Rayman’s LSAT Guide
There hasn’t been much activity on the law school front lately. Since nothing is going on I will fill this temporary lull with my advice on things that I experienced before this blogs conception. To begin I will write about one of the most important parts of the law school admissions process — the LSAT.
The LSAT is a bear of a test but taking it is a skill that can be learned. After having been through it I feel as if anyone who did well in college can also do well on the LSAT — with a little diligence. As with many other things practice makes perfect.
There are all kinds of approaches to studying for the LSAT. Some people advocate expensive formal classes. While those classes are probably very helpful to some I do not think they are worth the cost. There are enough books and other study aids out there to make self prep a very effective method of study.
So what do you need? The number one mandatory requirement for any person going the self prep route is discipline. Seriously, the LSAT is no joke and studying for it takes time and dedication. If you are unwilling to take a disciplined approach then give up now. If law is something you truly want to do putting in the time and effort to get a good score will be worth it.
So, assuming you have the discipline, the next question is probably — now what? Well, the best place to start is the Internet. It’s a huge, free resource. There are probably a million (slight exaggeration) other bloggers out there who have written posts just like this and that’s just blog posts. There are also the law school message boards and law school related websites. Take a few weeks and learn all you can about the LSAT from the Internet.
After you read a lot of online information you will probably be extremely curious about what a real LSAT is like. Indulge that curiosity and take a real LSAT — under real conditions (time and everything). They are available through Amazon. I suggest that you get a more recent LSAT but don’t start with the MOST recent. My first prep test was one that was free through the LSAC (Law School Admissions Council) website. Taking that test as my first was a mistake because it was one of the most recent tests. It is probably best to reserve the most recent tests for practice closest to the real thing (more on this later).
With your first test in the bag you will have a “cold score” and a general idea of your natural ability. If your cold score is low don’t sweat it. I have heard of people improving as much as 18 points. My cold score was 158 and my highest practice was 173 (166 on the real thing). Obviously, you can learn your way out of a less than desirable cold score.
Now, how do you learn your way to a desirable score? The first step is to get and read the bible. I’m not talking about the holy bible, I’m talking about the Logical Reasoning and Logic Games Bibles. When I was prepping I read many books. From my experience, if you read enough on the Internet the bibles will be the only thing you need. Everything else will be mostly a repeat of what is out there on the Internet. There is also a new bible on reading comprehension. This was not out when I was prepping but if it’s any bit as good as the other bibles then it is probably worth the price. I say get it.
After you have consulted the Internet, gotten a cold score and read the bible you are ready to get to the real prepping — taking LSATs. During my experience I obtained prep tests 10 – 53 and took them all. You probably wont need to take as many as I did but expect to take around 20 + or – depending on how quickly you learn / how much you want to improve.
The best approach to taking LSATs is to start by just focusing on learning the test. As you get closer and closer to test day your test taking should look more and more like the real thing. Start by taking older prep tests un-timed. After you take each test take a lot of time to dissect each question you miss. The most important thing is to understand why you missed the question you did. Ask yourself what made the right answer right and how was it different from the answer you chose. You should also review questions you were unsure about but got right.
At some point your learning will slow. You will start to miss questions not because of some lapse in knowledge or understanding but because maybe you made a bone headed error or missed some small but critical fact. At this point you should start to shift your prep focus from learning to practice. Start taking your prep tests under timed conditions. Invest in a timer specifically for the LSAT. You wont be allowed to use the timer on the actual test (only analog watches are allowed) but it will help you to learn the right rhythm for the test.
A very large part of the LSAT is managing your time. Most people do not have enough time to finish every section so often it can be a strategic mistake to dwell on a particularly difficult question. The LSAT is a curved test and, consequently, a miss on a difficult question at the expense of getting more easy questions answered (and likely correct) is worth it. A LSAT timer will allow you to time each question and give you an objective indication of when its time to stop dwelling on a particular question. After enough practice with a LSAT timer you wont need it. You will develop an intuition of when to move on and when to dwell. This is an intuition that can only be practiced with real LSATs under REAL time conditions.
The final weeks before the test should be dedicated only to real LSATs under real time conditions. I feel like two prep tests a week would be good during this period although you could probably only do one. Try to make these final prep tests as close to real conditions as possible. By “as close as possible” I mean literally everything you can think of. If you know what room you will take the test in then practice there. If you have a friend willing to proctor for you then have him/her do it. Use #2 pencils and an analog watch. Don’t drink, smoke or take restroom breaks. The closer to the real thing you can get the more relaxed you will be on test day because everything will be familiar.
Finally, plan your prep ahead of time. Your prep timeline will be very critical. In fact, if I could go back and change one thing about my prep it would be my timeline. I did not take 43 prep tests because I wanted to, it was because my timeline got all messed up. Originally I was going to take the December LSAT but I had some problems with my registration and ended up taking the test in February. The result? I peaked too early and literally ran out of prep tests to practice with. You may have noticed that there was a 7 point discrepancy between my highest practice and my actual score. I believe that my messed up timeline was to blame. In this case don’t do what I did, get your timeline right and stick to it.
Well, that’s my system in a nutshell. I hope it helps. If anything maybe it will verify intuition or someone else’s system. There is a lot of info out there and everyone learns differently so don’t take my advice as Gospel.
Good luck.
June 21, 2011 at 9:57 pm
I ran into your blog as I was sorrow-scaping (not an actual word) my way through law school info on the Internet. I took the LSAT in June and this is week 2 of waiting for the score. I do not know how well or how poorly I have done on the test. Came out of the room with mixed feelings. My background is similar to yours – an engineering degree with several years of experience. My pursuit of a JD is not to make more money necessarily, but, to widen my perspective, first, and then to move up in the field I am in, if all stars and planets that need to align, do. All that said, I do not know if I will be saying the same thing a week from now, when the scores would have come out. I do not have the luxury of re-taking the test for various reasons. The score I receive will be the decision point for me in pursuing this path further.
I’ve been going through cycles of emotions waiting for the score and preparing for the worst. In the end, I know that no matter what, my experience going through this the last few months will remain with me for a life time. At least, I can say that I tried. So I made a pact with myself to only think positive for the next few days, until the score arrives. That is when I ran into your blog; I was looking up ’1L experience’ — imagining that I will be going through this myself, having gotten a good score that will get me past the gates of the schools in my reach (both economically and otherwise). I started with your first December entry and made it this far. I must say – I could not agree with you more about starting prep for 1L ahead of time. This is what I said to myself as well — knowing that any chance of scholly I receive (from the T2 schools I plan on applying) will be with GPA stipulations. And, I, like you, do not have a background in law today. And without subsidy, I will not be able afford any school at sticker price.
I have to applaud you on your single-minded goal and focus of getting into law school, while being mindful of debt.
You may not even see this message, but, I wanted to thank you for putting out this blog, in the hopes that someone, someday might run into it and get something useful out of it. And it has!
Good luck in your endeavors.
June 26, 2011 at 2:15 pm
AP — Glad you liked my blog. It has been a while since I have posted but I still maintain the site. I hope than things turn out well with your LSAT score. As long as you get into law school you should be able to succeed. Success in law school does not require super human intelligence — It only requires hard work, dedication, and an emphasis on strategic time management. I’m going to write an update on my experience last year soon. Later I will also post all of my outlines. So please check back soon.