Author: Joshua Craven

The 2017 US News Law School Rankings aren’t scheduled to be released until March 16th, but just like last year, they’ve leaked to the public a couple weeks early. Huge shoutout to Above the Law & Spivey Consulting for breaking the story & publishing the rankings. Without further ado, here are the 2017 US News Rankings (Top 50) 2016 Law School 2017 Change +/- 1 Yale University (CT) 1 0 2 Stanford University (CA) 2 0 2 Harvard University (MA) 2 0 4 University of Chicago 4 0 4 Columbia University (NY) 4 0 6 New York University 6 0…

Hey there, I know the writing section isn’t scored and I’ve heard it doesn’t matter all that much, but I was wanting to get some overall suggestions on how to do it the way admissions people like. I’m taking the upcoming test and I haven’t given much thought to the writing portion. I’m confident in my writing skills so I would just appreciate any general advice.Thanks! Thanks for the question! I think the best way to answer is to start by taking a look at a real writing sample prompt from a real previous LSAT. Here’s an example of a…

Nerves, butterflies… whatever you want to call them, people tend to get freaked out as the LSAT approaches. We’ve already had some posts that handle exactly what you should do the last week or so before the LSAT, so here they are as a resource to you: 10 last minute LSAT tipsHow to Relax and Not Stress before the LSATLSAT Test Day: What to Expect & How to PrepareLSAT Test Day TipsWhat can I bring to the LSAT on test day?The Importance Of Using The Most Recent LSAT Preptests As The LSAT Approaches Since these posts cover your final countdown…

Wondering if you need to write an addendum to your law school application? An addendum is simply a short, one-page essay that explains weaknesses or discrepancies in your law school application. We recently got a question in the LSAT Mastermind Group from a member who wanted to know if her situation warranted writing an addendum to her law school application. I wanted to get the full scoop on the topic, so I asked Peg Cheng, who literally wrote the book on law school application addenda. Peg’s answer was so comprehensive & helpful that I wanted to share it with all of our readers. If you’re…

This year’s law school application cycle is in full swing, and as students move from law school application mode to 1L prep mode, we always get a flood of questions regarding the transition into law school. Our previous posts on the best books to prepare for law school and our list of recommended reading for the summer before law school were a hit, so this year we’re going to dive deeper into more topics on how to prepare for law school. Today, I take a look at one of the questions that I’m asked most frequently: Do I Need Know What Area of…

You need a great LSAT score, right? A score that gets you into the law school you really want, with a massive scholarship ($$$). I’m right, aren’t I? That’s EXACTLY what you need… I know it is. It’s the truth. Because that’s what everyone heading for law school needs. It’s also what most students prepping for the LSAT are worried sick about accomplishing. I’ve spoken to 1,000 plus LSAT students in the last year and I hear it all the time, and I were there once too… Taking the LSAT is killer on the nerves. There are 1,000,000 ways…

What is the length of the LSAT in terms of hours? How long are you going to be at the testing center? Do you get bathroom breaks? Let’s take a look at how LSAT test day actually plays out. LSAT Test Length in Hours – Breakdown The LSAT consists of three and a half hours where you are actually doing timed work. That sounds like a long time, but trust us, it’s more like a series of sprints than a marathon. It’s going to feel like it’s over in a flash. Let’s break it all down: Wait to enter room,…

I confess, I googled this too when I got my LSAT score: is there a correlation between LSAT scores and IQ? For the amount of effort and money one puts into the LSAT, it would be probably be nice if they gave you your IQ score too, but alas, you just get an LSAT score. So is there a formula or chart out there that converts LSAT scores to IQ scores?

What is the best LSAT prep course to take? I need help deciding!!! We get asked all the time which LSAT courses are considered the best. While we can’t attend them all, we can help you out with some information to guide your decisions. A lot of the information you’ll see around the web is outdated and doesn’t account for the recent rise of online prep options, so we’ll discuss the best online LSAT prep courses as well. In addition to telling you our favorite LSAT prep courses, we’d really like to hear from you. Please use the comments to…

*Not an actual law school at Christmas Wondering what to get the law student in your life? We can help with that. We were both law students not so long ago, and there is one thing that any and all future lawyers need help with around the holiday season: reducing stress. Trust me. Finals just finished. Soon enough, your poor law student has to march back to school and go through all of that again. Any gift that makes the next semester less stressful is going to be just the thing they need. With that in mind, we’ve listed some…

