University of Virginia Library

LSAT Courses
Ruled Futile
By Advisors

By BARBARA BROWNELL

"Law Scholastic Aptitude
Tests (LSAT) 'review courses'
should be avoided as a means
to improve scores," pre-law
advisors in Minor Hall have
recommended, observing there
is "no empirical evidence
available indicating that such
courses cause higher scores."

Duplicating Services

These review courses are not
associated with or approved by
the Law School Admission
Test Council or the
Educational Testing Service.
Although they are designed to
familiarize students with the
type of questions asked on the
LSAT, this information and
experience is also available in
the Law School Admission
Test Bulletin. A reproduced
LSAT with answers may be
found in the current edition of
The Pre-Law Handbook.

Because the tests are
designed to quantify analytic
skills instead of accumulated
knowledge, pre-law advisors
say it is unlikely that anything
can be "learned" from these
courses.

Intuitive Skills

"The skills measured by Law
boards are. substantially
intuitive ones that have been as
highly refined by the college as
they will ever be before you
take the LSAT," explained the
advisors.

"The review courses can
only lull you into a false sense
of overconfidence. They will
not procure you a score
commensurate with your
investment of time and
money," they continued.