Mastering the LSAT: A Comprehensive Guide for Aspiring Law Students

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a crucial step in the journey to law school. Understanding the test's format, content, and scoring is essential for success. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the LSAT, covering everything from when to take it to how to prepare and what constitutes a good score.

When to Take the LSAT

Timing is key when it comes to the LSAT. Ideally, you should aim to take the LSAT for the first time at least 15 months before you plan to enter law school. This allows ample time to retake the test if needed and to apply early in the application cycle.

For Current Students

If you're planning to go straight to law school after graduating, your options are somewhat limited. The best time to take the LSAT for the first time is no later than June between your junior and senior year.

However, this timing isn't ideal for everyone. Students studying abroad during the second semester of their junior year or those with heavy course loads or significant extracurricular involvement should consider alternative test dates. These students should plan to either take the LSAT before the spring semester or in August, 13 months before they hope to start law school.

Taking the LSAT for the first time in August means your retake options are October or November. Testing in November could delay the review of your law school applications until mid-to-late December, which is past the most advantageous time to apply.

Read also: UCF Application Strategies

For Alumni and Gap Year Students

If you are an alum or planning to take time between college and law school, you have more flexibility. An LSAT score is valid for five years, and the LSAT is offered eight times each year. Carefully consider which test date will allow you the most preparation time. Ideally, aim to take the LSAT for the first time at least 15 months before you intend to start law school.

Many applicants prefer to take the test early, often while still in college, while others have circumstances requiring a later LSAT date.

Preparing for the LSAT

Consistent and dedicated preparation is essential for achieving a good LSAT score. Ideally, you should spend 10-15 hours a week for at least 3-6 months preparing for the LSAT, although some may need more time to reach their target score.

The skills tested on the LSAT require practice to master. Taking a 2.5-hour standardized test also requires intellectual stamina, which practice can help you develop.

LSAT Prep Resources

LSAC, the makers of the LSAT, offer a variety of prep materials, including free content that used to be available on Khan Academy. These resources include articles on different question types, videos demonstrating strategies, free question sets, and four free practice tests.

The LawHub content is of good quality, but it is usually not enough to help test takers reach their goals.

LSAT Prep Courses

If you can’t afford a commercial course or feel that self-study will be a better option for you, we’re here to help! The Center for Pre-Law Advising offers LSAT Preparation for UW-Madison students and alumni. Three times each year we offer a live online workshop: Spring, Summer, and Fall. The cost of the workshop is $100, with full scholarships available to those with financial need.

The LSAC Fee Waiver is a program that allows those who have financial need to access free LSAT practice tests, to take the LSAT for free, and to cover some of the fees associated with applying to law schools.

Keep in mind that all medium priced and expensive LSAT course options will require you to pay for LawHub Advantage in order to access practice tests in addition to the price of the LSAT course. The decision to take a more expensive commercial course is an individual one that you should make based on your budget and study style. Interactivity - there is often an instructor with whom you can discuss any questions that arise. These courses can range in price from around $500-2000 (before discounts & payment plans).

To the extent that you can afford a commercial course, think of it as an investment. The higher you can get your LSAT score, the more potential you have to receive merit-based financial aid for law school (which is based in part on your LSAT score). However, it is not necessary for everyone to take a course such as these in order to do well on the LSAT. You may want to consider the CPLA LSAT workshop ($100 or free to those with financial need) if you are not sure whether you would prefer a live course, or if you are planning to study on your own and looking for a good place to start.

Post pandemic, it has been very difficult to find in person test prep options in Madison, as most companies have moved to live online courses.

Discount codes for commercial courses may be available. We recommend googling a bit and checking sites like Retailmenot or Honey to check for discount codes before purchasing. Pre Law Student Orgs on campus also sometimes have discount codes for test prep.

It is also a good idea to ask your test prep company if they offer any need-based tuition assistance. For example, Kaplan has a program that allows students with financial need to get up to 50% off the price of a course even if they do not qualify for the LSAC fee waiver.

LSAT Practice Tests

Practice tests are a crucial component of LSAT preparation. Preptests numbered below 100, as well as Preptests A-C are all previously released real LSATs that included logic games. Have you already taken any practice test sections in the old format and want to see which numbered test it is included in now? Every Preptest can be found on LawHub. Four of them are available for free and the rest are available with a paid upgrade to a LawHub Advantage subscription.

