John Bennett

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Tutoring - Better way than Craigslist

John Bennett posted an article on - Nov 23, 2009, 7:00 am
If you're looking for in-person tutoring for the LSAT, but are not in NYC, we stumbled upon a fine site that helps connect you with experienced tutors in your area. Or, after you're finished ...
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Contrapositive - LSAT Delay

John Bennett posted an article on - Nov 16, 2009, 7:00 am
The latest Contrapositive is up, and this is the first one from in house. You can probably tell from the xkcd aesthetic. Sadly, we encounter this sentiment about the LSAT quite often in our tutoring...
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Zen Student Journal -

John Bennett posted an article on - Nov 5, 2009, 5:03 pm
The following is the latest journal entry from one of our online Zen tutoring clients. As I mentioned before, one thing I learned from my experience with Zen’s tutoring service is that I cannot and...
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Constant Improvement - Online Tutoring

John Bennett posted an article on - Nov 2, 2009, 7:00 am
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I hope that means the people over at the more established Teach-For-America-turned-standardized-test-tutoring company will be flattered that...
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Constant Improvement - Analytical Reasoning

John Bennett posted an article on - Oct 31, 2009, 6:27 pm
As part of refining the Zen of 180 system into a full-fledged online LSAT diagnostic tool, I've been trying to apply Teach For America's philosophy of constant improvement to the Zen task stan...
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Self-reflection and Constant Improvement

John Bennett posted an article on - Oct 30, 2009, 4:43 pm
One of the things that I like most about Teach For America is the cultural willingness to admit when things are not optimal and should be changed. While some of this boils down to nitty-gritty survey...
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Zen Student Journal: Task Meta-Awareness

John Bennett posted an article on - Oct 13, 2009, 4:02 pm
The following is the latest journal entry from one of our distance tutoring clients. It’s been a series of ups and downs lately when it comes to my LSAT preparation. Well, to look at things objecti...
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Contrapositive - Future Path of Law Student's Cell Phone Conversations

John Bennett posted an article on - Oct 9, 2009, 7:00 am
The latest Contrapositive is up, from the creator of Wingmen. Supposedly you could interchangeably label the x-axis variable as "time beginning at law school," but be careful about making that assump...
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December 2009 and February 2010 LSAT Preparation Calendars

John Bennett posted an article on - Oct 7, 2009, 7:00 am
The Zen of 180 public calendar has been updated for those planning on sitting the February 6, 2010 LSAT, and we wanted to point out the important shift from diagnosing to adapting strategies that need...
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Zen of 180 - Tutoring Services

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 28, 2009, 7:00 am
We've been receiving a lot of e-mail traffic about our online and in-person tutoring services, so we've decided to post the following generic e-mail reply. We'll update later this week wi...
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Zen Student Journal - Online Experience

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 23, 2009, 10:15 am
Welcome to the first entry from our first online client; he was kind enough to offer a post about his LSAT experience and how our initial consultation impacted his LSAT study. “LSAT? Why, you sure d...
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Zenterview - Deferring Columbia Law

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 21, 2009, 3:56 pm
... another Teach For America alumna; however, we were interested in hearing her answers because she was accepted to Columbia Law School and deferred her enrollment until after two years of service....
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LSAT PrepTests aStore Updated with Logical Reasoning

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 16, 2009, 11:39 am
We opened our Official LSAT PrepTest store last month, but wanted to let people know that we have finally updated the individual PrepTest descriptions for the Logical Reasoning Sections. These descri...
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Harvard Law Textbooks - Civil Procedure

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 15, 2009, 7:00 am
Today's post will be short and to the point: want to know how much textbooks will cost for a law school class? We got our hands on the Harvard Law School required texts list for all 1L courses, a...
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Law School Experience - Harvard over Yale and NYU

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 14, 2009, 7:00 am
Welcome to the first post from ABenn, a current 1L who agreed to update Zen of 180 with her experience at Harvard Law School. While applying for the class of 2012, she sent applications to only Harvar...
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Zenterview - Transferring After First Year of Law School

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 10, 2009, 7:00 am
This week's Zenterview is with a current 2L at Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. While this student offers a perspective of how an LSAT score can guide applications to...
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October 1996 Sample LSAT - Logic Games 13-18

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 9, 2009, 7:00 am
The newest pencast of logic games explanations for the October 1996 Sample LSAT is live! This is a rare type of sequencing game with relatively few constraints, where all of the questions are conditi...
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Due Diligence, Searching for Law Schools

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 8, 2009, 7:00 am
Many of the Zen students insist that all they care about in a law school is its ranking. While the idea behind the numbers might be justified--a law school's perception among employers plays a hu...
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Audio Zenterview - New York University and "Why Law School?" Cautionary Tale

