The Months Leading Up to Torture (aka Getting Ready for the LSAT)

I’m sorry it’s been a little longer than usual (because you can definitely have a ‘usual’ when your blog’s been up for less than a month), and I know that all of my devoted followers (why yes, I’m talking to you SteFany) were devastated when I didn’t have another post up by the week mark, but there was a VERY good reason for it.

My sister had a baby!!!! It’s her first and she’s adorable. It’s my 20^th niece/nephew, and she’s STILL adorable. I spent as much of the weekend as humanly possible with them, and blogging just wasn’t really on my mind.

Aren’t they a perfect family? 

Aren’t I an adorable auntie?

Anyway, enough of joy and laughter – back to law.

When it comes right down to it, the LSAT is a fairly simple (albeit time consuming, expensive, and tear-jerking) process. The number one thing you need to do is give yourself time. (It would also help if you had an long-lost aunt that you weren’t incredibly close to [but she had a fancy for you because you reminded her of her long-lost child] die and leave you a couple thousand dollars.) How much time you want to give yourself varies a little bit depending on your confidence and test-taking abilities; some people (the people I kind of despise) are natural test-takers and they don’t need to work themselves into quite the frenzy that regular, mortal folk need to.

I took the LSAT in December, and I started studying for it in October. I wish I had given myself another month or two, but October was right about when I decided to go to law school, so that was just the way it all rolled. I would say that 5-6 months is probably a decent amount of time to block out, from the very beginning of the process to the ultimate end.

Now, I will give you the “X-number” of steps (I really don’t know how many steps I’m going to give you. I’m guessing I’ll know the number by about the time I finish writing this post. [It’s 5 in case you were wondering.]) needed to ace the LSAT. Or at least take it and not feel like you’re going to absolutely die.

1. Go into this whole process (and by whole process, I mean the LSAT, school applications, interview plans, touring schools—the whole kit and caboodle) knowing that you will spend a ridiculous about of money. You may have already learned this from harsh experience, but just in case you didn’t you should learn it now: applying for grad school (any grad school) is an expensive process. (The people who make money off this process tell you it’s an “investment” and by golly they’d better be right or in 5 years, heads will roll.) You will easily spend anywhere from $500-$1000 (or more) before you’ve been accepted into a law school.

2. Register. I know this sounds so intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers, but the LSAT is only given 4 times a year and if you want to avoid a late registration fee you need to register a couple months early. (The test already costs over $200 to take, so trust me, you don’t want to pay the late registration fee.) You register for the test on the LSAC website (this one: https://os.lsac.org/Release/LSAT/Information.aspx) and before you can register you will have to create an account (which is worth it because a) you have no option, you have to so you can apply for schools and b) they give you a free sample LSAT to take). Once you’ve signed up for the LSAT, the LSAC website becomes very friendly, continually giving you tips on what to do in the months and weeks leading up to the LSAT. Take them. Take them all. (Especially the “scope out the area before the test” tip. You do not want to get lost on your way to take this test. You really don’t.)

3. Steal LSAT prep books from your previous employer. Now, obviously if you’re going to take this route you must leave a very polite note in the space where the LSAT books were, explaining your purpose in this theft and promising that you’ll bring them back in 2-3 months with a batch of homemade cookies or brownies. (Note: Only make that promise if your homemade goods are edible. If not, Oreos work just as well.) For this plan to work you must also have

a)      a previous employer that liked you very much and won’t mind your foray into petty theft (It’s even better if he just writes it off as you “getting into the mindset” of some of your potential clients.), and

b)      a previous employer who happens to have LSAT prep books.

If you do not have either of those things, I would instead recommend you buy the Princeton

LSAT Review Book. This one. (Also, I don't really know what just happened with my

spacing, but it's just gotten super weird. Sorry about that.)

It’s not as expensive as lots of other things will be at this point (anywhere from $8-$30

depending on how you feel about used books), so you can buy it AND still feel justified in

picking up Jimmy Johns to eat while you study. (But if you steal from an employer you can

get Jimmy Johns and ice cream. That’s why it’s my go-to option.) 