Vanderbilt Law School has a stable place among the top 25 law schools in the country. While Vanderbilt typically ranks just outside the much-vaunted “Top Fourteen” as ranked by the US News and World Report, it enjoys a national reputation and job placement comparable to other legal giants such as Georgetown, Northwestern, and UT-Austin. This year Vanderbilt is ranked 18th spot in the US News rankings. As can be expected at a top school, getting in is a very competitive process. To give you a better idea of what GPA and LSAT you need to get into Vanderbilt law, here…

New York University School of Law is widely considered one of the very best law schools in the country. US News typically ranks it among the top six law programs, placing it alongside the other elite law schools at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. Unsurprisingly, admission to NYU law is an incredibly competitive process. To form this year’s incoming class, 8009 applicants vied for just 425 seats. So what LSAT and GPA do you typically need to get in? The numbers for the 2020 entering class will give prospective students an idea of what it takes…

When you decide that you will study for the LSAT, it’s a good time to take stock of your study habits. It takes most people A LOT of work to max out their score on the LSAT (click here for a full discussion of how long you should study). Don’t take the LSAT if you aren’t prepared to put in a good amount of effort. Experts, myself included, typically recommend you study for about 3 months to reach your full potential on the LSAT. This is a moderate-intensity study schedule, meaning probably 2-5 hours a day of study 5-6 days…

Remembering things for any test is hard, but keeping track of all the cases you’ll learn in torts is going to be one of the toughest tests of your memory you face in law school. How do you memorize torts cases in a way so that you don’t forget that key case come exam day? Because torts was my best subject 1L year, I wanted to share with you my strategy for getting a great grade. Here’s what I found to be the best way to memorize torts cases: Step 1: Outline You have to outline for every subject and…

What is the Best LSAT score? Is the best LSAT score difficult to get? How can I earn the best LSAT score? The best LSAT score is very difficult to achieve. Only about 1 in 1000 LSAT takers earn the best LSAT score, a 180. An LSAT score of 180 generally requires that you miss only 1 or 2 questions… by comparison, the average LSAT taker misses close to half of the total questions (the LSAT typically contains from 100 to 103 questions).

Prepping for the LSAT will be a lot easier if you are feeling motivated and inspired to do your very best. But how do you conjure up ‘motivation’ and ‘inspiration’ for LSAT prep? It’s not just something where you can snap your fingers and say, “I’m motivated.” But you have to do it somehow!

Here is some advice for the last month before you take the LSAT: Don’t Worry If Your Practice Scores Are Still A Little Low If you’ve been studying over the previous two months, you’ve likely seen some improvement. A lot of people worry that they have hit their upper limits and can’t get any better. It just doesn’t work like that. Keep practicing and drilling stuff into your brain, and you will see progress. Just keep following the study schedule and forget worrying that there is some sort of wall in your mind that you can’t climb. There isn’t. In…

This is an introductory post for those wondering, “what does it take to get to law school?” At one time or another most people picture themselves in a lawyers shoes and wonder how they’d fit. However, if you want to be a lawyer, you’ll have to attend law school first. Here we break down what law schools are looking for in potential students. So what does it take? Boiled down to one sentence, here’s what most law schools will tell you: We are looking for smart, motivated individuals who have demonstrated an ability to perform on tasks similar to those…

This isn’t the kind of test where you can be walking through campus one day and see a sign on a building saying, “LSAT. TODAY AT NOON,” and then say, “why not?” and take it. For one thing, LSAC doesn’t let you do this (you have to register in advance), and second, you would get an absolutely horrible score way below what you are capable of. Everyone needs some study to do well on the LSAT, but how long should you study for the lsat? Time doesn’t exactly fly when you are studying for the LSAT How Long Should I…

Just like the unexamined life is not worth living, the unreviewed LSAT prep test is not worth taking. The Importance of Reviewing LSAT Practice Tests Reviewing LSAT preptests correctly is the key to getting better quickly. Imagine if you never reviewed or scored any of your LSAT practice tests and thus never knew for sure what you got right or wrong. Would you still improve? Probably not. Even if you did improve a bit, your progress would be a lot slower. Reviewing LSAT practice questions provides you with a critical feedback loop. The LSAT is like any other skill: you…