Don’t face the LSAT unprepared.
The LSAT is a tough test. Success requires quick analysis and mental stamina. However, because it’s standardized, it’s predictable, and because it’s predictable, it’s beatable with the right kind of dedicated practice and error analysis. Lonestar Education seeks to guide students towards the right kind of practice and analysis to help them improve their LSAT scores and succeed on the LSAT.
We are offering live-online, synchronous 8-week LSAT preparation courses in conjunction with the UTSA Department of Professional and Continuing Education, UTSA Pace. Adam Johnson will teach the workshops. Sign up at the UTSA PaCE website. Contact us if you have any questions.
What it takes to improve your score
The LSAT is a game of skill. It’s a game with about 75 scored questions and each question has five possible answers. In order to make scores on different tests comparable, the game is standardized and the questions only vary superficially from test to test. Like all games of skill, the LSAT can be mastered through hard work and sustained, deliberate practice and analysis. It’s not easy—it requires devotion and sacrifice, but you can do it.
The first step is to learn the best way to think about and to approach the various question, game, and passage types. Class time will mainly focus on communicating those approaches. In general, you have to change your natural approach to improve. The final (and often most difficult step) is getting good at using the new methods under time pressure. Mastering the test requires much practice, reinforcement, and analysis. Commit to working on LSAT preparation every single day from now until you take the actual exam. Believe in yourself. With the right effort, you can learn the skills you need to beat the test!
- Learn the logical content. The LSAT tests reading and logic. Large score improvements are only possible after you have mastered several reading and reasoning skills. For arguments, you need to master reading an argument as an argument by identifying conclusions, premises, and assumptions. For games, you need to master making deductions from complex information about ordering and grouping situations. For passages, you need to master reading for main ideas, paraphrasing, and using keywords to answer questions about a text. Once you’ve mastered the content skills, you can better focus your mental energy on problem solving.
- Change the way you take the test. Most people approach the test far too passively. In order to improve on the LSAT, you need to become a more active test-taker. In class, you’ll learn techniques for analyzing the questions before going to the answer choices and techniques for eliminating wrong answers. These techniques may slow you down at first and be difficult to master but you must persevere! Change is hard, but if you stay flexible and learn to apply the techniques taught in class consistently, your score will go up.
- Do the assignments using the techniques. The only way to internalize these methods and turn them into useful, reliable habits is consistent and focused practice. Keep on practicing each question type until you get it down. Think of yourself as an athlete training for the Olympics or as a professional musician mastering a new instrument. Your goal should be to master one type of LSAT problem at a time and then move on to the next. Set aside a minimum of two hours every day to work on LSAT practice and analysis.
- Analyze what you missed and why. Spend at least as much time going over the assignments as you spent doing them. Think of each missed question as a puzzle and try to figure out exactly why the wrong answer is wrong and the right answer is right. Think about how you could approach the problem differently to get it right next time. Every missed question carries a potential lesson. If you learn and retain those lessons through practice and analysis, you’ll be able to apply them on the day of the test. Look for patterns in your wrong answers in order to identify your strengths and weakness. Once you’ve found a weakness, keep working on it until it becomes one of your strengths.
- Master pacing and build your stamina. Although pacing will naturally improve as you master the techniques, you have to practice answering questions quickly. The LSAT is a long, grueling test and half the challenge is maintaining your focus. In order to score well you must balance accuracy and pacing and stay focused for four 35-minute sections. In the final weeks of class, you should average about 1.4 minutes per question and work for 140 minutes per practice session.