Early Bird Starts – Rationale and description

… just yesterday received an offer from Osgoode Hall, which I intend to firmly accept. It’s a fantastic school and the perks are numerous – …

So there you have it! Thanks again for all your help and patience throughout this process. If you ever want a testimonial or anything like that, I’d be happy to provide you with one.

____________________________________________

“Early Bird” Starts – Enough To Get You Started – Not Enough To Hurt  Your Grades

How our “Early Bird” starts work

Many people get started with some form of LSAT prep prior to attending our course. For most people this takes the form of “self study” in the form of a book. Some people take “Mock LSATs” prior to our course.

Our “Early Bird” starts give you the opportunity to take one or more topical seminars prior to our “official start dates”. These seminars:

-          require no prior training;

-          are designed to promote the development of the “background” skills that will be helpful for your LSAT prep;

-          are not required (some of our students take them and some don’t)

-          allow you to start your LSAT prep immediately;

-          are included at no additional charge;

-          allow you to get course materials earlier;

-          are designed to not interfere with your academic commitments!

How Early Should You Begin Your LSAT Prep?

Your grades are a bigger factor in law admissions than your LSAT score. Therefore, you should not allow your LSAT preparation to interfere with your school in any significant way.

(Those who are considering the June LSAT should consider the following: Our advice is to NOT get into LSAT prep in a serious way until your exams are finished in April.  Remember, that the difference between an “A” and a “B” grade can be as little as a few extra hours of study!)

Although our “Early Bird” starts are not required, they act to your benefit.

“Early Bird” Start Dates vs. Official LSAT Course Start Dates

Our “Official Course” start dates are dates that people:

-          begin our course;

-          take classes in a sequence;

-          that culminate in a complete LSAT course covering all topics.

In most cases our “Official Course Dates” will use different examples and material than our earlier bird starts.

“Early Bird Starts” – Seminar Descriptions

1. Logic Games I – Your Logic Games Tool Box

First, the bad news:

When people begin their LSAT Preparation, Logic Games (it’s really called “Analytical Reasoning”) scares people the most.

Now, the good news:

This section is highly susceptible to short term improvement. For many people Logic Games starts as the hardest section of the test and the ends as the easiest. Some of the reasons for this are:

- most of the games that appear on the LSAT are based on a surprisingly few number of patterns;
– one approach to diagramming will handle almost all of the those patterns;
– the questions focus on only three inferences – determining what: must be true, could be true, or must be false;
– a surprisingly small number of rules of reasoning will allow you to make those inferences;
– adjusting the order in which you tackle the individual questions will both improve your accuracy and save you time.

There is no one approach to answering logic games questions. In fact there are number of approaches. For any given question, some approaches will work better than others. But, you do need to be able to apply different approaches.

2. LSAT Logical Reasoning – “How The Argument Goes”

“How The Argument Goes

Once you have identified the premises and the conclusion, the next is to get clear about exactly how the argument is meant to go; that is, how the grounds offered for the conclusion are actually supposed to bear on the conclusion. Understanding how the argument goes is a crucial step in answering many questions that appear on the LSAT. This includes questions that ask you to identify a reasoning technique used within an argument, questions that require you to match the patterning of reasoning used in two separate arguments and a variety of other question types.
Determining how the argument goes involves discerning how the premises are supposed to support the overall conclusion.
– page 16 “The Official LSAT SuperPrep.”

You will notice that this is very non-technical language. That is deliberate. LSAT cannot use language that would require a specific academic background to understand.

How The Argument Goes – A Three Dimensional Analysis

Dimension 1: The Argument or Passage;
Dimension 2: The Questions;
Dimension 3 : The Answer Choices

Every question involves analyzing the interplay among these three dimensions.
This tutorial will focus on understanding exactly how the argument is intended to go, the basic question types and how LSAT obscures the answers.

3. Conditional Reasoning – The Basic LSAT Reasoning Skill

Thomas White was the president of Law Services during the 1980s. This made him responsible for all aspects of the LSAT. He once defined the “basic LSAT reasoning skill” as “Conditional Reasoning”. Conditional Reasoning appears on many parts of the LSAT. This “stand alone” seminar has been designed to teach you to “think the LSAT way”.

4. Logic Games II – Positioning and The Proper Construction and Use Of Diagrams This tutorial complements Logic Games I. Although the Logic Games I tools include diagramming related tools, Logic Games II is a tutorial dedicated to the role and use of diagrams on the LSAT.

Most books and LSAT courses focus on the mechanics of how to draw diagrams. Although this is helpful, it is only part of the big picture. When it comes to diagramming there are at least three issues:

1. When – At What Point Should You Construct Your Diagram? How Do You Know This?
Hint: It is wrong to presume that you should always begin by drawing a diagram.

2. How – What are the mechanics for drawing the picture and creating a usable (not all usable diagrams have to look the same) diagram the first time?
Hint: Although there may be a number of different kinds of games, one approach to diagramming will handle them all.

3. Then – How Do You Use The Diagram Once Drawn?
Hint: Many people do NOT know how to use the diagram once it has been drawn.
Remember that a good diagram by itself will not increase your LSAT score. It’s what you do with it!

________________________________________________________

To return to our “Early Bird” start dates and our “Official Course Start Dates” click here.