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What LSAT test makers say about preparation.
The Law School Admissions Council, the makers and administrators of
the LSAT state: “Effective test preparation should concentrate
on three things: One, it should familiarize you with how the
test looks, its sections and formats; the mechanics of taking
the test, and the timing you can expect. Second, a good preparation
program will teach certain test-taking strategies that will
both save time and increase your scoring potential… Finally,
a good preparation program will teach and reinforce the analytical
and logical skills necessary for success on the exam.”
(A Practical Guide to Law as a Career—So You Want to Be
a Lawyer, p. 37, by Law School Admissions Council, Inc.)
The FlexPrep™ program will teach you:
- Organization and timing
- Using released LSAT questions to your advantage
- How to make a workable plan for each type of question
and section
- Best answer search criteria
- P.O.E. (process of elimination)
- Intelligent guessing techniques
- How to avoid tricky questions
- Predictable parts of the exam
- Test taking strategies for each type of question
- What the LSAT is and is not
- How to read and comprehend complex text with accuracy
and insight
- Organization and management of information
- Analyzation and evaluation of reasoning
- How to think like a lawyer
- How slight incremental improvements can yield huge gains
in your scaled score
- Stress, anxiety and nervousness management
- In depth insights to each type of question, using real
LSAT examples
- How to calculate both your raw and scaled scores
- Minute details about the test—no detail is too trivial
- LSAT writer’s techniques for creating levels of
difficulty
- How to schedule your study efforts within a 1, 2, or 3
month window
Some simple advice:
- Do not listen to anyone during the test breaks…
they don’t know anymore than you
- Do not de-brief with anyone after the test…what’s done is done and you will only create unnecessary anxiety
- After the test, go do something fun and forget the LSAT
Logical Reasoning:
The LR training provided in this course is unique, and it is considered by many to be one of the
main training tools that separates this program from any other. No other program provides such
intricate and useful tools and analysis.
LR makes up 50% of the LSAT. It is critical that you learn the logical skills necessary to grasp
how the LSAT tests your understanding of Logic. There is a finite amount of information tested in
LR, an aspect of this section that allows FLEXPREP™ to teach you exactly what the LSAT will test.
This section is very similar to mathăyou can learn the principles they will test. FLEXPREP™ will
teach them to you, showing you how they apply using actual LSAT questions.
Learn...
- The basic argumentăpremises, statements, givens and conclusions
- How to analyze the validity of arguments (Keep in mind the LSAT cannot test your knowledge of facts...
they provide all the facts. All you need to know is the process of valid and invalid arguments. You will
become conscious of your reasoning process as you practice.)
- The critical –If A then B” basic logical formula and all of the logical fallacies that flow from it
- To analyze questions with Venn type diagrams to assist you in visualizing the content
- Strategies to organize the questions into Stimulus Material (SM), Question Stems (QS), and Answer Choices (AC)
- Details about thought reversers
- Details about the 10 question types as analyzed from 333 actual LR questions...
- Find a conclusion or draw an inference (20%)
- Find an unstated assumptionăpremise (17%)
- Find a flaw in the reasoning (14%)
- Analyze a method of reasoning, principle, rationale or find an argumentęs logic (12%)
- Weaken an argument (11%)
- Find a parallel structure (8%)
- Analyze an exchange (7%)
- Analyze the structure of an argument (6%)
- Support/explain a conclusion (5%)
- Explain a contradiction (3%)
Analytical Reasoning:
The AR training provided in this course will test your ability to reasonăfind relationships between facts
and rules. You will learn to master the formula: (facts + law) + logic = argument. The facts are provided
on the test. The law (rules) are provided on the test. You will provide the logic, and that logic is what
the LSAT tests.
This section also tests your ability to manage information. This type of question is typically considered
the most difficult. Improvements in AR will have direct crossover to LR. FLEXPREP™ provides detailed
explanatory diagrams for every single set of questions to ensure you understand the reasoning and the logical
analysis. There is one AR graded section on the exam, which covers approximately 25% of the exam. Typically,
there are 4 problem sets (sometimes referred to as puzzles or games) and each set has about 6 questions for
a total of approximately 24-25 questions. The questions in this section are based on a set of conditions. A
diagram may be helpful in the answer process. Select the best answer to each question, and mark the
corresponding space on the answer sheet. The best answer must satisfy all relevant conditions.
Learn...
- How to identify and diagram each question type
- How to use the "decision tree" taught only in FLEXPREP™ materials
- MBT = must be true
- MBF = must be false
- CBT = could be true
- CBF = could be false
- MBT = cannot be false
- MBF = cannot be true
- Strategies to help you decide which one of the AC satisfies all of the conditions
- A unique method of attack taught exclusively by the FLEXPREP™ system (The key to answering AR
questions is finding the missing link. In every question, there is an unstated or missing assumption. Find
it and you can solve the puzzle. FLEXPREP™ provides insights gained over several years that can help you
to understand this concept and to become skilled at finding that missing link.)
Reading Comprehension:
The RC training provided in this course includes 4 passages consisting of approximately 450 words. There
will be 5-8 questions per section for a total of 26-28 questions.
Law Services states that the purpose of Reading Comprehension is to measure your ability to read, with
understanding and insight, examples of lengthy and complex materials similar to those commonly encountered
in law school. What they don't mention is that these questions test your reading and reasoning abilities
under extreme time pressure.
Passages are drawn from: Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Ethics, Philosophy and Law. In
other words, these passages can come from just about anywhere and the content is dense and scholarly. Test
writers have purposefully made these passages difficult to understand by removing text, causing items to
jump from one to the next without any transitions.
There are 7 types of questions:
- The main idea or primary purpose
- The meaning or functions of words or phrases used in the passage
- Information explicitly stated in the passage
- Information or ideas that can be inferred
- Organization of the passage
- Application of the information to new context
- Tone of the passage or author's attitude
Learn...
- FLEXPREP's specific approaches for each type of question (You will have about 7-8.5 minutes per passage.)
- The Search and Rescue technique taught exclusively by the FLEXPREP™ system
- How to analyze the QS for clues to answers
- Through active reading practice
- Questions to ask while you are reading that help to summarize the passage and to extract the important information
- Details about "Gimmies"
- How to apply POE and how to disprove AC
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