spk_1:   0:00
if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. Albert Einstein. Hello, everyone. And welcome to another episode of the Dominate Test Prep podcast. I'm bred Ethridge, your host and I am joined by Special Guest, our resident l sat expert Dave Hall. Dave, say a quick. Hello.

spk_0:   0:23
Good morning. Good morning, everybody.

spk_1:   0:25
Yeah. We, uh, excited about today's topic. A lot of you have been asking about the new digital l set. So that's what we're gonna be talking about. We're going to deal with some logistical stuff first, but then we're gonna talk about how to prepare for the new version of the L said So you are in the right place for that. And even if you're not taking the l sat because we're talking about general prep tips today, we're also going to talk about prep tips specifically related to How do you take a standardized test on a computer, which is what you have to do on the L sat. Now, this is obviously going to apply if you're taking the G Matt, which is on the computer, the G r E, which is on the computer, and who knows, maybe someday they'll bring the S A T and a C T into the digital age as well. But for now, we're talking about the l. Sadly, l sat has joined the digital age. So we're gonna break it all down for you in this episode. I'm excited for you to learn from Dave. Who, as I mentioned, he is the lead l sat instructor. He teaches all of the l sat courses here at Dominate Test Prep. He is in law school himself and actually start there. Dave, you're in year three, right? How's law school going?

spk_0:   1:33
I got the senior is real bad, man. It is in your three. They say that the first year of law school, they try to scare you to death. And then the second year, they work you to death. And then the third year, they bore you to death. And in my experience, breath, that is absolutely true. I am ready to be out, and I'm different from a lot of law school students in that I actually enjoy it. Um, you know, for most people, it really is a It's a it's a traumatic experience, but I have really enjoyed it. But even that like? Okay, I enjoyed it for two years. I'm I'm ready to be done. I'm ready to move on.

spk_1:   2:18
Well, and that is coming from somebody who is going to law school for free. Is that right?

spk_0:   2:24
Yeah. Yeah. Because

spk_1:   2:26
of how well you did on the L. SATs are bringing it for full circle to your expertise. Why don't

spk_0:   2:31
you know what discount? My charming personality. Right? Maybe that's no. No. Uh, yeah. It was really simple, man. I mean, this is how important deals that it's I called. I'm geographically let me because we just moved across the country. I have two kids that are young, and we chose where we moved for the high school. We live near one of the best high schools in the country. And so in about eight years, my daughter will graduate from that high school, so she's just started middle school. Uh, and so we're not gonna move them again. So when I decided that I was going to law school, uh, although I would have had a shot at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, we weren't gonna move back across the country partly because, uh, you know, we figured lost would be three years, and we have chosen this place to live, You know, we want to live here. So I called the local law school and I said, hi. You know, my name's Dave Hall. Have 31 eighties on the l sat. Can I go to your law school? And and I'm not kidding. She said, Yeah, and you know for sure you're not gonna pay for law school. And it was that simple. And it had nothing to do with my dashing good looks had nothing to do with my intelligence per se. It was just the fact that they could point to these test scores and say, Yeah, we want him. And they did. It wanted me bad enough that they just paid for the whole thing for me to go. And it was it was and give you a sense of how much? How powerful, Really good. L sat. Score is is it a grease the skids the whole way? And by that I mean, not only that I go for free, but also I had my admission offer within a week of appliance. Um and so there was no guest worker wandering. It took a lot of it took all of the stress out of it. So if there's one thing that in your control in this process, it's really your l SAT score. And that's good news, because that also happens to be the one thing that matters the most, like by far.

spk_1:   5:00
So you got 31 eighties. You're going to law school for free Now, the $1,000,000 Question. Would you be able to get a 1 80 on the new digital L sat? I guess the broader question is what is new with E. L sat just for a little bit of background, and you'll go into this more starting just a few months ago. In July, they started to roll out and test out and tease out the new digital format for the L Sat. But the last administration in September of the L Sat was fully digital. They unveiled it all the way. What does that mean? What's new with the

