Most Strongly Supported LSAT Blogs

Law school is a scary place. There are gigantic books filled with absurd Latin words and many people who, all things being equal, would prefer that you failed. So from my perch atop the widening gyre of 1L, I’ve decided to lend some advice on how to traverse the pitfalls of law schooll.

10. Skip an occasional class: I had classmates during fall semester that prided themselves on attending every single class session. This is not elementary school and you will not be given a certificate for the Perfect Attendance Award. You will get burned out and that will start to happen towards the end of the semester when you approach finals. The adage is true: law school is a marathon and not a sprint. If you take some time off throughout the semester, you will go into finals feeling saner, healthier, and happier than many of your classmates. And since it’s graded on a curve…you win!

Not to be alarmist, because we are not in the business of inducing panic, but I would like to direct your attention to the situation currently arising with LSAT test centers in New York:

Mother****ers are filling up. Fast.

In fact, if one were to use a word to describe them, if one really wanted to hit the nail on its head, as it were, one might use the word “full”.

This obviously presents a bevy of problems for the average test-taker in Manhattan (i.e. you) but you do have a couple of options.

Rumors about the legal profession’s demise have become so common lately that one can almost be faulted for not knowing its dismal state. The WSJ legal blog and Above the Law were among the earliest and most vocal critics of the profession’s future, but recently even the mainstream media have started banging the drum. Both the Los Angeles and New York Times have run a variety of stories about the dearth of jobs for law school graduates, their mountains of non-dischargeable debt, and the responsibility law schools have to reduce their admissions.

I’m not sure if it’s that I like a good challenge or that I can’t stand to be on the winning side of an issue, or simply that I don’t want to have friends, but I’d like to take on the whole world in this debate. I think they’re a bit myopic and unduly alarmist about the relative state of the legal profession.

If you want to apply to law schools this coming fall (2010) to enroll next fall (2011), then you probably haven’t taken the LSAT yet. If you’re a junior who wants to go to law school right after graduation, then you’re in this boat. If you’re reading this, and planning this far in advance, then you’re already a step ahead of most people. But when to take the test? June, October, or December?

Technically you have four options, because you could take the February 2011 test and still apply for enrollment for Fall 11. But this really isn’t your best bet. A lot of schools won’t even allow you to apply, and those that do will generally say that it certainly lessens your chances of getting in and getting financial aid. You can make the February test work for you, but it is a last resort of sorts, so I’m going to take that off the table for this discussion (I should note, though, that if you’re not applying in the same year that you’re taking the test, then there is nothing wrong with the February test).

I love Project Runway. There, I said it. Heidi Klum is gorgeous and nice (two characteristics that rarely go together) and Tim Gunn is even, if possible, nicer. Plus, he’s got great fashion sense. (Watch enough episodes and it’s always the idiots who don’t listen to his thoughtful “hmmm…I don’t know about the hot pink ruffles” who get auf wiedersehen’ed that night).

Last week, I explained to you how my LSAT score of 180 was a terrible burden to bear, but in so doing, I failed to explain how I attained that score. So now, dear reader, I present to you my patented, fool-proof, 100% guaranteed method for LSAT dominance (only 3 easy payments of $99.99 $39.99). How can I guarantee it will work? Well, I’ve never been one to brag (at least not to strangers), but my method has a perfect record – it has consistently delivered 180s 100% of the time, every time (and you’d be a fool to argue with results like that).

But rather than just share my method (much too practical and plain), I’d like to enliven the discussion (and simultaneously stroke my ego) by talking about the most interesting man in the world, myself (damn you, Dos Equis). I am going to share my story for the first time – a tale of luck, laziness, and determination – a trifecta of conditions that together wove their way into a perfect storm of LSAT mastery. That’s right, my score was more a product of circumstance, rather than a singular manifestation of my awesomeness.

Since some crazy folks have started circulating rumors about the Logic Games on the LSAT becoming more difficult over the last year or so, I thought it might be appropriate to outline some brutal deductions.

Say hello to the final game from the September 2009 LSAT. In order to get through this game in less than an hour (and not slice your wrists in the process), some crucial deductions were needed.

Let’s take a look (the subject of the game has been slightly altered):

A young princess (not literally) is selecting friends to invite to her big Sweet 16 bash. She must invite at least three friends from among the following seven: Harriett, Liza, Margaret, Penelope, Sigourney, Tabitha, and Wilma. The birthday girl’s parents have placed the following restrictions on the invitations that can go out:

Doesn’t sound too bad, right? This is one of the basic and very common type of games on the LSAT. It involves selecting one group from a larger group. Feeling good, feeling strong, here comes the rules:

So, my first idea for this week’s entry was to write a response to Nick’s blog entitled, “A Ride on the Ultimate LSAT DiscoStick, Seducing the Man with a 180; A True Story”. This was met with general approval by editorial. Unfortunately, the entry would have been entirely fabricated, and I don’t know Nick well enough to be certain I could avoid sexual harassment allegations. So I decided to put it on the backburner.

Although, if there are any gentlemen out there who happen to have a 180 and are in the New York Metro area, let me know. I’m always looking for my next…um… blog topic.

Having discarded my first idea, I decided to waste some time and piss around on Microsoft Excel. My initial intention was to create some sort of budgeting spreadsheet, so I can pretend like I’m making an effort to prevent spending all my loan money before spring break. Unfortunately, I have a weak stomach. I quickly started feeling queasy, and decided to stick with my tried and true method of ignoring the problem.

When people first look at the LSAT, they often feel great terror, as if they’re looking into the face of some rabid platypus that is going to rip your nuts off with his crazy freak bill. Most people attack the platypus head on with the baseball bat of LSAT study. If you strike the creature long enough, in a methodical, patient, focused, and driven manner, he’ll eventually expire, opening the doors to law school success. Hurrah! But for some, his beady eyes and foaming bill are just too terrifying, and while protectively clutching their crotch run to the seemingly comforting, yet soul-breaking arms of business school (which in the world of my schizophrenic metaphors would be a cuddly panda made of money who eats your heart out of your chest with a grapefruit spoon).

With the kind of trepidation that can only accompany clicking on an email from LSAC, legions of test-takers found out their February LSAT scores on Saturday.  We at MSS have done some investigative reporting. Our results:

The curve: Undisclosed.
The questions you got right and wrong: Undisclosed.

We hope this has been helpful.  Unfortunately, LSAC does not release any of the information regarding the results of the February exam, so we have next to nothing to offer you.  Congratulations to all who took the February test!