How to Ace the LSAT: 9 Tips for Success

Is your LSAT on the horizon? If you dream of becoming a lawyer, it’s essential that you pass the exam. Taking a practice test is a great way to become familiar with the material and questions, but it’s not the only LSAT prep tip that can help you ace the test. Here are nine total you’ll want to use over the coming months.

What Is the LSAT?

An open textbook with a pair of glasses resting on top of the pages.The Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, is the standardized test used to assess students interested in becoming lawyers, administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). Most United States law schools use the test results to determine acceptance, but they’re not required to, per the American Bar Association.

The LSAT is scored between 120 and 180. The day-of exam contains two scored Logical reasoning sections, scored Reading Comprehension section, and an unscored experimental section. The LSAT Argumentative Writing section can be completed within one year of your test date.

9 LSAT Prep Tips to Ace the Test

Just like the SAT and ACT, the LSAT isn’t the same as other tests you take in high school and college. It doesn’t test memorization skills, and it’s not an exam you should cram for – you don’t even need to study law to pass. Instead, the LSAT focuses on reasoning, comprehension, and time management skills. The best way you can do well on the LSAT is to prepare well ahead of time.

These nine tips will help you get started with prep and ace the LSAT.

Ascent company logo.

A loan designed with you in mind

Variable cosigned rates from 5.09% - 14.10% APR with auto-debit

LEARN MORE

1. Take Practice Tests

Before anything else, take an LSAT practice test. This step gives you a baseline to work from. It accurately reflects your current understanding, comprehension, reasoning, and other skills. As you work through the other tips and study, you’ll take more practice tests to track your improvement and adjust your approach to prep.

Whether it’s your first practice test or fifth, always simulate test day conditions. Follow the time requirements, turn off your phone, take breaks on schedule, and remove any distractions. Taking these extra steps means the results of your practice LSAT are more likely to reflect your ability.

2. Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses

It isn’t enough to just take practice LSATs. You need to review your results each time to gain insight into your strengths and weaknesses. Did you perform worse on one section than the other? Did you struggle with the time constraints?

This knowledge allows you to craft your study plan in the coming months. As you retake the practice exams, you can adjust your studying as needed.

3. Set Goals

Next, you’ll want to set S.M.A.R.T. goals, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. You want benchmarks that are realistic. You might create your goals based on your practice LSAT score, your dream score, or your law school’s admission requirements.

Remember: If you hit your goal, you can always aim higher after that! You don’t have to aim high right away. By hitting smaller goals, you can increase your motivation over time.

If you don’t get your dream score the first time you take the official LSAT, don’t worry – you can always take it again. Admissions departments will be able to see all of your scores, but you could increase your acceptance chances.

4. Use LSAT Study Materials

Once you have a baseline to work from, it’s time to dive into studying. There are apps, online resources, books, flash cards, videos, and more to help you prepare for the LSAT. You should focus on all parts of the exam but give special attention to your weaker areas.

If you struggled with reasoning, try playing logic games alone or with study buddies and friends. Play under time constraints, too, so you can get better at working quickly.

To practice reading comprehension, focus on active reading, such as taking notes or underlining key points. Take time to identify passage structures to quickly find the important information. And read on various topics to strengthen your comprehension.

After studying, retake practice tests to see how you’ve improved.

5. Create a Study Schedule

It’s important to start early when it comes to standardized tests like the LSAT. Cramming simply won’t work. It’s too much material and not material you can memorize. Cramming will only result in exhaustion on test day, making it much more difficult to read and think logically.

Set aside specific hours during your day or week to study for the LSAT. However, find balance in your schedule. Too much studying, whether it’s too many days a week or too long of sessions, can result in burnout.

6. Focus on Easy Questions First

Focusing on the easy questions (or picking the low hanging fruit) first allows you to score the most possible points. If you go strictly linear, you run the risk of running out of time before you get to some easy questions. However, if you skip questions, you’re spending too much time on or you can recognize as difficult, you can use your time more wisely.

Since all correct questions are scored equally, a difficult question isn’t worth more than an easy question. By focusing on the easy questions first and returning later to the hard ones, you stand to increase your score since you’ve completed more of the test than you would have done by going linear.

Be sure to mark any difficult questions you skipped so you know to go back.

7. Read Everything

Reading everything (and in the right order) can help you score some additional points on the LSAT.

For example, you’ll be presented with the reading passage first and the questions second, but did you know it can be beneficial to read over the questions first? By reading the questions first, you’ll know what you should be looking for in a passage. As a result, you won’t have to read the passage, read the questions, and then go searching in the passage. You read the questions, read the passage, and answer the questions as you go.

When it comes to the multiple-choice answers, read each one. Don’t skim them. It’s all too easy to pick an appealing answer that’s wrong because it “looks” right. If you read over every single answer, you’ll have a better understanding of your options.

8. Know Other LSAT Strategies

The LSAT is different from other tests, which means you’ll need to use some different testing strategies, such as:

  • Answer each question. Just like the ACT and SAT, you aren’t penalized for wrong answers, so you don’t want to leave a question blank! Even if you are running out of time, just put down something – you take a chance that you’ll get some points.
  • Draw diagrams. Some scenarios will benefit from drawing diagrams and conditionals. It can even keep you organized.
  • Review your responses. If you find you have extra time at the end, always use those minutes to review your answers – especially to the questions you struggled with.

9. Be Ready on Test Day

The night before your exam, take a break from studying. You don’t want to be burnt out on your test day.

If you’re taking the LSAT at home or remotely, prepare your testing space the night before. Clear out any prohibited items. Take time to test your equipment. Then get a good night’s rest.

The next morning, eat a good breakfast, check your testing equipment again, remove distractions, and get comfortable.

The LSAT is an important exam for future law students and lawyers, and preparation can help you ace the test. Start early, take practice tests, use LSAT strategies, and set goals to set yourself up for success.

Want to learn more about potential law schools? College Raptor offers insight into thousands of colleges, universities, and institutions in the country – start here to learn more!

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Join thousands of students and parents learning about finding the right college, admissions secrets, scholarships, financial aid, and more.