Zen of 180 Blog

LSAT Grader App Available, Good Luck June 2013 Takers!

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 21:20:00 +0000

Just wanted to wish everyone taking the June 2013 LSAT on Monday the best of luck. Check out our "week before the LSAT" tips below!

If you're planning on taking the September or December 2013 LSAT, be sure to check out our new iPhone LSAT Grader app that feeds into our analyzer. You can scan in official LSAT answer sheets with your iPhone camera, grade them in seconds, and review your mistakes with free explanations for almost all of the logic games and a growing number of the logical reasoning questions.

Above are some screen grabs from the LSAT Grader app.

More details will come next week! Meanwhile, for you June takers...

Visit the site before the test day
Do not practice after Saturday morning
Do relaxing activities throughout the weekend
The night before, sleep ~2 hours more than you usually do
Eat breakfast, bring food and drink (caffeine) for break
Bring your used pencils and highlighters… they should be your friends by now
Arrive EARLY

Read something before, like the NY Times, to warm up

Take one portion of each section type--one logic game, one passage, ~10 logical reasoning questions, from the most recent LSAT, and check them at end of each section

Compare your score from when you first took it, and I’ll guarantee that you did better

The weekend prior to my test date, I drove to the test center to make sure I knew exactly how I would get there, where I would park, and where the testing center was in relation to the parking. Trust me, these trivial things will seem monumental if any one of them might make you late to the LSAT. I worked backwards from what time I needed to be at the testing center, gave myself three hours to acclimate, eat breakfast, and warm-up my brain, and travelling time plus 15 minutes for "damage time."

I spent the first part of the week before the LSAT following my normal routine to a tee. I went to the gym in the mornings, I went to every class, and I read the New York Times. If you don't have healthy routines built up by the week before, try abstaining from the more cognitively detrimental ones: arguments with loved ones, drugs/alcohol, sleeping late or not enough, etc.

Since I was in the endurance part of my LSAT training, on Saturdays and Wednesdays I normally took two full LSAT PrepTests in a single sitting. I decided that preparing for a longer time than the actual LSAT was the best way to make sure that I was not going to wilt in the 5th section like I did the first time.

However, that last week I gave myself Wednesday morning off. In general, I don't suggest my clients spend any time with actual sections after you only have five days until the test day, as your body and mind will be completely rejuvenated for the actual exam.

I spent those last few days thinking happy thoughts while swimming laps or lifting weights. Staying calm and positive, through yoga, meditation, spa getaway, prayer, exercise, etc., is definitely the way to be spending your time this last week before the LSAT.

Also in those days, I printed out a few pages of the June 2007 PrepTest to use as warm-up material the day before. As that was the first modern PrepTest I used in my practice, I felt it would provide a nice full-circle narrative to my LSAT prep. When choosing your own warm-up material, choose one of each section type from a modern LSAT you feel comfortable with, and print out or copy that to use on test day.

After making sure my warm-up materials were taken care of, I planned out my break menu, including healthy foods like apples and granola bars, as well as energy drinks. Obviously, this is personal preference, but if you can stand caffeine, I suggest a tiny bit during the break to bring you through the last two sections.

The night before, I packed up everything I was taking with me into a ziplock bag, including my trusty pencils and highlighters. By now, these objects should be your best friends, and make sure you feel comfortable with them.

I made sure to arrive at the testing site about three hours early. This gave me enough time to settle in a side hallway, eat my breakfast, read the newspaper, and do my LSAT warmup. Reminding myself of how much I had prepared while doing the warmup was incredibly calming; my mind was tuned up and ready for the LSAT, and I went in knowing I was going to do well.

The key to overcoming stress is to acknowledge why you're feeling it! Beating yourself up for be anxious will only make it worse, so allow yourself to think about why you're worried. After acknowledging, though, you must take control and remind yourself of how well prepared you are.

Counter each of the fears with a solid reason of why you will do well, and get your Zen on!

Zen of 180 iPhone Camera Grading App

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:45:00 +0000

We're close to launch, so I wanted to share where we are...

Above are some screen grabs from the alpha version. Below is a video of the full user experience.

And this second video is how we think you'll use it with our existing analyzer, which tells you exactly what you should study, for free, and provide you with explanations, for free. Hope you're as excited as we are for it to launch!

Zen Student Journal: AmeriCorps and Working Abroad

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 01:23:00 +0000

The following post is the first in a series from one of our LSAT tutoring clients. You can read about their experiences by clicking on the "Zen Journal" label above.

My travel companion looked at me in disbelief, “We are going to Colombia for three months, and you are only packing one backpack. And it’s half filled with LSAT prep books. Are you out-of-your mind?” Insane, no. Determined, yes. After a dismal performance on the December LSAT, I became obsessed with scoring the ever-so-elusive 170, so much so that it significantly impaired my practical judgment.

How was a girl feasibly going to study for the LSAT, enroll in intensive Spanish courses, and volunteer all at once? But, hey, we’re in the 21^st century, and a gal can have it all, or can’t she?

Two weeks into my Colombia adventure, panic over the upcoming June LSAT began to immobilize me. I would be in Spanish class and all I would think about was ways to improve my approach to the logical reasoning games. I would be teaching English and instead of focusing on the importance of the subjunctive, I would turn the conversation towards logic. I would often stay at our hostel instead of joining day excursions to discover the city because the guilt of not prepping was unbearable.

But all the time I spent studying wasn’t improving my score. I needed to find a way to study smarter. As a nomadic volunteer, I couldn’t afford private tutoring and the two prep-books I brought were insufficient. One day, by pure chance, I stumbled upon Zen 180. At first, I was skeptical--a free blog for my LSAT prep? I thought everyone was trying to cash in on the LSAT.