spk_0:   5:31
Elsa? Nothing. Uh, it's just the delivery system. It is the same questions. The same scored sections, the same unscored sections, the same the same the same, except the uh, mechanics of the interaction with the test. So Instead of using a pencil to bubble in, uh, circles on a Scantron, you will use your finger to tap circles on a tablet. So the way the new test is all digital, it's delivered on tablets. And they they're Microsoft surface tablets that are provided at the test center, so you don't have to bring anything at all. You should bring pencils because you'll get scratch paper. You walk in, they give you a tablet, you sit down, you start taking the test and you do it all on that tablet. And truly nothing about the material has changed at all. So you asked. What? I get a 1 80 on this, for sure. Um, there's just no difference. There are some ways in which I think the new digital experience is probably better. One of them one of those ways is that you get uh, since you get scratch paper for every section, you're really not losing much of the way you would have interacted with the old paper and pencil test. I mean, there's some of that because you know, you, you, In the past, you could have written notes in the margins of a reading. Kant passage or something. But you can make notes, they're in your scratch paper. And you can also highlight stuff in the text on the tablet screen. And so, you know, I think that combination can has certainly has the potential for being even a better experience than it was when it was paper, pencil. And another thing. And this is probably thing students will like and hate the most Is that eventually I think it's very likely that you will get your score immediately. That is not happening right now. Um, because you know, l s s is very cautious and very conservative about the way they do things. Uh, but already scores were coming back faster than they did on paper and pencil. And my prognostication is that within sort of a year from now, we'll be getting close to that instantaneous results, which is both exciting and terrifying, you know, because you bundle at all experience and I think on the whole it's really good, because you because you do you take all of the test. They experience all of its stress and trauma, and you put all of it together on that day instead of having all of the traumatic experience of taking the test, and it is it's hard and it's soul drink on. And then you you know, in the past you've always had a wait another three or four weeks to get your scored back, and then you have a whole new trauma when you see that email and the the, uh, the subject line of the emails, your else that score and then you're not really sure if you want to open that email right now, if you should be sitting down maybe with a strong glass of scotch. Um, but now you can, you know, or not now yet, but very soon. I think you will get that whole experience all at one time. And then and then it'll be over, you know, and you get you get yourself to the next part right away and celebrate or drown your sorrows as it as the case may be.

spk_1:   9:08
Have you heard anything about how it's going so far? Have there been any technical technical glitches? How is it being received by students? And on the flip side would have law schools think about it? Do they? Are they still going to view the scores as just as valid, or are they concerned about the new version

spk_0:   9:24
at all? Yeah, law schools don't have any concerns about it. They put a lot of trust in L s A. C, and I think that's part of the reason you know, a reference the really slow, cautious, conservative way in which all sexy does things. And part of that is to maintain that relationship of trust with law schools that whether or not you think the else that is a good test, Uh, and whether or not it is a really effective predictor of success in law school, it is the most effective predictor of success in law school that we have now. At the same time, they're in my experience, and I've spoken with a lot of admissions officers, but a lot of different schools. I do believe them when they say they think it would be better in a lot of ways. If they could just choose that, you know, just choose the people that they really think are likely to be most successful. But that's you can imagine. That's a really time intensive and expensive process, you know, compared to looking at a number, especially when, as it happens, that number is the best. No current currently available predictor of success says, Okay, that was kind of far afield from your original question. So no, I don't think law schools have any real misgivings about this new format. Uh, students feel scared about it, you know, because students still scared about it. You know, a change, right, it's scary. And this test is scary, and I get that. Uh, the good news is it's not a real change. There's, you know it's not going to have any kind of meaningful impact on your score on your ability to prepare for the test, Uh, on your likelihood of getting into law school. Uh, there have been yes of their technical glitches, and there have been some, but it's been a really small number. Uh, I feel like I remember, and I'm speaking from memory and I may be mistaken, but it's something like, uh, 96% of students hadn't no problems whatsoever, but, uh, to me, that number and then and again speaking from memory. But, um, you know, if that number's right and it's close to right, Uh, 96% on the first time out is not so bad, you know. I mean, it's

spk_1:   11:42
that'll only get better. That will only

spk_0:   11:44
Yeah. Yeah, I think so. It seems likely to me that within a few administrations, it'll be real close to 100% you know, no issues.

spk_1:   11:55
So there's no substantive change to the Elsad itself. Let's talk about how to prepare for and we could talk about how to prepare. Are there ways to actually practice now on a tablet, for example, so logistically, preparing for the new version of the L sat? Let's brought it out then what are a few tips and strategies you have? If you're advising somebody, here's how to prepare for the L sat. What would you tell them?