(Another Note: The stealing from former employer has the potential to become very awkward

when your brother [who is ever so kind to help you move] accidentally lumps the LSAT prep

book in with a bunch of other things slated to go to DI and so you never actually return the

book. This could quite possible lead to the kind of shame that never lets you look your

previous employer in the eye again and the feeling that you should just move out of state to

avoid him [which is actually fairly doable because you can simply pick an out of state school,

graduate with high honors, and make your former employer so proud of you that they let the

lost book slide]. Not that I’m saying that’s what happened at all, I’m just saying you should

prepare yourself for every eventuality, okay?)

I worked with a few different prep books while I was studying and this was my favorite. It has three sample tests in the back, it works through every section on the LSAT with you, it has step by step instructions on which sections to study depending on how much time you have (including what to do if you’re opening this book the night before you take the LSAT, which I personally thought was very thoughtful of them), and it has a sense of humor (which is very important to me in any book). It also doesn’t beat around the bush. One of the things I loved most about the Princeton LSAT Review book was that it straight up told me that the writing section on the LSAT was essentially useless and just there so schools could have the option of not feeling guilty for judging you based solely off your tests scores. I checked with a few current law students and one law professor and they all agreed with the book. Talk about a load off my mind (although I was also quite sad, since that was arguably the section I did best on…).

4. Find someone you know who has a genuine love for doing logic puzzles and become their best friend. I’m not talking about Sudoku, or word search, or crosswords, I’m talking about mean and evil logic puzzles. For instance: 6 friends, Mary, Jane, Pam, Tom, Bill, and Fred are all taking 6 different tests (Biology, Physics, Calculus, Statistics, History, and Russian) on 6 different days at 6 different times. Using the clues below, determine what test each person is taking, on what day, at which time. (The question will then give you 4-6 clues, approximately 2 of which will be really helpful and 2-4 of which won’t be until you’ve solved ¾ of the puzzle.)

Those kind of puzzles.  

(Oh look! Spacing fixed!)

The puzzles that when you start doing them kind of make you lose your will to live, but as you keep trying them somehow become fun and strangely addicting. And that’s the good news, because the more of these puzzles you practice, the better and faster you’ll become, which is helpful when you’re taking the test.

Luckily for me, I have a father who (because he’s a little odd, but hey, that’s why I love him) loves these puzzles. LOVES. 

(This is him. Isn't he delightful? In addition to puzzles we share a love of baseball. Well, he ingrained a love a baseball into me at a very young age so that he could share a love of baseball with me. He did this with all 9 of his children actually....)

Every year for Christmas, for as long as I can remember, he has gotten a book of these puzzles in his stocking and after the excitement of opening presents has worn down, he’ll settle into his chair with his pen and just knock out 2-3 of them for kicks and giggles. He was thrilled to find out that I was taking an interest in these mind games and spent hours working with me on how to decipher the clues and get faster at solving them. He even seemed to enjoy it. (Of course, that might have been because it’s always a little fun to see someone struggle with something that comes so naturally to you. Gives you that sense of superiority and all….)

But why do you need to find a best friend and bribe them into helping you (my father’s bribe was a solid mix of Carl’s Jr., desserts, Diet Dr. Pepper, and movies) you may ask? After all, you have the review book spelling these out for you, right? Well yes, but these puzzles really are best to learn by having someone teach you. It doesn’t matter how good the test review book is, it’s not a person, and it’s not as engaging as a person. So go out, make smart best friends, and bribe them into submission.

5. Take the sample tests. Take as many of them as you can without feeling the need to commit suicide. Not only will they give you an accurate reading on how you’re doing, but they’ll build up your endurance and stamina. And the stamina is a much bigger deal than I gave it credit for. (Which is mostly because I’m a cocky idiot sometimes.)

Sigh. I was going to have the LSAT all be one blog post, but since I’m already at novel lengths (because, as I’m sure you’ve figured out and come to expect by now, I never shut up), I’ll save the actual taking of the LSAT for next week.

It’s okay, I’m pretty sure all this pointless talking will actually be super helpful for me when I’m a lawyer. I’ll just talk people into a stupor, get them to agree with me, and then say “Bam! You’ve been lawyered!”