Randall

Common LSAT Pitfalls

I thought my test prep was good enough until I sat for the actual exam. Even during my sitting for the LSAT I thought it was good enough. I was super excited to get my results back. Then … I got my results back.

150.

It was a gut crusher. I had to take it again. If only I had been able to avoid some of these common pitfalls that plague so many hopeful LSAT takers.

LSAT Pitfall #1 – Blasting through the Prep Tests

Taking actual LSAT prep tests is a great way to study. Taking times prep tests is an even better way to study. However, if you blast through them, you could find yourself at a serious disadvantage. First of all, you’re not giving yourself time to digest what you just did. If you blast through these limited tests, you’re not going to learn or progress very much.

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You’ll fail to notice or pick up on patterns your might have otherwise noticed if you just took some time to go over the answers.

Finally, once you get through the prep tests, that all there are. You won’t have any more tests to go over, and that’s not a situation you want to find yourself in.

LSAT Pitfall #2 – Not Taking the Time to Thoroughly Review your Answers

This one is related to the first pitfall, but it deserves its own section. Failing to review your answers is probably the biggest mistake you could make. Imagine reading a Spanish book front to cover without going over the stuff you don’t understand. At the end, you’re still going to suck at Spanish.

Failing to review your answers will have a similar effect. You’re going to repeat the same mistakes, and you’re going to miss the same kinds of questions.

There are lots of patterns and types of questions on the LSAT. Simply going back through the answers, and figuring out why you answered them incorrectly, will go a long way in getting you a good score come test day.

LSAT Pitfall #3 – Busting through the Questions without Understanding the Call

The very first rule of any LSAT question is to read the call first. The call is just the question itself. It’s the one or two line sentence right before you get to the answers that tells you what you’re looking for in the actual question.

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It’s pretty natural to want to start at the top and work your way down. Don’t do it. You’ll be wasting precious time. If you do this, you’re forcing yourself to read the question twice, because you have to read it once, figure out what you need to be looking for, and then read it again. This is a complete and utter waste of time.

Now you know what not to do, head on over here to get going on what you should be doing.

Author

  • Randall

    Randall earned his JD from the University of Denver in 2013. He received his BA in Communications and Social Science from the University of Washington in 2010. Randall took the LSAT twice, and managed to improve his score by 14 points the second time around. He paid the price of learning to score high on the LSAT and hopes to help other potential law students avoid similar pain.

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