Law School Admissions: My Experience with the LSAT

Applying to law school or any grad program can be daunting at first if you’re not familiar with the process. There’s so much that goes into an application. When do I take the LSAT? How long do I study for? What else should I be preparing for in order to apply? This post is the first in a series about the law school admissions process, and today i’m talking about my experience with preparing for and taking the LSAT! Hopefully it helps you in your own admissions process and answers some of your questions. Let’s get into it.

What the Heck is the LSAT?

The Law School Admissions Test (commonly referred to as the LSAT) is the standardized test you have to take in order to apply for law school in the U.S., similar to the SAT or ACT in college admissions. The test measures your reading comprehension skills as well as logical reasoning, and is about three-and-a-half hours long. The LSAT is offered multiple times a year, and you are allowed to take it more than once. Scores range from 120 to 180, and your LSAT score is the most important factor in your application along with your GPA. Because your LSAT score essentially dictates which law schools you’ll get accepted to, it’s important to take it seriously and do as best as you can.

LSAT Resources in College.

I knew I wanted to go to law school when I came into college, so I immediately joined the Pre-Law Association at my school. This organization offered resources for students looking to apply to law school, practice LSAT exams, and Q+A’s with law students. If you’re contemplating law school or in search of some resources, I would check to see if your school has this type of club. There might even be a pre-law advisor through the career/grad advising on campus (my school had one but I never really utilized it).

The first LSAT practice test I took was with this pre-law association during my second year of college, and I had no clue what the exam was going to test me on. It’s safe to say the logic games portion of the test really threw me for a loop. I scored fairly average, which was good for having not prepared at all. Between that practice exam and the middle of my third year, I didn’t really think much about the LSAT or the admissions process at all. During the spring quarter of my third year, I began my preparation for law school applications by studying for the June LSAT, in order to apply during the winter of my fourth and final year of college.

Preparing For the LSAT.

I signed up for an in-person LSAT prep course through TestMasters, which I took for the ten weeks leading up to the June LSAT. This prep course is a little pricey, (~1650) but if you’re able to afford it, I HIGHLY recommend. They also offer an online version and other ways to study for a lower price. I think there was a promo code for a few hundred dollars off from my school’s pre-law association, so be sure to check on that if you’re going to be enrolling.

As part of my prep class, I took a full length practice exam every Saturday for ten weeks. Spending close to four hours in a boring room on every Saturday was not ideal, but it helps a ton. This really built up my stamina for how long the exam is and mirrored the test-taking conditions of the actual LSAT. After every practice exam, I scored the exam myself and read the explanations for the questions I got wrong to understand which parts I could improve on and how. I did a TON of supplemental practice questions in my free time, and noticed point-by-point improvements in my test score throughout the ten weeks. I seriously owe this to my prep course instructor, Astrid, and TestMasters in general.

If you aren’t enrolling in a prep course, I would still highly recommend weekly full-length practice tests for the week leading up to the exam. You can purchase a book with practice exams on Amazon or at a Barnes and Noble. In order for the practice tests to work, you need to score the exams and see what part you can improve on. Make sure to really understand why you’re missing the questions and then practice those types of questions before your next practice exam. If you’re really bombing the reading comp section, practice more reading comp and figure out why you’re not doing well on it. If logic games are not your strength, learn the proper methods for doing well on it. Your practice book will probably have explanations on how to analyze the questions or you can always look on Youtube. You should see a small improvement with each practice test you take if you are able to understand the questions you are getting wrong and learn from it.

A note on timing: I took the June exam and the prep course was during my Spring Quarter of junior year. I definitely took the easiest, least-demanding courses I could that quarter in order to minimize my class workloads during that time. I spent a great deal of time studying for the LSAT, more time than I had dedicated to anything ever. I took studying for the exam really seriously, and turned down every social thing I got invited to (the only exception was going home for Mother’s Day). The June LSAT also happened to fall exactly into my finals week (curse you, quarter system!). Luckily, because of my easy classes, I didn’t have much to study for and the final exam scheduled on the same day as the LSAT was able to be rescheduled to another day. If you’re taking the LSAT during undergrad, this is definitely something you need to think about in advance. Try to plan an easy semester/quarter while you’re studying for the exam and minimize your involvements in extracurriculars if possible. You also want to think about which month you’ll be taking the exam in and whether you’ll have enough time to take it twice should you go that route. I took the June exam with plenty of time to take it again in October before I started sending in my applications in December/January. You can certainly start with an earlier exam like the one in February in order to have ample time, or start later on in October or December and just take it once. Something to think about as you plan out your LSAT studying timeline.

Test Day.

Test day was definitely stressful to say the least. I took the June exam at a law school about 30 minutes away from me (McGeorge SoL in Sacramento). My main tips are to leave your phone at home/in the car and to bring a clear ziplock with your water, snacks, pencils/pens, ID, and anything else you need to bring with you. Go early if you want to pick a good seat. My venue for the exam was a giant lecture hall with over a hundred people. By coming really early, I was able to get a spot in the front row of the lecture hall where I wouldn’t be distracted. You should definitely do your research on testing locations if you have more than one location option around you because some are lecture halls and others are classrooms. (I had another option in my area and avoided it because I had heard the walls were thin and it was chaos.). The exam is long and draining, but if you’ve been taking full-length practice exams in the weeks leading up to the real deal, you should be able to accomplish this with no problem. Go out and celebrate afterward (or just lay down and relax) to mark the end of your LSAT exam!

I came into the TestMasters prep course with a 155-ish score, and walked out of the actual exam with a 164 (which is 89th or 90th percentile, I believe). I was extremely content with that score and didn’t feel like taking the LSAT a second time would be necessary. There’s nothing wrong with taking the exam a second (or third) time, I just didn’t feel like I would be able to improve any further. I would caution you to only consider a second or third attempt at the LSAT if you are confident you can increase your score by a significant amount. Otherwise, it’s not really helpful to take it again.

It takes time and constant hard work to study for the LSAT, but it will definitely be worth it! Stay tuned for another post on law school admissions soon!