What was the catch? There had to be a catch. So, I scheduled a free consultation with John via the interwebs. Although he was 2500 miles away, that half an hour with him convinced me that I needed Zen 180’s help. John and his team scrutinized the PrepTest results I had entered into their online system and were able to gain insight into my performance that I wouldn’t have otherwise had. Their analyzer breaks down my strengths and weaknesses, categorizing them, and then presents them in a visually accessible way. With that, I can track my progress and isolate the areas that require improvement.

With Zen 180’s assistance, I have been able to cut my study time without sacrificing my learning. I’m studying smart. I no longer feel that I’m poring over the questions and making the same mistakes over and over again.

Because of this, a weight has been lifted. I’ve been able to go out and enjoy the beauty that is Colombia. I am present while I’m volunteering and my Spanish is improving! That said, I still have mini-breakdowns, especially now, since the June LSAT is eight weeks away. I am still not sure I can do it. But Zen 180 is giving me a way to prep thousands of miles away from the States, and in addition, because of their discounted services, I can afford to work one-on-one with a tutor. As I am not the kind of learner who can just read explanations and have “ah-ha” moments, I need a guide to help me visualize questions and answers. Never before did I encounter a test-prep company whose mission is really to help people succeed without just looking at the bottom line.

With Zen 180, I can augment my data-driven self-study with dedicated, compassionate, Harvard-educated tutors, and I'm working on enjoying Columbia and having it all.

Law School Rankings: By Full-Time Employment and Debt/Earning Ratio

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:20:00 +0000

The following is an excerpt from John's legal profession paper, It's the End of the Law School as We Know It: An Examination Upstream, Inside, and Downstream of the Legal Education Market.

John examines why the legal education market developed a bubble (lax oversight by captured regulators, law schools falsely marketing themselves as $160,000-job factories, and an otherwise weak job market), but also delved into the way law school rankings focus on the wrong aspects of a trade school industry. John created a weighing system for publicly available information on the Class of 2012's full-time employment statistics, as well as average cost-to-earnings ratios. The results might surprise you.

In addition to these two regulatory bodies, it would be naïve to not focus on the market for information and rankings of law schools. Exemplified by the US News and World Rankings,[1]the power that publications have over law school policy would be difficult to overstate because of the great import that law school applicants attach to the rankings.

Multiple deans have resigned after a drop in rank. Schools have altered their admissions formula to maximize their ranking. … Schools have shifted scholarships away from financially needy students owing to the ranking. … The fact that reputation among academics is the most heavily weighted factor in the ranking—25 percent of the score—turbocharged the market for lateral hires, boosting professor pay at the high end. The Government Accounting Office issued a report to Congress concluding that competition among law schools over the ranking is a major contributor to the increase in tuition.[2]

While the US News rankings are somewhat right to focus on reputation as part of the formula—for example, the United States Supreme Court currently only has matriculants to Harvard and Yale—these distinctions have little to do with the actual job prospects that will face graduates. Additionally, and concomitant with reputation-related metrics, the rankings place a great emphasis on selectivity and competitiveness of the law school’s entering class, prompting law schools to blatantly fabricate statistically insignificant differences in LSAT scores: for example, for several years Villanova reported its median score was 162 when it was 159, and Illinois reported medians of 168 when they were actually 163.[3] The non-profit that publishes the LSAT, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), has publically decried these minute differences in score as irrelevant, and reports its scores in six point bands.[4]

Remedying these rankings is not as difficult as might first be imagined, as focusing on employment statistics and student debt-to-earning ratios can easily be calculated from publically available information. However, the US Newsrankings collects its own information, and muddies or allows law schools to massage the employment statistics in the following ways:

Law schools graduates who were employed in a position outside of the legal field, like a grocery clerk, would be identified as “employed” in “business and industry.” … [S]chools left out any graduates who were “not seeking employment” or were pursuing further education … and because US News automatically treated 25 percent of graduates whose status was unknown as “employed,” law schools made less of an effort to get answers from graduates they suspected were unemployed … Finally, law schools offered unemployed graduates temporary jobs—as research assistants or interns at ten dollars an hour—which expired after the period covered by the survey, thus counting them as “employed” when it mattered.[5]

These obfuscations of the data are not only morally ambiguous, they resulted in law suits against dozens of law schools that alleged fraud and deceptive business practices for misinforming prospective students about job placement rates.

With publicly available information from the ABA[6] and the Internet Legal Research Group,[7]I constructed a ranking system that weighed post-graduation employment statistics and salary against student debt. Unlike the US News rankings—indeed, unlike any other ranking system publicly available—this proposed ranking system weighs part-time, short-term, school-created, and unreported employment statistics against the school, and compares that metric to the overall number of graduates and their debt to earnings ratios. The result is a ranking system for how likely a school will improve the student’s earning potential and allow them to pay off their debt, while nullifying the known practices that law schools use to distort their data.[8] I might choose to modify the rankings slightly to include financial aid data to better approximate student debt levels, and I'll delve more into the methodology in a later post.

[1]http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2013/03/11/methodology-best-law-schools-rankings

[2]http://press.uchicago.edu/books/excerpt/2012/tamanaha_failing_law_schools.html

[3]http://abovethelaw.com/2011/09/another-law-school-caught-in-a-lie/

[4] http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/lsat-score.asp

[5]http://press.uchicago.edu/books/excerpt/2012/tamanaha_failing_law_schools.html

[6]http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

[7]http://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/

[8]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/education/law-schools-look-to-medical-education-model.html

Free LSAT tutoring in exchange for 4 answers

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:33:00 +0000

We're in the middle of a complete redesign of the user experience at our online LSAT self-prep course, and we need to know what features and products to focus on.

You give us your opinion, I'll tutor you for an hour, for free. It's that simple. If that's not enough, we'll also throw in a chance at a $20 Amazon gift card.

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Free Logical Reasoning LSAT Explanations...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:23:00 +0000

We'll grade your LSATs and tell you how to study for free!