The LSAT is a digital exam that you will be taking at home or at a testing center, but always on a computer (unless you have an accommodation for a paper test). Therefore, you’ll want some or all of your practice tests to be taken on a computer. There are some features of the digital test such as the highlight tool that you will want to become familiar with prior to test day. A pdf or a paper test will not include these features. Making your practice tests as realistic as possible by mimicking test day conditions is the best approach to minimize test anxiety.

LSAT Prep Books

The UW-Madison Library system has some LSAT prep books available. Some are available for use in the library and some are available for checkout. Most of the books are located either on the first floor of College Library, or in the Law Library. The Center for Pre-Law Advising Office in the Middleton Building (1305 Linden Dr) has some limited LSAT prep books available for check out.

If you are looking for books of practice tests for the new LSAT (without logic games), that content will be published but not until perhaps late fall/winter of 2024 or in early 2025.

Many students may choose to prep with a book or set of books for the LSAT. Keep in mind that since the test will be digital, you’ll want to use a separate sheet of scratch paper when working out of a physical book to mimic the test day experience.

Understanding the LSAT Writing Section (Argumentative Writing)

The LSAT Writing section, now called Argumentative Writing, is taken separately from the rest of the exam, from home, on your computer. It is an unscored part of the LSAT.

It is recommended that students do not attempt to take the writing section in the hours immediately following the LSAT. Give yourself a chance to decompress for a day or two, and then plan to take the writing section in a quiet place where others will not be walking in on you.

Law schools will receive a copy of your writing sample along with your LSAT score report. Since this is still considered a proctored exam, test takers will need to install a secure proctoring software that will ensure they are not using their computer to look up answers.

The new Argumentative Writing prompt is designed to elicit the kind of argumentative writing that candidates will be expected to produce in law school. You will still be given 15 minutes to prepare your thoughts and organize your essay, and then 35 minutes to write an essay in response to the randomly selected prompt that is presented. During that 35 minutes, you must craft your response and finish proofreading.

Students will have the ability to cut/copy/paste within the document. The interface also underlines words that it does not recognize, but it is not your typical spell-check feature and does not provide a list of suggested words to select from.

A successful writing sample will take a stance on the issue and give reasons to support that choice.

Once you have completed the LSAT Writing once, you do not need to retake it every time you retake the LSAT. You are only required to have one writing sample on file in order to apply to law schools.

As a part of the writing task, you will be presented with a debatable issue, along with three or four perspectives that provide additional context for the issue. You will then draft an argumentative essay in which you take a position on the issue, while addressing some of the arguments and ideas presented by the other perspectives. There are no “right” or “wrong” positions; the writing sample is designed to let you demonstrate your persuasive writing skills. Law schools will examine the reasoning, clarity, organization, language usage, and writing mechanics you display in your sample.

What is a Good LSAT Score?

Understanding the LSAT scoring system is crucial for determining what constitutes a "good" score. There are approximately 74-80 scored questions on each LSAT, and the total number that you answer correctly is your raw score. There is no penalty for wrong answers. Raw scores are then scaled based on the difficulty of each particular test.

A “good score” on the LSAT is a score that will help you gain admission to your preferred law schools. Law schools publish their 25th/75th percentile and median LSAT scores. To determine a “good” score for a particular school, look at the school’s median LSAT score. The median score is calculated by putting in order the scores of all the students who were admitted, and selecting the middle value.

While the median LSAT score is a “good” score for purposes of admission to that school, admission isn’t a sure thing just because you attain that score. To determine a “great” score for a particular school, look at a school’s 75th percentile score. The 75th percentile score is considered a “great” score for that particular school because the score is equal to or better than 75% of that school’s admitted applicants.

If your LSAT score is not quite at or above the median or 75th percentile scores for a law school you wish to attend, don’t panic! Many students are admitted with scores below the published median. To determine how far below, look at the school’s 25th percentile LSAT score. This number gives you a sense of the lower end of the range of scores that might be sufficient to help you get into that school. A full 25% of applicants were admitted with a score lower than the 25th percentile score, so if you don’t have a score equal to a law school’s median, don’t assume that you won’t get in.

Retaking the LSAT

The LSAC allows you to retake the test, up to 7 times in your lifetime. However, most test takers do not approach anything near 6 retakes. It is possible to hurt your chances of admission by retesting in certain situations. It is recommended to prepare thoroughly for your first LSAT, with the plan not to retake unless you need to, but to have a backup test date in mind just in case.

