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Thinking LSAT

Episode 101: Crazy Ben’s Fat-free University of Law (FU Law)

Thinking LSAT

Nathan Fox and Ben Olson

Education

4.8868 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2017

⏱️ 112 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

00:00 – Introduction—Nathan is BACK stateside. But his traveling days are long from over. He’s been bouncing around the west coast since his return and accruing copious frequent-flyer benefits. So if you see him on a Southwest flight, make sure you get him to buy you a drink.

02:13 – The LSAC is conducting ANOTHER field test for the Digital LSAT.

12:14 – Prep season is upon us!

13:13 – The show has received another donation of $44!

14:50 - A review of a New York Times published article. 

38:26 – PIT rankings update!

47:01 – Email 1—[Redacted] asks if it’s worth it to make the trek from NYC to DC to attend an LSAC forum in the near future. The guys discuss the (very few) merits of attending an event like this, especially before having an LSAT score in-hand. Pro-tip: if you have an opportunity to network with decision makers at law school, do so, but not at the expense of your LSAT score.

56:25 – Email 2—Jack writes in with an anecdote about his use of pencils on recent LSAT tests. On his first test, he brought five pencils, and scored a 162. On a following test, he brought four times as many pencils so he could stay sharp during the test. Was this idea a pearl, or a turd? Listen to find out. Plus, the guys discuss pencils as an offering in the forthcoming Thinking LSAT mercantile.

01:00:35 – Email 3—Peter is back! After scoring exceptionally well (160s) on a half-assed practice test, Peter followed the guys’ advice from the podcast, and also took a tutoring session with Ben. He went on to score a 170 (go, Peter!). Now he’s wondering if he should aim even higher and take another test in the fall. The guys discuss.

01:16:01 – Email 4—Anonymous writes in with a thank-you shout out to the guys slash humble brag. After listening to the podcast, anonymous carried Thinking LSAT advice around on a note card, which they brought to, and discarded just before, taking the LSAT. Following Nathan’s guidelines with RC and LR, anonymous nabbed a 178 (congrats, anon). The guys discuss the warm and fuzzies they get from the feedback.

01:19:37 – Email 5—Jasmine wants to know if she’ll be able to take Nathan’s and Ben’s online courses in China. The guys don’t know, but a good way to check is to take a look at the many free resources they offer through their websites. If the free content works, the paid courses should work, too. She also asks about the best way to improve her English vocabulary, and wonders if her dream of getting into a top-14 school is attainable given her mid 140s starting score. Nate and Ben weigh in with some good news.

01:26:53 – Email 6—Tyler is studying for his 4th LSAT take, and has been following Nate’s advice of working on 35-minute sections. Is he making a mistake by not practicing on full-length tests? The guys debate their slightly opposing stances, but ultimately agree that no matter how you study, dedicating time to review your mistakes is where it’s at.

01:34:52 – Email 7—Long time listener Courtney is concerned about her “splitter” status. She has an extraordinary GPA, but is “only” scoring in the 160s on her most recent practice tests. Nervous that her target law schools will judge her for this apparent disparity, she asks Nate and Ben how she can improve in the area of her greatest weakness…RC. The guys discuss the idea of a “splitter” and do a deep dive on how to tackle reading comprehension. Hint: just read it. Carefully.

Help spread the word about the Pearl in the Turd rankings and all of our other awesome bullshit! Give us a rating and/or review on iTunes.

Watch Episode 101 on YouTube

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to episode 101 of the Thinking else that podcast

0:13.4

Ben Olson in Washington DC with me is Nathan Fox in

0:18.0

I'm in Los Angeles nice to be home.

0:20.8

Yeah so when did you get home?

0:24.0

I actually made it home from my trip on Monday because I had to go last week.

0:29.0

I actually ended up flying straight back to Oakland to teach a one day class for a diversity

0:37.0

oriented group that I work with in Oakland and then I had to go to San

0:41.8

Francisco Saturday Sunday to start my new class there.

0:47.2

So then I finally made it back home home to LA on Monday.

0:52.0

And yeah, I started my class in San Francisco last weekend started my class in

0:56.1

LA last night and I will be back and forth to San Francisco the next three weekends to teach that class.

1:05.0

Yeah.

1:06.0

I'm on Southwest Airlines if you if you see me say hi because I got a stack of drink coupons.

1:12.0

Yeah, yeah, so if you want to get say hi because I got a stack of drink coupons.

1:13.7

Yeah yeah so if you want to get some tutoring time with you you're saying.

1:18.2

Book a seat next to Nathan.

1:20.8

On the plane?

1:21.6

Yeah, no, no.

1:23.0

I do have a stack of the drink coupons though, so if you ever see me on Southwest, I'm buying.

1:29.0

Cool.

1:30.0

So you didn't buy your return ticket, right?

1:32.0

You bought it when you were there. But at some point you had't buy your return ticket, right? You bought it when you were there.

...

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