... are now available at www.zenof180.com/lsat/types and www.zenof180.com/lsat/preptests. We're building an LSAT encyclopedia with all the data you could ever want about LSATs--answer keys, conversion charts, explanations, sortable tables for each question type--and hooking it in to our existing analyzer. Which recently had a facelift and is looking quite snazzy.

But, what you really care about is that--when you input your missed question data--we'll not only tell you how you should study, but also explain your mistakes.

For free. There's a sample. Click around and read to your heart's content. We'll be adding more stuff daily.

Oh, and we also are selling the absolute cheapest Official LSATs available anywhere (period) over at our store.zenof180.com. $6 for the most modern PrepTests, which will cost you $8 anywhere else (Amazon, Cambridge LSAT, LSATblog, etc.).

LSAT: 8 Rules for your Highlighter

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:47:00 +0000

I was wondering, what did you actually use the highlighter for during the [LSAT]?

This question has reached critical mass in my inbox, so I figured this would be time to revisit some good ways to use the highlighter on the LSAT. Well, more specifically, how to use BOTH a pencil and a highlighter: that's right, you're going to learn how to dual wield.

Thanks to http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/radwalrus/dual-wield for the laugh.

First off, why use a highlighter at all?

Well, of course, you don't have to. As with everything I put up here, these are only suggestions about ways that I've prepped or seen others successfully prep over the years. If the idea of keeping track of what to highlight and what to underline in a Definition Assumption question gives you hives, then, duh, don't do it.

But! The highlighter is powerful at, well, highlighting important things that shouldn't be erased or forgotten; it is a resource you are allowed, and specifically, a resource allowed in an environment that has explicitly restricted your resources.

You have no idea how much kerfuffle I caused when I pulled out some earplugs at my second LSAT. I had stupidly not checked to see if they were on the banned list--they are. Even though I promptly put them away, the level-headed, albeit stressed out, college students around me reverted to full on preschool tattletales and FREAKED OUT.

My point? If you know how to use a highlighter and know how to wield it, you will have a weapon that provides an advantage over other test takers. Let me convince you:

1. Highlight the question type everywhere

This one applies even when you don't follow our advice to scan the question stem first in Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. I've met with so many clients who said: "Oh, I just forgot this one was a Weaken instead of a Strengthen." "Oh, I didn't see the EXCEPT." "Oh, I forgot it was a Must be True and picked something that could be true."

Don't be that guy. Highlight the keywords once, and suddenly it becomes almost impossible to forget what you're doing. It also makes skipping the question and coming back to it later more efficient, as you spend less time reprocessing the question.

2. Highlight the conclusion in Logical Reasoning

Although not every question type cares deeply about the stimulus' conclusion, and indeed some don't even have conclusions,let me share a little statistic I've discovered after doing every single LSAT question multiple times.

Fully one half of the Logical Reasoning questions on a modern LSAT will require you to at least infer what the conclusion is, and all of those tasks become noticeably easier when you positively identify the conclusion. Even if you're good at "remembering" the conclusion with 90% accuracy while reading four excellent distractors, that means you'll miss about 3 questions... just because you didn't highlight the conclusion.

You're going to give up on a 180 just because you're too lazy to actively read the stimulus and highlight the conclusion? Please.

Note: the bridge statement and other structural keywords (however, but, additionally, etc.) are also good candidates. Just don't go overboard and highlight everything. See rule 7 below.

3. Highlight whatever you're bad at recognizing and remembering in Reading Comprehension Passages

This one obviously requires a bit of experimentation to determine if your weakness is opinion, tone, examples, structure, critics' POV, etc., but I can give my example. I was terrible (terrible!) at recognizing structural keywords and opinion statements when I was reading passages. As I developed strategies, I forced myself to highlight the passage's logical structure, and [bracket] the opinion statements. Suddenly, I didn't miss as many questions, and I had to refer back to the text less often.

More importantly, when I inevitably DID have to go back and reference the text, I knew where to look. My handy-dandy highlights formed a mini-summary of the passage. Now, I can literally read only the text I've highlighted and answer 90% of Reading Comprehension questions.

That level of familiarity only comes with practice, so starting off with a highlighter can be helpful. However, it is definitely worth it: there are few things more satisfying in self-prep than turning your weaknesses into strengths.

4. Highlight conditional rule triggers in Logic Games

If J is not in 4, then S and V must come before it... If J is in 4, S and V must come after it.

WHAT? How do I diagram that? AGH!

Optional answer: Draw two diagrams, one for each condition about J. Highlight the "J is (is not) in 4" triggers. Bam. Now you know which situation you're in as soon as you know where J is, and it's really hard to forget what causes each.

5. Draw your Logic Games slots in highlighter so you can erase experiments

A client introduced this little innovation to me a couple of years ago, because she was having trouble with our suggestion of having a single diagram for an entire logic game whenever possible.

After drawing out her slots in highlighter instead of pencil, she could furiously test everything she wanted, erase, and repeat: her Logic Games time dropped from 45 minutes to 34, and her accuracy stayed at about 90%. Not a trick for everyone, but worth a shot if you are struggling with only using a single diagram.

6. DON'T highlight or mark until you have a plan

Drawing attention to the wrong things is worse than just reading the text and leaving it unmarked. Have a plan of what you're going to highlight ahead of time, take a practice test or experiment with a few questions, and see how you did.

Remember, only highlight things that are universally important or you know you have trouble with. Highlighting the preface sentence in a logical reasoning question is probably going to hurt you rather than help, because no LSAT question is going to hinge on your understanding of it.

Similarly, randomly highlighting keywords is only helpful if you have a reason to focus on those types of keywords. Have trouble with opinion statements in Reading Comprehension? Highlight them, great. But don't also highlight the intro and summary sentences of each paragraph, because then your eye won't know where to look for what. Use your pencil or some other method to mark relevantly different concepts.

7. DON'T highlight everything, or even too much

This one sounds easy to avoid, but so many clients will say "When I mark up the stimulus, half of it is highlighted!"