spk_0:   12:22
All right, first way talked about. There's no substantive change. There has been one, um, crack tickle change to the test that we should mention. And that is that with the new digital format, they've made it. They've made a change to a writing sample is delivered. So, uh, in the past, you would take the five multiple choice sections And then after that, on that day, you know, you without a break. Well, No, but without a break that you or I have to leave, you have to sit there while they gathered all the stands, runs and stuff. And then you would take a 35 minute writing sample. You're right. A 35 minute writings. You still have to do the writing sample, but it is not administered at the same time as the substantive portion of the test. So now when you do the digital else, that's a little bit shorter. Test day S O. You do just the five multiple choice sections and then the writing sample you can do. I think you can do it and completely from home. And it's online. The only hesitation is that is that I haven't actually done the right example online. Ah, but I'm I'm nearly certain that you can do it at home online using the same kind of test software. If if your students in college and you're using tests, they software. It's that kind of software that you use to write the laws that writing sample, and you can do it at any time in the year, uh, that you're applying, so you have to do it. You know in connection. And it has to be received by law schools along with the admission package before they'll, you know, consider you for admissions. But you don't have to do it at the same time. So and then you asked about how to prepare. And I think the thing that I could say that would be most helpful in just a sentence is don't think about l sat preparation as some kind of nebulous, abstract idea that I'm going to get better at doing this because that, I mean, that's tough. Like how? How are you gonna do that? They I mean, what does that even mean? Are we going to get better at the Elsa? And, you know, I mean, it's an idea that has a certain clarity in, you know, when it's on its face, But then when you start looking at it, Okay, so I answered these questions. Well, how does that help? You know, And I think the answer is it doesn't very much if all you're doing to prepare for the Alcide is taking, taking, taking, taking, taking a whole lot of prior else. That's eventually you would get better. But, I mean, you're gonna think you can see that on its face is a really inefficient way of getting better. And I think we can introduce a whole lot of efficiency and get you really close to the right posture for real improvement. If I can get you to stop thinking about like, I'm gonna improve in some way and start thinking I am going to understand on, I think the best way to understand anything is to prepare to teach it to somebody else. And if you will actually do this and I'm not talking to you. But now I am talking to our listeners. If you will sit down with a bit of else that material and get a question right and then imagine. Okay, Now I'm going to teach my mother, who is a lovely and intelligent person but is not an else. That expert doesn't know what the test is. Maybe you know, she's my mom didn't go off. I'm gonna teach my mom how to do that. And then you actually try to do that. You will see what I'm talking about. Feeling like you kind of understand what the right answer is is not the same thing as understanding what the right answer is. And you can really clarify that difference if you honest to God, trying to teach somebody else to do

spk_1:   16:34
what are some of the components of the L sat that you must understand thinking about games and reasoning? What would you what are examined? Some examples of things that you would need to be able to teach to your grandmother.

spk_0:   16:46
So one of the things is it's a good place to start is conditional logic. And that's, you know, I mean, the classic example is, if X then why it's conditional. You know, if X happens, then why happens? That's conditional reasoning that you know there's lots of ways in English to formulate that proposition, and it's a good place to start because it is the biggest new concept that you'll need in order the success. And so the more time you give yourself to master that the better off you'll be. And I

spk_1:   17:25
heard you say that conditional reasoning plays into as much as 35% of questions a student might see on the else that

