Thoughts on the LSAT

When I was a freshman, I remember going to a talk given by a Kaplan Test Prep employee. The one take home point she emphasized from the outset was: “No matter what you do, don’t go into the test cold.” While fairly obvious, her advice stuck with me throughout my college career. Now that it’s time for me to start prepping in earnest, here are my thoughts on the process:

In my research, I’ve often heard that the June administration is the best time to take the LSAT if applying to law school in the fall (for example, see here). I’m not really sure why the June exam is better than the October for college students, as the latter gives them more time to prepare for the test, and from what I understand, schools don’t really start looking at applications until November anyway. Of course, this assumes that one has spent the summer getting the rest of ones application materials prepared so that come fall, the LSAT (and perhaps recommendations as well) are the only items needed to complete the application.

Of course, for those students who are really on top of their game, you can always take the test as a junior as well. One of my classmates who will be abroad senior fall took the February test junior year, and now that’s one less thing she has to worry about as a senior. For me, I knew that there was absolutely no way I could devote adequate attention to prepping for the test during the school year, given my academic course load and extracurricular activities during the semester. Had I attempted to take the June exam, my score would have almost certainly suffered as a result. So given the variety of prep options available to test-takers, I’m going to have to side with the orthodoxy here: Do what works for you. Or rather, do what’s going to help you get the most points come test day. For me, I knew a class was the way to go because a.) it keeps me accountable on a schedule and b.) getting feedback on my progress is helpful.

As far as my personal progress is concerned, I think I’m in a pretty good situation right now. My prep class concludes at the end of July, giving me all of August and September to work on my own. My plan is to push through practice problems and full length tests throughout August, as my internship will be over and I’ll have even more free time to prepare. Come September, when I return to school, I hope to treat my LSAT prep just like another class (although this will admittedly be challenging when the more immediately pressing business of the school year returns). I’ll write more about the specifics of my August/September study schedule in a later entry.