The LSAT test itself bears very little relation to the types of questions you’ll see on law school exams. It is administered to understand your ability to handle logical questions and if you can think analytically. You are probably wondering if you should take a preparation course or study on your own. I studied only for the exam, so I can only talk about that experience.
The actual LSAT test has 5 35-minute sections and a 30-minute scoring portion of writing. What you may not know is that one section of the 5 will not be graded. Because of the way the sections are divided, there is a logic, reading comprehension, and a couple of analytical reasoning sections. There may be one more of each to provide the experimental part to be discarded, but since you have no idea which one it will be, you have to act as if each part is qualified.
To prepare for the exam, I recommend that you get some older test booklets and practice each one as if you were going through an actual timed exam. To keep things interesting and to judge my progress, I would grade my answers after each round. I knew this was a departure from actual procedures, but I wanted to keep things competitive so I was determined to beat my previous scores.
This method is similar to throwing yourself into a fire. Let me clarify this. In a prep exam, they will explain and provide an overview of the test and the question types as a preface to the test. If you get the test right, then you won’t know what’s coming, but after taking the test a few times and reading why the right answer was the right answer, you’ll begin to understand the questions and the proper way to dissect and answer. them.
Keep taking the test over and over and, if you can, take an official practice test administered by a school. This gives you an idea of the real test environment. You’ll want to practice intensively for several months before the actual exam, somewhere in the range of four or five months. This way you will not panic but at the same time you will know that you cannot delay your studies.
You should also calculate what your approximate score would be on the practice tests so you can see how much you need to improve. If you’re not breaking the 150 barrier, you should look to outside sources to help improve your score.
You can save money when studying for the LSAT by buying used practice tests online or at used book stores. Also, the law schools you visit may have some available.