Preparing for the LSAT Test

Until quite recently, test advocates denied that preparation could influence a candidate's grades. As evidence to support this claim, they pointed to the fact that most students who retake the LSAT earn scores on the retake that are within a few points of the scores on their first exams.

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However, evidence has accumulated that tends to disprove this claim. We know that a student's standardized test scores tend to correlate; that is, that a student who does well on one standardized test tends to do well on all such tests, regardless of whether they are supposed to measure aptitudes for the study of law, or science, or other subjects. This seems to indicate that tests measure (at least in part) some test-taking skill or talent. If such a skill exists, it should be perfectible through practice, just as a skill for playing the piano or hitting a baseball is perfectible.

Moreover, prelaw advisers know that students can sometimes improve their scores enough to make a difference in their application profiles if they engage in a systematic course of study between a first test and a retest. Back in the 1970s, when the LSAT was scored over a range of 600 points (with the lowest score being 200 and the highest 800), I routinely saw improvements of 50 to 70 points among students who took cram courses between a first test and a retest. One student improved 118 points. On the version used in the 1980s, when scores ranged from 12 to 48, I often saw improvements of five or six points. A shift from a score of 27 to a score of 33 was a shift from the 31st percentile to the 58th percentile and could well have made a difference between rejection and admission.

Faced with such evidence, Law Services now grudgingly admits that preparation can sometimes help:

Because the LSAT does not test specific knowledge attained in course work, you cannot "study," in the traditional sense, in preparation for the test. However, it is possible to prepare by becoming familiar with the types of questions you will encounter on the LSAT. This will help you do your best when you take the test.

Law Services now sells its own test prep materials.

The private cram courses probably go too far, however, when they suggest that test scores are simply a function of preparation. They argue that the more work you do, the better your score will be, and sometimes imply that if you work hard enough you will get a perfect score. In 1990, the representative of one national proprietary school you're an insecure person who worries about things, it's far better to take the course and not need it than to skip it, save a few dollars, and then worry about having missed something.

A good test prep course will be offered by an established outfit. Some are given by universities themselves, but most are now offered by specialized proprietary companies that use college classrooms during off-hours and publicize their offerings through college channels. As you gather information about law schools, you'll come across posters and leaflets from a dozen or more competing private test prep companies. Look for a course offered close to home and ending within six weeks or so of the test date you've chosen. A good course will provide ample practice material and will be offered on a schedule such that you'll have time to do homework and have that homework critiqued by the teacher. Expect to work regularly, one or two hours each evening for perhaps four evenings a week. (C^The Stanley H. Kaplan organization, which has a reputation for consistently high-quality test preparation (and which claims to enroll as many as half of all the candidates who take the LSAT each year), requires you to attend class one evening a week for eight weeks. Classes are small, homework is built into the program, and students are motivated to do the homework by peer pressure and by the knowledge that they won't get their money's worth if they don't practice. Kaplan has competitors, and if you live in a large city or attend a large university you may have a choice of several. Ask older students about their experiences. You can't always count on having as good an experience as others, but you can avoid repeating someone else's disaster.

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Courses that are offered "intensively" over a single weekend, or even on a single Saturday afternoon, are much cheaper. But they have little to recommend them. Their teachers can provide familiarization with the three question types, but there's no time for practice or for positive psychological reinforcement. Nor do they provide the steady scheduling that helps students discipline themselves.

Preparing on Your Own

There are no secrets in the test preparation business, and you should beware of any course that promises to teach you some unheralded method or system. All any cram course can do is explain the question types, suggest strategies, and encourage you to practice. You can learn about question types and strategies from readily available published material, some of it put out by Law Services. And you can buy ample practice material at your college bookstore. You can practice on your own if you generally test well and have little difficulty mastering new question types; are a disciplined person who can stick to a regular practice schedule; and have enough self-confidence not to need to take a cram course defensively, just because all the other good students are taking it.

Some prep materials are now available online. You can buy diskettes that will run on your personal computer or, on some campuses, access the material from a mainframe. When you practice online, you can work at a practice question and, if you have trouble, call up an explanation. This can be helpful during the familiarization stage of your preparation. But you should try to do at least some of your practice on pencil and paper, and in the later stages To be successful, you'll have to develop a feel for how much time you should spend on each question. This rhythm comes with realistic practice. (If you're used to working with machine-readable answer sheets, you're less likely to write an answer on the wrong line.)

Whatever method you choose, you should work at it regularly and diligently. Set yourself a schedule. A few hours an evening, perhaps three or four evenings a week, for eight or ten weeks should be sufficient. Many students have told me that the practice is much easier if there is someone to share it with. The old training buddy philosophy is used by many gyms and weight-loss programs. If you have two or three friends who will be taking the LSAT at the same time, you should explore the possibility of a study group. If nothing else, you can share the cost of the practice materials.

We can draw one more parallel to athletic training: you need to avoid overdoing it. If you find yourself exhausted all the time, if you're working practice questions in your dreams, or if your friends complain that you never take a break, you're probably overtraining.

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