So as I said in my last post, The LSAT Roller Coaster: My First LSAT Exam , I took the LSAT two times. My first go around did not go as planned, especially when it came to preparing for it. I was pulled in so many directions that I was just not able to solely focus on the exam like I had wished/ needed to do. Unfortunately, I did not receive a score that I was satisfied with and I ultimately made the decision to take off a year and start fresh.
Taking a year off was something that I did for myself. But it was not something that everyone agreed with at first. I received a lot of comments that revolved around the fear that if I took a year off I may not go back. I won't lie and say that I didn't share that same fear. But I've never been one to give up on my dreams. I wanted to prove to not only to them, but most importantly to myself, that this WAS my plan and I WAS going to go to school in the fall.
Now I discussed before the Kaplan Self Paced Prep Option. While this course option wasn't the right fit for me, I really loved the way Kaplan operated and found a better fit through the Kaplan In Person Prep Option. This option gave me a specific time and place to go to every week and receive guidance from an LSAT instructor. It was honestly the best decision that I had made when it came to this exam.
With being out of school, my focus was solely on the LSAT and preparing for it. I made a schedule and stuck to it. I was working full time but I was able to study during breaks and sometimes during slower hours which helped all the much more.
So again, Kaplan sent me all the required hard copy materials and I gained access to the LSAT Channel. I highly recommend spending the extra money to get access to the LSAT Channel. (Not all of the course options have this included). The channel gives you access to hundreds of live (all are recorded so you can watch them later if you miss the live session) seminars that cover all parts of the LSAT. You get to interact with the professor during the live session and complete questions together; along with receiving answers to questions or you can go back later and watch it without being live. The thing I loved the most about this course option was that not only was it in person so I was forced to go every week (especially with the amount of money I spent on the course) but I was able to learn so much from so many people. My course instructor, classmates - who were both amazing - even the professors and attendees in the live seminars, taught me so much more than I could have imagined. If I needed a little extra help with tackling a logical reasoning question I had so many outlets to turn to.
This time around when test day approached I was... Excited. Confident. Prepared. Ready to Crush it versus the stressed, unprepared and less than confident person I was last time. I had all the tools I needed and now it was time to finally put them all to work for an actual score. I took my instructors advice and treated test day like any other pratice test we did in class or as if I was taking a final exam for a course versus the first exam, quiz, paper, etc for one. At this point, I knew the teachers grading system, what was expected of me and how to prepare. I was ready to hit the ground running and I did just that.
When the scores were released 4 weeks later I had raised my score by 15 POINTS. I couldn't believe it, in fact I improved my score by 4 points since my final practice test in class. I immediately burst into tears. Now to some 15 points does not seem like a lot but for the LSAT it is... it's that extra point or two that could take you from being in the 25th percentile, for a schools recent class profile, to the median, or the median to the 75th percentile. EVERY POINT COUNTS.
To sum everything up, here's a few steps to keep in mind when it comes to preparing for the LSAT:
This time around when test day approached I was... Excited. Confident. Prepared. Ready to Crush it versus the stressed, unprepared and less than confident person I was last time. I had all the tools I needed and now it was time to finally put them all to work for an actual score. I took my instructors advice and treated test day like any other pratice test we did in class or as if I was taking a final exam for a course versus the first exam, quiz, paper, etc for one. At this point, I knew the teachers grading system, what was expected of me and how to prepare. I was ready to hit the ground running and I did just that.
When the scores were released 4 weeks later I had raised my score by 15 POINTS. I couldn't believe it, in fact I improved my score by 4 points since my final practice test in class. I immediately burst into tears. Now to some 15 points does not seem like a lot but for the LSAT it is... it's that extra point or two that could take you from being in the 25th percentile, for a schools recent class profile, to the median, or the median to the 75th percentile. EVERY POINT COUNTS.
To sum everything up, here's a few steps to keep in mind when it comes to preparing for the LSAT:
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