spk_0:   17:33
could be. It could be even a little more than that, because what happens is in the you've got these logical reasoning sections, I'm presuming that listeners have some base familiarity with the all set. If you don't, um, you can download a absolutely free, full length four section l sat, uh, and take it, you know, And then you'll have this basic familiar. You know, what you find is there to scored logical reasoning sections and each of the sections about 25 questions that all present brief arguments. And then you're asked to deal with those arguments in various ways to make those arguments better to weaken them, to identify flaws within those arguments. And those arguments frequently exhibit this conditional structure. So they'll say, You know, anyone who has experienced riel Joy knows the virtue of a good ham sandwich. And that presents a conditional relationship that says, You know, if you've experienced real joy, then you must understand what a good ham sandwiches like and your ability to manipulate that relationship, uh, almost pre cognitively, almost without thinking. It is something that you can build before you ever even get to test it, because you are doing something that is essentially mass, you know. And if you think about how little thought goes on in your head When I ask you what is five times six, you know, you could spit back 30. And you know what the think about it, you know, because you've developed a system for dealing with it, right? Similar thing here. So the logical reasoning you may have, um, you know, you may have missed many is 10 or 12 questions that may be half of a logical reasoning section that employs conditional logic. And you may not. You know, there's some tests were maybe there's only four or five or six questions rarely fewer than that. 456 questions, usually something like seven or eight in each section, so that you could have as many as almost half of the questions and then the game's section. Uh, some games. You know, there's gonna four games, and some games are really conditional. Rule heavy. They'll say, you know, for these four hiking groups are going out on an expedition. And you know, if if Harold is in Group B than Marcia will be a Group D, and if Marsha's in Group D, then Wendy cannot be in Group A and you and it's utter nonsense is the worst kind of foolishness. But if you have this mechanical, thoughtless method for symbolizing these relationships and dealing with them without thinking about them, then you can imagine how that's gonna improve your chances for success. I mean, it can turn it from just a total quagmire into a very literally straightforward, you know, literally lean your, uh, system of equations essential. Uh, And so if you got a test where you had upto half of the questions and logical reasoning were dependent on conditional reasoning. And, you know, if two of the it's there have been cases where three of the four games have had conditional rule sets, you're talking about almost half of the questions on the test at that point. All right now, what is more common is it? It's more like 1/4. 30% of the questions will depend on this,

spk_1:   21:25
so I think that's a really important nuance. I love that. Rather than thinking about how to get better at the l sat, understand it better and then inherently. When you understand something better, you're able to get more right answers more quickly, more efficiently. Your score goes up and

spk_0:   21:40
you move on to the law school of your choice. Ah,

spk_1:   21:44
quick logistical question than about preparing in terms of practicing you talked about. You don't want to just do practice, promise, practice problems, practice problems. You actually need to learn some underlying content, understand conditional reasoning and so forth. But at some point, we need to be taking practice tests. I know that in our course and your course that you put together, you have students take really former l sat practice tests. Are those online now as well? Can students take those on a tablet? Or how a student get used to actually clicking answer choices and highlighting on a tablet?

spk_0:   22:22
L s E C has made a small number of ah prep tests available for practice digitally and then, you know, still, the entire body of prior tests are available in paper and pencil form. So if you want to get ready in the most like economically efficient way, the paper and pencil tests are pretty cheap. You know, you can buy a book of 10 tests for about 20 bucks from Amazon and ah, and then you can fold in that limited number off, uh, digital L SATs on Ellis a sees website and get a get a sentence for how the tablet experiences going toe is gonna run. And you can do those on your computer. But you shouldn't. I mean, if you own a tablet, you know, you should you should use the tablet. If you don't own a template, then you should use your computer. If you don't own a computer, you should go to the library because it is important to at least have some familiar with the interface. But honestly, I think that's a pretty low bar, you know? I mean, most of us have enough interaction with the digital space. Now that this isn't gonna seem strange for awkward, it's going to feel like most of the rest of our lives spent looking at a screen. And so the more important thing is to is to get into the test material and to try to begin thinking of it in pattern, intelligent ways. Because this is the great thing about a standardized test. Is it is standardized. That means that the test material you see when you take the test next January is the same material, you know, and obviously is not exactly the same questions. But for law schools to use it as a measurement, they have to believe that a comparison of your score from next January in means the same thing as if you had taken the test in September. And so the material has to be the same. And it is, You know, there are a barely. There's a fairly small number of repeated patterns on this test, and if you could begin to see those, you can begin to recognize right answers instead of having to analyze questions and develop right answers fresh every every question you answer. And that's the biggest. That's where I can. No, this is something that really smart and really dedicated test taker could do on her own, because that is essentially what I you know. I mean, I built this system off pattern, intelligent responses by looking at past material and finding these underlying core repeated patterns. So you know, if I can do it, you can do it. But it took me years, you know, and, uh and and now that I've done it, I can I can show it to you. So what I'll show you in the in the duration of the course is exactly what I did to earn my 1 80 And then I want another 1 80 my 3rd 1 80 those scores in the 1 70 sevens and 1 78 and 1 79 is that I don't like to talk about asthma.

