Law Schools, LSAT

Sample LSAT Questions Rejected By The LSAC

If you're thinking about applying to law school, try answering these questions from columnist Shannon Achimalbe -- which might motivate you to study harder or to reconsider applying.

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I just learned that the next administration of the LSAT takes place on Monday, June 8. Some candidates who are taking it are probably unhappy with their previous scores. But if you learn the materials and continue to take the practice tests, your 147 will magically turn into a 174 and you will gain entrance to the Holy Trinity of law schools.

I want to take this opportunity to recruit new ATL readers by introducing a very short practice LSAT. It contains just 12 questions, with four questions covering each tested section. Unfortunately, the LSAC decided not to use these proposed questions on the experimental portion of the LSAT, so you will only see them here. I will concede that the questions below are not as difficult or confusing as those on the actual exam. But I hope that after you are done with this exam, it will motivate you to study harder or to reconsider spending three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a degree with an uncertain future.

LOGICAL REASONING

Question 1 – Many of our students are recruited by elite law firms. If you were not offered an associate position after graduation by one of these firms, it is because you did not work hard enough in class.

Which of the following most strengthens the above argument?
A. Law firms have reduced or frozen hiring because of a recession.
B. Law firms are increasingly hiring RoboAssociate, whose prime directives are to serve the client, protect confidential information and uphold 24-hour billing.
C. Because the public interest scholarship fund has been depleted this year, students cannot afford to go into public service and plan to enter private practice upon graduation.
D. Three of your classmates have told me that you were reading legal blogs during class.
E. The local Biglaw firm has split into Midlaw1 and Midlaw2, and both firms no longer need to hire entry-level associates.

Question 2 – Even though many law school graduates in the nation are unable to find legal jobs, the alumni we keep in touch with used their law degree to be successful in other fields. Therefore, once you graduate, you will be successful, no matter what you do.

Which of the following would most undermine the above argument?
A. Only the successful alumni kept in touch with the school.
B. Some successful alumni are too busy to stay in touch.
C. Passing the bar exam is a necessary but not sufficient condition to be successful.
D. You are not entitled to a job just because you have a law degree.
E. C & D.

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Question 3 – Read the following exchange.

Pam:      Many law schools have been fraudulently reporting their post-graduate employment statistics for years.

Claire:   Law schools should not have to present themselves in the most negative light. Prospective students can look to other sources to get more detailed employment information.

What do Pam and Claire seem to agree on?
A. Law schools should spend more money to get more accurate post-graduate employment statistics.
B. Law schools have a duty to inform prospective students about the realities of the legal job market.
C. Prospective law students are sophisticated consumers capable of conducting extensive research before deciding to enroll in law school.
D. If law students work hard and network, they will get jobs no matter what the employment report says.
E. Many law schools are not accurately reporting their post-graduate employment statistics.

Question 4 – Law school enrollment numbers are dropping and the number of post graduate job offers are increasing. Therefore, now would be the best time to attend law school.

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The passage does not assume which of the following?
A. Post-graduate job offers will not be scarce in three years.
B. The post-graduate job offers will be for positions that law school graduates actually want.
C. Out of state job applicants will increase in three years.
D. Doing document review and contract work becomes more pleasant.
E. Technological advances will increase the need for attorneys specializing in privacy, and computer trade secret theft.

READING COMPREHENSION

The next four questions are based on the following passage:

After controlling for observable differences, we find that a law degree is associated with approximately a 60 percent increase in expected median monthly earnings and a 50 percent increase in hourly wages, as well as reduced risk of unemployment or underemployment. We find earnings differences between men and women, and that these differences are due primarily to differences in hours worked. The law degree earnings premium is cyclical and recent years are within historical norms. Applying reasonable discount rates, we estimate the mean lifetime value of a law degree in 2012 dollars as of the start of law school to be approximately $1,000,000 before taxes, and $700,000 net of taxes. Median pre-tax lifetime values are approximately $600,000 (after taxes, $420,000). This suggests that, for most law school graduates, the value of a law degree typically exceeds its cost by a very large margin. Moreover, law school attendance provides a large benefit to public finances through student loan interest payments and tax revenue.

