &/or misrepresent instructions and information. People don't always mean (or even fully understand) exactly what they say, nor do they always say exactly what they mean. The LSAT will exploit those ambiguities mercilessly. For example:
Every athlete in our school is also in the music program. There are 145 people in the music program in our school. The number of athletes in our school is, therefore:
If you are even remotely unsure of the correct answer, you are a potential victim of LSAT-speak. (Does that mean that if you are not at all uncertain, that you are "immune?"?no, it does not.) Don't worry. This simply means that you are in need of assistance, which is you have this book in the first place. (The correct answer, by the way, is B.)
The good news is that such flaws, inaccuracies and gaps in logic are correctable, and, they are frequently the basis for determining the credited responses to LSAT questions. In other words, once you speak LSAT, you are on your way to an excellent score.
You must learn to think like an LSAT-writer. You must learn to "speak LSAT" (a distant cousin to English, or rather, American). The Skinny will help you. We are fluent in LSAT.
There are three main categories of questions:
Though there is more than one way to skin a cat, we recommend that they be attempted in that order: "which" questions first, "if" questions next, and "suppose" questions last (if at all).
There are, however, other considerations as well. A question that asks for things that "must be true (or false)" is usually easier than one that asks for things that "could be true (or false)." A question that contains the capitalized word "NOT" or "EXCEPT" is usually one to save for later or skip entirely. (Yes, you still should select an answer--more on this later.) More importantly,
feel free notto answer the questions in the order presented by the test-writers.
Let's look at the question types individually.
A "which" question (whether or not it actually begins with the word "which") is defined as a question that does not add new information to the game, but rather, asks you about deductions you have made, or about (im)possible scenarios:
Which of the following is an acceptable list of characters for the second scene?
Which of the following is NOT possible?
All of the following may occur on Tuesday EXCEPT
Each of the following is a possible alignment EXCEPT
An "if" question adds new information to the game that is to be considered valid for that question only:
If Johnny is on team 3, which of the following must be true?
If the blue shirt is cotton, which of the following is possible?
If the sculpture is on the third floor, which of the following can be true?
A "suppose" question changes the original rules of the game.These are fairly rare, and potentially very time-consuming. Perhaps they should be avoided altogether:
Assume that Monday is no longer the day with three sessions. Which of the following days must now have sessions?Suppose the management meeting is moved to the morning. Which of the following is a complete and accurate list of the meetings that could be scheduled in the afternoon?
For many people, the Games section is the most challenging and uncomfortable part of the LSAT. The rules and restrictions are subtle and tricky, and the scenarios require the creation of both a system of symbolization and a unique vocabulary all their own. Meticulous attention to detail and strict adherence to the clues is mandatory. The good news: the Games section is almost maniacally consistent in nature and application. They say what they mean and mean what they say.We just have to listen carefully.
Each game starts with an introductory paragraph, or "set-up," which provides the setting of the game. There will usually be two or more categories of elements: people and seats, teachers and subjects, events and starting times, etc., which must be prioritized. One category generally can be thought of as fixed, while the rest of the categories are in flux. The fixed category, usually the one more intuitively understood: days of the week, order of occurrence, rankings -- can be thought of and used as a diagram (think of a board --> -- game, this is "the board"). The other category(s) are the --> -- variables that will fill in the diagram in a variety of --> -- possible alignments (think "game pieces"). This probably --> -- soundsharder than it is. Let's take a look at a --> -- game to see what this is all about.
Six lectures are to be held consecutively on Monday at the local college. Each meets for 55 minutes, beginning on the hour, starting at 10AM. The final lecture will therefore begin at 3PM. The lectures are named A, B, C, D, E and F, but are not necessarily presented in that order.
Lecture C precedes lecture D.
Lecture A precedes lecture E.
The final lecture will be lecture B.
Lecture F will occur at some time between lectures A and C.
A) Lecture F occurs at 10AM
B) Lecture C occurs at 2PM
C) The 1PM lecture will be Lecture A
D) The 2PM lecture will be Lecture D
E) Lecture A occurs at noon
A) Lecture C occurs at 10AM
B) Lecture F occurs at 2PM
C) The 11AM lecture will be Lecture F
D) There will be exactly two lectures between Lecture B and
Lecture C
E) Lecture A occurs at noon
A) Lecture F occurs at 1PM
B) Lecture A occurs at 11AM
C) Lecture C occurs at 2PM
D) Lecture E occurs immediately before Lecture B
E) Lecture F occurs after both Lectures D and E
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 5
A) Lecture A is earlier than lecture D
B) Lecture D immediately precedes lecture E
C) C is the 1:00 lecture
D) Lecture E is immediately after lecture A
E) Lecture D is immediately followed by lecture F
*See the manual for detailed explanations for this game.
Amenhotep, Cleopatra, Imhotep, Nefertiti, Osiris and Tutankhamen each work leading tour groups through the Origins of Civilization Museum. Each of them leads the tours one day per week according to the following conditions:
Amenhotep leads the tours earlier in the week than Nefertiti does.
The museum is closed on Sunday.
Cleopatra leads the tours earlier in the week than does Osiris.
Tutankhamen leads the tours on Monday.
Imhotep leads the tours somewhere between the days on which Amenhotep and Cleopatra lead them.
A) Imhotep works on Wednesday
B) Imhotep works on Thursday
C) Osiris works on Friday
D) Nefertiti works on Friday
E)Cleopatra works on Wednesday
A) Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
B) Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
C) Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
D) Thursday, Friday and Saturday
E) Friday and Saturday
A) Osiris works on Saturday
B) Amenhotep works earlier in the week than does Imhotep
C) Imhotep works on Thursday
D) Amenhotep works earlier in the week than does Osiris
E) Amnhotep works immediately before Imhotep
A) Imhotep works on Wednesday
B) Osiris works on Wednesday
C) Amenhotep works on Wednesday
D) Imhotep works earlier in the week than does Amenhotep
E) Nefertiti works later in the week than does Cleopatra
A) Amenhotep leads the tours on Tuesday
B) Amenhotep leads the tours earlier in the week than does Imhotep
C) Osiris leads the tours on Saturday
D) Neither Nefertiti nor Osiris leads the tours on the day
immediately following the day that Amenhotep leads them
E) Neither Nefertiti nor Osiris leads the tours on
Wednesday
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E)5
Did you notice any similarities between Sample Games 1 and 2? Their set-ups and diagrams were practically interchangeable!
For all intents and purposes, they are the same game. The questionsare slightly different, but the symbols, the deductions and the diagrams are remarkably similar.
See if you can recognize the common themes the two games share, now that you've been made aware of them. Try the game again. Look for the features that are like those from Game 1. See how/if they help you to answer these questions.