June LSAT Reminder - Sign up!

If you haven't signed up for the June LSAT, you have until midnight on May 8 to register.  All three testing sites in the Puget Sound area are still open.  We recommend Seattle University for its superior facilities and incredibly nice proctors.

We wish the best of luck to all of our former students who are in finals this week.  Remember your LSAT test taking strategies - make healthy choices, stay calm, one question at a time and let go when you move on to the next question.

Congratulations to all of you who are in your last week of finals!  We knew you could do it.

Sandy

Additional wait-list thoughts and a shout out

It was pointed out to me to remind you that if you are still on a wait-list or even if you haven't heard from a school yet, the merit-based scholarships have all been given out at this point.  You will get financial aid in the form of loans but if you get in, be appreciative and then get to work so that you can get the merit-based scholarships in your second year.

I also want to send a congratulations to Kwan Law who is one of our success stories and is now a superstar at SU.  He is featured in their Social Justice video.  I knew you could do it!

Sandy

Waitlists

It is wait-list time in the law school world.  At this point, you have most likely been accepted, rejected or put on a wait-list by a law school.  If you are none of the above, it is perfectly acceptable to contact the law school and find out when you should be hearing from them.  If you are on the wait-list at a school, first read the e-mail/letter very carefully and see what their process is.  Each is slightly different so what may be okay at one school may be unacceptable at another.  Most will ask for some sort of confirmation that you will want to remain on the wait-list.  Unlike the undergraduate level where they are going for an approximate number, law schools are trying to get to the exact number that they can fit in their first year.  This means that you can be on the wait-list right up until the day school starts.  We have had students get phone calls the first day of school asking if they are still interested.  It is up to you to decide how long you are willing to wait and how important it is for you to go to that school.

The acceptance of additional information will vary from school to school.  Some schools will be going to their wait-list to make sure that they have a well-rounded class so they will be looking at gender, undergraduate degrees or where you are from.  At that point, you will have no control and are just hoping that you are what they are looking for.  Some are looking for desire to attend that particular school.  If they allow additional information, make sure you include a cover letter that expresses your interest in that school and why they are the only one that will fit the bill.  It is also helpful to talk about what you have been doing since applying to further your readiness for law school.

Yield rate becomes very important to the law schools at this stage.  A small part of their ranking is determine by how many students they accept actually end up attending.  They can make a difference in their yield with their wait-list by making sure they accept those that they know will attend.  It is important that you communicate your desire to attend on a regular basis without irritating them.  We recommend staying in contact every couple of weeks or so.

Above all, be polite and respectful.  You are on the wait-list because you have the qualifications to attend that school.  However, you are not entitled to attend that school and there were others that also met those qualifications.  The admissions staff works hard and upsetting them with your anger or frustration is not going to help your cause.  This part of the process requires a lot of patience.  You are still a talented individual and will go on to be a great lawyer no matter what happens.

Sandy

LSAT Watch

Don't trust the person proctoring the test? While digital watches are strictly prohibited on test day, you are allowed to bring your own Analog watch. Check out this LSAT-specific Analog watch I found on Amazon for just $19.95. Pretty absurd - but whatever works, right??? What will they think of next?

Ellie

How to Study

Students are always asking for quick tips. Unfortunately, there is no magic short cut to the perfect score; like most things in life, the LSAT is something you can improve at with practice. That being said, I’ve tried to compile a few Steven Klein study tips for you below.

Try to practice at least a few hours a day, but no more than 4 hours.

Steady practice each day will get you in the right mindset. However, there is a limit – more than 4 hours a day is probably overkill. For those of you who work, attend school full time, or are otherwise having difficulty finding large chunks in your daily schedule for studying, try fitting in 35 minute sessions throughout the day. This will not only help you manage your time between the LSAT and the rest of your life, but it will also help familiarize you with the time period of 35 minutes, the length of an LSAT section.

Redo logic games.

