Ryan v. LSAT
Let’s just say standardized testing is not for me, or testing at all for that matter. Yet, here I am for another 3 years of schooling. The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT for short) is no easy feat and this article is going to address what the test is actually like and how I prepared to write this wonderful test.
LSAT Components
The LSAT consists of 6 sections each 35 minutes long. Two of the six sections do not count towards your final score. One is an experimental section and the other is the writing sample section. The experimental section is tricky because you do not know which section in the exam it is. There are some hints though, like if you see a question that you’ve never really encountered in practice or sometimes they have convoluted games or reading samples.
Regarding the writing sample, I was never really told by any of my various tutors what it was used for, but I can only assume that it provides schools with a bit more insight into your writing abilities. Now that we’ve addressed the sections that you shouldn’t worry about, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of the wonderful LSAT.
So, you’ve got different sections on the test and you will have the privilege of having one of these sections twice! AWESOME! The sections are known by different names depending on where you take a course, who your tutor is, or what prep books you use. I know the sections as Logical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Analogical Reasoning/Logic Games.
Logical Reasoning
Let’s start with Logical Reasoning. The point of this section is given away in its title, it is there to test your logic and reasoning behind said logic. Logical reasoning asks a variety of questions based on short passages of information or scenarios. The questions range in complexity but overall serve the same purpose. For me, this was my second-best section on my most successful LSAT attempt. I found that commonly the first 10–12 questions were the easier ones and the rest got much more difficult with a few easier questions tucked in between.
Reading Comprehension
Next, reading comprehension. This was my worst section by far. I never really enjoyed reading and to this day I still feel the same way, even as a law student. I struggled with reading comprehension because of the complexity of many of the articles focusing on philosophy, psychology, and science. These are some of the common tougher topics in this section as they know most people want to get into law because they were not put on this planet to become scientists, so it’s automatically a harder topic to follow for people like us. Aside from the complexity of some passages, some were longer than others and had somewhere between 6–8 questions to answer that could be just as confusing if not more than the passage about mitosis you just read.
Logic Games
The last section, my best section, is logic games. This section is very different from the other two as it is not as much about the ability to retain the information you’ve read and apply it to various questions but is more about the logical and sequential mapping of complex problems or scenarios.
This is the visual section of the LSAT and really is like a mind game. You may be given a scenario like “5 people are standing in a line for a movie, 2 of them are wearing hats, 3 in black shoes, and 1 in a dress.” Each person in line will usually be given a name to make it easier to map out your answers and based on this you will be given various restrictions like “no one wearing black shoes can be next to each other and they can’t be fourth inline”. Depending on your strategy that you’ve practiced, you approach these questions in a variety of ways many of which include writing out the possible sequences that the questions prompt you for. This section is by no means easy and can be the hardest section for some but I found this section to be kind of fun and challenging like a Sudoku puzzle.
My Experience
Now that I’ve briefly explained and probably scared you a little about the LSAT, I’ll tell you about my experience with this lovely test. So, I wrote the LSAT three times as I briefly indicated in my past articles. My first test was in September of 2016 which I studied for in a Princeton Review class. I did not do well on the test at all. At the time, I had just finished my third year of undergrad and for some reason, the idea of law school still felt very far away. Therefore, I didn’t take studying that seriously and still that had that false sense of confidence that many young men have that they are smarter than everyone else.
That is one of the many ways the LSAT changed and matured me, as I learned the hard way that I was not smarter and better than everyone else. I did not find Princeton Review overly helpful as the class size was way too big and our instructor was entering her first year of law school after scoring a high LSAT mark but was not necessarily qualified to teach and control a classroom of around 20 university students.
The second LSAT I wrote was in December of 2017. This time I was referred by a friend to another tutor that was much more affordable and taught classes once a week to a group of about 7–10 students. This approach allowed for a lot more personal time with the tutor and the opportunity to ask questions specific to my struggles. I definitely saw an increase in my score after writing the test but it was not enough to get me into any Canadian schools as my applications were rejected from all the 2018–19 entering classes.
After taking the year to contemplate my future and work a variety of different jobs, I gave the LSAT one more shot in January of 2019. This time, I had realized what I really needed was a tutor that could answer all my questions and focus on only me and my mistakes on practice tests. So, with the reference of some other friends, I was put in contact with a few private tutors.
The first one I called charged $300/hour…like are you kidding me? I couldn’t help but ask over the phone when I heard this figure if he would be writing the actual test for me? The answer was of course “no” and the tutor’s assistant I was speaking too wasn’t very amused. I felt like that price was ridiculous to ask of students and I could not rationalize using such a tutor. The next tutor I spoke with was much more reasonably priced and willing to work around my schedule, so I chose to study with her. Remember, at this point, I was an LSAT veteran, an unsuccessful one, but still a veteran.
I met with my tutor approximately 8 times to go over the tricks and tips to get a few more questions right on each section to improve my score enough to be accepted. And that’s exactly what I did. The third attempt was not as successful as I would have hoped but it was my best score yet and seemingly was sufficient to get me a spot in the Dual JD program here in Windsor and I am grateful.
Looking back on it, I would be lying if I said the LSAT was not an extremely brutal and mind-bending experience for me, but it taught me a lot about myself and matured me in many ways.
I would encourage you to make sure you are ready for the grind that the LSAT requires and understand that this test is no indication of how smart and capable you are. Standardized testing is not for everyone, especially me but it does not define you.
Unfortunately, these tests are necessary to ween people out of the law school admissions process but if you’re like me and have a hard time accepting defeat, don’t let the first, second or even third test get you down if you aren’t where you want to be. Get back up and fight, because it will pay off in one way or another.