Then, simply, you're highlighting too much. Revisit your plan from the previous six rules and scale back on what you think really needs to be highlighted. Maybe put some of it in pencil, but more likely, you should just refocus on the basics in Rules 1 through 4.

8. You might want to highlight cases in law school and your supervisors might want you to highlight documents, so start practicing now

Yeah, this is true for all stages of life after the LSAT. I've seen people use crayons, 7 different color highlighters, and my personal favorite: erasable colored pencils.

Might as well get used to it, as it really can help improve reading comprehension, and crucially, finding and/or recalling the answer quickly when you're cold called the day after reading it. And in law school, it won't be multiple choice.

December 2012 LSAT Scores Released Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:48:00 +0000

What to do?

If you're happy with your score, congratulations! Give yourself some time to celebrate, but peruse our posts about drafting your law school resume and personal statement, as well as how to get the best law school letters of recommendation. The class of 2016 application deadlines are approaching...!

If you're unhappy with your score, it's time to start planning what you'll do differently when you retake the LSAT. You're not alone, as a huge number of people retake, and often to better results on the second LSAT.

We do not recommend using the February test for your 2016 application, however: it's a last-minute deal and will needlessly lower your chances. Law school can wait, be sure to do it right.

More about the LSAT scale score bell curve.

LSAT Store Launched

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Good morning, February 2013 LSAT preppers! We've just launched the first products in our downloadable LSAT PDF store: PrepTests 29-38.

Check back if you want more than 29-38, we're working furiously to get things up ASAP.

I also want to introduce some of the ways we'll be leveraging the LSAT analyzer and tracker to help save you money and time during your self-prep.

We've already integrated the store into the analyzer at the PrepTest level. That means that once you've entered your data and missed some questions on a given PrepTest, we'll link you to the explanations in the store. The explanations are from one of my more ambitious colleagues, Graeme Blake: he wrote some amazing explanations for the LSAT in a no-nonsense, straight to the point manner. Check out the reviews on Amazon, and you'll see why we partnered with him for our first written explanations.

What's really exciting is that our developers are working on this same idea of only giving you the explanations you need at both the standard and question level.

Don't recognize this? You haven't used our free analyzer yet???

That's right, we'll build you a self-prep product based on the questions you missed and what our algorithms say you need to learn, and you'll only have to pay for that material. We plan on offering explanations for less than a dime and full curriculum for standards for $10-20.

Saving time and money while studying won't make up for the fact that you're studying, but we're not miracle workers. Meanwhile, get your Zen on and let us know how your prep is going!

The Week Before the December 2012 LSAT

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:23:00 +0000

In case you haven't already planned out the week before you take the LSAT, I wanted to repost my suggestions for what worked for me to stay calm and focused. Such a personal goal will obviously be subject to personal preference, so take these as a friendly-suggested checklist.

I'll limit this post to things LSAT-related, but in general, I'd delay tackling any life decisions or drastically changing your life routine. The week before the LSAT is not a good time to bust out, "We need to talk."

In a nutshell:

Visit the site before the test day
Do not practice after Wednesday morning on the week of the test
Do relaxing activities before the weekend
The night before, sleep ~2 hours more than you usually do
Eat breakfast, bring food and drink (caffeine) for break
Bring your used pencils and highlighters… they should be your friends by now
Arrive EARLY

Read something before, like the NY Times, to warm up

Work on a small portion of each section type--a logic game diagram, read one passage, answer ~10 logical reasoning questions, from the most recent LSAT, and check them

Compare your score from when you first took it, and I’ll guarantee that you did better

If you haven't heard of CrossFit, be careful about their Kool-Aid.

After making sure my warm-up materials were taken care of, I planned out my break menu, including healthy foods like apples and granola bars, as well as energy drinks. Obviously, this is personal preference, but if you can stand caffeine, I suggest a tiny bit during the break to bring you through the last two sections.

The night before, I packed up everything I was taking with me into a ziplock bag, including my trusty pencils and highlighters. By now, these objects should be your best friends, and make sure you feel comfortable with them.

Best Tip for Preparing for the LSAT

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:07:00 +0000

The Zen of 180 staff recently took a weekend hiatus from ripping apart the LSAT to tearing up one of the toughest fitness competitions in the nation: The Rampage Race! Though adequate studying is necessary to score a 180 on test day (or close to it!), one of the best tips for LSAT preparation is: take a break!

The NLP Fitness Rampage is a team fitness challenge in Manchester, New Hampshire that benefits the Norris Cotton Fitness Cancer Center. Comprised of 12 events, participants compete in teams of four from pushing and pulling cars to carrying teammates on stretchers across parking lots.

Like the real LSAT test takers, we each came in with our strengths and weaknesses. John ruled the rock climbing, Krystina endured the mile, and Dan chugged beer in the final competition like a superstar. A few weeks ago, if you were to switch that order around, we would have been bogged. However, using the Zen methodology, we knew where our weaknesses lied and by focusing and training on those, we each were able to pull off a respectable finish instead of coming in last (what we feared!).

The Zen of 180 staff after the 2012 Rampage Race

If scrawny tech nerds that formed an LSAT preparation company can flip monster truck tires, you surely can ace the LSAT! So as we learned, take a break every now and again, will you?

- Show quoted text -

Logic Game Rule Type: Together

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 02:01:00 +0000

This is my third post about the Zen categorization system for logic games.

Today, I'm moving out of sequencing into the bread and butter of grouping rules: together. I'll discuss what they are, how to recognize them, how to diagram them, and detail their interactions with a few other rule types.

Together rules can occur in the context of a variety of games, and are almost always crucial interactions whenever they appear. By nature, they cause actors to move together, creating blocks that limit where they and other actors can be placed.

In today's example game, we'll assign passengers to seats on a bus, allowing us to examine how together rules can work in the same game on two different axes (same row or by window/aisle).

Note that F and G could both NOT be selected in the top panel.

