In this article, the author updates his prior studies of LSAT® scores (Nieswiadomy 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2017) using current data for 2022-23 law school applicants, finding that economics majors remain at or near the top of all applicants. Results of the previous studies showing economics majors scored well on the LSAT® have often been posted on…

This Focus On uses data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) to showcase that, as a group, recipients of physics bachelor's degrees tend to do well on two prominent standardized tests for medical school and law school admission. Although only a small percent of the physics bachelor's…

Building on prior research on the relationships between key concepts in item response theory and classical test theory, this note contributes to highlighting their important and useful links. A readily and widely applicable latent variable modeling procedure is discussed that can be used for point and interval estimation of the individual person…

Reducing barriers to graduate and professional education may reduce racial inequities in high-status professions. In 2020, one-quarter of law schools accepted the GRE in place of the LSAT, reflecting an effort across educational domains to revisit standardized test requirements. We use a generalized difference-in-differences design to investigate…

Those aspiring to law school must first complete the Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT. When ranking undergraduate majors by mean LSAT scores, economics has proven to be near the very top, if not the number-one major, over the last two decades. The goal of this analysis is the search for additional evidence that an economics degree is good…

In this article, the author updates his prior studies of LSAT® scores (Nieswiadomy 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014) using current data for 2015-16 law school applicants, finding that economics majors remain at or near the top of all applicants. Results of the previous studies showing economics majors scored well on the LSAT® have been posted often on…

Reasoning, our ability to solve novel problems, has been shown to improve as a result of learning experiences. However, the underlying mechanisms of change in this high-level cognitive ability are unclear. We hypothesized that possible mechanisms include improvements in the encoding, maintenance, and/or integration of relations among mental…

This study applies the conceptual framework of Positive Deviance, the theoretical framework of critical race theory, and the lens of marronage to understand the problem of low Black student enrollment at one American Bar Association accredited law school. The purpose of this study was to understand what current Black law students perceive to be…

Pseudowords (words that are not real but resemble real words in a language) have been used increasingly as a technique to reduce contamination due to construct-irrelevant variance in assessments of verbal fluid reasoning (Gf). However, despite pseudowords being researched heavily in other psychology sub-disciplines, they have received little…

Legal educators are routinely banning students' laptops or wireless connectivity in law classes. Faculty assumes students are significantly off-task and in-class laptops are harmful to learning. Current research focuses almost exclusively on undergraduate students technology uses in- and out of the classroom. Only a handful of studies objectively…

The development of statistical methods for detecting test collusion is a new research direction in the area of test security. Test collusion may be described as large-scale sharing of test materials, including answers to test items. Current methods of detecting test collusion are based on statistics also used in answer-copying detection.…

Before 2000, Indian tribes were forced by federal law to get permission to hire an attorney. This article invites readers to consider all of the disputes Indian tribes have had with the United States, state governments, and others before the year 2000, and how in each instance the federal government had to approve the arrangement between the…

Students and the public routinely consult various published college rankings to assess the quality of colleges and universities and easily compare different schools. However, many institutions have responded to the rankings in ways that benefit neither the schools nor their students. In "Engines of Anxiety," sociologists Wendy Espeland…

Physics majors pursue a wide variety of career paths, many of which are not what you might expect. Some pursue advanced training by applying to graduate schools, medical schools, or law schools. The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and Law School Admission Test (LSAT) data in this report show that the physics majors who applied to either…

In many educational settings, students may have an incentive to take courses where high grades are easier to achieve, potentially corroding student learning, evaluation of student achievement, and the fairness and efficiency of post-graduation labor outcomes. A grading system that takes into account heterogeneity of teacher standards and student…