The Knewton Blog

Emily Holleman is a Content Developer at Knewton, where she helps students with their LSAT prep.

For students in our GMAT course, the benefits of online learning are pretty obvious—the GMAT is a computer-based test, after all, so it’s only logical to want to prepare using the same interface. The LSAT, by comparison, remains stuck in the Dark Ages—it’s a pencil and paper test, administered just 4 times a year by a draconian set of proctors.

So, why not stick your head in the sand, ignore the online and interactive learning possibilities, and stick to those traditional stalwarts of test preparation (in other words, buy some generic printed guide to the LSAT and sign up for your standard classroom course)?

Well, just because the Law School Admissions Counsel (LSAC) hasn’t caught up with the 21^st century doesn’t mean you should hold off too. The benefits of online, adaptive learning go far beyond mimicking the GMAT’s adaptive testing interface.

First of all, students in online learning settings do better than those in the classroom. Case in point? A 93-page report conducted for the Department of Education last summer found that, “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” These results were largely based on studies of college and adult education programs—people in the same age and learning demographic as those preparing for the LSAT, in other words.

The primary benefit of online learning is straightforward. Online programs in general are more adept at tailoring themselves to the needs of individual students. And Knewton’s LSAT course, with its cutting-edge adaptive learning engine, is exceptionally adept at this kind of individualization. Our course is designed to focus on improving each student’s individual weaknesses. In a classroom course (or fervent study session with an LSAT book), you’re left on your own to figure out what particular areas you need work on. Knewton’s course will pinpoint your weak points for you—and give you access to extended, target practice to improve them.

One way to do this is through our beloved Create-a-Quiz—where you can select what question-, game-, or passage-type you need work on, and then instantaneously take an automatically generated quiz drawn from our database of 5,948 actual LSAT questions that tests you on that specific skill set.

The ability to do this is particularly useful on the LSAT, since it’s such a skill-oriented test.  Use Create-a-Quiz to quickly and easily test yourself in areas where you’re having difficulty. Trust us—Create-a-Quiz’s instantaneous powers are far, far superior to the offline study equivalent: marking up your wrong answers, trying to figure out some sort of rhyme and reason to your mistake-making, and then searching desperately through your book to try to find questions you think are maybe, probably similar to the other ones you got wrong. (I’m tired just thinking about it!)

Another major advantage of studying online for the LSAT is that you can access your data and course information anywhere. Not only can you study from any computer with an internet hookup, but your test-taker profile—detailing your strengths and weaknesses, how well you’ve done on practice tests, and what lessons you’ve taken, among other data—follows you around too. Have a few unexpected moments of potential study time? Access all of that stuff with the click of a mouse. No more toting heavy LSAT books around!

Finally, taking Knewton’s online LSAT course doesn’t preclude you from studying under test-like (that is, pencil and paper) conditions. You can (and should!) print out any (or all) of the 11 most recent LSATs to time yourself as you take them by hand—just like you will for the real deal.

Posted in LSAT, LSAT Tips | 3 comments