My Personal LSAT Prep

The LSAT is a huge part of any prospective law student's consciousness. Most law schools provide a fairly narrow range of LSAT scores accepted into their program each year, and the test is quite daunting. Furthermore, the test has a reputation for chewing up and spitting back out some of the best undergraduate students, which only heightens the sense of anxiety felt when approaching your own test date.

Due to this, many programs exist designed to assist students in preparing for, and hopefully increasing, their score on the LSAT. With so many opinions floating out there, I thought I would add my two cents as someone who has completed the process.

As I began to approach the LSAT, I knew I would need to do some prep work, knowing little of the test prior to deciding I would pursue law school. I quickly discerned four approaches to preparing.

The first was to simply not prepare. Many diagnostic or measurement tests are designed to simply quantify the subjects inherent skills. For example, IQ tests are designed to provide a measure of the taker's intelligence level. Ideally, an IQ test is not something you can study for to increase your score, as many times as you take it you should score the same (the holy grail of test designers, but deeper discussion is outside the range of this post). The SAT was presented in much the same light to me, a measure of your aptitude for college level work. Perhaps, I thought, the LSAT was similar in this regard, it does share three of the same letters with the SAT, doesn't it?

Before you scoff and dismiss this notion as foolishness, I will be very honest and give some background: I am an excellent test taker. I never once prepped for the SAT, and in two sittings scored 1360. I also took the PRAXIS in preparation for a teaching career and scored either perfect or 95th percentile in all sections. Standardized tests are fortunately easy for me.

After quick review of various internet marterials and the LSAC site, I threw this idea out.

The second option was to take an LSAT prep class, such as the one offered by Kaplan or other companies. These promised huge score jumps, money back guarantees, and plenty of practice tests.

I reviewed some classes in my area, but unfortunately they were seeking upwards of $1,200.00 for the class, plus materials. While not completely outside my budget, it would have been a major stretch. Additionally, the hours generally didn't fit well with my 9-5 work schedule. They seemed to be set up with current college students in mind, oddly enough. Although they are probably a great way to boost your score, prep classes did not work for me.

The third option was to hire a private tutor, I had seen advertisements on bulletin boards as an undergrad, and Craigslist had plenty of them as well. This seemed a little risky, as there was no way to verify credentials, but then again, one on one teaching is the best you can get. Additionally, they could get expensive, and probably best fit someone with very specific needs, such as high test anxiety or low diagnostic test scores.

Finally, the fourth option was to LSAT prep books and practice tests. This option seemed highly flexible. It would give me a chance to study when I had time and at my own pace. I could also pick the areas I needed the most work in and focus on those. Online searches revealed the average price to be in the $25.00 to $35.00 range, highly affordable. After a quick trip to the local bookstore, I found that most books contained at least one full length prep test, some had upwards of five!

I will detail more of my strategy in upcoming posts. Please offer feedback on this one so far!