I'd be really interested in seeing these. You don't have to hunt them down, just point me in the right direction.

The only thing I've ever seen is an explanation of what the index is...but not the formulas.

Really? When I was on admissions we were asked to keep it completely confidential. That must have changed or they were somehow leaked? Very interesting.

My main point was that even if they average seeing the improvement when you look at the LSDAS report matters to a lot of people who sit on the committee.

I really didn't want to tell anyone, but yeah, I'm game in Oct...

Thinking of Vandy, UTK, or USC

Yeah, they're out a few different places for at least the Top 100 schools. I'm not sure how they got out, but they're definitely around.

When I applied a three years ago, LSDAS sent me a list of all the schools which use the LSDAS service and the corresponding formula the school uses in their admissions process. They even noted which schools don't use an admissions index. I don't remember it being secret at all.
Knowing the formulas wasn't that helpful because they didn't state the cut off points for admission but it gave you a good idea how heavily the school weighted LSAT vs. GPA.
You guys probably haven't gotten it yet because you just applied to take the LSAT. You haven't gotten your scores and you haven't signed up for the LSDAS yet.

According to the LSDAS website:
A list of mathematical formulas enabling you to calculate your own admission index for each law school to which you apply is available in the My Docs/Transcripts section of your online account.

That's very interesting. When I applied (granted it was 1995) LSDAS did not do that. When I was on admissions committee in 1999 I am virtually certain everything we were given that explained the forumlas and index was completely confidential.

I wonder if there was some sort of new LSDAS procedure implemented after that which requires schools to share that information with people. It would have been nice to know when I was applying.

2 and a half weeks to October 2 LSATs....




Are you ready?

:)

Well, I'm in a bit of a quandry. My score has gone up 8 points, and while I still have plenty of time left to study, I'm not sure that I feel ready. I'm tempted to wait and take it in December, but 1-I'm afraid I'll lose some of this momentum I've gained, and 2-I was hoping to apply early/be admitted early. So, I don't know. I told myself I'd really hit the books hard this week but last night and Sunday night I got busy w/ work and sorority stuff. Sooo, I think at the end of next week I'll make my decision.

If you don't feel ready- DON'T TAKE IT.
I took it in Dec. no big deal. In fact, statistics show October to have lower scores- more people take it then and I've heard its harder. It definitely was for me.

I took Princeton Review- score went up 12 points! That equates to going from the 58th to the 93rd percentile.

That was a 1000 dollars VERY WELL spent.

I went from about 33% accuracy on games to above 80%. And 75% accuracy in every section will get you at least a 160.

My problem is for some reason I'm scoring better on the unscored experimental logic games section than on the scored logic games section.

The last three diagnostic tests we've taken in class have had logic games as the experimental section. On this last test that I took Saturday, I missed 2 (yes, only 2!) of the logic games questions....in the unscored section. In the scored section I only got like a 54%. WTF???

Exquisite5 , good job!!!


AXiD, Logic games are my worst area. The reading comprehension section I did surprising well in my prep test, but I hardly finished the Logic games (I guess like half of em cuz I didn't have time to finish) I got 54% as well. I still have 5 more prep tests to do till exam time, so I am going to focus more on the timing issue. LR is not as hard as I thought it'd be...

I agree with exquisite that you shouldn't do the exam if you are not ready, but you are at a disadvantage if you take the december one. Most schools that do the rolling admissions, start early in october- november.

Question: Everyone keeps talking about how the test reviews will help with your logic game skills, but when I took the practice LSAT, that was not my problem at all (in fact, I scored perfect on the logical reasoning section) but I BOMBED the reading comprehension section... Do the test prep courses help with that at all, or should I just try to bone up on my reading?

The test preps do help with this, although they spend a majority of the time on the logical reasoning (because this is half of your score) and logic games (because this is the one everyone has the most difficulty with).

On my reading comp., I was already scoring pretty high up there. The last test I took I only got about 10% more correct than I did on my initial test. But I really couldn't make that much more of an improvement in this area anyways.

PS-I saw that you PM'd me. I cleaned out my box, now. I didn't realize how little those things hold!

CarolinaDG,
I was talking to this guy in my class yesterday who took the Kaplan course and he did worse on the LSAT than during the prep tests. Prep classes are good for developing good habits early on and practicing those. One of the Kaplan tutors told me that students who study on their own do worse than those who don't take the class or study, because they keep repeating their bad habits until it becomes second nature to them. I would take what he said with a grain of salt obviously because he was trying to sell me the course. But these classes do help some people, and if you take the class and get a horrible mark, you get your money back (according to the guy who bombed his LSAT). I would check their refund policy first.