The LSAT Is Your Wrecking Ball (Ep. 385)
Thinking LSAT
Nathan Fox and Ben Olson
4.8 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2023
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A wall stands between you and law school. Would you rather swing at it with a hammer or a wrecking ball? On this week’s podcast, Ben and Nathan remind listeners that the LSAT is by far your most powerful tool for breaking into law school. The guys also debate the existence of “trap” answer choices on the LSAT, consider a New York Times article’s tips for improving concentration, and critique Dean Faigman’s long-winded announcement that UC Law San Francisco will no longer provide data for the US News rankings.
0:45 - “Trap” Answers - Listener Sean self-diagnoses a hyperawareness of “trap” answer choices and a tendency to overthink Logical Reasoning questions. Nathan and Ben dispel the notion of trap answers and urge Sean to attack the test with confidence.
9:58 - The LSAT Is a Wrecking Ball - Listener Laura wonders whether her years of work experience will make her a more compelling law school candidate. Ben and Nathan remind Laura and other listeners that soft factors are like tiny hammers compared to the wrecking ball that is the LSAT.
20:00 - LSAT Writing - Nathan and Ben speculate on the purpose of the LSAT Writing section and advise listeners on how to prepare.
26:33 - Mid-Cycle Update - With multiple T14 acceptances and a full-ride offer in hand, an anonymous listener reaps the rewards of applying early and broadly.
29:20 - Undergraduate Major Versus GPA - Listener Noah asks whether his difficult major will make him more competitive for admission to elite law schools. Ben and Nathan think it might, but they maintain that GPA is more important.
33:50 - LSAT Demon Fee-Waiver Discount - The guys share information about LSAT Demon’s fee-waiver discount. Recipients of LSAC’s fee waiver can get four months of Demon Basic for $30—or 20% off any plan indefinitely. Find out more at lsatdemon.com/plans.
35:27 - Focus Like It’s 1990 - Nathan and Ben discuss a recent New York Times article on how to improve your focus by taking intentional tech breaks. Should you dedicate time to reading physical books every day? Ben is sympathetic to the suggestion. Nathan thinks electronic screens are fine as long as you’re reading something you enjoy.
49:12 - UC Law San Francisco - The guys critique a screed from Dean Faigman of UC Law SF about why the T51 school will no longer participate in the US News rankings survey.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to episode 385 of the Thinking Elsat Podcast, I'm Nathan Fox. With me is Ben Olsen. We're the founders of Elsat Demon.com and the |
| 0:15.0 | Elsat Demon Daily podcast. You can be Elsat famous. Please share news and ask |
| 0:20.0 | questions on our website thinking Elsat.com. This show is going to air on Monday |
| 0:25.7 | January 16th a couple weeks until the January 2023 scores come out. Next |
| 0:31.7 | deadline you should be looking at is March 2nd is the |
| 0:35.3 | deadline to sign up for the April 2023 registration. You can go to ElSAT |
| 0:40.7 | link forward slash dates if you want to see all those registration deadlines. |
| 0:45.7 | We've got an email here at the top from Sean. |
| 0:50.1 | The subject is overthinking questions. |
| 0:52.3 | Hi Ben and Nate. |
| 0:53.4 | Lately, I've been having trouble with overthinking questions. |
| 0:56.8 | I was typically scoring minus 2 to minus 0 on logical reasoning, |
| 1:01.5 | but I've been seeing regression lately. My latest, my last practice test was bad and I scored |
| 1:08.6 | minus five on LR. Nate, would you say that's bad? |
| 1:13.6 | Well, relatively bad, and it's all relative, right? |
| 1:16.8 | Everything is relative. |
| 1:18.0 | So sure, that is bad compared to your minus two to minus zero, but I mean immediately I also have to say that's one data point. |
| 1:28.0 | One data point, there's fluctuation, I don't know. |
| 1:31.0 | You missed a few, like you're not perfect you never were perfect you were well you were almost perfect you know you said between minus two and minus zero so you're still missing some sometimes if you're missing some sometimes that means you're probably getting lucky on some |
| 1:45.7 | sometimes and my hypothesis would always be that in this one practice test you just got unlucky |
| 1:51.8 | and you got the minus five and it doesn't have to mean anything but |
| 1:55.1 | let's hear what what else Sean says. |
... |
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