There are a number of important limitations to our study. Although we control for some ability sorting using variables available in Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we cannot rule out the possibility of selection or omitted variable bias. However, there are theoretical reasons to believe that selection bias could be either positive or negative, and these may offset each other. In addition, SIPP data has been found to underestimate educational earnings premiums, and we therefore are likely underestimating the value of a law degree. To the extent that selection bias is positive, reporting biases in SIPP earnings data may counterbalance it. We investigate ability bias using the National Education Longitudinal Study sample and find little evidence that those prone to attending law school could earn comparable amounts with just bachelor’s degrees.

Another important limitation is that we are measuring population level differences in earnings. Individual outcomes may vary from those typically found at the population level, and we can only account for a limited proportion of the total variance in earnings.

We also cannot determine the earnings premium associated with attending a specific law school. Because our data covers a representative sample of law degree holders, the law degree holders in our sample will have attended a variety of law schools. Previous empirical studies have reached different conclusions about the extent to which the earnings premium varies by law school ranking and geography.

Nevertheless, our results suggest that attending law school is generally a better financial decision than terminating one’s education with a bachelor’s degree. We report distributional data and differences by gender. Our findings suggest that even for relatively low earners, a law degree will typically more than pay for itself over the course of a lifetime. Even at many low-ranked law schools, student loan default rates are relatively low. Downside risk of attending law school is mitigated for individual students through income based repayment and related programs that spread risk. In sum, a law degree is often a good investment. Legal education provides a substantial financial benefit to the federal government. Because the federal government is a large diversified lender and tax collector, outcomes for the federal government will approach the population mean—which is highly profitable—and the government is therefore well situated to absorb and spread risks of investment in higher education.

Question 5 – What is the primary purpose of this passage?
A. To argue that lawyers should pay more income taxes.
B. To show that it is unfair that women lawyers are paid less than men.
C. To show that a person will earn a higher salary with a law degree as opposed to just having a bachelor’s degree.
D. To show that all lawyers will eventually pay off their student loans plus interest.
E. To prove that the federal government will benefit by encouraging the creation of more law schools.

Question 6 – When the authors write “Even at many low-ranked law schools, student loan default rates are relatively low,” which of the following do the authors assume?
A. Even though most graduates of low ranked law schools struggle to find a job, they are able to make their payments with the help of family.
B. An underemployed attorney on an income-based repayment plan and planning for loan forgiveness is not a default.
C. If the graduate works hard and networks, he will eventually find a job that will allow him to meet his payment obligations.
D. Default rates are higher at for-profit trade schools that are known to exploit the helpless and naive.
E. Low-ranked schools charge lower tuition than elite schools so their student loan burden should be a lot lower.

Question 7 – In the fourth paragraph, the authors claim that they cannot determine the earnings premium associated with attending a specific law school and so the law degree holders in their sample have attended a variety of law schools. What would be the best reason for criticizing this methodology?
A. If graduates of low-ranked law schools generally do not receive an earnings premium, combining them with graduates of higher-ranked schools (who will likely have substantial earnings premiums) in the sample would produce a result that misrepresents the earnings premiums of all graduates in the sample.
B. Low-ranked schools are not included in the 2015 ATL Rankings.
C. Low-ranked schools are problematic because the unsuccessful are not likely to participate in any sample or disclose their income.
D. Over the last few years, all law schools have been required to disclose a greater degree of post-graduate employment information and so the authors could have been able to obtain earnings premiums for individual schools.
E. Both C & D.