A together rule doesn't specify the location of either actor on its own, but when combined with other rules, can cause actors to only fit in particular slots. Common examples are "F and G are either both selected or neither is selected" for grouping games, "H and G are assigned to the same group" for assignment games, or "J immediately follows K" in sequencing games. Examples of how to diagram these three rules are shown on the right.

Together rules are never contained in the game's stimulus, instead appearing in the list following the stimulus. Like most other grouping rule types, together rules build upon each other to allow deductions and create limitations on the game. While they sometimes appear as the only grouping rule, it's much more common for them to be paired with separate rules (the opposite of together!).

Now let's turn to our example game about assigning passengers to seats. Let's start with 8 seats, and we're going to put 7 passengers (A-G) in those seats. The seats are numbered 1-8, and separated into a first row of 1-4 and second row of 5-8. Seats 1, 4, 5, and 8 are window seats, and seats 2, 3, 6, and 7 are aisle seats.

Starting off, we should have a workspace that looks like this.

Below are a series of together rules being diagrammed, with the new rule and its part of the diagram in red. The first three rules are together rules, and the fourth is a slot rule. In the last two panels, the rules are synthesized and the diagram is simplified.

Note how the "row" together rules are drawn horizontally, while the "window" together rule is drawn vertically.

Also, note how all of the diagrammed blocks have "/" in them. This is because we don't know the relative order of the actors in the together block, we just know that they have to be in the same row or along the same window.

The caption for the image highlights the power of together rules to limit where the different groups of actors can go, and how you can "draw in" the structural effects of the rules by making "horizontal groups" match your diagram. B/D and A/C/E are horizontal because they will be drawn that way on our workspace; similarly, F/G is vertical, because it will be vertical.

The combination of the first two rules shows the power of min/max when applied to together rules. Because all five of the "horizontal" actors can't be put in the same row (remember, there are only four slots per row!), we know that B/D and A/C/E can't be in the same row. When combined with the F/G vertical block, we know that one of those two is going to combine with the A/C/E block to completely fill up a row.

Once the fourth rule rolls along, we can place the B/D block in the second row. Because 8 is also a window, there's no longer space for the F/G block to sit together along the right-hand window. Notice how much more restrictive it is to place D in a column, rather than a row: that's because there are 4 slots per row, but only 2 slots per column. When you think about together rules and other limiting rules as fractions, it can help you see why knowing 1/2 of a given part of the game is much more powerful than 1/4.

The synthesis panel shows us placing F/G in the other window column that has space (we still don't know which actor is in which slot, but they have to be along the same window), which means that B can only be in slot 6 or 7 to be in the same row as D.

The last panel "cleans up" the diagram by erasing the rules that we've already drawn into our workspace. We already know the only two spaces that each of B, F, and G can go, so we don't need to think about their rules anymore. The A/C/E block must be in the first row, however, so we can move up its block so that it aligns visually with where it can go. I don't like to draw in more than two possibilities for a single slot, so I'd leave the diagram as it is and start on the questions.

Logic Game Rule Type: Slot

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:17:00 +0000

This is my second post about the Zen categorization system for logic games.

Today, I'm staying within sequencing but moving on to slot rules: what they are, how to recognize them, how to diagram them, and detail their interactions with a few other rule types.

Slot rules occur in the context of a sequencing game, where the game revolves around the order in which different actors appear. Examples include games based on races, rankings, or prioritizing to-do lists.

In today's example game, we'll talk about the sequence that ingredients are added to a dish: some are spicy, some mild. There are six potential ingredients, but only five of them can be used in the dish.

In the second example, A, D, or F could go in the fifth slot.

A slot rule specifies the exact location of a single actor (the ingredients) or group (mild or spicy) in the sequence. This is noticeably different from other sequencing rules, which rarely tie down actors without requiring some deductions. Common examples are "A is selected fifth," or "The fifth ingredient is spicy." Examples of how to diagram these two rules are shown above. Note that on its own, a group slot rule doesn't tell you which (spicy) actor takes that slot, but rather narrows down the options to only actors from that group.

Unlike most other sequencing rule types, especially trees and barriers, slot rules rarely build upon each other to allow deductions. However, to make up for this, they almost always interact with other sequencing rules and limit the ways that the other rules can be applied. We'll circle back to slot rules in posts about barriers and conditionals, but in isolation, slot rules are pretty easy to understand and apply.

Slot rules are never contained in the game's stimulus, instead appearing in the list following the stimulus. They are often one-offs, but can appear in multiples. Obviously, most games can't have too many slot rules, or else there wouldn't be room for any questions!

As an example of how slot rules can interact with min/max, free/restricted, let's flesh out the above example about the sequencing of adding spicy and mild ingredients to a dish.

In the first panel, we can draw in A directly into the fifth slot. Oh, the beautiful simplicity of slot rules!

The second slot rule is less clear about its restrictions on the game, but is definitely more powerful when you combine it with a clear understanding of min/max. Because there is a maximum of three spicy ingredients to be added to the dish, it is incredibly limiting to include two more spicy ingredients in the first and third slots: we have to use them all! Because there are only two left, we can sketch in the possibilities: only D or F can appear in either 1 or 3, and they can only appear there.

The final step is to recognize that if three slots are thus taken up with spicy ingredients, the min/max of five total ingredients means that exacly two mild ingredients will be included. This also means that one will be left out, a powerful deduction that can make an otherwise difficult sequencing game very easy to finish.

Applying the free/restricted dichotomy to this setup, A is our most restricted actor and the spicy ingredients, as a group, are more restricted than the mild: they all must appear, and only in two possible permutations (D_F_A or F_D_A), while there are six possibilities for the mild ingredients. This realization makes a huge difference when attacking could be/must be question types, and can help you shave minutes off of your logic games time.

Logic Game Rule Type: Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Welcome to the first post in our series explaining the basics of the Zen categorization system for logic games. Click here for a broad overview of the logic games system.

