LSAT Preparation Tips and Advice
Certification: Test Prep LSAT - Law School Admission Test
So you’re going to take the LSAT, but you feel a little lost. Here are some tips and tricks to help you out before and during the test.
Preparing for the Test
- Scour the LSAC website for information and resources. They sell a number of test prep materials in their store, like test prep books or sample tests (https://os.lsac.org/Release/Shop/Publications.aspx). They also have a range of free prep materials on their site at http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/preparing-for-the-lsat.
- Start studying early! This is not a test you can go into with no preparation or a week’s worth of cramming. Start preparing for the test months in advance.
- Take some test prep courses or find a tutor. There are a number of places that give live and online courses or live, online, or telephonic tutoring. Kaplan, Princeton Review, TestPrep, and PowerScore are some of the major ones, but a quick Google search will find dozens of others.
- While it’s helpful to study with friends, remember to also study on your own. Studying by yourself will make your own weaknesses clearer, which will help you study better.
- PRACTICE TIME MANAGEMENT. It is vital that you practice the test using the time constraints you would have during the actual test. Many people can answer the questions with unlimited time – the timed factor is often what provides the extra chalenge.
- Create a strategy! Don’t go into the test without a plan. Figure out what sort of questions you can answer quickly and what type of questions you’ll need more time on. Budget your time effectively to get the highest score. Any organization that offers test prep can help you begin planning your strategy, like Princeton Review, Kaplan, TestPrep, and PowerScore.
- Also, be sure to customize your strategy to fit your needs. Plenty of companies offering test prep courses will give you a standard strategy, but many of those who score in the very top percentiles say they created their own, and wouldn’t have scored so high if they hadn’t done so. PowerScore sells several “Bible” books that will help with this immensely.
- Create a backup strategy! You may have a strategy all worked out, but the test might throw you a curve ball. Be ready with alternate strategies, just in case your first one hits a snag.
- Take as many old LSAT tests as possible to practice. You can find these for sale on the LSAC website in eBook form for Kindle, Nook, or iTunes (http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/preparing-for-the-lsat/ebooks).
- Take your practice tests at the same time of day that you will be taking your LSAT. If you take all your practice tests in the morning, but your LSAT is scheduled for 4:00pm, you might not be prepared for how your energy levels at that particular time will affect your performance.
- For every practice test you take, save the questions you answer incorrectly and practice them often. Figure out what the trend is, then study those types of questions to boost your skill.
- Remember, many schools will average your scores if you take the LSAT multiple times. This means that if you improve the second or third time around, you won’t improve by as much as you would like. It also means that if you don’t improve, your score might actually go down. Instead, it’s usually better to take many, many practice exams and spend extra time preparing to take the test only once.
Taking the Test
- Use those strategies you created and keep an eye on the clock.
- When taking the test, answer everything, even if you don’t know the answer. The LSAT doesn’t take away points for incorrect answers, it only awards them for correct ones. Since it’s multiple choice, you often have a 15 – 25% chance of getting it right just by guessing.
- In your Test Prep materials, you will discover that certain sections of the test (often the logical reasoning sections) are hardest in the middle and easier in the beginning and end of the section. If you end up at a difficult run of questions, it may be worth skipping to the end and working backwards.
- Before you read the passage connected to the question(s), read the question(s) first. This will save you a lot of time by telling you exactly what to look for as you read.
- Often, you will find that multiple answer choices could answer the question. If so, go back and reread the exact parameters of the question – only one choice will answer the question given the parameters it requires.
- Remember that not all conclusions are automatically dependent on the assumption, even if they are connected in the question. For example, the statement “If P is reduced, L is not reduced,” does not automatically mean that if L is reduced, P isn’t reduced. It only means what it says, “If P is reduced, L is not reduced.”
- Know the specific parts of an argument: the claim(s)/conclusion(s)/hypothesis, assumptions, and evidence. Know how to recognize them and use them to answer the questions.
- If you’re running out of time on the Reading Comprehension section, read the first and last paragraph of the passage and then the first sentence of every paragraph in between. This is a skimming technique used by professionals in every field, and will help you answer the questions without having to read the entire passage. Note: it’s always better to read the full passage and then answer questions. This is only for when you are running out of time.
- When answering Analytical Reasoning questions, create a diagram to help you solve the problem. It may seem like a lot of time spent creating a diagram, but it will help you answer those questions much easier and net you more correct answers in the long run.