Information overload and the LSAT

LSAT
By Ed P.

You’re reading this because, ultimately, you want to be a lawyer. You look forward to dealing with multiple complex legal issues, responsibilities, and client demands. You know the day will come where your client has an urgent question about a legal issue buried deep within a 300-page legal document. After all, that’s the day-to-day life of a busy lawyer.

“I’m just here to take the LSAT, so I don't think this is relevant to me,” you may be saying to yourself right now. Well, a successful lawyer must be able to deal with information overload efficiently and effectively. After all, your client will want that answer from the 300-page document to be both accurate and delivered quickly. So, the LSAT tests your ability to deal with information overload.

How often have you looked at a Logic Game and felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and possibilities present in the game? Or a Logic Reasoning question with an argument that twisted on itself and left you unsure where to begin? Or a Reading Comprehension passage that left you wondering what you had just read. In all these moments, the LSAT makers achieved their goal. They overwhelmed you with information. You tried to retain and make sense of all that information at once and your brain said “nope!”.

If you felt like that, you’re not alone. We’ve all been there. I’ve been there. It’s frustrating and it’s infuriating. But it’s also a fixable problem and the path forward is learnable. What you need is structure. You need to know how to organize, compartmentalize and connect the information. You need to look for structure. 

For example, whenever I begin working with my students on Logic Games, we first focus on taking the information in the scenario in “bite size bits” and look for connections. “Baby steps,” I tell my students.  You take one rule at a time and anytime you diagram a new rule, you look for connections with the rules you already diagrammed in the game. “Don’t wait until the end to make your inferences”, I remind my students. As you practice, practice, and practice the process, Logic Games will no longer be intimating because they will no longer be able to overwhelm you with information. 

Of course, this process of taking in bits of information at a time and looking for connections applies to Logic Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. There should always be a reason why you pick your answer, and why that information is right or wrong. That reason comes from understanding the structure of the information in the stimuli and passages of these sections. 

As you continue in your LSAT journey, ask yourself what processes and structures you have in place to deal with information overload on the LSAT. And if you need a thought partner in your journey, I am always here to help.

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems

Related Content