Confusing Answers Are Wrong (Ep. 522)
Thinking LSAT
Nathan Fox and Ben Olson
4.6 • 886 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2025
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When you substitute understanding with gimmicks, you hamper your score now and in the long term. Tips like “10 questions in 10 minutes” or “If you don’t understand an answer, it’s probably correct” excuse poor reading and rushed test-taking. When you accept that the LSAT is easy and every question is solvable, you’re more likely to commit to a problem until you solve it. No shortcuts needed.
Watch Episode 522 on YouTube
0:40 – Structuring Study
Mila started with a 150 and plans to study two to three hours a day while in school. Ben and Nathan suggest limiting LSAT time to one focused hour and prioritizing perfect grades. After she’s secured perfect grades for the semester, she can switch to LSAT prep. Mila and other candidates looking to boost their GPA could also consider enrolling in a few community college courses that offer A+ grades.
5:21 – Undergrad Involvement in Pre-Law Clubs
Kyle wonders whether joining pre-law clubs is necessary. The guys explain that clubs and extracurriculars are negligible compared to GPA and LSAT. A 4.0 GPA paired with a great LSAT score will always outweigh résumé fluff. Schools may pretend otherwise, but admissions officers prioritize numbers.
15:17 – Graduate School Conundrum
Carson asks if finishing grad school before law school makes sense. Ben and Nathan point out that lawyers learn what they need on the job—grad degrees won’t add value. Universities push unnecessary certificates and programs because they profit from them. Don’t pair bad LSAT prep with wasted tuition. Learn freely, but don’t pay for credentials you don’t need.
26:53 – Pearls vs. Turds
Demon team member Beatriz shares a questionable piece of advice that one of her students heard from another prep company: “If you don’t understand what the answer is saying, it’s probably correct.” Turd. This advice is antithetical to the Demon approach. Wrong answers don’t need to make sense, but right answers do. If you understand the passage, you should be able to understand why the right answer is right. The LSAT is easy if you approach it correctly.
32:57 – UC Law San Francisco Welcome Email
Nate reads a verbose welcome email from his alma mater, UC Law San Francisco (formerly Hastings). It’s a wall of text showing what students pay thousands for—law school administrators framing business interests as justice. The email is more about promoting the school’s image than welcoming students.
39:50 – Choosing the Right Law School
Sean wants advice on picking the right school. Step one: get your best LSAT. Step two: apply broadly and early. Step three: compare offers. Rule of thumb: rank schools by cost, not prestige. If a more expensive school is ranked higher, double its rank and see whether cheaper options fall within that range. Going cheaper often means graduating at the top of your class, with better job prospects and stronger networks.
59:57 – Question Types
McKenna asks whether she should study question types. The guys explain that focusing on question types is a distraction. Meaning is in the words on the page, not labels. Most struggling students overemphasize question types instead of careful reading.
1:07:53 – Personal Statement Gong Show
Celebrity contestant and Demon teacher Kaley shares a lived-experience essay.
1:19:05 - Word of the Week - Inexorable
Among them was a rigid belief in the inexorable power of logic to change the opinions of others.
Get caught up with our Word of the Week library.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you don't understand what the answer is saying, that's probably the correct answer. |
| 0:06.7 | That's the exact opposite of the advice that we always give. |
| 0:10.0 | I mean, that might be the worst tip we've ever read on the Thinking Elseap podcast. |
| 0:25.1 | Hello and welcome to episode 522 of the Thinking ElSat podcast. |
| 0:27.2 | I'm Nathan Fox with me is Ben Olson. We're the co-founders of ElSatDemon.com and the ElSat Demon Daily podcast. |
| 0:31.8 | Jumping right in, we have an email here from Mila, who is asking about structuring her study. |
| 0:41.4 | Okay. Hello, my name is Mila and I began my LSAT journey with a 150 diagnostic. It's been |
| 0:48.2 | about one month and I scored a 156 on a practice test. I'm about to begin my junior year of undergrad, and I have about two to three solid hours per day that I can dedicate to ELSA study. I really like and adhere to your philosophy of quality work, even if it's just one hour. My question for you is, if you had two to three hours per day to study, how would you structure yourself? |
| 1:13.6 | According to your scholarship estimator, my 3.91 UGPAA with a 165 would get me a potential stipend at my top choice school. |
| 1:24.6 | How would you do it and how long do you think it would take? Thank you for your time. I would spend no more than one hour of school. How would you do it and how long do you think it would take? Thank you for your time. |
| 1:29.2 | I would spend no more than one hour of that on the LSAT. 3.91 is not 3.95 is not 4.0. And you're just starting your junior year of undergrad. I think you're making a big mistake by spending as much as two to three hours a day on the LSAT |
| 1:49.8 | when you're not getting perfect grades. |
| 1:52.5 | That's my first response to that. |
| 1:55.5 | I agree. |
| 1:56.4 | Yeah, I agree. |
| 1:57.6 | Possibly you need to go even further and just stop studying for the LSAT and really get serious about your 3.91. |
| 2:04.4 | You have a 150 diagnostic, which means you have the potential to get into the 170s, |
| 2:11.2 | and you don't want to make your 170 something sad because you let your UGpa stay lower than it could have been. |
| 2:21.4 | Yeah. |
| 2:21.7 | And it's not like 3.9.1 is objectively bad. |
| 2:25.4 | It's just that it's great. |
| 2:26.7 | Yeah. |
... |
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