The LSAT has blown up one of America’s last great social escalators. For generations, eager young minds have crammed over LSAT prep books, learning the unique complexities of the exam and preparing themselves for the rigors of law school. Foremost among the test’s unique attributes was the infamous logic games section, which differentiated the LSAT from the general mathematical and reading comprehension assessments found in other graduate tests.
These games, far from posing an arcane roadblock for aspiring lawyers, served as the essential attribute of a test that predicted, with surprising accuracy, student success in law school. It tested not just raw aptitude, but also tenacity, as logic games are eminently learnable. Many summers ago, I pored over logic game sections of LSAT prep books while earning a quarter-an-hour more than minimum wage lifeguarding at a Cleveland swimming pool. Continuing to struggle, I ploughed these earnings into hiring an LSAT tutor who helped me master logic games. Perhaps a high score on the LSAT predicts success in law school because it is as much a reflection of effort as it is a reflection of raw intellectual power.
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Tim Rosenberger is a legal fellow at the Manhattan Institute
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