Change the World, Get a Better LSAT Score (Ep. 112)

Autumn is in full swing (*offer does not apply in LA). The guys tackle a few listener emails, then go deeper on their discussion of accommodated testing. But first, Nathan talks about cheap seats at the World Series and the guys lament the current state of politics playing out 140 characters at a time. If you want to change the world for the better, start by getting your best LSAT score. And start on that path with this free prep course from Nathan and this free prep course from Ben. Just do it already. The world needs you.

05:30 – More schools are jumping aboard the GRE-to-law-school train: Washington University in St. Louis and Columbia Law. Alongside Columbia, many of the top 14 schools are now accepting the GRE. Still, Nathan and Ben believe the LSAT has plenty of staying power—primarily due to the GRE’s brain-crushing math sections, which present significant challenges to most language-savvy law school applicants. Srsly. When was the last time you found the area of a circle? How about the surface area of a sphere?

09:50 – Bad news for would-be California lawyers, and good news for existing California lawyers: It’s not going to get any easier to become a lawyer in the state of California. The California Supreme Court has decided that they will not lower the Bar exam passing score. The guys hypothesize why the California Supreme Court may have reached that decision.

18:17 – Dion wrote a very kind comment on the Thinking LSAT website thanking the guys for the podcast, which helped him push his untimed score into the mid 130s. With a goal of scoring 146 on the LSAT to gain entry to Barry Law, Dion hopes to earn some much-needed scholarship money. Ben and Nathan discuss the potentially dangerous situation Dion is putting himself in, and reiterate their most valuable pearl of wisdom: When in doubt, do not—we repeat—do not pay for law school.

32:51 – Email 1—Some great news in our first email of the day. Anonymous began self-studying in March after a diagnostic of 155. With helpful tips from Thinking LSAT and six months of hard study, Anon nabbed a 174 on the September LSAT. Could their secret have been listening to the Last Minute Advice… the night before and again the morning of the test? Either way, nice work on jumping 20 points into the 99th percentile, Anonymous! And thanks, as always, for the kind words.

35:14 – Email 2—After listening to Thinking LSAT episode 109, Molly, a school teacher who’s self-studying for the LSAT, wrote in to air her grievances about accommodated testing. Not only can the testing be easily manipulated, she points out, but this type testing unfairly favors students based on race and socioeconomic factors—generally placing affluent white students at an even greater advantage than their poor (and black, and Hispanic…) peers. Nathan and Ben discuss.

49:05 – Email 3—Our conversation about accommodated testing continues with Greg, who writes in with a borderline (or maybe not-so-borderline) offensive email in response to episode 109. After listening to the episode, Greg shares his skepticism of the need for accommodated testing, vilifying what he sees as a corrupt system that gives an unfair advantage to those willing to do whatever it takes to score big on the LSAT. The guys discuss this controversial issue and welcome your (hopefully not hate-mail) input.

01:03:31 – Email 4—On a cross-country road trip this summer, Molly (studying for the LSAT) and her boyfriend (not studying for the LSAT) binge-listened to Thinking LSAT. As a result, her boyfriend thinks he can score a cold 160 just from absorbing pearls of wisdom from the podcast. We’ll see, Molly’s BF. We’ll see… Molly is a high scorer with practice scores coming in the high 160s and low 170s. With RC as her weakest section, she writes to ask about tips that might push her to the next level. She also wants to know if she’s a good candidate for private tutoring (yep, she is), and if the guys have availability this fall. Guess what. They do! You can always check with Ben here, and with Nathan here. Plus, Ben talks about how you can go deeper than just checking to see what you got wrong on your RC sections—tune in to gain some perspective on how to best review these sections.

Remember, the first step toward changing the world is Ben’s free LSAT lesson and Nathan’s free online LSAT course. From there, if you’re making progress, you can consider upgrading to Ben’s 100-Hour Online LSAT Course and Nathan’s Fox LSAT On Demand.

You can also make the world a better place by giving us a rating and/or review on iTunes… It helps more good folks like you find us. Thanks for your support!