The LSAT is what's known as a "learnable" exam, which means that taking it without preparation is 100% not indicative of the final score one could get. This is well-reported all over law school forums where people took it cold and got a 140 and after months of study ended up with a 177. Or started with a 155 and ended with a 165.<p>The LSAT (especially the logic games) is mostly pattern-recognition and understanding the "type" of problem you're being asked to solve. Getting a high score (e.g. over 170) the first time around is probably impossible because the questions are formulated so weirdly (in other words, you'd need to be familiar with the format to do well). Further, you'd probably not be used to the time constraint and end up guessing on whatever you didn't have time to answer. This article is just stupid bravado, but then again, it's Vice and they're not exactly known for hard-hitting journalism.<p>NB: 158 going in cold is <i>very</i> high (which is why the article seems like humblebragging to me). A 20 point increase is doable with an intense studying regimen. And with a 178, you can write your ticket to basically any law school (given a 3.5+ undergrad GPA).
> Testy told me she too once took the LSAT, though she doesn't remember her score. Unlike many of today's students, she didn't spend months studying. "Honestly, I didn't even know at the time people did that." She says LSAC actually worries test-takers spend too much time preparing. It suggests students familiarize themselves with the test and the rhythm of the questions and maybe take an online course.<p>This sounds about right. I took the LSAT in college after doing some studying. Between my first practice test and my final test I went up 12 points to 168.<p>For those unfamiliar with the test there are 3 types of sections, plus an essay, which isn't really used by admissions offices nor is it a factor in your score. The multiple choice questions are a long form reading with many questions about a long passage, a logical reasoning section with a question per prompt, and logic games with several questions for a set of logical rules. The first two, reading and analytical, saw almost no difference in studying. There's a couple tips to get the flow of the test but there isn't much to learn: its fairly good test of innate skills. The logic games sections, even coming from a computer science background and solving similar problems for fun, were pretty challenging especially with a clock. However there are only a dozen or so variants to the games, with the occasional ringer and so studying by practicing a few of each variant has a huge pay off.
I run an lsat prep website. A cold 158 is a very high score. The median LSAT is 151. Most students can improve about 10 points with practice.<p>Beyond that, improvement gets dicier, as it depends on actually changing your patterns of thinking. The LSAT is a test of precision, and gets to a level most people are never called to think about when making everyday arguments.<p>It’s actually a very interesting test, many people here on hacker news might find it fun to try. You can print this free version: <a href="https://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source/jd-docs/sampleptjune.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source/jd-docs/sampleptjun...</a><p>I <i>strongly</i> recommend doing it timed, as it is as much a test of your intuition with reasoning as anything else. It also uses subtle psychological biases to lead you astray. Each section is 35 minutes. If you only have time for one, try the logical reasoning.<p>Law school admissions is in flux right now, as there is a move to start using the GRE as an admissions test. At the highest level of schools, this will likely help get a few STEM graduates into law school. Mostly though, it’s seen as a move by schools to pad their enrolment, as law student numbers have declined in recent years. Skyrocketing tuition is the main cause.<p>The big open question is how the GRE and the LSAT will be compared in the rankings. My impression is that the GRE isn’t very important in grad admissions, so people don’t study for it. I suspect that motivated law applicants will be able to achieve a comparatively higher GRE percentile than LSAT percentile, as the GRE’s subject matter is more trivially learnable, and the motivated prelaw students will be ranked against the unmotivated GRE takers who are using it for grad school admissions.
We're also starting to see some law schools not require the LSAT for admission. I know that Harvard, Northwestern, and Georgetown Universities are among those that have started accepting GRE or ACT scores.<p>From the article, I noticed an interesting parallel to medical school admissions:<p>> Testy told me she too once took the LSAT, though she doesn't remember her score. Unlike many of today's students, she didn't spend months studying. "Honestly, I didn't even know at the time people did that." She says LSAC actually worries test-takers spend too much time preparing. It suggests students familiarize themselves with the test and the rhythm of the questions and maybe take an online course.<p>I've had mentors say the same thing about the MCAT for medical school admissions, and even our USMLE board exams taken during medical school. It's almost as if it's a requirement for everyone to pay up for a service that just drills you until you can expect the kinds of questions that can come up, rather than actually being tested on conceptual knowledge.
I took GRE without prep as a non-native speaker. Lets just say I severely underestimated it, and went on to do other things in life … the concept of these tests are quite foreign in Northern Europe, so I was not expecting it /at all/. If I wanted to ace it, it would've probably taken me weeks to prep properly (especially all the silly math things, that I mostly forgot about how to do fast enough without mistakes or stressing out). Never ended up submitting my application, even though I had several first author papers as an undergrad, I felt too defeated by it.
Wow the logic games are pretty interesting (sample: <a href="http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/lsat/lsat-prep-game.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/lsat/lsat-prep-game.pdf</a>) They feel like Karnaugh maps and state machines to me :-)
I found the writing amusing, but I don’t understand the premise.<p>If I were a writer, I’d happily take any standardized test, with zero prep and zero consequences. Then I’d tell you how I scored. And, so what?<p>I did not find his manufactured premise of “always thinking I might be a genius at something” too compelling.<p>Suggestions to strengthen the piece:<p>1. Now, he should study hard for 5 months and then take it again.<p>2. Interweave a profile of another LSAT test taker who has hung his or her dreams on scoring well.<p>3. Take 3, or 10, standardized tests in other domains, and report on what it says about his greatest area of strength.
I once went to take a tough mudder without any preparation. I wanted to see what shape I was in straight from the computer chair.<p>Well, it was in Mount Snow - turns out that going up and down large mountains was the hardest part for me. The obstacles themselves were pretty straightforward, but I was completely exhausted from jogging up mountains. I did skip the ice bath, though.
The Wiki article on the LSAT has an interesting section:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_School_Admission_Test#Scoring" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_School_Admission_Test#Scor...</a><p><i>In the most recent study Nieswiadomy took the LSAC's categorization of test-takers into 162 majors and grouped these into 29 categories, finding the averages of each major</i><p>...and ironically, the last and second-last majors are criminal justice and pre-law, respectively.
I scored pretty high (I don't remember the score though) on a cold LSAT, but after taking a course with an instructor who got multiple 180's, my official score was in the 99.9th percentile.<p>I got into a top 5 law school, but didn't get a scholarship even with my LSAT score, a 4.0 GPA, and multiple honors (including PBK).<p>Two weeks into the semester I transferred to the MSCS program. Best decision I ever made.