spk_1:   25:48
Maybe you can tell, though. You tell a funny story about not even funny Ha ha. But like the difference between your 1st 1 80 your 2nd 1 80 thinking again about preparing part of doing well and students listening to this one a high L sat score. I think a big takeaway, obviously, is this idea of understanding, focusing on understanding the core logic behind the different question types. And one of the things I found certainly in my own life is the better. I understand something, the less nervous I am when it's time to test that thing, the more competent I feel with my tennis serve, the less nervous I get before a match because I can trust the work that I've put in my pattern development for my serve and so forth. You talk about so your understanding is gonna help students do better on test day in terms of their anxiety, but thinking about preparing for test day itself. Sure, that story about the difference between your 1st 1 80 your 2nd 1 80 And do you have any advice for students in terms of controlling their nerves and their anxiety on test day to make sure they maximize the

spk_0:   26:48
results? Yeah, I think you're thinking about the I told you about the difference in the first test I took and the second test, that first test I ever took. I got a 1 79 on those bastards. Um, and, uh, honestly, no kidding. This was so this was 2005 um, still paper in pencil other. They hadn't started the, uh, the comparative reading, But other than that same test And I remember, I think both logical reasoning sections during the section during the 35 minutes we had for the section, I literally went outside and smoked a cigarette. And by the way, smoking is bad. Don't do it. It's really hard to quit, too. Uh, So there's your public service announcement today, but I did at that time. And And what I'm telling you is that you know I knew the material so well that I had. It took me about 20 minutes to answer all the questions. And then I just had time. And for what I did with that times asked you to the bathroom and then deceptively left. And what else? I didn't smoke. Spirit. Um, And then I got a score back. It was 1 79 and then I was in another time. I was teaching a separate, and if I got one of you that first time, I don't know what I would have done, You know, maybe it maybe I wouldn't have ever taken the test again. I don't know, but that one song and I was just taunting. So I spent the next year, and this is important. I mean, I didn't go off to, uh, you know, the Virgin Islands and spend time on the beach drinking Mai Kaiser Pinnacle Ladas for that for a year. I spent that time Dewey else that work, teaching other people what I had learned and what I was learning on at the time. You know, I didn't really have a full system yet, you know, I just had an approach that was what was the beginnings of a system? But I was doing it right. I was doing else that for a year. So when I went back to take the next time the second time, I should have been a year smarter. I should have been a year faster, but oh no, my friend. That second time was one of the worst experiences of my life. I did not have 15 minutes to go outside and smoke cigarettes and screw around. I was still working in every section when the proctor called the five minute warning and I was sweating bullets and I was dabbing my forehead and I was, you know, just feeling miserable and sick to my stomach And why, like why on Earth? Because I'm not lying about that first experience. It wasa as I described. I had time, I was fast. And as my score shows, I was accurate. Uh, and then I spent a year doing test prep and came back, and it was horrible. Was the task harder? That's what most excellent students think that they know. The test wasn't harder. Was the same tests standardized test saying the same, Same same. What changed was me that first time I had taken the practice test and I knew that my score is gonna be somewhere above 1 75 Like my practice tests have all been on 76 1 78 Uh, I can't remember. I think I I think I won 1 80 but maybe not in a practice test. So I knew that I was going to get a really good l sat score. And I thought correctly that there wasn't much difference between 1 75 and 1 78 So I just was not stressed about I knew how I could perform, and I went in on test day and just perform to my ability. But that second time, that second time I had imposed upon myself this nearly impossible burden. I had to get all of the questions right. Like if I missed a single question, that was gonna be a failure because the whole point of taking it the second time was not to get another 1 79 We hate those. You know, I had to get a 1 80 And so every question, even the questions that last year I had just blown right through without any problems. Even the easiest questions I was sweating bullets over because I had to make sure that I hadn't even made any careless mistakes. And to the point of the story is that the outside is hard. It iss It's hard enough on its own. Don't make it worse for yourself. Learn the system, develop a body of knowledge, understand the test and then just go in on test day and do what you know how to do it. Don't worry about the rest.