Today, though, I'm going to focus on tree rules: what they are, how to recognize them, how to diagram them, and detail their interactions with a few other rule types.

Tree rules occur in the context of a sequencing game, where the game revolves around the order in which different actors appear. Examples include games based on races, rankings, or prioritizing to-do lists.

A tree rule describes the relative order in which at least two actors or groups are sequenced. Common examples are "A appears before C," or "C appears after A." Both would be diagrammed like the example on the right, as they mean the same thing. Note that on its own, a tree rule doesn't tell you where in the sequence the actors must fall, just their relative position; in the example on the right, A could be in 1, 2, or 3, as long as C appeared somewhere after it. Compare this rule interaction to Slots, Barriers, and Together rules once I post about those.

Importantly, the only time A and C have to be next to each other is when we know that A is in 3. Can you explain why? If not, look ahead to our discussion of min and max relating to tree rules!

Here is an example breakdown of how a series of tree rules combine to create a "tree" of events. The first panel is a summary of an example LG stimulus that would let you know you have a sequencing game. The following panels present new rules (in red) and how they should be diagrammed (in red). Always be on the lookout for ways to synthesize, or combine, the rules into a single tree, as that makes recognizing important parts of the game much easier.

Let's use a series of questions about F in the situation above as a test for how to read the tree diagram:

Do we know anything about the relative order between A and F?

Only that both must appear somewhere before D. A could appear before or after F.

C and F?

Same as above. C and F don't have any rules or deductions that tell us which must come before or after the other.

F and G?

F must come before G. Visually you can see this because there's a "line" connecting F to D, then two blank slots, to G. Logically, you can say: D must come before G and F must come before D, thus F must also have to come before G.

Where are you going to find these tree rules? Tree rules are never contained in the game's stimulus, instead appearing in the list following the stimulus. They almost always travel in packs, so be prepared to combine your multiple "saprolings" into a single "tree."

Finally, let's talk about MMFR (min, max, free and restricted) in relation to tree rules. Thinking about MMFR will help you focus on the most important parts of logic games, and reliably lead you to the "aha" moment when your diagram becomes much easier to use.

In the game above, we had two actors with no rules, B and E. By definition, then, these two actors are our "least restricted." We have no information about where they must go, although other rule interactions could (and indeed do) restrict their placement.

Recognizing your most restrictive actors is fairly easy in tree diagrams, as they will be the actors with the most chains leading to and from them. Pulling from the above example, both D and G have six slots that we know must come either before (in the case of G) or before and after (3 each, in the case of D).

The diagram below utilizes both of these issues and combines the min/max information from the stimulus--that there are only 7 available slots--to draw our most restricted actors from our tree diagram into the slots they must fill in the slot diagram.

In the second panel, D must have three actors before it (some order of A, C, and F), and three actors after it (two unknowns and then G). The only slot where D can have 3 actors both before and after it is the fourth slot, so we can go ahead and draw that deduction into the diagram.

Similarly, and depicted in the third panel, G must have 6 actors appear before it: some order of A, C, F, and D, along with the two other actors. Only the seventh slot has six spaces before it, so G can be drawn in there.

What about our "free actors?" Where could they go? Is there space for them before D? Not with three spots and A, C, and F having to fit into them.

After D? But there are only two spots! Maybe they're not so "free" after all... Welcome to logic games.

Blog moved to blog.zenof180.com, but you knew that

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:58:00 +0000

If you're reading this, anyway.

We decided it was finally time to shift our primary focus to building out the LSAT analyzer (formerly known as analyzer.zenof180.com), which is why it's now our homepage instead of a subdomain.

The analyzer looks good, even on your tablet devices. Check back for some exciting updates.

Thankfully, blogs don't feel jealousy, and 301 redirects will take care of all the links and Google link juice. However, if you had your favorite pages bookmarked, you may need to update them.

Hopefully you'll find the improvements we're making to the analyzer well worth the inconvenience:

Interactive graphs for all relevant LSAT data, including an immediate grader and explanation for each LSAT score
Walkthroughs for all 88 of the Zen LSAT Standards, essentially a free "LSAT Bible"
Written explanations with Q&A forum for all modern LSAT questions
Store with video and interactive lessons on each Zen LSAT Standard
Photo-upload from your mobile device to grade and input data from your LSAT scantrons

So yeah, we're busy! And, of course, if you're preparing for the December 2012 LSAT, we're still taking tutoring clients.

Time to Start Preparing for February 2013 LSAT

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:31:00 +0000

No really.

You can see the 4.5-month Zen of 180 self-prep calendar in the sidebar on the right, but we wanted to describe for the February 2013 LSAT takers how to incorporate experimental sections in test prep to get used to the full 5-section test day. This is what we call the "diagnosing phase."

Diagnosing (time-to-test: 4 months to 2 months)

Take 1 to 2 full (i.e., with experimental sections) LSATs per week for 5 to 10 weeks, until you have at least 10 full LSATs to analyze
Record the questions you miss our free analyzer, and go over them with explanations so you start to improve!

If you look at the Zen of 180 LSAT self-prep calendar, then you'll see a week-by-week breakdown of what material you should be using. For instance, during this first week of the diagnosis phase, you should take PrepTests 23 and 24 with an added experimental section. This means you should be spending about seven hours split across two sessions.

LSAT 101: the LSAT has four scored sections, two of logical reasoning and one each of analytical reasoning and reading comprehension. In addition to these sections, there is a fifth, unscored section, termed an "experimental" by LSAC, which serves as a measuring stick for new LSAT questions. While individual test-takers' experimental sections vary--even those taking it on the same day in the same site--it always occurs during the first three sections.

Thus, in order to accurately diagnose your ability to perform on the LSAT, you should practice as closely to the conditions of the actual test. That means five full sections, not four. And in order to maximize your practice, we suggest using actual LSAT material from older PrepTests in order to fill in the "experimental" role.