Although it may sound tedious, do not underestimate the worth of repetition. Doing logic games over and over will help you solve them more quickly and gain confidence in your skills.

Review old tests.

It’s not enough to just take tests and do problems, make sure you’re learning from them. Redo logic games a few times. Redo logical reasoning questions that gave you difficulty. Review each answer choice carefully – understand not only why the right answer is right, but also why the wrong answers are wrong. Pretend you have to explain the question to another student.

Practice reading dense material.

If reading comp is giving you difficulty, trying reading dense material each morning for 30 minutes. Pick up a political magazine or your dad’s old college textbook. Unless radiocarbon dating or the mating processes of African lemurs are your thing, LSAT reading will be more boring than your average novel. Practice active reading of dense material for comprehension.

Ellie

Introduction to Logic Games

Hello all,

     We'll begin this blog with a very educational post - most likely a reiteration of Steven's wise teachings in your first class. Hopefully you took notes. If you didn't, maybe you'll find this useful -- at least this way you can't say "HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME THIS?????" three days before the test when you're tweaking out in Sandy's office, pulling out your hair and facing chocolate banana bread from Chaco Canyon :) We all deal with stress differently.

     Here at the Steven Klein Company, we begin our 8-week class with a focus on logic games. Contrary to popular belief, we do not begin with the logic game section because it is the most difficult section. We begin with logic games for two main reasons: First and foremost, games can be extremely daunting to the untrained eye. We want our students to familiarize themselves with games as soon as possible to eliminate “game anxiety,” so we can eventually move on to fine tuning our students’ LSAT logical reasoning and reading comprehension skills. The second reason we begin with logic games is that it is oftentimes the most teachable section on the LSAT; games are commonly an area that offers great room for improvement. Please find a sample logic game below. I’ve highlighted the stimulus and bolded the rules for your convenience.

The host of American Idol must decide the order with which contestants will appear. Seven performance slots are available for contestants, and are numbered one through seven in the order that they will perform. Each of the seven contestants – B, C, D, F, H, J, and K – will perform during the show. Only one contestant can perform at one time. The assignment of the contestants to the slots is subject to the following restrictions:

B and D must occupy consecutive time slots.

B must be aired during an earlier time slot than K.

D must be aired during a later time slot than H.

If H does not occupy the fourth time slot, then F must occupy the fourth time slot.

K and J cannot occupy consecutively numbered time slots.

There are typically three main types of logic games: Sequence, Assignment, and Binary Games, although sometimes you will come across a game which is a hybrid of these main types. Without going too in-depth into the types of games yet, I’ve included some helpful hints for logic games below.

1.     Relax; don’t stress out. Instead of thinking of the game as an abstract intelligence test, imagine you are a character within the stimulus, and this is a real-life situation you must solve.

2.     Give yourself ample time to carefully read and digest a game’s stimulus and rules. Correctly setting up the game is half the battle. It’s not uncommon for great logic game players to split their time evenly between a game’s set-up and the actual solving of it.

3.     Use a dark-colored highlighter for the initial set-up, and then play the game with a pencil and an industrial sized eraser. You will have limited space on the page, and you will need to play the game multiple times in the same small space. Drawing the set-up with a highlighter will ensure that you don’t erase your set-up when beginning a new question. Highlighter, not a pen. Pens are not allowed on test day.

4.     Remember that logic games are just that – games – they are meant to be played. Unlike puzzles, which have only one right answer, logic games have many solutions. If the answer to a question doesn’t jump out at you right away, just plug-and-chug.


Ellie

First Blog Ever

Kicking and screaming, the Steven Klein Company is moving into the 21st century.  We are starting this as a way to stay in touch with former LSAT students, keep current ones up-to-date with last news about the law school admissions process and answers to the hard LSAT questions and hopefully, find new students.

This is a new adventure for us so feel free to weigh in with thoughts and suggestions about future topics and what you would find useful.

Sandy