LSAT How to study

Faculty & Staff > LSAT How to study

How Do I Prepare for the LSAT?

Adapted from Kathleen Uradnik - Pre-law Advisor at Saint Cloud State University

The following are strongly suggested if you wish to do well on the LSAT:

1. Pick up and READ the LSAT/LSDAS Registration and Information Book. This information is on-line at the LSAC web site. http://www.lsac.org.

2. When you register for the LSAT, be sure to check YES in the appropriate box on your LSAT registration form, which releases your data to your pre-law advisor. We need this information to help us advise and place students, and it remains confidential.

3. The best preparation is to take real LSATs under simulated (TIMED) conditions. Take as many of the old exams as possible. Copies of the old exams can be purchased directly from the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for a nominal fee. A sample test is also provided for you in the LSAT registration booklet and on-line at the LSAC web site.

4. You may wish to purchase study guides to help you in practicing for the examination. A number of books are available. None are as good as taking the actual tests, but they can provide you with additional vocabulary and questions to work on. The best study guides are generally thought to be published by Barron?s, Kaplan's, and Princeton Review.

5. To review specifically for the logic questions on the LSAT, purchase this book: John Nolt, Dennis Rohatyn and Achille Varzi. 1998. Schaum?s Outline of Theory and Problems of Logic, Second Edition, New York, McGraw-Hill. ISBN# - 0-07-046649-1. It is sometimes available at Borders or can be ordered through internet sellers such as Amazon.com or Powells.com.

6. You may wish to take a LSAT prep course. Pre-law advisors disagree over the usefulness of prep courses. They can be helpful, but they are very expensive. There is no one right answer. Whether you should take a prep course depends on your individual circumstances. In deciding whether to take a prep course, you might wish to consider the following questions:

a. Can I easily afford a prep course? If so, there is probably no harm in taking one. Most people agree that a prep course will not hurt your score, and may help it. The question is whether your score will improve significantly enough to make the course worth the money.

b. Will spending money on a review course make me more motivated to study, to get my money?s worth? If so, you may wish to take the course.

c. Can I afford it, but not very easily? If money is an issue, you should ask yourself how committed you are to attending law school and whether you consider this expenditure to be an investment in your future. If you are willing to spend the money as an important investment in your education and your future employment, then a review course may be for you.

d. Are you self-motivated? If so, there is plenty of information available to you for free on the web and from your pre-law advisor, and you may not wish to spend the money on a prep course.

e. How did you do on the practice LSAT you took under simulated conditions? If you scored well, and your practice LSAT score and GPA place you solidly within the admissions criteria of the law schools that you wish to attend, you probably do not need to take a prep course.

If you do decide to take a prep course, the best ones are generally acknowledged to be by Kaplan and Princeton Review. Both Kaplan and Princeton have offered hardship/low income discounts, so you might ask whether they have any discounts that might apply to you.

7. Do not go into the LSAT exam thinking that you can take it more than once. It is better to do your best the first time, and to undertake the exam with that mindset. You can retake the LSAT, but all of your scores will be reported to the law schools, plus the average of your scores. Some law schools will only look at the average score; others want to see significant improvement in the second score. I advise students to take the LSAT again only if they are convinced that they will do appreciably better the second time.