I hate to tell you this...
May 28 '00
I teach an LSAT prep class and scored above the 97th percentile when I took the test myself. I also scored in the 89th percentile on the Multi-State Bar Exam. These are my credentials for this review, on things I hate to tell you about the LSAT.
1. You can't buy a high score on the LSAT. I think that taking a prep course is a good idea. A good course can give you some realistic strategies and the opportunity to interact with others who have gone/are going through the test themselves. But don't think that just by paying a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars you will automatically raise your score. You must be willing to listen, concentrate in your class, practice and apply the coursework to your ongoing studies. If you feel tired from a day of intensive classroom work on the LSAT, how will you feel after 6 hours of the Multi-State, let alone an actual trial?
2. While the LSAT doesn't have much to do with the law school experience, it has a great deal to do with the Multi-State portion of the bar exam (which, with few exceptions, almost all law school graduates face). So if studying for the LSAT is a nightmare for you, you might want to reconsider law school, because you'll have to take an even more difficult version of it 3 years from now. In order to do well on both the LSAT and the Multi-State, you need to have some test-taking aptitude to begin with.
3. The best way, and only truly effective way to improve your score on the LSAT is to practice. A few gifted people don't need to practice. I am not one of those, and I have always been a high scorer on standardized tests. When I started preparing for the LSAT the analytical reasoning section (commonly known as Games) was my weakest area. When I got my results back, it was my strongest (I think I missed 2 questions). Practicing on previous LSATs is vital because, even though the test is fairly accurately written (the right answers really are right), there are still some ambiguities and you need to understand the test-maker's psychology to resolve them.
4. It is not the end of the world if you don't do well enough on the LSAT to get into law school. Many people pin their hopes and dreams on law school the way that others view Powerball. I hate to tell you this, but being a lawyer doesn't make you rich, successful or famous. I don't want to start a big essay on lawyers here, but there are plenty of us out there, and and it's not exactly LA Law. If you wonder what my job is right now, I am currently a happy stay-at-home mom. I plan on rejoining the legal profession as an active participant again when my daughter is older, but right now I'm just as happy refereeing at the playground or making pleas for my daughter to eat her veggies.
Now for something I love to tell about the LSAT. It's fun. Oh, applying to law school is stressful, but the best trial lawyers I know live on adrenalin. The test itself is like a series of locks. The keys are your own strategies you develop as you practice and study. Pick what you like from classes and books to add to your repetoire, but the system of attack must come from you, because complex thinking is involved here.
And by the way, when in doubt, always pick C.
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Epinions.com ID:
jenscookie
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Location: In the library kids' section...
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About Me:
Lawyer-turned-SAHM.
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