So, the steps to appropriately using LSAT materials for your diagnosing phase:

Get the older PrepTests in the the "10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTest" series. The cheapest place we've found is the Amazon store, where you can get a 4-for-3 deal.
Take the first section from PrepTest 19 and use it as an experimental section mixed in as section 1, 2, or 3 when you sit down to take PrepTest 23.
Be sure to give yourself a 10-to-15 minute break after the third section, as that will also happen on the day of the test.
Continue using the remaining sections from PrepTest 19 as "experimental" sections for PrepTests 24, 25, and 26, then repeat the process for later PrepTests.

And that's how to use the experimentals in your diagnostic phase! If you'd like to read about our general approach to LSAT training, and why we even care about approximating the real thing during your first practice, read this original post on the matter.

Cancel or Keep your October 2012 LSAT?

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:57:00 +0000

Contrary to many people's misconception, our head tutor did not earn a "perfect" score on the his second LSAT. No, this isn't a confession, it's a clarification. We wanted to repost his thoughts on this before the score cancel deadline for the October 2012 LSAT, written from the point of view of a 1L.

If you're striving for perfection, be warned; law school may not be for you. After the video are John's thoughts.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the "don't disturb me while I'm trashing your hotel room or I'll tell the press we were running a crack ring from your brand-new hotel and that'll ruin your business" scene. While he ended up getting an A in Contracts, he obviously deserved an A+ in Contract Negotiation.

Anyway, this is the reality of the situation: Hart got a 93%, I missed two questions on the December 2007 LSAT, and I can positively identify a significant mistake that I made on each of my recently completed 1L exams. That's not counting all the mistakes I don't remember or didn't even know I made.

And here's the lesson I've tried to learn: it doesn't change one damn thing.

I've always been a perfectionist; it was a badge I wore with pride while growing up. You cannot be a perfectionist in law school. An 8-hour take-home exam with a 1300 word cap on each essay question is not a mode that tolerates perfectionists.

And neither does a 5.5 hour standardized test designed to be physically impossible for most people to complete in time, i.e., the LSAT, tolerate perfectionists. The two questions I missed my second time around were not difficult questions: each was a simple logical reasoning task that for some reason tripped me up. When I got my score report back--after a few days of sheer joy--I was like, "WTF? Why did I miss that one?" The distractor I chose was boneheadedly stupid.

It happened to me, and it's happened to more deserving people. And it's OK.

172 + 180 / 2 = 174 to 178, not 176.

LSAC tries its darnedest to explain that the scores it releases are part of a band; the number is not a hard value that indelibly quantifies your ability to achieve anything, not even on the LSAT. Almost everyone drops a few points from their practice tests to their first actual score; a few people go higher; a few go much higher or lower. Clearly there are factors at play that don't perfectly measure performance, let alone ability.

Am I trying to say that you should never cancel your LSAT score because you can't sweat the small stuff? Absolutely not.

Here are reasons to cancel your score:

1) You didn't finish at least one entire section of the test.

This one has multiple possible causes: walking out after freaking out, puking on your test materials and passing out, falling asleep, missing the start time, etc. This one is the easiest to spot, and you should cancel on the answer form itself (after cleaning it off, if necessary).

2) You didn't finish enough of the test for you to mathematically reach your lowest target score.

This one requires some calculation and speculation as to the curve, but you can use our LSAT statistics section to help with that. Basically, count the number of questions you didn't reach, and treat them as if you got them wrong. Then multiply your accuracy rate from your practice by the remaining questions. Take that product of your raw score and compare it to the scale score chart. If it's below an acceptable range for your purposes, then send in the fax to cancel.

3) You feel really, really bad about your performance. But, you have a chance to retake for the same application cycle and you have an idea of what you should change about your practice.

This one is your call, but I'd advise against cancelling. You can always retake and write a supplemental essay explaining why your second score is better. As one of our Zen students mentioned, it's a whole different ball game the second time around.

4) You feel really, really crappy about your performance. And you don't have a chance to retake for the same application cycle.

Don't let this happen! The December is a makeup for the current application cycle. The February test dates are for the following application cycle. Anyone who tells you otherwise is actively trying to undermine your future. Probably.

Overall, I have learned that it's OK to make some mistakes because they, literally or figuratively, don't affect the eventual outcome. LSATs and law school exams are graded on a curve. They are not perfect measures of your ability, so don't expect perfection.

October LSAT: Keep Calm and Bubble On

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:17:00 +0000

For those of you about to take the October LSAT, have a great, relaxing evening. Remind yourself how well you've prepared, get enough sleep, and eat some breakfast.

Tomorrow, when the going gets tough:

Best of luck from the Zen of 180 team.

Introducing 15-min Online LSAT Tutoring Sessions!

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:45:00 +0000

One of our maxims for our products is to allow students to prepare for the LSAT in the most efficient and cheapest way possible. That's why we started the LSAT Analyzer in the first place: it's like an automatic, and free, tutor who will tell you exactly how to prepare.

But we also know that some people want to have explanations that go beyond written materials, and some people learn best with interactive content. Until we have our video and interactive content up then, we're committed to helping our tutoring clients just as much as the self-preppers.

Up to now, we've purposefully charged less than other test-prep companies--even though our tutors are at least as qualified--because the rates are ludicrous. Like, installment plan ridiculous. We are committed to helping anyone, regardless of their financial situation, to be able to pursue their education.

As a reminder, you can always try our online tutoring for free, even on your iPad or mobile device.

So, as part of that whole philosophy, you'd think we'd have offered bite-sized sessions for tutoring before. We just hadn't been creative enough, but now that we've thought of it, it makes perfect sense: some people only need help with a single game or one particular strand. Why pay $125 for an hour when you only need 15 minutes to go over your questions?

We charge a slightly higher per-minute rate, 15 minutes for $35, but you can still come out way ahead if that's all you need. Sorry we didn't think about it before.

And if you're freaking out about the October LSAT coming up this weekend, this might is a great way to go over any last second missed questions!