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 3, 2009, 7:00 am
This week's law school admissions and experience interview is with Michael Madeo, another Teach For America alum who graduated from New York University School of Law in 2008. He spent some time in...
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Don't Thrash in the Dark

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 2, 2009, 6:15 am
I have only dabbled in other methods of LSAT training, and in fact, I'm not sure if they deserve to be called "methods" at all. It became clear upon starting my program of self-study with Zen of ...
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LSAT Books and Materials - Logical Reasoning

John Bennett posted an article on - Sep 1, 2009, 7:00 am
As we discussed yesterday, we only advocate using the Official LSAT PrepTests for LSAT prep. These are the best and cheapest way to ensure that you are only dealing with real LSAT material in your sel...
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LSAT Books and Materials - Reading Comprehension Focus

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 31, 2009, 7:00 am
At Zen of 180, we only advocate using the Official LSAT PrepTests, which are published by the Law School Admissions Council, for LSAT prep. These are the best and cheapest way to ensure that you are ...
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Contrapositive - Don't Lose Sight of What You Are(n't)

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 28, 2009, 7:00 am
The latest Contrapositive is for anyone who has fallen in love with the idea of law school, but doesn't know what they would do with the extra degree. From the creator of Wingmen. Next week loo...
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Zen Journal - Law School and the LSAT, "Why?"

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 27, 2009, 7:00 am
The following is the latest entry in Mr. Underwood's journal, a Zen of 180 student who is preparing for the December 2009 LSAT.The other day I had a phone conversation with one of those "friends" ...
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Zenterview - Teach For America and Fordham Law

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 26, 2009, 8:40 am
Our newest Zenterview is with Jordan Kovnot, a rising 2L at Fordham University School of Law in New York City. Jordan spent two years between his undergraduate career and law school working as a corp...
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LSAT Retake Question - Ensure Significant Gains like 172 to 180

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 25, 2009, 7:00 am
Deciding whether to retake the LSAT is a difficult and arduous task. As we discussed yesterday, although most people improve with their repeat score, most scale scores do not lend themselves to signi...
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LSAT Statistics, Week Two - What Happens When People Retake the LSAT?

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 24, 2009, 7:00 am
Welcome to the second week where Zen of 180 examines LSAT statistics to answer common questions people have while prepping. Tomorrow we'll get into the question of whether you, specifically, sh...
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Contrapositive - Calvin and Hobbes Homage

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 21, 2009, 8:10 am
The newest Contrapositive is up, and it's for anyone who is stuck in an LSAT rut. From the creator of Wingmen. We offer free tools for LSAT self-study and the law school admissions process at th...
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LSAT Statistics Week - Scale Scores and the Bell Curve

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 20, 2009, 7:00 am
Welcome to the third post about LSAT statistics. Today we discuss the LSAT scale scores in depth, especially how they interact with the number of missed questions, their relatively stable distributio...
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Zen Journal - Goal Setting by LSAT Admissions Statistics

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 19, 2009, 7:28 am
Welcome to my statistics week blog! I'd like to extend the topic matter just a tad into the territory of probability--that is, probability of getting into your top law school choices. I will furt...
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October 1996 Logic Games Explanations, 6-12

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 18, 2009, 7:00 am
We'll continue LSAT Statistics Week tomorrow with an entry in Mr. Underwood's Zen Journal, but for now, here's the latest pencast for the free October 1996 PrepTest. October 1996 LSAT Log...
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Welcome to the first week of LSAT Statistics!

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 17, 2009, 7:00 am
For the next two weeks Zen of 180 will be examining all manner of interesting and relevant statistics about the LSAT, including today: "How many people score a perfect 180 on the LSAT?" Last year, ab...
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Contrapositive - (F) A,I,L,U,R,E

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 14, 2009, 7:00 am
This latest Contrapositive--from the creator of Wingmen--is for all those of you who have been taking an LSAT and discovered an unwelcome message in your answer... or lack thereof. We offer free tool...
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Zenterview How to: Scholarships for Law School

John Bennett posted an article on - Aug 13, 2009, 7:00 am
Our second Zenterview is with a fan of Zen of 180 who is just finishing orientation at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. EF spent two years after her undergraduate studies...
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About Me

I'm currently serving my second year as part of the 2008 Teach For America - NYC Corps. I applied the standards-based curriculum skills I learned as a teacher to LSAT tutoring, and thus far have some really great results with my students. Since I went from a 172 to a 180 in about 7 weeks of self-study, I feel very comfortable helping people develop and maintain their own training regimen. I also briefly applied (i.e. two weeks of intermittent effort) my self-study methods to the GMAT, and walked out of my first try with a 760 overall and a perfect on the verbal section. My first client will be attending Harvard Law starting in the fall of 2009 (she turned down Yale, before you ask), and three more students are climbing steadily towards the 99th percentile. The blog is part of a promotional effort for a soon-to-be-released self-study guide to the LSAT, The Zen of 180.

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