Meet the LSAT Demon (Ep. 155)

The summer’s winding down, and as the days grow shorter the guys lament the swan song of the once-great Movie Pass. With so many new rules and restrictions on the service, Nathan can’t frequent the theater nearly as much as he once did. Suffice it to say, Ben’s bummed, too. But the slow death of one of Nathan’s favorite brands doesn’t keep the guys from getting fired up. “Why?” you may ask, dear listener. And the answer can be found at LSATdemon.com. In this episode, you’ll learn about the LSAT Demon: the new A.I. LSAT-tutoring platform developed by Ben and Nathan. Plus, the guys answer a bunch of listener quandaries—someone attempts to rebut the presumption, citing the fact that they live with their parents; a listener asks about working for an LSAT-prep company; and the guys decipher some misleading info espoused by other LSAT prep courses.  

8:03 – The future is here, dear listeners. Computers. Machine learning. The whole bit. You know. You’ve heard about it, and now it’s coming to your LSAT prep courtesy of the Thinking LSAT team. Ben and Nathan have developed the LSAT Demon. It’s an LSAT prep A.I. that’s simple to use and a powerful way to improve your LSAT skills. You log in and start answering LSAT questions straight away. While you work, the LSAT Demon sees how long it takes you to complete a question and whether you answered correctly. Along the way, you can access video and written explanations from Ben and Nathan. And as you continue to use the platform, the Demon identifies your strengths and weaknesses with regards to the test. It serves you problems based on your skill level and what you need to work on. It’s efficient and fun and really affordable. Sign up for a FREE 7-day trial today, or jump right in for $95/month for unlimited access. It’s the next best thing to having unlimited joint tutoring sessions with Nathan and Ben.  

10:32 – The Thinking LSAT live classes have been a huge success. We just had our second NYC class this past weekend, and the guys are already looking forward to the next one. They’re hitting the road for the third live class on October 20th and 21st, 2018. Chicago is officially the winner for the city, but we need some venue/neighborhood recommendations! Choose your own adventure, dear listeners. Head over to the Thinking LSAT Facebook Group to suggest a venue. Sign up now.

16:34 – The guys discuss the free tools from Khan Academy and how those resources let you know whether you’ve gotten a question correct or not. Nathan and Ben agree that it’s not the most efficient way to study and they tell you why.  

25:44 – Email 1—You’re not supposed to pay for law school, as any good listener of Thinking LSAT will know. But what if… What if the school you want to go to gives you a 50% discount. And then what if that same school is in the town you grew up in? And then…what if you lived in your mom and dad’s basement to offset living costs? Is that enough to rebut the presumption? Caleb wants to know. Ben and Nathan commend Caleb for his line of thinking, and offer up some food for thought.  

32:11 – Email 2—Jack’s been flipping burgers. Or packing taco shells. Or something like that. We don’t really know why the hell he’s working in fast food, but he’s making sub $10/hr. And that’s just a crime when you’ve worked your LSAT diagnostic up from the 150s to a 177. Thanks to the Thinking LSAT podcast, some of Nathan’s books and Ben’s free resources, Jack has bumped his LSAT practice-test score into the stratosphere. Now he’s wondering if he can escape the restaurant industry and get into LSAT-prep tutoring. Maybe with the big K…maybe with Power Score? Maybe even with Strategy Prep! However, he’s nervous about the potentially low teaching standards of some of the big names out there. He asks the guys’ advice on entering the LSAT teaching game.

43:43 – Email 3—Anon writes in asking about test-prep resources. Are the Khan Academy prep materials worthwhile? Can the guys offer advice on where to turn? With a cold diagnostic of 160, anonymous finds most of the test to be rather easy, and kind of fun. She wants to focus on the most difficult questions, and she asks the guys if they have advice on how to improve. Even though the question’s kind of vague, the guys do their best to answer. As always, they recommend focusing on individual sections and in-depth review. The guys also suggest that anonymous take one of their courses to gain better understanding of question types.

47:58 – Email 4—Anonymous is just kicking off their LSAT prep and they’re taking a course that’s heavy on the theory behind the test. But anon’s having a tough time connecting what he’s learning in class to tangible results on practice tests. He wants to know if the guys can help connect the dots for people who are having this issue. Nathan and Ben suggest the obvious: the course you’re in kind of sucks. Quality LSAT instruction should walk you through examples, and then draw back to the underlying theory. The pro tip? Beware of folks who teach theory but don’t back it up with examples to help you learn.

53:52 – Email 5—Anonymous correspondent number three! Anon is working as a software engineer in LA. She’s got a military background. And she’s got two kids. Now she’s thinking of becoming a lawyer—a dream long deferred since college. So anon wants to know if the guys have advice on pursuing a career as a lawyer. What law school is best to attend in the LA area? Should she specialize in a part of the law that would leverage her experience in technology? The guys basically urge anonymous to strongly consider not leaving her kickass career in software development.

58:00 – Email 6—Persnickety writes in to point out that the LSAC misuses the semicolon in the LSAT. The guys agree that the LSAC’s semicolon privileges should be revoked. Tune in to hear the excellent grammar catch by Persnickety, even though their own email is laden with grammatical errors.

1:00:16 – Email 7—And wrapping up the show is a very apropos email from Anonymous who has compiled a list of pre-test-day “tips” from law schools around the country. With the September test just a few weeks away, the guys sort through the array of dos and don’ts to help you separate the wheat from the chaff, the pearls from the turds. Thanks for the list, anon!