spk_1:   32:03
Very helpful. I think that's probably a good place to end on, by the way, any of the links that Dave has referenced. He talked about where you can download a free, full length practice test. I'll put that in the show notes. He mentioned the L Sack website L s, a C website where you can practice Ah, digital interface to get used to that. I'll put that in the show notes, so just check there for any of those references. Dave, thank you so much for your time for your health, for your inside any final thoughts or recommendations for the students, especially those who might be a little bit nervous about the new quote unquote digital version of the L set before we wrap up.

spk_0:   32:40
Yeah, One last thing. Get yourself a fight song. Find a song that makes you feel like you run through a wall and listen to that song before every practice test you take, uh, and and get yourself and really Oh, yeah, I'm gonna do this and then listen to that same song on your way to the tests and and maybe on that's what I did. And it made me instead of feeling nervous and scared and by the way, and I felt some of that nerves from from then on out because it was always it needed to be a 18 right? So I felt some of the same nerves, not the same as a CZ you're gonna feel if you're worried about getting into law school, but and I know what that feels like to some extent, And listening to that fight song made me feel ready to fight instead of like, I wanted to cower in 1/4 and die.

spk_1:   33:30
So no listening to Beethoven or Mozart on the way to the testing.

spk_0:   33:33
So no, no Black Sabbath. A CDO B

spk_1:   33:37
all right. So thank you very much. Dave, I know you have a busy day. I know you have law school to get back to an students to work with, so certainly appreciate everything you're doing A dominate test prep with your l sat expertise and advice. And coarse. I'll post a link there as well for any of you guys looking for some help from Dave, so you can understand the LSAT better dominate test prep dot com ford slash l sat l s a t. This week's from the mailbag question comes from Cynthia in Texas. She wrote me last week and she asked the following quote. I understand you teach the importance of using scratch paper and outlining while doing reading comprehension, but I find that it takes me too long. Do you have any tips? That's a good question, said the, uh thanks for sending it in. And I think my tip for you is fairly straightforward. And that is don't write too much on your scratch paper when you are outlining the whole purpose of using your scratch paper and outlining and writing things down while you're doing really hunt reading comprehension ISMM or so to make sure that you are doing active reading instead of passive reading than it is for anything that you're actually writing down. In other words, you're not necessarily going to use your outline to answer questions. You have the text right there that you can look at. The purpose of your outline again is to take note of the big picture items that you're supposed to be paying attention to on reading comprehension, things like main idea, any sort of attitude or tone that the author might be exhibiting structural things with the way that the actual passage is laid out. Adjectives, those types of things. That's what you want to jot down on your scratch paper, and you don't have to actually write all of that out. Learned to use shorthand. So, for example, once you get a sense of what the main idea of the passages, maybe you just use a capital M that designates main idea. So you would on your scratch paper, right M. Colon. And then, instead of maybe writing out the full main idea, obviously only use a couple of words. Or sometimes the main idea is encapsulated in a very specific topic. Sentence in the passage itself, and maybe that's on line three. So on your scratch paper, you would simply do m colon line three just to remind yourself right. But again, you may never come back to that or reference it the very fact that you wrote it down and grains it in your mind and proves that you were actively reading instead of passively reading. So it doesn't have to take a lot of time, but I think you'll find that the more you do a little bit on your scratch paper, the less you have to do later on when you're answering the questions and you eventually save yourself time because you have spent time outlining if you learn to do it the right way. But like I said, don't necessarily right out long sentences or full on explanations of the author's attitude and tone and structural things develop a certain shorthand. Don't write down everything, but keep your mind actively engaged while you're reading way. Wrap up today's episode a special thanks again to Dave Hall, and today's action item follows right on the heels of exactly what he concluded with, and I love that bit of advice So that is going to be your action item for the week. Find a fight song that you play before all of your practice tests. And, heck, maybe even during your practice sessions. And then when you're driving in your car on the way to the actual test day, listen to your fights own. Get yourself pumped up, amped up, ready to tackle whatever standardized tests you are taking. You know, he was talking about the l sat, but the idea of a fight song certainly applies. If you're taking the G matter. The G r e s a t it doesn't matter what you are doing. Get yourself in the right frame of mind to dominate your standardized test. So there's your homework. Find a good fight song, listen to it. Takes some practice test study hard, guys have a great week and we will see you next week on the Dominate Test prep podcast