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How to Prepare for LSAT as a College Student

Written by CB Community

Earning an impressive score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) will give you the best chance of attending the highest ranked institutes, but you will be unlikely to achieve this without preparing properly.

With that in mind, here are some tips for college students who are hoping to ace the LSAT but need guidance on how to prepare.

Take a Training Course

Facing off against any exam solo is always an option, yet with the best LSAT prep training courses and tutors available to modern students, you do not need to go it alone.

A good course will cover everything you need to succeed, including all the books and documentation to assist with your studies along with video lectures, practice exams to take and comprehensive round-the-clock support from specialists.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time

It is no good applying for the LSAT on a whim and assuming that you can just cram all of your prep into the last few weeks or days before the exam takes place.

In fact, the very nature of the test means that it is essentially immune to the usual cramming that can work out in other subjects or contexts.

This is because the LSAT sets out to test your critical thinking and reasoning, rather than your ability to remember facts or spout quotes from respected sources.

Indeed, you will likely need to spend much of your prep time rewiring your brain to accommodate the kind of thought processes that will be necessary to deploy during the exam.

Experts recommend that you should aim to invest around 300 hours in LSAT prep, and of course you should schedule this over the course of several months to ensure that you can balance it against your other studies and social obligations.

Practice as Much as Possible

We have already mentioned that LSAT training courses will include access to practice tests, but you can also get these from the Law School Admission Council free of charge.

Practicing in simulated exam conditions is sensible because it will give you a better idea of what you will face when you are taking the test for real, as well as giving you the chance to familiarize yourself with the thoughts, feelings and pressures that are involved.

If you do not put yourself through several practice tests, you could find that the stress is too much to bear when it actually matters.

Prepare Your Body and Your Mind

You can do all of the preparatory work in the world before your LSAT, but if you have not looked after yourself properly during this period then you could fall at the final hurdle anyway.

It is important to eat well, get plenty of sleep and ensure that your body clock is in tune with the timing of the exam so that you are not exhausted or burnt out.

Finally, if you feel that you are not ready for your LSAT, do not rush into taking it. Be patient, work hard and go easy on yourself to achieve your aims.

About the author

CB Community

Passionate members of the College Basics community that include students, essay writers, consultants and beyond. Please note, while community content has passed our editorial guidelines, we do not endorse any product or service contained in these articles which may also include links for which College Basics is compensated.