LSAT

09 Jan 2015

Applicant questions answered, "will high LSAT scores be MORE or LESS valuable this cycle"

“Mike and Karen, as the number of takers continues to drop, won’t it become MORE acceptable to drop a median point in favor of maintaining GPA? Won’t this make high scores LESS valuable? For example, if Harvard or Yale’s median is going to drop to 172, doesn’t a 173 become LESS valuable, not more? If the median drops a point, suddenly, the pool of at/above median expands, right? So, in theory, I should be rooting for medians to stay the same?” This is something we spend a good deal of time loo

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01 Dec 2013

HELP! Must I take the LSAT in Dec. or can I take the Feb. LSAT and still apply this cycle?

I get this question from a lot of clients and with growing frequency in emails and private messages on Top-Law-Schools.com. Some of the lack of clarity in a binary “yes” or “no” answer derives from the unavoidable fact that there are two prominent variables that cannot categorically be accountedfor, namely individual applicant bias and school bias. But let me try to explain some macro level road-map guidelines that should help. In the go-go years of huge application volumes and increases, ta

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01 Oct 2013

LSAT: I came, I saw, I conquered

If you are reading this, there is strong likelihood that in a matter of a few days you will be making the LSAC sponsored, law school endorsed, ABA required quarterly pilgrimage to one of the many hundreds of testing centers to take the LSAT. If that alone doesn’t sound intimidating, LSAC and USNWR certainly makes it so. Bring this, not that. Wear this, and not that (does anyone know if the guy in the Spider Man suit was allowed to take the June test?) The NSA would pretty much not be able to

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11 Jun 2013

How to Survive the LSAT Score Release Wait

(Guest blog from someone who has been there, and scored in the upper 170s!) If you’re reading this, you’re likely sitting at your desk pondering each LSAT question that you can remember, analyzing score charts, and trying to predict the curve. As a test taker who has survived three score release waits, I’ve compiled some suggestions to help you get through this anxious time. 1. Try to relax. You worked hard to prepare for the LSAT and you gave it your best effort, you deserve to unwind no

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03 Apr 2013

Mistake #5: "Oxymoronic" LSAT Advice

See previous – Mistake #6: "Help my GPA has fallen and it can't get up" [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/mistake-6-help-my-gpa-has-fallen-and-it-cant-get-up/] Here you have it – two pieces of advice that are not only going to contradict a great deal of what you read online, but which also seem to contradict each other: 1. If you retake the LSAT your score is not likely to go up substantially or beyond the measurement of error for the first test. 2. You should likely retake the LSAT. In

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26 Jan 2013

By Popular Demand: The entire Major/LSAT List

There was a good deal of interest in the LSAT by undergraduate major list, so I thought I would share it in its entirety: TABLE 1. Average 2007‐2008 LSAT Scores Rank Major field Average score No. of students 1 Economics 157.4 3,047 1 Philosophy 157.4 2,184 3 Engineering 156.2 2,197 4 History 155.9 4,166 5 English 154.7 5,120 6 Finance 153.4 2,267 7 Political Science 153.0 14,964 8 Psychology 152.5 4,355 9 Sociology 150.7 1,902 10 Communications 150.5 2,230 11 Business Administration 149.1 1,971

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19 Jan 2013

Does your major predict your LSAT score?

Ever wonder what majors do best on the LSAT? The folks at Legal Blog Watch (and LSAC for many years) have, and offer the following data: 1. Physics/math, 160.0 2. Economics, 157.4 3. Philosophy/theology, 157.4 4. International relations, 156.5 5. Engineering, 156.2 The five lowest-scoring majors were: 25. Education, 149.4 26. Business administration, 149.1 27. Health professions, 148.4 28. Prelaw, 148.3 29. Criminal justice, 146.0 You can read the whole article at: http://legalblo

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