Tell me about your own personal experience preparing for and writing the LSAT?

Question

I am thinking about going to law school (in Canada) and was wondering if anyone could tell me any information they found useful, interesting or important? Thanks a lot

I checked and the only place they do testmasters in Canada is toronto..i'm not there

Answer 1

I think that elbartos advice is really good for the most part. Starting early and studying hard is the best way to prepare. I did about the same thing that elbarto did to prepare (6-8 months of study on my own using ACTUAL LSAT EXAMS), and scored in the 99.9th percentile. It really helped that I had a significant background in formal logic, and argument analysis having been a TA for those classes in undergrad. There may be things that you can't just pick up on your own but might with some help, but as to whether or not to drop several hundred dollars on a prep class, you should find out if you need it. Get some real tests, study them, then see how well you are doing compared with what you need to get to get into your top law school choices. If there is still a big gap then take a class. There are some that offer DVD courses with online content as well that make studying more convenient for those who's schedules are tricky, or you could look for a live class. Either way do some serious research before picking a class. There is a big difference between the classes out there.

Answer 2

I just took the LSAT yesterday, and first of all, I am very glad to get it over with, so much so that I am really unconcerned with how I did, I'm just happy I no longer have to do another logic game for the rest of my life. While there are a lot of aspects to the test that I found interesting while preparing, most of the time I just felt frustrated during the whole process. I eased into studying for the LSAT from November to January, familiarizing myself format, question types and such, then by March I dove fully into the prepping, taking a practice test every week and doing so amount of practice questions almost daily (all this while working at an elementary school for kids with behavioral problems!). The hardest part of all this wasn't so much the questions, but frustation in constantly seeing no rhyme or reason to my practice scores. I could feel that I did good on a practice test and check the answers and just do average, while in another instatnt I may come close to dozing off on a section and and yet do quite well. But over all, the worst feeling was/is not seeing a very large increase in how well i was doing throughout the process. Practice makes perfect, right? Well, after doing it over and over, taking new and old advice, and not just not seeing an increase in your score, but also not seeing how you could ever do better than you are doing, all this can be hard to face. I'm mean, to begin with, I'm no idiot, so you would think that with the right amount of time and resources such an endevour be, though challenging, a breeze. Looking back at the past few months, could I have pushed myself harder and done more? Yeah sure. But looking back at yesterday, and after going through those month of prepping, I can confidently say that I know that I could not have done any better on yesetrday's LSAT than what I did.

So the advice? Be ready to accept that you will reach a point (the wall as marathoners call it) where you will not be able to do any better. You need to know yourself and the test well enough to know when you've reached that point. Once you reach that point then then the struggle will be to stay at that point and not to dip down, so that when test day comes, you won't be thrown off or suprised by your performance.

Answer 3

The only thing I did was get ahold of a practice book with a lot of practice exams, and take a lot of them. I worked up to test conditions, onlt doing a couple at the end in test-like conditions (i.e., all at once, the exact timing). I personally didn't feel the need for a course, but for many people they do boost test scores.

I also think the point is not to go crazy about it, and just get so where you are relaxed about it. Notice any patterns about what is kind of questions you consistently miss. Also be aware that many imitation practice exams are a little less careful and ambiguous, and so don't worry if you find yourself disagreeing with the answer.

And for what it is worth, I did better than DemonOly. [legal equivalent of a smiley face]

Answer 4

Study, but don't go nuts. If you want to really prep -- take a high level symbolic logic course in college (either in philosophy or math, philosophy I think is usually easier to translate to the test). I actually found one answer to a really hard question set by diagramming the problem like I was taught in advanced symbolic logic.

The most important thing -- keep your confidence up. If taking practice tests helps your confidence, take them in bunches. Always remember -- the golden rule of the LSAT is to confuse a simple question with lots of complicated information. The answer to every question on the LSAT is located inside the question itself. So really, you already know the answer when you read the question. Just trust that you do

Answer 5

I took the TestMasters course in California. I scored in the top 0.3% - the test is definitely beatable. You just have to prepare effectively and be confident. Remember, just pay attention to the details - a lot of the answers turn on a single word...

Answer 6

I took the LSAT a couple years ago. I took the KAPLAN prep course to prepare for the exam. I got a 140 which is not good enough for law schools these days.

I found the Kaplan course helpful, but I think the trick is to take the course and then allow yourself time before the test. In this time, you should take as many practice exams as possible.

Answer 7

Test Masters is the only way to go! If you dont use it, I gaurnatee you will the second time around.

Answer 8

Watch legally blonde over and over and over and over and over and over...until you realize that if a blonde can do it ANYONE can...the hit the books after you feel motivated enough.

Answer 9

GO TO THE LIBRARY AND GET THE TEST ON SAT AND STUDY. GOOD LUCK. YOU WILL PASS.