Law schools will see all official scores when you apply, and different schools may consider multiple scores differently. The LSAC provides schools with your score as well as a score band, which indicates a range of scores that someone with that LSAT score would likely score if they retook the exam. Law schools are most concerned with your highest LSAT score, but may choose to take other test scores into consideration at their discretion.

The LSAC has published data showing that scores for retakers often increase slightly, but there is a chance your score will drop.

LSAT vs. GRE

There used to be no question that prospective law school students would take the LSAT. The exam was created for admission to law schools and was the only test they would accept. But a majority of the institutions now also accept the GRE after the American Bar Association confirmed its use in 2021, including top-tier schools like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Stanford.

Law schools began accepting the GRE to help them have a broader applicant pool with more diversity. At the same time, it introduced new questions into the application process. Students have to decide if one test will give them an advantage over the other.

When comparing the content of the LSAT and GRE as you weigh which one to take for your law school applications, you should consider not only your strengths and weaknesses, but also what will be more relevant. Before doing anything else, check if the law schools you plan to apply to accept the GRE. While some 60% of law schools do accept it as of 2025, that means 40% still don't.

One big difference between the exams is that the GRE has two Quantitative Reasoning sections, while there isn't a math section at all on the LSAT. That could favor taking the GRE if math is one of your strengths. At the same time, you may want to consider that law schools may not put much focus on candidates' math skills.

Both tests have reading comprehension questions to assess students' ability to read and fully understand written material. However, it's a standalone section in the LSAT, while reading comprehension questions are part of a larger Verbal Reasoning section in the GRE that also evaluates vocabulary and other verbal aspects more in-depth. The LSAT has an entire section on Logical Reasoning, reflecting its importance for legal study. The GRE doesn't have any specific logic questions, although some Verbal Reasoning questions will require its use.

If you're not sure exactly where your strengths and weaknesses lie, think back to your results from the ACT or SAT. Did you score better on the verbal or math sections? It's also a good idea to take sample tests of both the LSAT and GRE and see how you do on them.

A majority of law schools now accept the GRE, in an apparent effort to draw from a wider applicant pool and have a more diverse student population. However, law schools accepting the GRE doesn't necessarily mean applicants are choosing to take the exam. It might be helpful in making your decision between the tests to know how many students accepted and enrolled in law school took the GRE instead of the LSAT. Among students who enrolled in the 2023-2024 school year, an overwhelming 98% of them took the LSAT, according to Law.com.

Applicants to a majority of law schools now have the choice of taking either the LSAT or the GRE. The decision shouldn't be made lightly, as how you perform on the test you choose could mean the difference between being accepted or rejected by the law school of your dreams. If they don't, the good news is there's no decision to make. If they do, take different factors into account as you weigh whether to choose the LSAT or GRE. Review the content of both exams and see which one plays more to your strengths overall. Take sample tests of each and see how you do on them.

It's also important to consider your ultimate goal. The LSAT was designed specifically to emphasize the skills needed for law school, while the GRE is more general, created for applying to a broad range of graduate school programs. If law school is just one course of study you're considering, the GRE might be more useful, since you could also apply to graduate schools with it at the same time. However, if you're sure you're going to law school and aren't applying anywhere else, our assessment would be to take the LSAT. Not only was the test expressly created for it, taking the traditional exam demonstrates your seriousness about law school, even if admissions committees say they don't favor one test over the other.

LSAT Score Validity

An LSAT score is good for 5 years. If you plan on taking one or more gap years, you do not have to wait to take the LSAT.

Multiple-Choice LSAT Questions

The multiple-choice portion of the LSAT includes three scored sections and one unscored section, which enables us to validate new test questions for future use. This validation process is a vital part of our commitment to fairness and helps ensure that our questions continue their long standard of being free from any kind of bias. The unscored section can be any one of the question types - Reading Comprehension or Logical Reasoning - and can occur at any point in the test. The vast majority of test takers can choose whether to take the multiple-choice LSAT in person or remotely - whichever option works best for them.

Reading Comprehension Section

Reading Comprehension questions assess your ability to read and understand examples of long-form, complex materials which are similar to those that you’ll encounter in law school.

Logical Reasoning Section

Logical Reasoning questions assess your ability to analyze, critically evaluate, and complete arguments.

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