DU and the LSATs

[jdp349]

I've been studying for the LSATs in recent weeks having decided to attend law school in order to pursue a career as an attorney or possibly public policy (once I'm out of debt).

I've moved on to the Logical Reasoning portion of the test and must say am alarmed at how natural this section of the test comes to me. Today's focus was method of reasoning and flaw of reasoning questions and I cannot help but laugh at the extreme ease of even the questions that are supposedly difficult.

I may not post frequently but I've been lurking this site through most of high school and my undergraduate years at NYU and suspect it has been formative in my thinking. It was here I was exposed to formal deductive structures and informal/formal fallacies of argumentation which prompted me to research them further and seek to apply them. Today as I was crunching through flaw of reasoning questions I kept chuckling "seen this before", prephrase an answer and sure enough it was correct.

This is just a hypothesis (not going to fall error into assuming causation) but if it is of any merit thank you DU for making it likely that I will be scoring somewhere in the 170's. So perhaps DU and political message boards aren't necessarily such a waste of time after all!

[AngryAmish]

1. run, don't walk, from law school

(17 years a lawyer)

[grasswire]

2. I learned a lot in my early years on the Internet boards

I was called a lot of names that were new to me, too! (I had led a sheltered life.)

[rug]

3. Are you asking the Lounge about Logical Reasoning?

They won't even let us discuss chicken and Asian woodcarvers.

[elleng]

4. 'Post hoc ergo propter hoc'

Have a GREAT time!!!

:thumbsup:

[WolverineDG]

5. Good luck on the LSATs & law school!

I owe more on my law school degree than on my house, but who cares? I own my own practice, make my own rules, gotten involved in one high publicity case, all in a days' work. :)

dg

[Bake]

6. Be advised the legal job market sucks.

Big time. Believe me, I know.

Bake

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Might as well do it; law school is an insane amount of work,

but it's interesting most of the time, and you might even be able to find a job and not go nuts. I did it for 17 years and got tired of fighting with people; eventually changed careers. But I'm not sorry I went to law school. It does sharpen the mind.

[Sanity Claws]

8. here's a NY Times article you may be interested in

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=law%20school&st=cse


BTW, I left the profession after practicing more than 20 years. The justice system is a sad joke.
The lawyers in the large firms are nothing but wage slaves to help the powers that be.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

[JohnnyLib2]

9. Funny, I've had the same thought about my field.

Clinical psychology.....

[WildEyedLiberal]

10. Don't get too cocky about the LSAT

The biggest problem will be the time crunch, and the actual questions are invariably more difficult than what you get in any of the practice exams. That said, it's not a terribly difficult test, provided you can manage your time well (which is the real benefit of taking the practice exams). Also, as other people have said, the legal job market blows right now, so if you don't get into a top 50 school, don't bother incurring the debt to go. Good luck!

[NuclearDem]

11. The Logical Reasoning came easy to you?

I'm jealous. Every other part of it on the practice tests I've been taking have been a piece of cake, but the LR has just been a giant thorn in my side.

Not that I could afford Law School anyways...

Best of luck to you though! :hi:

[Lady President]

12. Loved that section

To me, that section was like having a little break in the middle of the test to play games. It totally made my score. I really think your brain either works that way or it doesn't.

That said, get a MBA instead. ;)