What to do the week before the October 2012 LSAT

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:50:00 +0000

Visit the site before the test day
Do not practice after Wednesday morning on the week of the test
Do relaxing activities before the weekend
The night before, sleep ~2 hours more than you usually do
Eat breakfast, bring food and drink (caffeine) for break
Bring your used pencils and highlighters… they should be your friends by now
Arrive EARLY

Read something before, like the NY Times, to warm up

Work on a small portion of each section type--a logic game diagram, read one passage, answer ~10 logical reasoning questions, from the most recent LSAT, and check them

Compare your score from when you first took it, and I’ll guarantee that you did better

If you haven't heard of CrossFit, be careful about their Kool-Aid.

How Many People Take the LSAT, 2012 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:58:00 +0000

In case you want to know more about the numbers behind the LSAT, Zen of 180 has a whole section devoted to analyzing LSAT statistics, and we're developing a whole section of our analyzer to showcase all the relevant information about the LSAT.

In today's post, we'll take a quick look at the changes in the number of people who sit for an LSAT. The graph pretty much speaks for itself, but it's interesting to note that the rapid decline in testtakers since the Great Recession has actually only returned the numbers to their historic averages. Our predictions about the 2011-2012 application cycle were only off by a few thousand, and we're now predicting that the number of LSAT takers for the 2012-2013 cycle will stabilize at around 135,000 a year.

Zen of 180 expects the number of people taking the LSAT to return to historical averages, about 135,000 a year, after the Great Recession's historic highs.

Of course, when you take into account population growth, this means that a smaller percentage of the population is taking the first step in going to law school. That's probably a good thing for the legal industry, and will perhaps help correct the market influx of students during the recession and record growth for law firms just prior to the recession.As the NYTimes put it a while ago, and as it continues to do so--law schools and lawyers make for easy punching bags--there are a lot of schools that seem to be taking advantage of students' willingness to pay ridiculous tuitions and fees for a shot at a (biglaw) lawyer's salary:

[Many law schools are] ranked in the bottom third of all law schools in the country, but with tuition and fees now set at [nearly $50,000 a year,] charge more than Harvard. [Many have] increased the size of the class[es] by an astounding 30 percent, even as hiring in the legal profession imploded. [And, worst of all, these schools] reported in the most recent US News & World Report rankings that the median starting salary of its graduates was the same as for those of the best schools in the nation — even though most of its graduates, in fact, find work at less than half that amount.

In short, we just want to make sure that you really want to go to law school before you start the arduous task of preparing for the LSAT, even if your chances of admission are better now than they would have been during the application peak in 2009.

Online LSAT Tutoring Goes Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We just wanted to note that our online tutoring services are now available on your iOS device.

Yes, that means you can use your iPad to both learn and practice how we draw diagrams, highlight passages, and eliminate distractors.

In addition to being convenient, it's actually very helpful to use a touchscreen for the sessions because then you already have a fine-input device. If you're interested in scheduling a free initial consultation to test out the app, click on the "Schedule a Tutor" button on the right sidebar.

Hiring Web Developers

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:25:00 +0000

We're hiring web developers! To apply, send your resume and links to jobs@zenof180.com by October 1st at 8pm ET.

In addition to assigned projects, such
as building interactive graphs of LSAT
and law school admissions statistics,
developers are encouraged to propose
and implement their own projects.

Zen of 180 is the LSAT-focused product of the Zen Company incubated in the Harvard University i-lab. The Zen of 180 LSAT PrepTest Analyzer is a free, interactive, web-based data analysis tool for LSAT self-prep that currently attracts hundreds of users, as well as 30,000+ readers a month for its blog. The Zen Company has licensing rights from LSAC to sell written, video, and interactive LSAT content, and is working to integrate a digital store into the existing analyzer. We are committed to closing the education gap, and offer many services for free or reduced fee for Pell grant recipients.

We're looking for an up and coming Front-End Developer who will thrive in a creative, fun, and fast-paced atmosphere with a team of talented and dedicated developers.

Primary Responsibilities

Develop and maintain custom web-based applications
Support a custom JavaScript data analysis tool
Advise the marketing and content development teams
Support other developers on an as-needed basis

Basic Qualifications

Extensive familiarity with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery

Preferred Additional Qualifications

Python, Django, UI and web design experience (with portfolio) are plusses

Compensation
Compensation includes the potential for wage and stock, based on experience and milestones achieved, as well as access to the Harvard i-lab and exclusive start-up workshops. See http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ for all the goodies.

To apply, send your resume and links to jobs@zenof180.com.

Updates to Online LSAT Tutoring

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:43:00 +0000

Just wanted to let everyone know that we've updated our booking system for tutoring with both Mr. Bennett and Mr. Robinson at our Online LSAT Tutoring page. Our tutors' Mondays and Tuesdays are already booked pretty solid, but we still have plenty of room through both the October and December 2012 LSATs.

It really is as easy as clicking on "Free Initial Consultation" and signing up for a time slot that will work for you. In fact, we'll just go ahead and post it here so you believe us, or click on the "Schedule a Tutor" sidebar from anywhere on the blog.

Updates to LSAT PrepTest Analyzer

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Bennett) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:12:00 +0000

In case you haven't tried our free, online LSAT self study tracker, we've updated almost everything so that you can input your answer data from all of the official LSAT PrepTests. The analyzer will then track your performance (no need for a complicated Excel document) and prioritize the Zen task standards by how many questions we predict you'll miss on a modern LSAT. That way you know exactly how to target your self-prep!

One of my favorite features is a dramatically improved data-entry system that allows you to pre-fill the answer grid and grade any LSAT within seconds.

We also migrated the entire platform to a different content management system, which allows you to quickly change which tests you're analyzing and draw graphs of your performance over time.

If you have any comments about what you'd like to be able to do with your data or have suggestions for the data entry parts of the site, we'd very much appreciate them at development@zenof180.com.