Question 8 – Based on the passage, which of the choices below might be a possible reason why the authors would claim that legal education would be a good investment for the federal government?
A. The authors are hinting that by educating more lawyers, it will increase the supply of lawyers, which will force lawyers to reduce their rates and make them more accessible to the middle class.
B. Since more states are cutting back education spending and schools are raising tuition as a result, the federal government should increase the amount of money students should be allowed to borrow.
C. Because the government will receive higher tax and student loan interest revenue and law school graduates rarely default.
D. Soul-crushingly large student loans will motivate graduates to work longer and harder so they can pay off their loans as quickly as possible.
E. By investing more money into legal education through student loans, it would ensure that the best and most ethical attorneys serve as faculty and deans.

ANALYTICAL REASONING

The next four questions are based on the following passage.

Melanie enrolled in a fourth-tier law school where tuition and living expenses total $70,000 per year. After talking to upperclassmen, guidance counselors and doing some research on the internet, she learns the following:

  • The top 10% of the 1L class (determined by GPA) are automatically offered transfer admission to Columbine Law School, a regionally prestigious school with the same tuition and living expenses. The top 50% are eligible to transfer to schools of varying ranks that no one really cares about.
  • The top 5% is given a full tuition scholarship for the remaining two years. The top 15% is given a 50% tuition scholarship for the remaining two years. However, if any student is accepted as a transfer student and threatens to leave, the dean may award a “special need-based-merit diversity scholarship” awarding up to 50% of tuition for the remaining two years as an incentive to stay.
  • The top 10% is automatically awarded membership to the school’s law review. The next 15% are also awarded membership if they pass a writing test.
  • 95% of Columbine Law School graduates have found employment within nine months of graduation. Of this amount, 75% work in large law firms or federal clerkships. At Melanie’s school, 42% of their graduates from prior years found a job within nine months of graduation. Seven have found employment in large law firms or federal clerkships and all of them were members of law review.

Question 9 – If Melanie is in the bottom 50% of her 1L class, which of the following must be true?
A. If Melanie studies hard, takes all of the classes with easier curves, and becomes the top student in all of her classes for her 2L and 3L years, she will graduate at the top 10% of her class.
B. Melanie will not be eligible to transfer to other schools or get any scholarships. She will graduate after paying $70,000 every year for all three years of law school.
C. Melanie has a 42% chance of being employed nine months after graduation.
D. If Melanie is accepted as a transfer student elsewhere, she may qualify for a tuition discount if she petitions the dean.
E. C & D

Question 10 – If Melanie is in the top 26% of her 1L class, the following could be true except:
A. If Melanie does not transfer and does not demand a scholarship, she will pay $70,000 per year for all three years of law school.
B. If Melanie decides not to transfer after bargaining with her school, she may pay at most $140,000 for all three years of law school.
C. Melanie has no chance of being a member of her school’s flagship law review and thus cannot take it for class credit in order to protect her GPA and class rank.
D. Melanie has a 42% chance of being employed nine months after graduation.
E. Transferring to a different school may improve her job prospects upon graduation.

Question 11 – Based on the above conditions, who is likely to graduate from Melanie’s school with the least amount of student loan debt?

A. Some members of the school’s law review.
B. Those who were able pay tuition and living expenses for all three years by obtaining scholarships and working.
C. Those who are able to convince the dean to offer a full-tuition scholarship for the remaining two years.
D. The top 5% of the 1L class.
E. Everyone who was eligible to transfer.

Question 12 – Based on the above conditions, who is likely to graduate from law school with at least $210,000 in nearly nondischargeable student loan debt in addition to capitalized interest and any debt from college and other degree programs?

A. The bottom 50% of the 1L class.
B. Those students ranking between 26% and 50% of their 1L class who do not bother to transfer and try to bargain for tuition discounts.
C. The top 10% of the class who transfer to Columbine Law School with no scholarships.
D. Who cares? I’m going to PAYE this off.
E. All of the above.

Have you written down all of your responses? Flip to the next page for the answers….

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