Tips on Succeeding on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

While "passing" or "succeeding" on the LSAT is purely subjective, we each have our own personal goals when embarking upon the terrible LSAT journey. As a coworker of mine advised me early on in this journey, "the LSAT is a game and you need to learn to play the game-if you can't learn to play games, you will struggle in law school". A better analysis of the LSAT I have not received, and this really helped me understand what I needed to accomplish.

The LSAT is a game-unfortunately, a game that has been over-weighted and over-analyzed by law school admissions offices. You do need to learn to play it, and learn it early. I hope these tips will help you to succeed, whatever your personal goals may be, on this dreaded exam.

1) Take the Exam Seriously from DAY ONE

While its easy to spend time hating the weight law school's place on your LSAT score, try not to dwell too much on this hatred. Don't get me wrong- you can hate it, but only if you can funnel that energy into productivity. You must see the LSAT for the monster that it is, and take that in stride, pushing you to overcome it. Another friend told me that the LSAT should become your priority for the months you spend studying for it. After your job, the LSAT should be your life-put off your hobbies, your friends, and even your family while you study for the exam. You must, and you will only regret it later if you don't.

2) Make a Schedule, and Stick to It!

You must plan to study for 2 hours at least 4 days from Monday-Friday, and from 3-6 hours on the weekend. Make a schedule, pen these time blocks into your schedule, and STICK TO IT. Make no excuses, make no exceptions. Treat this studying like you would a professional job, but take it more seriously. If you need, schedule time into your schedule for activities that you enjoy, that calm you down- its important not to completely disregard these activities or you might burn out too quickly.

3) Take Real & Recent LSAT Exams

There is no point in studying if you are not going to study from real, previously-administered LSAT exams (these cost from $8-$12, depending on where you buy them from). Buy recently administered exams (#s 50 and up) and use the most recent for full, timed-practice exams, and use the later ones for practice problems. Don't buy Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barrons or other test-prep company books-they make up their own test problems to mimic the real LSAT, but why practice from anything other than the real deal? If you want to use these books to learn technique, that's fine, but don't neglect studying from the real LSAT exams.

4) Get a Private Tutor

While I realize not everyone can afford to spend extravagantly on LSAT preparation, it is important to get a tutor. You can find LSAT tutors online on craigslist, or even in newspapers. These tutors are much more affordable than the large Kaplan and Test Masters group classes, which you will definitely not get as much out of. Consider getting a private tutor and sharing the lessons (and costs) with a friend of yours (who is as serious as you!). This makes LSAT preparation much more affordable. You will be surprised how much a private tutor can help you-you will learn tricks, study techniques, and discipline.

5) Take a few Administered Practice Tests

You must take at least one (preferably around three) practice tests in a similar test environment before the actual exam. Kaplan offers free proctored practice exams that you can sign up for online. These tests are great because the environment is similar to the one in which you will take the LSAT. You might even get the familiar feeling of butterflies in your stomach due to nerves! This is wonderful, because you need to experience the test environment before taking the exam for real. **

6) Repetition is King (or Queen)

While initially I thought that the best preparation techniques would be to do as many problems as I could, review them, and move on, I do NOT recommend this. For the LSAT, repetition is a great advantage that should be used (especially with the logic games portion of the exam). Test yourself on the same questions again and again- this will teach you to master them entirely; you will also learn to catch patterns in the questions. Take the questions again until you do them with ease. This works best for logic games and formal logic questions. During the test when you hit a question that looks similar to one you have taken 5+ times, you will complete it with ease and accuracy.

7) On Test Day

On the real LSAT exam day, do not go into it cold. What I mean is, you should review a few problems that you have completed already. Or even read the newspaper before going into the test- it is important that the first thing you read in the morning of the test is not the exam booklet, because your brain will be cold. Athletes don't begin a game without warming up and stretching first- they would fail right out. You need to warm up too.

8) Have NO Regrets

Too often, LSAT takers receive their scores and feel regretful- regretful of not studying those extra hours, not taking that LSAT study course (or signing up with a private tutor), not taking the exam seriously enough. Please do not let this be you. Push yourself to the extreme so that you will have no regrets when exam day comes. You want to know that you could never have done better than you did.

I hope these hints will help you to succeed on the LSAT exam!

**I suggest bringing your own real previously administered LSAT exam (which can be purchased on lsac.org or on amazon.com) to the Free Kaplan Practice Exam. While Kapla will provide you with a practice exam, Kaplan does not use real LSAT exams- they pay people to write exams that "mimic" the real exam. This is not useful to you or anyone preparing to take the LSAT. If you do take Kaplan's exam, know that your score is not necessary an indicator of what you will score.