Is the LSAT a Wealth Test?
Test This!
Recently, the Huffington Post put up a blog post by Noah Baron arguing that the LSAT is basically a test of your wealth. The reasoning was peculiar – because only wealthy college students have both the time to study during school (because everyone else is working) and the means to afford a prep course, they have a strong advantage on the LSAT. Baron is missing the big picture though: wealth and quality of education are strongly linked in our country, and a rigorous education (and I’m talking K-12, along with college) is one of the best preparations for the LSAT. One does not quickly learn to think critically, or to read quickly and with understanding! Courses like ours can definitely help people improve these skills (and part of the point of our curriculum is that go beyond simply exposure to and categorization of the test), but there’s no doubt in my mind that if I had to choose between 10 years of challenging and effective high-school and college classes or 3 months of a great prep course, I would choose the former. I think we’re great, but let’s be realistic!
There are many other problems with Baron’s reasoning — take a look at the comments to hear some great critiques — but I’ll add that the disadvantages faced by low-income students are not at all specific to LSAT-prep. In fact, for some, our classes are what help them overcome a lack of a rigorous education. To help out those who would otherwise not be able to afford LSAT prep, we offer discounts and scholarships, and we focus particularly on folks who are serving in the armed forces.