A Roadmap to LSAT Success

The LSAT can feel like a gargantuan task, especially when the entire test session takes multiple hours to complete. The LSAT helps to buy essay for school admissions fate, but with careful planning and several prep strategies, you can master the test and earn the score you deserve.

Consider the following five-step roadmap to LSAT success:

1. Pick your goal score and test date

The LSAT is scored on a 120-180 scale. Check with your prospective schools to determine the precise score you will need for admissions. The LSAT is only offered four times each year, and many law schools require students to take the test by December for fall admissions. For these reasons, it's very important to plan ahead.

2. Take a diagnostic practice test

It can be painful to struggle through unfamiliar questions and content. But you must start somewhere, and a practice test can help you recognize your natural strengths and weaknesses. From your results, determine what areas need the most review. This will then help guide your LSAT prep strategy. Make sure you always take official LSAT practice tests or other credible practice tests with answer explanations.

3. Dive into your prep materials

Get a credible guide that will walk you through all the question types and strategies you'll need to master the LSAT. The LSAC website has official study materials, but you may wish to use additional resources too. Read your guide cover-to-cover - even including your strongest sections. Be sure to use a book that includes practice questions with detailed answers. Flag any content that you don't quite understand so that you can come back to it later.

It's best to finish these books before advancing to step four, but if you don't have enough time in your prep plan to do so, you can move on regardless.

4. Take additional timed practice tests

This is where your prep is going to start getting more intense. Ideally, you've had time to read and fully grasp the test content and strategies you'll need. Consider using your weekdays to complete as many practice questions as you can find (either official LSAT questions or credible questions from other sources). Focus on your weaker areas, but still pursue all question types to polish your strengths. Then, take full-length practice tests once a week to get used to the marathon that is the LSAT.

5. Continue practicing or set a new strategy

After you've taken your second full-length practice test, determine if you're on track or not. If so, that's great; keep practicing, re-reading troublesome chapters in your books, focusing on your weaker areas, and taking full-length practice tests on a weekly basis.

If you're not on track, you may need to amplify your prep. This could mean taking two or three practice tests each week, or adding another hour to each day's studying. Whatever it takes, you need to create a new strategy that will get you back on track. Once you have this strategy, follow it all the way up to test day.