Law School News and LSAT Strategy

What if the biggest obstacle standing between you and a higher LSAT, GMAT, SAT, or GRE score isn't your study schedule — it's what you believe about your own intelligence? For many students, the fear that standardized tests are simply measuring raw, unchangeable intelligence stops them from ever truly committing to test prep. It's a belief that feels logical, but the research says otherwise. In a recent conversation between Stefan and Mark on Testing Ain't Easy, the two dove deep into this exact question: Is a standardized test just an IQ test in disguise? The answer they arrived at might change the way you approach your entire preparation.

Penn Law was renamed Carey Law in 2019, after a guy named William P. Carey. South Carolina School of Law was renamed Rice School of Law in 2023 when a man named Joseph F. Rice gave them a significant wad of cash. The Ohio State Moritz College of Law was named for Michael E. Moritz who, it’s worth noting, graduated from Denver Law.

Scenario A: It’s 6:00am: time to study for your LSAT. No one is up yet in your house, so you get to grind fresh coffee beans and gather your toast in peace before sitting down for a short period of intensely focused test prep before class.

The forums of the internet runneth over with bad advice, much of it given by people who have never actually taken the LSAT, let alone leveraged it to get into a top law school. Here are some glimpses of the perspectives of people who’ve been there (and lived to tell the tale):

Getting a 180 is one hell of an emotional victory, even for those of us with the most even-keeled, relaxed perspectives on the whole test-taking fracas. That alone—proving to yourself that you can do it—is reason enough to try your hardest for a perfect score.

I remember doing my first night of CivPro homework as a 1L with zero lawyers in my family. I called my parents weeping: “I studied French, Latin, and ancient Greek, and I still have no idea what any of these phrases are supposed to mean!”