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Thinking LSAT

Episode 99: Antwerp Email-o-Rama

Thinking LSAT

Nathan Fox and Ben Olson

Education

4.8868 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2017

⏱️ 93 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

00:03:38 – The performance feedback came back for the digital LSAT pilot test—and everyone’s pretty disappointed.

00:06:40 – Emily wants to know if a LSAT prep course will improve her score that much, or is it worth it given her tight budget. Should she should continue with the LSAT Trainer and books she’s been working with instead? (The answer is: It’s totally worth it to take a prep course.) The guys go on to discuss the merits of a prep course, and the importance of choosing the right teacher, too.

00:15:41 – Emily’s email continues with admissions questions. She asks about her college GPA of 3.1 and her current paralegal experience—how can she stand out from the masses? Nate and Ben discuss the best way to stand out (your LSAT score!) and also share their thoughts on how to frame an addendum or personal statement when discussing potentially sensitive topics such as PTSD and mental illness.

00:24:43 – Email 2—Jack asks whether it’s better to self-study, take a class, or get a private tutor with a strong starting score (like in the 160s) out of the gate. The guys weigh in on the benefits of a class and private tutoring as well as give advice on whether to also tackle the GRE when you’re a high scorer.

00:32:42 – Jack goes on to ask about what he should do in his gap year between graduation and law school. The guys make recommendations.

00:34:48 – Email 3—Sharon says she (or he?) has been taking Nate’s and Ben’s advice about doing single sections followed by a “deep review,” and that it has improved her accuracy a great deal. She wants to know if and how she can improve even more. Will it help to do problems over and over as a rote exercise? For Nate, not really. For Ben? It might help a bit, yes.

00:42:34 – Email 4—Ryan wants to know if he should be emulating the way the The PowerScore LSAT Logic Games Bible sets up the games when his intuition sometimes leads him to other setups (and outcomes). The guys talk logic games strategy and how to approach the games with some necessary improvisation.

00:51:14 – Email 5—Eric writes in to ask about difficulties he has with Strategy Of Argumentation questions. He often struggles with finding the correct one of 3-4 potentially correct answers. Ben discusses how to approach these types of questions, and how to find and dismantle incorrect answers. The guys talk about the importance of incompleteness vs. inaccuracy in both LSAT answers and your career as a lawyer.

01:05:11 – Email 6—LLM (anonymous) is a foreign lawyer aspiring to work in a big NY law firm. He or she writes in to ask the guys about the best path toward achieving that goal. With a “mediocre” LSAT score, LLM sees several options for moving forward. The guys offer their advice, and discuss the benefits of re-taking the LSAT to give LLM more options.

01:20:31 – Email 7—Zack writes in about his undergrad GPA. While his recent LSAT score is above 160, his LSAC GPA will register as 3.3-3.4 due to a rough semester in school. Nate and Ben talk about how the LSAC index plays a role in acceptance to law school, how LSAC looks at classes you’ve retaken (and gotten better grades in), and how to talk about grades in your addendum vs. your personal statement. Pro tip: don’t talk about grades in your personal statement.

Help Nathan continue galavanting around Europe instead of having a real job! Give us a rating and/or review on iTunes.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to episode 99 of the Thinking Elsat Podcast. This is Ben Olson inC. and Nathan Fox in...

0:15.0

I'm in Antwerp, Belgium.

0:17.8

Sweet.

0:18.8

And you're about to go to the Alps, is that right?

0:21.8

Actually, yeah, so I'm going to go visit a friend in Basel, Switzerland.

0:26.7

I'm taking the train tomorrow.

0:29.6

I'll be going down to Antwerp's ridiculously beautiful train station.

0:34.8

It's the most beautiful building I've ever been in in my entire life is the train station

0:38.6

in Antwerp.

0:39.7

And I catch a train there, and I go to Brussels, and I switch trains, there and I go to Brussels and I switch trains and then I go

0:44.4

somewhere in Germany that I don't even know and then I switch and go to

0:49.4

Basel Switzerland and I meet up with a friend and another friend there and yeah we were supposed to go hiking but the weather got in the way

0:59.1

The this hike that we were gonna go on is weather dependent so that got canceled but we're going to just I guess

1:04.9

tour around Switzerland a little bit for five or six days something like that.

1:10.2

So what kind of weather is getting in your way?

1:13.0

Well, I think it was going to rain and it's high enough elevation that we could have got ourselves in trouble.

1:19.0

The friend sent me this itinerary for the hike and it was like we had to rent security

1:26.8

like safety equipment to go on the hike and so it's just not the type of

1:32.2

shit that you do if there's really any weather, I guess.

1:35.0

Got it. Okay. Wow. It's not the type of shit that I do if there's any sort of weather.

1:39.0

Yeah.

1:40.0

I don't really feel like dying.

...

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